Rouge

by Isabella Modra

  “Miss Smart? Miss Smart wake up!” she urged. She had to get out of there before the entire room was filled with flames. Another explosion behind her made her yelp and cover her head, and it was then that she realized she was shaking. She slapped at the flames licking up Miss Smart’s skirt and used all the strength she could to lift the woman up in her arms and hoist her over her shoulder. Lucky Miss Smart is a twig, she couldn’t help thinking as she stopped for a moment and pondered her escape route.

  Hunter felt dizzy. Not only because she was lugging an injured victim in her arms - who wasn’t resistant to fire - but also because the lab was literally about to crumple in on itself. She wouldn’t be surprised if the corridor was now ablaze.

  But as Hunter felt panic rise rapidly inside her, wondering what the hell she’d gotten herself into and if maybe she should risk running straight through the flames or even out the window and land two stories down, something incredible happened.

  A loud hissing sound tore through the crumpling of wood and the melting of metal and Hunter saw with some amount of astonishment that through the smoke and haze of the inferno, someone in the doorway was throwing buckets of water.

  God bless you Jack, she thought with a wave of relief.

  It was motivation enough to give Hunter strength, and as the roof made a terrifying groaning sound that told her it was only minutes before it caved in on top of her, Hunter grit her teeth and ran straight through the isle of the desks. The flames hardly affected her at all, but Miss Smart was burning. She could feel her flesh sizzling like bacon in a pan. She hurried, practically leaping over a fallen chair and ducking under a fraying electrical cord, all the while adjusting Miss Smart who kept slipping off her shoulder. Her eyes found the exit – clouded by smoke, but bright and promising – and she focused on the way out. Keep going Hunter, the fire encouraged her, you’ll make it out.

  Sure enough, in a matter of seconds she had jumped over a heap of burning wood and, just as she passed through the doorway, a bucket of water was thrown in her face.

  “Oh my God,” came Clare’s voice as she threw down the bucket and helped Hunter carry Miss Smart through the double doors into the computer corridor. Together, they lowered her to the cold, shiny floor and rested her gently against the wall. She was unconscious, but breathing. The back of her body that was exposed to the flames as Hunter carried her was smarting nasty burns and her hair was singed almost to her scalp. Hunter slapped at the tiny flames burning through her T-shirt.

  “Urgh, that smells so gross,” said Clare

  “It’s burning skin,” Hunter said through clenched teeth.

  Jack sprinted towards them, carrying two big buckets of water. He passed through the doorway, threw the water on the fire with a sizzling hiss and came running back to them. Almost instantly, there was a monstrous crash and the roof inside Lab 3 came crumbling down. Jack fell to the floor in the smoky hallway as rubble, smoke and dust combined tumbled out of the doorway and left them all in a state of disarray until it cleared and silence fell.

  “Is it… still on fire?” asked Clare and waved at the smoke around them.

  “I don’t know,” said Jack, rolling over and sitting up slowly, peering through the dusty clouds. “It doesn’t sound like it.”

  “These walls must be pretty thick,” Hunter said, standing and gazing at the dusty hallway of the science building. The doors swung in and caught on a large chunk of cement that kept it from closing completely. “The fire should have spread.”

  Jack coughed into the sleeve of his varsity jacket, making Hunter realize she should be coughing too. She turned away and pretended to choke while Clare fussed over the unconscious woman beside her.

  “She’s shaking… does that mean anything?” Tears were already streaming down her cheeks as she stroked Miss Smart’s hair.

  “Did you call 911?” Hunter asked, noting with a stab of rage that Clare was the same cheerleader who had laughed at Eli on the first day back when Benny had knocked him over. Oh how different people become when life and death situations present themselves.

  “Mrs. Carman went for help,” said Jack, bending down beside Hunter and resting his fingers under Miss Smart’s jaw. Satisfied her pulse was still steady, he turned his gaze to hers. “How the hell did you get her out of there Hunter?”

