Chapter 71

“Whenever you’re ready,” Seth prompted. If he was nervous, his voice didn’t give it away. Wouldn’t he have to be? Seeing some stranger attempt to ride his motorbike for the first time? He had to know he’d likely never see this bike again, even if Adam did manage to make it to the river to drop the IUD. What were the chances he’d make it back?
Adam couldn’t think about that. Instead, he turned the bike on, the way Seth had shown him, kicked up the metal stand, and felt how the bike leaned from side to side. It seemed to want to naturally fall to his left, so he’d have to keep that in mind. Then, with a silent prayer and his lungs in his throat, Adam gave it a little gas.
It kicked out harder than he expected to, but he stayed in the seat. Easing up on the gas, he got a feel for how tight he needed to squeeze to get it to go slowly without it beginning to tip. It was an intricate dance, the careful balance between too much and too little, leaning one way and then the other, but he seemed to be getting the handle of it.
“See if you can turn around and come back!” Seth shouted.
It was difficult to hear him over the engine, but Adam understood. He took his time turning, making a wide arch, not wanting to wipe out. The technique worked, and in a few seconds, he was turned back the way he’d come, taking it slow. Visions of himself plowing into Seth or Peter, who was watching silently, his eyes wide, had Adam moving extra cautiously.
“Can you stop?” Seth asked as Adam approached.
He hoped so, but that might be harder than it looked. He slowed the bike by taking his hand off of the gas but then squeezed the brake.
It didn’t work quite as smoothly for him as it had for Seth, but he managed to bring it to a stop, kicking up some gravel, and nearly spinning it out. Adam squeezed the brake a bit tighter and dropped his feet onto the ground, willing the bike to stop. He came to a halt a few inches away from the spot he’d left from.
“Ookay,” Seth said, nodding. “Not bad. Not bad at all. I think… you can actually do this.”
Encouraged to hear that, Adam thanked him and put the stand down, turning off the engine. There were a few things he needed to say before he left, and he wanted to make sure he got the chance.
As if he had an idea that Adam wanted to tell him something, Seth turned to Peter. “Go tell Mom I think this is actually going to work,” he said.
Peter nodded, his mouth still hanging open, and then turned around and jogged toward their house. Adam’s eyes followed him. He couldn’t see the log home from here through other houses and buildings. He wished he could. His thoughts went to Rain. He needed to tell Seth something, something important.
Before he got the chance, Seth pulled a device out of his back pocket. “This was my grandfather’s phone,” he explained. “It’s old, but it’ll work. It uses a frequency the Mothers abandoned a long time ago, so they won’t be able to track it. Still, you’ll want to leave it off when you’re not using it, so the battery will last.”
Adam had never seen anything like it up close, but it reminded him of the device Crit had used to talk to Dal when he was delivering them to the outskirts of Dafo. “How does it work?” he asked.
“This is how you turn it on,” Seth explained, squeezing a button on top. “It takes a minute. Then, the passcode is easy. Grandpa was always forgetting it, so we went with one, two, three, four.”
Adam chuckled. “I think I can remember that, even though those aren’t the numbers I’m used to.”
“Right,” Seth said with a nod. “And the alphabet won’t be the same either, but I’ll show you where to find my name and Mom’s. That should be all you need.”
As soon the device was on, Seth showed him which buttons to click to call him. An odd sound that sort of resembled a song emanated from Seth’s pocket until he clicked a button that turned the phone symbol from green to red. “That’s it.”
Nodding, Adam took the phone. “Simple enough.” He put the phone inside of the pocket in his shirt, thinking it was less likely to fall out of that pocket than the one in his jeans.
“Do you know how to read a compass?” Seth asked.
Again, Adam indicated that he did, remembering how Mist had given him hers and shown him how to use it. That device was still in his backpack.
“There will be one on the screen. I’ve already programmed it to lead you to the river, so you’ll just have to follow the line, more or less. It’s supposed to take you by the shortest path, but if you happen to get off, as long as you keep going west, northwest, you’ll get there.”
“Sounds good,” Adam agreed.
“I’ll show you how to get out of the cave as well. Then, once you complete the job, we’ll meet you at Louis City. Just turn back around and head east. I’ll text you the directions for changing the nav so that you can program it to your new destination after you leave the river. Our plan is to give Mist one more day to rest and give the Mothers a day to be pulled away from here. The mountain exit we’ll use is much further north than the one you’ll be going out. I’m hopeful it will be so far enough north they won’t see us exit. We’ll see how that goes. It should take you less than two days to get where you’re going, assuming you stop to sleep for a few hours when you can. I’m giving you five days to get to the rendezvous point. If, for some reason, you’re not there by then and I haven’t heard from you… I’m going to take the girls and Walt further north. Mom doesn’t know that. Don’t mention it to her, but that’s what will happen.”
A lump formed in Adam’s throat as he thought about all of the reasons why he might not return. The idea of Seth essentially taking his place, of going on with the rest of his party, riding alongside Rain, sleeping next to her, the way he had, caused him to have to look away from Seth for a moment and gather his thoughts.
When he finally spoke, he wasn’t sure exactly what he wanted to say. “Will you tell her….” He thought of what Rain had been trying to tell him, right before she fell asleep. What had she meant when she’d said she could be the woman? Had she really been trying to kiss him? “Will you tell Rain I said goodbye?”
“Of course,” Seth said, his eyes narrowing with understanding. He folded his arms across his chest. “Anything else?”
Adam weighed whether or not it was worth it to tell her he loved her, in case he didn’t return. Would she want to know that? Or would it be better left unsaid? If the unthinkable were to happen, and Rain were to die, would he want to know that she also loved him, or would it be better to assume she only thought of him as a friend? Since he had no idea how she felt about him, it made his decision easier. “No, I think that’s all.”
“Okay. Well, if you think of anything else, you can always call.”
“Right.”
Seth’s mouth pulled up at the corners in a sympathetic smile. “Why don’t we try going a little faster, and then you can be on your way?” His hand came down on Adam’s shoulder. “You can do this. And don’t worry about Rain or the others. They’ll be fine. I’ll take care of them. I promise.”
Adam nodded, knowing that he could trust Seth. He would keep her safe. A flicker of fear lit up inside of him. This time, it had nothing to do with his own demise. For a moment, he wondered if there was a chance Seth might take care of Rain in ways Adam wouldn’t prefer. “Thanks, Seth,” he said quietly. He offered his hand, and Seth took it, gripping it tightly. Then, Adam prepared with a few more practice rides before he headed on his way. The IUD was tucked inside a pocket of his backpack, ready to lure the Mothers away from Judea, ready to take them on a futile chase that would hopefully end in their frustration and Adam’s triumph.