Embers & Ice (Rouge)

by Isabella Modra

  He didn’t seem angry. But then again, she couldn’t see his face.

  “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”

  “I… I guess I was selfish.” It was the honest truth, and it stung worse than the gashes across her gut. “When I saw Jack in Death Cave 1, he was… he wasn’t the sweet and normal boy I left in New York. He was a monster. And I felt responsible because I bought him into this mess. If it weren’t for me he wouldn’t even know he had a power.”

  “You’re wrong. The only person to blame is Joshua.”

  The bite in his tone made her frown. “Are you still upset about Joshua?”

  “I have good reason to be. He left me here sixteen years ago and took you with him. And after leaving this place, he didn’t tell a single person about it. Instead he raised you and went about his life as if nothing had changed while soul after soul died here within these walls, tortured because of something they couldn’t control. It also sounds like he wasn’t the best influence towards you either. He did kill your teacher and your boyfriend and kidnap your friend, right?”

  “He was doing that to protect my secret.”

  The words just fell out of her mouth. She had defended Joshua. Hunter couldn’t believe it, and yet it was true. Joshua only ever wanted her to be safe. He went crazy because he cared about her.

  A deep ache erupted in her chest. She missed him. She missed Joshua more than anything.

  “Hunter…”

  “I’m okay,” she sniffed and wiped her eyes.

  After a moment, Will said, “I wonder where the others are right now.”

  “Free?”

  “Yeah.” She heard him sigh. “Free.”

  They sat in silence again, but it wasn’t so terrifying knowing he was just a few blocks of cement away. Hunter closed her eyes as she lay slumped against the wall. If she fell asleep, it didn’t feel like it, for next second she had jerked awake at the sound of several footsteps in the corridor.

  Her heart leapt into a familiar rhythm, pounding fast and hard. Keys jingled and a cell door opened.

  “Good morning, William.”

  Dr. Wolfe’s voice brought ice back into her soul. She leapt to her feet and pressed her face against the bars, desperate to see what was happening, desperate to see Will.

  And there he was.

  “Let go of me!” he exclaimed to the guards that dragged him from his cell. “I can walk myself, let go!”

  “Will!” Hunter called.

  In a split second, he turned and met her eyes. He was dirty and covered in dried blood stains, but all she saw was his face. She stretched her arm out of her cell and reached towards him. Will shrugged out of the grip of the guards and his hand grabbed hold of hers. It was strong and cool and so familiar that her knees felt suddenly weak. The touch lasted only a moment, until the guards shoved him hard in the shoulder and he stumbled forward, out of sight.

  “No, Will!”

  “It’s okay,” he called back. “Don’t worry about me!”

  She rested her forehead against the iron bars with her hand still slumped out of her cell, her fingers tingling with the ghost of his touch. She listened to his footsteps fade away, horrible thoughts of where they were taking him forcing the guilt further into the pit of her stomach.

  When she looked up, Dr. Wolfe was a foot from her face. Hunter gasped in fright and fell back.

  “Look at yourself Hunter,” he sneered. “So afraid. You’re not even going to insult me?”

  The fire burned in outrage, but the doctor was right. She had nothing left inside her but fear.

  He shook his head. “So easily broken, and I don’t see a fire in your eyes anymore. Your embers are dying out.”

  With that, he was gone and she was alone again. She rocked back and forth, flinching at every sound no matter how small or distant and waiting for Will to return. Waiting, endlessly, waiting.

  First came the anger. She picked up broken rocks from the ground and threw them at the door. She screamed and tore at her hair and kicked the wall until her stomach ached too much for her to move. Then, she crawled up against the wall next to the crack, forcing herself to sleep until he returned.

  And when the silence came, so did the sobs of the woman in another cell and the mumbling of a man who had surely gone crazy and the sounds of someone scratching against the walls. All of it echoed in her mind louder than the pounding of her heart.

  This was hell.

