The sun was setting low. I was propped up against the small boulder and Penelope slept, using my lap as a pillow. I ran my fingers through her soft red hair and watched her round stomach with a mix of fear and excitement. How could she have a baby in only a few hours? She had tried to ease my initial shock but how were we supposed to raise a baby with nothing but a couple peach trees in an open field. I decided it didn't really matter, this was all some dream anyway. The sooner I could get to sleep, the sooner I could wake up back in my dorm room.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. I awoke to the gentle kisses of Penelope against my cheeks and forehead. "It's time, my James." Her green eyes looked down at me with all the love of a mother, her pregnant belly supporting my head. The sun had just peeked over the mountains and I squinted in the dim morning light. So I could sleep in this world and wake up to a new day, how long would this experience last?
"Time for what?" I asked, rubbing my face. Then I stopped and looked up at her. "You mean, time for..." She nodded. I jumped to my feet and looked down at the beautiful red-head. She looked like she was about to burst, but her full stomach somehow suited her wide hips and large breasts and I couldn't help but pause to admire her beauty. I hadn't really taken her seriously the previous day, for one, babies aren't born less than a day after conception, for two, I really didn't think I'd still be here. The reality hit me like a bus, we were so incredibly unprepared to have a baby. "What the fuck do we do?" I ran my fingers through my hair and paced back and forth in front of her.
She laughed and leaned back against the rock. "We do what we were made to do, my James." She closed her eyes and her face changed from amusement to intense focus. Her breathing became heavy and slow.
"What do you need, what can I do?" I knelt in front of her and she opened her legs. She adjusted, scooting down the rock so she was reclined and her breathing grew heavier.
"Shh..." she said. I couldn't tell if she was shushing me or if she was just breathing through her teeth but I I didn't have any clue what to do so I sat silently, uselessly.
She began to open and close her legs and her face contorted like she was having an orgasm, then like she was in pain, then back again. She began breathing faster and opened her thighs wide. Then I saw it, a black mass parted her lips and began to push out of her, pushing her open wide around what looked like slimy, black melon. Then the mass retracted back into her before she pushed again, half groaning, half yelling.
I couldn't look away. I crawled forward, ready to catch whatever it was. She pushed again and her pussy stretched to the size of a coconut around the dark, hairy orb. Then a pale face emerged for a moment under the crown of hair before being sucked back inside her. My heart raced as I watched and Penelope moaned as she forced the head out of her. The tiny scrunched face was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. "Pull her out of me," she said between breaths.
I grabbed the wet ball of dark hair and gently pulled the baby by the base of the skull. She groaned and pushed one final time before the infantile body practically flopped out of her. There didn't seem to be any umbilical cord, or afterbirth, just a small pissed off human looking girl with short black hair. I couldn't help but cry and laugh at the same time. Yesterday I was sitting in a filthy dorm room, today I was holding a perfect child I had made with a beautiful woman. "What's her name?" Penelope asked.
"Raven," I said without even thinking, then gently set the baby in Penelope's arms. "We need shelter," I said, and some mysterious force awoke in me. I was suddenly taken by an unmistakable purpose to protect my family.
I looked around, weighing my options. There was a road, which meant there was some sort of civilization in this world. I looked past the road to the hills and mountains beyond, it seemed too extreme an environment to travel in nothing but my birthday suit. I looked to the forest behind me and had similar thoughts, it was closer, but I was nowhere near prepared. "I think we should follow the road until we find a town," I said.
"I need rest, my James, you go. We will be safe here."
"I'm not leaving you and Raven here alone, how long do you need to recover?"
Penelope sat up straighter against the rock and began breastfeeding Raven. "That isn't the issue, my sweet." She looked at me with the patient look of a teacher educating an exceptionally slow child. It wasn't patronizing though, I could see nothing but deep love in her eyes. "The people of the world are superstitious. Raven is going to grow very quickly, if they see anything that isn't their accepted truth, they could become dangerous for us. We will be safer here." She held out her hand and I took it. She pulled me in for a kiss and I greedily accepted, tasting her mouth. She giggled and pushed me away, "You go, and bring back any breeders you find. We are both in charge, remember?"
I pushed my forehead against hers and looked down into the hazel eyes of our daughter, then nodded, and walked toward the road. "I'll be back no later than tomorrow night," I promised.
I took a long drink from the river and prayed it wouldn't make me sick. I was thankful for the warm weather. If I had come in the winter we would have already frozen to death, then a thought occurred to me; I had no idea what type of climate I was dealing with, the temperature could change rapidly from hospitable to dangerous without much warning. I doubled my pace and worries began to swarm me like biting flies, we need protection, weapons, walls, food, water, and so much more.
Before I was a father none of that really occurred to me. It surprised me how much more of a damn I gave about my child than I did myself. I walked for hours and became more and more tired. My plan was to walk until nightfall, that way I could walk back tomorrow and be home when I had promised. But a day of walking isn't exactly a walk in the park, unless you spend all day doing it, I guess.
I eventually stopped and took another drink from the stream. Luckily, the road seemed to follow the water, so at least I wouldn't die of dehydration. A steep hill rose up beside the road and I decided to climb to the top, hoping the vantage point would give me some idea of the surrounding area. The hill was steeper than I thought though, and ended up taking almost an hour, by the time I got to the top the sun had begun to set. I sat on the edge of a small ledge and caught my breath.
The road meandered through the hills and disappeared over a bluff before snaking towards mountains in the distance. The bluff in front of me was large but I thought I saw the faint trail of smoke rising from the other side. My heart leapt in my chest and I hurried down the hill as fast as I could. I ran down the road, following the river around the large hill.
On the other side sat a small farmhouse. It looked to have an outhouse, a small pasture with two cows, a bull, and a few sheep. It was quaint but the trail of smoke told me that Penelope and I weren't alone in the world. I jogged up to the house, then slowed, realizing I was stark naked and remembered what Penelope had said. Would these farmers be accepting?