Chapter 57: Chapter 57

A swift moving current lofted a broken tree branch along the edge of shore as the murky, red tinged river cut a swath in the land wide enough to make it infeasible to try to swim across the distance to the identical patch of muddied ground that disappeared into tall grass and eventually a forest that mirrored the woods behind her. Mother White stood perfectly still, only her eyes moving as she traced the path of the projectile as if this broken tree from upstream could somehow solve all of her problems.

It had been almost forty-eight hours since she’d gotten a report of shots fired. At the time, she’d been a few hours behind the lead Military Mothers who had progressed quickly around the outskirts of Dafo as she led the attack on the remnants of the city. Dal and his people had put up quite a battle, which had been surprising since he had no dog in the fight. What he sought to gain by preventing White and her military from advancing on the four fugitives was incomprehensible to her. She expected him to take a few shots because the opportunity to do so had presented itself, and far be it from the rebel leader of an unorganized government that had been asked to surrender their weapons and territory on more than one occasion to miss his chance to take out some of his rage when the Mothers were close by for once. It was a typical male move, after all. But when he’d continued to fire, taking out several of her land riders, a heliobird, and even one of her transporters, a large truck she’d used to move troops into position that should’ve been out of range, she’d known it would be better to go around than to continue to fight with a man who was clearly unbalanced. The fugitives should’ve meant nothing to him, but he was a man, and they were known to be irrational and fight whenever the chance stood before them.

She had sent most of her forces far around the east side of his territory, well out of range, but it had been a small group that had managed to punch through Dafo’s border on the slower single-rider ground transporters known as land riders, like the ones the majority of their forces had been using to carry them most of the way from Gretchintown, that had come across the fugitives as they contemplated how to cross the River Red. If it hadn’t been for a considerable amount of luck and the rerouting of drones at a higher distance than the humans were able to see, so they’d had no idea most of their movements had been tracked, they never would’ve spotted them. The Mothers were far behind them up until the time they reached the point where she now stood. However, opportunity had evaded them, and now, she wasn’t even sure the girl she wanted brought in alive more than anything had survived the fray.

A breeze stirred her hair, most of it dark, save the white stripe in the front. She’d been named long before the streak had appeared, but it was fitting, as if her own DNA was acknowledging that the Mothers had named her appropriately. She tucked her hair back out of her eyes absently, thinking only of the redheaded girl. The others would be useful, no doubt, and she knew that there were members of her team who were driven only by the promise that 24C would pay for his offenses. Regardless of the fact that the other female, Mist, had been more involved with the plot to overthrow the Motherhood than the redhead, Rain, could’ve ever dreamt, it was the latter who most interested White.

She’d given orders not to shoot that one. Rain and 24C were to be brought in alive. The other two--Mist and 37W--were best preserved if possible. Mist had information, that was for certain, and she would surely spill everything she knew if 37W were held to the fire in an effort to get that information. Mist’s record in IW, the Insemination Ward back at the medical building in Gretchintown showed that Mist had an emotional connection to 37W. All women were required to visit IW at least three times a week, even those who were not old enough to become Mothers yet, such as these two, who were in training, and every single time Mist had attended her sessions for the past seven months, she’d chosen 37W, unless he was already occupied at her arrival, which had only occurred twice. The two Dicks who were traveling with the girls hadn’t made their way out of trials yet, so they weren’t full-fledged Inseminators, but that didn’t seem to make them any less dangerous. While she’d found no evidence that 37W was in on any of the planning, she had accessed enough recordings of 24C speaking in code to the Communication trainees about the security breach that had been made days before the actual rebellion, and the rebellion itself, to justify any sort of torture she wanted to inflict on the boy before personally marching him to the Bridge.

Mother White had to wonder, though, why had Rain agreed to help? She’d been a model student, never showing an ounce of rebellion, never questioning a single rule or disagreeing with the beliefs of the Motherhood, not until the day of the initial breach. Then, she’d only spent about twenty-five minutes alone with 24C. Whatever the boy had said to her during those few minutes, it had been enough to spark a change in the girl, one that had caught fire and led her here.

Now, White didn’t know if she was dead or alive, only that she’d been shot. The lone survivor of the Military Mothers who had opened fire on the party had said Mother Quail had seen the party standing on the riverbank and fired without being ordered to do so. She’d hit Rain in the chest or shoulder. The other rebels had returned fire, killing four Mothers and wounding Quail who was now back at the medical building. She said she hadn’t seen what happened next but thought she heard a boat nearby.

Was it possible the rebels had help from the nomadic rabble on the other side of the river? Could Oklasaw’s vagabonds be involved in this rebellion? With the government of Spanish-America on the southern border of Michaelanburg contemplating actions against them, it wouldn’t do to have Oklasaw or the more organized governments to the far north, such as the Nation of Quebec, organizing against them, too. If Rain’s party had help from people in Oklasaw, she may gain help from Quebec as well. Even if she didn’t, if the party was able to reach the northern nation, they wouldn’t hesitate to use any excuse possible to attack Michaelanburg. While the Motherhood may have produced a country far superior to any other in the world when it came to technology and medical advancements, they also had secrets, ones that needed to stay hidden or else the rest of the world would be up in arms, and World War Four would be unavoidable.

Except, calling it WWIV implied nations against other nations, and she knew no other country would be willing to stand beside Michaelanburg. No, when the rest of the world discovered the lies that had been told and the atrocities that had been committed, there would be no alliances standing next to the Mothers when the reckoning began.