  FIFTY-TWO

  Hunter heard footsteps hours later. She scrambled to her feet and threw herself against the door, praying it was Will. But to her utter shock, the guards were not dragging a mutant with them. They were dragging Dr. Rosenthal.

  She could not believe the state he was in. It looked like someone had run over the doctor with a monster truck. He could hardly put one foot in front of the other.

  The guards threw the doctor in the cell directly opposite hers. She heard him gasp in pain. The Men in White stalked away and she waited a few more seconds before she called to him.

  “Dr. Rosenthal?”

  There came no response.

  “Dr. Rosenthal, are you alright?”

  He grumbled through the silence.

  “What did you say?”

  “Hello… Hunter.”

  His face appeared between the bars – or, what she could see of his face. Most of it was covered in blood and ugly bruises. His right eye would not open.

  “What did they do to you?”

  “Oh,” he sighed, “most of this wasn’t the guards. It was a struggle to set Alfie free and… I didn’t get out in time.”

  “You were here, under this chaos, while a dinosaur stomped around? How are you alive?”

  “Karma, I like to assume,” he smiled. How he managed to be humorous, she could not understand.

  “Where is Alfie now?”

  “I don’t know what they did with him Hunter, but I’d be surprised if he made it what with all the chaos he caused. Then again, Dr. Wolfe likes to keep the unstable ones in case they’re needed, so there’s no way to know.”

  Hunter hoped Dr. Wolfe had mercy on poor Alfie.

  “And what are you doing back here? Did I not risk my life to assure your safety? Did I not explain myself clearly when I said you must escape?”

  Hunter felt her stomach turn over. More guilt crushed down on her harder than a rockslide. Yet another person she had disappointed, another life that was over because of her selfish decisions. She had forgotten Dr. Rosenthal’s sacrifice.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said blankly, no more tears left to cry. “I wanted to leave with the others, but it felt wrong to go without the people trapped down here. Will… volunteered to come with me to rescue them.”

  “Hunter.” Her name fell from his mouth in a sigh. “I told you they could not be helped.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  He looked at her through the bars. She couldn’t tell if he was angry or not; it was too dark. But the heat of his gaze felt as though it had stabbed her in the chest.

  “I’ll be honest, a part of me knew you’d try,” he said. “You’ve changed a lot these past few months Hunter. Your fear does not consume you.”

  “What do you mean? I’ve never been more afraid.”

  “Not of yourself. Of others. Selflessness led you back to these caves to rescue the mutants, and Jack I presume. Qualities of a true hero. And heroes have no time for themselves.”

  If he was trying to make her feel better, he was not succeeding. The only way Hunter would be able to flush away the darkness in her soul was to right the wrongs she’d created. If she didn’t save everyone, she did not succeed.

  “I know it’s not right of me to ask you this,” she said as she rested her forehead against the cool bars. “But is there any escape for us now?”

  His words came out pained as he said, “If I know Winston, we’d be lucky to remain alive for much longer.”

  Nodding, Hunter stepped away from her cell door.

&nb
sp; “But Hunter-”

  She stopped and went back to the window. “Yes?”

  “There is always hope.”

  Smiling a little, Hunter returned to her place by the wall to wait for Will. Someone came back for Dr. Rosenthal what felt like hours later. They dragged him away, and Hunter did not see the doctor again.

  “You awake?”

  Hunter rolled her head to the side and put her cheek against the wall. Her eyes stuck together as she opened them.

  “I’m not sure,” she mumbled. “I could be dreaming.”

  “You’re awake,” said Will.

  “When did you get back?”

  “Just now. You must’ve been pretty deep asleep not to hear me. I insulted one of the guards and he punched me.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Well… he tried to touch my ass.”

  “You’re funny,” she said sleepily. Then she frowned. “Wait, why are you funny?”

  “I’m not allowed to be?”

  “I just don’t see how.”

  After a moment, he said, “cheer up Hunter. I know it sucks right now, but we’ll get through this. We’ll escape soon.”

  “I think we’ve run out of chances to escape. I think we’re here to stay.”

