MOTHERS

◙seventeen◙

The road was longer and more frustrating than Lorelai had expected it to be. Though she managed to look past the plastic screen separating them from the front, she still saw little of what was outside, not thanks to the tinted windows.

Jacob kept cursing at the slowness of their vehicle. They'd gotten caught in some afternoon traffic and he slammed his fists on the wheel more than once, muttering about bad drivers and slow idiots.

Must be a native, for him to yell like that.

She'd thought to tap on the screen and talk to Jacob, maybe calm him down, as he grew agitated whenever the van stopped, stuck in the throng of cars all headed into San Francisco. Maybe she could offer a detour—she remembered a few from back in the day—or remind him that they were on the way, that they'd get there soon enough. No need to get all riled up.

But she refrained from disturbing him, sensing he'd spew out some nonsense about having a schedule and not being able to stick to it due to the traffic. He came off as the anxious organizer, the one who freaked out when things didn't go his way, and Lorelai wouldn't get in the middle of that.

The sun was setting by the time they finally traveled over the Golden Gate Bridge. Auryn had a mini panic attack, clarifying between big huffs that she disliked bridges a lot. But she calmed down once they soared into the city. Lights were flickering on, and for once, Lorelai was glad she couldn't read the billboards, littered with the usual bullshit propaganda from Dictator D and the rest of his crew of political morons. San Francisco, though once a city of acceptance and pride, was now a dark world of hate and violence. Lorelai was thankful she'd been permitted to live outside of it.

They navigated down busy streets, a few of which were loaded with the habitual protesters. Thankfully, the van's exterior was nondescript, allowing it to sneak through the event without much attention.

If they only knew where we're going and what we've done.

They turned into a wide alley with a slight slope, decorated on either side with dark green dumpsters overflowing with trash, and a few barred windows on the two big brick buildings between which they rode. The van barely fit on the street, but it wasn't deterred, its robotic mechanisms still steering them down, down, until it took a sharp right into what looked like a secret parking garage. It slid into the first spot it found, then shut off.

The plastic screen rolled up, and Jacob leaned around his seat. "We're here. Let's hurry, we're late enough as it is. And I'm coming back without my co-workers, which means I'm about to get my ass handed to me."

He unlocked the doors, then came around to open the sliding back door for the women. Tegan hopped out first, glimpsing left to right, surveilling the area. She then waved Lorelai out, followed by Esme and Auryn.

The concrete was wet, as if it'd been recently hosed down. Linear lights along the ceiling of the garage streaked with fizzling electricity, leaving flashes in Lorelai's eyes whenever she closed them. This garage—if that was what this was—was neglected, not quite dirty but not clean, either. She expected a homeless person or a rogue protester to emerge abruptly at any moment and shank her.

Jacob, unfazed by the strangeness of the area, guided them a few rows down, passing other parked cars, mostly black vans like the one they'd arrived in.

Is this the lab's employee parking lot or something?

They made it to a covered passage taking them out of the garage and into the belly of the city. It was an elevated walkway, like a bridge traversing over a decrepit street. The passage was open on either side, offering a glimpse of the new downtown San Francisco below them. Flashy and exuberant, the once liberal town was rebuilt after large manifestations post-twenty-twenty-four election. There had been mass gatherings and fights within the city's center, people declaring the election void, calling the dictator a fraud—he was—and demanding justice for his treachery. No one had listened. Lorelai remembered watching documentaries on the citizens of San Francisco, pleading for freedom, then running down the streets in terror as they were pursued by goons hired by politicians to keep the peace.