Flesh and Blood

Oh noes, another cliffhanger. Big surprise. And now, ladies and gentlemen, the gross birth scene:


14
After four hours, Three Finger was beginning to have doubt. The pains had only increased with every cramp in his belly and back and he was seeing little progress, although he had made quite the mess of his bed. He was nearly ready to cut himself open to alleviate his suffering and finally meet his pup. Rubbing the sore areas as though trying to soothe his little one, his breath came out quick and erratic, and his sweat made him feel slippery, like a fish dying on land. The hunter had taken to laying curled up in as tight a ball as possible, and his exhaustion made him feel useless. But the pain seemed too much for him.
He could not afford to be afraid, not now. Pain was something he could live with, and his fear was only making it worse. The pup was counting on him, and could only do so much to free itself. It needed his help, or else they would both die. Slowly, with trembling limbs, he got up on all fours again and waited for another cramp.
As the agony built within, Three Finger strained as hard as he could. Whimpering, he refused to give up, and continued to bear down until the pain stopped, and he rested his head against the slick mattress as he awaited another chance. The next cramp made him scream as he pushed, but he felt progress as he did so, and he drooled in his efforts to spit the pup out of his hole. Something big was blocking him in his quim and his ass. As he pushed again, he felt himself evacuate instead of give birth, and he tried to aim over the bed so that the pup would not be writhing in shit when it came out. Another mess he would have to clean later, if he was to survive this ordeal…
A few minutes later, the man was working purely on adrenaline. Breathing hard now, his color deepened as he strained, and his heart hammered in his ribs. He clenched his fingers in the slippery sheets and spread his legs wide, feeling the object in his channel coming closer. Three Finger thought he might be bleeding now, for he could smell it amongst the other strange fluids pouring out of him, but he ignored the scent. He gave the moment all he had now, and as another cramp constricted his belly, his spine jerked about in his pains. Giving a long, loud groan, he felt tears run down his face, his exhaustion and suffering taking their toll on his mind and body. Vision blackened for a second, but Three Finger battled succumbing to the darkness. He was going to see his pup no matter what! Something released as he pushed again and he reached down and discovered it to be the head. Allowing himself a grin, he caught up with his starved lungs before he would do anymore.
He thought of how One Eye would have been so excited at the prospect of a new little brother or sister to play with.
He imagined how proud Saw Tooth would have been to see another addition to their family, some little tiny bit of hope that they would continue to live on in this mountain.
One Eye’s hand on his stomach, the other hand holding a rattle for the pup…
Saw Tooth’s reliance that all was not lost for them…
All was indeed not lost. Three Finger was going to survive and raise his son or daughter as his own. And they would one day make a bigger family. He was not going to give up after everything he had accomplished.
One more long hard push, accompanied by the feeling of knives going through his lower body, and the pup slipped out of his gash. Collapsing against the mattress, laying in his own fluids, Three Finger resisted the urge to pass out, but he did anyway, hearing the faintest sound of something screaming.
Some unknown force nudged the exhausted man out of his slumber, and he drowsily half opened his eyes. It must have either been One Eye desiring to play with him, or Saw Tooth alerting him to a new hunt. Taking a deep breath, he fully opened his eyes and found himself alone.
Of course… they were dead. He was supposed to be alone.
No. Not completely alone.
Still in a daze, Three Finger looked past his sticky, naked body and saw what he had been so eagerly waiting for. The wriggling little creature did not look as big as it felt coming out of him, limbs waving and kicking. It was beginning to squall again too. Still weakened by his efforts, he wantonly pushed himself over closer to the tiny thing, shaky hands outstretched for his pup.
The tired hunter held his offspring close and examined the tiny body. He was not sure how big pups were supposed to get, although this one seemed a little smaller than how he remembered One Eye at his birth. He saw what made the little one so hard to push out though: sprouting from the left side of the hips was another leg, nearly the same length of the other two legs. Even from this third limb was a foot, just at the knee, not a fully formed foot, but a foot nonetheless. No wonder he had felt so much activity inside him… and here he thought he might have a litter!
He noticed upon inspection that his pup was a daughter. Three Finger did not mind. The Lesser Half could increase the family, like him. He was a little grateful he did not produce a male; he was not certain he could carry a pup successfully again if he waited for a son to come into the right age for mating. Three Finger stroked his daughter’s back as he held her against his chest, letting her find one of his teats. She greedily suckled once she found one, and to the man’s delight and wonderment, the tender bits of flesh actually functioned.
Grunting, Three Finger felt something else fall out of his cleft and he wondered if a twin was indeed promised to him. However, looking closely at the mass of gelatinous tissue, he realized it was just afterbirth. He would have to keep that for a celebration meal. Carefully, the man reached down and bit the still slightly pulsating cord attached to his daughter, separating her from the jellylike mass.
The girl squealed when she was taken away from her food and her father caressed her misshapen head and face as he looked upon her. Licking her sticky birth-marked face clean, he gazed into her eyes. Both had the same coloration, the upper halves brown, while the lower halves were a bright blue-green, almost white. She flailed her three legs at him as she opened her mouth for more milk, and Three Finger gladly supplied it to her.
She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.