  He didn’t answer. She realized then that she was letting the darkness cloud her confidence. She was only trapped in ICE for a few months when she formed an escape plan. Will had been there his entire life. Telling him that they’d missed their chance at escaping would crush him.

  “Well,” he sighed. “I guess that’s it then. I don’t have much time left do I?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m fading away. Just like every other mutant who died within these walls, I’m getting too old to keep living here.”

  “What are you, eighty-nine?” she scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous Will.”

  He said nothing.

  “Will?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You won’t die.”

  “I know I’m immortal, but that won’t stop it from happening. Dr. Wolfe said-”

  “Who cares what he said. You. Won’t. Die.”

  He paused.

  “How do you know?”

  “Because,” she said as she ran her fingers down the dry wall. “I have faith.”

  Silence fell, but it was a comfortable silence. For the first time, a small amount of warmth filled Hunter from somewhere deep in her core. It was a fire that began as a flame, a fire of assurance and hope.

  “Okay,” said Will eventually. “I believe you. Goodnight Hunter.”

  “Goodnight,” she said.

  FIFTY-THREE

  Jet Slater truly believed he made the right choice. Dr. Wolfe gave him a tempting offer, his power was better than any of the others and he always felt he had the guts to be a bad guy, a villain. There was a darkness flowing in his veins, and Dr. Wolfe noticed it. He called it potential. Jet was proud to be noticed, and ever since he came out of the Orb with the mental girl, his creative juices flowed hard and fast inside his mind. Being bad just felt natural to him. He was born that way, unlike his idiotic princess of a brother. Jet was destined to do great things with his power, to make men, women and children fear his name. And he had Dr. Wolfe to thank for giving him a chance to prove himself.

  But after the others escaped, Jet felt a little less sure of the choices he’d made. The adrenaline died down after the fight, and Jet was left to face the small, dead body of the boy he killed. Sammy was his name. He looked like a little angel asleep on the ground. Only his eyes were open and Jet was sure he’d never forget the look of astonishment and pain there, and the glass eye that gazed into nothing. It felt good to kill, sure, but the feeling afterwards wasn’t so appealing.

  Mikayla stood beside him in Dr. Wolfe’s office days after the escape. She had been quiet for a long time. He knew her well enough to see past her stoic appearance. She, too, was doubting her choice to remain, to join Dr. Wolfe’s side. But she trusted him. She said nothing.

  Jet faced the room that felt much smaller now that it was almost crowded with people. He and Mikayla had their backs to the wall beside the desk where Dr. Wolfe sat with his hands folded on the desktop. Jet felt on edge just looking at the man. He appeared to be holding back a cyclone of rage. Even though not all of them escaped – Hunter and Will were still in his clutches – the doctor was furious that he’d let them go so easily. He seemed to believe his security was enough, and without their powers, there was no hope. Clearly he needed to keep his office better secured.

  But Dr. Wolfe held it together in the company of two official-looking men dressed like generals. Jet guessed they were Chinese, but he couldn’t be sure. They were completely robotic, emotionless men with pursed lips, clean-shaven faces and eyes as hard as stone. They wore medals and badges that flashed in the fluorescent lights. Dr. Wolfe put on his I-have-everything-under-control expression and cleared his throat.

  “Welcome Gentlemen,” he said, all official-like. “Thank you for attending this meeting today. I trust you had a pleasant flight?”

  The men glanced quickly at each other and nodded.

  “Wonderful… well, as you may know we had a little accident just a while ago with-”

  “You let out those mutants, didn’t you?” the taller one snapped. “The ones in your little circus act demonstrations?”

  Jet grit his teeth hard, tempted to throw his fist into the man’s face. Who’s he calling a mutant?

  “Yes,” Dr. Wolfe said thickly, “Only eight escaped. We still have two very powerful subjects here, and two others in secure lock up. Those that ran away were practically harmless and have nothing to do with our operations in Death Cave 1.”

