
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/5726674.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
  Fandom:
      Mad_Max_Series_(Movies)
  Relationship:
      Furiosa_&_The_Wives, Cheedo_the_Fragile_&_The_Dag, The_Splendid_Angharad
      &_Capable, Furiosa_&_The_Vuvalini, Immortan_Joe/The_Organic_Mechanic,
      Immortan_Joe/Original_Female_Character(s), Immortan_Joe/The_Wives
  Character:
      The_Wives_(Mad_Max), Immortan_Joe, Furiosa_(Mad_Max), Original_Female
      Character(s), The_Organic_Mechanic, The_Vuvalini
  Additional Tags:
      Sexual_Slavery, Captivity, Emotional/Psychological_Abuse, Forced
      Marriage, Forced_Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Childbirth, Post-Traumatic
      Stress_Disorder_-_PTSD, Psychological_Trauma, Physical_Abuse, Sexual
      Abuse, Abduction, Hurt/Comfort, no_sex_between_the_wives_though, some
      graphic_scenes, Backstory, Implied/Referenced_Rape/Non-con, Rape
      Aftermath
  Stats:
      Published: 2016-01-15 Updated: 2016-12-15 Chapters: 9/? Words: 12660
****** History of the Wives ******
by stormthecitadel
Summary
     I was compelled to write this fic because I'm super interested in the
     backstory of Joe's wives, and the relationships they formed while in
     the vault. I'm starting with the first of his wives (original
     characters) and then progressing to the wives we know and love.
Notes
     The first part of the prologue is a retelling of Immortan Joe's
     backstory in my own words, just to set the scene and help people who
     haven't read/don't want to read the comics. This will be the only
     chapter from his perspective, don't worry. At this point I'm thinking
     I'll do a few moderate sized chapters on each wife/group of wives
     before I move on to the next? Unsure but we'll see where it goes.
     Creative and constructive criticism is welcome, I'd like to know what
     you think! (Please let me know if you think you spot any errors in
     facts that clearly aren't just my personal ideas)
***** Prologue *****
Colonel Joe Moore had been under no illusion that the end of days would arrive.
He had served long enough to know when a battle was lost, and that the Earth,
whom mankind had poisoned and devastated with wars for the last of Her blood
and breath, would soon give one last shuddering exhale, and perish. They had
killed the world, and with it, every last shred of civility and order. Mere
weeks before the power was switched off and never turned on again, Joe began
preparations. Rallying around him his brothers in arms, those who’d served
under him loyally, who knew their way around weapons and had no qualms about
ending lives with them, men of varying ranks, skills and assets to add to his
band of warriors. When society finally broke and all laws, morals and ethics
became null and void, Joe was ready.
Taking with him his wife and their sickly young son, they rode along the coast,
enlisting the strong and the valuable, killing the weak and those who denied
his generous invitation, taking their resources, their women and more
importantly, their vehicles. By destroying or absorbing other road gangs, it
wasn’t long before Joe had an impressive and intimidating convoy of tankers,
off-roaders, freighters, bikes and machines of war along with an army of
devoted followers. They were feared far and wide; none opposed them and were
left intact.
A routine run-down of a group of civilians by Joe’s scouts proved most
fortuitous, when a very fat, though admittedly clever man begged for his life
and offered up some tantalizing information. An aquifer existed in the outback,
an inexhaustible source of water pumped from an underground lake, protected in
a fortress of rock. A group of three buttes, jutting out of the desert
landscape. It was the perfect place to establish his new world order, one where
he would continue to enjoy an elevated position of authority, as the supreme.
At once they set off for this place, bringing the fat one with them, with the
intent to purge the current occupants and begin to build his citadel.
What happened next became legend. His gang at first tried to appear amenable to
the men inhabiting the aquifer by attempting to make trade. But the enemy were
seasoned killers themselves and intended to prove this a thousand times over to
defend their oasis. Any men of Joe’s group who attempted to scale the rock
walls of the impenetrable tower were shot down, and any other means to enter it
seemed impossible. However, Joe was fixated on claiming ownership of this
divine source of wealth. With his right hand men, Major Kalashnikov, a ruthless
weapons specialist, and Deepdog, a cunning strategist, he devised a plan to
silently ascend the wall in the dark of night with his most reliable fighters,
and use the expendable members of his convoy to distract their opponents in the
daylight and be shot down. A surprise ambush from the adjacent tower began the
bloody three day battle, and the rest of his people waited anxiously below.
When all had fallen silent by the second day, with no sighting of their men but
the slaughtered ones strung up over the edge by the enemy, no one could be sure
what was unfolding in the core of the tower. Hope lost and wearied by defeat,
the remainder of the convoy made to move on when Joe and Kalashnikov emerged
victorious, guns blazing in triumph and the leader of the opposition’s head
mounted on a pike. It was unlike anything his men had ever seen, he must truly
be immortal, come back from the dead to be their salvation. The Immortan Joe.
 
===============================================================================
 
 
Some fifteen-hundred days since the takeover of the citadel, Immortan Joe stood
at the same opening of the tunnel from which he’d appeared that fateful day. It
was now a balcony, carved into the rock, serving as the podium where he
addressed his people and blessed them with aqua-cola. Hewn into the walls of
the natural tower was his logo, a colossal flaming skull, and his balcony sat
in the mouth. This was both literally and figuratively the mouth of the
citadel.
It was with no small deal of pride that Joe surveyed his domain. He had built a
new world from the ashes of Before. The abandoned oil refinery and lead mine
his crew had discovered even before the citadel belonged to him, were now
restored and functioning, keeping the tanks of his fleet full, and well
protected with arms. He had ordered a hydroponic system built to grow food atop
the buttes, a steady asset for trading and feeding his army of war boys. Word
had spread far and wide about the refuge, food and water that could be found at
the Citadel if you were strong or useful. They flocked there in the thousands,
in hopes that the next time The Immortan descended on that heavy-duty
contraption, he may choose them.
At first Joe chose people whose professions could be of help in building and
maintaining his empire. People who in the Before had been construction workers,
plumbers, electricians, scientists, mechanics, cooks, gardeners and the like.
Even in the beginning when Joe’s following had still been a road gang he had
collected people with valuable skills and knowledge such as these, much to the
bemusement of his crew. This was why he reigned supreme, Joe reminded himself,
he was worthy because he had foreseen a future where these assets would be
needed, and he, with his people’s best interests at heart had sought them out.
Now the only people Joe would accept were men strong enough to fight or work,
boys healthy enough to be raised for battle, or lactating women to add to his
stock of milkers.
Joe was troubled. To his people, he was the Immortan. To himself, he was a man
who had inevitable death in his future just as surely as anyone else. He had
not been exempt from the poisoned air of Before. He had taken to wearing a gas
mask long before The Fall to stop pollutants from choking him. But they were
well engrained in his lungs nonetheless. His breathing was becoming
increasingly laboured; he coughed and choked in the night. Lesions and lumps
bubbled to the surface of his skin, causing him considerable pain and
discomfort. His joints already gave him trouble and it took considerable effort
to walk tall like a god. When he was gone, the Citadel and his newly built
world would crumble without another strong hand to lift it up. He needed an
heir. Fleetingly he considered choosing a fit young apprentice to educate in
the ways of a leader, but no, this heir must have divine right by blood. His
wife had been killed by a stray bullet on the journey to the Citadel, in a
shootout with some scavenging Buzzards. Joe slaughtered them all in a rage;
perhaps the last of his mercy had been stripped from him that day. Joe didn’t
think he had the capacity to love anymore. But then again, he told himself,
love and marriage were two separate things. And to have an heir, Joe would need
a wife.
