Chapter 155

Walking was hard. It had been a few days since Rain had gotten out of bed. After several surgeries on her leg, she knew that all of the bones were fused back together with a substance just as hard as the bone itself, so it would hold her, but it was still scary.
She had a walker to lean on, just in case she lost her balance, and one of the medics from Quebec was alongside her. All of the injured had been moved back to a building in Oklasaw. It wasn’t under the mountain like Judea, the town that Seth had grown up in, but it was still a quaint little village, and Rain was glad they’d get a few weeks there to recover.
She just wished she could get back to normal more quickly.
She’d seen Adam quite a bit since they were moved, but she hadn’t seen Mist. Her friend was still in pretty bad shape and had been kept unconscious so she could recover. Adam had also had several surgeries and wasn’t released to get up yet, but he was in good spirits, as always.
“I thought we could go for a little walk to another room today,” Cheryl, the medic, said as Rain made her way down the hallway.
“Another room?”
“Yeah. I think you’ll like it.”
Rain raised an eyebrow, but she didn’t question the medic. She only concentrated on walking. At least the pain medicine kept her broken bone from hurting.
After a few moments, they came to a door that was slightly open. “Are you ready?” Cheryl asked.
Rain nodded, and she pushed the door open. The metal clicking against the tile on the floor as she made her way through the open door was loud, but she kept going. When she walked into the room, she realized where they were.
“Mist!”
Her friend was sitting up in her bed, a smile on her face even though she looked tired. “Hi, Rain!”
“Oh, my gosh! How are you?” Rain asked as she hobbled her way over to Mist’s bed. “Are you feeling okay?”
Mist nodded, blowing out a long, hot breath. “I’m okay. It’s just nice to be awake. How are you?”
Rain shrugged. “I’m okay. I’ll make it. You look good. You’ve got color in your cheeks.”
Mist’s smile widened. “Thanks. I feel pretty good, all things considered.”
Cheryl had been hanging back a bit, but she moved forward, bringing a chair with her. She slid it up next to Mist’s bed and offered it to Rain. Once she managed to work her way down into the chair, Cheryl said, “I’ll let the two of you chat for a bit.”
“How was your surgery?” Rain asked.
“Fine, I guess,” Mist replied. “Not that I remember. What about yours?”
“I think it went well. My leg feels pretty good. Just stiff.”
“Was it completely shattered?” Mist asked, looking down at Rain’s leg.
She nodded. “Pretty much. I had to have a lot of pieces put back together. But my lungs weren’t as bad as yours, from what I hear. How are your burns?”
Mist shrugged. “They’re not hurting me right now. I’m on a lot of medication. They had to do a few skin grafts, though. They’re watching a few more spots on my neck and shoulder to see if I need more skin grafts. It just depends on how well I heal on my own.”
Rain nodded in understanding. “Hopefully, everything will take. Knowing you, staying in that bed for more than a few days is going to drive you crazy.”
Snickering, Mist said, “Yeah, you’re probably right. It’s okay, though. I have no idea what I’m going to do once this is all over anyway. Well, I have some idea.” Mist looked away, her eyes not quite focused on the wall across the room.
“Mist? Is everything okay?” Rain asked. It didn’t seem as if she was talking about the fact that Walt was gone, and she wasn’t sure what she would do for the rest of her life because she’d be missing him. Her tone conveyed there was something else going on.
It took a moment for her friend to turn and look at her. Rain saw tears in her eye as she swallowed, hard. “Uh… before my surgery, they did some tests. They had to, to make sure there wasn’t anything else wrong with me, anything that might complicate the surgeries.”
A wave of fear washed through Rain as she waited to hear what Mist was going to say. Did she have some horrible disease? In Michaelanburg, diseases were practically nonexistent. They’d figured out a long time ago how to eradicate almost everything. Could she have gotten sick after they left? Maybe somewhere along their journey? “What is it, Mist? They found something?”
Mist nodded. “Yeah, they found something that complicated everything when it came to my surgeries--but not my life.”
Cocking her head to the side, Rain asked, “What do you mean?”
She drew in a deep breath before she said, “I’m pregnant, Rain.”
A gasp escaped Rain’s lips. “You’re… pregnant? A baby is growing inside of you?”
The smile that lit Mist’s face was bigger than any Rain could ever remember. “Yes. A baby. Can you believe it, Rain? I’m going to have Walt’s baby. I’m going to carry it around inside of me for nine months--well, seven more months--and then… I’ll have a beautiful child that will always remind me of his or her father.”
The tears sliding down Mist’s cheeks were hard to see because Rain found herself crying, too. “That’s the best outcome that could possibly have come out of such an awful tragedy.”
“I know,” Mist said with a nod. “It’s very comforting to know that I have a piece of him still with me.”
Rain swiped at the tears on her cheeks and reached for Mist’s hand, which she could reach if she stretched. “You’re going to be the first woman from Michaelanburg to give birth to her own baby in hundreds of years, Mist. I think it’s a little ironic that the most significant way we’ve defeated the Mothers is by you becoming a mother yourself.”
“Yes, but I don’t just want to be a mother, I want to be a mom. I want this little one to call me mommy. This baby will know me. I can hold my baby. Teach my baby myself. Can you imagine what that will be like, Rain? To get to nurture and love my child and never, ever have to give my baby up to anyone?”
“That will be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life, Mist. And I’ll be there to help you every step of the way. So will Adam. I just know it.”
Mist’s smile was still bright. “Thank you. I wish that Walt could still be here to meet his child, but I know he’s still with us. I’m not sure where people go when they die. I know The Bridge isn’t real, that Walt didn’t just start over in an attempt to be a better person. But I do believe that people go on after death. It’s just impossible to think that Walt no longer exists, that he was just completely snuffed out. We might not be able to see him, hear him, or feel him, but I think he’s still here.”
Rain squeezed her hand. “I think so, too.”
Mist’s smile faded slightly as her eyes started to gloss over a bit with weariness. She’d probably said more in the last few minutes than she had since the attack ended. “Thank you, Rain,” Mist managed.
“Of course. I love you, Mist. You’re like a sister to me. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Rain couldn’t let herself think about what would’ve happened if she hadn’t been able to find Mist in that tunnel.
“I love you, too,” Mist said. “Thanks for coming back for me.”
“Thanks for coming back for me. If you hadn’t stopped Mother White… Adam would be dead, and who knows where I’d be.”
“You would’ve figured it out,” Mist said. Her eyes were almost closed now.
Rain wasn’t so sure, but she wasn’t going to argue with her now when she was falling asleep.
Carefully, Rain stood and took a few measured steps over to Mist. She leaned down and pressed her lips against her friend’s forehead. Mist’s eyes were shut. She looked more peaceful than Rain had seen her in a long time.
Being a mother looked good on her.