Rain’s Run: The Motherhood Book Two E-Book

Johnson ID

• Herausgeber: ID Johnson
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Rain is a wanted woman, and it’s apparent the Mothers will stop at nothing to track her down.
Escaping her home country wasn’t easy. Even though Rain and her friends have reached temporary safety, they are a long way from the Nation of Quebec. Recovering from a gunshot wound and tired from days of running, Rain would like nothing more than to stay hidden in the mountains with the family that’s taken them in.
But that’s not an option. Rain’s presence has put these peaceful people’s lives in jeopardy, and when a tracker is accidentally tripped, it’s clear she has no choice but to start running all over again.
This time, when she sets out, her party won’t be the same. One of her companions will be replaced by a handsome stranger, a man who not only promises to keep Rain safe, he has her questioning her feelings for Adam. Does she really love Adam or is it all infatuation with the only man she’s ever really known?
Rain’s still a long way from safety, with Mother White and the others breathing down her neck. There’s no guarantee the government she’s so desperately trying to reach will even help, but she has to try. The men of her homeland’s lives certainly depend upon it—and maybe the lives of her generation of women do, too, because  rebellions are like a smoldering ember—they’re catching.
Continue Rain’s journey in this thrilling dystopian romance!

Leseprobe

Rain’s Run

The Motherhood Book Two

ID Johnson

Copyright © 2021 by ID Johnson

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Cover by Sparrow Book Cover Designs

Created with Vellum

For Patrick

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

A Note from the Author

Also by ID Johnson

Chapter One

False sunlight filtered through thin lace curtains over the window next to Rain’s bed. It wasn’t her bed, though, not really. She’d left her bed far behind when she’d left her home in Gretchintown almost three weeks earlier. It seemed like months, maybe years, had passed since the last time she lay in her own bed. How the world had changed since then. Or maybe it hadn’t. Maybe all of the changes had been on her end.

It wasn’t just the faux sunlight that stirred her. The sound of two male voices, one familiar, one becoming so, hit her ear and slowly brought her back to consciousness. The pain in her shoulder was mild now, especially compared to how it had been when Esther and her family had rescued Rain and her friends and brought them to the safety of their mountain home, Judea, buried beneath the landscape of Oklasaw.

Eavesdropping never led to anything good. Rain knew that to be a fact. She wasn’t trying to hear what Adam was saying, but his words weren’t stopped by the thin curtain, nor the glass behind it. His voice, rich and strong, stirred feelings inside of her she’d never felt for anyone before. He’d been the one to beg Esther to take them into her boat, to swipe them from the outstretched hand of the Mothers who had finally caught up to them on the banks of the River Red. He had been the one to lift her and take her to safety. After that, Rain had lost consciousness quickly, but she’d fallen into that deep sleep knowing that Adam was looking over her, as well as her dear friend Mist, who had been her roommate back home, and Walt, the love of Mist’s life, another escaped male from the Insemination Ward in Michaelanburg, the country Rain and the rest were fleeing from.

“I think she’ll be up and around in a few days,” Adam was saying, “even if your mom doesn’t think it’s a good idea. Rain’s… one of the strongest people I’ve ever met. She doesn’t know it, though.”

“Yeah, she definitely faced that bullet with bravery I’ve never seen before.” The other voice belonged to Seth, Esther’s son. Rain knew very little about him except that he appeared to be about their age, in his early twenties. He was kind and strong, pleasant to look at. His very existence fascinated her. He had a mother, after all. A parent. Someone who loved him and cared for him. No one born in Michaelanburg had that, despite the fact that the women in charge went by the misnomer the Mothers.

The men continued their conversation, Rain trying not to listen too carefully, but she was awake now. She’d been sleeping so much the last few days, a restless energy bottled up inside of her, and she was ready to hop out of bed and discover what needed to be done next. As much as she appreciated Esther and the others giving them shelter here, she couldn’t believe they weren’t in danger. Esther had explained it would be almost impossible for the Mothers to even discover the location of their hidden city, and getting in was something that would take a miracle of sorts. There were a few tunnels leading into and out of the mountain range, only two near the border with the no-man’s land that eventually led through what used to be Texas hundreds of years ago when this was the United States, and they were guarded by steel doors, lined with weapons, and so well hidden in the mountains, Adam had been under the impression they were about to crash into the hillside when Esther was steering them in--at least, that’s what Mist had told her when she’d come to visit the day before. Esther limited Rain’s time with her friends, insisting the girl get some rest. She wasn’t in a hurry to move them along, she assured them, but she did want to make sure Rain made a full recovery.

