Rise: Populations Crumble, Book 2 by Gandy, A. (read book .txt) 📕

all these women pregnant but not married?” I ask the first thing that jumps out at me. “Wait, and you said there are eleven more here, in Mairmont?”

He nods. “Yep, there are. The groups vary in size from tri-state to tri-state, but the one in York has over twenty. The smallest one I found is only three, up in Saskerta. Their population is struggling more than most, though, so it’s not surprising.”

Patrick’s face is angry when he finally speaks. “What in the devil is going on, Glitch? We’re both pretty familiar with the NLC guidelines, and I can’t think of a single law that would allow all these women to be pregnant outside of marriage. And why have them all at secondary locations? There definitely aren’t twelve rooms full of pregnant women in the main guest house, and on my morning runs I’ve only seen six couples’ cabins total.”

“I don’t know, Rick-Raff. I think we’ve stumbled onto something here, and I don’t think it’s good. That’s why I came in person; I think this goes beyond Josephine getting into hot water, and I didn’t think it would be wise to discuss it over the phone.” His voice grows serious, for the first time since I’ve known him.

“Glitch, if all these women aren’t married, is there any record of who the babies’ fathers are, or how long they've been where they are?” I ask.

“I haven't found that information yet because it’s probably stored in a separate database. You know, they rarely store top-secret stuff all together like it’s wrapped in a bow. But I can do some more digging.” He takes the tablet back out of my cold fingers, and immediately starts tapping out notes, like we aren’t even there.

“Take a load off, man. Want some coffee?” Patrick points him towards the couch.

“Yeah, coffee’s great,” he mumbles, already lost in his hacking efforts.

I frown and follow Patrick into the kitchen, where he’s already starting a fresh pot of coffee. “Patrick, I have a really bad feeling about this. There’s no good reason to have all these women hidden away.”

He presses brew on the pot and turns to face me. “I agree, Sadie, but we’re getting closer to figuring this out. All we can do is keep searching and try to figure out where they are.”

“Patrick, there are over twenty-five tri-states. Even if most groups are on the smaller side, that’s a lot of women. Who’s hiding them? Are they being treated well? Are they going to get to go home once their pregnancies progress past the first trimester, like a normal pregnancy in the marriage program?” My mind is running a thousand miles a minute.

“I wish I knew,” he says and pulls me against his chest. I breathe in his comforting scent, and send up a silent prayer for answers, soon. This is all turning out to be much more than picking the right honeymoon destination.

✽✽✽

The next day, after Glitch snuck back out of the resort grounds to do more research in the closest town, we meet Nell and Atlas by the final trail head for the marked hiking trails at our resort. After this, we’re going to start branching out further into the woods towards the coordinate given to us by Atlas’s employee with the drone. So far, no trail has had any unmarked side paths, or anything indicating there’s traffic towards that portion of the woods.

Once we’re far enough into the trail that no one could overhear, we catch them up on what Glitch shared last night, before he spent three hours working on our couch and passed out, still clutching his tablet.

“I’m sorry, but if there’s another branch of the program that is this big, how has word not gotten out? Wouldn’t their families tell, or wouldn’t it be obvious when they go home with a couple of kids but without a husband? Although, I guess they could set them up as divorcées,” Nell muses.

Atlas is quiet, the only sign he’s unhappy with this information is the ticking muscle in his jaw, visible even under his five o’clock shadow.

We all walk in silence for a while, pondering the potential ramifications of this information. Eventually, Atlas stops walking.

“Right there.” He points, but all I see is more trees and underbrush.

“What is it?” Nell asks, wrapping her hands around his bicep and trying to get even with where he’s pointing.

“It’s another trail. It doesn’t connect to this one, but there’s a definite break in the underbrush.”

“That’s not a game path, either,” Patrick agrees. “It looks like it’s a gap barely wide enough for an ATV. Maybe for guard shifts?”

“Let’s go check it out.” Atlas shrugs off his pack and hands it to Nell, and Patrick hands his to me. They wade into the scrub, and I don’t envy them the scratched-up shins they’re going to have after this. Nell and I look at each other nervously, despite the fact that the area is deserted apart from the four of us.

After they make it through the scrub, they find what must be the break in the woods. It doesn’t look too different to me, but I’m no expert. They continue walking out of sight, and we can no longer hear the sounds of their footfalls.

“We should set up our lunch, so at least we’re doing something other than just standing here,” Nell suggests.

“We should have gone with them,” I mutter, but open the pack in my hands and pull out the picnic blanket. I blush at the sight of it, but quickly shake it off.

“So, did you two have fun hiking by yourselves last week?” she asks in a bland tone, and I try not to choke on air. Thankfully she doesn’t notice. “Because frankly, I enjoyed a few days of hanging out at the cabin and doing nothing. Well, mostly nothing,” she amends and gives me a wink.

“I don’t want the details!” I rush to interrupt, which makes her laugh.

“You are such a prude. But don’t worry, I wasn’t