I am Bexley “Rumors” chapter 26

“So, I was out of it for what seemed like a whole day. I was going in and out of consciousness. I couldn’t even see ahead with my vision being so clouded. Then India caught up with me with a whole new crew,” Serena explained.

Indigo, Amory and I were standing nearby. I could tell they both wanted to start leaving by how fidgety they acted. But, apparently the humans and zombies in another group started fighting. It wasn’t until I heard India fighting badly with Hudson that I realized this was all reaching a boiling point.

“I don’t care if you think you all are going to change anything. You won’t. Those that have power don’t just yield to the lower parts of society without getting something in return. What do we have to offer? Nothing!” Hudson spat out. I went over and touched his arm. He immediately recoiled and growled.

India growled back. “So now you don’t care. You think that we should only focus on ourselves. That’s selfishness,” India signed angrily, making Hudson scoff.

“What about my family? You don’t care about Asher? I thought he was your friend too!” Hudson stumbled over his words, his eyes looking red. This was getting way out of hand.

I signed, getting in between them, “Let’s all calm down. We can split into groups. Why don’t we do that? That way one group goes home to heal Ash and the other goes to start negotiations with the elite.”

“Yeah I get it. India doesn’t want to be around us anymore! She thinks she’s better than us. I heard that Bloodletter handlers made deals with the zombie elite to stay in houses already! They’re giving out these fake gems with spells on them. So the zombies can stay in power and ‘Letters can have what they want too.”

India tried to flip him off but that finger was missing (from an earlier fight). She used her other hand to do it, making Hudson curse loudly.

“Screw you too, then!” Hudson yelled back.

Emma stormed over, pushing Hudson.

“What the hell—”

“Don’t you ever, ever talk to India that way again. Motherfuckers don’t get to play like that with my girl. I’ll whoop that white ass of yours from one side of the Mississippi to the other if I catch you talking to her like that again. You understand?” Emma yelled so resonatedly, everyone got silent and went over to the group. Hudson gave her a glare and walked off in a huff. It was starting to get dark out, and the sun was getting lower and lower. Time wasn’t on our side.

Stan came over to me frowning as everyone split up and talked quietly with different groups. “More infighting. This is worse than ever, Bex. What can we do?”

“Hudson doesn’t mean it,” I signed.

Stan frowned, signing, “That’s not what I meant. That’s irrelevant to the point. What should we do now?”

I shrugged. “We’re all tense. Maybe we need to rest more. Everyone is either exhausted or hungry. Humans need to eat,” I signed and Stan shook his head.

“Honey,” Stan signed softly to me, “You and Hudson need to go home. I think there’s more at stake here and honestly, I’m worried for your health. Take a few others with you, like Ax for protection and maybe Serena and Clara. I’ll go with India, Emma and the others.”

“I don’t want to go home. I want to be with you,” I signed back, pursing my lip.

Stan’s kind brown eyes winked at me, “I wanna be with you too. We still have eternity for that to happen. Right now, we need to think outside of each other. Make good decisions. For what could be our future,” he touched my stomach suddenly and I felt a lurch and a pull.

I quivered and held Stan tight.

“I hate all these dumb rumors too. They’re not helping, has a rumor ever helped anyone? Why say it?” I signed helplessly.

“Hudson is desperate. He’s grasping at anything to get his point across. Even losing friends temporarily doesn’t seem to bother him. He has tunnel vision for his daughter and husband,” Stan signed calmly.

“I have tunnel vision for you,” I signed and we kissed.

“You know I’ll come back for you, as I always do. I love you, Bexley, so much,” he kissed me again, I whimpered under his touch.

I nodded. Goodbyes were so hard. I kissed him so hard I thought I broke his jaw. I heard a crack. Maybe I did. But he didn’t care. We parted, as we commanded our half of a party to get things going.

Hudson was crying near a willow tree. I touched his shoulder and he jumped.

“Oh, shit, Bex, I fucked up. I really did. India hates me. Emma really hates my guts. Damn it, I can’t control my dumbass words sometimes,” Hudson scowled.

I signed to him, helping him get up as I bridged off his clothes. There wasn’t anything on his clothes but I somehow thought it was comforting to do. He looked at me hopelessly.

“Let’s go back to Asher. To Shadow,” I signed. “We will worry about that stuff tomorrow.”

Hudson took in a shuddering breath. After a minute of silence, he nodded.

“Tomorrow,” he agreed. We set up our group, leaving within a half an hour.

I felt myself breaking with every step. My mother was pregnant with me when she was a human that turned into a zombie. Why did I start thinking about that? You can’t be a zombie first and have babies. That sounds like a rumor, too.

Then why did I feel so scared as I walked away from my husband? I missed him like crazy that was beyond true.

What felt like a unreal dream was all these squiggling, swarming, bouncing new feelings inside of me.

Just then, I felt a trickle down my leg. Did I..

Holy fucking shit.

“I peed!” I squealed out. Ax, Serena, Clara and Hudson jolted back, stopped in their tracks.

Hudson looked at me beyond shocked, saying, “I think we are carrying a new member to the family…”

I stood silent. This wasn’t happening.

Breathing in and out, I started panicking. Serena picked me up carefully, bridal style. Ax decided to go with the others as he knew the Elite better than anyone. I felt so weak as she carried me. These new senses were making me feel like I was turning into an alien. I fell asleep after my panic subsided.

I couldn’t believe I actually fell asleep.