Rain’s mind had been focused on her fears of the Mothers showing up and threatening these kind people such that she didn’t realize that Seth and Adam were talking about a more personal matter until Seth was about halfway through his question, “The two of you involved?” he’d said. She had to fill in the beginning of the inquiry. He wanted to know if she and Adam were a couple the way that Mist and Walt were.

“No, no,” Adam said quickly. He was right, of course, but that didn’t stop the sting that hit her in the heart from radiating through her body, even making her wound hurt a little bit more than it had before. “We’re just friends.”

“Oh,” Seth said. There was a hint of an emotion in that one syllable Rain couldn’t quite place. Surprise, yes. Sympathy, perhaps? Was that other note--relief? “I’m kind of shocked to hear that. The way you were begging Mom to help, it sounded like there was more to it. And… the way you look at her sometimes.”

“Well,” Adam began, and she could picture his shrug in her head, even if she couldn’t see him, “Rain is a great person. She is beautiful. Smart--so smart, like she doesn’t even know how smart she is--and she has one of the best hearts of anyone you’ll ever meet. But… she doesn’t really think about me that way, that’s all.”

“Oh.” Seth’s response was the exact same word but with a completely different tone that time. Knowing. Again, sympathetic. “How do you know?” he asked.

“Yes, how do you know?” Rain echoed in her head. The way Adam had explained the situation, it almost sounded as if he had wanted there to be more between them. But he’d never said anything like that to her, not that she recalled anyway. Was he just trying to put the weight of the situation between them on his own shoulders so that Seth wouldn’t see her missteps? Did he think Seth might be a better fit for her?

Adam cleared his throat. “I can just tell. First of all, she definitely doesn’t look at me the way Mist looks at Walt. Also, Rain’s made it abundantly clear that she hopes I find someone who can make me happy--someday. Sometime, when we make it to the Nation of Quebec, our final destination, or wherever we might go on our journey. She said she thinks I deserve a woman who can make me happy.”

“But she doesn’t think that woman’s her?” Seth clarified.

“No, no, I guess not.” Adam was doing a good job of making his voice sound nonchalant, but Rain could hear the small quiver as he spoke. “What about you? Do you have a girlfriend?” Adam asked, changing the subject.

Rain would be lying to herself if she said she didn’t care. There was something about Seth that sparked her interest, but not the same way that Adam did, at least not yet. She imagined, if she were to spend more time with Seth and less time with Adam, that she might be swayed to reevaluate her feelings, particularly if the reason Adam had made those statements about her feelings for him was because he truly wasn’t interested in her, but she knew exactly what conversation he was referring to.

They’d been lying next to each other in the darkness in Dafo. She’d told him she thought he deserved to be happy. She had no idea he’d heard that he deserved to be happy with someone else. Right after she’d told him how she felt, he’d gone quiet--disturbingly so. The discussion had happened just a few days ago, well, in her conscious memory, anyway, discounting the time she’d been asleep, but she’d been bothered by it ever since. She hadn’t been able to figure out what she’d said that had offended him. Now, she thought she understood. He was developing feelings for her, but he’d thought she’d been saying she wasn’t interested in him, that he would find someone to make him happy--someone else.

Rain sighed and used her good hand to brush her red hair back out of her eyes. She’d really screwed up this time. And there was no way for her to easily fix it. The conversation she was listening to wasn’t meant for her ears after all. She’d have to figure out some way to let Adam know that she wasn’t excluding herself when she said “someone.” That seemed easier said than done.

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” Seth replied to Adam’s inquiry. “There are a couple of girls in town I’ve taken out. We have a lot of dances around here, and one in particular, Hannah Cooper, is usually my date. But we haven’t talked about getting married or anything.”

“How old are you?” Adam asked, again sparking Rain’s curiosity as well.

