Disclaimer: contains violence

She heard the sound of his footsteps approaching and closed her eyes as he entered the room.

Samantha Wexford spent her days and nights praying that she would find a way out of her hellish existence. Every waking moment of every day she spent thinking of ways to make him pay for what he had done to her.

"It's no sense pretending you are asleep, Samantha," Lewis said.

Oh God, how she hated the sound of her name on his lips. Sam slowly opened her eyes and looked at him.

"That's better, my dear. How are you feeling today?"

He moved over to the bed and placed his hand on her distended belly. Sam shivered as she jerked away. Lewis looked pleased.

"Not much longer, Samantha," he said. "It's time we started thinking about picking out a name for our son."

"It's a shame Satan's already taken," Sam said. She absorbed the lightning quick slap to the face that her remark triggered without a sound. She had been held captive by Lewis for almost four months now and had learned quickly that any reaction to his cruelty gave him a perverse kind of pleasure. Mercifully, he had stopped sexually assaulting her once she had been successfully impregnated. However, the physical and mental abuse had continued.

"You should be proud that you were chosen to bear my child," he told her as he pulled her to her feet. As he had done every morning since Sam had become pregnant, Lewis forced her to walk up and down briskly within small confines of her makeshift prison.

"Proud?" Sam laughed mirthlessly. "My only hope is that I'll die before delivering this obscenity you've implanted in me."

His icy blue eyes filled with fire as he shoved her up against the nearby wall. "You will pay for those words, Samantha," he hissed. "Once my child is born you will pay dearly."

He turned and left the room. Sam's knees buckled and she slid down to the floor. She wrapped her arms around herself and rocked back and forth as the sound of her harsh sobs echoed throughout the tiny room.

Moments later, Lewis walked into a room a few doors down from where Sam was being held. He quickly sat down in front of the bank of monitors and began watching her.

"Help me," she sobbed. "Somebody please help me."

He smiled coldly as Sam's despair overwhelmed her and she crawled to the nearest corner and curled into a fetal position on the floor of her prison. "It won't be much longer now, Samantha," he murmured. "Your defenses are finally starting to crumble."

Sloan sat staring at the data scrolling on her monitor. The information blurred before her tired eyes.

"No matter how many times you go over it, Sloan, it's not going to change." Ed placed his hands on her shoulders and began to gently work out the knots he felt there.

"If only I could have remembered what Lewis told me sooner," she said in a low voice.

"He knew you wouldn't remember until it was too late to do anything."

Sloan turned to see Tom walk into the lab. She offered him a tired smile. "Knowing doesn't make me feel any less guilty."

Tom could still see the haunted look in her eyes. Sloan had been nearly inconsolable after they had discovered the tragic aftermath of Lewis' latest training session in the Chiquento Caves. Besides the usual piles of clothing and personal items, there had been several corpses. Tom had nearly lost control himself when they found the young woman whose resemblance to Sloan was so startling. They had found out later that her name was Amanda Patterson. Her husband's wallet had been found among the things left behind. They were just two of the people whose background Sloan had been researching.

"Have you found anything on Samantha Wexford yet," Tom asked. "According to everything we've learned so far she was traveling with the Pattersons and an acquaintance named Caleb Adams."

"No, and it doesn't make sense," Sloan said with a frown. "We've found at least some kind of documents relating to every other person who disappeared from that cave in the things that were left behind."

"Nothing about this makes sense," Ed said as he aimed a look at Tom over Sloan's head. She was running on pure nerves now and it was time they forced her to take a break. "I think we should shelve this particular investigation for the moment."

"Not quite yet," Tom said in spite of Ed's glare. "We've received some interesting information about Lewis this morning." He took a seat next to Sloan before continuing. "It seems as though our idea to canvas the area in and around the site of the eclipse has paid off. Someone recognized Lewis today from the photos we've been showing around."

"Where," Sloan asked quickly.

"San Vieto."

"But that's miles away from the caves," Ed said.

"It's almost fifty miles closer to the states," Sloan added. "What was he doing there?"

"A better question would be what were they doing there," Tom said. "According to our source, there was a woman with him. A woman he called Samantha."