  For the first time since she’d stopped before the smoking door of Lab 3, Hunter’s heart pounded in fear. Miss Smart was alive. She’d saved her. But now it was question time. Jack saw her walk into the lab, and Clare saw her drag Miss Smart out. God only knows how long she’d been in there.

  “I just-”

  The door at the end of the corridor burst open and a heaving Mrs. Carman came jogging towards them. At the sight of Miss Smart unconscious against the wall with her head in Clare’s lap, the librarian shrieked and nearly stumbled on a chunk of the roof that had rolled across the corridor.

  “What – Jenny – someone explain!” she stammered and turned to the three of them, her eyes wide in fear.

  “She’s inhaled too much smoke, and she has nasty burns on her back,” said Jack as sirens sounded outside. “But otherwise she’s alive.”

  “How did she get out?”

  “She…” Hunter looked at Jack pleadingly, knowing she’d have to explain herself to him later, but hoping he wouldn’t tell anyone. Clare was so dazed and exhausted, Hunter wondered if she even registered that Hunter had been inside the lab at all. But Jack knew; she could see the astonishment in his eyes. He’s going to tell her, she fretted. He’s-

  “Hunter found Miss Smart by the door. She’d tried to get out but, er, hadn’t made it. When Hunter got inside she was unconscious, so she dragged her out. Her coat had caught on fire.”

  Hunter stared at Jack in amazement.

  “Are you sure you’re alright, dear?” asked Mrs. Carman, full of fear and looking much more hollow than usual. “Your clothes are all scorched.”

  Glancing down at herself, she cursed silently. Her jeans were black and patches of skin were showing through her T-shirt. There were no burn marks.

  “I guess I just got lucky,” she muttered, coughed again and smiled. Before they could assume anything else, three firemen burst through the door at the end of the corridor, followed by a team of paramedics and Hunter was saved through the mayhem of facing a long conversation she didn’t want to endure. Miss Smart was wheeled away on a stretcher. The three of them were questioned and Hunter explained while an EMT checked her for burns in an ambulance outside that she had heard the scream and by the time she and the others had arrived, the fire had begun to spread. She had carried her teacher out and, not long after, the roof collapsed.

  “You’re a hero, Miss Harrison,” said the paramedic with a sigh, “and a lucky one at that.”

  “You can say that again,” she said with another cough, hoping she was convincing enough. He looked at her with the same bewilderment Jack had earlier, but he believed her story, and that was enough.

  “You can go home if you want Hunter,” he smiled. “We’ll take your teacher to the hospital. I expect she’ll be in recovery for a while. Oh,” he added with a smile, “and you can keep the parka.”

  “Thanks,” she muttered, staring down at the blue oversized coat with the ambulance symbol on the shoulder.

  “No problem. Rest up,” he replied and walked over to the other van to assist Clare.

  Hunter hopped out of the ambulance and took a deep breath of fresh air, staring across the street where the other ambulances and fire engines had parked at the entrance to the science building. It looked as if a spaceship had crashed right into the building where Lab 3 used to be, except there was nothing that remained.

  Exhausted and practically brimming with questions, Hunter went home, looking forward to a good long shower.

  But what awaited her at the apartment when she returned home was a whole new dilemma. Joshua was waiting, yet again, in the kitchen. She prayed silently that he didn’t see the scorches on her clothe
s or have any idea what had happened at school that night, but Joshua wasn’t stupid. In fact, it was more obvious that Hunter was involved in the fire than if she’d voluntarily spoken to the news crews herself.

  Get it over with, she thought, taking off the EMT parka and preparing for Joshua’s blow. The air in the room was as cold as ice, but something about the fire in Lab 3 had given her a warmth she’d never experienced. Maybe it was adrenaline, or maybe it was the knowledge that she’d saved someone’s life. Whatever the reason, Hunter felt energized and renewed, and nothing Joshua could say would bring her down.

  He glared at her, his pale blue eyes like crystals at the bottom of the ocean floor, catching rare rays of sunlight. His jaw clicked back and forth, as if he were trying to hold himself back from shouting at her.

