Adam’s eyelids were growing heavy as he continued to follow the narrow trail to the west. In the darkness, seeing the road was such a strain, he was afraid he might crash at any moment. At least he’d had the opportunity to talk to Rain. Now, if he was to fail in his mission, at least he knew she was okay, and he’d had a chance to say his goodbyes.
In the distance, the rumble of artillery and gunfire was growing closer. It seemed like the Mothers could be right on top of him at any moment. While it was difficult to look to the sky for drones and steer the bike, he had to keep an eye on what was happening above him because if the Mothers got a clear picture, they’d know for sure that Mist and Rain were not with him, and if that were the case, there was a good chance they would give up their pursuit of him and concentrate on the place where the tracker first started sending its signal, which would put them exactly where they needed t
Rain checked Esther’s phone one more time before she gave it back to their hostess. It would be difficult to be without a lifeline to Adam, but he hadn’t called since the night of the dance, and now, when they were packing up the truck to leave, she wasn’t sure what to think. She did know she couldn’t take Esther’s phone with her.Seth had tried to call Adam a couple of times but hadn’t gotten ahold of him. They knew from the Oklasaw militia that the tracker had made it into the river and was flowing at a rapid pace away from their location, but no one had seen Adam since right before he’d tossed the tracker. At the time, a few sharpshooters who had been concentrating on taking out drones had seen him, but then the Mothers had arrived in their larger transporters, and a fight had broken out. They didn’t think that any of them had made it past their line of defense where Adam was riding away from the river,
Nothing was going to plan--not at the moment anyway. Not since he’d tossed the tracker into the river and taken off for Louis City. With a barrage of gunfire to his back, Adam had driven north, going as fast as he could in any direction that wasn’t deadly.He knew he needed to go northeast, but he hadn’t had a chance to fiddle with the navigation as he’d fled the area, just doing whatever it took to get away from the Mothers that suddenly seemed to be bearing down on him, despite the fact that he’d already dumped the only device that should’ve been sending a signal out to them. It seemed as if they were on his tail for quite some time, though, as if they hadn’t been thrown off by the signal moving down the river. He’d ridden north through a forested area, dodging trees and stumps, occasionally nearly wiping out as he hit big rocks, until finally, with the sun almost straight overhead, he could no longer hea
The ride through the tunnel in the mountain had taken hours, which was a surprise to Rain. She’d had no idea they were so entrenched in the mountains, but she had been asleep the first time she’d gone through a similar tunnel. Still, Seth had explained that their location was as far south as possible so that they’d have access to the river border to protect against any assaults. There was a different way out, one closer to Judea, one many of his friends had taken so that they could make sure the Mothers were preoccupied, if there were any, but it would make more sense for them to go as far north under the mountain as possible. Seth told her that Adam had taken that other exit when he’d left on his mission.Some of Seth’s friends that had gone out to help had spotted Mothers on top of the mountain, combing the area, looking for traces that Rain and her party had been there. So far, they hadn’t engaged with them. Not a s
Casualties were starting to add up. Reports continued to come in of Mothers who’d fallen victim to sniper fire, explosions, and the occasional combat death. Jaguar wasn’t in charge of the mission anymore, not since President Violet had sent Mother White in, just as she was about to lead her forces across the River Red, over a week ago, but she knew enough to understand that the situation was not working out the way the Mothers had hoped. Now that she was in charge of the detail meant to ensure that any surviving members of the rebel party could not proceed any further north, she felt as if she had a small amount of power restored, but it seemed to be too little too late to actually accomplish what they’d set out to do.She’d known the importance of catching them before they crossed into Oklasaw, probably better than anyone. White was fooling herself now, if she thought they could actually find them. It was like searching for a spe
The movement of the truck coming to a stop brought Adam’s eyes flying open, and he realized he'd fallen asleep. Looking around, he wiped his mouth and tried to decipher where he was. Seeing Naomi behind the driver’s seat reminded him of what had happened, that the bike had wrecked, that his phone was broken, that he was far off track from where he was meant to be. Rain’s face came to mind, and he sighed, wishing he could find a faster way to get to her.“We’re here,” Naomi said with a small grin on her face.Adam raised an eyebrow. “What’s so funny?” he asked, not sure if he should laugh along with her or be offended.“Nothing,” she said, throwing her hands up. “It’s just… did you know that you talk in your sleep?”“What? No, I don’t.” Well, he hadn’t, anyway. The medicine the Mothers gav
It was starting to get dark. Rain thought that might be helpful, keep them from drawing attention from the Mothers, until Seth flipped on the headlights. She hadn’t thought about those. Maybe that would make it easier for the truck to be seen by unwanted eyes.For the last few hours, his friends had been calling in to let them know that they’d been engaged with the Mothers. The initial altercation had started when his friends on the main road had been stopped at a roadblock where the Mothers demanded they all get out of the vehicle and that the truck be searched. His friends had refused, saying they had no authority in Oklasaw territory. Shots were fired; three Mothers were killed, and one of Seth’s friends was wounded. After that, there’d been no holding back the others. They’d opened fire on the Mothers in the mountains, who’d also returned fire. As of the last report, three of Seth’s friends had been killed an
It was dark. That didn’t seem right. Adam opened his eyes, remembering instantly where he was--in Naomi’s garage--but he didn’t think it should be dark outside if he’d only slept for a couple of hours.Jumping up, he looked around and saw Naomi still working by lamp light at the other end of the building. She had her hair tied back, her face scrunched up in frustration as she worked with what he thought might be a wrench on the front tire of the bike, which was tipped up in some contraption so that the wheel was in the air.Grabbing his backpack, Adam headed over, wondering what time it might be but also afraid to find out. “I guess things aren’t going well,” he said.She didn’t take her eyes off of the piece she was working on as she answered. “No, it’s not. I mean… it’s better now. For a while, I was having the hardest time repairing the brake l
How Seth was still driving, Rain wasn’t sure, but he had to be exhausted. After she’d woken from a nap of about three hours, she’d offered to let him pull over and sleep while she watched out the window for any approaching threats, but Seth had refused. Now, two hours later, she could see he was struggling to keep his eyes open. They were on hilly roads with large drop offs on either side. While they hadn’t seen anyone coming in the other direction for most of the day, Rain was still worried.“Really, Seth, the sun is going to be up soon,” she said, reaching over and touching his arm. He jumped, as if he’d forgotten she was there. “You need to get some sleep.”“I’m fine,” he said again.“I don’t believe you,” she replied, tugging on his sleeve. “Pull over! You’re going to wreck and kill all of us.”