Over an hour had passed and Sam remained curled over on her side on the floor. Lewis couldn't decide if she had fallen asleep or was just too depressed to move. But the fact that she lay with her face turned away from the monitors allowed him to notice how prominently the bones in her back showed beneath the shift she wore. Clicking on the intercom, he ordered Morine to report to him immediately.

"Samantha appears much thinner than when we first appropriated her," he said as soon as the woman entered the room. "Has she been eating?"

Morine looked past him at the monitors and smiled coldly. "It was a mistake to breed with this human," she told him. "She fails more every day."

"Your opinion on that matter was unsolicited and most unwanted," he told her. "Your sole purpose for being here is to see that nothing interferes with the successful completion of the birth. If she is fails to do that this time it will be your neck on the chopping block. Have I made myself clear?"

Caught in the fury of his gaze, Morine mutely nodded.

"You will go prepare a meal and take it to Samantha immediately. See that she eats it."

Morine was silently cursing as she left the room. How could he have given such an important role to that lowly creature? The bearing of Lewis' offspring was an honor that many, included herself, would do anything to achieve. And now, because of this human, she was disgraced in Lewis' eyes. She would make sure that situation was reversed immediately.

Sam woke up to find herself stiff and quite cold. She slowly pulled herself up from the floor and stumbled toward the bed on legs that ached from inactivity. Still exhausted, she was just about to lay down again when she heard someone outside the door. She looked up to see Morine come into the room carrying a tray of food.

"I'm not hungry," she lied. "Take that away." She had been denying herself everything except water for days now in hopes of injuring the thing growing steadily within her.

Morine sat the tray on a small table beside the bed and looked at Sam with a glint of malice in her eyes. "You will eat everything on this tray if I have to cram it down your throat."

Morine picked up a thick slab of bread covered with butter. She held it out toward Sam and waited.

Sam pushed it away and started to lay down but Morine quickly reached out and pulled her back up. Bending in close she began to speak. "I would give anything to be carrying Lewis' child," Morine hissed. "Anything. Why he chose you I'll never know. But I do know this. You'll eat everything on this tray and you will remain healthy until you have given birth to his son."

Sam looked from Morine to the tray. With one sweep of her arm she sent the tray of food flying. A weak smile of defiance formed on her lips.

"You'll pay for that bitch. I'll make sure of it." Morine left the room and slammed the door behind her.

Sam sank back down onto the bed and closed her eyes. She was just beginning to drift off to sleep again when Morine came walking back into the room. Sam's blood turned cold when she saw the leather restraints in the woman's hands.

"No," she said as she skidded back against the wall.

"It's your own fault," Morine said with a look of utter hatred on her face. "Nothing is going to prevent you from nurturing this child properly. If you won't eat by yourself than I'll just have to make sure you get what he needs."

Sam drew on every ounce of strength in her as she struggled to keep from being tied down again, but in the end she lay helpless to resist as Morine bought in the intervenes equipment and hooked her up to it. Sam turned her face to the wall as the woman opened the valves and the life-sustaining liquid began to flow into her veins.

Over the next several days, Sam slowly began to gain back some of the weight she had lost. Morine took to sitting by her bed during the force feedings and talk quietly to her.

"You're a fool to put yourself through this," Morine said. "I know how much you hate being in those restraints."

Sam glared at her but remained silent.

"You could be sitting up and eating a good meal right now if you would use just a tiny part of your obviously inferior brain."

Sam sighed. "Am I lucky or what," she asked sarcastically. "Not only do I get to be tied down and forced to eat, but while enjoying this pleasant interlude I get insulted by Lewis' lapdog. Why don't you just go and worship at Lewis' feet or something, Morine? I'm sick of listening to the sound of your voice."

But instead of getting angry, Morine suddenly leaned closer to a visibly startled Sam.

"But you're not hearing me, Samantha," came the whispered reply. "You're letting your need to get revenge against Lewis cloud your mind. How can you ever hope to escape from here if you continue to allow yourself to become weaker and weaker? Do you really think he's going to allow you to live after his son is born?"

"What kind of fool do you think I am?" Sam laughed harshly. "You can take any advice you have for me and stick it . . ."

"Lower your voice, " Morine said angrily. "He'll hear you."

Sam's eyes grew wide as she quickly began to look around the room. "Dammit, why don't you just invite Lewis to join us," Morine hissed. "Keep your eyes on me."