“I’m twenty-three,” he said. “You?”

“Twenty-one,” Adam said. “Same as Rain. I think all of us are the same age.”

Seth was quiet for a long time before he said, “I’m sure you don't want to talk about it, but I’m really sorry about everything you had to go through. That must’ve been... awful.”

“Thanks,” Adam said quietly. “I appreciate that. And… I don’t want to talk about it. Or think about it.” Silence settled between them, and if Rain hadn’t been listening carefully for the sound of the front door, she would’ve almost thought they went inside. Eventually, Adam said, “But if it hadn’t been for Rain, I would’ve lost my mind. She was the only bright spot in a horrific existence.”

Seth seemed puzzled. When he asked, “She used to… visit you?” his voice went up at the end.

“Yeah, but she wasn’t like the others. She was… kind. She didn’t have any choice. All women are required to go to IW,” he went on, standing up for her, not that Seth had said anything negative.

“Right. That’s what we’ve heard. I bet most of the stories that make it to us aren’t true. At least, I hope they’re not.”

Rain thought about all the bruises she’d seen on Adam’s backside when she’d stolen a peek at the river. She swallowed hard as he said, “They are. And worse.”

Unfortunately, what he said was accurate. The horrors the Mothers visited upon their people were enough to make people like Seth and Esther cringe, people with a conscience, people who understood that all people are just that--people. Even men.

Rain had always had an understanding about that in the back of her mind, even if she’d been taught since she was a small child not to see men as people. From the time she was old enough to learn anything at all, the Mothers had taught her, along with every other woman, that men were little more than animals. They were driven by carnal urges. The men in IW actually enjoyed what they were doing, despite being strapped to chairs and given shots to make them capable of performing. The men who worked in construction and elsewhere had no freedom, tethered to specific locations through ankle monitors. Those were the ones who were not capable of serving women through IW, so they had to do hard labor to pay for the sins of the past.

Those weren’t their sins, of course. They were the sins of men who came long before them. The Motherhood taught that, throughout history, up until the time of the Claiming when Michaela Torres and her followers overthrew what was left of the men after the end of World War III and forced them into bondage. Up until that point, Rain and the others had been taught, men had held women as slaves, essentially, raping and taking them whenever they wanted, stripping them of dignity, forcing them to perform the same work for less pay, and a thousand other atrocities.

None of it ever sat right with Rain, but she was also taught not to question the Motherhood. And she hadn’t. Until the day the lights had come on right after she finished a session in IW with Adam, who didn’t have a name at the point. Like all other men, he was known by a number and a letter--24C. He hadn’t had the chance to say much to her during the rebel’s mock attempt at taking over the IW unit so that they could later break out the men held there, with the help of a few insiders, such as Adam himself and some of the women in training in communications and other important areas that would lead to an easier extraction. The next thing she knew, Rain was being recruited to join the effort. She couldn’t say no, though, not after she’d spoken to Adam, not after she’d seen what a good soul he was. Even if everything the Mothers said about men in the past were true, Adam and Walt, the other men in IW, the other men in Michaelanburg, didn’t deserve to be treated the way the Mothers were treating them. No one did.

Adam and Seth continued to talk, with Seth asking questions about what it was like for him, just the day to day activities. Adam talked about the gym and other aspects--taking supplements, etc. Rain’s mind wandered. She should get up. She should let them know she could hear. But then, a third voice entered the conversation, one she didn’t recognize at all. One she instantly didn’t like.

“Hey, Seth!” a male voice, higher pitched and grating but still masculine, called out. “This one of the rebs you pulled from the river?”

“Yeah, Daniel. This is Adam.”

“Hi,” she heard Adam say and then there was the smack of flesh on flesh that made her think they must’ve shaken hands or something.

“How’s it going?” Daniel asked, his voice still irritating. “You likin’ it on the outside?”

“It’s definitely better than being in Michaelanburg.” Adam’s response was guarded. Clearly, he didn’t trust this person either.

“I imagine. Especially with two of your rapists right here in the house with you.”

Rain’s mouth dropped open and her blood ran cold. Did he actually say what she thought he’d said? Was he calling her and Mist rapists? Every fiber of her being froze as she listened for Adam’s response, part of her wanting to dart out the door to defend herself, or at the very least, to defend Mist. He had no idea what he was talking about….

