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.”
Judea was much different from Gretchintown. In Rain’s hometown, all of the streets were perfectly straight. Blocks were square. Buildings were constructed in even rows so that everywhere one looked, they’d see order and structure. As she walked from Esther’s home to the armory building where the bi-weekly dances were held, she couldn’t help but notice how chaotic the layout of the little town was. Houses were sprinkled haphazardly beneath the faux sky, tinges of pink and orange catching their nonuniform roofs as the fake sun went down behind a row of fluffy white virtual clouds. None of the houses looked the same. None of the roads were straight; they all curved and arched and wound around the structures. It was a beautiful mess, one that made Rain’s eyes dart from one place to another, a smile on her face.Even the road itself made little sense to her. It wasn’t asphalt or even concrete. Rather, it seemed all of the r
Rain expected someone to meet her at the door to the dance, to take her name or something of that sort, but no one was stationed there. A darkened, narrow hallway led off to another section of the building. On either side, glass cases held old photographs and plaques. She would’ve loved to take her time to peruse them, to learn more about the history of Judea, but she didn’t head that way. Instead, she moved forward, toward the music, and the light pouring from the largest room, one she imagined was constructed for the purpose of holding dances and other public get-togethers.The song playing now had a faster tempo than the one she’d caught drifting on the air earlier. This one featured a brass instrument she thought might be a trumpet, but she’d never heard it played this way before. It wasn’t trilling out the power of the military. Rather, whomever was playing on the recording seemed to be having fun, teasing the listener,
The sound of Seth's voice to her left caught her off guard, and she jumped a little. Her cup wasn’t full enough to slosh on her hand or dress, thank goodness. “Rain, how long have you been here?” Seth asked, stepping between a group of younger individuals congregated between herself and the dancers.She met his jade eyes, her eyes widening as she realized her plan had been foiled. “Seth! Hi. Not long,” she stammered. “I just, uh… got here a few minutes ago.”“I’m sorry I didn’t see you before.”“No, it’s fine. I’m just enjoying my… smack.” That didn’t seem right. What was this stuff?Seth’s forehead crinkled. “What?” he asked, tipping his head to the side.“My… this. This pink stuff.”He turned away from her, dragging his
One thin beam of light lit the winding path in front of him, if one could even call it a path. The only thing that distinguished the narrow trail in front of Adam from the rest of the surrounding countryside was the slightly smaller size of the obstacles that stood in his path. Dodging larger rocks that had come to find their way in his immediate course was even more difficult now that the sun had gone down. The moon wasn’t full out here in the real world, as it had been in the mountain dome. Instead, it was a sliver that didn’t lend itself to much illumination. While the stars would’ve commanded his attention if he’d had the luxury of pulling his eyes away from the ground long enough to admire them, the bright pinpricks of white were more of a distraction than a source of light, the urge to take his eyes off of the road, to gaze up at them and admire their beauty overpowering,He was shocked that he had made it this far. Night ha
“Well, if it isn’t one of them rapists from down south.”Daniel Redd’s voice grated on Rain’s ears like the screech of a long, pointed fingernail on a glass window. She stopped walking just a few feet away from him, her plan to simply walk by whomever was standing in the shadows on the far side of the alley given up now that she knew for sure it was him. She still couldn’t see his face, the dark patches of night obscuring his features, but that voice had been ingrained in her mind the first time she heard it, and she felt confident, should they both live another hundred years, she would recognize it then, too.“Leave me alone,” she said, turning her head in his direction as he slowly began to emerge from the darkness. “You don’t want to mess with me.”He scoffed, stepping into a thin beam of light cast from a lamp so far down the alleyway, it barely reac
Hannah’s voice reached her ear like the squawk of a bird, crying out in protection of its nest. Rain and Seth both turned to look at the petite girl at the end of the alley at the same time. She had her hands on her hips, her head tipped down, her forehead scrunched in wrinkles so deep, they were even visible at this distance.“Shit,” Seth murmured. “I told her I’d walk her home.”Rain took a step back, Hannah’s hurt falling between them like a door dropping to cut her off from an escape route. Or perhaps the girl had actually provided Rain with the exit she needed. “Go ahead,” she said, slipping an easy smile into place. “I’ll be fine.”“Are you kidding?” he asked, a hand raising to his hair. “Rain, Daniel just tried to attack you.”“And… now he’s limping away. Seth, I’ll be fine.
Bolting the door seemed silly, but she’d promised Seth she’d lock it, so as soon as Rain was safely back inside the Green residents, she did so. She paused to take a deep breath and take in the ambience of the house, which seemed empty, before she turned to walk to the kitchen to lock the back door, as he’d instructed. No sound came from Mist and Walt’s room. Imagining that meant they were asleep, she didn’t go in to check on her friend. If there was a problem, Walt would let her know. Of that, she was certain.The back of the house was mostly dark, save for one dim light on over the stove. Rain assumed she was alone in the kitchen until a small movement amongst the shadows at the round table they’d eaten at earlier caught her attention. She froze, her hand flying to her heart.“Did I startle you?” Esther’s voice spoke into the darkness as she shifted in her chair, causing a thin bea
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