"He's been watching me all along," Sam whispered. She struggled to breathe as the rising hysteria threatened to overwhelm her.

"Get over it, Samantha. You have bigger problems facing you than the fact that you've been providing Lewis with endless hours of entertainment."

But Sam couldn't get past it. The thought that Lewis had been watching her, studying her like some lab rat was too much to bear. She began pulling frantically at the restraints on her wrists and ankles. "I have to get out of here," she gasped. "Let me out of here!"

"Stop it!" Morine grabbed hold of Sam's shoulders and forced her back against the thin mattress. "Keep this up and Lewis will be running in that door to find out what is wrong with you."

Sam froze. She wasn't ready to deal with seeing Lewis right now. She drew in a couple of shaky breaths and then met Morine's eyes. "Please," she whispered. "Undo the restraints."

Morine struggled to hold in the triumphant laugh that rose up inside her. This was going to be so easy. The human was playing right into her hands.

Now that the initial panic had begun to subside, Sam started to re-think her position. "Why are you suddenly being so kind," she asked as Morine began removing the intervenes needles from Sam's arms.

"I'm doing this purely for my own selfish interests," came the cold reply. "If you should disappear, it would leave a clear pathway for me to Lewis. I'm working on a plan to get you out of here, but you have to be strong enough to make the move."

"When," Sam asked. She could barely control the flood of emotions that rose up inside her. She was going to get out of here!

"Soon," was all Morine would say. "Just be ready because you'll only have once chance at this."

"I'll be ready," Sam vowed.

Months had passed and they were still no closer to finding Lewis or the missing Samantha Wexford.

"How could they both have just disappeared off the face of the earth like that?"

Sloan sat in a secluded booth eating lunch with Ed and Tom. The three had been going over everything they had amassed since there frantic trip to San Vieto.

"We know that Lewis was seen on more than one occasion in and around San Vieto," Ed pointed out. "However, after that first day, no one saw Samantha again."

"And the one person who did see her said that she didn't appear to be in very good shape. According to Mr., ah . . .," she frowned as she flipped thought the file in front of her. "Lambert, Carl Lambert, she had several bruises on her face and a cast on her left hand and wrist. Now, why would he be dragging someone along with him who was obviously going to slow him down?"

"Obviously she was important to him," Ed said. "Maybe she simply caught his eye."

"If you knew Lewis you'd know how ludicrous that statement is," Tom said.

"Well, pardon me for not knowing just how you people function," Ed snapped.

Sloan gave a weary sigh and once again took on the role of peacemaker. "Why is that, Tom," she asked after sending a warning look in Ed's direction.

"Lewis considers anyone of your species far beneath him," Tom said with a look of apology aimed at both Sloan and Ed. "He would never pursue a relationship with one of your women, Ed."

"Seems to me he forgot that little ideosyncricity when he held Sloan captive," Ed countered.

Sloan shuddered as the memory of Lewis' mauling of her when she was helpless to fight back.

"It just doesn't fly unless . . ." Tom suddenly went pale.

"What is it, Tom," Sloan asked as she grabbed hold of his arm.

His eyes took on a haunted look as he continued to stare off unto space. It was several more minutes before he began to speak again. "He's using her as a breeder."

"What the hell are you saying," Ed practically yelled. He lowered his voice when he noticed several other people looking over toward them. "Are you saying he's impregnated Samantha Wexford?"

"When he captured me and began to turn be back to their ways, he spoke of this," Tom said in a monotone voice. "He wanted to created a new breed of soldiers that would help make your species extinct. He told me that I would bring him to you and that you would be the first breeder."

"He could have taken me with him when he escaped from the Institute," Sloan said slowly. She had grown extremely pale. "Why didn't he, Tom?"

"Because you had betrayed him and he needed to punish you for that. He told you about the caves knowing how it would hurt you."

"And then that egomaniac took another woman and impregnated her. He wants you to know that it's your fault that she's been used like that," Ed added.

"We have to find her," Sloan said. She looked ill. "We have to get her away from him."

It had been four days since Morine had told Sam she would help her get away from Lewis. The two women continued to make plans each time that Morine brought Sam her food. For her part, Sam began to eat normally again and exercised each day with Lewis. It was hard for her to face him everyday knowing that when he wasn't with her he was watching and recording her every move.