“Mother White!” Hurried footsteps had her head turning around to see Mother Scorpion headed her direction, a tablet in her hand. The younger woman, who was steadily working her way up the ranks thanks to her ability to track moving targets and assess incoming communications quickly, made the sign of the Motherhood, her hand over her heart with a slashing motion across the chest, as she waited for her superior to acknowledge her.

“What is it Scorpion?” White asked, hoping it was good news, but she wasn’t willing to get her hopes up just yet. In the last day and a half or so since they’d been watching drone footage in an attempt to decide where to place the bridge they’d use to move into enemy territory, they’d had a few false alarms that perhaps the rebels had been spotted only to be disappointed. At least she hadn’t spent a full day tracking a tiger the way her second in command, Mother Jaguar, had done when the rebels had fooled them with a false tracker. She tried not to roll her eyes at the memory.

“We’re getting a signal initiated from one of the girls’ IUDs,” she said, trying to hold back a smile.

White’s eyebrows raised as she studied Scorpion’s face for a moment. If that was true, this was good news after all. “Which one of them?” she asked, thinking it would have to be Mist. Rain wouldn’t be so uninformed as to attempt to remove her intrauterine device while she was still so close to enemy territory. She was a medical student after all, so she’d know exactly what would trip the tracking feature. Mist, on the other hand, if she were truly in love with 37W and was hoping to show the Motherhood she was in control of her own body, or some other such nonsense, might be foolish enough to commit such an awful blunder.

“It’s 8,253,302, or MWH546782B, the girl called Mist Gretchintown, Mother White. We have the latitude and longitude of her current location.” She’d given both the number the girl would be aware of and the secret number only the Military Mothers had access to, as well as the girl’s name, as it wouldn’t have been sufficient to just say, “Mist.”

Ignoring her annoyance, White asked, “Do you have a drone nearby?” She’d known Rain wouldn’t be so stupid. The fact that Mist had done something so ill-advised made her wonder if Rain might have actually passed away from her wound. Why wouldn’t she stop her friend from making such a costly error? Could this be another trick--like the tiger?

“No, but there’s a drone on the way now. We estimate we are forty-five miles from that location as the crow flies. It is a mountainous area, though. It will take us longer to get there, especially with no means of getting the land riders over the water.”

Boats would’ve been an excellent asset, but Michaelanburg was landlocked and had no need for them, other than for the Agriculturalists who did the fishing and a few other occupations that might need to access water. Those were small vessels, and they were currently hundreds of miles away. Helios would also work, but those were the machines she most needed to keep the world’s eyes away from. They were intending to build a bridge that the Military Mothers could cross using their smaller land riders, but nothing they had on hand could handle the weight of the transporters. There would be no way to simply drive across the river. No, she’d have to send for fishing boats and find a way to make them work, and in the meantime, she’d have to take her chances with the helio, at least to transport a large enough force to the area where the signal was triggered to do a thorough investigation. “What direction is it moving?” she asked.

“It’s not,” Scorpion said, shaking her head, her dark hair, pulled back in a severe ponytail not shaking at all. “It’s completely stationary.”

“Wait--that makes no sense. Both pieces?”

“Yes, at the moment, neither piece is moving.”

Folding one arm beneath her elbow, White stroked her chin. Perhaps Mist had injured herself so badly removing the piece that she’d died or was unable to move. It would make sense. Most women who tried to take their IUD out by themselves were forced to report to the medical building quickly. Those bitches were designed to chew one up from the inside out. Clearly, the medical student hadn’t taken the device out, or it wouldn’t have been tripped. “Very well. Let me know if either piece moves,” she said. If she had to wager a guess, once Mist was capable of moving, she’d do so, leaving the removed piece behind. Unless… Rain was with her. Then, she’d get the other piece out, and neither of the pieces would move from their current location.

Having their location would still help her find them, especially if she could follow them by drone. There was no way they could outrun her eye in the sky. Eventually, unable to see the drone, they’d get complacent and think they were safe, as they had the day Rain had been shot.

If both pieces began to move again, then there was a chance that was a signal that Rain was still alive. She was a third year medical student, but she should’ve been in her second year and hadn’t gotten too far into her studies since her promotion. She might not realize once the IUD was tripped, there was no going back. She might think she could turn it off, or that if it was put back in, even haphazardly, it wouldn’t signal their location.

Both pieces moving together might also simply mean Mist had somehow recovered but didn’t want to leave her trash behind to be discovered later. Still, if White saw both pieces moving, she’d wager that meant Rain was alive. With any luck, the drones would have visuals on them within an hour. She sent Scorpion off on her journey and decided to contact President Violet back in Michaelanburg to get permission to move the boats up. They’d have to go around Dafo, which would take longer, but she wouldn’t take any chances on Dal destroying the few small vessels she had. She’d also have to send her heliobird far, far around the edges of his territory as well. It was difficult to admit that the Military Mothers were not exactly the force to be reckoned with they liked to present to the world, but that was only because, thus far, they hadn’t had to be. Now that she needed the weapons that this would require, the ones they had the technology and resources to have on hand but hadn’t created in abundance because of fear of those resources being discovered, she was quickly realizing their forces were not that far advanced compared to even the ragtag guerillas they’d face in Oklasaw. It was a brutal realization, one she’d be sure to correct as soon as she returned to Michaelanburg, rebels in hand.