Rain decided she needed to find something else to talk to 24C about, other than her friendship with Mist. Still sitting on the floor, waiting for the Mothers to unlock the door, she pondered whether or not to ask him more questions, but the only one she could think of at the moment seemed silly.
“It sounds pretty amazing out there.” He had that far off tone to his voice, like he was imagining a wonderful world where people could do whatever they liked, which wasn’t quite the case, but compared to his reality, it was close.
“It’s not bad. Better than in here. What do you wear in the workout room? You don’t….”
“Walk around naked all day?”
Rain dropped her eyes, feeling her face redden yet again. She didn’t mean to think about him in a workout room, lifting weights, completely nude, but the image was there just the same.
The door to the insemination room clicked shut behind her with a definitive echo, as if to say the conversation that had transpired within could never be accessed again. Another Mother was giving directions in a stern tone, and Rain did her best to pay attention. The lights in the hall seemed brighter than usual, and the ones that ran along the floor were flashing. In the distance, she heard a chirping noise, some sort of an alarm. “Go straight into the changing area, get dressed, and leave via this hallway on the left immediately. Go straight to your boarding house and remain in your room until the all clear is sounded. Do you understand?”Rain looked at the Mother closely then and realized it was Mother White, the woman she’d thought had been looking at her oddly the other day. Her eyes enlarged slightly, but Rain did her best to hide her surprise. Or was it fear?Creases above the woman’s upper lip protruded a
The door was locked. Rain pushed in a code she couldn’t remember having used in years and was relieved when the door popped open. Her three roommates watched with wide eyes as she entered the room, their faces relaxing once they saw that it was only her and not a mob of rebels, although, she had a feeling Mist wouldn’t be too upset if it had been.The other two women, Breeze and Gale, were sitting on Breeze’s bed, the top bunk above Mist, holding on to each other with pillows squeezed to their chests. Mist was sitting on her own bed with her tablet in her hand, as if nothing unusual were happening in the world. If it hadn’t been for the look in her eyes as Rain came through the door, she would’ve thought she wasn’t concerned at all.Questions bombarded her before she could even get the door closed and hang her backpack up. Gale and Breeze alternated asking her how she was, where she’d been, what
Rain did her best to calm herself, taking a few more deep breaths before she opened her mouth. Even the thought of recounting everything that had transpired while she was in IW had her heartbeat increasing and her palms beginning to sweat.Mist was still looking at her intently, waiting patiently for Rain to respond to her inquiry. Realizing she was under no obligation to tell Mist anything, Rain thought through the situation. Why should she tell her friend everything when Mist was keeping information from her?“How did you know something was going to happen?” Rain asked, leaning forward so that she was closer to Mist and keeping her voice low. “You did know, didn’t you?”With a shrug, Mist adjusted on the mattress. “Sunny heard a few things, rumors, from the older women. She said she had an idea they were going to do something, that it might get dangerous, but she didn't know the de
Mist had a weary look in her eyes as she slowly got up off of her bed and walked across the room. Rain was fairly certain the expression had nothing to do with the possibility that their roommates might walk back in at any moment. Locking the door wouldn’t do any good since their roommates had codes to punch into the door the same way that Mist and Rain did.From where she sat on her own bed, it was hard to see what Mist was doing. Rain didn’t want to alarm her by walking over and interfering, so she waited patiently. Her roommate was kneeling on the floor near one of the windows, next to a desk any of them could use when they needed it, and it sounded like maybe she was pulling up one of the baseboards. A few seconds later, Mist came back, sitting next to Rain on her bed with a familiar-shaped item, wrapped in a white towel.Rain held her breath as she watched Mist carefully unwrap whatever it was she’d found in the c
Rain sat on a couch in the lounge area at the end of the hall where her room was located, staring out the window at her namesake. The water droplets were large and splashed against the glass with loud plopping noises that, compared to the gentle pitter-patters she was used to, sounded evil and foreboding.It had been almost a week since the incident in IW. Since that time, Rain hadn’t heard much about what actually happened that afternoon, but from Mist and Sunny, she’d found out that this had been a test to see if it was possible to release the men in IW and still have control over the locking mechanisms on the door, as well as an ability to block the cameras in the entire building. Exactly what they’d learned, Sunny said she didn’t know, but it made Rain feel unsettled in a way she couldn’t quite describe.The blood she’d seen had come from a couple of Medical students who’d been helping with
Listening to lectures was no way to keep Rain’s mind off of what she was about to do that afternoon, once class was over for the day. While she was doing her best to pay attention to Mother Lavender’s lesson, her mind kept drifting, not just to her upcoming visit to IW, but to what would happen later, as a result of her handing off the information to Adam. Rain didn’t even know what the coded message meant or when this plan was to be put into effect, but she had a feeling nothing she learned in her classes that day was going to matter anymore, once the rebellion was underway, not if it was successful, and especially not if she went with them. Either she’d be dead soon, or she’d be launched into a life she couldn’t even imagine.What would it be like to flee the only home she’d ever known? What would they find outside of the city limits? Could they make it out of Michaelanburg on foot? How far would they have to g
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