"How much longer, Morine," she whispered when the woman had appeared with her breakfast tray. "I can't take much more of this."

"Today," Morine told her. She struggled to keep from laughing at the pathetic look of gratitude on the human's face. "I've been hiding some provisions for you to take with you. I stashed them plus a coat and some other things you may need behind the shed outside. Now all we have to do is wait for Lewis to . . ."

"Wait for Lewis to what, Morine?"

They had both been so intent on their plans that neither woman heard Lewis come into the room until it was too late.

"T-to pick out a name for the child," Morine stammered. She stood and turned to face him. "I was telling Samantha that you would be naming the child soon."

"You lie so quickly and easily, Morine," he said as he moved further into the room. "It makes me wonder what else you may have been lying to me about all this time."

"Nothing, Lewis. I've never lied to you!"

"I may have believed you if I hadn't heard everything you've been discussing with Samantha over the past few days. Did you really think I would turn to you if she were gone?"

His cruel laughter made something snap in Morine and she suddenly screamed and leapt toward him. As she moved, Sam saw the glint of a knife in her right hand.

Morine fought viciously but Lewis calmly deflected most of her blows. When she came close to burying the knife in his shoulder he reached out and snapped her wrist. The weapon dropped to the floor even as her agonizing scream of pain echoed off the walls of the tiny room. Lewis was relentless in his attack now and the sound of his fist pounding in to her body was sickening. She was barely recognizable when he finally wrapped his arm around her neck and snapped it. He turned back to Sam. "Give me the knife, Samantha."

Sam held the knife out between them as she continued to edge toward the door. "I won't let you keep me here any longer," she said. Her voice was trembling nearly as bad as her hand but she kept her grip on the knife.

"I won't let you go, Samantha," he said as he stepped toward her. "Not while you are still carrying my child."

He reached out to grab for the knife and Sam slashed his forearm. The shocked expression on his face when he saw the blood start to flow quickly turned to anger. He was on her in a flash. His fist slammed into her jaw and she went crashing back against the wall. Somehow she managed to maintain her grip on the knife so that when he moved in she slashed out again. Again her aim was accurate and Lewis' clutched at the wound she opened on his chest.

"I'll kill you before I let you keep me here," she cried. She began to slid toward the door again.

He stared at her, his pale blue eyes twin chips of ice. He shadowed her every move until they both stood only a few feet from the door. Sam took her eyes off of him for a minute to check where she was. Lewis attacked!

His hand clamped down on her wrist and he began to twist it hard. Sam screamed in pain even as she swung her left fist into his nose. She felt it crunch and blood came shooting out in spurts. His grip on her wrist loosened and Sam thrust the knife toward him to make him move away from her. At the same moment, Lewis moved forward and the knife plunged into his belly. Sam felt his blood pour out onto her hand and she suddenly felt faint. She let go of the knife and used both hands to shove him away from her.

"You're not going anywhere, bitch," Lewis gasped as he reached down and pulled out the knife. He grabbed hold of her with one arm and then took the knife and held it beneath her chin.

"Now we're going to walk back over to that bed and you're going to lay down on it," he told her. He pricked her neck with the knife to make his point.

Sam could feel the blood dripping down her neck. If she did what he said she was never going to get away from him. She locked her eyes onto his and watched as the hatred reflected there turned to shock when she buried her fist into the knifewound in his belly. His eyes rolled back in his head and Lewis began to go down. Sam grabbed the knife out of his limp hand and raced for the door. She slammed the door behind her and had the great satisfaction of hearing the lock slide into place. She staggered down the narrow hallway following her instincts until she was standing outside. She sobbed when the sun touched her face for the first time in over three months.

"I beat you," she cried as she rummaged behind the shed for the supplies Morine had put there. "I beat you, you bastard."

She tossed the canvas bag over her shoulder and started to walk away from what she saw now as a small cabin in the middle of nowhere. It didn't matter that she had no idea where she was. All that mattered was that she was free. Sam massaged the nagging ache in her back as she took off at a smooth, steady pace.

