Gray (Book 3) by Cadle Lou

Author:Cadle, Lou [Cadle, Lou]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Post-Apocalyptic
Publisher: Cadle-Sparks Books
Published: 2016-01-05T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

“Do you have other symptoms? Nausea? Breast tenderness?” Coral had known about pregnancy symptoms long before schooling or her stint as a hospital volunteer. She had a friend who had been pregnant at fifteen and gotten an abortion. Coral had gone along to the clinic for moral support, and during the 90-minute wait, she’d read every pamphlet in the building and left knowing more about pregnancy and birth control than most people her age.

“No. I’m crazy hungry, though. And I haven’t had my period.”

“I haven’t had one in months,” said Coral. “It’s the lack of food.”

“I hope that’s all it is,” Abigail said. “But I get this feeling like I am.”

“You’ve been having unprotected sex?”

“No, we have the condoms. You know, they must have given Benjamin his. Married men get two, single men one.”

“I—” Coral didn’t know what to say to that. Of course had she and Benjamin really been married, she would have known this. She wished he had told her. On second thought, she could see why he had not. “Did yours break, or...?”

“No. We wash them out, let them dry totally, like you’re supposed to, alternate them. I even check for little holes every morning.”

So they must have had a limited supply of condoms, found during scavenging. With no likelihood of finding more, the logical thing to do would be to reuse them, no matter that in the old world, that would have been considered a crazy risk. “You’re two weeks late, you said?”

“I can’t have a baby,” Abigail said, and her voice broke. “There isn’t food for a baby.”

She was right about that. A pregnant woman, a breast-feeding mother, should have three thousand calories or so, in ideal conditions. Soon, Abigail would be eating barely a third of that, the way things were headed.

“There’s no allowance made for that here? Like a double food ration for pregnant women?”

“No. It was agreed months ago, no new babies. Not until we have more of a handle on things.”

They were headed the wrong direction down that road, losing their grip, even if they couldn’t see it. Their walls might still be standing. People might go to their jobs in an orderly way. But when the food was halved and then ran out entirely, everything would fall to pieces here. Coral had no idea what to say to Abigail. “Do you want the baby?”

Abigail shook her head. “No. I mean, a year ago, if it had happened then, I’d have adjusted to the idea and probably gone ahead, but not now.”

The pieces finally fell into place. “You want me to give you an abortion.”

Abigail nodded. “Please.” And she buried her face in her hands and wept.

Coral crossed the room and stood behind Abigail, patting her on the shoulder, making comforting sounds, until the crying fit trailed off.

“I didn’t even want to tell you,” said Abigail, “but when I saw you operate on Julie. I knew you could do it. You keep saying you’re not really a doctor, but you are.

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