A swift moving current lofted a broken tree branch along the edge of shore as the murky, red tinged river cut a swath in the land wide enough to make it infeasible to try to swim across the distance to the identical patch of muddied ground that disappeared into tall grass and eventually a forest that mirrored the woods behind her. Mother White stood perfectly still, only her eyes moving as she traced the path of the projectile as if this broken tree from upstream could somehow solve all of her problems.
It had been almost forty-eight hours since she’d gotten a report of shots fired. At the time, she’d been a few hours behind the lead Military Mothers who had progressed quickly around the outskirts of Dafo as she led the attack on the remnants of the city. Dal and his people had put up quite a battle, which had been surprising since he had no dog in the fight. What he sought to gain by preventing White and her military from advancing on the fo
Leaving Rain to rest, Adam rushed out of the room, not exactly sure what she was getting at as far as the last part of the scrambled message she’d given him, but he didn’t have much time to think about it at the moment. He needed to make sure Esther and Seth understood the problem at hand. The fact that Mist had attempted to remove her IUD had put them all at risk. Both pieces of the IUD were now sending a signal back to the Mothers to let them know exactly where Mist was located. They needed to find a way to get rid of it. Immediately.He found Esther and Seth in the kitchen, both chunks of metal from the IUD on a towel on the table as the mother and son hovered over them, talking in hushed tones. “How is Mist?” he asked, thinking of her health first.“She’s resting,” Esther nodded. “Mary gave her something to help her sleep. How is Rain?”Adam wasn’t even su
The motorbike had to be at least thirty years older than Adam and Seth. Rigid joints along the casing and the seat told Adam that it had been put back together more than once. Since the vehicle only had two wheels, unlike the apparatus the boat had become when it had transitioned to land to bring them into the cave only a few days before, the bike was fundamentally unstable. Even when Seth was bringing it out of the garage into a large clearing that was meant to resemble an open field, though it was still inside of the mountain, it leaned to one side. Adam had good balance and coordination, but he didn’t know how well he’d be able to handle this challenge.“All right, this is it,” Seth said, kicking out a piece of metal that allowed the bike to balance on the ground so that he could let go of it. “Are you sure you’re up to this?”“I guess we’ll find out,” Adam said, running his
Before Adam got the chance to tell Seth the important message he'd contemplated sending to Rain, Seth pulled a device out of his back pocket. “This was my grandfather’s phone,” he explained. “It’s old, but it’ll work. It uses a frequency the Mothers abandoned a long time ago, so they won’t be able to track it. Still, you’ll want to leave it off when you’re not using it, so the battery will last.”Adam had never seen anything like it up close, but it reminded him of the device Crit had used to talk to Dal when he was delivering them to the outskirts of Dafo. “How does it work?” he asked.“This is how you turn it on,” Seth explained, squeezing a button on top. “It takes a minute. Then, the passcode is easy. Grandpa was always forgetting it, so we went with one, two, three, four.”Adam chuckled. “I think I can remember th
The roar of an engine in the distance had Rain turning over in bed. Her shoulder was uncomfortable--stiff and achy--but it didn’t hurt. When she opened her eyes, blinking a few times against the bright faux sun coming in the window, it took her a moment to remember what had happened. Then, she sat up in bed. There was a lot to do, and they needed to hurry. She glanced at the clock to see what time it was, but realized she had no idea what time she’d gotten up to go fix Mist. The tray with the breakfast Esther had brought her that she didn’t get a chance to eat was gone. Her stomach rumbled, but there was no time for that either.Tossing back the quilt and sheet from her bed, Rain eyed her boots, thinking she should put them on so that she was ready to do whatever needed to be done. But then, she was still wearing Seth’s oversized pants. Remarkably, she hadn’t gotten any blood on them or her T-shirt, which was a miracle since
Images of what the people of Oklasaw looked like had filled Mother White’s mind since she was a small girl watching videos of reenactments from battles in the past during her earliest military classes. It had been years since the Motherhood had waged war against these particular hooligans, but she had a distinct idea of an Oklasawian’s appearance, their patched clothing, mostly denim and flannel, rotten teeth, dirt and grime covering them, as well as their backward ways of thinking that made her confident the representative she’d be meeting with was sure to be ignorant and a waste of her precious time.She’d agreed to meet with the delegate from Prime Minister Westley Heath’s government, though. Despite the fact that there was nothing the person could say to change their minds about coming over the river. The tracking device tripped by Mist Gretchintown earlier in the day was giving off a clear signal as it headed west, not
