Do Or Die [Nuworld 4] (35 page)

lost my virginity. Two men took me that night. The first one isn’t the issue here, it was

drunken stupidity and afterwards I took a walk up in the hills to clear my head. That’s

when I was taken the second time by Andru. He was mean and evil. There was no

kindness or any sign of affection to his touch. He beat me and threw me around. I don’t

even know why. He just appeared out of the woods and attacked me.”

Meah couldn’t stop her tears and Dr. Digo stood and handed her a handkerchief.

“So you see, Doctor, I had to face this hunch when Andru told me I had to come

here. I could be pregnant, right? I mean, I’d never done it before and then I did it twice

and that could do it, right?”

Dr. Digo nodded but offered no sign of what he was thinking.

“Well, I don’t believe you do a physical on every soldier in the clan. You’d be

incredibly busy and I don’t see that you have a lot of assistants. I was sent here so you

could figure out if I conceived, and then I’m willing to bet that you’re supposed to

determine if the child is Andru’s or not. Well, if you were instructed to abort this

child…if there is one…please, Doctor, please don’t. I’ll just leave and no one here will

ever see me again. But please, don’t take this child. I kind of hope there is one. We’ll go

off somewhere where no one knows or cares about anyone here.”

“Well, child, you may be premature in determining the outcome of your story. Let

me run the blood test and then we can talk some more, okay?” He smiled in a fatherly

way, or the way she imagined a caring papa would smile. Not that her papa didn’t care

for her, she knew he did in his own way, she was just the youngest of three and there

wasn’t much attention left to give her…or status.

“Who else do you have to tell?” Meah felt deflated. Before yesterday, it hadn’t even

crossed her mind that she might be pregnant. Obviously, this was something Lord

Andru thought about a lot. She knew Dr. Digo would tell him if she was pregnant with

his child. What if he hunted her down and killed her if she wouldn’t abort it?

Dr. Digo slid the tube full of her blood into a canister and then pushed several

buttons on his keyboard. A screen popped up in front of them a minute later. The

doctor read it quickly, hit a few keys, looked at the next screen, then stood up and

sighed as a printout of the results slid on to a tray.

“What? What is it?” She tried to read over his shoulder but he switched screens too

quickly.

He turned around and rubbed his chin. “Meah girl, it looks like you’re getting your

wish.”

“I’m pregnant.” She felt an overwhelming sense of joy but then her heart slammed

inside her chest so hard she grabbed it from the pain. “What else?”

“It appears that Andru is the papa, there are no matches with any other man on my

files, unless you’ve been with someone outside this clan.”

She shook her head vehemently. “I know you’ve got your orders, Doctor. But could

I have a little bit of time, just to let all of this sink in? I need to think this through.

Please?”

“If I’m contacted I won’t lie. I want you to come back and see me again, okay? I can

send your file somewhere if you like, but I want to see you back in here.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” she said and left the trailer.

Chapter Twenty

Several days went by and no one approached her or treated her any differently than

before. She submerged herself in the report for Tara, stubbornly refusing anyone’s help.

By the end of the week, she walked the report to Tara’s trailer. She’d managed to almost

put her pregnancy completely out of her mind, but as she reached the trailer and heard

Ana and Tara talking inside, it suddenly dawned on her that they might already know

she was pregnant. If Dr. Digo reported to anyone it would be Tara. Would Tara tell

Ana? She felt dizzy from the realization of how little control she had over her life at the

moment.

“Meah, I was just planning on finding you. What is that?” Ana smiled and pointed

to the disc in her hand.

“My report.” Meah smiled politely at Tara and handed the disc to her.

“I look forward to reading it.” Meah wondered if Tara didn’t study her a moment

longer than necessary. If she did, Ana didn’t seem to notice.

“Now that’s over with. Let’s head down to the hills behind my house. They’re

implementing those new strategies into the war games today. Maybe we can get in on

it.” Ana waved goodbye to her mama and hurried Meah out of the trailer.

Ana led the way as they flew out of the clan site south toward the Gothman war

games. This wasn’t on the list of things her mama asked her to do today. She was to

focus her attention on Runner strategies…but the Gothman war games were more fun.

They fought with such guttural passion, it was always an incredible release of emotions

to engage in such combat.

“You seem rather quiet today.” Ana looked over at Meah as they parked their

gliders in the rocky field and then began searching the large group of men.