Wheezing slightly, with prickling pain in the skin of his back, Joe made his
way to visit the person he trusted perhaps more than anyone in his new world,
his doctor. Trying not to favour his bad knee too obviously, he strode along
the hallways with purpose; every soldier he came across saluted him with a
bowed head and the sign of the V-8. He removed his gas mask as he entered his
quarters, where Dr. Graves was tending to Joe’s son, Corpus. The boy had been
born exactly 550 days before The Fall, and like many children in his
generation, had been formed from imperfect cells and mutated genes. When Joe
first laid eyes on him, a tiny pink thing with short limbs twisted and curled
against his torso, encased in a plastic box amid a jumble of wires and tubes,
he thought his son couldn’t possibly live and maybe he ought not to.
“It’d be cruel to prolong his suffering. What quality of life would he have,
Prima?” he’d said gently to his wife. “You heard them say he wouldn’t life a
full lifetime”.
“Almost all children are destined to live half-lives nowadays, and you also
heard them say there’s nothing wrong with his brain, just his bones. He’ll be
able to lots of things”. She’d looked at him imploringly, her piercing gaze
overflowing with tears.
Joe couldn’t argue with that. Their little boy had been among the last people
to receive surgery in a real hospital before the power had been turned off for
good, leaving a long puckered scar on his chest as a reminder of his fortune.
Babies born twisted like that in the Wasteland almost never survived infancy.
Prima had been right about Corpus, the boy was sharp and his hunger for
knowledge was never completely satisfied, however many wordburgers he had his
carer read to him. Even as Joe stepped through the doorway of his sparsely
furnished parlor, Corpus held up a little wooden logic puzzle he’d just solved
from his make-shift wheelchair constructed from bric-a-brac.
“Look, Pa”, he called out proudly to his father, breathing in an odd rhythm,
with the help of an oxygen tank feeding him clean air through a nasal cannula
while the Doctor listened through his stethoscope.
“Good lad”, Joe praised gruffly, striding over to a wooden chest against the
far wall to retrieve another challenge for his son.
“Now try this one”, he rummaged in the chest and then held up a puzzle
constructed from many different metal rings.
Corpus took it eagerly and began to inspect it, while Dr. Graves, or as he was
more colloquially known, ‘The Grim’, removed his instrument from his ears and
hauled himself up from his crouching position. He was a tall man, like Joe,
with a scrubby black beard and a pinched face. He wore a pair of spectacles
with one cracked lens and looked down his nose through them. He motioned to his
son, a boy of about 4000 days who had an oddly shaped head and protruding
bottom lip and had been observing from a rickety chair.
“Now I want you to take Corpus’ temperature like I showed you and add it to my
notes from today, while I speak with Joe”, he instructed. The boy nodded and
rummaged through the medical bag beside him.
Joe lead Grim into his ‘study’ a small room with charts and maps on the walls,
a low table and two battered cane chairs. Sinking down into one of them he
asked his confidante, “How is he?” while allowing himself a small groan as his
joints protested.
“Well enough,” Grim answered carefully, “Boy’ll live for a while yet, assuming
no complications arise. But you know he’s no full-life, Joe.”
Joe nodded slowly, he knew that indeed. “See your lad’s taking to his future
profession like a natural”, he indicated back towards the parlour with a jerk
of his head.
Grim shrugged one shoulder but allowed himself a small, proud smile. “He could
work harder, but he’s got the brains for it that’s for sure.”
Joe sat silently for a moment, and then leaned forward in his seat, his fingers
linked and elbows resting on his knees. “I want to secure my legacy also. I
need a healthy son. Full-life. Corpus is a bright boy, but he’s not fit to take
over when I’m gone, if he’s even alive himself.”
Grim mulled over this for a few moments, seemingly reading Joe’s mind and
making calculations in his head. “You’ll need yourself a healthy female.
Preferably young, and with no lumps or bumps. She’ll need to live in climate-
controlled environment while she carries the child. I have experience in
obstetrics, this can be done.” He confirmed, now looking Joe in the eye and
nodding his head.
Joe exhaled the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. “I’ll have a place
built, clean air and water, the works”. Anticipation built up in his chest,
along with a bout of hacking coughs. Grim waited for him regain control of
himself before speaking.
“I’ve come up with something that should help your breathing, an apparatus
similar to Corpus’ tank, but much more befitting the Immortan.” He rose to
retrieve it from the parlor, and Joe waited curiously. Grim returned with what
looked like a pilot’s oxygen mask, decorated with horse teeth to create an
unnerving grin. Attached to the mask was plastic conduit piping leading to a
bag that reminded Joe of bellows, with leather straps and buckles.
“I drew the design, some black-thumbs and sparkies put it together. Let me show
you.” Grim raised the contraption and moved towards Joe, who allowed the mask
to be placed over his mouth and the strap buckled around the back of his head.
The bag rested on his upper back and was secured with more straps over his
shoulders and under his arms, meeting in the middle of his chest and buckled
tight. Grim flipped a switch at the bottom of the bag and a low whirring told
Joe a mechanism was functioning. He inhaled slowly and deeply, tasting clean
air like a soothing balm in his lungs.
“That’s good,” he breathed with relief, then widened his eyes at Grim when he
heard his voice through the mouth piece. It was gravelly and menacing. Grim
looked extremely satisfied with his work.
“Now there’s a sight to behold”, he grinned as wide as Joe’s mask and nudged
him toward the small shaving mirror mounted on the wall behind him.
Joe turned and admired himself, "Fuku-shima". He looked powerful, he looked
threatening, he looked like a leader his people could fear and respect.
***** Chapter 2 *****
Chapter Summary
     We meet the first of Joe's wives in this chapter, I'm planning on a
     few chapters for her particular story before moving onto other wives.
Chapter Notes
     Also if anyone wants to cry, read "Charge of the Light Brigade" by
     Alfred, Lord Tennyson and think of the War Boys.
Blessed woke with a start and did not immediately recall where she was. It was
much darker than she was used to, a thorn of panic dug into her chest for a
breathless few seconds until she felt a familiar pat-pat-squeeze on her
shoulder.
“You’re alright Lovie, I’ve gotcha,” said the soothing voice.
“Auntie,” Blessed breathed a sigh of relief. “I’d forgotten we’d left home.”
She heard Auntie shuffle around in the dark and the rustle-clatter of her
rummaging in her bag. She made out the shape of the water canister in Auntie’s
hand, moving slowly towards her face.
“Have yourself a decent drink, Darl’. It’s right hot out there today.”
Blessed took it gratefully, but only allowed herself two small sips from their
precious water, the canister already felt unsettlingly light. She offered the
canister back to Auntie and indicated for her to drink too.
“None for me, Bless,” she shook her head with a small smile, “I had some before
you woke.” Blessed knew this was a lie, but allowed her to tuck the canister
back into the bag. They both crawled carefully out of the small cave where
they’d found refuge from the chill of the desert night, temporarily blinded by
the brightness of the day and stunned by the heat. Eyes streaming, they
stretched and let themselves adjust to the environment before they began their
day’s walk. It had been three days since they left the small settlement on the
outskirts of Gas Town, the place they called home. An Imperator and a handful
of crew had come and shouted to the masses, that any young females, be they
healthy and able-bodied, were to present themselves to the Immortan Joe at the
Citadel within ten days. Rumour spread through the camp like a virus, that the
Immortan was searching for a wife, and Auntie had immediately collected what
little possessions they had into a thin and patched canvas bag.
“This is your chance, Blessed,” she’d urged, “You’d want for nothing if the
Immortan took you on”. Blessed had cried and insisted that she did not want to
go, that she wanted to stay with Auntie but they’d set out just as soon as they
received their next water ration. Hot sand crept into Blessed’s tattered shoes
as they walked. She and Auntie had each wrapped a length of fabric around their
heads and shoulders to protect against the sun, but it still seemed to burn
through to her neck and boil her blood. The towers of the Citadel never seemed
to get any closer. It was another whole day of walking before they reached it,
the sun was low in the sky and the cold was setting in. She and Auntie weaved
between the hordes of people gathered around and continued to the very heart of
the stronghold. Settling down on the ground, Blessed allowed Auntie to wrap her
in a rug from the canvas bag and leaned into her embrace when she felt her arm
around her. Tears welled up in her eyes and she gave herself away with a
sniffle.