Dust coated his teeth, his eyeballs already gritty with the constantly blowing sand and small rocks as Adam made his way west as quickly as he could possibly go. Under any other circumstances, he might’ve taken this opportunity to look around him, to take in the constantly changing landscape, transitioning from mountains to farmland, to dry strips of dirt and rocks like the one he was on now, back to what he could plainly see was more hilly country in the distance and possibly mountains beyond, but now was not the time, particularly since there were no trees or tall plants of any kind in this area to protect him. If the Mothers were to catch up with him now, honing in on the silent signal emanating from his pocket, he would be screwed in a way he’d never been screwed before--which was saying something.It took all of his concentration to keep the bike upright and moving in the correct direction. How many times had he almost wiped out? Hit a r
Rain took a seat at the dining room table across from Esther, next to Seth, with Peter sitting next to his mother. It was strange but comforting to be sitting there, in the small room, which was more of an extension of the kitchen than it was a designated space. It was homey. A picture of a large rooster hung on the wall behind Esther’s head. Beside it, an oversized fork and spoon apparently awaited a giant or else it was a quaint country way of decorating Rain didn’t quite understand. Since she’d seen no other evidence of mythical creatures since she left Michaelanburg’s borders, she had to believe some of what she’d been taught was true. Giants didn’t exist, but Oklasaw was an unimposing place where people appreciated nature, especially farmland.A red and white checked tablecloth covered the modest wooden table. The spread looked and smelled delicious. It wasn’t anything fancy, just what looked like sliced tur
Seth must’ve sensed her uneasiness. He reached over and put his hand on her shoulder, a soothing kindness she much appreciated as she tried to make sense out of Esther’s one sided conversation.It was mostly grunts and one word answers. “Yes.” “No.” “Okay.” In-between, she’d ask an occasional question of clarification, “What time?” “What did he say?” “Are they going to do that?” The conversation dragged on, Esther not even looking Rain in the face as she stared at her free arm, draped between her ample bosom and the table.After what seemed like a half hour, though it was likely more like ten minutes, Esther thanked Mayor Abraham, whoever that was, and disconnected the call. “The delegate has completed his meeting with the Mothers,” she said, letting out a sigh as she spoke. She shook her head. “They refuse to stand down.”
The view out the kitchen window was beautiful. Snow capped mountains in the distance, open fields full of green grass and brightly colored flowers in the foreground, with plenty of trees and bushes throughout. No matter how many days Rain stood in that room, doing what some might think as mundane tasks, like doing the dishes or cooking dinner, she would never, ever get tired of that view. To Rain Blue, that view meant freedom. “Mama! Come outside and play catch with us!” her daughter, Misty, shouted as she came flying through the backdoor. “Dad is gonna teach Wally how to throw a curveball!” “Oh, wow!” Rain said, drying her hands on a dishtowel as she turned to see her daughter’s bright red hair fly by on the other side of the table. Misty was a little blur and had been the entire four years of her life. Luckily, her cousin, Wally, who lived next door with hi
Rain stepped inside the large circular room along with about thirty of her fellow soldiers from the Quebecian army. She glanced around at the faces of her fellow soldiers and saw the confusion and uncertainty on all of their faces. Adam was just a few people away from her. They caught eyes for a moment, but then Rain focused on the center of the room where President Violet was standing.All around her, large boxes marked as explosives were stacked on top of one another, the highest stacks coming about to her waist. She was a short woman, with short dark hair and a swath of purple in the front, sort of like Mother White’s stripe, though Rain had assumed that that was natural.Next to Violet was a pillar of some sort with what looked like a golden button on top. Wires from each of the boxes were wound around one another, creating one thick wire that was con
Being back in the air was a sensation Rain couldn’t quite get used to, but this mission was different. The first time she had flown, the flight had been long, and she’d been nervous for far more reasons than she was now. This time, she was on a small plane with a select group of soldiers who were being moved to the front to help complete a mission that was almost done. All eight of the soldiers on board the flight had recovered enough from their wounds during various other attacks that they could now go back into active duty. Rain was ready to storm the fort where President Violet was reportedly hiding, and she was glad to have Adam by her side, not only on the flight but also when they landed.It was loud inside of the plane, so no one could truly talk, and despite their relationship status, Rain didn’t dare touch Adam with her hand while they were in uniform and active. But the fact tha