“I’m sure I’m just drained from finishing that report,” Meah said after a minute as if

she’d just heard Ana speak. Ana watched her friend’s eyes dart nervously from one

group of men to the other. “Is this what your mama wants us to do?”

“Not really,” Ana giggled. “It’s just more fun out here.”

“Oh.” Meah looked wide-eyed at some of the men who were almost twice her size.

None of the stories she’d read did them justice. “What are we supposed to be doing?”

“Are you okay?” Ana couldn’t figure out what the problem was but something was

definitely bothering Meah.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” She took a deep breath then turned and smiled. “I guess I’ve never

been around so many Gothman.”

“I consider these my people as much as I do Runners.”

“They are your people.”

“True. I know. We’ll just fly around for a while and I’ll explain some of the

maneuvers. Does that sound a little better than fighting them? I guess I forgot what

happened the last time you sparred with Gothman.”

Meah grimaced and Ana immediately regretted her thoughtless words. “I’m sorry.

Come on. We have to learn these maneuvers if we’re going to lead scouts north using

them.”

“Ana.”

Ana saw Meah literally jump at the sound of the barking command of her name.

She turned to see Gilroy and Andru approach them on foot and smiled.

“Come here.”

Ana walked toward them and Meah hesitated. When Andru continued toward her

she began to follow Ana.

“Alone.” Gilroy’s tone was not to be questioned and Meah froze.

“I’ll be right back.” Ana turned and squeezed her friend’s hand and saw the look of

complete terror cover Meah’s face. She turned, ignoring Gilroy, and took both of Meah’s

hands in her own. They were trembling. “You’re shaking,” she said quietly.

“I don’t wish to be left alone with that…um, your brother,” Meah whispered and

knew Andru moved in behind Ana even as she spoke.

“Go to Gilroy, Ana.” Andru spoke with such authority that Ana gave him a

wrinkled look of disgust.

“Fine. I’m going.” She rolled her eyes at Meah, trying to make her smile. “I’ll be

right back.”

“I’ll help you go over the Gothman maneuvers today.” Andru folded his hands

behind his back and studied the inky black braid that Meah twisted in her hand. Her

tiny hands trembled and he cursed himself for making her fear and loathe him so much.

He watched her gather her small body up and raise her face to look him square in the

eye. The amount of hatred that swam through those blue-green eyes of hers was

appalling.

“I’ll oversee the maneuvers with Ana today.” Her words sliced the air between

them.

“Remember where you are, Meah.” He spoke quietly and his tone was surprisingly

calm.

“I know exactly where I am and who I’m talking to.” And with that she tossed her

braid over her shoulder and marched off toward Ana. He rolled his eyes and stormed

off after her. He couldn’t have this type of treatment in front of his men.

Meah reached Ana quickly and grabbed her arm. “I’m ready to see the maneuvers

now.” She’d forced a calm into her voice.

Ana looked over Meah’s head at her brother who stood directly behind her.

Without thinking, she reached past Meah and patted her brother’s arm. She could feel

his inner struggle. Part of him wishing to wash his hands of her, letting her hate him all

she wanted, and part of him wishing to take on the challenge and seduce her into

submission. Their eyes met for only a moment but one look at her twin gave her an

idea.

“Why don’t we all fly over the maneuvers together?” She looked at Meah as if

trying to drive her point home. “We have to learn these as quickly as possible and these

two can certainly explain them better than I can.”

“As you wish.” Meah sounded indifferent and any panic that registered on her face

minutes ago was now firmly in check.

“Good.” Ana grabbed Meah and pulled her away from the two men calling over

her shoulder. “We’ll follow you. We can link our comms so we can talk to each other

and you can tell us what we need to know.”

Ana was impressed that the men listened to her. And the afternoon seemed to go by

fairly well. The four of them flew over the organized groups of small troops that

individually engaged in the maneuvers Tara had devised specifically for the Norther

country. Ana was thrilled when Meah obviously loosened up to ask questions. And

they were good ones. She listened intently as either Andru or Gilroy addressed each

question and explained the answer. By the time they finally landed close to where they

began, both women agreed they had a much better understanding of what was

expected.

“I’m absolutely starving,” Meah confided when she felt the men were out of

earshot.

“I want to get home to see Darien. Why don’t you come eat with us?” Ana offered

as she sat on her glider.

The men drove up to them then and Ana realized suddenly that their comms were

still linked. Meah must have just come to the same conclusion because she looked just

as surprised when Andru’s voice spoke through her ear although he was right next to