Auntie began to rock her slowly, “Hush now, Bless. You’re gonna be just fine.”
Blessed continued to sob quietly. ”I can’t leave you, Auntie. I just can’t.”
“You can and you will,” Auntie said firmly, taking Blessed’s face in her hands,
“Your future should be for living, Blessed. Not just surviving.” Neither spoke
another word until morning. When the sun was high in the sky and beating down
on the crowd, there was an air of anticipation. Blessed’s mousy hair had been
deftly untangled and braided by Auntie, she’d also splashed the worst of the
dust and dirt from her face with a small handful of water. She felt
overwhelming nausea that had nothing to do with the heat and smell of hundreds
of unwashed bodies. Clinging to Aunties small wiry frame and feeling weak in
the knees, she and the many others watched a platform be lowered towards them
on thick chains.
Standing on the platform were three Imperators, looking fearsome with black
grease across their foreheads. It ground to a halt a little way from the
ground, so it wouldn’t be overrun by people trying to be lifted up, Blessed
supposed. It was dead quiet for several moments before one of the Imperators
shouted, “Any full-life females, step forward!”
There was a surge in the crowd as people rushed toward the platform, Blessed
felt Auntie gently push her ahead and panicked as she was swept up in the flow,
desperately trying to turn around and find Auntie again. One Imperator was
pointing out girls for the other two to lift up, most raised their arms and
pushed off from the ground when the men grabbed them, glad to be chosen.
“That one.” The main imperator jabbed a finger at Blessed, and a pair of strong
arms reached down to her. Feeling utterly faint, she took a wobbly step forward
and lifted her hands to the sky. She was surprised by how swiftly the imperator
pulled her up, as if she weighed nothing at all. She huddled in the centre of
the platform with about ten other girls, it seemed Blessed was the last to be
chosen as the imperators were now pushing other people away with long poles.
The platform lurched and began the climb to the top, within seconds they were
higher up than Blessed had ever been and she felt dizzy. As they came to a
stop, she found herself rushing to the edge to look down, an Imperator flung
his arm out to stop her from going over, “Fuku-shima, Girlie!”
Blessed frantically scanned the crowd below and spotted Auntie waving up at
her. Her chest felt tight and she couldn’t stop the tears from leaking out. She
was ushered into a cavernous room with the other girls. Young boys painted in
white were climbing down from what Blessed supposed was the mechanism that
lowered and raised the platform. A tall, thin man with a black beard was
waiting for them, and he looked down his nose through his glasses at each of
the girls’ faces. “Follow me if you please,” he said in an oily voice.
***** Chapter 3 *****
Chapter Summary
     Bit of a trigger warning for an invasive medical examination in this
     chapter. In all honesty if you are someone who is easily triggered or
     is uneasy reading about any kind of violence, you should reconsider
     reading because I think I'll need to update the tags and warnings.
     Hope you enjoy though, let me know what you think
Chapter Notes
     Also if anyone was unsure how Blessed's name is pronounced, its said
     like Bless-id. :)
The man led them down a long corridor into a well lit room, it had a bunch of
chairs against one wall and a medical table with a privacy screen nearby. There
was a boy with a medical bag waiting for them. The tall man turned to face the
girls once they were well inside the room, “If you would all please wait your
turn to be examined, my assistant will take some details from you,” he nodded
towards the chairs and then spoke to a short girl with curly black hair, “I
will see you first.” He guided her towards the medical table and drew the
privacy screen as she climbed up. Blessed and the other girls pulled up a chair
each and waited as the boy came around with a pad and pencil, writing down
their names and ages, tearing off the piece of paper with their information on
it and giving it to them to hold.
Blessed was the third girl to be examined. The first girl had been asked to
move her chair to the other side of the room and wait, but the second had been
asked to sit back down with the others, Blessed wasn’t sure what this meant.
When she was beckoned forward by the bearded man, she stumbled a little and
flushed red. He took the paper from her and drew the privacy screen around
them, then patted the medical table. Blessed pulled herself up and sat with her
legs hanging over the edge.
“Blessed, 17.” He read from the paper and then looked at her for a long while
without speaking, seeming to scan her from top to bottom. Blessed shifted on
the table uncomfortably. The man picked up some medical tools from a tray, she
remembered some from a doctor’s visit she’d had as a child. He looked in her
ears, in her mouth, studied her eyes. He did something funny to her arm by
wrapping it tight in a black band and squeezing a rubber bulb connected to the
band with a tube. The pressure around her arm increased until Blessed thought
it would surely drop off, the man read something on a gauge and then turned a
dial to release the pressure, much to Blessed’s relief.
He asked her to lie back on the table and lifted her shirt to feel her tummy.
“Do you have monthly bleeding?” he asked her somewhat casually, though Blessed
was taken aback.
“Yes”, she answered, her voice sounding small.
“When was the last time you bled?” he asked, still pressing her tummy in
different places.
“Uh, about nine days ago, I think.”
The man asked her to remove her underwear and prop her legs up on the table.
Blessed looked at him a little dumbly and he had to ask her again. Feeling
embarrassed, she pulled off her somewhat holey undies and balled them up in her
hand. The man pushed her knees further apart and she cringed as he began poking
about in her private area.
“Have you had sexual intercourse?” he asked blandly, not looking at Blessed.
She went red in the face and stuttered, “N-no”.
“Hmm,” said the man, she wasn’t sure if this meant anything in particular. He
pulled out a medieval looking tool and now looked Blessed in the eye.
“I’m going to insert this into your vagina, please keep your muscles relaxed.”
Blessed instinctively clenched every muscle in her body as she thought of that
cruel looking thing inside her. It was sore and deeply uncomfortable, Blessed
desperately tried to think of anything else than what was happening down there.
Suddenly it was over and he was asking her to sit up again. He wrote down many
things on her slip of paper and put it down on the tray.
“You can get down now, please take your chair and sit with the girl at the far
end of the room.” Blessed fairly jumped from the table, glad to get away. She
fetched her chair and sat next to the curly haired girl, shooting her a shy
smile, which Blessed was reassured to see the girl return. They waited some
time for all the girls to be seen, only one other girl joined them. The bearded
man called for an Imperator and indicated to the larger group of girls.
“Come with me” he said gruffly, and the girls all looked at each other,
standing unsure. He turned tail and lead them into the hall, the bearded man
doing the same with Blessed’s group. Only they went separate ways. The
Imperator lead the others back down the way they’d come and one girl exclaimed,
“Wait, why aren’t we going with them?” The Imperator did not answer. Down the
winding corridor Blessed and the other two followed the bearded man, until they
came to a large circular metal door that he opened with a wheel. Through a
short tunnel they went until it opened out into a large foyer.
Blessed was caught by surprise. The air in here was sweet and clean, she saw
the other girls sniffing at the air too. In the middle of the foyer was a pool
of the clearest water Blessed had seen in a very long time, and she itched to
jump into it. But they were ushered over to some chairs to sit down. Descending
the curved stone staircase from the room above, came a figure who could only be
the Immortan Joe. She’d heard of his legend from others at Gas-Town, they’d
said he could scare away demons just by looking at them, that he was tall and
thick as a tree from the Before, and just as strong. They weren’t wrong about
that, Blessed thought. His gaze passed over each of the girls and Blessed felt
herself shiver a little.
“Only three?” he said to the bearded man, gruffly, sounding disappointed even
through his mask.
“The others were…Unfit,” he shrugged, unconcerned.
The Immortan sighed, “Thank you, Grim. I will come and find you later.”
The man clearly named Grim, was dismissed. He nodded and headed for the door,
but then turned to face the Immortan, “That one is ready tonight, if you so
desire,” he said, pointing to Blessed, whose heart jumped. She was startled to
see him moving towards her when she turned back around to face him. He held out
his hand to her, and she slowly placed her own in it.
“And what might your name be?” He asked, not unkindly.
“Blessed,” She answered quietly, her own voice sounding alien in her ears.
