Inside the bunker.
Rex and Cherry were safe from the danger of the poisonous smoke and burning of the fire but they can't depend on staying in there forever so Rex tries to call Maria using his cellphone but there was no signal in the bunker. He wanted to let them know he was alright and Cherry was safe but the network was very poor and rigid.
"Shit!" He cuss when he couldn't reach anyone.
Cherry's groaning and small screams brought him back to focus, and he scoots down to her level and checked her body for burns or trauma. Her skin was clear and untouched from a single burn which relieved him.
"Thank God you are safe." He pulls her or a hug but she yells in his ear.
"I think the baby is coming!"
Rex cringes at the loudness but recovers to do the needful, its just both of them to deliver this baby but Cherry is counting on him to help her.
"Hold on, let me prepare the bed." He says and goes to get what is available to aid her delivery, during his search for some repellent bed sheets he found two radios behind some canned foods and tested it to ensure they were working and had enough battery life.
Rex tested the first simple radio and sighs when he realized it had some battery life and tested the second which looked like a handy mobile phone and that one also had enough battery life, but he had to test if they can communicate and it worked.
"Rex!..." Cherry shouts for him to hurry and he gingerly drops the radios on the nearest table. The shelter was a large one with many spaces and just two bedrooms. He found some of the needed supplies and goes to set up in one of the bedrooms having the bathroom.
When he was done he goes to get Cherry but she was already laying on the floor, holding her belly and trying to reach for another thing to grab.
"I gotcha..." Rex tells her and takes her to the bed where he tries to make her comfortable but she keeps moving to get up. "Cherry don't move, you can hurt yourself and the baby." Rex warns her and helps to keep her steady. After some minutes the first wave of contractions subsided and Rex is able to go in search of other things he needed.
He later came in with all the blankets, towels and a smaller bed kept for storage to lay the baby when it was born. Then he hurries to get scissors, two bowels of water and a rag which he dips inside the water and rinse out to use on Cherry's head. When he was done he finds a manual oxygen pump left in a corner and grabbed it, cleaned it and made his way to the room, then he phone rang.
Rex quickly ran to it and picks it before the network goes weak again.
"Hello! Hello! Hello!" He said repeatedly.
"Rex! Thank God! You are alright!" He hears Maria's voice followed by some footsteps in the background.
"Yes! Yes I am and so is Cherry." He replied and Maria sighs, covering her mouth to hold back her emotions.
"I was so worried. I thought you were consumed by the fire." She tells him shakily.
"Never! I won't ever leave you or Cherry, but we need help. Cherry is already in labor and the baby can arrive any moment. I need you to find us quickly so she can be taken to the hospital."Rex tells Maria.
"Rex, I don't know if that's impossible, the fire fighters are having a hard time handling the fire. Where are you now?"
"What?" He ask as the network began to break.
"I asked where are you?" Maria shouts.
"I can't hear you! The signal here isn't strong but I have two radios here, I want you to reach me on channel 6..." Rex shouts but the signal was gone.
"Maria! Maria! Damn it!" He slams the phone on the table and quickly turn on the radio in case Maria managed to hear him. "Come on..." He urged but nothing came up.
He hears Cherry scream and knows the contractions were back again so he brings along the oxygen and radios and placed them on a chair.
"Rex!- Hello? Rex can you read me?" He hears a woman's voice from the radio.
Rex was a little skeptical to pick it but he somehow found his way to the chair and grabbed one radio.
"Mia?" He questions slowly.
"Rex! It's me." Maria responded and they both sigh in relief.
"I thought you couldn't get the frequency."
"We had some help getting across to you, where is Cherry now?" She asked.
"On the bed, she' not doing so good with the contractions."
"Don't worry, we have midwives and doctors on standby, we are going to help you through this, so tell us.. is there another way we can get to you? Maybe another exit?"
"Another exit?" He whispers to himself and walked around a bit to think. "I- I think there might be one but it's outside the walls of the mansion." He explained.
"How do we find it?"
"I don't know Mia. It's been years since that thing was built and I haven't ever thought I would be using it."
"That's going to be a lot of work..." Maria mutters.
"That means we have a lot of grounds to cover." An officer says.
"And before we are able to find it the baby would have already been born." another person from the paramedic says.
"So, what do we do now?" Rex asks.
"Try to keep Cherry occupied so we can buy some time to find it and if she can't hold longer you will have to deliver the baby." Maria tells him.
Rex can't believe he will have to deliver his own child. He's never held a child before neither has he been close to one, he fears he might hurt or drop the child mistakenly.
"Please hurry, find the hatch and get to me fast." Rex begs.
"It would be easier if you have an idea where you think think the hatch's location is." Maria tells him.
"I think east!." He says.
"You're sure?" She asks.
"It is possible the location is around that region. Count five big trees forward, you will find the hatch." He tells them.
"Thank you big brother. In the meantime, the midwives will help you assist Cherry." Maria tells him.
"Alright, thank you Mia, I owe you this."
"Anything for you brother." She says and left with her radio while the midwives greets Rex with their own radio.
"Hello, Mr Angelo, I am nurse Divine-"
Can we cut the introduction and get into what I should do now?" Rex says nervously.
"Yes sir. How long have the contractions been coming?"
"I don't know but... but I think they are not far apart."
"It means the baby is ready to come." Divine explains.
"What should I do?"
"Based on the briefing from Cherry's files we are going to do this differently." One of the midwives tells Rex.
"Make sure you get rid of all items that can be posed hazardous and harmful to both the mother and child." Divine says and waits for him to give the clearance he has done it.
Rex goes to dispose some of the things not belonging to the room and come back to the radio.
"Done, what next?" He asked.
"Take off anything she is wearing, which is from the under like, underwear, pants... anything that may interfere with the birthing of the baby and wash your hands thoroughly to get rid of any hanging germs." Divine says.
"Alright!." He answers but nervously comes to take off Cherry's boxers because he fear seeing her sensitive part might cause him loss of control but had no choice since he was the only available person with her.
Rex takes her legs and tries to steady them on the bed but Cherry kept putting them down and almost kicked him on the face when a wave of contraction hits her. When he is finally able to get her legs in the position to take off everything under Cherry immediately join her legs together, to prevent him from removing anything.
"Cherry, don't worry, everything is going to be fine. I just have to take this off so the baby can come out, okay?." He talks to her even when he knows she is barely listening. Rex managed to take off everything she wore from the under and disposed them in a trash bin, and went to wash his hands again. He wasn't going to risk infecting his child with germs.
"Done, what next?" He asked Divine through the radio.
"You have to monitor when she starts to feel a push below, then she should push slow but not with force." Dive tells him.
"Slow but not with force?"
"And when it looks like she can't push ask her to breathe in and out through her mouth, this method will relax the pelvis so she can push again." Rex answered and turned to meet Cherry bur wasn't screaming or groaning.
"Cherry? Cherry?" He checked to see she was still breathing but her eyes were cold.
"Mr Angelo, is all well?" Divine ask and he goes to answer her.
"I think she just passed out."
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