Chapter 42

The drones were acting odd. The ache in Rain’s feet didn’t overshadow the fact that the drone they’d expected to hear at least five minutes ago hadn’t made its trip overhead as scheduled. Since they’d realized the drones were following a grid pattern, they’d known exactly when to expect them and had been able to scatter out of range whenever they’d announced themselves about twenty feet before they arrived above them. But since they hadn’t heard any in a while, it was clear that the Mothers had changed things up a bit, and their eyes in the clouds were no longer following the same pattern.
She would’ve mentioned it to her companions if she wasn’t absolutely exhausted. Beyond that, she was certain the others had probably figured it out, too. Mist was sure to have noticed before she did. Her friend was so smart, so aware of everything. Mist’s worldly knowledge sort of made Rain consider perhaps she should’ve paid less attention in school and more attention in life.
The trees were not as close together here. The ground beneath her feet also felt different, as if the rocks and small pebbles she was used to feeling underneath the cover of leaves was shifting to something else, something she couldn’t quite place. It wasn’t as spongy as the forest floor, and every once in a while, she’d step on what felt like highly uneven ground. Could this have something to do with the ruins of the city Mist had mentioned?
Adam was jogging along beside her. If he was tired, it didn’t show, though he was sweating a little more now than he had been when they’d stopped a few hours ago. Rain had given up on trying to count the hours. Did it even matter? They’d keep running, keep walking, keep crawling, until they reached Quebec. Everything else between here and there was just one step in front of the last.
Mist and Walt were a few feet ahead of them. The temptation to slow even further and see if Adam did the same so they could speak without the other two listening in was ever present, but Rain ignored it. Staying together was important; getting separated from one another could be deadly. Visions of that enormous tiger mixed with ideas of the Mothers with guns behind them were constantly playing in Rain’s mind, so she kept her pace up so that she was within a few steps of Mist.
The sun had come up a while ago--there was that insistence on knowing the time again. She’d hoped Mist would stop at dawn, but now that the glaring orb was almost straight overhead, Rain had given up trying to figure out Mist’s thinking. She just kept her boots moving in a mostly northern direction, ignoring the throbbing in the bottom of her foot where her muscle was screaming for relief and the ache in her calves that threatened to explode at every step.
A reassuring smile from Adam now and again was enough to keep her moving. She’d given up any hope of returning to the status quo for herself and Mist the moment she’d put on that military uniform, and she was willing to accept the consequences of her own actions. But thoughts of what would happen to him if they were captured kept her going. Would they even bother to take them prisoner? If the Mothers’ actions at the broken down house were any indicator, the answer was a resounding no. They hadn’t given the construction workers an opportunity to be heard; why would they give anyone else that chance?
Her thoughts were brought back to the present when she heard Mist utter, “Holy shit,” as she stepped through the trees in front of her. “There it is.”
“There what is?” Rain asked. The fact that Mist had stopped allowed her to catch up. She rested a hand on her friend’s shoulder under the guise of concern but she was really taking the opportunity to relieve a tiny bit of the pressure from her screaming feet.
Mist didn’t have to answer the question, though. When Rain caught up to her and looked over her shoulder, it was obvious what she was referring to.
The glare from the sun was blinding at first. Rain raised a hand to shield her eyes so she could better take in what she was looking at. In the distance, maybe ten miles away, dozens of steel and concrete edifices protruded from the ground. Some of them looked as if they hadn’t been touched by war, though age had taken its toll. Others were nearly gutted, their inner contents spilling out down the sides, the metal skins split open, rebar and broken concrete splintering around the wounds.
Everywhere, plants staked their claim on what used to be their territory. Greenery covered much of the remaining exteriors while trees and other plants poked out from windows and adorned the roofs. Vines snaked along the outside, winding their ways in and out of windows, across the gouges, carrying their flowers and berries upward on their backs.
“That’s unbelievable,” Walt said, shaking his head slowly. “What is it?”
“It used to be one of the biggest cities in Texas, in the United States,” Mist said. “It was called Dallas-Fort Worth. It’s part of no-man’s land now, the area closest to Oklasaw where some survivors attempted to resettle after the war. The Mothers waged war against them, wanting a bigger buffer between themselves and the rest of the world, particularly when it was unclear exactly how many men had survived the purge and capture techniques undergone after the war had ended and women seized control. Michaela originally wanted to rule the entire former United States, but she was only able to keep a small part of it, and since the world was desperately looking for energy sources, she decided to move her operation to what had formerly been south Texas and parts of Mexico, declaring the world would never be able to use any fossil fuels located there.”
