Chapter 149

Rain didn’t want to follow Mother White’s instructions. Not even a little bit. Standing there without her weapons, Rain felt completely vulnerable and unable to protect herself or Adam. It was clear that he was in a lot of pain, and the longer White continued to hold him in her firm grasp, the more uncomfortable it would be.
She had no choice but to follow the woman’s instructions. Otherwise, Adam would definitely die, and even though she didn’t trust Mother White enough to keep her word and not shoot him anyway, this was the only chance she had of him making it.
Overhead, she heard a voice say, “Five minutes until evacuation.” The robotic female voice made her wonder if that meant that the other Mothers had already started to leave the facility. If that were the case, the Quebecian forces would be able to pour into the center of the building undeterred.
Which would put them in exactly the right place to be blown to bits when the bombs the Mothers had lined the infrastructure with began to explode.
“You heard her, Rain,” White said. “We are running out of time. There’s an escape route nearby, but if you want Adam to have time to run out of this building before it blows, you’d better get over here now.”
Adam was doing everything he could to tell her not to go. He was trying to shake his head, but White’s grip on him made it difficult. He couldn’t even open his mouth, the way she had her arm around him. The blood was still flowing from the back of his head. At this rate, he needed medical attention before he bled to death.
Before she took another step, Rain looked over Mother White the best she could, taking inventory of anything and everything that might be useful, should she have the opportunity to fight the woman. It appeared that she had a knife on her utility belt, and possibly another gun in the back of it; Rain was guessing at that, based on the way the uniform fit her hips.
Whether or not any of that would be of use, Rain didn’t know, but her time was up. She had to trade Adam places before the explosions started.
“Fine,” Rain said, her hands up. “Let him go.” Slowly, Rain walked toward The Bridge. Mother White didn’t budge when it came to her grip on Adam. It wasn’t until Rain was between the Mother and the exit, standing only a foot or so away from the vibrating, glowing white light, that Mother White loosened her grip on Adam.
She hadn’t quite let him go when Rain heard a gunshot and screamed, expecting to see Adam’s brains blown all over the wall across the room. She lunged at Mother White, intending to take her down for killing Adam, even if it meant she died, too.
But Mother White wasn’t looking at her anymore. Instead, she’d whirled around, swinging her gun as she went, and firing behind her.
Rain’s instinct took over as she reacted to the situation before she could fully understand what was happening. Adam threw an elbow and slipped from Mother White’s grip as another shot rang out.
Diving toward Mother White’s torso, Rain grabbed hold of the woman for just a second before whirling her around and pushing her as hard as she could into the white cloud.
Another shot rang out, this one from Mother White’s gun, but it sailed over Rain’s head.
A moment later, the screams began, and then, a smell like nothing Rain had ever encountered before hit her lungs.
Burning flesh.
Rain didn’t think The Bridge could harm her where she was standing, a foot or so away from the white substance, but she didn’t know for sure. Jumping down off of the structure, she pulled Adam along with her and both of them turned to see who had been shooting at Mother White.
Her mouth fell open when she saw the familiar form, but she shouldn’t have been too surprised. Of all the people in the world who would come to her aid at any time, Mist had to be at the top of the list. “You found us,” Rain said, a weak smile shining through her exhaustion.
“Yeah, I did,” Mist said, lowering her gun. “You two need to get out of here.”
“We have to warn the others,” Rain said. “They have to know that the building is about to explode.”
“The exterior hard drive was destroyed,” Adam managed to choke out. “It’s gone.”
“It’s okay. I have a flash drive,” Rain told him.
“Go!” Mist shouted at her. “You have to get out. You have the information Quebec needs. I’ll go tell the others.”
“But Mist--”
“Goddamnit, Rain, go!”
Adam looped an arm around Rain’s waist and began to pull her out of the room, back the way she’d come. “Mist!”
Her friend was already headed in the opposite direction, through one of the other doors Rain had seen earlier. “She’s going to die!” Rain shouted at Adam.
“I sure hope not,” he replied. “But I’m getting you and that thumb drive out of here, either way, Rain.”
Rain stopped fighting Adam and started to run beside him. She’d known Mist long enough to understand that she couldn’t change her mind once she’d decided on something. Rain’s only hope was that they could reach a Commander in time to warn the others. “What about Walt?” she asked.
