Free The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison Page A

left with a newborn in the short interim between birth and death? What if he didn’t know?
    What if he actually has a live baby?
    Upstairs = wreck of a bloody birth, but no body. Crusty scissors on the floor. Everything soaked with blood gone black. The baby is alive and with me. Ok.
    Kitchen was bare except for a can of water chestnuts and another of beets. Packed up both and kept moving. Meet Carter = follow him? Take care of the baby? Figure me out?
    Don’t know.
     
    Late June
    Barely got away that time. Met some people out in the road in McDermitt. I came around the corner and there they were, with hardly a second to react. Hands = free = on my guns= always. Fully dressed and dirty. Five men crouching in the street. Two women on leashes stood, staring. Never forget it as long as I live. As dirty as rescue dogs. Same look in the eye.
     
    * * * * *
     
    “What the fuck?” One man popped up, pulling a gun at his hip. She was just as fast and she had one on him.
    A taller man stood up with a machete pulled out smoothly from a strap at his back. “Hey now. Hey now.”
    “I don’t want any trouble,” she said loudly. She stared at the leashed women. One was about forty, topless and with a bad implant job. The other was in her twenties, naked, with scabby knees.
    The tall guy stepped up to block her view of them. “Neither do we, stranger. Just passing through.”
    “Me too,” she said. “Though, I’ll trade if you guys can be cool.”
    The tall one put his machete back in its sheath and stepped up with his hand extended like he was gonna sell her a car. “I’m Aaron. These guys are Jimmy, Ethan, Manny, and Chuck.” They nodded to her. She looked around. White. Black. Asian. The rainbow fucking coalition. All bigger than me. One or two guns, lots of knives. One baseball bat that she could see. She sunk inside. She shouldn’t have offered to trade.
    Too many. Shouldn’t be here and this is too many.
    “I’m Carl.”
    “Carl. What have you got to trade?” Aaron smiled a little and advanced on her.
    She put her hand out and waited for Manny to holster his gun. She put hers away slowly. “Food. Medicine. A little booze. Stale cigarettes. Medical attention if any of you guys need it.”
    “Guns?” That was from Manny.
    She shook her head. “Just mine. Guns are hard to find these days. I know where there’s a bunch of antibiotics and basic medical supplies, though.”
    The men exchanged a glance. Aaron spoke first. “What have you got?”
    “Penicillin. Ampicillin. Erythromycin. Good stuff. Plus a wound care kit.” She waited a beat and watched their faces. “Codeine. Morphine. Fentanyl. Hard stuff.” She had more of it than she would ever use before it expired. She saw a few perk up at the mention of the opiates.
    “And what do you want?”
    “Your girls.” She said it flatly, without hesitation. They knew what she wanted. They weren’t showing anything else.
    Ethan whined at Aaron. “Let him have the old one. Fucking Roxanne. Not Melissa.”
    Roxanne, the older one, blanched.
    Chains. Fuck me sideways. Jenna was one thing. I can’t walk away from this. Too many of them. Not a hero.
    “I want both. Half an hour each, private. For that, you get a selection of everything.”
    Aaron smiled a little. “Both is too much. You only need one to get the job done.”
    She smiled back at him. “Maybe for you. But I haven’t seen a girl in a long while. I want both. You’ll get them back in one piece.”
    Ethan again. “Shit we can find our own drugs. We did before, and this skinny fuck did. We don’t need this.”
    “Well, if you’re not interested, I’ll be going.” She shouldered up her bag and made as if to leave.
    Aaron took one more step. She was tense all over and trying not to show it. “You alone?”
    “Nah.” She said it lightly, trying not to sound scared. “The other guys are back at the base, looking out. We just don’t have any women.”
    “You gonna bring the other guys to