Chapter 25

"Easier to ride out and find a hospital," Steve said after a long moment. "We already got a tussle coming up with the DOV, no need to provoke them early on."

"It's going to be a ride, we're talking maybe a week there… depends on how far out the DOV has raided too… and no promises on safe spots to stop."

Taker was still trying to process how these two knew of a storage facility that was set apart from the castle, yet couldn't tell him anything about the castle other than 'huge and lots of passages'. "Got to think on this. Mark it, it's something we can look at AFTER we send those fucks packing. Right now, we have all the equipment we need for the year. It's the medicine I'm concerned about. Trish is doing inventory on it now."

"Good." Abigail relaxed a little, the relief washing over her face and reached over the map to grab Susan's hand, squeezing it. "I know you're trying to help, believe me, it's not easy. Let them handle it and come help me in the kitchen."

She guided the young girl with her to the back, glad Taker wasn't running off to provoke the DOV. They had to be careful about this. If they could get their hands on that invisibility cloak and get Malcolm out of the castle, it would be a huge blow to the DOV. For some reason, Taker didn't want to look for more magic to assist them and she couldn't figure out why. Sighing, she asked Susan if she knew how to do the dishes and wasn't surprised to find she could. Chores were a must in the DOV from all women, to learn and prepare them to take care of the babies, except boys, since they were taken from the mother at birth. Her thoughts went back to the magical artifacts Malcolm had mentioned during one of her many eavesdrops and wondered if there was a way to find them.

If he had learned one thing it was this: While useful, a lot of the misery in the world was due to magic. The rise of DOV soldiers, Bray's ability to spread like wildfire in as short a time as he had over Vesperia. That was all thanks to magic. If they could do this with what they had, and his own magic, he would very happily see the magical line die with him and Malcolm.

"Problem with this, boss… is you haven't been away from Wonderful for that length of time in years…"

Taker groaned, nodding his head. "I… will think on it." He had a solution to that problem, but it was a onetime deal because he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to do the same trick twice. And he had been hoping to use it to breach the DOV's actual walls, but then again… that was risky as hell too.

Stop being stupid, stop being crazy and just let him do what needs to be done, Abigail mentally chastised herself, hating that she'd gotten extremely close to Taker in a very short amount of time. This wasn't good. He was supposed to be the hope, the driving force, to eliminate the DOV once and for all. Here she was screwing it all up because of feelings! Now wasn't the time to have a romance, how many times did she have to remind herself of that? Falling in love was NOT an option because there was a very big chance neither of them survived. Having sex was one thing, but she had to take the feelings out of it and wasn't sure if that was possible. What if having sex made her feelings for him grow? She wanted him to be the one to take her virginity, there was no question about that, but…Abigail didn't know what the future awaited between them and it scared her a bit.

"Boss, Trish is still inventorying, but I can tell you now, she has gestational hypertension. I know we have some Labetalol, which is safe for her to use, safe for the baby too, but I don't know how much."

"We don't have anything else?"

"Blood pressure medication? Well sure, but we don't know if it's safe for her to use right now." Melina said with a frown. "I'm sorry, but Jeff and I aren't really doctors. We learned this stuff out of books and…"

"Trial and error." Taker pinched the bridge of his nose. "So, Steph needs to take these pills daily and cut back on activity?"

"She doesn't need to be running the common house. She needs exercise sure, a lack of activity could make it worse, but too much… and the stress, that'll lead to a stroke or a heart attack."

"Fuck all."

Overhearing that cemented what Abigail planned on doing to prevent pregnancy. There was no way she was having a baby, preferably ever, not after seeing what these women endured. Walking out, leaving Susan for a minute, she walked up to Melina and asked for a minute of her time.

"What's up, Abbie?" They were outside of the common house and out of earshot of the men.

"After lunch and cleanup, I'm gonna come by for a shot. Trish said it's to prevent pregnancy and I'm not taking any chances if I decide to go that route."

Melina smiled, not blaming her and nodded, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'll have a shot waiting for you. Just come by when you can."

"Thanks, how's Stephanie?"