  “So you know about the fire then, huh?” she asked, throwing out her arms expectantly. “Go on, say it. I’m irresponsible, I’ve brought this on myself-”

  “Did you not listen to anything I’ve taught you Hunter?” Joshua’s eyes were rimmed with hurt. “I spent months training you, I forgot about my lectures and put everything aside for you, and you throw it all away, for what? So you can play Supergirl for the night?”

  Hunter scowled. “Don’t be so dramatic Joshua.”

  “Oh so no one saw you save that woman?”

  Hunter hung her head. “Well…”

  “People aren’t stupid Hunter,” he said, coming around the bench to where she stood by the counter. “Yes, it only looked like you pulled her out from the doorway, but they will talk. And then other people will know.”

  “What ‘other’ people?” she snapped. “The Agents?”

  Joshua looked down at his shiny black work shoes and sighed. Hunter expected a torrent of ‘I told you so’s, and ‘you should have listened to me’s and lots of yelling. But Joshua was calmer than a yoga master, and that’s what scared her the most.

  “It doesn’t matter, because you can’t change anything. And now I’m going to have to cover up your mess for you.”

  “Don’t waste your time Joshua,” she sneered, crossing her arms defiantly. “It’s going to happen again sometime soon. I can’t help myself if there is someone in danger and I have the ability to save them.”

  “People die all the time Hunter!” he said, his voice finally rising. “You can’t save everyone! It just isn’t worth the risk!”

  “Isn’t worth the risk?” she shrieked. “Joshua, I saved someone’s life tonight. I don’t care if the whole world knows the truth about me, because I’d rather live in fear than live with the guilt of knowing I let Miss Smart die, that I could have saved her. So I did.”

  “You’re not going to school tomorrow.” Joshua’s voice was still again, but there was a commanding defiance in his expression stronger than anything Hunter had ever seen. “It’s too dangerous. You must stay home until I can clear this up.”

  “The hell I am!” she snapped. “If I stay home, it will only look like I’m hiding something. Besides, I’m not going to cower away while you sweep everything under the rug Joshua. No one knows what I am. And I have to talk to-”

  “Please don’t tell me you’re still seeing that nerdy activist.”

  That did it. Hunter’s hands burst into flames, her fists curled and her eyes lit up like Christmas lights. Usually, anything to do with fire made him leap back in fear. But this time, Joshua wasn’t afraid. He glanced down at her hands as if she’d simply clicked her fingers, and then stared back at her.

  “Say that - again,” Hunter seethed, the flames licking at her arms.

  “It’s too dangerous Hunter,” he said. “You’re not ready-”

  “Stop saying that!” she screamed and the fire burst into big balls of flames. She knew he was right, that kissing Eli had been a mistake because she’d almost set him alight, but she wasn’t going to admit that to Joshua. “I don’t need you to do anything! I hate you! You’re keeping me trapped here like I’m some goddamn time bomb about to explode, and I’m sick of it! I don’t need protecting, and I don’t need you telling me what to do when you’re not even my real father!”

  Her words changed Joshua. His face fell, his eyes lost their harshness and his entire body cringed back, as though she’d slapped him hard across the face.

  “I... you’re just too...”

  “Save it,” she snapped and stalked away from him to her bedroom. A few moments later, a door slammed and there was silence.

  twenty- four

  Within twelve hours, news of the fire at school had spread throughout the entire student population and most of the suburban area of New York, thanks to the local news crew. Rumors that it was student sabotage, that the principal had died and even that the teachers were trying to create a state-of-the-art Frankenstein of their own had circulated throughout the internet and the range of cliques until every possible scenario was exhausted. What wasn’t leaked by the students was said on the news report that night. Clare had volunteered to give an interview for the media, explaining that they heard the scream and ran to their teachers rescue.

  “It was terrible,” she’d mumbled amid false sobs. “Miss Smart was screaming for help and all we could do was call 911 and try to put the fire out.”

