"You never said you were a..."

"A female?" she says. "You never asked." She folds her arms and her smile disappears. Dark curls spiral down, stopping shy of her lab coat collar. As her face goes blank, subtle dimples vanish. "I'm Jude, of course."

"You told us this place didn't have any predators," Eve says, "but the guards haven't stopped aiming their guns up at the mountainside. As if they expect an attack at any moment."

"I never said there were no creatures on this island, only that it was safe." Jude gestures toward the bunker. "Inside our facility."

Two workers lift the generator and carry it toward the entrance.

"You won't need that here, but we'll store it for you. We have plenty of power for the artificial wombs. The six infants will grow to maturity without complications."

As the workers gather the rest of our gear, Jude motions for us to follow. She sends a quiet signal to Martinez with a quick nod and a firm glare, and the guard joins her team, securing our walk to the bunker door. As we draw near the entrance, floodlights switch on, recessed in the concrete wall, brightening our path to safety. Soon, we cross the threshold and enter the bright tunnel. As we walk past the lead SUV, I see it has a trailer attached to it, for the tracer, I suspect.

Further inside, the concrete tunnel reminds me of an underground roadway, like the ones that existed before the global flood. Beyond the lead vehicle, an open-topped jeep awaits us, but it doesn't remind me of anything from the previous world. Whoever manufactured the vehicle designed it with a rigid exterior, shaped like an armored tank on wheels, similar to something the military would use.

Jude asks us to get in, and we do, climbing into the back seat with the twins and Daisy. Jude gets in on the passenger side and waits for Martinez to take the wheel. Soon, we take off down the tunnel with an electric buzz, long before Jude's people bring the tracer in and close the bunker door.

As we journey deeper into the tunnel, Jude glances back at us with her dimpled smile. It's then I notice her green eyes. Like emeralds. Mesmerizing.

"One of my lab techs informed me that the drone's weapon system is damaged," Jude says. "Nice bluff back there."

I shrug. "We had our guns loaded, though."

"I know." She puts a finger to her ear and pauses as if listening to something. "And it seems its comms aren't functioning either. We'll have our techs take him in for repairs."

A few minutes into our drive, the vehicle stops at another door. This one isn't big enough for the SUV to enter. There's a cul-de-sac for us to turn around in. We pull up to the curb, and Jude tells us to follow her. A guard stands at the door, and after pounding out a code on a keypad, he swings the inner door open.

I'm puzzled how Jude came to her position of authority, being so young when everyone else, especially Martinez, appears older and at least more mature than her.

"My techs have taken the wombs and the cryo cases to our lab," Jude says.

I don't know when they did that. Maybe there was another vehicle present that took the six unborn children ahead of us. As the door closes behind us, the corridor's clean whiteness strikes me. We venture past another doorway, permitted passage by another guard, and continue on. The white halls turn into a more utilitarian metallic-gray, the overhead lighting having a more difficult time illuminating the deeper corridor. This one is narrower too. I sense we're in the living and working area of the subterranean complex. I assume the first hallway was white and clean, for appearance's sake. Like a lobby in an office building.

Eve and I can't help but remain quiet as Jude ushers us deeper into the facility. We pass closed doors on each side. In my left arm, Daisy bleats like goats do. Autumn goos in my other, and Ash whimpers in Eve's.

As Martinez leads the way, rifle held low, Jude peers back with her emerald eyes. "Before I take you to your quarters, I want to show you the lab where the artificial wombs are. I want you to know the infants are fine."

Through yet another guarded passage, we enter a much larger chamber. The lights are off, so I can't tell how big it is, or what it contains, but Jude's voice echoes as she talks, giving me an idea of its spaciousness. Off to the side, she types in a code and uses a retinal scanner to gain entrance to a door. As she steps inside, the lights flick on, revealing a large white laboratory and the six unborn children floating in their amniotic sacs within their polycarbonate wombs. The workers had put them on the lab table in the back of the room.

Jude guides us over to them and allows us to inspect the individual units to make sure they're okay. Eve nods at me when she feels comfortable that the unborn children are unharmed.

"The infants will continue to grow until they reach maturity," Jude says. "At which time, we will remove them from the wombs and allow you to care for them, if you wish. Of course, our techs can help with that, since you already have a family of your own."

I look at Eve and scratch my head. "We'll talk about that when the time comes."

"Good. Our techs, some doctors and nurses, will monitor them as they grow to assure their continued health." Jude gestures around the lab toward other tables, computers, microscopes, and other instruments. "You can see, we have a well-equipped facility."

I keep my thoughts to myself because they're so jumbled. Everything we've encountered so far is nothing like what I imagined. For the first time since we've arrived, Eve offers Jude a polite smile as she soothes Ash in her arms. When her eyes meet mine, the upturn to her lips fades and equals my uncertain gaze.

"If you will," Jude opens her palm toward the lab exit, "follow me. I want to show you where you'll be staying."

As we depart the lab and the door locks behind us, I get that unsettling feeling again. I try to tell myself not to worry about the unborn children, that everything is going to be alright, but I can't prevent the butterflies from turning somersaults in my stomach.

I put Daisy on the floor and guide her along with the rope leash. I do this so I can hold Eve's hand as we walk. From the pressure in her palm as she squeezes mine, I sense she's just as uneasy about Jude keeping the wombs behind locked doors. Doors we don't have access to. But at least we have Autumn and Ash. That's the only reason we follow Jude without resistance as this young girl of a woman guides us—despite being told we're being taken to our private quarters—because for all we know, she's taking us into the unknown, a place where an uncertain future awaits us.