"Bitching about having to stay off her feet." Melina chuckled, shrugging because it was normal for women to have gestational diabetes, hypertension, whatever one wanted to call it, during pregnancy. Usually meant a girl was on the way since boys very rarely caused it, according to books she'd read.

"Okay, tell her I'm thinking of her and if she needs anything, don't hesitate to ask, if you see her."

"Will do." Melina headed back to the medical wing while Abigail went to continue making lunch for everyone.

He had dismissed the others and, since Abigail and Susan were the only ones in the common house, Taker had stuck around to help. Starting with moving tables around while Susan took a broom to the floors, Taker put everything back after she finished. "Abbie, you need help in the kitchen?" He asked once Susan was finished, eyeballing his niece. "You need to go lay down, Susan."

She was looking a lot better, but… she would need a bit more rest and some fattening food because she was tiny. Was Abigail the only one in the DOV, female, who hadn't been starved like that? He could only imagine the guilt issues she must have, knowing she'd had a somewhat honored position, privileged, compared to the other women.

Chicken nuggets with a bunch of French fries and a piece of fruit were on the menu for lunch. They had a fryer back here, which was a lifesaver because it only took a couple of minutes at a time to fry the frozen food. Wonderful was stocked full of frozen foods due to all the raiding they did to other abandoned towns.

"If you wouldn't mind getting the paper plates down along with the cups and silverware. Amy and I are about done in here with the food."

She had poked her head out of the kitchen, saw how tired Susan was, and agreed with Taker as he gently nudged her to the ladder she had to climb to get to her bed. Abigail did feel incredibly guilty because she'd been fed and treated like a queen compared to the other women, only because of who the leader of the DOV was. She knew if she'd never met Bray and was a random girl in one of the many towns they took over, she probably wouldn't be here right now. That was why if she had to give her life up in order to liberate the people from DOV and destroy it, she would in a heartbeat.

Taker nodded and went about what she had asked him to do, ignoring the curious looks Amy was giving him. Amy… pregnant. That was just weird. His fiery redhead hadn't been overly pleased with the idea of ever having babies in this world, so how in the hell had that happened? He figured later on he'd get a word in with her, make sure she was going to be alright.

"Hey, you look tired too, Abbie." He observed when she was done with the nuggets and her tiredness looked like it was emotional stuff. "You alright?"

"I'm fine."

Abigail couldn't dive deeper into her despair because it wouldn't solve anything, it wouldn't help anyone. She had to keep pushing forward, no matter how hard it was and hopefully, this would end sooner rather than later. Bray would come for her, and she planned on making sure he knew there would be no heirs and there wouldn't be taking each other's virginity. It was the ONE thing she wanted to take away from him, that option, to rip it away from him and watch his heart crumble into dust like he'd done to her so many times. She plastered on a fake smile for everyone, beginning to put the plates on the serving platter and walked out while Amy took over that task. Abigail wasn't pregnant, she was, and she'd already had to stop 4 times to vomit.

"Okay, get the hell out."

"I got this."

"Go. People are bitchin' about the smell, Red." Taker took the next few trays from her, balancing them on either hand. "I'm not kidding, get out, go get some fresh air. Drink some water, go see Melina. Just get away from the food."

Sighing, Amy threw her hands up into the air in exasperation and walked out. Pregnant, how the HELL had that happened?

"That poor girl…"

Abigail couldn't wait until lunch was served and the cleanup finished so she could get that shot from Melina. These women were nuts not to use protection, but then again, maybe they had, and the shot hadn't worked. It wasn't 100% effective for a reason. Groaning inwardly, Abigail tried focusing on serving the food and managed not to spill anything, nodding at the appreciation she received. People were wondering why Taker was here helping serve everyone, but nobody questioned it since Trish was still taking inventory of the medicine they had for Stephanie and the other pregnant women. Surprisingly, there was only one other woman pregnant in the entire town, besides Trish and Amy, who hadn't started showing, only having the symptoms.

"Okay, finally…" Abigail wiped the sweat from her forehead, glad Taker had braided her hair back before leaving the tower and brought the final tray into the back. They would eat and then clean up would commence.

