"Um, congratulations?" Katie said to break the silence. She felt very awkward. Caine's face was unreadable. Diana stared at her.
"Why thank you. That is something I should be congratulated on, after all; becoming pregnant at 15," she said sarcastically. Katie mumbled sorry.
"Let's change the subject," Diana said.
"Or we could just ride in silence-" Lana said but was interrupted by Taylor.
"OMG, guys, we like, have no food. And there's a pregnant lady on here, and don't pregnant people need a lot of food? And also, I seem to only be able to bounce a certain distance, but whatever. Where's Sam? I hope we find the others before we all die! Hey, look, there's a gas station over there! Let's get some food and clothes, I hope they have cute clothes. But it's a gas station, so probably not," she said in one breath.
"Or not," Lana muttered as Caine pulled the car over into the gas station parking lot.
"Won't they wonder why five unsupervised kids comes wandering in there? It's practically a gas station in the middle of nowhere- oh, and there's a flickering light. Fantastic," Katie said as she got out of the car.
"I think a haunted gas station is the least of our worries," Diana said. Katie assumed she was talking about the whole wanted-by-an-evil-power-hungry-general-separated-from-your-friends situation. But she noticed Diana was holding her stomach and looking at Caine, who hadn't said a word yet.
"Sooo, I guess I'll go first," Katie said. She looked at her companies, took one step, looked at them again, then sighed and started walking in. All the lights were on, although one was flickering.
Flickering lights is the first sign to get the heck out of somewhere, Katie thought to herself. But she continued into the gas station, with everyone else close behind her.
"Erm, hello?" she called out. No answer. "So, if this place is abandoned, can my friends and I, er, borrow some stuff without any intentions of returning it? If we are, say nothing."
Katie didn't hear anything, so she shrugged and bolted to the nearest shelf with chocolate candy bars on it.
"Oh my God, this tastes amazing," she said while eating a Kit Kat. Taylor started squealing in glee as she bounced from aisle to aisle, grabbing food and clothes.
For a gas station, it had a decent selection of clothes. Katie grabbed a tank top and shorts, and ran to the bathroom to change out of her work uniform.
When everyone was changed and full, they started planning what on Earth they would do next.
"We need to find the others, immediately," Lana said. Katie nodded her head in agreement.
"What do you think, Caine?" she asked, looking over at him. He was looking at Diana. Katie noticed for the first time how much her stomach had grown. Before she was wearing a T-shirt several sizes to large. Caine shrugged.
"I think we should get Diana to a hospitable," he said. Diana looked at him. Katie tried to understand what was going on between them, but their faces were unreadable. She couldn't tell if they were having a silent argument or a silent love-fest. Or if they were even looking at each other. For all Katie knew, Diana could have been intently staring at the sales rack behind Caine.
"We're going to go searching for the others. Tomorrow," Diana said once she looked away from Caine. Katie didn't notice the sun was already setting.
"What, so we're going to just aimlessly drive around until we run out of gas?" Taylor whined.
"Yes. We are," Lana said as she got up and grabbed a blanket. "Now, I'm going to bed in that corner. No one bother me."
"Good night," Katie called to her. Lana ignored her.
"I'll take first watch," Caine said. "Everyone else, sleep."
"I'll take second watch, then," Lana called out from her corner. Caine grunted in agreement.
Katie grabbed about ten blankets and made a fort. Diana saw her and rolled her eyes.
"Oh, can I sleep in there with you? It looks a lot comfier than sleeping in a corner," Taylor whispered. Katie nodded. Taylor curled up in a pile of blankets and quickly fell asleep. Katie couldn't seem to get her eyes closed. Then she heard Caine and Diana start to have a conversation.
"What do you think. About the baby?" Diana whispered. Katie desperately tried to block out their conversation. It sounded private.
"I don't know," Caine whispered.
"It has a power. It's already a three bar."
"What do you think the power is? Both of ours combined?"
"I don't know, Caine. I don't even think we will live through delivering it."
Katie didn't want to hear anymore. She was intruding on their conversation. But she was forced to hear more.
"We..?" Caine whispered.
"You must not have noticed that I'm not in the best of shape. It's hard enough for a normal 15 year old to give birth."
"That's why I wanted you taken to the hospitable."
"Yeah, where the General could easily find me. And it's not like we have insurance. Or parents/guardians."
"The hospitable would still take you in…"
"Well, I'm not going. As long as Lana's with me when it… starts… I'll probably be fine."
"You don't believe that, do you."
"No."
They were quiet for a while after that. Katie prayed to the Lord of sleep or whatever to knock her out. She didn't want to invade their privacy anymore.
"What should we name it?" Caine whispered after a while.
"I don't know. I don't know if it's a boy or a girl."
"Well, we could know if you just went to the hospitable…"
"Caine, give it a rest. I hope it's a girl, though."
"I think I would want a boy."
"Well, I hope you know we wouldn't name him Caine Soren the Second."
Caine snorted, which caused Taylor to mutter in her sleep.
"You better go to bed, Diana," Caine whispered. "I'll see you in the morning."
"Good night," Diana said. Katie heard her shuffle away and lay down on a blanket. Finally, Katie started to drift off to sleep, herself.
Jack sat shivering on the ground. He knew that nights in the desert could get very cold, since there was nothing the hold the heat. Already the ground was starting to feel ice cold. He scooted closer to Brianna. He could tell she was cold, too.
Jack sighed. He didn't think anyone would be wandering the desert at night, so they didn't need someone to stay watch. But Jack doubted he could fall asleep, anyways. He looked up at the sky. There were more stars than Jack had ever seen before in his life. Of course, he played around with Google Earth a bit, and looked at the constellations. But it was way better in real life.
Jack picked up Brianna's earpiece. He had already tested it out a few times, trying to get it to work. But he couldn't figure out how. Most likely out of range.
Dekka grunted, making Jack flinch. He saw her eyes open.
"Hi," Jack whispered. Dekka looked confused, probably wondering why Jack's shirt was wrapped around her leg. She slowly sat up.
"How long was I unconscious?" she whispered. Jack shrugged.
"How long have you been keeping watch?" she asked. Jack shrugged again. Dekka rolled her eyes.
"You're very helpful, Jack," she whispered sarcastically. "You can sleep, now. I'll keep watch."
"I don't think I can. I'm too cold," Jack said.
"And I'm not very tired," he added, which was a lie. Jack was exhausted. Dekka snorted.
"Sure," she said while watching Jack stifle a yawn.
"Does it still hurt?" he asked.
"Kinda. It feels cold," she replied.
"Well, you did lose a little blood. And it's cold outside and all we're wearing are shorts and t-shirts," Jack started to explain. He yawned again.
"Go to bed, Jack," Dekka ordered. Jack looked like he was about to argue, but his eyes dropped.
"Alright," he said as he laid backwards and fell asleep right away.