by ID Johnson
“What in the world!” The droplets got bigger, alarming Adam who was running next to her. He stopped in his tracks as the heavens unleashed, tipping his head up to the sky. “Is that--rain?”
“It is rain,” Mist assured him. “Now, come on. It might actually help. I’m sure they can fly in the rain, but it won’t be as easy, and if the roads become muddy, any other transportation will not be as useful.”
Rain caught Adam’s eyes, and even though she still saw a bit of that angst she’d noted earlier, he smiled at her and started laughing. She laughed, too. She’d definitely been caught outside in a deluge on more than one occasion, and her namesake was usually nothing more than an annoyance to her. But seeing him enjoy his first time in the rain made her smile, too. If fate was on their side, the rain would work to their benefit, as Mist had noted. At least it cooled them off. Mud splattered up, covering her shoes and the bottom of her pant legs, but Rain kept running, praying the next body of water they saw was the River Red.
Chapter Forty-Nine
The heavens opened up just as Mother White’s heliobird reached the outer boundaries of their front line. She could see the transport vehicles coming up the roads to the far east and west of her current location, but with nothing but forest beneath them, the pilot reminded her she would not be able to touch down here. “With these winds, I think we should turn back,” the woman, Mother Robin, said through the headset.
“That won’t be necessary. We’ll take a wire down.” Mother White was already preparing to do just that, ignoring the looks of fear on the faces of the other Mothers who had accompanied her from headquarters out to the front, including one of President Violet’s closest advisors, an older woman named Mother Willow. Even with helmets and visors on, it was evident the Mother didn’t want to use a guide wire to deposit herself hundreds of yards beneath where she was currently sitting, dodging between trees to reach the ground. She wouldn’t have a choice. None of them would. They needed to be at the front when the Motherhood approached Dafo, and if the only way to get there was to slide down a thin wire, they could all get over their fear and get on with it or die trying. She didn’t have room in her ranks for women controlled by their fear anyway.
Ensuring the drop cord was attached tightly, Mother White grabbed hold of it. “I’ll go first. I expect the rest of you to join me on the ground quickly so that this helio can return to Michaelanburg before it’s detected by the enemy.” She knew Dal had some sort of technology that had allowed him to eliminate several of their drones. Whether or not it would also work on the larger, much more expensive helio was a question she wasn’t looking to answer, especially not while she was standing on it.
The other Mothers answered her with a resounding, “Yes, Mother White,” and she dispatched herself from the utility door, letting the cord slide through her gloved hands effortlessly as she lowered herself to the terrain below, dodging a few branches that stretched up to grab at her boots.
The ground was already quite damp from the rain, which made for a softer landing than she otherwise would’ve experienced. Mother White let go of the rope and moved out of the way, expecting the next woman to come down right away. It took longer than anticipated, but eventually, she heard the approach of a pair of boots moving much more slowly than she’d hoped. Attempting not to roll her eyes, White moved away, trying to locate Jaguar quickly so they could discuss the current situation. The rain wouldn’t deter them from moving forward against Dafo. With any luck, this would go smoothly, they could move through the territory quickly, and be back in pursuit of the girl and her friends without having to dispatch too many of Dal’s forces--not that she would let anything stop her from reaching her goal.
Two rifle barrels greeted her as she stepped between the trees. They were quickly lowered as the Mothers realized who they were pointing them at. “Mother White,” one of them said as she lowered her head. “Mother Jaguar is expecting you. Right this way.”
Ignoring the fact that they should’ve heard the helio and known who was approaching, thus keeping their weapons at their sides as they came through the trees, White followed the one who had addressed her. To the other she said, “Please await the rest of my party before delivering them to the front as well.”
