I tried to mimic their movements.

“Won’t work,” Zheegwon said.

“Why not?”

“You have to keep your wrists a bit open when they first start tying you,” Tree responded.

“Damn,” I hung my head. “You should’ve told us before.”

“When? When you were passed out cold?” Tree sneered.

“Maybe we should have asked them to wait. We could have been like, ‘Excuse me, ma’am, I just need to do a bit of an escape tutorial here, could you come back in twenty minutes when my friend comes to?’ ” Zheegwon was the more sarcastic of the two, though neither was chatty enough to really be hurtful.

“Fair point,” I agreed. “At least now one of you will get out. Then you can help the rest of us.”

“Maybe,” Tree said.

“Not any time soon,” Zheegwon assessed.

I looked back at Wab, who let out a long, anguished groan before hooking her feet on opposite walls and grabbing her own thighs. “Hopefully soon enough.”

✦✦✦ ✦✦✦ ✦✦✦

Things only intensified and then stayed that way for hours on end. None of us could bring ourselves to talk about the threat of Recruiters, not now. Now we needed to hold space for Wab. Miig had roused an hour into her labor and was starting to feel a bit better. He and Isaac sang old songs for her. Tree keep trying to get free, twisting the skin straight off his wrists, though that didn’t stop him, and I whispered whatever sounded encouraging to the back of Wab’s head. Slopper slept on and off. That was his go-to in times of high stress: sleep. I envied him. But Chi Boy, he never stopped his vigil, not for one second. Both his hands were covered in thick red blood, his eyes rimmed pink and bruised blue underneath.

The key was to help Wab stay calm. Once or twice, she flipped right out, kicking the cage until the metal screeched against the concrete floor. Rania gave her instructions. Wab had to be her own midwife, checking progression, moving into position. Sometimes Rania had to yell, and sometimes she was able to whisper. All we could do was wait. No one came to check on us. But then again, why would they? As long as we were making noise, it meant their marrow supply was alive.

When the baby started to come, oh man, those were the longest minutes in history. I’d always known Wab was strong, but I had no idea what that even meant until I watched her deliver her own baby. She was on her hands and knees, rocking back and forth. We all rocked with her, counting, yelling out encouragement, breathing with her. The head appeared, and she turned onto her side, holding it. She had to scoop out the mouth and clear the nose. The baby was all grey and quiet as she guided the shoulders free. The rest came quick, and she rubbed at the little body with her sweater, getting the blood flowing and the warmth back. Right away, it turned from grey to brown and sneezed. Wab laughed. After all that, she actually laughed, and the baby started crying.