Adam turned his head to look at her but didn’t slow his run. Turning back around to look at where they were going, he said, “I don’t know for sure, Rain, but Walt might not have made it.”
“What?” Rain’s mind went blank for a few seconds as she tried to process what he was telling her, but it didn’t make sense. “How is that possible?” Rain asked. “I looked at his wound. I used the healing wand.”
Tugging on her arm, Adam steered her down a hallway that should lead outside. “It was his femoral artery, I think, Rain. Since he didn’t let you look at it long enough, I think you got the smaller veins, but not that one.”
Whether he didn’t know or just didn’t want to tell her, Rain wasn’t sure, but the idea that Walt might’ve died when she could’ve saved him made her feel sick. Bile rose in her throat such that she almost had to stop to throw up.
But Adam wasn’t letting her slow. Despite the bloody gash in the back of his head, he was moving more quickly than she was. They had to get out--they had to get help. If they’d lost Walt, she couldn’t let anyone else die, even if Mist didn’t care about herself anymore.
Mist, Seth, Josie… hundreds of others were inside of that building, and they were running out of time.
The door in front of them was only a few steps away, but then they’d have to find someone with a comm who could let the attacking troops know that the entire building was about to come down on top of them.
“I really hope this door isn’t locked,” Adam muttered. “Because neither of us has anything to use to blow it open.”
“Shit,” Rain said under her breath. He was right. They didn’t have their guns, and she was out of grenades. What were the chances that this door was unlocked when none of the rest of them had been?
Unless Mother White had intended to use it to escape. Rain got the impression that she was going to take her through the tunnels beneath the medical building, but she had no idea if she could trust a damn thing the Mother said.
Her mother said.
As soon as they reached the door, Adam let go of her to try the knob. Miraculously, it turned. “That was too easy,” he said. “Do you think it’s rigged to blow or there are a bunch of snipers outside?”
“No,” Rain said. “I think this was her escape route, too.”
Adam stared at her for a second, but not long. They didn’t have time to waste. Both of them looked outside of the building for any danger before they emerged. Rain didn’t see anything that was a potential threat.
But she did see something else.
“Look, Adam. Over there… behind those trees.”
This side of the building was close to a wooded area, and peeking out of the bushes, she could see a black frame.
“Is that a motorbike?” Adam asked.
“I think so,” she said, running in that direction. “Thank goodness you know how to ride one.”
They started off in that direction but didn’t get too far before a barrage of bullets began to rain down on them. Rain looked around but couldn’t see where the sniper was located. Wherever she was, she wasn’t a very good shot as every bullet she fired went wide of the target. “Come on!” Rain shouted, pulling Adam along.
They managed to reach the trees unscathed except for Rain’s right boot which had part of the sole shot off. “Are you all right?” Adam asked her.
“Yeah, I’m fine. There’s got to be a weapon here somewhere.”
The bike was sitting there, ready to be ridden away. Mother White must’ve intended to use it. That was the only explanation Rain could come up with. “Do you think that she had this brought out here for her, or has it just been sitting here for a while, waiting for her, in case she needed it?”
“I don’t know,” Rain admitted, but the fact that it’s a motorbike and not a land cruiser makes me think she’s had this planned. Both of them poked around on the vehicle as more bullets hit the trees around them.
Adam tugged on the seat, and it pulled up. Inside was a secret compartment with a canteen, some foodstuffs, a bottle of hydration pills, and a gun.
“There you go,” he said as Rain pulled it out.
“I’ll cover you.”
Adam stared into her eyes for a moment, as if to say he was scared for her, but she was certain he had the more dangerous of the two jobs. She would’ve taken the bike if she knew how to drive it.
“Be careful,” he told her. “You can’t--”
Rain stopped him by pressing her lips to his. When she pulled away, she said, “You, too. And here.”
She pulled the thumb drive from her pocket and shoved it into his hand.
Adam stashed it in his pocket and hopped on the bike, cranking it to life. There was no helmet, and it didn’t really matter anyway. A bullet would end him just as surely as a crash.
Rain stepped around the tree and opened fire before Adam took off.