Chapter 95

It was starting to get dark. Rain thought that might be helpful, keep them from drawing attention from the Mothers, until Seth flipped on the headlights. She hadn’t thought about those. Maybe that would make it easier for the truck to be seen by unwanted eyes.
For the last few hours, his friends had been calling in to let them know that they’d been engaged with the Mothers. The initial altercation had started when his friends on the main road had been stopped at a roadblock where the Mothers demanded they all get out of the vehicle and that the truck be searched. His friends had refused, saying they had no authority in Oklasaw territory. Shots were fired; three Mothers were killed, and one of Seth’s friends was wounded. After that, there’d been no holding back the others. They’d opened fire on the Mothers in the mountains, who’d also returned fire. As of the last report, three of Seth’s friends had been killed and six injured.
He hadn’t said a word, hadn’t shed a tear, just kept driving, but she could tell by his expression it was hard for him to take the news. She wanted to do something to comfort him, but her apologies had only gotten a shrug out of him. He didn’t hold her accountable. But he should have.
The phone rang again, just as the sun faded behind the mountains. Seth answered quickly, “Yeah?”
“You’ve got trouble up ahead,” a man’s voice said. “We just got a call from some folks who live near Cedar Creek. Said they spotted some Mothers up in the hills on either side of the road near the junction of Louis Highway and rural route AA, which I think is a few miles ahead of where you are now, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Seth said, glancing at the map on the dashboard to his right. How the other people knew where he was, she couldn't say, but it might have been because he had told the last people who called, about ten minutes ago, where they were. “Thanks, Andrew.”
“Sure thing.” The call disconnected and Seth slowed down.
“They might be watching us now,” he said. “We’re pretty close to that intersection, and we don’t have a lot of options to go other directions.”
Rain hadn’t seen any turns for other roads off of this one in a while. She imagined that was because of all of the hills. Clearly, the Mothers had done some homework when they picked this location.
“What do you want us to do?” Mist asked. “Get in the seat?”
“Yeah, you'll have to. Rain, can you climb over and get in there, too? It’ll be a tight squeeze, especially since you’ll need to take your packs so that they don’t recognize them.”
Rain wished they would’ve thought to switch their packs out with ones from Judea, but there was no time for that now. “Okay,” she said, up on her knees as Walt and Mist moved to open up the seat so they could get inside. The space looked even smaller from here, but they’d have to make it work. They put their packs in first, smashing them against the walls. Then, Walt climbed in, making himself as small as possible. After Mist squeezed next to him, it didn’t leave a lot of room for Rain. She would just have to figure it out. Climbing over the seat, she slid into the opening, Mist and Walt pulling her close. She hated that she was putting weight on Mist in her condition, but she didn’t know what else to do. Seth reached back with one hand and closed up the seat, and everything went dark. The sound of the engine humming and the three of them breathing was deafening. Not being able to see what was happening was enough to drive her crazy. She had to hope Seth wouldn’t be stopped for long.
The idea that maybe they should’ve just fought entered her mind, but she had no idea how many Mothers there would be. Seth’s friends must’ve thought it was too many for them to take, or he probably would’ve suggested that. The idea that they might hurt Seth had her biting her bottom lip. What was there to keep them from doing that now? A loan man in a vehicle by himself in the middle of nowhere? They could do whatever they’d want, and no one would know.
The truck slowed and then stopped completely. Rain forgot about how unbelievably uncomfortable she was for a moment as she concentrated on listening to what was happening outside of the vehicle. She could hear the crunch of boots on gravel, and then Seth rolled his window down. “What’s going on?” he asked, his tone a lot more polite than Rain’s would’ve been if she was in his position.
A gruff female voice answered, not at all politely. “We have permission from the prime minister of Oklasaw to search all vehicles coming through here for a band of rebels fleeing from Michaelanburg. We have reason to believe the rogues could be traveling through this part of your country.”
That was an out and out lie. She heard Mist gasp as the Mother tried to convince Seth that what they were doing was all right. Rain wondered how long it would take her to reach her gun once the seat came flying open if they were found. Probably too long. She’d have to use her hands. At least they’d have the element of surprise.
Seth played it cool, though. “Is that so? Well, as you can see, there’s no one here but me.”
“Mind if we search your vehicle?” the woman asked. It clearly wasn’t a question.
“You can take a look if you want.”
Rain knew he had no choice but to give his consent. She wondered exactly what was barring his way from heading down the road. Did they bring their large transport vehicles to block passage?
The back doors came open. Not only did she hear them, but there was a slight change in the pressure in the seat. The thunk of hands checking over the cushion right above her head had Rain holding in a breath. Mist and Walt were deathly silent as well. The hands moved lower toward where her side was squished against the bottom supports of the seat. On her other side, she heard the lid of the toolbox open as the contents of the back of Seth’s truck were set askew.
“Where are you headed?” the Mother at the door asked him.
“Going up to Waukee to visit my cousins,” he said. The lie rolled off of his tongue so easily, it was as if he had rehearsed it for days.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“Seth Green.”