“It’s not like that. Not at all.” Adam’s voice was strong this time.

“Daniel….” That was Seth. He sounded… embarrassed. Mortified? “Don’t start, please?”

“What? We’ve all heard what women in Michaelenburg do. Strap men to chairs and force them. Isn’t that what these two have done to you and your friend in the past? Over and over again?”

“No,” Adam said with conviction. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Geeze, man, calm down. You’re getting awfully defensive.”

“You’re talking about his friends, Daniel. Two women that helped them escape.”

“Yeah, but aren’t they all the same down there? I mean, they might be sorry now, but what’s done is done. Rape is rape, dude.”

“No, there’s definitely a difference between what Rain, Mist, and the other women who visited IW because they were forced to do so have done and actual rape.” Anger was evident in Adam’s voice now. Rain bit her bottom lip, wishing she could reach out to him, to calm him. He knew the difference. He knew first hand.

Surely, this Daniel person would know better than to keep pushing, wouldn’t he? Couldn’t he see that Adam was beyond agitated by his judgmental comments? Daniel either didn’t read people well or was just a jackass. His next comment wasn’t any less insensitive than the others. “I guess so, man, but anytime a dude has to put his dick in a woman he doesn’t want to, I call that rape.”

“Daniel!” That was Seth. Louder, more forceful. Too late.

“No, rape is when a mob of Mothers twice your age use electric prods to force you down on the ground, when they hold you down and shoot you up with double the amount of the shit they usually give you to get you hard so you have no choice but to react, so that all of them--all ten or twelve or so many you can’t keep track anymore--take a turn riding you like you’re a not even human, not even an animal, but a machine, like an unfeeling, plastic dick not attached to a mind or a soul. That, Daniel-whoever-the-hell-you-are, is rape!”

The sound of rushed footsteps and the front door opening and then slamming, followed by the same cadence down the hall and another door shutting further back in the house, was only drowned out slightly by the sound of Seth’s voice. “Daniel, what the hell is the matter with you, man? Couldn’t you see you were pissing him off?”

“So what?” Daniel asked. “We don’t even know these people.”

“They are guests in my home,” Seth said sternly. “Adam is a good guy. Obviously, he’s been through a lot. A person doesn’t tell a story like that unless they’ve lived it. As for the girls, Mist is smart, kind, and helpful. She’s going out of her way to help my mom as much as she can. Rain was shot. I haven’t gotten to talk to her much, but from what the others have said, she’s incredibly intelligent, sweet, and brave. We don’t know how these people were brought up, how they lived. The Bible says, ‘Judge not, lest ye be judged,’ but you came in here ready to condemn without even trying to understand.”

“I guess I just can’t see it the same way you do, man. Wrong is wrong in my book.”

“Okay--then maybe you should stay away from here until they go. Adam said they won’t be here long.”

“Fine. Will do. But… if I run into one of those girls by themselves, I’ll probably be forced to teach them a lesson.” He laughed at the end of his statement, an evil cackle that made Rain want to reach through the window and punch him in the face. She couldn’t even see him, so she wouldn’t recognize him if she saw him later on, though she’d know that voice anywhere.

“Daniel, we’ve been friends for a long time,” Seth said, his voice echoing the tone Adam had used earlier. Measured. “If you touch either one of them, you’ll have me to answer to.”

“Whatever man. You going to the dance tonight?”

“I don’t know.” Seth was still angry and didn’t seem to like how nonchalantly the other man tried to change the subject.

“Be there, or I’ll be dancing with your girl. See you around.” Daniel laughed again and then his footsteps faded away.

Rain could easily see now, if most of the men before World War III were like Daniel, how women felt trapped and belittled by them. She could hear in his voice that he thought he was superior to women, her anyway. He thought she’d purposely made Adam and other men do things they didn’t want to when in actuality, she’d never wanted to go to IW herself. Never, not once.

A few minutes later, the front door opened again, but it wasn’t Seth coming in. It was Esther going out. “What in the world is going on?” the worried mother asked. “Adam came in so upset…. He went straight to the back room.”

