Chapter 1
One night, on the highway shoulder, a pregnant woman crouched by the guardrail, clutching her belly and crying.
Her water had broken, but her husband had dumped her there, hit the gas, and driven off to celebrate his ex's birthday.
Leo Carter was a night delivery driver. His tire blew, and he had to pull over.
When he looked up and saw the woman, he figured he couldn't leave her there.
Soaking wet, he carried her to the hospital. Later, he learned the woman's father was Richard Winston.
Yeah, that Richard Winston. One cough from him, and every rich man in the city would line up to hand him throat lozenges.
'Her scumbag husband is done for,' thought Leo.
*****
It was a night in July. The hot air was so stifling that it was hard to breathe.
Leo stuffed the last order of barbecue into the trunk, wiped the sweat from his face, and fired up his minivan, which had already racked up 75 thousand miles.
The AC light on the dashboard flickered a few times and then went out.
"Alright," Leo said, giving the steering wheel a pat. "So you're gonna refuse to get fixed and let me suffer in this heat, huh? Guess we're both stubborn."
He rolled the window all the way down, letting in the night air, which was thick with the heat baked into the asphalt all day.
The GPS said it'd be another forty minutes to the city.
Traffic was light on the highway, so Leo steered with one hand, humming off-key and thinking that this order would score him 15 dollars.
Counting the orders he'd done earlier today, it'd barely cover the rest of this month's rent.
Yup, he was living in a 200-dollar-a-month tiny room in a rundown part of town where he could hear his neighbor snoring through the wall.
Then, there was a dull thud. The steering wheel jerked hard to the right, and the minivan started shaking fiercely.
Leo gripped the wheel with both hands and slammed on the brakes. The car skidded crookedly into the emergency lane, scraping along the guardrail before grinding to a halt.
His forehead smacked into the steering wheel, and he gritted his teeth in pain.
"Good news, I'm alive," Leo grumbled, pushing the door open and crouching down to check the right front tire, which was completely flat. "Bad news, I sold the spare tire last month to buy meals."
He pulled out his phone but only saw one bar of signal.
"Great," Leo muttered.
The signal on the highway was crap. He tried calling for help three times but couldn't get through.
He leaned against the car door and glanced up at the sky. The moon was bright, which was a stark contrast to his bleak future.
When Leo was about to start walking down the emergency lane toward the nearest service area, he caught a faint sound that was almost like someone crying.
He turned his head, scanning the lane, and spotted something maybe fifty yards up ahead.
A figure crouched by the guardrail.
"Hello?" Leo called out.
There was no response.
Leo hesitated for a second and decided to walk over.
The closer he got, the clearer the sound became. It wasn't simply crying. It was the kind of teeth-clenched whimper someone made when they tried to muffle it but couldn't.
By the guardrail, a young woman was crouched on the ground, clutching her belly for dear life. Her belly was huge.
She was wearing a light-colored dress. Her knees were scraped on the rough asphalt, and the hem of her dress was soaked through.
Leo stopped dead in his tracks. He glanced at the puddle on the ground and then at her belly. His mind went blank.
"What's going..." Leo stammered.
The woman looked up, lips pale. Tears streamed down her face, and sweat stuck her hair to her cheeks. She tried to speak, her voice shaky and desperate. "P-please, h-help me."
Leo's eyes went wide. In his twenty-six years of life, he'd run errands, delivered packages, moved furniture, and made funeral decorations at a mortuary.
But running into a pregnant woman with her water broken on the highway's emergency lane was a first.
"Why are you out here by yourself? Where's your family? Where's your husband?" Leo asked.
The woman's fingernails dug into her own arm, her knuckles turning white. "He... he drove off."
"Drove off? To call an ambulance?" Leo asked.
"No," she said, her voice suddenly flat, like she'd cried herself numb. "He went to celebrate his ex-girlfriend's birthday."
Leo thought he must've misheard as he asked, "What?"
"He said... I should call a cab to the hospital," she added.
For a few seconds, both of them were silent.
A car roared past on the highway, the rush of air lifting the hem of the woman's dress.
Leo's mouth twitched. He wanted to say something. If he'd gone to college, maybe he could've thrown out some sharp lines to describe that guy. But he hadn't.
So he only asked one question. "Is your husband even human?"
The woman didn't answer.
Suddenly, she let out a muffled cry. Her body curled up as she grabbed onto the bottoms of Leo's trouser with a surprisingly strong grip.
"It hurts... so bad," she gasped. Leo went rigid, totally stunned.
