Chapter 58

Eventually, the boat veered sharply to the left, toward the shore, crabbing against the water as it attempted to push them in a different direction. Esther gave the vehicle more power, and it cut through the current as some sort of mechanical noise jarred the bottom of the boat, letting him know there was a transformation going on beneath them. A moment later, the vehicle surged forward, out of the water and onto the shore, climbing up the steep banks and then taking off across the grass, winding between trees so close, Adam felt as if he could reach out and grab hold of the branches if doing so wouldn’t rip his arm off.
How Esther was navigating so expertly through the darkness, around each tree, across the uneven ground, without hitting too many bumps, was beyond him. He might’ve enjoyed the ride if he wasn’t concerned about the motion disturbing Rain. She seemed okay, though, lying in the same spot that Esther had positioned her in, more or less. Lights at the front of the boat cut through the darkness a few feet in front of the boat, or whatever it was now, but she must’ve known exactly where she was going and made this journey hundreds of times to handle the path so well.
The ground changed beneath the wheels, smoothing out a bit before it transitioned to what had to be a road. Tiny bits of gravel popped up and hit the side of the hull, telling Adam the road was covered in pebbles, not the asphalt they’d found overgrown in the woods. With the change, Esther increased her speed. This had to be the fastest Adam had ever gone in his life.
Ahead of them, the flatness morphed into hilly ground, and the further Esther drove, the larger the rises became. Hills grew taller, shifting to mountains. Esther wound between them, sticking to the road. The wind in Adam’s hair every time he lifted his head above the edge of what had been the hull of the boat rocked him backward. It seemed as if they were flying.
It was difficult to see in the distance beyond the meek headlights, but it appeared as if they were headed right for the side of a mountain. The closer they got, the more Adam thought disaster was looming. Why wasn’t Esther shifting? Turning the vehicle away from the mountainside. “Seth?” Adam called with no answer. If Walt and Mist were seeing this, they were silent. “Esther?” Adam shouted now as the side of the mountain got even larger and she didn’t slow at all. Certain they were all about to die, Adam realized he had been the one to beg the woman to take them on her boat. If they died, it would be his fault. At this speed, there really was no question of if. It was more how quickly would it be over.
He closed his eyes, praying that Rain would somehow forgive him in whatever lie after this, but a shift in the sound around him had his eyes flying back open about the time he expected to feel the mountainside colliding with his face. The lights bounced off sheer mountain wall, doing little to brighten the tunnel they were driving through, still at full speed. “What the…?”
“The mountain opened up. There was a door of some sort in the side of it,” Mist explained. “You would’ve seen if your eyes had been open.”
He stared at her for a moment, noticing she seemed to be hiding a laugh. “Weren’t you scared?”
She shrugged. “I figured she wasn’t going to kill her kids. Only a monster would do that. Or a Mother with a capital M. She’s not one of those.”
Adam nodded in agreement, as much as he hated that her statement was the truth. A Mother wouldn’t have hesitated to take out whoever she needed to in order to get what she wanted, even if it was her own child. Esther certainly seemed different than that sort of mother.
They continued to fly down the tunnel for what seemed like at least a half an hour. The air was different in here. Cooler. Adam thought they might be headed down as they were cutting into the mountain. He never would’ve guessed something like this was possible. He only hoped no one was coming back their direction as they plowed ahead. If that should be the case, Esther wouldn’t have time to slow, whether her sons were on board or not.
Eventually, the tunnel widened, the ceiling lifting, and they slowed. A large chamber with dozens of other boats and vehicles, lit by what appeared to be some sort of primitive electric torches, spanned as far as Adam could see. A thousand questions entered his mind, but now, all he could think about was getting Rain somewhere so that she could be treated. The bullet had to come out so that they could completely heal the wound.
The engine wound down as Esther piloted them around several other vehicles into what he assumed was her regular parking space. He saw another tunnel leading off parallel to the first and wondered if that was the reason she’d been so confident of her speed. Was there an entrance and an exit? As soon as the engine was at a mild purr, Seth started to move. He was back with them now, his hands scooping Rain up as if she were feather light before Adam had a chance to do it himself.
Seth practically leapt over the side of the vehicle, which was a good six feet off of the ground. His boots briefly skipped down ladder steps, as if he’d done it a million times, and they knew exactly where to fall, Rain’s body light in his arms. A pang hit Adam in the gut, but he knew he had no claim to her. She’d made it clear they were just friends, and that’s all she ever wished to be.
He followed, though. His concern turned the pang into a knot as he climbed over the side, much more pointedly, and waited to help Mist down. She didn’t need his hand, but she took it anyway, handing Rain’s backpack to him. It was stained with blood, already beginning to crust over and dry. He swung it over his shoulder, not willing to look at it, though the scent of iron tinted each breath. Walt and Esther followed, Peter staying behind to secure the vehicle. The woman walked swiftly in the same direction that Seth had disappeared through a door that took a code.
Adam followed her, but he wasn’t prepared for what his eyes were taking in. He had to stop just inside of the doorway. The space opened up again on the other side, so there was room for Mist and Walt to step around him as he gazed up in amazement. They didn’t seem to notice as he did that they’d essentially just walked into what looked like an opening to the outside world when in fact it was really the cave ceiling above them decorated to look like the country setting outside at night. The sky and a thousand twinkling lights appeared to hang above him. It was mesmerizing. It even smelled like outside. A quick glance around revealed trees and other plants that looked real enough, though he imagined that wasn’t possible. The space was immense, with dozens of homes and other buildings nearby and off in the distance. Esther was walking briskly toward one of the closer homes, a medium-sized dwelling that appeared to be made out of logs. He followed, but it was difficult to keep from studying the sky above him. All of this was so completely unexpected.
Seth already had Rain inside of the house by the time they arrived. She was lying on a bed in a room at the front of the house, off to the left of a small sitting room that led to a kitchen, a hall leading off beyond that. Adam didn’t pause to take this scene in the way he had outside. A small whimpering sound slipped through Rain’s lips, and he felt his heart leap into his throat.
“Get me some clean, hot water, and a scalpel,” Esther was saying to Seth. He rushed off, his eyes lingering on Rain’s face a fraction of a second too long before he went. Then, the woman turned to Mist. “What does she have in that kit to deaden pain?”
“I’m not sure,” Mist admitted. “She’s a medical student, but I study agriculture.”
Esther nodded and took the bag, moving toward a dim lamp sitting on the nightstand next to Rain. She opened the medical kit, took out several items to examine them, and then settled on what she seemed to think she needed.
“Is there another light in here?” Adam asked, thinking the overhead light would be helpful.
Esther gestured at the wall by the doorway but didn’t turn around as she was looking at something she’d pulled out of the bag. It was some sort of an ointment. Adam hoped Mist knew what that was. To him, it looked like something you’d use after a wound, but not before someone went digging into your shoulder.
He placed his backpack and Rain’s next to a chair in the corner of the room and moved to turn the overhead light on. With a flip of the switch, the lights blinked on, though they weren’t much brighter than just the nightstand. It would have to do, unless Mist used her light, and that might be too bright.
Seth came back in, carrying the requested items and a stack of clean towels. Esther immediately went about setting a towel beneath Rain’s injured shoulder over the bedspread and then went back to examining the items in the bag before she took a deep breath and leaned Rain up and over so her shoulder was better exposed to her. “Hold her,” she said to Seth.
He flew around the bed and kneeled on top of it, doing as he was told. “What can we do?” Mist asked.
“You can get back,” Esther said.