“Daniel Redd stopped by,” Seth said, his voice slightly more relaxed than it had been before.

“Oh.” That one syllable said enough that Rain could tell she’d been right about the other man. “He’s… not nice.”

“I know.”

“I wish you weren’t friends with him.”

“I wish I wasn’t too, Mom. But he has no one else.”

“Well, there’s a reason for that, Seth. I’m going in to check on Rain. Maybe you should talk to her in a bit, see what her ideas are for them leaving. I’ve talked to the others. They want to be on their way. But I don’t want her moving until she’s well.”

“I’ll talk to her if I get a chance,” Seth said. “But Mom, she’s not going to talk me out of it, and neither are you.”

Esther let out a deep sigh. “We’ll see,” she said and then the door opened again, and two sets of footsteps walked down the hall. She imagined Esther was headed to the kitchen and would be in to see her in a minute, like she’d said. What was it that she was trying to talk Seth out of? Rain didn’t know, but she hoped he’d come in to talk to her for more reasons than she could quite put into coherent thought.

She hoped Adam would come in, too. She hated hearing him so angry, so… upset. He hadn’t ever told her that story before, though he’d eluded to it. The idea of anyone hurting him made her fists clench and her stomach tie into a knot. More than ever, she wanted to get out of that bed and fly to the Nation of Quebec so that Adam and Walt could be free forever.

Chapter Two

“Good, you’re awake.” Esther brought in a tray with soup and a sandwich on it, along with some ice water. She insisted Rain drink as much as possible, which would’ve been all good and well if it didn’t mean she had to get up to use the bathroom every half an hour, making it hard to sleep. Thank goodness there were plenty of bathrooms in this house and that one was attached to her bedroom.

Setting the tray on the nightstand, Esther situated herself on the bed near Rain’s hip. “Any pain this morning?”

With her lips pursed together, Rain shook her head, afraid opening her mouth would cause a gush of words to spill out, words she ought not say.

Esther gestured for her to lean up so she could inspect the wound. Satisfied that it was healing nicely, she smoothed down the bandages. “I brought you a nontraditional breakfast. Figured the soup broth would help heal you, and the meat in the sandwich would do you good as well.”

“Thank you.” Rain could manage that much.

The older woman smiled, but her eyes lingered on Rain’s face. “What’s the matter, dear? Did you have a bad dream?”

Again, all she could do was shake her head. If she attempted to tell Esther it was nothing, she’d see right through that. It was definitely something.

Crinkles formed around Esther’s warm brown eyes as she pondered Rain’s expression. Rain had to shift her eyes down to her folded hands, certain the mother would know what she was thinking. Whether it was age or caring for so many people over the years, Esther had a way of knowing when someone was bothered. Her calloused hand reached up and moved a lock of red back over Rain’s ear. “We’ve got thin walls and windows that don’t need to guard against the wind or rain.” She leaned back, her eyes still studying Rain. She could feel them. “My Seth is the sort of person that will befriend anyone, especially those he sees strugglin’ and alone. Sometimes, the fellas he attracts are the kind better left to their own demise.”

She knew then, or at least had surmised, that Rain had overheard the conversation the men had been having outside. Rain met her eyes for a second but then stared past her at a spot on the wooden panels of the wall. “It isn’t right. I don’t care so much what that man thinks of me.” Her eyes shifted as she concluded her thought. “But… no one should make Adam feel that way. He doesn’t deserve it.”

Sighing, Esther took Rain’s hand between hers, decades of work showing in the rough tips of her fingers and patches on the other side of her knuckles. “What the four of you have been through is a horror no one should have to experience. The fact that the law of the land where you come from not only allows it, but demands it, is an atrocity. Those with clear eyes will see and understand. Those with feeble minds never will. Along your journey, Rain, you’re sure to come across many more like Daniel Redd. I think you’ll find the vast majority of humanity is good and will understand and want to help. But it’s best you understand his kind is out there now so that you can prepare.”

Her words brought tears to Rain’s eyes for reasons she didn’t quite understand. Perhaps it was the fact that Rain had assumed the rest of the world would be full of beauty and kindness without a single blemish, and Daniel had spoiled that for her, or maybe it was just the idea that this woman beside her was mothering her in a way no one ever had before, but it was all she could do to keep from breaking down.

