Embers & Ice (Rouge) (6 page)

TEN

You
know you don’t have to sit alone anymore,” said Zac as he slid in beside her at
the table in the breakfast hall, his tray stacked with the same steaming gray
goo they ate for breakfast. “We’re friends now.”

Hunter
rolled her eyes at him. “Really, I wasn’t aware.”

“You’re
funny,” said Zac, shoving a spoonful of lunch into his mouth. “So what
punishment did they give you for your little spat this morning?”

“I
saw Dr. Wolfe.”

Zac’s
eyes went wide. “Ooo. Creepy guy, isn’t he?”

“That’s
an understatement.”

Chantal
sat down beside Zac, her blond hair pulled up high in a twisted knot. She
looked exhausted.

“What
happened to you?” asked Zac.

“Show
and tell,” she grumbled.

“What’d
they make you do?”

“Convince
a trained hypnotist to take off his clothes and dance the Macarena with a sheet
of glass between us.”

Hunter’s
mouth dropped open. “That’s your power?”

“Yeah,”
she said.

“How
did you know you could do… that?” She scooped food onto her fork with no
intention of eating it. Her stomach growled against her will.

“I
told my ex-boyfriend to go jump off the Eiffel tower. And…”

Hunter
felt suddenly queasy. “He did?”

Her
jaw ticked. “The Agents caught me soon after I started stealing cars and
clothes and going off the rails, but I really wish it was the police instead.”

“The
Agents would get you even if you were in prison, Chantal,” said Zac. “That’s
how Marcus got here. He was arrested for stealing computers he wanted to use
for a gaming competition, because he’s a Technopath and he’s pretty much a
legend in the geek world, or so I’m told. The Agents came to him in prison and
offered him a ticket out of his sentence.”

“Yeah,
and he practically signed the consent form,” said Chantal.

“I
know,” Zac chuckled. “What an idiot.”

Zac
then proceeded to showed her the bruise that was forming from when one of the
guards caught him mucking around and slugged him in the ribcage.

Hunter
stared at the other poor kids surrounding her and wondered how long it would
take before she looked like them – colorless and sick and drained. Years in
this place would be enough to drive anyone mad, and Hunter had only been there
a day.
They have so much potential and they’re stuck here, in the best years
of their lives
.

Suddenly
something occurred to her. “Hey, guys, why are there no adults here with
powers?”

The
grin on Zac and Chantal’s faces disappeared instantly. Neither of them looked
like they wanted to answer.

“They
uh… it all depends on the situation.” Zac stared at his plate as he spoke and
his oily curls covered her view of his eyes. “Some of them survive for a while,
but others…”

“Just
tell her Zac. She’s gonna find out sooner or later.”

“Fine.”
There was no humor in his gaze anymore. “There’s no adults because no one gets
to live past their twenties. Their bodies start to die.”

“But…
how?”

“How
do you think? All of the testing, the constant chemicals jammed into our skin,
the filth in some parts of this place… it’s not good for kids in such a weak
state. There’s no sunlight or good food, there’s just… sickness and gloom and
death. We don’t have any fun here Hunter. Even if you’re the happiest, most
optimistic person in the world, the cold eventually sinks into your soul.”

“Speaking
of,” said Chantal. “Did you hear about Ted and Elena?”

“Of
course I did,” he muttered, averting his gaze. “Ryo said the scientists took
them deep into Death Cave, and they never came back out.”

“Let
me guess,” said Hunter, “they were old and deteriorated too?”

Zac
shrugged. “Elena was completely fine, physically. But about three months ago,
she stopped speaking. Nothing could make her move from her cell – the guards
had to drag her everywhere she went. Eventually, Dr. Wolfe gave up on her. Ted…
he couldn’t handle seeing Elena so lifeless. They were brother and sister; they
grew up in this place. He went crazy. He managed to kill one of the guards with
a plastic fork. It was seriously messy.”

Hunter’s
stomach turned over inside her.

“The
other day, they were taken down for testing and… I guess they went wherever all
the others go when they get too old or too loopy to be of any use to the
scientists.”

If
Hunter thought her day couldn’t get any worse – especially after that speech –
she was wrong. At that moment, Jet and Mikayla entered the breakfast hall for
lunch. Mikayla whispered to Jet and the both of them stared at Hunter with
glimmers in their eyes. As they passed, Jet ran his tongue over his upper lip,
reminding her of the reason she slogged him that morning. The fire roared to
life inside her and she clenched the cold bench beneath her to keep from
attacking..