“Yes, Mother,” the woman said, making the sign of honor across her chest. White passed her by and headed off into the dense woods to find Jaguar and figure out exactly what they were facing without any more delays. Already, the cities on the southern border of Michaelanburg had received word that troops from Spanish-America were poised for attack. She didn’t know for certain if the intel was correct, but the idea that they could be invaded from the south soon was all the more reason why the threat to the north needed to be eliminated without any further hassle. As it were, she had a feeling Violet was about to call off the hunt for what seemed to be four individuals with so many miles between themselves and an organized government, the chances they would ever make it to Quebec, let alone find a sympathetic ear there, were slim. With an actual threat to the south of them, it would make sense for President Violet to focus her efforts there. White couldn’t let that happen. She needed to find Rain immediately before the opportunity to stop the girl slipped through her fingers.
The rain continued to come down in sheets for hours, drenching them completely, save their waterproof backpacks. After the road Crit had pointed out to them became more dirt and grass than asphalt, splatters of mud from the impact of missile-like raindrops sent splashes of mud up their legs so that despite being drenched, Rain found herself coated in muck and mire.
Uneven terrain also had them sliding down patches of earth, practically rolling down some of the steeper hills. How she could be caught in a torrential downpour and end up caked in dirt was a notion Rain couldn’t quite conceive of, but by the time it finally stopped raining, as the sun was disappearing behind the tops of the trees, all of them were filthy and exhausted.
“How much further do you think it is to the river?” Walt asked. It was the first question anyone had asked that wasn’t a necessity in hours.
Mist slowed slightly to gaze off in the distance. “That looks like a narrow tributary ahead. We should begin to run into more of those as we near the river. I don’t think it will be too much longer.”
“Are you planning to keep us moving through the night?” Walt wanted to know.
Before Mist could answer, Adam said, “As this dirt dries, I feel like I can’t move as freely It’s really starting to bake on.”
He was right. The sun wasn’t overhead anymore, but they were beginning to dry out, and she could feel her pants stiffening with the caked on mud, as well as her elbows and knees losing their flexibility.
With a glance over her shoulder back toward Dafo, which was no longer in sight, Mist let out a sigh. “I’m really surprised we haven’t heard anything from the city. I expected to hear… something.”
“Bombs?” Rain asked. That’s what she’d expected to hear. Explosions. Gunfire. Heavy machinery. Would screams travel that far?
“Something like that,” Mist muttered. “Let’s check out that tributary in front of us and see if there’s any way we can use it to rinse off. Come on. If we run, we should be there in a few minutes. Maybe the Mothers are waiting for cover of night.”
It had crossed Rain’s thoughts that the enemy could be waiting until it was dark, too. Without another word, she followed behind Mist as she took off running toward what they all hoped was fresh water, the kind that could wash away the layers of grime from the downpour and free them up to move even more quickly out of no-man’s land and into Oklasaw. While the Mothers might have no qualms about attacking Dafo, surely, they would hesitate to attack a sovereign country, even if it wasn’t strongly governed or well-organized.
Sloshing through the mud, Rain ran as fast as she could toward the point Mist had indicated. If the rest of the way to Oklasaw was as muddy as the path they were on now, rinsing off in the water would do them little good.
>
“Look! There’s the road up there,” Walt said as they crusted a rise in the countryside.
“It stretches pretty far, too,” Mist added.
Rain paused to scope out what she could from the highest ground they’d encountered in a while. The area ahead was more wooded than where they were now, certainly more tree-covered than the land closest to Dafo. The sky was a soft pink, but there was enough light left to reveal what appeared to be a ribbon winding its way through the land, far in the distance. Rain thought that might be it--the River Red--but she didn’t waste what was left of her breath to ask Mist.
“Come on, Rain,” Adam said, pausing for her at the bottom of the hill.
Picking up her pace, she let her momentum carry her down the hill. Through the trees before her, she could see a meandering stream of what appeared to be freshwater. They were almost there. Even if she ended up getting coated in mud again, the idea of rinsing herself clean from the rain was enticing, so Rain ran even faster, the prospect of washing away the dirt weighing her down as inviting as the soft scent of freedom teasing her from the distant shore.
