Incubator: An Original Piece of Fiction.

Disclaimer From The Writer: The following short story is by far the most disturbing I have ever read. But it was written for a purpose, to highlight issues our society is currently facing. And that is why I'm posting it here, though it is also available on my Wattpad.

"Won't you be a lovely incubator?"

A harsh voice spoke to her, and Nina felt fear enter her heart. She wasn't sure how she got there. She could feel cold steel on her back, and she was completely exposed. She groaned and tried to move, but realized her arms were held in place by more metal. The lights were dim and her vision was blurry. There was a form on the other side of the table, a man she thought, in white. A lab coat maybe.

She turned her head and her eyes grew wide. As blurry as things were she could see a series of dimly lit tubes. Forms were floating inside them, and a fifth was empty. For me. The terrifying thought was interrupted by a sudden pain between her legs. Nina gasped as her vision cleared with the shock and she glanced back down. There was a man in a lab coat as she had guessed, and he was crouched between her legs.

     Her horror grew as she saw the machine behind him. There was a tube, a thick one made of plastic, and she realized abruptly as she followed it with her eyes that the man was shoving it inside her. She tried to call out but only a whimper left her. Something sharp jabbed her inside and Nina's body went rigid. She had been happier when she wasn't aware of these parts of her body.

     The man in the lab coat moved back to the machine and began to touch buttons, humming.

"It will be a brilliant experiment," He spoke, "But I found only a woman's body has what is needed for it to grow..."

"Stop...." Nina whispered weakly.

       Suddenly a door burst open and light made it hard to see. She could hear yelling, gun fire. The sound of a body falling. A sudden pain-someone trying to pull the tube from the mechanism out. A scream left her, and she fainted.

Six months later.

"Nina? There have been...complications."

Nina was alarmed at the words to say the least. She and the other four girls had been taken to a hospital on Mars That was where she lived, after Earth had become too populated many had gone there. The overpopulation issue had spiked in 2050 and efforts to settle the other planets began.

Mars, the red planet, had been settled by those who wanted to go to a simpler life of faith and family. Nina had never seen Earth, for she had been born on red soil.

She and the other four women had been experiments, victims of a madman working on nanobot experiments. Nina hadn't interacted with any of them since, but suspected they too had been kept in the hospital since their "rescue".

The nightmare hadn't ended. She'd wanted to remove the implanted experiment the lunatic had placed inside her, but the Council of Mars had rejected her request out of hand. Since then her body had stretched and changed to accommodate the unknown presence within her, her senses had gone nuts, and Nina couldn't keep any food down.

So the fact that this nurse came in and said they had bad news while she was emaciated and exhausted was not a good omen.

"What?" Nina murmured weakly.

"Well, the first of the other women who was experimented on..." She smiled, "It went fine. The newborn is being observed and she was sent home."

"New born...?" Nina's eyes widened and she stared at her traitorous body. Her ribs were visible these days but her stomach was bloated. The thing the mad scientist had implanted in her was killing her, and they were talking about it like the most beautiful thing in the world.

"The second woman however-her cervix was damaged during the implantation, and she and the organism died when it attempted to leave her."

Nina's mouth went dry as the nurse continued. One of the other captives was dead. Cervical damage-she had retained that too. The doctors had said when they tore out the implanting tube from within her, there had been a feature activated to stop them. They said she'd lost a lot of blood.

"So when are you removing it?" Nina whispered.

"It?" The nurse seemed surprised, "What it?"

"The thing that madman made me and incubator for!" She snapped, "The thing inside me that is killing me!"

"Oh, you misunderstood," the nurse smiled, "The doctors need to do more tests. We'd hate to lose you two as well!"

"There is no two!" Nina cried out, anger bubbling over, "There is me! I want to live! I'm not willing to risk dying for something I had no say in!"

"One of the other girls said that," The woman sighed, "The first will be back to pick hers up once we're done doing tests. We were so sad the other one didn't want to keep hers."

"So what you're saying-" Nina felt her eyes narrow and her breath catch, "Is I am expected to risk my life and most likely die to bring to life the dream of the maniac who kidnapped and violated me."

"Exactly!" The nurse smiled softly, "It's very good of you to be so forgiving and brave."

"Fuck good!" Nina snapped as she tried to climb out of the bed, "I don't care if it's vindictive or cowardly, I want to live!"

"I'm afraid that's not your decision anymore, Nina."

Nina turned her head and stared at the man who spoke. He wore a black suit and a gold cross. A representative of the Council of Mars, she realized.

"What does that mean?" She cried out.

"One of the founding principles the Council set forward when settling mars," he explained, "Life is sacred. New life above all else. This when a woman finds herself in the position of giving life, so she must."

"But-"  Nina stated, "It's going to end my life. Isn't that sacred? I am already alive."

"Ah yes but," the man exhaled and smiled calmly, "But you are in the position to bring new life into the world-a whole new species even! Isn't that wonderful?"

"No," Nina snapped, "Its fucking terrifying. I want to live."

