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 phone sat on the nightstand near the bed while Rain went about taking off her borrowed outfit. She sat on the edge of the mattress to slip off the heels, glad she didn’t have to wear those often. Her feet were sore, and she had only danced the one time. She rubbed her aching feet, thinking it was odd that she could run for so many miles without as much pain as a few hours in a pair of high heels that weren’t even that high.Slipping the pink dress off, she lay it on the bed and stood to retrieve her jeans. She slid them on as the silky fabric of the gown pulled it off of the bed and onto the floor. Frustrated, and not wanting it to get wrinkled, Rain paused in just her bra and jeans to pick up the dress and put it on a hanger. She took it over to the closet door and hung it back on the hook on the outside where Esther had placed it earlier. Then, crossing back to her own pile of clothes, she picked up a long sleeved black T-shirt and star
“You’re sure that Daniel didn’t hurt you?” he asked, sitting on the edge of the couch, his hands folded between his knees. He was a good two, almost three, feet away from her, still dressed in his formal wear from the dance, though his tie was off, and his collar was unbuttoned at the top.“I’m fine,” she assured him. “Do you know how he is?”Seth shook his head. “When I went off with Hannah, I didn’t see anyone else. She had no idea any of it had happened. So, no, I don’t know. But I imagine he went home for his mom to tend to him. He’d be too embarrassed to go to Mary or one of the other midwives.”Rain was a bit disappointed to hear that. She’d sort of hoped he would be publicly humiliated for what he’d done. But at least he’d still be in some significant pain if he had to rely on his mother to treat him, assuming s
Her eyes widened. She hadn’t even heard it, but as soon as he spoke, she realized he was right. Next to her on the arm of the chair, Esther’s phone was making a soft chirping sound. Quickly, she turned and attempted to answer it, almost dropping the device. Seth took it from her and pressed a few buttons. “Hello?” he said, his tone hopeful. Rain held her breath, waiting for a signal that it was Adam and that he was all right.Seth exhaled and a smile came over his face as he said, “No, you did. This is my mom’s phone. She’s in bed, though. Yeah, I got back from the dance early. No, you’re not disturbing me at all. Hold on--here’s Rain.”He stretched the phone out to her, and she took it, sucking in a deep breath. “Adam?”“Hey, Rain. How are you?”The sound of his voice in her ear immediately brought a gush of tears to
The boom of heavy artillery shook the earth while the rat-a-tat-tat of smaller arms filled the gaps between the larger explosions. Mother White stood with her arms folded, far back from the advancing line, hoping her troops would continue to press on now that night had fallen. While the Oklasaw militia had been highly successful with the sun up, picking off her Military Mothers right and left, slowing them tremendously, now that it was dark and they could no longer easily see their marks, the invaders were finally making progress.It still wasn’t as fast as she would’ve liked though. By her calculations, the tracker was only about ten miles north of them right now. But they were only advancing about one mile per hour, which meant it would be daylight again before they made it far enough north to intercept the tracker, and that was assuming that the speed the object was traveling to the west didn’t pick up. She had no idea how Mist could