Hurried footsteps in the hallway kept the tears at bay as Rain’s heart leapt to her throat. Something was wrong. Her first instinct was to reach for a rifle that wasn’t there. What if the Mother’s had breached the mountain after all?

“Esther!”

It was Adam’s voice, and he was the one running down the hallway. “Esther!” His voice broke, it was so shrill. Something was terribly wrong.

With the first shout, Esther was up off of the bed and headed for the door so that when he called her name the second time, she had it open. “What’s wrong, Adam?” The alarm on her face matched the feeling in Rain’s gut. Panic. She pulled the covers back and reached for the jogging pants Esther had brought her the day before. They were an old pair of Seth’s but they would be more comfortable than her own clothes if Rain needed to come out of the room for any reason. Whatever was happening now, seemed like as good a reason as any.

“Stay here!” Esther said to her even as Adam flew toward the door. “What?”

“It’s… Mist,” he said, his face white. “I don’t know… I… Walt sent me. I’ve never seen so much blood.”

Rain’s heart was thundering as she ignored Esther’s command for her to stay there. “Mist?” she questioned, even as Esther was shouting at her to stay in the room and for Adam to stay with her and demanding to know where Mist was.

“She’s in the bathroom in the back hall,” he said, catching Rain at the door.

Esther shot down the hallway as Rain struggled against Adam’s grasp, knowing he was much stronger than she was. “Adam! What happened?” Rain asked, still fighting him. “Why is she bleeding?”

“I don’t know!” he shouted, looking her in the eyes. “Rain, calm down. You’re going to hurt yourself.”

“I can’t calm down! Where was the blood coming from? Did she hit her head?” A thousand scenarios flooded her mind. How could Mist have possibly gotten hurt so badly inside this secure home?

“No, I’m not sure. Walt just called me in there to get help. He didn’t want to leave her. I think….” He hesitated, looked away, looked back at Rain. “I only caught a glimpse through the crack in the bathroom door, but I think it was coming from… between her legs.”

“What?” Rain stopped struggling so that she could comprehend what he’d said. It didn’t make any sense. It wasn’t as if Mist could be pregnant and having a miscarriage. Her period couldn’t cause that kind of blood. What in the world…?

Rain gasped, both hands flying to her mouth as she realized exactly what Mist had done. Her breath was knocked out of her as completely as a swift kick to the gut would’ve done. She stumbled backward a few steps, leaving Adam confused as he reached for her. “Rain? What is it?”

“Oh, no!” she said, scrambling for the door again. “Her IUD!” she stammered, met with Adam’s strong grasp again, pulling her back. “You have to let me go, Adam! I’m the only one here who knows how to remove the piece that’s tearing into her now.”

“Her IUD?” he repeated, loosening his grip. “Wait a minute--didn’t you tell me that those had trackers in them? That if they weren’t removed correctly, they activated some sort of a signal?”

“Yes--but that’s the least of our problems at the moment, Adam. If I don’t get that other piece out, it will continue to eat through her tissue until she bleeds to death. Now damnit, let me go!” She pulled away again, but this time there was no resistance as Adam released her.

Rain shot down the hallway having no idea where she was going and almost collided with Seth. “What’s happening?” he asked.

“Do you have a doctor in town?” she asked. “Someone who would have forceps, clamps, a speculum?”

“I don’t know what all of those are but… we have a midwife.” Seth looked from Rain to Adam and then back again, her panic infecting him as he began to fidget with his hands and shuffle his feet.

“Go get her and every tool she has involving the uterus!” Rain demanded. If she were in Michaelanburg now, she could fix this in a few seconds, but without the right tools, it would be much harder. Seth ran off toward the back door, and even though he was sprinting at full speed, she felt the need to shout, “Hurry!”

She realized she’d forgotten the medical kit. Spinning around, she said, “Adam, go get the black bag. Where the hell am I going?”

“Last door on the left,” he directed her. “The bathroom is inside of the bedroom.” He went back the way they’d come, and Rain powered ahead, thinking through the procedure and trying to come up with the best way to stop Mist’s bleeding before it was too late.

