Chapter 19
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 details.”
“Do what?” Rain wanted to know. Mist was being purposely vague, and she wasn’t buying the fact that she didn’t know anything else.
“It was a test,” Mist said, leaning in, her voice barely a whisper. “They were trying to see whether or not there were weaknesses in the electrical system.”
“Why?”
Again, Mist shrugged, so Rain waited--two people could play that game. “In case… they ever decided to plan an escape.”
Rain felt her insides tangle up, much the same way as they had when she was in IW and everything was happening so quickly. “An escape? What kind of an escape?”
“I don’t know exactly, but I think it has to do with the men. I think… there are some people who believe the men in IW don’t deserve to be treated the way they are being treated, that they’d like to see them have the freedom to make choices for themselves.”
Rain’s heart was beating out of her chest now. Her breathing staggered as if pulling in a deep breath would cause her lungs to explode. “Escape… to where? How?”
Mist was shaking her head animatedly. “I don’t know, Rain. All I know is what I told you. Now, what really happened? Did you talk to him? Was it 24C?”
“Yeah, it was. He… did talk to me a little bit. But… he didn’t say that much.” Rain still wanted to protect him, to keep him from getting in trouble, even though she knew Mist wouldn’t tell anyone. “He told me a little bit about his daily activities. That’s really all.”
“Like what?”
Sucking in enough air that she could speak again, Rain said, “Just that they are required to do certain things, like lift weights. That they have to eat mostly protein. That they use hydration pills instead of real water, that sort of thing.”
“And he told you he doesn’t like living this way? That he wishes it was different?”
“How do you know that?”
“I just assume… if I was in that situation, if I finally had a chance to say something to someone, that’s the first thing I’d say. I’d want to ask for help. But he probably assumed you wouldn’t want to help him.”
Rain thought about the way she’d responded to Adam, how he’d wanted to reach out to her, but she’d shut him down pretty quickly. The longer she’d spoken to him, the more open she’d become. Mist was right, though. If she’d been more approachable, Adam might’ve been more willing to talk. “I don’t think there’s much I can do to help him.”
“There’s probably more than you think.” Mist had that disappointed look in her eyes. “Especially since they were obviously right. There is a weakness in the system. They were able to turn the main electrical supply off.”
“But now the Mothers will know how they exploited it and fix it.”
“If they know how. I don’t think they do. From what I hear… this was just a probe. The women in Communications who are part of the resistance know more weaknesses than the one they tested today.”
Bile rose in the back of Rain’s throat as she realized what her friend was saying. “This was just the beginning? Women are going to try to overthrow the Motherhood?”
“I don’t think they’ll be able to do that exactly, Rain. They aren’t powerful enough. But they want to free the men in IW. They’d free all of the men if they could, but the ones in IW, the ones with the least amount of freedom, those are the ones they want to help most of all.”
“And… are you a part of this, Mist?”
Slowly, her friend’s head rocked back and forth. “As much as I can be. Right now, they need people in Communication and Medical. I can only be useful on the outside.”
“On the outside?”
“Once the escape is underway.”
“Wait--are there women planning to go with them? To where?”
“We don’t know yet,” Mist said, shrugging again. “That’s part of what I’m trying to determine, along with the other women in my department.”
Rain was having trouble believing anything Mist was saying was true. “You’re thinking of… going with them?”
“I’m definitely going with them, Rain.”
She ran her hands down her face, wishing she could come up with the words to talk Mist out of it. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?” She remembered the hard look Mother White had given her, and a chill went down her spine.
“Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to keep living this way, Rain? We know what they’re doing is wrong. Every day, they ingrain it a little more into our brains. They’re killing people for no reason other than they aren’t perfect in their eyes. It’s not right, Rain. None of it’s right. The world used to be different.”
“Yeah, women were the oppressed, not men.”
“Do you really think that was the case? That women were held against their will and used only for breeding, the way we use men? Come on, Rain, you know that’s not true.”
“How can you be so sure?” Rain shot back, fighting to keep her voice quiet. “How do you know that wasn’t the case?”
“I just do. It doesn’t make any sense. Besides….” Mist’s eyes went to the door for a second and then across the room before she looked back into Rain’s. “I found something that proves it.”
Rain raised an eyebrow, realizing she had to be talking about whatever it was she’d found in the cellar in the woods. “Show me, Mist.”
“Rain, once I show this to you, you have to realize there’s no going back. If you want to continue to stay in your delusion, to think that women are superior to men and that men deserve the treatment they get because of the way they used to treat women, then you do not want to see what I have.”
With a deep breath, and a flash of blue eyes playing across her mind, Rain said, “Show me.”
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