Chapter Fifty
The river wasn’t moving quickly at all, and the water was so clear, standing on the tree-lined shore, Rain could see all the way to the bottom. It didn’t look that deep, maybe three or four feet. The water was so inviting, she was ready to jump in with her clothes on.
But she wasn’t in charge.
“All right. Walt and I will go first,” Mist said, taking her backpack off. “We’ll head down there around the bend a little bit so you guys can keep an eye out for anyone coming from Dafo without any distractions.”
“Like we won’t be able to hear you,” Adam teased.
Mist shot him a dirty look. “We’ll try not to be too long,” she said, unzipping her pack and pulling out a small bottle of what Rain assumed was some sort of soap--either shampoo or body wash, or both.
As she and Walt headed off, Rain realized what this meant. “Hold up.” She shot over to her friend and pulled her back by her shoulder. “You aren’t assuming Adam and I are going to be in the river--naked--at the same time are you?”
“Rain, please. Grow up, girl,” Mist said, rolling her eyes. “It’s not as if the two of you haven’t had intercourse dozens of times.”
“But that’s different!” Rain insisted.
“It’s okay, Rain,” Adam called from behind her, clearly ascertaining what her concern might be. “I’ll look the other way.”
Mist jerked her arm away. “We need to hurry, Rain,” she reminded her, more than a little annoyed at her friend for slowing them down for what she considered an immature reason.
Rain took a deep breath and let Mist and Walt disappear. Adam had his back to her, standing a few feet in front of the trees closest to the riverbank. Even coated in mud and angry at her for reasons Rain didn’t understand, he was still the most handsome man she’d ever seen, better looking than anyone she could’ve dreamt up with all the time to daydream in the world.
He glanced over his shoulder and gave her a small smile. “It’ll be fine, I promise. It’s not a big deal. You’ve seen me naked before. I just won’t look.”
“I have seen you naked before but it wasn’t because I was trying to,” she reminded him. It was just that one time, when the lights came on. “And I haven’t seen your backside.”
“Too bad. It’s magnificent.”
He wasn’t looking at her when he made the remark, but she could tell he was joking. Rain giggled for the first time in a while. He sure knew how to make her feel better, no matter the situation.
It didn’t take long before the noisy couple let them know what they were up to. “So much for not alerting anyone that we’re here,” Rain commented. She dropped her pack near the shoreline and slung her rifle around at the ready. She doubted the Mothers could’ve caught up to them by now, but if they were close by, it would have to be due to their vehicles, which they should hear approaching. The roads were terrible here, and the mud would slow them down. If they came by air, they’d hear that in plenty of time to take cover. They hadn’t seen a single drone since the one exploded as they were entering Dafo.
“Well, it does sound like they are hurrying, but I’m not sure they’re going to be any cleaner when they get out. They might forget to wash,” Adam commented, still not looking at her as he faced the way they’d come.
Rain agreed. The couple wasn’t quite as loud now, but Rain still felt her face heating up just listening to them. Once again, she couldn’t help but wonder how Mist and Walt had become so comfortable with one another so quickly. As much as she liked Adam, she couldn’t imagine the two of them carrying on like that already.
Adam didn’t say anything else, so Rain stood there in silence as well. Even though it probably wasn’t more than five or ten minutes, listening to the awkward noises made it seem like much longer. Eventually, the sound of Mist and Walt chatting as they walked through the trees hit her ear, and Rain wanted to let out a sigh of relief until she realized what that meant.
“Okay, you two. Here’s the soap,” Mist said, plopping the half-empty bottle into Rain’s palm. They were both clean, their hair wet but shiny instead of coated in mud, wearing new clothes. “Now don’t end up wasting a lot of time like we just did.” Mist started laughing.
Walt added, “Unless you really want to,” and they both exploded in laughter.
Unable to come up with anything witty to say, or anything to say at all, Rain went over and picked up her backpack and headed down the way they’d come from, praying nothing embarrassing happened. Whatever it was that had irritated Adam, she didn’t want to make it worse, and she certainly didn’t want him to see her naked. The sun was fading, but it was still light enough outside that he wouldn’t have much left to his imagination.