"Take a break and eat." Taker ordered, wondering what had gotten into her. She seemed… hesitant and determined all at once. Taker reached out to gently grab Abigail by the arms. They were in the kitchen, so he wasn't overly concerned with being spotted and pulled her against him, bending down to brush his lips against her forehead. "What's the matter, Abbie?" He asked quietly, putting enough space between them, so he could see her face.

She hated how well he could read her, even as she tried putting on a smile for everyone and getting the job done. "I'm an idiot, that's what's the matter." Looking up into his eyes, her bottom lip trembled as tears filled her eyes, trying like hell not to let them fall. "Why? Why can't I…Why doesn't this work with you, but it did with Bray? He could NEVER tell when I lied to him. He could never tell when…when I was hiding something! I thought I had it down to a science, but with you…it doesn't work. It doesn't happen. You can read me like a book and it's not that I WANT to hide stuff from you, but…I feel guilty, okay? I feel guilty for being, for feeling, happy for the first time in my life and it's because of you. Look at Susan, look at all the pain the DOV has, and keeps causing and I'm partially responsible for it because I followed Bray blindly. I don't deserve this. I don't deserve to feel happy, not when so many others are suffering right now. It's not fair. Damn it…"

Abigail turned away from him to wipe her tears away, letting out a shuddering breath and made sure to keep her voice down to where only he could hear her. They could eat their lunch right here in the kitchen. Taker pulled her to the table that he knew Stephanie used as a baking station, clearing them a section. He made them up each a plate, setting one down in front of her before dropping down into the other wooden chair, sighing.

"You want to know why it doesn't work with me, Abbie?" He reached out, brushing away another tear. "Because he was looking to be lied too, I'm not. Any man who justifies the shit he does, the way he does, is looking to be lied to. He just doesn't consciously realize it."

Abigail wasn't hungry, her appetite gone, and just had to learn how to breathe, wondering if he was right. Was Taker correct in the assumption Bray had been looking to be lied to? If that was the case, he had to know she was deceiving him the whole time…and that wasn't practical. Or maybe he was truly blind to the amount of pain and suffering he caused in Vesperia.

"I've never…experienced being happy, or felt what it's like to be happy, until last night. I was constantly fighting to survive, keeping my thoughts to myself and biding my time to escape the castle. I can't remember feeling a glimmer of happiness except maybe when we first left the foster home. That was very short-lived though because we were on the streets and thought we would die some nights. To this day, I STILL don't know why people buy into his religious bullshit. He's had a lot of followers, believe it or not, who actually believe what he preaches, how he's the only one to deliver them." Without realizing it, she began eating fries while talking, not doing it with her mouth full because that was gross and impolite.

There wasn't a doubt in his mind he wasn't right about Bray Wyatt. Now that he knew the man's backstory, how he had grown up, the abuse he had suffered as a child… well, any man who came from that kind of background and then used it as justification for what was happening now, which was way worse, that person was looking to be lied to by everyone. Lover. Friends. Anyone who didn't want to wind up with their head on a pole was lying and Wyatt either knew and didn't care or he was just that blinded by his past and the rage.

"Most of them are men, aren't they?" At her nod, he returned it. "Hate to say it, but men as a whole, we're pigs, darlin'. And look at that setup they got. They get to fight and fuck, without anything else to weigh 'em down. Men rule the world, and the world tends to go to shit."

"There are more women in the castle than men, and I know it bothers him a lot, which is why he's adamant about using Mythril to enhance the serum. Not only does the serum make the babies grow very fast, but it also speeds up the pregnancies. There's been some women that have died because…they couldn't handle the serum…" Abigail explained softly, feeling her stomach rumble and could see the disgust in Taker's eyes. Not that she blamed the man – what Bray was doing was unethical and wrong, defying the laws of nature. "If the women could fight back, which they won't because they're terrified, they would take down the army with no problem and could liberate themselves. It won't happen though because Bray has made sure to have his men instill fear into them. And as long as Malcolm remains under his thumb, there's no way to stop the serum production because he's the ONLY one who can make it. That's why I know he'll never get rid of Malcolm…Bray will just punish him and anyone close to him to get what he wants."