6. Maria
Chapter six
Maria
Rat-a-tat-tat. Rat-a-tat-tat. Rat-a-tat-tat.
What is that noise?
My eyes won’t open. My body won’t move. I’m frozen, lying on a hard, flat surface, being bounced around, the whir of electric motors in my ears.
I hear a man’s voice. Is it Lehm? Has he returned?
I hear the voice again.
No.
Oh no. I recognize that voice now. It’s the nightcrawler who shot me.
But I’m not in pain. How is that even possible? Am I a ghost waiting to pass on to the next world?
Then I hear Zinnia. He calls her by name. He’s being kind to her. Caring, even.
Why? Is he going to raise her as a source of blood?
I have to stop him. I have to protect Zinnia.
I try to rock my body, to release the invisible chains that bind me, but I can’t.
Helplessness washes over me. Then, a flash of memory—of my grandmother, the religious one. Don’t give up. God will save you. Except I don’t really believe that. My other grandmother didn’t, and neither did my mom. Doesn’t mean they didn’t drill survival into my bones, though.
If I can survive the loss of my community, the loss of my parents, then the loss of my husbands, I can survive anything.
More noise—my body rocks from forces not of my making. Then a thunk seems to come from above me, like a door closing.
The rocking stops, my body settles into place, but I have the sense of acceleration, of motion.
Am I being taken somewhere?
Headed to heaven?
Headed to hell?
But why is Zinnia going with me?
I can’t hear her voice anymore. A feeling of lethargy presses on me. I’m losing consciousness again, just like I did when the nightcrawler bit me.
Please, if there is a God, let my baby be safe.