In the Apocalypse

Down the Mississippi

I woke up to birds chirping. I opened my eyes to see that it was just getting light outside. Vasquez was already up. He was cleaning his gun, the others were still sleeping ,including 10K who was right behind me. 

I felt nauseous suddenly. I pulled myself out of 10K's arms. I then tried to discreetly go to the tree line. After passing the tree line, I ran further away from where the others were. I was getting really tired of morning sickness. For some reason it's worse at night. I'm getting up multiple times a night to throw up while I only throw up a few times a day. At least I am better then I had been for a little while. For a little while I couldn't keep anything down. Every time I ate something, I just threw it back up.

I dropped to my knees and started heaving. I threw up the little contents that were in my stomach. Even after I finished throwing up, I heaved. 

I felt someone pull my hair back out of my face. I jumped and turned to face them. It was just Vasquez. 

"What are you doing out here?" I asked in a hoarse voice. 

"I was checking on you." He admitted. 

Because of a sudden strong urge, I turned my back on him and heaved again. I spit, trying to get the taste of vomit out of my mouth. Vasquez rubbed my back in a comforting manner. 

After I was done, I turned back to Vasquez. He held a hand out for me. I took it and he pulled me to my feet. 

Then he started digging in his bag that I didn't notice he brought with him. He pulled out a water bottle and handed it to me. I took it from him and took a sip from it to rinse my mouth out. Then I took an actual drink to help my throat that felt like sandpaper. 

"Thank you." I told him. 

"No problem." He shrugged it off. 

"Sorry, I've just been feeling sick lately." I lied. He gave me a disbelieving look. 

"A sickness that lasts a month?" He asked. 

"You've noticed?" I furrowed my brows at him. 

"I'm usually up before everyone else ,including you. Of course I notice when you run off to throw up in the woods almost every morning. I didn't think that you were running off to throw up until that night that we stayed in that house and you threw up in the bathroom next to my room... So how long have you known?" He asked. 

"I've known for about two months now." I admitted. 

"Have you told 10K yet?" He asked. I shook my head. "Why not?" 

"I ,uh.. I don't know. He's even said that he wanted kids. We were going to have kids after this whole Murphy thing ,when we headed up north. So I don't know. Maybe I'm scared of everyone else's reaction. I mean, we're still doing the mission, we don't have the resources, we don't have the safety, and the baby will attract Zs. Though Warren has assured me that we'll make it work countless times." I admitted. I kept thinking and before I could stop it, I was saying everything I was thinking. 

"Or maybe I'm scared that telling him will make it more real. Like I'm actually going to have a kid. We talked about kids once this Murphy thing is done and we were up north. We didn't talk about if something happened before that. I don't know what's going to happen and I'm really scared. I don't want to be pregnant while on the run. I don't want to give birth into this ,at least not before we've settled down." I ranted to Vasquez. He just stood listening. He didn't look like he was trying to judge me. He just looked at me with an understanding look. 

"You should tell him. You'll need to accept this sooner or later. And it's better to do it sooner. We don't know what's going to happen. What if something happens to him before you tell him?" He asked.