'I can't freak out. I'm a grown man. I've seen wild stuff,' Leo thought. 'Wait, what's wilder than delivering a baby on the highway? What am I, a doctor or a vet?'
"I-I'll call an ambulance," Leo stammered, fumbling for his phone as he crouched down, letting the woman lean against him. "Hang in there. Don't push. Try to hold on."
His phone still had only one signal bar. He dialed 911 but got a busy tone. He tried again, but now there was no signal at all.
"Son of a..." Leo muttered, glancing at the pitch-black highway ahead. The nearest service area was still six miles away.
He turned to look at his minivan, which was dead on the side of the road. Its right front tire was flat, mirroring how deflated he felt.
"Can you walk?" Leo asked.
The woman shook her head. Scorching hot sweat from her forehead dripped onto the back of his hand.
Leo gritted his teeth. He stood up, bent down, and scooped her up in his arms.
With about 110 pounds plus the baby inside, Leo's back was screaming in protest.
"What are you doing?" she gasped.
"Don't talk. Save your strength," Leo said.
He carried her over to the minivan, yanked open the back door, and swept all the barbecue boxes off the seat and onto the floorboard.
The whole car reeked of the smell of barbecue mixed with the tang of amniotic fluid.
He set her down on the back seat, took off his jacket to use as a cushion, jumped into the driver's seat, and started the engine.
The right front tire was totally flat. The rim ground on the pavement, making a harsh metal sound.
The car could only limp along at 25 mph, wobbling down the emergency lane like an old drunk.
"Hang in there. The nearest exit is about 2 miles away. There's a hospital near the exit," Leo shouted.
From the back seat came stifled gasps and moans.
Leo floored the gas, and the temperature light on the dashboard started flashing red.
His palms were slick with sweat. The steering wheel almost slipped out of his hands.
"What's your name?" Leo yelled, trying to keep her conscious.
"Sophia Winston," she managed to say.
"Sophia, listen to me. I'm Leo, a delivery guy. I'm not charging you for this ride, but you gotta make it to the hospital alive, okay?" Leo shouted.
There was no response from the back seat.
Leo glanced in the rearview mirror. Sophia's face was ghostly pale. Her eyes were half-closed, and her lips were completely drained of color.
Leo's heart clenched.
He kept one hand on the wheel, reaching back with the other to grab her hand.
"Don't pass out. Talk to me. What's your husband's name? I'll curse him out for you," Leo shouted.
Sophia's fingers twitched, and she managed to choke out, "Ethan Harper."
"Ethan?" Leo barked while driving. "Ethan, you dumbass. Your wife's about to give birth, and you left for your ex's birthday party? What the hell is wrong with you?"
Sophia's lips seemed to twitch. Leo couldn't tell if she was trying to smile or was wincing in pain.
It took Leo seven minutes to cover those 2 miles.
The steel rim of the wheel scraped against the pavement, sending off a shower of sparks, and the brakes were burning hot, filling the air with the stench of scorched rubber.
Once they got off the highway, the GPS showed the nearest hospital was still 1 mile away.
Leo blew through every traffic light, not giving a damn.
Tonight, it was do or "die." Either he got her to the hospital, or they'd both get arrested.
"Sophia, we're almost there. Hang in there a little longer," Leo shouted.
He heard a raw scream from the back seat.
Then, a hand grabbed his arm in a firm grip, and her nails dug deep into his skin.
"I-I'm going to give birth," Sophia choked out.
Leo's mind went almost blank as he thought, 'No, kid. Wait. We're only two minutes away.'
"I can't hold on anymore," Sophia gasped.
The hospital lights showed up at the next intersection.
Leo kicked the accelerator and shot into the emergency entrance. They almost crashed into an ambulance.
He jumped out, yanked open the back door, and yelled into the ER, "She's having a baby. Somebody, help. Hurry!"
Three nurses burst out with a stretcher, and things got wild fast.
Leo got shoved aside. He was soaked to the bone, and he couldn't tell if it was sweat, amniotic fluid, or his own pee on his pants.
He looked down at himself. His T-shirt was smeared with barbecue grease, amniotic fluid, and some other liquid that he wasn't sure what it was. There were two bloody scratches on his pant leg from her nails.
He crouched by the ER entrance, hands on his knees, gasping for air.
Then, his phone finally got a signal. A message popped up: [Your delivery order has timed out. The app docked 20 points from your rating.]
Leo stared at the message for five seconds. Then he stuffed his phone back in his pocket.
He let out a long breath into the night sky. "This damn night is crazier than my whole life."