  “I heard you also had some difficulty with a raging dinosaur,” said the other in a much thicker accent. One of his eyebrows shot up, as though he was amused to even speak the words. “And several other test subjects were killed in an explosion?”

  Again, Dr. Wolfe nodded forcefully. “That situation is completely under control now. But as I was saying, Gentlemen, the escapees will be caught and detained again. That, however, is not our main project.”

  “Dr. Wolfe,” the taller one said.

  “Yes, General Cheng?”

  “We aren’t here to babble with you all day long. What we want is a full status report on your weapons project. Do you have a prototype available?”

  Dr. Wolfe’s face paled. Jet had never seen him look so vulnerable.

  “I do, but I’m afraid he’s not ready yet.”

  “And why is that?” Cheng spat.

  “I’ll let the person responsible explain that to you himself,” said Dr. Wolfe and he pressed a button on his desk intercom. “Send him in,” he said to the machine.

  A moment later, two Men in White carried a bloodied, bruised and weary old Dr. Rosenthal into the room. His hands were cuffed in front of him. The Men in White shoved the doctor into the chair before the desk and backed out of the room.

  Jet felt Mikayla tense beside him. She always liked Dr. Rosenthal. He used to tell her that she would one day have one of the strongest powers in the universe if she strengthened it with practice and never abused it. Abusing it could be dangerous, he’d said. Jet thought he was a complete fool, and a compulsive liar on most occasions. Jet wasn’t surprised when he heard the doctor was the one who let that stupid queer out of his dog kennel and provided a clear escape route for the others. He sneered at the man who slumped over in the chair.

  “Hello Albert,” Dr. Wolfe smiled. “I’d like to introduce to you General Cheng and Officer Wu. Gentlemen, this is our very own Dr. Albert Rosenthal, leading biologist and one of my old friends.”

  Dr. Rosenthal didn’t have the strength to look up at the officers, who stared down at him as though he was a fleck of manure on their perfectly scrubbed black army boots.

  “Dr. Rosenthal,” said Dr. Wolfe as he stood up slowly, crossed his arms behind him and walked around his desk to lev
el with the weak doctor. “Would you like to explain to everyone in the room why you unlocked a very dangerous creature from a coma and set him loose in the Death Caves to help the majority of our test subjects escape this facility?”

  Dr. Rosenthal looked up with a great deal of effort and grumbled something under his breath.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that?” said Dr. Wolfe.

  “I said… I didn’t have a choice,” he heaved.

  “You didn’t have a choice? Between what, recklessness or insanity? Do you know what you cost this institution?”

  Dr. Rosenthal sighed deeply and started coughing as though there was something large stuck in his throat. After a moment he pulled his cuffed hands away and a string of blood joined his lips to his palms.

  “You also shot my weapon, Albert.”

  The old man said nothing.

  “You have made my associates very unhappy. They were hoping the weapon would be ready by now. The royal family who are funding our entire institution are impatient people. And though the American government have been scratching their heads trying to find me here, I’m afraid it won’t be long until I am caught, which makes all of us very uncomfortable. So unfortunately, I’m going to have to tell them to come back another day when their weapon isn’t recovering from a hole in his chest. You can imagine how happy they are about that, right Gentlemen?”

  The officers glared at Dr. Wolfe, wondering just like Jet what point Dr. Wolfe was trying to make.

  “Well Albert, whatever you were trying to achieve, it won’t stop my plans for Jack. And it certainly won’t stop me from carrying out my mission.”

  Dr. Rosenthal nodded. “You’re starting a war, aren’t you Winston?”

  “Very good,” Dr. Wolfe grinned. “In a few more months, I’ll have enough weaponry to empower the entire Chinese army. We will declare war on the American Embassy, who think they are so patriotic and mighty. And you, my friend, won’t be able to stop me.”

  Dr. Rosenthal let out a long and painful sigh. “I was afraid of that,” he croaked. “So I’ll warn you now while I have the chance.” The doctor lifted his head and looked Dr. Wolfe directly in the eyes. “When the wicked thrive, so does sin, but the righteous will see their downfall.”