Chapter 3: 3

NADINE’S P.O.V

I had only spent three days with Caine and I was just about ready to pull my hair out of my scalp.

I tried to be nice to him, I truly did. I brought some desert to share with him but he just stared at me like I was stupid until I was embarrassed enough to walk away. I tried to talk to him but he would either stare at me or flat out ignore me.

I had come to the conclusion that he was just a massive dick and I gave up trying to be nice to him.

“I have to say, it is kind of fun having guards around us all the time,” Joshua mused as we walked through the halls of the planetarium.

It was one of my favorite places to visit, it reminded me of the outside. There were days when it got incredibly suffocating to be in this bunker, I started coming here to breathe sand somehow, Joshua started to tag along. He was quite possibly the only friend I had here, it was only normal for me to share it with him.

He didn’t appreciate it as much as I did, but it was better than being alone.

“I don’t know,” I mumbled in response to his earlier statement. “I’m sure they have better things to be doing than watching us every second of the day.”

He just shrugged. “True, but they tell the best stories about the outside world. My soldier was telling me about one time when they were attacked by those monsters.”

“Your soldier has a name, Joshua.”

“He responds either way, so I don’t think it matters.”

I rolled my eyes. There was no getting through to Joshua sometimes. I knew he wasn’t trying to be mean sometimes, he was just ignorant.

“I spoke to my father earlier today,” Joshua began as we took our seats. The soldiers remained standing and I had to press my lips closed to stop from asking them to sit down too.

I knew from experience that they weren’t going to listen to me, or at least- Caine wasn’t.

“What did he say?”

“He was talking to me about having children. He asked if I had managed to convince you yet.”

I exhaled deeply. I knew this conversation was coming sooner or later. Joshua seemed on board with the idea but I wasn’t sold yet.

“Having a child isn’t something you do on a whim,” I told him. “It’s nine months of pregnancy plus labor and then I’m going to breast feed and I’ll raise this child for at least eighteen years.”

“There are maids who can do the raising. All you have to do is carry the child.”

From behind us, Caine snorted. I had gotten used to hearing the sound from him. Sometimes I wondered if that was the only sound he was capable of making. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him but I could tell that he was staring straight at me.

“Is there a problem, soldier?” Joshua asked, his cheeks a light shade of pink from embarrassment.

“Not at all, sir,” Caine drawled, his tone dripping with condescension. “There was something in my throat.”

“You should know better than to eavesdrop.”

“Is it eavesdropping if you’re having the conversation out loud?”

Joshua’s cheeks burned even brighter. He opened his mouth to speak but I grabbed his arm and shook my head. There was no winning with Caine, I knew that already and the last thing I wanted was to cause any trouble.

If one of the older men was here, Caine could get into serious trouble for the way he spoke to Joshua. I didn’t like the guy but that didn’t mean I wanted him to be punished. I didn’t know much about the punishments but I heard that sometimes they take food away from them or leave them outside for a night in grave instances.

“I don’t want to have a baby, Joshua,” I said causing him to finally turn to me. “If I have a child, I’m not going to raise that child with their father. I am not going to do it just because birth rates are declining. We are in a bunker. I want my child to grow up looking at the stars not a machine projection of it.”

“We may never get out of here, Nadine. They are getting rid of the monsters but it might take a while. We might be old when it happens.”

“Then I’ll never have kids,” I shrugged. It sounded so final but I knew on my inside that it was right. “My child will have a chance at life, not whatever this is.”

“You’re being emotional.”

“Maybe, but whoever said that being emotional was a bad thing?”

He didn’t have the chance to respond because one minute everything was fine and the next, the lights went off. A scream cut through the air and it took me a minute to realize that it was coming from me.

I heard a lot of panicked shouts and hurried footsteps but in that moment, I was frozen. I couldn’t see a thing, I didn’t know what to do or where to go. Everything seemed to be spinning until I felt a hand wrap around my upper arm and pull me to my feet.

“Come with me,” Caine’s gruff voice filled my ears. “I have to get you back to the room.”

“Joshua-” I managed out and he scoffed.

“He left, princess, his guard took him to safety. Are you going to come with me or are you going to keep wasting time?”

I allowed him pull me away. I couldn’t see anything but that didn’t seem to be a problem for Caine who expertly guided us through the halls. Every few minutes, we would bump into someone or hear someone screaming but everyone was so focused on getting to safety that no one paid attention to us.

“Do you know where we are going?” I asked. “Caine-”

“Shut up.”

“But-” my words died on my throat when I heard a sound. It was something unfamiliar, something inhumane, it was a low growl that sent shivers down my spine. “What is that?”

“Shut the fuck up,” Caine hissed before pulling me.

I didn’t know where we were going but I allowed him pull me. The snarls were growing louder with each passing second and I felt something I hadn’t felt in a long time- terror.

It was like cold hands climbing up my spine, my insides twisted and I thought I was dead when I heard a door open and Caine pulled me inside. Wherever we were, it was small because his body was completely pressed into mine as he slammed the door shut.

The smell of antiseptic filled my nose but it did nothing against the fear pounding against my ribcage.

“Caine, what was-”

His hand covered my mouth. “For fucks sake, will you shut up.”

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