“God,
he makes me want to stick this fork in my eye,” said Chantal as she shot them a
loathsome glare. “Sometimes I wonder how he can be so sadistic in a place like
this.”

“Better
than being a nutcase,” Zac replied, his eyes watching Fearne as she sat at a
table with two younger girls. They were staring at her and giggling behind
their hands, but Fearne didn’t seem to notice and continued to yap away.

Feeling
not too hungry herself, Hunter flipped her legs over the bench and stood.

“Where
are you going?” asked Zac.

“Anywhere.
I can’t take much more of this cruelty.”

“But
you-”

“See
you later,” she snapped and stormed towards the door.

No
one had yet told her she couldn’t roam around the hallways without consent, so
she was almost nervous when she passed two Men in White standing stock still
beside the doorway. A small girl with thick auburn curls bumped into her as she
left and Hunter turned to say sorry, but the girl was already hurrying away
from her.

The
corridor was empty, and Hunter knew that if she went left and up the stairs,
she would come to the cell level where she and the others slept and showered
.
She had no idea where the elevator would lead her, so the only other option
was the door opposite the breakfast hall, which stood slightly ajar.

Hunter
entered cautiously and found herself in a small room with a low roof. Around
the interior were random objects; sofas, chairs and tables. It was something of
a common room, and the light was dimmer, giving it a comforting aura. Hunter
instantly felt more at home there than in her cell.

The
immediate bank of couches on her left were occupied by several children playing
on an old chess board. Down the way, at a round table made of light wood, Benji
was hunched over a tattered book, his face engrossed. He didn’t seem to notice
her enter. The Men in White stationed in the room were watching closely, but
didn’t make a move to urge her out.

After
a long look around the room, she decided she’d rather sit with someone than be
alone and pulled out a chair at Benji’s table.

“What
are you reading?” she asked.

Benji’s
eyes glanced up and his face immediately paled.
Jeez, am I that scary?

“Oh,
it’s u-uh…” he stuttered. “It’s c-called–”

“It’s
Peter Pan
by J. M. Barrie,” said a voice from a deep maroon armchair
beside their table and Hunter almost jumped in fright when a young Asian girl
with a black concave bob and bright eyes popped up over the back of the chair
and nodded to the book. “I’ve read it eight times, when this kid here hasn’t
got his nose buried in it.”

Hunter
stared at the girl with her mouth agape, feeling just as speechless as Benji
whose jaw was clenched in frustration.

“I
can t-talk for myself, R-Ryo,” he said stubbornly.

The
girl’s grin turned to the side. “I’m sorry Benji, I guess I’m just impatient.”

“How
old are you?” Hunter blurted out.
Seriously, the girl looks ten but she
talks like she’s sixteen. Her English is immaculate.

“I’m
twelve, same as him.” She shook her head in Benji’s direction. “How old are
you
?”

“Uh,
eighteen.”

“And
what do you do?”

Hunter
cast a glance at Benji and caught him staring before burying his head back in
the tattered book.

“You
first,” she replied.

Ryo
nodded, a glimmer in her eyes. “I can manipulate the space-time continuum.”

“How’d
they catch you then?” she asked.

“Uh
uh,” Ryo tutted. Their entire conversation was like a game to the girl. “My
turn. What’s your power?”

Hunter
told her about the fire. Benji put his book down slowly with his lips parted in
awe.

“It
must be frustrating to have a raging fire burning inside of you and not have
the ability to set it free,” said Ryo almost sadly.

“What’s
your story Benji?” Hunter asked, craving a change of subject.

“I’m
f-from Sy-Sydney, in Australia.” He dog-eared the already creased page in
Peter
Pan
as Ryo climbed over the back of the armchair and took a seat at their
table. “I used to live with my f-family outside the city in a place called
Liverpool. M-my family was big and my parents worked two jobs to k-keep us fed.
They didn’t care that I was being b-b-bullied in school. One time I was walking
h-home and… this group of year six kids started chasing me. I was running and…
I don’t know h-how it happened but suddenly things were flying past me and then
I was… home. My legs ached, b-but I’d just made five k-kilometers in fifty
seconds. I outran the bullies.” Benji was smiling at the memory, until he
dropped his head and all joy was lost in his tone. “That’s actually when my
parents started noticing me. ‘Wh-why don’t you have any bruises on you Benji?
Wh-why are you home so early Benji?’ So I t-told them. They didn’t know what to
do. My d-dad started telling people at the office, and pretty soon the Agents
arrived. My p-parents sent me here on a contract basis of one y-year, meaning
they could v-visit me when they needed to. I was six.”

