“Water?” It seemed so strange to have a plastic container of water on a shelf, but then, perhaps they didn’t have hydration pills back then. She couldn’t imagine a world where a person had to worry about finding water.
“The cans must’ve been food,” Mist said as she stood back up and shined the light around toward the chair in the corner. “Maybe people took shelter down here during the war.”
“Maybe,” Rain agreed. It made sense that a room like this might be able to withstand the bombs they were dropping at the time, but it seemed dangerous to build the stairs of wood. If a fire had broken out, they could’ve burned, leaving them stranded. “It’s all so bizarre.”
“I agree.” Mist took a few steps toward the mess in the corner, walking slowly. While there was still some light radiating her direction, Rain didn’t want to move too far without the full effect of the beam, so she stood still and watched as Mist picked her way over the debris, kicking larger items out of the way, like broken wood pieces and some of the metal.
After several minutes of looking around and seeing nothing of particular interest, Mist shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. Maybe we should come back some time with protection gloves and see if we can find anything of value.”
“Yeah, that would be a better idea than digging around with our bare hands,” Rain agreed knowing protection gloves would be impenetrable to anything sharp or pokey. “We should probably get back home.”
“You’re right,” Mist said, her eyes still scanning the ground. “Too bad we didn’t find anything useful, though. Such an interesting place but no clues to anything.”
Rain had taken a few steps toward the stairs but stopped and turned to look at her friend. “Clues?” she asked, not sure what Mist meant. “What sort of clues?”
“You know, about the past,” Mist said with a shrug. “About… before the Claiming and the War. Don’t you ever wonder what life was like back then?”
Muscles constricted in her stomach as a nausea flooded her senses. “Mist… that’s forbidden,” Rain reminded her. “We aren’t allowed to explore that period of history. You know that.”
The red-head squared around to look directly at her. “Don’t you want to know, Rain?”
“It doesn’t matter if I want to know or not, Mist! We aren’t allowed to.”
“Rain, you’re too intelligent to continue to say things like that. Don’t you ever question… anything?”
A wave of anger took over as Rain looked her so-called best friend in the eyes. She took a few steps closer. “You’re right, Mist, I am smart. Too smart to get myself thrown in Isolation--or worse--over some stupid hole in the ground! No, I don’t question the past! We’ve been told not to, for our own good. Why would I want to go against the Mothers? They know what’s best for us!”
Mist made a sound like steam coming out of a vaporized cooking bag. “It’s time to open your eyes, Rain.”
Glaring at her, Rain insisted, “My eyes are open! I’m going up. You can dig through stupid cans and leaves all you want to!” She whirled around and headed back to the stairs, glad the sunlight penetrated the high trees on the perimeter enough to illuminate the way out, even though Mist wouldn’t be cruel enough to turn the flashtube off while she was on the stairs. She reached the top and considered storming off and leaving her friend alone, but she didn’t. Instead, she took a few steps back toward the woods, folded her arms, and seethed.
Mist stayed down a few more minutes, giving Rain just enough time to cycle through what had transpired. Her anger morphed into something else--something she didn’t even want to admit to herself: realization. In her heart, she knew Mist was right. So many of the Mothers’ teachings never made much sense, but Rain had never questioned them. In fact, she was under the impression no one ever questioned them. Now, she was beginning to realize some people did. People like her best friend. And she’d had no idea.
Footsteps echoed off the stairs. Mist emerged from the hole, an odd expression on her face. She looked a little surprised to see that Rain hadn’t gone home without her, and her hand went to her back in an odd way, as if she were trying to tuck in her shirt or something, which made little sense because the button-down shirt she wore over her T-shirt wasn’t tucked in at all. Rain arched an eyebrow at her but didn’t say anything. Just because Mist was right didn’t mean she had to admit it.
She watched as Mist closed the door and buried it under some leaves, dirt, and logs, making sure the metal handle wasn’t obvious but they could still find it if they ever wanted to come back. Rain told herself there was no point, but in the back of her mind, she wasn’t so sure that was how she really felt.
Without a word, Mist began walking toward the path they’d taken through the forest, and Rain followed, but an uneasiness hung between them, one not sparked by the argument but by something else. A heavy feeling settled in her chest as Rain contemplated what it would be like to lose Mist’s friendship. She couldn’t imagine life without her. She’d have to find a way to apologize without Mist knowing Rain thought she was right. Questioning the Mothers was wrong--and risky--and Rain didn’t need any of those things in her life. Surely, Mist realized she was treading on dangerous ground and would stop making such crazy statements. If she’d said something like that to anyone else…. Rain couldn’t finish the thought.
Mist stepped through the trees, moving quickly, but Rain kept up, her haste to get back home fueling her speed. Whatever else was going on with Mist, Rain couldn’t tell, but a few times, she adjusted her pants in a way Rain had never noticed her yank on them before, and as they neared the exit of the forest, Rain got a glimpse of something protruding from the back of Mist’s waistband. She couldn’t tell what it was, but Rain was certain that, whatever it happened to be, it had come from the hole, and it could only mean trouble.