She pushed through the door to see Mist had been transferred to the bed. Esther had her friend’s legs spread and was trying to ascertain the problem while Mist gritted her teeth and tried not to scream, and Walt stood next to her, holding her hand with tears streaking down his face.

“I don’t know what’s wrong!” Esther shouted, pulling her blood stained hands back.

“I do,” Rain assured her. “Seth went to get the midwife. I’m going to need her speculum and probably a lot of other tools to get this out. I don’t think I can do anything until I have those tools. Mist, what the hell were you thinking?” She didn’t yell at her friend, only muttered the last part. Right now was not the time to shout at her, not when she was on the verge of dying.

“What is it?” Walt wanted to know. “Is she pregnant or something?”

“No, she tried to take her IUD out,” Rain replied, taking Esther’s place. Mist was only wearing a shirt, and since she knew Adam would be back any moment, she grabbed a blanket from the foot of the bed and draped it over her friend. “Walt, go get some towels and clean water.” She wasn’t sure if she’d need either of those things, though water was always useful, but she definitely needed Walt out of the room.

He looked at Mist for a moment and then rushed off. “I’ll be back,” he called over his shoulder. She said nothing, but her eyes followed him.

The sound of familiar footsteps heading their way prompted Rain to say, “Esther, can you get the bag from Adam? Don’t let him in. There’s no reason for him to come in here.”

As soon as Esther handed her the bag, Rain dug out the few tools she would need. She would have to cauterize the blood vessels once she was able to get the other piece of the IUD out, but she couldn’t do that at the moment, not without something to hold Mist open for her. Right now, if she could reach in and feel it, she wouldn’t be able to get the tools she’d need to remove it inside.

Not that she had the tools she needed to remove it. That was a specialized tool that she wouldn’t have access to until she was a full-fledged Medical Mother. Now, she was just a third year student. She’d have to do this the hard way. If they were in a hospital in Quebec or someplace where they could take their time and go in surgically, it would’ve been easier to remove, too, but that was also not an option, thanks to Mist’s hasty decision to pull it out now.

With a deep breath, she looked her best friend in the face and said, “Mist, once I have the tools I need, this is going to hurt. The only way I can get it out is to cut it out.”

“Won’t that cause… damage?” Mist asked, her eyes wide.

“Yes, it will. I’m not sure how much, and I don’t know how far up inside of you it’s traveled. It’s not a large piece, but it is programmed to bite, chew, and climb up the fallopian tube to the uterus. The Mothers don’t want people just yanking these out for obvious reasons.”

Behind her, she heard Esther click her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “How barbaric,” she muttered.

“But… I want to have a baby someday,” Mist reminded her.

“I know that, and I will do everything I can to make sure you still can, but you can’t have a baby if you’re dead, my friend.”

Mist’s face was already pale from all the blood she was losing, but it went even paler now. “Maybe… I don’t want to be alive if I can’t have a child.”

Rain stared at her for a moment, knowing that was one truth about her friend that she could not argue with. Mist wanted to be a mother--just not a Mother. She wanted the chance to grow her child in her womb, to raise her baby, to know her own creation. It was one of her main driving points for joining the rebellion in the first place, that and freeing Walt, and her indisputable sense of right and wrong.

“It’ll be all right, Mist. It’s just… it’s going to hurt. A lot. I know you can handle it. I’ll make it stop as quickly as I can, okay?” Rain had to ignore the tears that threatened to fall with each word. She hated that she was about to put the best friend she’d ever had through a living, breathing, biting hell, but she had no choice.

Mist nodded slowly. Behind her, the door opened, and a voice she didn’t recognize hit her ear. “What’s amiss?” an older woman asked.

There was no time for that. Rain stood and snatched a large medical bag from the woman whose mouth dropped open and her eyes bulged. Esther put her arm around the midwife and began to explain in soft whispers as Rain dug through the bag for what she needed.

The speculum was crude, unlike anything she’d ever seen before, but it would have to do. “Esther, light,” she said moving the blanket out of the way and positioning the device. Esther took one of the flashtubes from the medical bag and fidgeted with it for a moment until she turned it on. The light was blinding for a second, but then she managed to turn it down.