“Did
they come back?” asked Hunter.

Benji
fiddled with the corner of his unbuttoned sleeve. Hunter had to lean forward to
hear what he was saying. “Once I was g-gone, my parents found it easier to
live. They didn’t have to pay for my education or f…food or other things. They
saw it as a b-blessing. So no-” He looked directly into her eyes and whispered
in an empty tone, “They haven’t visited me since.”

“I’m
sorry,” said Hunter almost automatically, her heart breaking for him. Benji’s
soft blue eyes were wide like a small child needing hope. “Your parents will
realize what a big mistake they’ve made leaving you here, if they haven’t
already.”

Benji
started to smile, but then his shoulders slumped. “I wish I knew somehow.”

Hunter
wanted to be honest with the boy, to tell him that she wasn’t psychic or that
his parents might not even miss him at all. They were all abandoned, just like
her. But Benji was young, and that meant he still had innocence and joy hidden
somewhere in his heart.

And
for the first time since the rain in the warehouse fell upon her and washed
away the angry fire, Hunter heard her mother’s words fresh in her mind, almost
as if she had finally stepped away from darkness and into the warmth of the
sun.

“Just
have a little faith,” she said to Benji gently. He clutched his book tighter,
his eyes brightening even more so. “For when there is nothing else, there is
always faith to cling onto.”

Benji
glanced down at the book in his hands. “Faith… like Peter?”

She
nodded. “Exactly.”

As
both Ryo and Benji smiled, and the cold, empty room around them glowed just a
little brighter, Hunter felt the comfort of her mother’s words. It made the
terror of the institution that much more bearable.

ELEVEN

I’m
dead.

Holy
shit, I’m dead. No matter how many times I repeat that in my mind, it still
doesn’t seem real.

This
is what death feels like: stiff limbs, stinging skin, rasping breath and
interminable cold. The world is black, so I’m either passing through to the
‘Great Beyond’, or I’m waiting to be cast into hell.

So
what will it be, Eli? Eternal darkness or burning?

Darkness,
definitely. Burning would be horribly painful. But then… would the loneliness
be more tormenting?

Eli
lay there, battling with his conscience about which choice to make, when a
blinding pain slashed through his body from the tip of his head down the length
of his spine. He would surely cry out in agony, but his throat was so dry that
only a gasp escaped.

Wait
a minute. Did I just gasp? Am I breathing? Is this still death?

Eli
listened, his body throbbing with pain as though he were bleeding through his
skin, and prayed for release. He much preferred lying in cold blackness than
this new writhing. Perhaps he didn’t get a choice, and he was already in hell.
Stars of red danced in the blackness, making his head throb. After a few more
moments, the pain started to dissipate and Eli almost smiled.
Well, that
wasn’t so bad. Actually, that wasn’t terrible at all. Hell is quite nice and
warm if you-

Eli
stopped thinking at once when he noticed something strange through the
darkness. A light was blinking just out of reach, very soft and in the shape of
a… wait, a human? There was a man, but Eli couldn’t make out a proper form or
even a face. And it flickered, like a candle about to burn out.

Eli
lifted a shaking hand and reached out to the man when a shocking jolt exploded
in his chest. Suddenly Eli was gasping for breath as if he’d just surfaced from
the bottom of the ocean. White light blazed around him and he blinked – yes,
blinked – against the rays that threatened to blind him. His chest ached, his
body stung like sunburn and his throat begged for water. But despite the agony,
he was alive. And being alive was better than ten years of torture in whatever
hellish place he’d been lying in.

For
a moment, nothing but the sound of his thumping heart could be heard. Eli
heaved in air and waited for his hearing and sight to return. Shapes danced
around him like alien blobs from his comic books. He heard a woman’s voice,
then a man’s voice, and it was all he could do not to squeal in delight.

Finally
the pain subsided and a tube-like object was placed in his mouth. Blissful
water dribbled down his throat and he coughed and spluttered in his haste to
consume it.
Get me to a lake, I’ll drink it all,
he thought
.
The
tube was taken from him and an eerie voice said, “More later.”

