Embers & Ice (Rouge)

by Isabella Modra

  She spent most of her time in the breakfast hall and common room with the others she’d ‘made friends’ with. That included Zac, who was consistently cracking jokes or speaking sarcastically or asking annoying questions that Hunter always ignored. Chantal often grilled her about fashion in the outside world – something Hunter couldn’t care two hoots about. But she felt bad for the girl, so she made it up. Benji and Ryo were just happy to sit around and listen to the conversation, and Fearne was there from time to time. Hunter had no idea where she went otherwise. As for Jet and Mikayla; they kept to themselves after Hunter’s falling out. She wondered if Dr. Wolfe really scared Jet after he was sentenced to Solitary for provoking her, because there were no more suggestive smiles or winks in her direction.

  The other kids waved at her sometimes, or otherwise left her alone and stopped staring. Once she was no longer ‘the new girl’, they treated her like one of them. It felt nice to be in a place – however horrible it was – in which Hunter truly belonged.

  It was around the four week mark, and she decided to hit the showers before dinner. Grabbing a towel and fresh clothes from her cell – where the Men in White left them each day – she ran to the girl’s bathroom and was relieved to find it empty.

  She took her time, scrubbing herself and rinsing out her hair, pausing every now and then to glance at her withered reflection in the grimy tiles. After a while, she couldn’t handle the cold any longer. She switched off the tap and patted herself down. The bathroom felt eerie and in the back corner, a tube light twitched like a scene from a horror movie. Hunter, however, had seen too many horrors there to be afraid of anything.

  She was just dipping her toes into her jumpsuit when the bathroom door creaked open and shut tightly.

  Hunter was used to other girls seeing her naked in the showers by then, and so she didn’t even bother to shy away when she heard someone enter. But a moment later, there came a sense of heated male testosterone in the air and Hunter looked up to see not a female striding towards her but a guard, fierce determination and a crazy gleam in his roaming blue eyes.

  Jamison.

  Hunter’s heart dropped. She started backing away as he came closer. His shoes splashed in the fresh puddles. He didn’t say a word, but his eyes screamed desperately at her. She knew that look. She’d seen it in the hungry and wanting stares of two men in an alleyway.

  “What are you-”

  Jamison lunged for her. She stumbled backwards and slipped on the wet floor, nothing but her cotton underwear to cushion her fall. Her bones cracked painfully against the tiles. She was just about to usher out a scream when he fell down upon her and pressed his hand over her mouth. It smelled of sweat and metal.

  “Don’t speak,” he growled. His blue eyes were glittering with a desire she’d seen countless times in many of the guards. He pinned her down hard on the cold floor, keeping one hand over her mouth as the other reached down for the zipper on his pants.

  Hunter’s heart was pounding in her chest, desperate to be free. She was lost in a spiral of memories of that snowy night in New York, the night she found out about her past and her powers, the night she was so out of control that she killed a man. Back then it felt like she deserved to die, that her powers were demonic and she was out of control. But they had saved her. And there, beneath the strong and vicious man, she was weaker than she’d ever been.

  What’s worse; she didn’t have her powers to protect her.

  For the first time in forever, Hunter felt truly helpless. She had absolutely no strength to pry him off. Punching bags did nothing when it came to having a two hundred and twenty pound muscled man pressed down upon her. She wriggled furiously, but it did no good. She screamed as loud as she could, but no one came. And even if they were stumbled upon, would anyone care? She knew Dr. Wolfe certainly wouldn’t.

  “Ever since I saw you Fire Girl,” he hissed, his face buried into her chest, “I wanted to get my hands on-”

  Hunter bit down on his palm and he cried out, releasing her mouth from his grasp. Hunter let out a shriek before he threw his hand across her face. The slap was so hard that her jaw rattled and tears blurred her eyes.

  “You little bitch,” he growled. His grip was so tight that it bruised her skin instantly. “Oh you’ll pay for that.”

  Hunter struggled to keep his hands from pinning her down again. Jamison only laughed and forced her down harder.

  And then a miracle occurred. Two large hands wrapped around Jamison’s throat and yanked him backwards with so much force, his neck nearly snapped. Hunter choked on a gasp and pushed herself up in time to see Will standing over the man, his entire body rippling with rage, hunched but still huge and menacing. He thrust his foot into the guard’s chest, causing him to cough harshly and double over on the floor.

  “Will-”

  “Get out,” he growled at her. “Go!”

  Hunter scrambled to her feet and snatched her towel and clothes. Her instincts begged her to do as he asked and run, but another part of her longed to join Will standing over the guard and kick his teeth down his throat. Will turned to her, his doe eyes urgent, pleading her to leave or they’d both be in trouble. The grit and torture had vanished from his expression and his brow was creased with worry. “Hunter, leave!”

  She couldn’t.

  And as Will turned his back, Jamison clenched his teeth and crawled to his feet.

