All the way home, Rain looked over her shoulder every few seconds, checking to see if she was being followed, seeing if her duplicity had been discovered and she was about to be brought down, taken to the Bridge, and ended. Visions of Mother White jumping out of the shadows had her panicked. Her pulse was racing, but she did her best to appear calm. Everyone knew the military had cameras in places where no one would expect them to be. If she was acting suspiciously, she might draw their attention, even if what she’d done inside of IW hadn’t been detected.
Back in her room, she took a few deep breaths and hung her backpack up, her eyes trained on the window. All of her roommates were present, so there wouldn’t be any chance to discuss what she’d done or question Mist as to what it meant. Surely, she had to know what the signal was supposed to clue Adam in to. If not, they would be left behind when the rebellion started, and if that
That night, Rain had awful dreams about running through the woods. Each one ended with her, Mist, Adam, and several others being mowed down by gunfire or ran over by land riders. Often, it was the steely eyes of Mother White baring down on her just before she died. Mothers like her would show no mercy, Rain was sure of that.When Rain awoke the next morning, her clothes were sweaty, and her hair was matted to the side of her face. She’d need to take a quick shower before she went to class or else everyone would immediately think something was wrong with her.Standing under the strong shower current, she imagined what it must be like for Adam, not even having water to drink unless he snuck some from the shower head. He’d never felt rain fall on his face, never even seen the sunset. Would that all change tomorrow? The idea that this could well be the last time she went to class felt surreal. She couldn’t dare to think ab
Mist hardly said a word the entire night. Feeling lost, Rain tried her best to read and not think about what was supposed to happen the next day. She’d assumed Mist would fill her in on some of the details, but any question Rain asked was met with only a clipped response. All she knew for certain was that they needed to be outside and ready to go by late morning the next day. Whether Mist didn’t know herself or just didn’t care to explain, Rain wasn’t sure, but when she closed her eyes that night, she had more questions than she did answers.Sleep was fleeting, coming in spurts of about five minutes at a time at best. By the time the sun came up, she was exhausted but also ready to jump out of bed and get on with it. Adrenaline coursed through her veins, fear and anxiety mingling together to leave her jittery and unable to sit still.Going about her usual Saturday morning was difficult. Everywhere she looked, Rai
The shouts were getting closer, and so was the gunfire. Rain looked at Mist, trying to judge when she should start running. Wouldn’t it be better if they were at the cellar before the men got there, so they could have the doors open?Mist was staring off in the distance, her eyes never wavering. Rain’s flickered back and forth between Mist’s face and the road that led to IW. In the distance, she saw some girls running for their homes, some even toward Weather House, a place Rain knew she’d never see again.Down the road, she saw some forms come into view moving quickly across the concrete. In the split second that she got a glance at them before she realized Mist was tugging on her arm, she could see that some of them were men dressed in black shorts and shirts. There were young women running alongside of them, and many of those women were carrying guns.“Now, Rain! Come on!” Mist sa
“That’s him!” Mist shouted loudly, drawing the attention of the group in front of them. Rain caught Adam’s eyes as they bulged in recognition. “Don’t shoot those two!” Mist sounded authoritative, even though she wasn’t in the least.“Under whose authority?” one of the Military Mothers asked.“Mother White,” Mist replied. Rain fought to keep her mouth from dropping open. Mist knew Mother White? “This is the one suspected of leading the rebellion.” She gestured at Adam with the tip of her gun. Now that they were standing right next to the group, Rain wasn’t sure what to do. Her heart was beating out of her chest.“I didn’t hear any orders to….”Before the Mother could finish her sentence, three sharp pops cut through the silence. Rain jumped. Mist had fired so quickly and accurately, all th
The alarms were no longer blaring, but Mother White knew the threat wasn’t over. Even though her forces had managed to shut down much of the insurrection, it hadn’t come without a price. Death counts continued to roll in. How the rebels had gotten access to weapons was beyond her, but she did know that the breach in Communications had come from the same women that had caused the problems the other day when the Medical student had been shot for trying to destroy the Bridge. She’d been assured all of the guilty parties had been dealt with, but after this unfathomable offense, it was clear that hadn’t been the case. They’d missed one. An important one.“Mother White, we’ve uncovered a concrete room in the ground, one where it appears the traitors were keeping supplies. We also found more bodies near that location. Three Military Mothers, shot with rifles at close range.”White held her info t
After what seemed like hours of crawling along in near darkness, the light from Mist’s device the only way they could see anything at all, Rain saw a speck of light in the distance. “Is that… the outside?” she whispered.“Yes,” Mist said from a few feet behind her. “The Construction workers joined their tunnel in with an existing concrete tunnel they located. There used to be a really big city here, a long time ago, and they think this may have been an underground waterway of some sort. They even found some engravings in one of the tunnels with the city name on it. They copied down what it said and brought it back to one of the women in Communication who was able to use a translator to decipher it.”“What was it called?” Walt asked her, his voice closest to Rain.“San Antonio,” she replied.Rain had never heard of that town befor
Mist’s flashtube wasn’t turned to full power, even though the woods they were walking through were dark. It seemed like they’d been walking forever, but Rain wasn’t tired. She just wanted to keep putting distance between themselves and the red dots. Every once in a while, Mist would give them an update. They were gaining ground because they’d followed Adam’s advice and headed northeast, instead of due north, but throughout the afternoon into the evening, the red dots continued to spread out, some of them traveling so far north that they were off of the device because they’d gotten too far ahead of their location.“Do we have any way at all of hearing from the other women who escaped?” Walt asked her.Mist shook her head. “No, we don’t. Some of the others had transmitters that would allow them to communicate with one another, but I didn’t bring one. I was afraid it m
Night had fallen, and the Mothers hadn’t made the progress White was hoping for. Nothing was making sense. It was as if the rebels knew exactly where their forces were located and were somehow able to avoid them before they arrived.They had the leader in a cell beneath the hospital ward. Mother White had put one of her best leaders on the interrogation, trying to get as much out of this Lightning as she could, but so far, the reports hadn’t been useful. She would’ve gone down there and demanded some information herself, but every time she turned around, there was another fire to put out.Now that night had fallen, she was hopeful there would be some literal fires that would help her troops in the field find the rebels and destroy them. They had strict orders to shoot first and ask questions later. That was the order as far as any of the escapees were concerned except for the two that were out there somewhere she thoug