Sam had no idea just how long she had been walking but she knew it was time to take a breather. Her weeks of inactivity had taken a toll on her. Once, she could run a 10K in the morning and keep a tennis date that afternoon. Now, her legs felt like rubber when she slip down beneath the cool shade of a tree. Everything ached. She reached up to gently touch what she knew was a darkening bruise on her jaw. It throbbed in time with the cut beneath her chin. Some final brands Lewis had managed to put on her before she claimed back her life. Sam stared down at her stomach and felt a wave of hatred wash over her. No, this was the legacy he'd left her with. His child was moving within her constantly now as if he was growing anxious to get out.

"You'd stop struggling so hard to get out if you knew that I'm never going to let you take your first breath."

Her voice sounded unnaturally loud in her quiet surroundings. The light was beginning to fade as she pushed herself up once again and began to walk. The thought of Lewis recovering and coming after her was enough to keep her going well after darkness fell. Finally, after tripping for the second time on a path she could no longer see, Sam decided it was time to stop for the night.

"Beef jerky," she moaned when she began to rummage around in the bag of stuff Morine had filled for her. "After forcing me to eat everything under the sun for the past week, the best you could do was beef jerky?"

Sam choked down some of the dry, spicy meat and then curled up on top of the coat Morine hand stuffed in the bag and immediately fell asleep. Her dreams were full of blood and violence and several time she cried out in the darkness. Lewis pursued her as she ran endlessly through the night trying to escape him.

"You didn't really think I was going to let you live after what you did to me, did you?"

He staggered toward her. Both hands were gripping his stomach and the blood poured out between his fingers. He caught her in his bloody grip and suddenly a knife was plunging into her own stomach.

"No," Sam screamed as she bolted up into a sitting position. Her hands were laced over her stomach and she held them out and checked for blood under the gradually lightning sky. Her hands were clean!

"What a dream," she moaned and laid back down again. Suddenly another pain ripped though her and this time she was wide awake. A shiver of fear raced up her spine. She couldn't be in labor. It was too soon.

Sam leaned back up against a nearby tree and took several slow, calming breaths. She had probably just exerted herself too much. That was all. She would be fine in a few minutes. She had almost convinced herself that everything was going to be fine when the next contraction hit.

"Oh God, what do I do now," she gasped as the pain finally lessened it's grip on her. Sam struggled to recall anything, everything she knew about childbirth. She laughed in spite of herself when Butterfly McQueen's line from "Gone With The Wind" came to her. "I don't know nothin 'bout birthin no babies," Sam quoted and then gasped as yet another contraction hit her. They were coming pretty close on top of each other. Was this normal? Was anything about this going to be normal? She was carrying a new species within her. She had no idea what to expect.

She certainly didn't expect the pain to be so earth shattering that it took her breath away. Sam bit down on the part of the jacket she had stuffed in her mouth to keep her from making any noise. Her fear of Lewis coming and finding her was still too implanted in her mind. So as the pains grew in intensity throughout the day, she continued to smothered her screams.

All alone, in the middle of nowhere, Sam went though the birthing process. As the contractions continued throughout the long, hot day, she periodically begged the powers that be to let her just die and get it over. Other times she vented her wrath at Lewis and the unborn child who was tearing her insides out. But nothing stopped the contractions from coming. When she was able, she drank warm soda from the jug Morine packed. Several times the warm temperatures and her own exertions tapped her strength and she drifted in and out of consciousness. But as soon as the next contraction hit she was wide-awake and gasping for breath.

Throughout the day, Sam had changed positions several time in an effort to gain some level of comfort. But as the light began to fade, she found the only way she could bear the pain was to pull herself up into a squatting position and grab onto a nearby tree and squeeze it for all she was worth. She felt an increasing urge to bear down and when the next contraction hit she began to push in earnest. The pain was unbearable! Suddenly she felt a change when the next contraction hit. This time when she pushed she could feel Lewis' child leave her body. She dropped to her knees as the child dropped onto the coat beneath her. A moment later he gasped and drew in his first breath.

"No," Sam screamed as she saw the cord that kept this thing attached to her body. She reached for the knife she had used on it's father and slashed at the last thing that connected it to her. Knife still in hand, she stared down at the child that lay nestled between her legs.

"You weren't supposed to live," she sobbed as she watched the tiny chest rise and fall. "You weren't supposed to live."

Looking half insane, Sam gripped the knife with both hands and held it poised above the baby's chest.