Chapter 108
The drive to the border of the Nation of Quebec took another three days, longer than expected, but caution kept them from taking a more direct route. Along the way, Rain and Adam were careful of Seth’s feelings. Unlike their friends, they were able to satisfy their longing for one another with subtleties--a knowing glance, a touch of fingers while passing an object from the front seat to the back, a small smile in the rear view mirror. Seth was a kind person, and he had done right by them, doing so much more than he was obligated to. He could’ve left Rain on the riverbed to die. He could’ve pointed them in the right direction and wished them well. Instead, he was sacrificing so much to take them across several unknown lands that even he had never visited before so that he could ensure their safe arrival. The last thing in the world Rain wanted to do was hurt him.
But he knew. It was evident that he did. She could see it in the way that he looked at her, in the way he looked at Adam. He never said anything, not a word, but over the three days it took for them to travel the rest of the way, it was evident that Seth was hurt and that Rain’s relationship with Adam was the cause.
They had almost arrived at their destination before she got up the nerve to ask him what he planned to do next. Ahead of them, a line of vehicles waited to cross through the checkpoint between the no-man’s-land they’d been traveling through and the Nation of Quebec. A large wall separated the two areas, towering in the air at least twenty feet. The exterior of the wall had a smooth flat surface that Rain could see reflecting the midday sun from miles away. It was made of white concrete, and as far as she could tell, it went on forever. There was no way anyone was getting through that wall without going through a checkpoint because it would be impossible to scale such a surface, and as far as she knew, the entire border of the nation was surrounded by it. Security was a huge priority to the nation. Quebec was one of the countries that had begun international trade again, finally beginning to recover after the war.
As they sat in line, she quietly asked Seth, “What are your plans now, assuming they let us in?”
He stared straight ahead, his eyes vacant. She knew he heard her, but he was contemplating a response. “I’ll go with you,” he finally said, his voice not much more than a whisper.
He was the only one with papers. The other four of them would have to tell the guards at the gate their story and hope they’d be let in. She assumed they’d be detained. With any luck, they’d be granted a hearing with the prime minister, though she wasn’t certain when that might happen because she had to assume he was a very busy man, and she would likely have to speak to other officials before she got to the top. Rain was willing to do whatever she needed to do in order to convince the Nation of Quebec to go into Michaelanburg and help free the citizens there, both male and female, who were being treated unfairly in more ways than Rain could ever possibly count.
Anxiety bubbled up inside of her as they approached the gate. The driver of the car in front of them was speaking to a man in a dark blue uniform with a hat and badge that indicated he was some sort of military official, though she didn’t see a firearm on him. She had to assume that armed guards were nearby.
All of their weapons were in the very back of the truck so that the guards wouldn’t see them and feel threatened. Rain expected them to be confiscated. Whether any of them would ever see their weapons again, she wasn’t sure. She would need a gun because she would be going back to Michaelanburg, hopefully with a large force of Quebecian military, but if not, she would still have to return to her homeland and do what she could to set the others free.
The car ahead of them pulled forward through the gate, and then it was their turn. Seth took a deep breath and slowly moved the truck forward, his papers in his hand. Technically, the officials didn’t even have to let him in. Just because he had proof that he was a citizen of Oklasaw, a country Quebec had no quarrel with at the moment, that didn’t mean they’d have to allow Seth through the gate.
Seth’s window was down. When the official spoke, it was in a language Rain didn’t know. Apparently, Seth wasn’t fluent either because whatever he said caused the official, a tall man with dark hair sticking out around his military cap, to pull a device from the pocket of his blue jacket.
“Papers please,” the man said, speaking so that the device could translate his words into the language Seth, Rain, and the others spoke, which had a few names depending upon where one lived, but Rain was brought up to call it Michaelan. She’d forgotten that Canation was spoken in Quebec. Thank goodness for translators.
“I have my papers here,” Seth said, his words filtering through the device so that the other man could understand them, “but these four have no papers. I’m sure you’ve heard of the escapees from Michaelanburg?” The official’s eyes widened, but he did not confirm or deny the assumption. “The four of them have escaped the Mothers. They are seeking asylum in the Nation of Quebec and a word with Prime Minister Bissett.”
The man took Seth’s papers and looked them over before he said, “Hold here.”
There was no place for Seth to go anyway since there was another, larger truck behind him, and the gate before them was closed. The official carried Seth’s papers with him as he went into the guard house to speak with more uniformed men and women. When the door opened, Rain caught a glimpse of them. Everyone inside the small building built between two lanes of roadway, one for entering and one for exiting the nation, was armed with automatic weapons.
The guard was gone for a very long time. Rain felt sorry for the people waiting patiently behind them who could’ve probably been at their final destinations by now if it weren’t for them delaying everything. When the guard finally returned with Seth’s papers in his fist, he wasn’t alone. Five other armed soldiers were with them. “Everyone out of the vehicle, please,” the original guardsman said through his device. “Do you have any weapons on you?”
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