Chapter 26

The shouts were getting closer, and so was the gunfire. Rain looked at Mist, trying to judge when she should start running. Wouldn’t it be better if they were at the cellar before the men got there, so they could have the doors open?
Mist was staring off in the distance, her eyes never wavering. Rain’s flickered back and forth between Mist’s face and the road that led to IW. In the distance, she saw some girls running for their homes, some even toward Weather House, a place Rain knew she’d never see again.
Down the road, she saw some forms come into view moving quickly across the concrete. In the split second that she got a glance at them before she realized Mist was tugging on her arm, she could see that some of them were men dressed in black shorts and shirts. There were young women running alongside of them, and many of those women were carrying guns.
“Now, Rain! Come on!” Mist said, yanking her back toward the woods.
Rain had trouble pulling her eyes away from those lead men because she was trying to see if Adam was with them, but she didn’t get a good enough look. Once her feet were moving, she had no trouble kicking herself into a run, wanting to put as much distance between herself and the Military Mothers as possible.
She flew through the woods, dodging branches and tree roots, leaping over small shrubs. She was faster than Mist; she didn’t slow to wait for her friend either, not until she reached the clearing. Then, Rain stopped in her tracks, terror causing her heart to pause, too.
“It’s okay,” Mist said, coming up behind her.
Rain wasn’t moving. Over by the house, there were several men dressed like construction workers. They were moving the branches and leaves off of the opening.
“Come on!” Mist said again, pulling on her arm. “They’re with us.”
The only time Rain had been around a man who was loose was when Adam had been freed from the chair. The idea of approaching these men now was terrifying, especially when she saw some of them go down the stairs and come back up--with guns.
Mist shoved her hard in the shoulder. Rain started moving again. Mist was muttering about moving too fast, hoping they hadn’t lost anyone. Rain hadn’t thought about that. Was she supposed to lead them to the cellar?
The men with the guns spread out around the cellar doors, and Mist ran down the stairs without batting an eye. “Get a uniform. Put it on,” she shouted at Rain, running toward a stack of Military uniforms and grabbing one, dropping her bag by the wall. She kicked off her shoes and slid it on over her clothes. Rain did the same, not even stopping to think.
Once Mist was dressed, she passed over a pair of boots for Rain and slid her feet into the thick military issued footwear. Finally, she grabbed a gun. By the time she handed one to Rain, she was dressed and ready for whatever the hell they were doing.
Hurried footsteps sounded on the stairs.
Women came down first. Mist started handing out uniforms, and then, the first men followed. They were breathing heavily, most of them sweaty, terror in their eyes. Rain wondered if any of them had been completely surprised by this, or had they had a warning? Mist was directing them toward the darkest corner of the cellar, back behind the stairs.
A few of the other women took over, and Mist fought her way up the stairs, along with a couple of other girls Rain didn’t recognize who were already in uniform. “Rain!” she shouted, and the next thing she knew, Rain was also climbing the stairs, a military rifle in hand, bumping into others who were headed down.
“They’re coming!” she heard a woman shout. “That’s all we can do! Anyone else will have to find a different way!”
“Got it!” Mist said. “As soon as these women are in, close it,” she said to the Construction workers.
“Yes, miss,” one of them said.
Rain hadn’t seen Adam. That didn’t mean he wasn’t down there, but she hadn’t seen him.
“What are we doing?” Rain asked Mist, the gun heavy and awkward in her hands.
“As soon as they close up, we’ll cover it. The six of us are going to search the area and try to steer the actual military women out of here.”
Rain’s eyes bulged. Impersonating Military Mothers was not what she thought she would be doing. “When do we escape?”
“As soon as they’re gone, we’ll head back into the cellar.”
“But won’t more just keep coming?”
Mist didn’t have time to answer. With all the women in sight down inside of the cellar, the men closed the doors. Some of the men darted back inside, others ran for the trees, guns in hand. Rain hurriedly ran over and did her best to cover the door.
“Don’t put anything on it that will keep them from opening it from the inside in case they have to get out that way,” Mist directed her.
Her eyes bulging, Rain stared at her, assuming she meant in case the women on the outside weren’t there to clear the stuff off of the doors for those below. Again, there was no time to question anything.