Eli’s
vision came back slowly and the blurred shapes fused together into actual
objects. The first thing he noticed was that the blinding white light came from
everywhere he looked. He was in a small room made of some kind of shiny steel,
with fluorescent tubes lining the walls and ceilings. Strange technology
surrounded him; machines he’d never seen before with complicated dials and
wires and blinking lights. He lay on a frozen steel table encased in some kind
of clear sheet attached to more tubes. Eli forced himself into a sitting
position and bravely looked down at his body.

Oh
thank God,
he breathed in relief.
I still have legs. I
thought they’d been ripped off.

He
wore a thin white hospital gown, and the rest of his body was flawlessly pale.
Usually this would alarm Eli – who was used to the olive tone of his skin – but
he was too thankful that his body was all in one piece to care.

“Eli?”

The
soft voice of a woman startled him and Eli’s head whipped to the left where two
people stood guardedly watching. The woman was younger than the man, with brown
wavy hair and eyes wide and concerned. She bit the corner of her lip nervously
and moved an inch closer to the man. He didn’t seem to notice.

The
person beside her was tall and quite thin, wearing a creased, buttoned-down
shirt. He had hair as black as a raven, slicked back like a Hollywood actor.
His eyes were so pale, they were almost frightening. He had sharp bone
structure and a cautious expression.

They
were both watching him as though they expected him to explode, but Eli wasn’t
even sure he had a voice at all.

The
woman tried again. “How do you feel Eli?”

He
said nothing, his mind completely jumbled.
Am I in a hospital?

“How
did
you
feel?” the man asked the woman and she shot him a harsh glance.

“I
felt like I’d been thrown into an icebox and chartered off to Japan, no thanks
to you.” She rolled her eyes and stepped around the empty table, cautiously
approaching Eli. He was too frozen in shock to move. “Eli, I know you must have
so many questions for us. Let me first assure you that your vitals are
completely in check and your tissues have healed miraculously well.”

What?
What the hell is this?

“We
just need to know if you
feel
like yourself. Can you tell me that?”

Her
eyes were so warm that Eli felt almost compelled to answer her. He shot a
nervous glance at the man standing against the wall, his pale skeleton fingers
touching the cuffs of his shirt, his eyes narrowed and waiting. So he tried to
remember where he was before he woke up. Maybe it would explain who these
people were.

Suddenly,
he was drawn back into a memory. He wore a tuxedo his father had ordered for
him. Sounds of clinking glass and loud chatter blared around him. The world was
tinted golden and glimmering with faces. Somewhere in the distance, a violin
was playing. He recognized the piece and longed for the instrument he’d played
almost all his life. He attended the benefit for his father’s sake, but he
didn’t want to be there. He’d rather be anywhere else, in fact.

Through
the haze of glamorous people, he saw her: The girl with the red hair. She
passed him, her arm looped through another man’s. Eli stared closer at the man
with the pale eyes and realized it was him; he was the one she came with. The
girl locked eyes with him and his whole body tingled. Her eyes were golden like
a glowing flame. Then, she was swallowed by the crowd.

Eli
breathed in slowly, stared at the man and woman, and suddenly felt a terrible
fear rake through him. What had happened at the benefit?

“Eli,”
the woman pressed. She hesitated, her frown deepening, before she asked another
question. “Do you know who I am Eli?”

He
shook his head. “No. I don’t know either of you.” The man and woman exchanged
worried glances, causing Eli’s heart to thump. “Wait, should I? Who are you?”

“He
doesn’t remember us,” said the woman. Her voice wavered. “Did something happen
to his memory during the revival? What did you
do
, Joshua?!”

The
man called Joshua moved not an inch, his pale eyes wide as he gazed down at
Eli. A chill spread through the room. He opened his mouth and closed it again.
An eternity seemed to pass before he spoke.

“Tell
me, Eli, what is the last thing you remember? Can you recall Prom?”

“Prom?”
he hissed, and started coughing. “That’s – months – away. It’s still January,
right?”

Joshua
pursed his lips. “Answer my first question.”

Eli
thought back for a moment. “I… I went to my father’s benefit for Colombia
University. It’s like… a week before school goes back.”

The
woman put a hand to her mouth, her eyes glistening with shock. “Oh God…”

“What?
Where am I? What day is it?
What did you do to me?”

Joshua
pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long sigh. “If he doesn’t remember
who we are, Jenny,” he whispered, “and his last memory is the benefit… you know
what that means, right?”

The
woman nodded. She looked about to burst into tears.

“He
doesn’t remember Hunter,” she said.