“All right, guys,” Adam said, shaking his head. “We’ll be done in a few minutes.”
“Good,” Mist called after them as they made their way around the bend where the other two had just come from. “I have a feeling if the Mothers are going to attack Dafo, they’ll do it by cover of night. We should get out of here.”
A shudder went down Rain’s spine as she realized Mist might be right. Thoughts of what could happen to Dal and his family made her less worried about Adam potentially seeing her naked and more concerned about the idea that the Mothers could take out hundreds of people in a matter of minutes if they found that bunker.
Adam dropped his pack on the ground near a tree at the shoreline and dug out a change of clothing, laying it on top. Rain did the same, setting the soap bottle on the ground near where she was standing. She also pulled out a smaller waterproof bag that she could use to keep her current clothes away from everything else.
“If you wanna close your eyes, I’ll get in first,” Adam said.
Without meaning to, Rain glanced up in his direction and accidentally saw him pulling his shirt off over his head. She looked away quickly. “Okay,” she said, feeling her face turn red. While he was doing whatever he was doing, she went ahead and took her boots off. Her socks were still dry at least, thanks to the insulation inside of the military boots. She still intended to put on a fresh pair, though, and shoved the dirty ones inside of the bag.
The sound of the water splashing in front of her let her know Adam was making his way into the river. “Boy, that’s chilly,” he said, his voice a little higher pitched than normal. “Not too bad, though. I’m in if you wanna get undressed. I’ll keep my back to you.”
“Okay,” Rain said again, as if that was the only word she knew all of a sudden. She lifted her head to see Adam with his back to her, splashing water up over his face. Even mostly submerged, in the dim light, he was unbelievably handsome, and she had a hard time remembering what she was supposed to be doing as she gazed at him.
Feeling foolish for making such a big deal out of what didn’t have to be a complex situation, Rain pulled her eyes off of him and hurried to get the rest of her clothe
s off. She couldn’t help but glance over her shoulder a few times. Being naked outside was something she hadn’t experienced before, and technically she’d never been naked with a man before either, not fully anyhow. Not that she didn’t trust Adam. She did. It was herself she didn’t completely trust.
Grabbing the soap, Rain headed off to the river, pretending it didn’t make any difference that she was buck naked in the middle of the woods with the man she’d been dreaming about for as long as she could remember.
The moment her toes hit the water, Rain realized he wasn’t kidding about the temperature. Cold water bit into her feet, causing a shiver to spiral up her spine and her teeth to begin to chatter before she was even in up to her knees. But Rain didn’t slow down. She needed to get herself underwater as quickly as she could so that she wouldn’t have to worry about Adam accidentally looking her way.
Once she was in up to her neck, doing her best not to think about the water temperature, she said, “Okay, I’m in,” and rolled her eyes that she couldn’t think of any other way to start a sentence other than “okay.” “I’ll give you the soap as soon as I’m done with it.”
“Great. Thanks,” Adam said without turning around. Rain stole another glance in his direction and then concentrated on washing the mud off of her face and out of her hair. “No wonder those two decided they needed another activity to keep themselves warm.”
Rain couldn’t help but chuckle. “Why is it so cold?” She would’ve thought that time of year the water would’ve been warmer since the temperatures outside weren’t so low.
“Maybe the rain cooled it off,” Adam offered. “Or maybe there’s an underground spring nearby.”
He seemed to know a lot about weather and rivers for someone who’d never been outside in his life up until a few days ago. Rain kept her thoughts to herself, though, concentrating on getting herself clean, rather than conversing with the attractive naked man a few steps away from her. Every once in a while, her eyes shot over to him of their own accord, no matter how badly she tried to fight it. His muscular back was turned to her, so he didn’t catch her peeking, which was for the best since she couldn’t help but let her gaze fall to the water’s edge. The river was so clear, she could probably see below the surface, if she wanted to.