Rain took all of that in, wondering how Mist knew so much. “Do you think anyone lives here?” she asked, gesturing at the ruins with the top of her head.
“I wouldn’t think so,” Mist said, still staring at the skeleton of a city in the distance. “My understanding is that the Mothers still raid here, still drop bombs regularly, that they want to ensure no one from Oklasaw or the other territories from the north dare to try to claim it.”
“Is there anything worth claiming?” Adam asked. His arm brushed Rain’s, drawing her toward him like a magnet. She swayed slightly but recovered with a tug on Mist’s shoulder.
Her friend raised an eyebrow at her, as if to ask if she were all right. “It’s hard to say,” Mist said in response to Adam’s question. “The city was one of the first to be bombed during the war. The citizens had little warning or time to prepare. There’s the possibility valuables remain in the rubble. It was a huge city, after all. After shale drilling in the early twenty-first century caused some intense earthquake activity, some people left the area, but millions of people lived here when the town was initially bombed. If I was a scavenger from Oklasaw or the no-man’s land to the east, I’d be tempted to come and see what I could find.”
“What could be of value now?” Walt wanted to know. “It’s not as if there could be food or water that lasted that long.”
“Precious gems, gold, other metals. Things like that will pass the test of time. They could have tech that could become operational with some work, but honestly, if everything I’ve heard about the way Texas was before the Third World War began was true, I know what I’d be looking for.” An eerie look came over Mist’s face as she paused and the other three gawked at her, asking their silent questions. “Weapons.”
Confused, Rain looked at the other two and then back at Mist. “Weapons? For what?”
“To fight the Mothers,” Mist replied as if it was obvious.
“But why would they want to fight the Mothers? It’s not as if the enslavement of men in a country hundreds of miles to the south would have a huge impact on people scavenging for whatever they can find to stay alive,” Walt reasoned.
“No, it’s not the men they’re after. It’s something else, and while none of us were exactly sure what it might be, I think it has more to do with fossil fuels than the rest of the world is willing to admit.”
“Wait--what?” Adam asked, turning so that he was facing Mist. “Are you saying the other nations of the world might care more about fuel than the atrocities happening to men? That their true interest in defeating Michaelanburg might have nothing to do with our suffering at all?”
Mist blew out a hot breath. “I’m sorry, Adam, but that’s generally how the world works. Other nations have never been keen on risking the lives of their people and billions of dollars to fight wars to better humanity. At the end of the day, they’re more concerned with getting what they want, what they think they need, and since the alternative fuels created before and after the war have not proven abundant enough to replace fossil fuels, which, I’ll remind you, is what the war was over to begin with, the fact that Michaelanburg is sitting on top of potentially untapped oil fields and formerly fuel rich lands makes it a nation of interest to other powers in the world.”
Rain’s mouth was hanging open of its own accord by the time Mist finished speaking. “So… you don’t honestly think we can convince anyone in Quebec to help us change things in Michaelanburg for the sake of the men and human rights. But you think we can convince them to fight Michaelanburg if they know there’s something of value there?”
“I think it’s the potential oil that will be the deciding factor, though the story about freeing the men and opening the eyes of womankind is the perfect cover story,” Mist admitted.
The world around her blurred slightly as Rain attempted to readjust her thinking once more. This rebellion wasn’t even what she thought it was. Not that her own purpose had changed. Still, how did she feel about using an energy source as a potential reason for another country to move in and overthrow her homeland?
The others were still talking, and it wasn’t until Adam took her hand and pulled her forward that Rain realized they were walking. She moved along behind Mist, assuming they’d keep walking until they reached the city, or were close enough to inspect some of the smaller structures. She could see them now. Crumbling houses and businesses stood in what might’ve once been rows jutting out from the bases of the taller buildings.
Adam didn’t let go of her hand. Whether he could tell she was exhausted and needed his coaxing or saw the fear welling up behind her eyes, it didn’t matter. His fingers wrapped around hers were a comfort and the only thing that kept her moving out of the cover of the trees into the open. If there were scavengers here now, their party of four would make a great target as they made their way through high grass, sparse trees, the same sort of tangled vines that had claimed the tall buildings, and uneven ground that eventually turned from mostly grass and rocks to chunks of asphalt. Roads. Broken and twisted, covered with flora, they were nothing like what they would’ve been hundreds of years ago when cars zoomed from one side of the city to the other, but Rain’s boots were definitely walking on a road. Where it might lead her, she didn’t know, but there was no question in her mind she wasn’t letting go of Adam’s hand.