“Where are you from?”
“Chickamungi,” he said quickly. “You came all the way from Michaelanburg to catch these criminals?” he asked. “Is it a large pack of them? Should I be concerned, driving out here alone?”
“I would be, if I were you,” she replied. “If you see anyone you do not know, do not stop, and if you pull over to sleep, be sure to lock your doors. They are believed to be armed and dangerous.”
“Good grief,” Seth said. “Thank goodness you were allowed to come after them.”
“Truck appears to be clear, Mother Jaguar,” another official sounding female voice said up near Seth. The back door slammed, and she heard the toolbox close before the back gate shook the truck as it was also put back into place. She imagined all of their supplies were ransacked, but if it meant they could move along, she didn’t care.
“All right, you can go,” the first Mother, the one identified as Jaguar, said. “Keep an eye out.”
“Will do,” he said. “I appreciate it.”
Rain was unbelievably impressed with his ability to lie. The truck seemed to zig zag a little as it started rolling. She imagined he was going around a barrier of some sort.
“Give me a few minutes to get away from them and make sure we’re not being watched,” Seth said. “I’m sorry. I know you guys are uncomfortable.”
None of them said a word. Rain didn’t know if there was enough room for her lungs to expand to speak. Seth picked up speed as they got further away from the barricade. She worried about him driving so fast on a hilly road in the dark but had to trust that he knew what he was doing. He turned to the right and then a few moments later, slowed the truck. “Okay,” he said, and a second later, the seat popped open. She sucked in a breath of fresh air and quickly climbed out, fighting a cramp in her calf.
Seth helped her move aside so that they could get Mist out. It was clear, even by the dim light of the dashboard, that she was in pain. Now might be a good time for her to get in the back and go to sleep since they were already stopped and had just been through the checkpoint. Chances were, they wouldn’t see any more Mothers for a while. At least, Rain hoped not.
Walt climbed out as well, concerned about Mist. “Do you guys want to hop in the back for a while?” Seth asked, having the same thought that Rain had had.
“I’m okay,” Mist insisted, but Walt was having none of it. He opened his door and got her out, leading her around to the back of the vehicle as Rain put the seat back into position. Then, she hopped out the side to make sure Walt got Mist loaded okay, her eyes trained on the sky. Looking for drones was second nature to her now. If the Mothers had had their vehicle followed by one, they’d see all of this. At least Seth had thought to pull off of the road beneath the wide branches of a copse of trees.
Once Mist and Walt were in the back, Rain went around to the front passenger side and got in. “Ready?” Seth asked her.
She clicked her safety belt into place. “Ready.” He shifted into gear, and they resumed their journey under cover of night.
It was quiet in the cab without Mist and Walt. Seth had music playing on the radio, but it was so soft, Rain could barely hear it. She felt compelled to say something, but couldn’t decide what to say. Finally, she realized it made sense for her to ask about the barricade. “How many of them were there?” she asked.
“Twelve that I could see,” he replied. “But I got the impression that there were more in the hills.” He hadn’t gone back to the main road they’d been on, choosing instead to take back roads, at least for a little while. She wondered if he’d told the people who were driving ahead of them that while she was outside and figured he did. Either that or it wouldn’t matter because the other vehicles would be turning back soon. They’d been driving for hours. Seth had to be tired. Rain wished she knew how to drive so she could help, but she had no idea how to make the truck go forward.
“Did they have a barricade in the road?”
“Yeah, a big truck was set up. Did you hear her try to convince me that the prime minister said it was okay?”
“I did,” Rain said, shaking her head. “The Mothers will do anything they can think of to try and get what they want.”
“Clearly,” he said, his head rocking from side to side. He looked in the rear view mirror, whether to make sure no one was following them or to check on Mist and Walt, she wasn’t sure. They were lying down and couldn’t be seen from her vantage point. “I hope she’s okay.”
“Me, too,” she agreed. Her friend hadn’t looked good when she’d gotten out of the truck. Rain had to let that go. For now. “You did great, by the way.”
Seth raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”
“With the Mothers,” Rain clarified. “The way you lied to them. It was great.”
He shrugged. “Something my grandfather taught me. Pretend the bad guys are the good guys, and they’ll think you’re not a threat.”
“Huh,” Rain muttered, considering that. “Makes sense.”
“Yeah. Works most of the time.”
Rain wondered what had happened when it didn’t work but didn’t ask. Instead, she leaned back on the headrest and considered closing her eyes for a little while. Seth had to be tired, too, but he wouldn’t admit it. They still had a long way to go until they got to Louis City. She suspected he planned to drive all the way through if he could force himself to stay awake that long.
As she started to doze off, she felt his hand on top of hers where it lay on the seat between them. Rain slid her fingers between his and gave his hand a squeeze, comforted that he was there, that she could trust him to keep them safe. With any luck, the most dangerous part was behind them, and they’d arrive in Louis City the next day or the day after without any more excitement. Holding that thought in her head, she let herself doze off, her hand encircled by Seth’s.