“That you are,” he said, looking her up and down, she thought he might be
smiling under his mask. He took it off to explain to talk to them further and
Blessed learned that the girl with curly black hair was called Tala, and that
the other girl, thin and lanky with short blonde hair, was called Serene. He
explained to them that this was where they would live from now on. They were
allowed to bathe as often as they wanted in the little pool and he promised
that there would always be clean water to drink and three meals a day. There
were books to read, a piano to play and paper with writing and drawing
materials. There were even beds, like the ones from Before with mattresses and
frames that held them up off the ground.
“Such is the privilege of being my wives,” he said a little haughtily, “And
there will always be guards posted outside, so you needn’t be afraid at all.”
Blessed wondered what there was to be afraid of in this part of the Citadel.
Immortan Joe promised to return in the evening to visit them, but for now he
had ‘business’ to attend to, and he left them alone, the door clanking behind
him.
***** Chapter 4 *****
It was quiet for a few minutes, nobody seemed to know what to say or do.
Blessed felt awkward and avoided looking at the others, instead inspecting
their new home. It was so bright and airy in the foyer because the roof and
side facing outwards were made of glass, in a sort of dome shape. The ceiling
was high, it felt too big of a space above them. The silence was becoming
deafening, she heard herself say, “Where have you come from?” just to break it.
“North of the Citadel,” Tala answered shyly, “Was part of a roaming clan up
there, no real family. Heard about this wife gig and thought I'd try and find a
more secure life.” She smiled and Blessed saw she had lovely straight teeth.
Tala was really rather beautiful, her skin was quite dark, like the shells of
the walnuts Blessed had enjoyed in her childhood. She looked at her own arms,
pasty in comparison and wished her skin was able to tan in the sun. Tala’s
black curls bounced when she turned her head and Blessed longed to reach out
and stroke them.
“What about you,” Tala asked Serene, who jumped a little at being addressed.
“Well, uh, I came from Barter Town. Mum put me on a trading rig straight here
when she heard about the Immortan looking for healthy females, said I had a
good chance to move up in the world.” She giggled a little manically, but it
was obvious she wanted to cry. Blessed reached out to take her hand, and Serene
jumped again.
“My Auntie and I walked from Gas Town, I miss her already too.” Blessed said
quietly. Serene nodded, clearly swallowing a lump in her throat. She was
clearly a naturally thin girl, made even thinner by probably missing out on too
many meals. She definitely wasn’t ugly though, just a different kind of pretty
to Tala. She spoke in a jittery kind of way, many freckles covered her body,
especially on her face, and she was taller than both Blessed and Tala. Blessed
judged Serene to be about the same age as her, and Tala around twenty years
old.
“What d’you reckon…should we try the pool?” Tala nudged Serene, trying to cheer
everyone up. They all removed their shoes, and Tala completely disrobed,
obviously not afraid of nudity. Blessed and Serene balked at first, then
completely stripped themselves, figuring they were to live together from now
on, it didn’t really matter. They all exclaimed in delight as they slipped into
the water, its cool embrace soothing Blessed’s many aches from her long walk to
the Citadel. They splashed around for a bit, enjoying a nice soak and helping
each other get sand out of their hair. Clean linen was found in a chest in
their shared bedroom, they each fashioned a sort of outfit to wear, as their
own clothes were rather dirty and threadbare. There was a full length mirror in
their bedroom, and Blessed saw the entirety of her reflection for the first
time in years. She could see how much she’d grown in that time, now sporting
longer legs and some womanly curves. Her teeth were a bit crooked, though they
were in good condition. Touching her straight mousy brown hair, she wondered if
she ought to try and cut it a bit shorter and neater now she had the means to.
Maybe she’d ask the others to help her later.
A bowl of different fruits sat on a table back in the foyer; they shared a
piece of each kind, laughing at the faces each other made at the sour one. A
large pitcher of cool water was drained completely as they drank in silence,
quenching what had been years of constant unsatisfied thirst. Blessed felt a
pang of guilt as she thought of Auntie and how she had gone without to make
sure Blessed had something to drink each day of the journey here. Thinking of
her last view of Auntie far below her on the platform, she hoped that she
wasn’t worried about her, that she was proud that Blessed was on her way to a
better life. Feeling desperately sad and trying to push those thoughts out of
her mind, she inspected the stacks of books that were piled high against the
staircase.
Running her fingers along the spines of some at her eye level, she enjoyed
feeling the different textures of the coverings, some leather, some paper, some
embossed with patterns or stamped with silver and gold foil lettering. She read
aloud some of the titles to Serene and Tala; “Shakespeare’s Complete Works,
Treasury of Children’s Classic Fairy Tales, Great Expectations, Best Loved
Poems, Moby Dick, The Language of Flowers.” Blessed recognised most of these,
she used to enjoy reading, before books became scarce, though ones with old
style language she found hard to understand. The Immortan clearly collected
these books among other artefacts that had become rare since the Fall. It was a
vault of treasures and Blessed felt uneasily that they had just been added to
it. She picked out the book of fairy tales and sat down to read, Serene chose a
crime novel and Tala quietly tapped out a tune on the piano.
All three girls were startled when the door to the vault clunked open. Immortan
Joe had returned just as dusk was setting in, Serene had already lit the oil
lamps and bathed the foyer in a golden glow. “Good evening, my girls,” he
greeted them after removing his horrid mask. “I see you’ve all washed, you look
lovely,” he said plucking one of Tala’s curls to make it bounce.
“Thank you, Sir” She murmured in reply.
The Immortan waved a hand to dismiss her comment, “You may call me Joe. We are
husband and wives after all”.
He had Tala show him what she’d been playing on the piano and they discussed
music a little, he pulled a book of sheet music from one of the stacks and told
her to choose a song to learn and play for him next time. He asked Serene and
Blessed what they’d been reading, and chuckled a little when Blessed held up
the book of fairy tales.
“I came to see how you are settling in, but I must let you retire for the night
as I’m sure it’s been an overwhelming day of changes”, he stood and kissed
Serene and Tala on their cheek. But when he turned to Blessed, he said to her
surprise, “Let's go upstairs and talk.”
***** Chapter 5 *****
Chapter Summary
     Rating has been updated to explicit for this chapter, major trigger
     warning for sexual violence.
Blessed was confused but nodded her head, and followed him up to the second
floor room, shrugging at the others as they looked over their shoulders at her
on the way to their bedroom. Joe lit the oil lamp and Blessed saw a larger bed
than the ones downstairs, there was also a small side table with little pots of
white powder and some green paste that smelled vaguely swampy. Joe sat down on
the bed and motioned for Blessed to do the same. Perching on the mattress next
to him, she waited for Joe to speak. But he just looked at her, searching her
face with his piercing eyes, then he reached out and stroked her face.
Finally he spoke, “Are you happy, Blessed?”
She didn’t know what he would have said if she’d answered that she’d much
rather be with her Auntie and that she could see herself going stir-crazy here.
But instead she answered,“Yes, very.” That seemed to please him, and he hummed,
still looking her over.
His fingers traced her chin, then her collar-bone, trailing down to her breast.
Blessed was very uncomfortable. She knew what being Joe’s wife would mean,
since her unpleasant appointment with the Grim. The ins and outs of human
reproduction were taught in the last year that she had been able to attend
school. It was the bare minimum of facts and diagrams of what lay inside her,
but Blessed felt she understood her body. Males seemed a different species
entirely. Many a man had made a grab at her back at the settlement with the
same look in their eye that Joe had now. She’d heard what went on in the shared
tents but could not visualize the act.
A knot of apprehension and nerves churned in her stomach as Joe placed a hand
in the middle of her chest and gave a small push, meaning for Blessed to lie
down. She scooted further back onto the bed and lay with her head on a pillow.