It would be nearly impossible for her to actually see what she was doing, even with the light. She’d have to feel for the tiny piece of metal that was currently wreaking havoc inside her friend’s body. Then, she’d have to manage to isolate it, and remove it, without the asshole doing too much damage to her hand. Now would be a great time for a pair of cut resistant gloves, like she’d have if she was doing this at home, but since she didn’t have any at the moment, she would take whatever was available.

Looking in the midwife’s bag, she found a pair of gloves that were slick, sort of like glastic, but a little more like rubber and a bright blue. Those would have to do. Maybe she could draw the piece out of it latched on to her. She was just about to get started when the door opened again.

Walt rushed in with a huge stack of towels balanced on top of a bowl of water. “I got your stuff, Rain. Now what?”

“Perfect,” she said, gesturing for him to put it down on the floor next to her. She would need the water, but the bedspread was too far gone for the towels to be of any use now. “Walt, you’ll need to go stand outside with Adam and Seth, okay?”

“Why?” he demanded. “I want to be here, with Mist.”

“Because I can’t concentrate with you in here!” Rain shouted, wishing she could’ve been a bit nicer, but the words were already out, and he was backing toward the door. “Sorry.” she muttered.

Esther had her arms around him, the light shifting as she moved. Rain waited. “It’ll be fine. Rain knows what she’s doing, and Mary has delivered hundreds of babies. She’s very familiar with women’s anatomy.”

Walt stopped protesting and left. As soon as the light was back, Rain took a deep breath and went about her work.

Mist bit back a scream as Rain reached inside to find the missing piece. Blood coated her gloved hand, making it both slick and sticky at the same time. A look at Mist’s face told her she couldn’t take much more. With her other hand, Rain pushed down on her abdomen, trying to move her anatomy into position.

She felt it. The tiny razor sharp piece of metal that had broken off when she’d pulled the strands of her IUD was there, almost to the uterus, digging in to every organ, every layer of fat, muscle, sinew, whatever it could slice as it ping ponged around Mist’s innards. Grabbing hold of it with the forceps had been the initial plan, but once Rain had a finger on it, she managed to squeeze it tightly enough to keep it from moving. Then, looking away from Mist’s face so she wouldn’t have to see the agony she was about to cause, she pulled it out.

The scream that escaped Mist’s mouth was enough to make Rain scrunch her eyes closed. It didn’t last long, but it was horrendous, a sound she would never forget for as long as she lived. Once the piece was out, Rain dropped it into the bowl of water. It continued to spin, searching for something to clamp onto.

The midwife--Mary, Rain had heard Esther call her--was eyeing the piece. “What in the heavens is that for?” she asked.

With no time to respond at the moment, Rain went about correcting as much of the damage on the inside of Mist as she could. She used the same wand that had healed her gunshot wound to cauterize the tears and cuts inside of Mist, as well as to alleviate as much of the pain as she could. It took her several minutes to make sure she’d gotten everything sealed up so that her friend wouldn’t continue to pour blood like a water tap left unattended.

Once she was satisfied that Mist was put back together, she pulled out the speculum and dropped that and some of the other tools she’d borrowed from Mary into the bowl of water. It definitely wasn’t the most sanitary operation she’d ever performed, nor was it at all high-tech, but she thought she’d managed to save enough of Mist’s womb that she would be able to heal nicely and hopefully carry a child someday--someday well into the future.

Satisfied that she was done, Rain began to clean Mist up. “Let me do that,” Esther insisted. “You need to go rest. You’re pale again. How is your shoulder?”

A realization that her entire upper chest and shoulder felt like it was on fire hit Rain with the question. Had she reinjured herself? She checked her own wound to see no blood, but that didn’t erase the pain. “Okay,” she said, not willing to admit that it hurt again.

“Go. Lie down.” Esther meant it this time.

Knowing it was impossible to argue with her, Rain stood. As she removed her gloves, her eyes settled on Mist’s face. She seemed to be asleep, but she may have passed out from the pain. Streaks of pink tinged her blonde hair where her own blood had touched it, possibly from Walt’s hands. Seeing her strong, brave friend lying there helplessly, so ashen, made tears come to Rain’s eyes. What in the world had made her think to pull her IUD out without even asking Rain to help?