Snow & Ash: Endless Winter by Theresa Shaver Read Free Book Online Page B

sprint.
    “Have to push! Baby’s coming fast!” she gasped out.
    The next twenty minutes were the scariest, most terrifying moments of my life. There was nothing I could do to help her except wipe off her sweaty face and mumble empty platitudes. We both had tears constantly falling down our faces as she rotated between screams, cries for my Dad and trying to reassure me that all this was normal for having a baby. I could only nod my head and try not to run away and hide. When she clawed her dress up over her knees and yelled at me to get a towel to catch the baby with, I had to force the vomit that filled my throat back. The baby came out with a gush of fluid and blood and I almost dropped him. He was covered in blood and sticky white goo. All I could do was stare down at him. Mom’s laughter had my head snapping up to meet her eyes and I passed him to her outstretched arms. She cleared out his tiny mouth before turning him over and rubbing and patting his small back. When his angry cries rang out, I found myself bursting out with laughter too.
    Mom gave me instructions on what to do next. Tying and cutting the cord was totally gross but not as bad as I thought it would be. After that, it was just cleaning the poor little guy off with the now lukewarm water and getting him diapered and dressed. Once I had him wrapped up into his sleeper and soft blanket, I turned to pass him back to Mom. Her face was serene but paper white. Her tired eyes met mine and a faint smile passed over her lips.
    “Benjamin, his name is Benjamin. So proud of you Sky. Couldn’t have done it without you. Love my babies so much.” Her words faded away as her head nodded and her eyes fluttered closed. I couldn’t keep the grin off my face as I looked down on the tiny sleeping baby in my arms until I felt something warm and wet touch my knees. Glancing down at the floor, it was an instant reaction to scramble back away from the pool of blood forming underneath Mom’s legs.
    I practically threw the baby on the couch behind her head so I could grab her shoulders and shake her awake.
    “Mom, MOM, wake up! Wake up, something’s wrong, you’re bleeding! Mom, what do I do?” Her head flopped loosely as I shook her but her eyes stayed closed. I pushed towels against her to try and stop the bleeding but it didn’t seem to help. I was sobbing her name when the computerized voice spoke from the ceiling.
    “Vanessa Ross, no life signs detected.”
    I screamed out an agonizing wail that startled the baby awake and his cries joined in with mine. I don’t know how long I spent crying and begging her to wake up but Benjamin’s screams finally had me leaning away from her. I laid the rest of the towels over the blood and her legs before picking the baby up and settling the both of us beside her on the floor. We cuddled up against her and I held her hand between me and the baby and then we waited for Dad to come back.

Chapter Four-Rex
    Without a word, he pointed at the door to the back seat so I turned and climbed into the truck beside Sasha. I heard a crunch and looked down to see that I had stepped on an iPod and it now had a shattered screen. Using my toe, I nudged it under the front seat out of sight. I didn’t want the guy to have a reason to throw us out.
    Sasha saw what had happened and her eyes were big and scared. She opened her mouth to say something but I gave a quick shake of my head to silence her. We both lurched back in our seats as the truck started moving so we scrambled to put our seat belts on. Belle was holding Matty in the front seat and was firing off questions to the man who was ignoring her. Once she ran out of steam he glanced back at us in the rear-view mirror and then began to speak.
    “Nuclear war has broken out. Thousands of bombs have been dropped so far with more probably on the way. The closest ones that I know of are Edmonton and Vancouver. Nothing electronic works because of the electromagnetic pulse that goes out with