Joe began to undo the knots of her improvised outfit, stopping to caress the
skin of different body parts while Blessed squirmed internally. Once Blessed
was completely naked and feeling more vulnerable than she’d ever been, Joe
removed his own shirt, boots and trousers. She got her first glimpse of a
penis, it was a bit uglier and shorter than she’d thought it would look, she
thought it was curious how it stood out from his body stiffly. Joe hovered over
Blessed, grazing her forehead with his lips and touching her breasts, she felt
his penis against her thigh, warm and hard, and bile rose in her throat.
Joe’s body odour was quite overpowering, and his breath was even more
horrendous, she tried to breathe as shallowly as possible. He parted her legs
and probed the opening of her privates with one finger, touching on some part
of her that sent an unpleasant jolt through her body. He chuckled at her
reaction and with a sudden jabbing movement, inserted two fingers inside her.
Blessed couldn’t stifle the shriek of pain that forced its way out of her. She
was still reeling after Joe had removed his fingers, glistening with the clear
substance that Blessed always found in her underwear about a week after she
bled. He showed it to her and said “Ripe and ready” as if she would know what
this meant. He positioned himself so their pelvises were inline, holding his
penis just at the entrance to her vagina, and looked her in the eyes as he made
the first thrust.
No sound escaped Blessed’s mouth, though she tried to howl in shock and pain.
Joe began to slowly move his hips in a rhythm, and kissed Blessed on the lips
as she was still processing. She felt an unbearable pressure and tearing pain
as she was stretched on the inside. Focusing on the ceiling and biting down
hard on her bottom lip, Blessed waited what felt like an eternity until the
speed of Joe’s thrusts increased and his breathing was heavy, one last
agonising jab and his body shuddered. He groaned and collapsed on top of her,
crushing her with his weight. Just as she thought she might suffocate he pushed
off her, withdrawing himself from her body, she whimpered with the pain of it.
His penis was wet with blood and some whitish fluid, he wiped it off with some
of Blessed’s clean linen and then patted her shoulder, “Good girl,” he smiled,
still puffing and his voice sounding wheezy.
Standing up to pull on his trousers and boots, he ignored Blessed who covered
her eyes with her hands and shook silently, in shock. She only got off the bed,
legs wobbling and weak, when Joe made for the door and then looked back at her
expectantly. She dressed clumsily in the linen, leaving the soiled piece on the
floor and nearly tripped down the stairs following him. At the bottom step he
kissed her again on the forehead, “I’ll leave you to sleep now,” he patted her
tummy gently, “If you are indeed blessed, then we’ll soon have a son.” He
smiled and pulled on his mask before leaving the vault, and Blessed,
dumbfounded and quivering in the dark. Stumbling over to the bathing pool, she
knelt down to scoop up some water and splash her face. No one had ever
mentioned pain when sex was alluded to. The sounds Blessed overheard back home
had only ever been ones of obvious pleasure. What had just happened to her? Was
that really it?
She dried her face on the hem of her wrap and took a long drink of water before
going to the bedroom, quietly as she could. It was too dark to see their faces,
but their breathing told her that Serene and Tala were awake. She said nothing,
but climbed into the empty bed next to Tala and gathered the quilt around her.
It started out as silent tears leaking out, then she felt the sobs racking her
body, small pathetic sounds escaping into the dark.
“Blessed?” Tala called out gently, sounding apprehensive.
Blessed rolled over and pulled her head into the sweet musty-smelling embrace
of the quilt, stifling some of the noise. She lay awake for some time after the
others drifted off, wishing for her Auntie and feeling utterly wretched.
***** Chapter 6 *****
Blessed woke with dull throbbing pain radiating her lower half. Easing herself
off the bed, she winced and hobbled out to the foyer, her two companions still
sleeping, Serene somewhat fitfully. Through the glass of the dome she saw it
was barely dawn, the sky a pale orange canvas dusted with purple, a handful of
stars still lingered. Blessed took a long drink to rid her mouth of the foul
taste sleep had somehow conjured up. She waited as long as possible to use the
lavatory, putting off the inevitable discomfort until she couldn’t hold it
anymore. Gritting her teeth and squeezing her eyes shut against the tears, she
felt stinging as she urinated and gingerly dabbed herself dry when she was
done.
The cool water of the bathing pool provided some relief as she slowly and
carefully washed her body clean. She did not attempt to sit, but sank down a
little and allowing the water to take some of her weight. Blessed tried to
remember how old she had been when she last went swimming. She must have been
very small because her memories of the indoor public pool filled with children
she knew and grew up with in her hometown also contained her mother, smiling
and twirling little Blessed around. It was a comforting thought and she slowly
rotated in place, eyes closed as the water trailed through her fingers and
allowed herself to miss her mum, who had died along with countless others in
the struggle to survive the new world.
“Good morning,” Tala spoke quietly as she pattered into the foyer, startling
Blessed out of her brief reprieve. “How are you?” The way she looked
searchingly at her face, Blessed knew she meant more than just a polite
greeting.
“Fine…Thank you.” Blessed replied, ducking her head away from Tala’s gaze.
Tala came to sit on the edge of the pool, feet dangling in the water. “Last
night I thought maybe I heard… Are you hurt?”
Blessed chanced a look at Tala’s face and the instant their eyes locked, she
began to weep softly. Tala held out her arms and gathered Blessed up, gently
holding her against her warm body. Blessed let herself relax into the embrace
and simply sobbed as Tala patted her back. After a few minutes of sniffling and
hiccupping she pulled away and rubbed at her face, sighing.
“Is this going to be our life?” she asked Tala, unsure if she really wanted to
hear the answer.
Tala paused for a moment, choosing her words carefully. “It will get better.
The first time is often uncomfortable but it isn’t always like that.”
Blessed mulled over these words before speaking again, “Maybe he’ll leave us
all alone if one of us is pregnant soon.” She lightly touched her own belly,
hardly believing such a thing could grow inside her.
Tala didn’t indulge Blessed’s weak hope, “We’ll look after each other either
way.”
“Have you done it before, then?” Blessed asked, unable to help her curiosity.
Tala nodded, “There were boys in our clan about my age, it was somewhat
expected of us. The first time was unpleasant but after a while it wasn’t bad
at all, it could even be nice sometimes,” she blushed, smiling a little.
Blessed simply couldn’t imagine the carnal violence of the previous night
transforming spontaneously into pleasure, and she did not dare to hope.
She wondered about Serene, and felt a rush of protective instinct for her. She
was just seemed so delicate, like even a harsh word might snap her in two. Tala
seemed to read Blessed’s troubled expression, and they both glanced back toward
the sleeping quarters where Serene was still in bed.
“She’ll be alright, we’ll help her.” Tala tried to say reassuringly, though she
sounded unsure.
The Immortan visited Blessed the next three consecutive nights, she could not
stop the tears and pitiful noises from forcing their way out, as Joe forced his
way in. She took to bathing herself the very minute he would leave the vault,
trying to rinse the foulness from her before much more could sink into her
skin. Though by morning she gladly accepted their comforting words and
gestures, Tala and Serene knew not to speak to Blessed when she finally came to
bed after these encounters, she needed to be as alone as one can possibly be
when you share quarters with two others. She prayed she would soon be pregnant
and that this would make Joe leave her be.
The fourth night that Joe arrived to the vault, Blessed but down her book and
rose mechanically from her chair, resigned to what was coming and determined to
get it over with as quickly as possible. But he waved her away.
“Not tonight, Blessed. Continue your reading,” he said not unkindly. He held
his hand out to Serene, who shot darting glances and both Blessed and Tala
before standing shakily.
“Come,” Joe took Serene’s arm and led her upstairs, calling back to his
remaining wives, ”Goodnight my Treasures”.
Blessed’s heart fluttered uneasily in her chest, she chanced look at Tala whose
face was pinched with worry. They did not reply to Joe, but retreated to their
quarters. As they readied themselves for bed in silence they avoided each
other’s gazes, immediately extinguishing the lamp when they were both settled.
The muffled sounds of Serene’s pain penetrated the pillow Blessed had clamped
firmly over her head, needling their way through her ears and burrowing into
her heart. She felt Tala climb into bed next to her and they clung to each
other, hating their helplessness.