The sound of heavy boots carried through the trees. Rain turned to see a group of Military Mothers, several, maybe eight or ten, running through the woods. She glanced at their faces and was relieved to see that Mother White was not one of them. She would certainly recognize Rain and know she was not a member of the military.
“Check the house!” Mist shouted, leaving Rain to wonder if she was in command of this detail. Rain moved in that direction automatically, assuming she must be.
The other women split up, some coming with them, others headed across the clearing. Rain couldn’t see the women who had been with her and Mist a few moments ago anymore, but she had to assume these were not them. Where had they gone? How was she supposed to distinguish the enemy from her friends when they were all dressed the same?
Mist busted through the door, loudly, and then they all poured in. The house was falling apart, but there were plenty of places to hide. The others spread out, looking under fallen furniture and inside decaying cabinets.
“Get up!” she heard a woman shout. Rain ran into the room where the noise had come from. A Military Mother stood in front of the closet, her gun pointed inside.
Two construction workers stepped out, unarmed.
Rain swallowed hard. What could she do to help them?
Any opportunity she would have to help the men faded away as the Military Mother pulled the trigger on her gun twice. Both men groaned as they hit the floor.
“What are you doing?” Mist shouted, bursting into the room.
“You heard our orders! No prisoners!” the other woman, someone Rain didn’t think she’d ever seen before, shouted back.
“But, they could’ve told us where the others are!” Mist screamed back. She looked at the men for a moment, and Rain thought she saw a tear in her eye. She had been the one to kick the door in, after all.
Deciding it would be best to move along, Rain tried to echo the short, deep sound of the Military Mothers. “I don’t see anyone else. We better get moving,” she said, hoping to get the others to move on.
“I think this dump is clear now,” the woman who’d taken the shots said. She seemed to be a higher rank, though it was hard to tell since all of their uniforms looked nearly the same to Rain. “Come on!” Had she usurped Mist’s authority?
Rain went with the others outside, and as the women headed off into the woods, she and Mist slowed. Was that what they were supposed to do? Take up a perimeter in the woods?
Mist followed them for a few moments but then spread to the right and eventually circled back toward the house, Rain with her the entire time. They were back in the clearing. “Where are the other armed women?” Rain asked.
“Ours? They went back to check on the rest of the men. We’re still missing a lot of them.”
Rain took a deep breath. Adam was one of the missing. She hadn’t seen him. Mist hadn’t either, or she would’ve said something. Unless Mist just didn’t know what he looked like. Rain didn’t know if Mist had ever been with Adam, but even if she had, she wouldn’t have seen him well enough to pick him out of a crowd. She wouldn’t have ever seen his face without it being obscured.
“How do we know who’s on our side and who isn’t?” Rain asked.
“Assume everyone isn’t,” she replied. “Damn. I can’t believe they killed Kyle and Nash.”
Rain’s mouth dropped open at the realization that Mist knew those men--by name. Did all the men have names? Adam hadn’t had one. She shook her head to clear it. “Why did they try to hide in there?”
“I don’t know. It was stupid,” she admitted. “But they helped us a lot. Seeing them gunned down like that….”
She stopped talking and walking at the same time. Shouts from the woods on the side of the clearing closest to town alerted them both. “Come out, now!” she heard a woman shout. “Or I’ll blow your damn head off!”
Mist took off running in that direction, Rain on her heels. She had a feeling that woman was not on their side.
They ran between the trees and saw three Military Mothers, guns drawn, pointed at two men in gray shorts, one wearing a white shirt, the other with nothing else on, not even shoes. The shirtless one was bleeding badly, blood streaming from his side down his leg.
Even though his back was to her, Rain recognized Adam immediately. He had his arm around the injured man. Her last experience told her these women would shoot either way, whether the men complied or not, though it looked like they were trying to do that.
“Shit,” Mist whispered. “That’s 37W!”
She must’ve been talking about the other man, the wounded one. Mist lifted her rifle, and Rain did the same, knowing what Mist was thinking. If they were going to save these men, they’d have to act now. Knowing Mist, that meant shoot first, ask questions later--or never ask. Just as the Military Mothers were planning to do to the two men in front of them.