The bell rang as Rain slid down the slick hallway, her shoes losing traction, her hand reaching for the door just as Mother Swan went to lock it. Everyone knew if you didn’t make it into class before the mother locked the door, you’d be barred from entering for the entire period, and since this was a lab, that meant Rain would miss the entire day. Luckily, Mother Swan was feeling lenient this morning. She narrowed her wrinkled gray eyes slightly and said, “Good morning, Rain. Cutting it awfully close.”“Good morning, Mother Swan. Yes, I apologize. It won’t happen again.” Rain waited for a nod of agreement from her instructor and then hurried to her seat next to Cloud, trying to catch her breath. She held her lab coat in one hand, her bag that contained her tablet and the other tools she’d need slung haphazardly over her shoulder where it had fallen in her desperate race to beat the bell and reach the door b
Rain carried her bag in front of her, both arms folded across it, as if the tablet and other odd assorted items inside were of extreme importance. That wasn’t the case at all. She was completely lost in her thoughts as she made her way to IW, trying to concentrate on what she’d learned in the lab that day, not on what she was about to do.They had done rounds, as she’d hoped, and they’d actually gone into the incubation room, or Nourishment Unit, as it was officially named. They’d watched the medical team work to bring the babies to thriving states and had been shown some that were likely not going to meet the criteria needed to continue to stay in the unit for much longer. Mother Swan had explained that once their levels reached below red level and stayed there for more than two hours, the technicians in the medical unit would “call” them, give them the cursed label, “failure to thrive,” and they&rsq
Nothing about IW was at all enthralling to Rain, yet it was a requirement, one she’d been taught not to take lightly. There was lubricant available from a pump on the wall near the chair where 24C was presented to her, but she didn’t use it. With some of the other men, she had to. With him, she could usually find enough pleasure to go without. Something about rubbing the oily substance on her private area before she went about her duties seemed even more vile than the practice session itself.With her knees on either side of his hips on the chair, she took a deep breath and pushed up, grabbing hold of his manhood and working it inside of her. It took her a few moments as she certainly wasn’t aroused, and it had been a few days since she’d visited IW, but after about a minute, she had him entirely inside of her and let go with her hands so that she could take hold of the two handles on either side of his shoulders. She had heard so
Opening the door to her shared room, Rain paused in the doorway as Mist turned and looked at her over her shoulder, her tablet propped on the pillow at the head of her bed. “Hey,” Rain said, not sure whether or not Mist was still angry at her.Mist clicked her tablet off and set it aside before rolling over and sliding off of the side of the bed so she could face her. “Hi.”Relieved that at least her best friend was speaking to her again, Rain hung her backpack up on a hook, not bothering to take her tablet out, and kicked off her sneakers, moving them over to the spot by her dresser where she kept them. She walked over to her bed and sat down across from Mist. “How was your day?”“Fine.” Mist attempted to smile, but it was so forced, it looked more like a snarl. “Yours?”“Ugh,” Rain groaned, lowering her head and shaking it slowl
The next few days went by without much discussion between Mist and Rain. Most non-school days, they would go out into the woods and walk around, but it had rained on Saturday, and the ground was still muddy on Sunday, so Rain had declined Mist’s invitation. It hadn’t deterred the nature-lover, though, so Rain had spent the day studying and reading in her room. Thoughts of the points Mist had brought up recently about the way the Motherhood viewed men kept coming back to her, leaving an unsettled feeling in her gut.Monday morning, she went to class as she always did. She had an hour of her history course before she’d report to Mother Swan’s anatomy class. Having the same Mother for all of her medical classes was helpful because she got to know each of her students so well. Rain had thought it was great only having one instructor until she considered that also meant she’d only hear one person’s interpretation of everyth
Rain entered Weather House with a lot on her mind. Cloud’s comment at the beginning of class had her distracted the entire time Mother Swan was lecturing, so now she had two quizzes to prepare for. She flew up the stairs to her level, down the hall, and pushed through the door without giving a second thought to what might be happening on the other side of the door.Mist was sitting on her bed, but she wasn’t alone. Another girl--woman was probably a better word since she was a couple of years older than them--was sitting next to her. They both looked up, caught off guard, as Rain stopped in the doorway, and she thought she saw Mist move something underneath her pillow.“Hi, Sunny,” Rain said, closing the door behind her and pretending like she wasn’t shocked to see Mist had company. In all of the years they’d roomed together, which was most of them, she couldn’t ever remember her best f
All day, Rain listened to discussions between the other girls in the hallways, before class started, in the restroom, everywhere she went, trying to get an idea as to whether or not anyone else knew what Cloud was alluding to the night before. But she didn’t hear so much as a stray whisper that made her think anything was going down at the medical building that day. She even hinted to Cloud that she thought there was some gossip, but her friend had no idea what she was getting at.By the time she was making her way over to IW that afternoon, she’d resolved herself to the idea that Sunny and Mist were nuts. Either that or whatever had been in the works had gone wrong or been discovered. She approached the changing rooms concentrating more on getting this over with so she could go finish up her homework as opposed to actually being worried about some kind of coup on the part of the younger women.Making her selection had not b
The man on the chair had removed his shadow sock. He stared at her, his blue eyes like sapphires as he blinked a few times, adjusting to the light. He was even more handsome than she had thought he might be, with a square jawline and a perfect nose. His hair was a sandy blond, short but wavy on top. He sat up, placing the black shadow sock over his manhood. It looked as if he might be considering getting out of the chair.“I know martial arts!” Rain shouted, bringing her hands around in front of her and taking a stance like the Mother who had trained her to protect herself had shown her. “You’re not supposed to move!”The corner of his mouth twitched slightly, as if her statement somehow amused him. “Relax, I’m not going to try to hurt you.”Rain’s eyes enlarged at the sound of his voice. It wasn’t anything like what she expected a man’s voice to sound l