  And when it was asked how Miss Smart had managed to break free of the lab before the roof collapsed, Clare burst into tears and refused to speak another word. The reporters cleverly gave a broad description of the accident. It was said that Miss Smart caused the fire by combining the wrong mix of chemicals, setting the lab alight. The flames spread before she could get out, and she had to crawl through the inferno, which gave her terrible third-degree burns. They generalized, saying that ‘a student’ found her by the door, unconscious, and dragged her away from the flames before the building had fallen in on itself and the fire was smothered. Even if the news didn’t mention who was involved, everyone knew by the time school commenced the next day that it was she, Jack and Clare who were there to witness the horrific accident.

  Thanks to Jack, no one knew what really happened. Clare hadn’t reached the library in time to see Hunter walk through the flaming doorway, and Mrs. Carman was too busy calling for help to know anything other than what Jack had told her. It was only Jack who suspected the truth. Hunter avoided him at school the next day, knowing he’d have questions and knowing that was only fair. But she couldn’t keep covering up her mistakes. First it was Miss Smart, and look what happened to her. I can’t keep lying. It only ends up hurting people. And what was her solution?

  To not make friends, ever again.

  At school, everyone was talking. There were those who approached her and asked her if she was okay, expecting her to be fragile like Clare, who was parading around as if every object reminded her of the trauma. But her reply was a simple ‘thank you, I’m fine’. She made a point to avoid the eye of the public, noting that in all the movies the hero would stay out of the limelight. Let Clare have her fame, Hunter thought as she pushed through the crowded hallway, acting as if it were just a normal day at school, as if nothing had changed. One day I might be needed again. One day this city will beg for a real hero.

  She believed it with all her heart. Hunter was happy to stay hidden, because no matter who she called herself or what costume she wore, the public would always judge. So what if she became a hero, a vigilante for the city of New York. She might save lives just like Miss Smart. She might be able to walk through fire and use her power as a weapon against villains that might challenge her, but in the end she would always be put on a pedestal and either celebrated and worshiped or mocked for her mistakes.

  What if Eli learned the truth? What if he saw her as a menace, as a freak? What if, for some reason, Hunter couldn’t save a life? Would they blame her for not living up to heroic standards and for not rescuing the helpless? Would that be a burden she could bear?

  Hunter thought of Joshua’s words the previous night as she walked in a daze down the crowded school corridor. People die all the ti
me. It isn’t worth the risk.

  Was it? Was having her powers revealed to Jack worth saving Miss Smart’s life?

  “Ahh, the vacant stare.” Hunter snapped out of her daydream, realizing she’d stopped in the middle of the hallway, hardly noticing the whispers and stares she’d been getting until Jack came up beside her. “A popular choice in accessories, though I don’t really follow fashion trends the way girls in this school do. I actually started wearing clogs last year, until I found out the hard way they’d already sailed away on the ship of all things un-fashionable.”

  Hunter had been staring at Jack with a little less vacancy in her expression and a little more annoyance, until he looked down and grinned at her.

  My God, I’m shit at avoiding people. “Do you want something Jack?” she asked.

  He looked hurt. “Ouch. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Speaking of bad moods, you should see Clare. She watched the news report and cried for a whole ten minutes because she realized her face was covered in soot. ‘Oh Jack, my acting career is over!’” he wailed in a high pitched voice.

  Hunter stared with raised eyebrows. “Okay... thanks for the update,” she said and pushed past him towards her locker.

  Hordes of students milled around them, gaggling with their books in hand and swapping their phones back and forth. Hunter guessed they were watching the news report like every other soul in the city. Apparently it was big news. Most of the student body prayed the school would be closed, but it was a big campus. Science classes were postponed, and those who needed the computers had to enter via the library. It was chaos, and yet no one knew the truth of what really happened. No one but-

  “How are you doing, you know after what happened?” he asked next to her as she made a bee-line for her locker.

  “Fine. How are you?”

  “I’m great. Nothing like a bit of drama to liven a Tuesday night. At least Miss Smart is okay.”

  Hunter opened her locker, waiting for him to go away. “I’m sure she’ll recover.”