After waiting what felt like days for the sounds of Joe leaving the vault,
Blessed huffed out a breath of relief, keeping her ears strained against the
empty silence for clues of Serene’s movements. But she didn’t come down until
morning, and only then to bathe. She wouldn’t eat or drink, shying away from
Blessed and Tala’s gentle attempts to help, not speaking at word. Watching her
retreat to a corner to sit with a book open in her lap, staring through it and
never turning a page, Blessed whispered to Tala, “What can we do?”
“I’ve seen this before, in people who have been shocked or hurt,” Tala
murmured. “We must give her time. She’s in a place in her head where she has to
be still and quiet to recover.”
Indeed the next day Serene gradually began to talk again, though she had become
restless, never still for more than a moment, pacing the foyer and twitching
away from sudden sounds. Blessed was reminded of a cat she had once seen with a
wounded leg, its tail flicking and ears back, limping away from Blessed when
she tried to assist. The days passed monotonously, blurring together. It became
weeks of endless book reading, mindless tapping on the keys of the piano,
pointless scribbles on scraps of paper. Joe visited each girl four nights in a
row in turn, except for when they bled, though Blessed did not. She had begun
to feel strange. Off her food and unreasonably tired, she napped during the day
and gingerly laid cloth soaked in cool water on her tender breasts.
The Immortan arrived unexpectedly at noon one day, accompanied by the Grim and
his young assistant. The Grim, pushing the medical table from the wives’ first
uncomfortable appointment with him, did not greet or even really acknowledge
the girls, busying himself with his medical bag.
“You are each being examined today, for your health,” Joe announced.
“Blessed, you first,” he said, patting the gurney. “Serene and Tala, please
wait in your bedroom.”
Blessed obligingly climbed up and allowed herself to be prodded in much the
same manner as her first encounter with the Grim, grimacing at times but
otherwise silent and still. Joe stood by patiently, obviously confident that he
would be told if anything was amiss. Feeling her slightly bloated belly, Grim’s
demeanor shifted from casual indifference to mild curiosity.
“You’ve been ill in the mornings haven’t you…Off your food? How are your
breasts feeling?”
He took Blessed’s bemused expression as confirmation of his theory, removing
his glasses before turning to Joe and mirroring his smug grin.
“Success”.
***** Chapter 7 *****
There had been much fanfare from Joe in the wake of Grim’s announcement that
Blessed was expecting. Singing her praises and kissing her forehead while
boasting that their son would be this, their son would be that. She felt
slightly sickened by her own elation, confused to be celebrating a pregnancy
with Joe. But what else was her life to consist of in the vault, if not to bear
sons? Would she not be denying herself peace by refusing to embrace her
situation?
All three wives sat around the edge of the pool in bemused silence, legs
dangling in the kind coolness of the water. Tala and Serene were gazing at
Blessed’s barely bloated belly, as though it may suddenly swell and burst.
Blessed herself felt giddy, there was a real live child growing inside her, and
she hadn’t even known it.
“How long does it take?” Serene asked, breaking the silence and startling the
others. “How long does it take for a baby to grow and be born?” She elaborated
when Tala and Blessed only looked at her, dumbly.
“Most babies take 280 days to arrive”, Tala answered, surprising Blessed with
her knowledge, “But some are born a little earlier or later. I saw one born in
my old clan, there was a lot of mess. It was very small and the poor thing was
born sleeping..”
A sombre atmosphere suddenly clouded the room, and Tala hastily tried to remedy
it. “In about 250 days Blessed’s little one will be here, and we can help look
after them”, she smiled. 250 days. In that frighteningly small amount of time
Blessed would hold her own child in her arms. She gingerly pressed her hand to
her stomach, trying to imagine that one day soon she would feel her baby moving
about. She felt warmth in her chest and her eyes prickled as they filled with
tears.
“Do you suppose Joe will want to take it away, when it comes?” Blessed worried,
already feeling protective.
Tala shook her head, “I shouldn’t think so, babies need mother’s milk to
survive and he’ll want it to be healthy, surely.”
“Don’t worry, Bless”, Serene tried to reassure her, “We’ll make sure everything
is ok.”
Blessed wept lightly, confused with her mixed emotions as Tala and Serene
scooted around the edge of the pool, to embrace her from either side.
The days seemed endless when Blessed felt ill. For 30 more days she lay
motionless on her bed and allowed herself to fed minuscule spoonfuls of water
or gentle foods, boneless with exhaustion in between bouts of retching while
one of the others held her hair. Just when she thought she would perish, and
would have been almost glad to if it meant escaping this horrid existence, she
awoke feeling not nearly as sick as usual. She wobbled her way to the water jug
on weak legs and gulped as much as her stomach would hold.
“Good morning” Tala beamed at her, reading from a chair across the room.
“You’ve slept for a long while, so we let you be.”
“Feeling any better?” Serene asked tentatively.
“Yes, finally”, Blessed croaked in reply. She managed a meagre meal and
returned to bed for another lengthy rest.
===============================================================================
 
Blessed’s energy returned and her skin took on a healthy glow, as her belly
bloomed she felt strangely radiant. Joe visited often to check on her and to
take either Serene or Tala to bed. He did not attempt to bring her upstairs at
all now that she was with child, leaving her with a toxic concoction of relief
and guilt bubbling in her gut. Joe visited early one afternoon, accompanied by
the Grim who was to examine them all and check the baby’s progress. He listened
for the heartbeat and measured Blessed’s waist, finally declaring all to be
well after using a handful of different tools and contraptions that Blessed
didn’t quite understand the uses of. Joe was fairly manic with delight when
Tala was found to be in the early stages of pregnancy, patting her still flat
belly and palming Blessed’s round one. He took Serene that night and the two
nights after, determined to have his three sons one after the other.
Life in the vault became steadily more tedious as Blessed grew heavier. Her
back ached and her feet swelled, and she frequently took to the pool for
relief. Tala’s delicate bump made her look sweet, she was glowing with that
same magic Blessed had felt after the sickness. Now Blessed only felt huge and
lumpy, the baby always jostling her with elbows and knees , and she still had
40 days to go. Serene had been a rock for Tala and Blessed both, rubbing their
backs and hauling them to their feet, still not pregnant herself and glad to be
of help.
Nightmares plagued Blessed in her sleep. Auntie begged her for water with dead
eyes, weeping as Blessed realised she had no hands to pour the jug. Her son
tore open her belly with a jagged knife, his twisted little body writhing its
way out, wearing Joe’s mask and a sickening grin. She awoke gasping, feeling
parched and unsettled. It was still night, and she rolled herself out of bed in
the dark. Trying to shake the images from her mind, she edged past Serene’s bed
and felt her way through to the foyer. It was bitch black save for a dim glow
from a single oil lamp. Blessed drained the entire jug in several hearty gulps,
choking on the last one when she heard a whimper. Coughing and spluttering,
Blessed squinted in the blackness and saw Tala crouching by the pool. Heart in
her throat, Blessed hurried over to her sister.
“Tala, what’s wrong? Are you in pain?” Blessed urged as she struggled to kneel
down in front of her. Tears dripped from Tala’s cheeks but Blessed knew that
wasn’t why her legs felt wet. Frantically fetching the lamp, she illuminated
the horror of the situation. Tala sat in a small puddle of birth fluid and
blood. Cradled in her hands, was a tiny grey thing that looked vaguely like a
baby.
***** Chapter 8 *****
Chapter Notes
     Glory me, blood-bags! Its been ages but I have had the shittiest year
     of my life so far with illness and had to leave my studies and move
     back home, which is why I haven't updated in ages. But I am back, and
     I have been working on this story constantly in my head, so I haven't
     lost the thread of it and I'll be updating really regularly now.