"God gave you life for this moment, Nina," The man replied, "To make new life. If he intends to reward you by bringing you to heaven, who are we to stop him?"

"I can't believe a god who gave me life, who I have prayed to every night since I was a child, would end my life in such a terrible way!" Nina shouted back, "If it was a tumor, would you remove it?"

"Of course," the nurse chimed, "A tumor can't survive outside the human body. To preserve your life we would do it."

"So preserve my life now!" Nina cried out, "I'm alive, but it's killing me!"

"And with your death new life will be born," The man in the suit replied, "Amen."

"This is bullshit!" Nina snapped and reached over to yank out the IV as she climbed out of bed.

"Nurse!"

"Yes sir," the nurse moved forward.

Nina screamed with all her might, but her body was too weak. She fell on the floor on her side and cried out. The next moment the nurse injected her with something and the world went dark. Nina whimpered as she reached out a frail arm.

"I want to live."

"You're one of the others, right?"

Nina turned her head, slowly waking. There was another woman with a bloated belly in a wheelchair, and doctors and nurses were running by.

"What happened?" She whispered as she tried to sit up.

"Ah-the third girl tried to remove it herself after they told her it would kill her," The woman exhaled, "Not the best method to preserve her own life, but she gave them the slip and threw herself down a flight of stairs, stomach first."

"Maybe she wasn't aiming for survival," Nina murmured, "But mutually assuted destruction."

"They consider these organisms inside us innocent lives."

"We're innocent!" Nina protested, "Are you okay with this?"

"Yes. And no," she sighed, "I'm willing to give birth to it. Whatever it is. No one will want to marry me anyway now, and its the only way I'm gonna have a kid."

"They said it killed the other girl with cervical damage," Nina looked up, "Mars medicine isn't the best. I'm going to die."

"That's why I'm not okay with it," the woman reached for her hand, "I am so sorry. I know its not much but I'll stay by you. I think we're do out about the same time. Maybe a miracle will happen and we can walk out together. Me with my new...and you, free. We could stick together."

"You're optimistic," Nina paused, "What's your name?"

"Hope," she smiled gently, "you?"

"Nina," Nina heard a beeping noise outside, an uninterrupted tone. The stair girl was dead. "If I am to die and these are my last days," her voice cracked, "I could use a friend."

"Then a friend you have," Hope reached out and took her hand, "Pleased to meet you Nina."

Three months later

Hope came to Nina daily after that, and they talked. She even taught Nina tricks to keep down her food. Hope had been returning from a rally when she'd been snatched, because while she had been raised a good church girl, she had questions about how the Council ran things. Nina never had before their current predicament. By now she'd torn off and throw away her crucifix.

Hope was there when it started. Nina hadn't know what was happening, only she had a sudden pain in her abdomen.

"Nina-you're bleeding!" Hope cried out and rolled to the door, "Doctors! It's happening!"

"Hope?" Nina whimpered as her head began to spin. Another pain rang through her, and she screamed.

"Nina! I'm here!" Hope began to wheel back to her as doctors and nurses entered. Suddenly the other woman was crying out as well. It's happening.  

Hope had guessed they'd go into delivery around the same time. Half the medical team split off to push her out of the room, and the other half remained with Nina.
"Nina!" Hope cried out, "I'll be there! When you make it through!" She called before yelling out again. Nina managed to make a meek smile as they placed a mask over her to drug her for the procedure. I'm not, Hope. You know that. But thank you for being my friend when the rest of the world decided I wasn't worthy to live.

Yet some time later, Nina was surprised to open her eyes again. There was a machine beeping next to her, and a nurse filling out a form. She glanced down and saw her stomach was shrunken in, and despite her body aching, she let out a weak sob of joy. It was over.

"Hello, Nina!" The nurse chimed, "It seems God didn't want you yet after all."
"And the...thing?" She gestured to her empty stomach.
"A newborn baby boy! Would you like to meet him?"
"Given he tried to murder me from within the womb and his creation is associated with the worst memories of my life? No, I never want to see him," she murmured bitterly, "Where's Hope?"

The air was pregnant with unsaid words, and Nina sat up to look at the nuse. Suddenly her perkiness, which she had worn even when telling Nina she would most likely die giving birth to that horrible man's creation, was gone.

"She...didn't make it. Something went wrong during the delivery, and she suffered a Uterine Rupture. Her daughter is healthy, if motherless..."

Nina didn't hear the rest. None of the rest mattered. Her eyes widened and before she thought she was done crying. Now-now the tears came back like the tide as she stared out the window. Hope is dead.

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While the events in this story are fictional, the possibility isn't that far from reality. According to the CDC, within the United States about 650 women die each year due to complications of their pregnancy. By proclaiming a 'pro-life' stance and forcing a pregnant woman under any circumstance to carry the organism growing inside her to term, her life is at risk to become one of those six hundred and fifty women. You are asking her to risk death in order to bring a helpless child into the world, who she can't keep even if she wants to if the pale rider comes knocking.