Mist was in their shared room, her nose glued to her tablet, and Rain would’ve assumed she was studying for one of her classes if she didn’t know her friend better. Mist’s caramel blonde hair was down, flowing across her back, frizz setting in with the afternoon and Mist’s fingers constantly playing through it. Rain couldn’t help but smile at her as she watched from the doorway of the room the pair shared with two other girls. When they were twenty-five, in four years, they’d be able to move to their own quarters, on a higher floor, should they choose to. Or they could stay in shared accommodations, if they preferred. Most women decided to stay with the same pod until they reached Grand-Motherhood, unless they chose to marry, in which case they’d be given one of the apartments on the other side of the building where couples were given more privacy. While there were benefits to marriage, Rain didn’t think that was the route for her. Not having to visit IW anymore would definitely be a good thing--as would not having to become a Mother. But she just didn’t feel the same sort of attraction to other women the way the Marrieds did. Rumors that some of them faked it to get out of IW or other duties seemed farfetched to her. After all, attending regular sessions at IW so as to reach Motherhood was an esteemed part of their society, not one to be tossed aside lightly. As for becoming a Mother, well, Rain could appreciate that they all had a duty to carry on womankind, but never knowing what would become of her children was an unsettling idea to consider.
Rain pushed all of that aside as she strolled into the room and put her backpack on her designated hook. Mist finally noticed her and looked up from her tablet. It was a nature video she had been watching, just as Rain had imagined. Mist was certainly more aptly named than she was. “Hey,” Rain said over her shoulder, finding the jeans she was looking for and stepping behind the privacy screen to change her clothes. “How’s your day been?”
“Good,” Mist said, a lilt to her voice. “We got out of agriculture class a little early, so I went out to the woods.”
Her voice was a whisper, despite the fact that the door to the hallway was closed and their roommates, Stormy and Sun, were not in the room. Still, Rain understood why she was whispering. She stuck her head around the screen momentarily as she fumbled with her black T-shirt. “Without me?”
“Sorry,” Mist said with a shrug. She was up now and crossing to the screen as Rain finished changing and dropped her uniform down the laundry shoot. The laundry girls would clean it and get it back to her, thanks to the scannable code sewed into every garment each girl was owned. Every girl served in the laundry room for at least three years, between the ages of ten and thirteen, and Rain had enjoyed her time there, but not enough to want to be a full-time laundress when she grew up, like the women who supervised the workers. There were also seamstresses who designed and sewed the clothing, which was also a highly regarded task, since it acknowledged the history of women, though some found it demeaning. Still, Rain had always known she wanted to work in medicine, though her current confusion about exactly what path she should take seemed to become further muddled the older she got, rather than clearing up as it tended to for so many others.
Rain stepped from behind the screen and sat down on her bed, the bottom bunk across from Mist’s. It was a decent sized room, large enough for the four beds, a programming screen on the wall, and a sitting area consisting of a large sofa and two chairs between the beds and the door, in front of the programming screen. But the women ate all of their meals in the cafeteria, and any snacks or other food were also consumed in the main hall where there was also plenty of seating and a programming screen. The screen in the cafeteria replayed videos about great Mothers that had come before them over and over again, reminding the girls of all the sacrifices other women had made so that they could enjoy the comforts they had today, living in a world where men could no longer hurt them. Most of the girls ignored those films that played in the background like white noise, preferring the programming that was available on each girls’ individual tablet. Many of the fictitious videos available, even the new ones, were so similar to the girls’ everyday life, they didn’t spend a lot of time watching programming anyway--except for people like Mist who loved to watch the videos of nature and animals and other non-plotted programming.
“Did you go back out there?” Rain asked, fixing the cuff of her jeans as Mist dropped down beside her. There was plenty of room for the girls to sit upright without hitting their heads on the bottom of the upper bunks.
The blonde shook her head, and her eyes began to sparkle slightly, the way they always did when she had something she wanted to say but she was afraid to say it. Rain looked at the door. Closed tightly. She had friends in Communications and knew the rumors that someone was always listening in on conversations, even in private rooms, wasn’t true. “Did you find something… else?” Rain asked.
Again, Mist’s head bobbed up and down, and she bit into her bottom lip, pinking it before she let go and said, “You’ll have to see. For yourself.”
Rain’s eyebrows knit together as she puzzled over what she could be talking about. “I’d like to, but it may be suspicious for you to go out there twice in one day.”
This time, Mist’s head shook the other way. “Nope. Not me. Anyone else, sure, but all the Mothers know how much I like the outdoors.”
“True,” Rain admitted. She had taken her shoes off when she was changing; now, she considered whether or not to put on her sneakers or something more durable. Considering the precipitation they’d gotten the day before, she said, “I’ll get my boots. “ Mist nodded, and Rain stood, hoping whatever it was Mist had found would be worth the risk.
The girls passed a few other students on their way downstairs and out the back of the building, but the others were busy chatting about class and studies. It was just as well; Rain didn’t want anyone to notice the pair--not that she intended to do anything to get either of them into trouble, but the woods they were headed into were sort of off-limits. Not that anyone had ever told them specifically not to go there, but no one else ever did, and it was well-known nothing good could ever come of straying too far from the other women.Being an Agriculture student, Mist was naturally overly curious about the outdoors, so it made perfect sense she’d be drawn to the forested area. Despite her professors and the other Mothers encouraging the girls to let their curiosity be fulfilled through videos, books, and the carefully crafted learning centers available on campus, Mist had first began wandering through the woods they were headed to now when she
Birds twittered to each other in the nearby trees, leaping from branch to branch or fluttering through the air in search of food or companionship. Some of their songs were cheerful and bright while others were haunting, like the look in that construction worker’s eyes. Rain tried not to picture him, but the weight of Mist’s words had forced his image into her mind, and she couldn’t help but wonder what her friend had meant by what she’d stated earlier, that the man shouldn’t be blamed for whatever had brought him to that position in life. Who else was there that should be held accountable? Shouldn’t all men be held responsible for what they had done, collectively as a sex, to women throughout history?A twig snapped beneath her feet, bringing her back to the woods around her, and a squirrel darted across the path in front of Mist. The Mothers said wildlife was coming back in abundance now that so many girls were choosi
Rain managed to pull her eyes off of the unexpected entryway in the ground before her and meet Mist’s gaze. “A door?” she repeated. “Why would there be a door in the ground?”Mist shrugged but still answered. “I’m not sure. I opened it earlier and went a few steps inside, but it’s so dark, I didn’t want to go alone.” Her eyes flickered a few times before she added, “I’m not scared or anything. I just… didn’t want to get trapped down there.”A small smile pulled up one corner of Rain’s mouth. She knew her friend well enough to know she would be a little scared to go down there alone, as anyone would, but not terrified. “Do you want me to stay here and make sure the door stays open? Or keep an eye out for… anyone?”Before she even finished, Mist was shaking her head. “No, it’s okay. I don’
“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 t
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