Joe was unreadable. Blessed searched his face for any hint of emotion, sadness,
anger, pity. But he did not betray himself as he listened to Grim explain
Tala’s condition. Tala herself lay immobile on the examination table, staring
blankly at the ceiling, hearing nothing as her tears flowed. Blessed had held
her hand while Grim inspected the remains of her baby, she was frightened of
how the little thing had looked, but she could not tear her gaze away, right up
until Grim had wrapped it in a cloth and placed it in the same basket that
contained the linen soiled by Tala’s blood and anguish.
“This does not mean she may not produce a healthy heir. You may try again, when
she is fit.” the Grim drawled monotonously.
Joe nodded and was silent for several moments before turning to Blessed and
Serene, “Please leave us in privacy.”
The two girls reluctantly left their sister’s side and made their way to the
bed chamber, both straining to hear the low conversation.
“Will she be alright?” Serene asked Blessed in a whisper, her eyes glistening
in fear and worry.
Blessed had to swallow the lump in her throat before answering, “Grim says so,
and he knows about these things. We’ll look after her.”
“Yes. But… I mean, even after her body is healed.” Serene met Blessed’s gaze,
and they shared the unspoken concern that Tala’s despair may consume her
entirely.
Blessed could only repeat, though somewhat more firmly, “We’ll look after her”.
It was a long and restless wait for Joe and Grim to finishing talking, Blessed
and Serene hurried anxiously back to the main chamber as they heard the vault
door open just in time to see Joe leaving, he did not look back. Serene took
the seat next to Tala and grasped her hand, which Blessed was heartened to see
she squeezed in response. Turning to Grim, Blessed straightened up and looked
him right in the face.
“So what can we do for her?” Grim raised an eyebrow, he had never been directly
addressed by one of the wives before now as they spoke only when they were
spoken to and even then in a gentle, timid tone. He studied her half a second
more before answering.
“The worst is over, though she will continue to bleed for a short time. When it
stops, then you may bathe her.”
He shut up his medical bag and pushed his broken eyeglasses further up the
bridge of his nose. He looked at Blessed again, searchingly, and she thought
maybe he had just a glimmer of respect for her.
Indicating to Tala with a nod of his head, he addressed Blessed and Serene
both, “Make sure she drinks water”, before leaving them in silence.
The days that followed were consumed by caring for their sister, afraid to
leave her, even in sleep. Serene and Blessed took it in turns to mind her,
while the other rested in the bed chamber. Serene sang softly to her as she
cried, surprising Blessed with how beautifully she could carry a tune, rubbing
small circles in her lower back. Blessed regularly wrung out a cool cloth for
Tala’s forehead, as she slowly stained the linen beneath her red. Coaxing her
into taking small sips of water every so often was the biggest worry, as it had
been per Grim’s instructions and seemed to be the one thing about her reality
that she could control.
Refusing to take any food at all, she was weak and needed both girls’
assistance to walk to the commode, though she couldn’t pass very much and the
colour worried Blessed and Serene both. The bleeding began to slow but Tala was
deteriorating from dehydration and grief. At a loss for what else there was to
do, Serene was the one to break the silent bubble of uncertainty and fear.
“You may not” she said aloud suddenly, startling Blessed as they sat on either
side of Tala’s bed. Tala’s glassy eyes met Serene’s tear filled ones.
“You may not die, I forbid it” The tears now flowed freely and Serene’s
expression was one of fierce love and desperation.
Tala tried to swallow and lick her cracked lips, doing nothing to moisten them.
“What if I can’t help it?” She replied in a small voice, not defiantly but with
an air of defeat.
“You can help it!” Serene wept, “Eat! Drink! Let us help you, please, we need
you here with us!”. Tala reached for her distraught sister’s hand and ran her
thumb back and forth over her skin, instinctively wanting to sooth her, though
she did not reply.
Blessed then spoke, “I’m sorry you lost your baby”, being the first time for
any of them to mention the tragedy out loud. “You’ll always be their mother, no
child could replace them, but you must stay with us-“, her words suddenly
choked off by tears of her own. Tala looked between the two, her eyes also wet
and bottom lip trembling.
“What can I do, Joe hates me now, I may not ever have a living child” and
suddenly her body contracted with guttural sobs, she clung to her sisters as
they leaned in to embrace her.
“He does not hate you” Blessed implored her, “No one could. You’re kind and
beautiful, and caring. He’s just sad too. And you will have more children.” She
had no idea whether what she was saying was true, but it seemed to breathe life
into Tala.
“Blessed’s baby will need us to help her, you’ll be a lovely auntie and then
you’ll be a lovely mother” Serene insisted, while Blessed herself nodded,
though she felt a pang of sadness and longing when she then thought of her own
auntie and wished she was here to help her too.
Tala improved in leaps and bounds, gaining her strength back the more water and
food she accepted. Her bleeding stopped and she bathed for a long while,
cleansing her body and her spirit.
***** Chapter 9 *****
Blessed was old enough to remember what life had been like before The Fall. She
had gone to school learn reading and writing, and played with other children,
until their town had run out of water. Her father had pulled her out of bed one
night and thrown her in a car, speeding away amid a storm of gunfire and smoke,
the life she’d known ablaze behind them. They’d driven halfway across the
country to Auntie’s house and for a short time they’d been safe. The seemingly
endless days that followed were a constant fight to survive, to hide from
pillagers, find water to drink, scavenge for food and avoid sickness. There was
no time to be idle, therefore no time to feel restless. All Blessed seemed to
feel in these new days in the vault was restless. Her belly was swollen beyond
belief and her back ached from bearing the weight of it. Pacing round and round
the foyer was the only thing that somewhat quelled the tension in her body and
the unease in her mind.
She could not settle to anything like reading and often just half floated in
the water of the pool while pretending to listen to Tala practicing a piece on
the piano. Grim visited daily to check for signs of labour, along with Joe who
glowed with some kind of impatient hunger to lay eyes on his future war-lord
son. Blessed was irritated by everyone and everything, chafing under the
realisation that all could still go horribly wrong. Awake at all hours, lying
still and desperately thinking her way through all possible scenarios.
Obviously, the worst to happen would be that she, or the child, or both, might
die. Childbirth was a messy and dangerous affair, she still had nightmares
about the tiny half-formed thing that Tala had held in her hand. If she
survived and the child did not, would Joe forgive her? For getting him so
close, only to snatch away the promise? If she died, and the baby was well, she
hoped Tala and Serene would be allowed to raise it, then it might be kind and
compassionate and end up a benevolent ruler. What would happen if the child was
a girl? It made no difference to her but would Joe take heart in the hope that
Blessed would be able to bear a son with a healthy daughter as proof? Or maybe
the worst thing to happen, above even the child coming out malformed, would be
that this baby, the one she already loved with her whole heart, might come out
with Joe’s face and she would be repulsed by it, unable to feel that same swell
of affection.
She lay on a low sofa to be assessed as it was much too difficult to get on the
examination table in her condition. Picking at the skin around her nails while
Joe hovered behind Grim, her sisters had been sent to the bedchamber to wait.
The baby writhed under Grim’s hands, seeming to Blessed like it was desperate
to escape its cell with shrinking walls. She sympathized. Her least favourite
part of the examination was when Grim peered inside her, to see if the baby was
making any headway that Blessed hadn’t felt, though this did not seem remotely
possible in her opinion.
“She must not go very much longer if it can be avoided.” Grim advised Joe, “I
am going to sweep the membranes”.
A hot ball of anger, fear and confusion burned in Blessed’s chest. She was
always being talked about but never to. This was happening to her, this child
was inside of her and no one bothered to tell her directly about her own body.
What did he mean ‘sweep’? She had a sudden terrible vision of a nasty device
being driven into her and silently trembled. Miraculously, Joe was receptive to
her tension and came to her side.
“Not long. Not long now and our son will be here”. He stroked her hair and she
felt sickened by her own enjoyment of his reassurance and affection.
