Seeran looked at Alice. He remembered her when they had first arrived with Council Leader Tosh. He remembered how Vorik stood in front of her, blocking Tosh's view, trying to protect her. "You are Fleet Commander Vorik's mate?" he asked her.

"Yeah, who are you?" she asked. She was being rude. She didn't trust anyone outside of the small group of friends these days. Anyone could be a spy, reporting to Tosh.

"I am Seeran," he told her. Trying to ignore her rudeness. He knew why she was acting that way. She was there when he arrived with Council Leader Tosh. He wasn't trusted not to speak of what he was seeing. "I'm pleased to meet you."

Another loud whimper came from the zombie girl on Medic Kaul's examination table, and then she passed out, unconscious. Merrick stiffened, pulling her closer as Kaul scanned her again for the virus. Everyone close enough to see what was going on was watching. This was the first time someone had brought a zombie into their city. It was also the first time that the zombie didn't try to attack them.

"The virus is completely out," Medic Kaul stated, pleased that it worked. They had the information that they needed to save Alice and her baby. He could also save others who had been infected, but only if they could contain them safely.

Medic Kaul's demeanor changed immediately when, on her cot, Alice started shaking. The smell of toxins was getting thicker in the air. The acidic odor caused all the aliens in the room to turn and look at her. He rushed over to Alice and started up the device to remove the toxins yet again from Alice's bloodstream. Her treatments were getting more frequent.

Once he had completed taking the toxins out of Alice, he scanned her fetus. He suddenly smiled. Looking down at Alice. "This is going to be even more painful. Your baby is large enough to remove the toxins. Are you ready?" he asked before inserting the device through her belly button and turning it back on.

Alice just nodded and gritted her teeth as he finished taking out the toxins. It took several minutes for the beep to sound, indicating that the machine had finished.

Scanning her one last time, Medic Kaul smiled. "Your babies no longer have toxins. I need you...."

"Wait! What did you say? Babies? As in plural?" she asked, cutting him off, shocked.

Medic Kaul sighed. "You have two babies. You will have twins. As I was saying earlier, I need you to stay on your cot until I know the toxins will not build up again. Do you understand?" Alice couldn't say anything, so she just nodded slowly. Her mind was in chaos as he took in this new information. Twins, she was having twins.

"I didn't want to tell you in case we had to take them out of you. Losing one child is hard enough as it is. Losing two can be devastating," he explained.

Alice just nodded again, still too shocked to speak. Her thoughts swirled. Twins, she was having twins, and her mate didn't even know she was pregnant.

Finished with Alice for the moment, Kaul turned to the girl in Merrick's arms. He scanned the girl with the scanner one last time. "She is remarkably healthy," he noted. "I wonder if her health is a factor in her being able to control the need for live flesh?"

The girl in Merrick's arms finally stirred. Merrick looked down at his young mate. When she opened her eyes, he smiled. Her eyes were emerald green, which sparkled like freshly polished gems. There was no sign of the toxins. The whites of her eyes were no longer tinted green.

Kaul quickly cleaned the toxins from her mouth with a suction device that sucked the liquid from her mouth and sprayed clean water at the same time. It was similar to the device common in a dentist's office. Once finished, he handed Merrick a small wet towel so that he could clean her face for her. "You can take her to that cot over there," Kaul said, pointing to an empty cot not far from the med clinic.

Merrick carefully lifted the girl and, still holding her, walked to the cot. He sat down and pulled her into his lap. Seeran followed behind, yet keeping his distance, not knowing what else to do.

While Merrick spoke in a gentle whisper to the girl, Seeran stood close by, looking around the room, he was in. It was truly a city. He noticed several men like him were standing around watching them. They weren't human, so they must have a mate somewhere down here.

As if conjured out of his thoughts, a blond girl with blue eyes ran up to one of the men. He lifted her up and kissed her gently. He remembered this couple. They were one of the couples that were walking up to the shuttle when he arrived with Council Leader Tosh. He remembered the man's name. It was Shadick. He was a second squad leader, if he remembered correctly. He was probably the reason the city survived the chemical burnout.

Turning his gaze to the medic, another young woman walked up to Kaul, wrapping her arms around him. He noted that the girl's belly was round from being pregnant.

Another woman, one of his kind, leaned against a wall, her human mate smiling softly at her as he touched her swollen belly. She was pregnant, as well.

The youngest of the men came up to Seeran; It was a young human. He had been one of the ones who retrieved them at the entrance of the tunnel. He had noticed him looking around at the couples all around him.

"If you're wondering, Seeran. All the mates down here are pregnant," he stated. "Including mine. I'm Jamie," he explained calmly, holding his hand out to shake.

Seeran took it. "Merrick can't stay here," Seeran stated. "If he does, there will be no one who can look after Fleet Commander Vorik and communicate with you."

Jamie looked over at Merrick as he continued to whisper to his mate. "Yeah, I know that. Speaking of... if you two don't leave soon, you'll be missed. The last thing we want is for you to go into interrogation with the truth serum. As you see, there are too many lives at stake."

Seeran nodded, understanding. He scanned the room one last time. "Merrick doesn't really know me; perhaps you should be the one to tell him," He suggested to Jamie.

Jamie just shrugged, following as they walked over to Merrick and his timid mate.

"Merrick, you two need to go. You've already been gone too long. If they have been watching you, they might notice. I don't want them knowing we didn't die when they flooded the tunnels." Jamie warned him.

"I don't want to leave my mate," he stated. His voice was strained.

"You have no choice. You're the only one we can communicate with," Jamie explained. "Two more minutes, then we need to take you back. We'll keep her safe," Jamie added before walking off.

Seeran overheard some of what Merrick was telling his mate. He was apologizing to her. Sorry that he had to leave her after just finding her. He was trying to get her to tell him her name, but she wouldn't speak. She kept watching him with those brilliant emerald-green eyes. She appeared mesmerized.

Merrick was caressing her face and speaking softly that he would come back as soon as it was safe to return.

Jamie suddenly walked up with Shadick and a blond who looked like Shadick's mate's twin. "Times up; we need to get you both out of here. Kaul said to tell you that if you find any more zombies, he will have a station prepared to remove their toxins. You would have to let us know and keep them bound unless they're like her," he said, pointing to the unknown girl.

Merrick reluctantly left his mate alone on the cot. Shadick's mate went to her and sat next to her.

Shadick tied the blindfolds on both of them to prevent them from seeing the way to the tunnel city; then, they let the door slide open. They carefully escorted them to the tunnel entrance that led outside and into the dome. They had to go quickly, so the two men wouldn't be missed. They didn't want to answer any questions on why they had been missing. Once they arrived at the entrance, they relieved them of their blindfolds.

Shadick looked at Seeran. "I don't trust you. You were one of the ones who came with Tosh. If he finds out, we're all still alive; I'll know it's because of you. I will come for you. Remember that," he told Seeran evenly. He was being protective of the people in the city. So protective that he would take vengeance on anyone who tried to harm them.

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