Weeks of healing for Rain, Adam, and Mist brought their bodies back to full strength, or close to it. For Mist, there would be no returning to the battlefield, not now that she knew she was pregnant. Rain and Adam both wanted to return to the ranks and help defeat the rest of the Mothers that were still fighting near the center of Michaelanburg. With every passing day, their ranks dropped, but as long as President Violet and her cabinet were still at large, the Quebecians would not back off.Saying goodbye to Mist had been difficult, but Rain was also relieved that she no longer had to worry about the safety of her best friend. Fighting alongside the woman she loved most in the world and the man she wanted to marry had been weighty, and she was thankful at least one of those people was now out of harm’s way for good.Rain had different roommates in
Adam was awake when Rain made it back to the room they were sharing together. He’d had multiple surgeries over the last several days, so he’d been asleep a lot, but she was pleasantly surprised at how well he was recovering.Cheryl helped Rain back into her bed and put her leg up on a device that would help it to heal. The technology was a little behind what Rain was used to in Michaelanburg, but she trusted the doctors and the rest of the medical team that had been working on her since the attack.“How’s Mist?” Adam asked with a smile on his face. He was propped up so that she could see him. Rain adjusted her pillows and used the button to move the back of her bed up a bit so she could more easily see him. “She’s good. And you’ll never guess what she found out before her surgeries.”
Walking was hard. It had been a few days since Rain had gotten out of bed. After several surgeries on her leg, she knew that all of the bones were fused back together with a substance just as hard as the bone itself, so it would hold her, but it was still scary.She had a walker to lean on, just in case she lost her balance, and one of the medics from Quebec was alongside her. All of the injured had been moved back to a building in Oklasaw. It wasn’t under the mountain like Judea, the town that Seth had grown up in, but it was still a quaint little village, and Rain was glad they’d get a few weeks there to recover.She just wished she could get back to normal more quickly.She’d seen Adam quite a bit since they were moved, but she hadn’t seen Mist. Her friend was still in pretty bad shape and
Adam had no idea how he was alive.He remembered handing Rain off to Seth, and then, the next thing he remembered, the world was on fire, and the sky was falling down on him. Every single cell in his body was in agony. He couldn’t move, couldn’t lift a hand to try and push his way out, and the smoke was enough to keep him from even wanting to suck in a breath. He was certain he was about to die.Adam had let himself drift on then, feeling like it would be better to die unconscious than to be awake while he was breathing his last.But here he was now, lying in a hospital bed in a makeshift hospital near the Oklasaw border. All around him, doctors and medical students were hustling around, doing their best to help the injured.He had an IV in his arm and knew t
The sensation that she’d been moving had jarred Rain awake for a few moments, but she hadn’t been able to open her eyes, and then, she’d suddenly been aware of the fact that she wasn’t quite as hot, and the air that she was sucking into her lungs wasn’t burning her from the inside out anymore.But she had failed at opening her eyes, so she had no idea what the situation was. The thought that she could’ve died and was now in whatever world came beyond this one had crossed her mind. She didn’t believe that The Bridge was a way to start one’s life over, but she did think there had to be something after life as they knew it.She certainly believed in death.People shouting to one another registered in her mind as she tried to open her eyes again. She could feel something s
Where the hell had she gone?Adam had ridden the motorbike back to camp to deliver the message to the commanders. Luckily, he’d found one fairly quickly upon reaching the forest. He’d told the man, Lt. Brason, what Mother White had told them and then handed over the thumb drive. The commander had attempted to tell Adam to stay there, that he was done, and while it would’ve been a relief to go find his tent and take a nap, Adam couldn’t possibly do that. He wouldn’t be able to rest until he was certain that Rain and the others were back in camp safely.He had immediately turned the bike around and sped back toward the medical center. Even before the building came into view, he saw soldiers running from that direction. That let him know that Lt. Brason and the others had taken him seriously and were in the process of evacuating the b