Grim did not produce any such contraption, but only used his own index finger;
she supposed he was poking at the baby to trigger labour. Joe helped her sit up
and they had the usual low muttering conversation about Blessed like she wasn’t
right there with them. Serene and Tala were permitted back in the room and
immediately flocked to her side, ignoring Grim as he said for what must have
been the tenth time in as many days to call him immediately if there were signs
of change. Feeling utterly fed up, silent tears of frustration leaked freely as
she left her sisters on the sofa and sank into the pool for comfort.
Eyes closed, she heard someone slip into the water with her and did not react
until they wrapped their arms around her and pulled her close, she half wanted
to pull away in protest but the arms drew her in so tenderly and guided her
head to their shoulder. She knew now it was Tala, feeling the soft curls of her
hair against her cheek. It was so much like that first hug in the pool, the
morning after Joe first took her. The emotion of the memory on top of the utter
helplessness she felt drew her tears out in full force, while Tala gently
bobbed with her in the water and made soothing sounds. Serene joined in the
intervention wordlessly, patting her back in a pacifying rhythm. Blessed cried
herself to exhaustion and fell asleep right there in the pool, supported by
them both. She half awoke after an undetermined amount of time, being lead out
of the pool and wrapped in linen, then tucked into her bed, a cushion between
her knees.
The jolt of pain awoke her properly when it was dark in the bed chamber, a
single lamp at the far end of the room. She must have gasped because both Tala
and Serene were sitting bolt upright in their beds only half a second later.
“Bless? Are you alright?” Serene whispered urgently
“Is it the baby?” Tala cried, leaping up and dashing over to Blessed as she had
another breath-stealing cramp.
Huffing, Blessed swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, feeling
wetness on her legs and seeing it where she had lain. Serene tore from the
room, and Tala put her arm around her shoulders, leading her away to the main
chamber. In the time it took for them to shuffle the short distance,
painstakingly slowly and with several pauses, Serene had clearly sent word for
Grim and was lighting all the lamps she could reach.
It was only minutes before the cavalry arrived, Grim fully dressed and not
looking even slightly flustered, Joe with only trousers and a robe on, mask-
less and huffing, red in the face with anticipation though with sleep still
clouding his seedy eyes.
Blessed could hardly bear to lie down to be examined, she howled when Grim
inspected her and tested with his fingers. “5 centimetres, mostly effaced, this
should be swift”.
Nobody else in the room spoke medical but it was clear that things were well in
motion. Serene and Tala walked her around the room, stopping only for more
pains, to be checked again or to have a brief respite in the pool.
“You mustn’t hold your breath during these contractions, take deep breaths to
ensure the child gets enough oxygen”, Grim scolded, and Blessed so wanted to
hit him.
Out of everything this felt the most violating, that this cold, clinical man
could watch her having such a primal and in her opinion, private experience.
She wanted no one else in the room but her sisters, it felt like being a
tortured animal observed by an experimenting human.
On her last check, he informed her that she was ‘fully dilated’ and could now
begin pushing with the pains. He instructed her on how to do it most
effectively and she was past hating him, nothing else could exist between the
pain and her resolve to get this child out of her body. Many screaming,
hollering and begging pushes later, the baby’s head began to emerge and she
cried for the burning sensation while Joe urged her on, from behind Grim.
Demanding she reduce her breathing to quick panting, Grim eased the child into
the world slowly and carefully. Tala supported her from behind so she could
lean in and see it, almost out, up to the shoulders. Then suddenly, it was free
from her, tethered only by a pulsating cord which was swiftly clamped and cut.
The tiny thing was rubbed down with a cloth, it was limp and blue, lifeless.
Blessed fought to get up but was held back by Tala and Joe, Serene watched
helplessly from the sidelines. Many tense and agonising moments later, the
child spluttered and let out a mewling cry, Blessed burst out weeping herself.
Grim extracted fluid from its mouth and continued to rub its back encouraging
the breathing and blood flow. Wrapping the baby snugly in a blanket, he finally
held it up in triumph.
“A son”. The room fairly exploded, Serene and Tala kissed her, and Joe snatched
the baby from Grim, ignoring Blessed and her outstretched arms.
“My son, Scabrous Scrotus” he crowed. Blessed was taken aback, they had never
discussed what they might call the child, and frankly she found the name
horrendously ugly. Why had nobody yet handed her the baby she had grown and
laboured with? Indignant, she looked Joe right in the eye.
“Give him to me”, and again held out her hands. Joe stared back, relenting only
when Grim confirmed it necessary, “He needs her body warmth”. Holding him
finally, emotions crashed like waves around her as she drank in the image of
his face. He was perfect, tiny and pink. She wept and held him against her
chest, his whimpering settled as he heard the familiar beating of her heart.
Joe resigned to merely stroking the downy hair on the back of their son’s head,
still beaming in a way that Blessed found deeply unnerving.
“Smaller than I had predicted, though seeming to be in good health. He will
gain weight once your milk comes in”, Grim informed her.
“Why wait for that, he will be taken to the milkers right away, my son needs to
be fed” said Joe with an air of finality.
Blessed could not contain herself any longer.
“You will not take my baby away from me, he needs me and I will feed him
myself, no one else.” She said with a level voice but the gaze of a woman
feeling murderous.
Joe had only just opened his mouth to reprimand her when Grim cut him off at
the pass,
“He will not eat very much right away, and only she has the liquid gold he
needs. I would consider it a risk to pass off your heir to a milker who may
introduce an illness. The best place for him is with the mother.” Joe closed
his mouth but was still glowering.
Blessed knew Grim was not taking her side and was viewing it all from a medical
standpoint, but the fact that she had been right and he had supported her
demand made her despise him just a little less. Scabrous latched on the breast
with little to no difficulty and quietly sucked, using his instinct to feed but
really just being comforted by the whole affair. She barely noticed the
delivery of the afterbirth, or the pain of the slight tearing she had endured,
only sparing thought and emotion to study every detail of her baby’s face.
Delightedly, she thought he looked a bit like her father, with his well defined
cupids bow and slightly turned up nose. She did not hear, or rather ignored
Grim packing up his equipment and announcing he would return often to check
everything was as it should be, but to send for him immediately if there were
concerns.
Looking up only when he was gone, she inadvertently caught Joe’s eye.
“Leave us for a moment”, he instructed Serene and Tala softly.
He sat himself down next to her as her sisters left the room, and she felt
weary for the first time since laying eyes on her son. Joe said nothing for a
while, only stroked the baby’s cheek while he suckled, and Blessed hated his
dirty, battle worn hand touching that perfect pure skin.
“You’ve done well”, he admitted somewhat proudly, and looked up to meet
Blessed’s gaze. She did not smile, and she did not know what to say, she just
nodded slightly.
“I knew that you were Blessed, I knew that you would be the one to do this.
He’s full-life and healthy, and Fuku-shima he’ll be one Valhalla of an
Immortan."
He waited for Blessed’s acknowledgement, presumably expecting her to praise him
for his part in what she, and she alone had done. Seeing her opportunity, she
quietly pounced.
In a silky voice she replied,
“How could he be anything less, with you as his father? He’ll make us both
proud.” She smiled at him, purposefully shy and meek.
Joe beamed wider, his ego sufficiently bolstered.
“But now he’s still small, he’s vulnerable and we can’t risk having anyone
hurting our Scabrous or making him ill”, she grudgingly used the name he chose
and creased her brow with real worry but more comically for dramatic effect.
“That means he doesn’t leave my side and the only ones outside of this vault to
touch him will be you and Grim, no milkers, no nurse maids.” She quietly stared
him down and hoped she looked equally determined and harmless.
For several moments he was silent but Blessed ultimately triumphed when Joe
nodded in agreement,
“He stays here, you grew and birthed him, and you know what he needs.”
Revelling in her success, she was caught off guard by him leaning in to kiss
her. At the last moment she turned her head so his lips brushed her cheek, but
he took her chin with his thumb and forefinger and tilted her face up.
“You’re a wonderful mother, the perfect wife” he breathed, and he kissed her
wetly on her lips. Forcing herself not to gag, she readjusted the baby in her
arms as he stood to leave, promising to come back tomorrow to see them.
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