"It's sealing us in..." I can't hear my own voice.
The avalanche covers the mouth of the cave meters at a time. A spasm of pain distracts me. Blue-white in my gifted vision, my outer garment is torn ragged from the elbow down, and the skin on my forearm is nearly gone, dark and wet with blood.
"How?" Rehana squirms beside me and curses. Her clothing has been reduced to rags, and most of her bare body looks as raw as my arm. She needs a medkit ASAP.
"Don't move. I'll be right back."
Clenching my jaw against the pain and cradling my arm carefully, I stumble to my feet and head deeper inside. The rumble of the falling rocks reverberates all around me, and in the caverns on all sides, the others stir and wake, sitting up in confusion. Their eyes stare after me as I pass them.
"Are you injured, Daiyna?" Mother Lairen stands before me.
I stop abruptly and catch my breath. "Rehana...she needs a medkit."
Our Mother beckons two of the girls nearby from their beds. "Tend to our sister. Where is she, Daiyna?"
"At the mouth of the cave." My heart thuds unevenly.
"Go," Mother Lairen dismisses them and faces me. "You need tending as well, my child. Come with me."
I hesitate. Her calm demeanor is oddly out of place considering what's happening.
"Mother, an avalanche has sealed the cave. We need to move into another section, or we can wait and dig our way out once it's over. Some of us gifted with strength could—"
"There is no need, child. We are in good hands. The Creator is protecting us." She turns away. "Come. Let me heal you."
My arm throbs as I follow her through the main cavern. Her bare feet seem to glide across the smooth rock. She is not dressed in her nightgown like the others but in the loose cotton garments we wove in the bunker. They hang on the sharp edges of her frame.
No one has seen her for more than a week as she's fasted and prayed. I hope she has finally found herself. For her sake, as well as ours.
"Sit down, Daiyna." She gestures to a cushion on the ground as we reach her corner of the cavern. An alcove set apart, it's more private than the communal sleeping quarters the rest of us share. "Please."
I hesitate. Maybe because I've never been alone with our Mother before. Or maybe because I know she doesn't approve of my shaved head. But I also know she's not one to hold grudges, so I cross my legs and sit on the cushion, careful not to bump my arm into anything. She retrieves a small plastic medkit from the storage chest beside her bed and pops it open as she kneels before me. She keeps her languid gaze on my ravaged arm as she tends to it, dabbing at the oozing blood with a sterile pad.
"Do you believe in the Creator, Daiyna?"
That catches me off guard, and I stammer, "Uh-yes. Of course I do."
A smile plays on her thin lips. "What exactly do you believe?" She doesn't look up, but I can tell she's waiting for an answer.
I swallow, knowing what she wants to hear. Should I tell her what I truly believe instead? A Creator who allows her entire creation to destroy itself isn't a deity worthy of anyone's belief, but is instead no better than a sadistic daemon.
"I believe—" I cringe as she gently cleanses my arm with fluid from a hydropack. "The Creator has given us a second chance. It's up to us to do what we can with it." I pause, weighing my words. "But I wish she would do more to help us out."
Mother Lairen stops and holds my gaze. In her eyes is the peace and assurance I crave. "Oh She is, my child. Have no doubt. She is helping us more than you know. She has sent Her Spirit, and it moves among us now, bestowing upon us these miraculous gifts that are our blessing. Can you not see? Because of Her infinite mercy, we are so much more than any mere mortals have ever been before. This is an amazing time in the history of humankind, don't you agree? And we have been chosen to live it."
I wish she would finish healing my arm so I can check on Rehana.
"What about the daemons? How do they fit in with the Creator's infinite mercy?" My tone is not as respectful as it probably should be. "And what about that rockslide and—" My mind flashes back to the sand rushing up from the ground. "This?" I hold out my arm. "How does this...?" I trail off, unable to explain what happened to Rehana and me.
But if it was caused by the Creator, then it would seem we're definitely on her bad side.
Mother Lairen wraps my arm in a cool bandage. "Do not confuse the work of our Creator with the work of evil, my child," she says softly. "In Her infinite wisdom, She is protecting us from the dangers without. Even now as we speak, each of the entrances to our caves is being covered by Her hand. We will be safe from the daemons, secure inside this holy mountain. Our Creator has consecrated it for us. We will not come to harm."
How will we breathe? My lips part, but I say nothing.
"Fear not, Daiyna. We are safe again, as we were in the bunker. But now we have the strength of the Almighty on our side—not the technology of a sinful human government. We have nothing to fear. We have Her word."
Her word? "You mean, you've..."
She ties off the bandage and smiles. "Yes, Daiyna. She has spoken to me. We have Her word: we will not come to harm as long as we remain in this mountain. She will provide for
