The Rain: The End, Marietta Standlee [year 7 reading list TXT] 📗

good care of them and love them as their own, but I realize that I have no idea when I will see them again.

Tears sting my eyes. "Colin?" I ask, unsure of what I'm actually asking. My throat tightens from a large lump sitting inside of it and a hitch in my voice. Colin takes me into his arms.

"It'll all work out, Viv. I promise. We'll find a better place than the caves, and we'll bring our kids home." Colin promises.

But I shake my head. "You know there is nothing better. The caves are hidden, nobody knows they are there, nobody can find them."

He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath. "Viv, we'll work it out; I give you my word."

"Maggie and I will take good care of them, you have my word. You know we love them like our own." Blake assures me, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Why is he doing this to us?" I ask, torn and anguished.

Nobody has to ask; everybody knows I'm talking about McFarland. I don't think there will be an answer until Briggs clears her throat, "Dimitrov says the Gorongiaths took McFarland's son hostage." Her voice is low.

Blake, Colin's and my eyes turn towards her, "What?"

"Do you remember when McFarland offered his son as an ambassador about a year ago?" Briggs pauses. "They took him up on his offer a few months later. He was with Quill when we attacked. Quill threated McFarland, you two or his son."

A shudder goes through my body. I don't think I would have understood McFarland's actions before I had children of my own, but now…. I have to consider that maybe I would make the same choices.

Colin shakes his head no. "We would have found another way." As usual, he can read my mind.

"This makes it a lot harder," I mutter.

Colin and Blake nod. "Yes, it does."

"I don't want to interrupt, but we should hurry this along before the President gets suspicious," Briggs warns.

With heavy hearts, Colin and I take our leave from Blake. I cling to him longer than I should, but I have to make him promise again that he'll take care of my sons even though I already know he will.

Colin takes me into his arms, and I feel my body tremble as I watch Blake walk down the ramp and climb into one of the empty Humvees. The ramp retracts, and a small shudder goes through the ship as Briggs lifts it up and heads towards Secret Harbor.

Colin's strong arms around me hold me up. I haven't felt this vulnerable since we left California. I was always willing to risk my life for the cause, but now that I have three sons depending on me, I'm no longer sure. My world has changed yet again. I have become another person, again.

Stronger in so many ways, but so much more vulnerable. I don't know what I would do if the Gorongiaths or McFarland—and I have to consider that possibility now as well, got a hold of any or all my babies.

"We need to find a better place for them. We need to hide them." I say decisively into Colin's chest.

"We will. It'll be a priority. I swear." His voice reflects the same worry and fear, but I can also feel the resolution in his body.

Maggie will mother my babies for as long as I have to be gone, I know that. And Blake will be like a father to them, but suddenly my arms ache to hold them, to breathe their sweet scent one more time. This morning, when I left, I didn't know that it would be the last time for I don't know how long. Life is funny that way; you never know what you'll miss until it's gone.

I look around, and I see the twenty marines and my friends standing around us, like a wall or shield. Their eyes aren't holding pity, only determination to make this right. Every single one of them is willing to fight with and for us, and for that, I am grateful.

I just assumed we would be fighting aliens and not the President of the United States, but if it is a fight he wants, he can have it.

So he was afraid the militia is stronger than his military? I smirk. Well, he'll find out just how true that is, and by judging how his henchmen abandoned him, I'm willing to bet there will be others who will do the same.

Commanding an army is one thing; fighting with an army and commanding it is entirely different, and McFarland will soon find out the hard way. Troops are loyal to their commanders, even more so when those commanders are willing to get into the trenches with them, which McFarland isn't.

Colin holds me tight and we join the others on the bridge. From experience, I know the flight won't take long, and soon we'll be at the cave. Once there, we'll make plans for what to do next. As long as Colin is by my side, nothing will stop us.

Chapter 11

As I stare out into the fast-changing landscape, a thought occurs to me. First, I wave it off, but it keeps coming back like a stubborn gnat. With a sigh, I turn to Captain Bellows. "Where were you supposed to take us?"

"Viv." Colin's voice is warning; he knows me too well.

The Captain turns towards me; his face is still awed from the ship's speed; I don't think he has ever been on one before. "My orders were to take you to this spaceship and take you to one of the space stations."

"Briggs." I turn towards her; the woman has some explaining to do.

Her face has a somewhat repentant look about her; she knows exactly what I want from her. "You knew." I accuse.

Colin looks from me to her, and I can see the moment he comes to the same conclusion that I did. When he remembers how Briggs and Blake left the meeting early. Actually, just a minute