  “Look out!” Hunter screamed, but Will was too slow.

  Jamison rammed into Will and knocked him to the ground. Will’s head smacked against the tiles and he blinked and gasped for air. The guard sat on top of him with his knees pressing into Will’s stomach. Pinning Will’s free arm, he raised his fist and threw it across his jaw. Once, then again, then again. Blood spurted out of his nose and a gash opened on his cheek. Will wasn’t strong enough to fight back – the punches alone would have knocked him out. Instead, he turned his head and vomited blood.

  When her body finally decided to act, Hunter dropped her belongings and ran to Jamison. She couldn’t do much else but throw herself on him, wrapping her arms around his neck as Will had done, only this time she squeezed. He actually laughed, tossing her against the wall like a rag doll. Hunter’s head hit the tiles and the world started to tip.

  Get up, she ordered herself. Tears falling from her eyes, Hunter forced herself shakily to her knees, but she was so frail that she couldn’t make it any further. Words could not describe the frustration she felt at the fact that her withered body could not fight her own battles, that she couldn’t so much as damage Jamison. She had lived so long in ICE that even her hair had begun to lose its color.

  Get up! the fire shrieked inside her, blazing and swirling, desperate to fight, to be released, to burn. GET UP!

  I can’t.

  Her vision blurred and she swallowed to try and stay conscious, but her eyes were closing. The last thing she saw was the guard beating down upon Will, smashing his bones into broken pieces, a pool of blood dribbling through the cracks in the tiles to the drain next to her hand. The door of the bathroom was blown open and voices were yelling, but that was all she remembered before she fell under.

  The noise was gone. The cold, wet bathroom floor was gone. The flicking fluorescent light was gone, replaced instead by a blinding white light everywhere around her. She was definitely lying on a hard surface. It was a moment before Hunter could actually move, much less turn over, stand up and see where Dr. Wolfe had put her.

  Hunter could hear nothing but silence. Her eyes were burning from the glare. Honestly, she didn’t think that the institution could get any brighter than it was, but apparently she was wrong. The space around her went on forever.

  She wobbled to her feet. Someone had dressed her in a jumpsuit. The throbbing ache of a bump on her head reminded her of being thrown against the wall. What happened to Will? Is he alright? Did they bring him here too?

  Those questions would be answered as soon as she knew where she was. Solitary? But she wasn
’t wearing a strait jacket. Before Hunter could even consider the second option, she noticed a figure standing in the distance, maybe ten meters away. Despite her thumping headache, dizzy vision and wobbly legs, Hunter started running towards the figure. He was familiar, his back to her. Six foot something. Strong shoulders. Long, brown hair. Blood-stained white jumpsuit.

  Somewhere between them, Hunter ran straight into a solid surface and went tumbling backwards on the white concrete floor. Her head thumped and she brought a hand up to touch her skull when she noticed something that flattened her stomach like a pancake.

  Her bracelet was no longer blue and tight against her skin. It hung like a regular band of silver slipping up and down her arm. For a moment Hunter almost smiled, the fire dancing excitedly beneath the surface, but then it dawned on her. About that same time, the figure turned and Will met her gaze behind the giant glass wall that separated them, disappearing high above their heads. His expression voiced her own fears. His eyes were sad and almost whispered to her words of regret. He looked around them at the sphere-shaped stadium.

  Hunter found that if she stared long enough at the impending wall, she could just make out around the edges of the glass little faces peering in at them. Kids, scientists, Men in White. Everyone had come to see the show.

  A single spark of fire burst from her fingers like a firecracker and suddenly, she knew exactly where she was.

  The Orb.

  And Will, her knight in a white jumpsuit, was sentenced there to fight her.

  PART 3

  THE NOIR HERO

  SEVENTEEN

  A wise man once said–” came the monotone voice of Dr. Wolfe over an intercom system and both she and Will whipped around and searched for the source, “–that when the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong. Hunter Harrison. William Evans. You have both broken a very important rule we follow here at ICE Institution; respect all authoritative figures. Your punishment… is to fight. I will decide when it is over. And please–” He chuckled low and it sent shivers down Hunter’s spine. “–Fight fair.”

  The glass wall rose very slowly, severing the boundary between them. Hunter straightened up and stared around at the glass, the figures so far off and so foggy that she couldn’t make out any faces at all. Her heart rate accelerated and she clenched her fists tight as she turned and faced her opponent.

  They stared at each other for a long time. She could feel the anger radiating from Will’s taut body. He squinted soulfully at her, his doe eyes shadowed by brown hair messy around his face and neck. She couldn’t look at him without remembering what he’d done for her in the bathroom. Why would he risk it knowing this was their punishment?

  Hunter remained still, waiting. She knew that Will couldn’t beat her with his own power, but even the thought of burning him made her stomach curl. Not even if Dr. Wolfe commanded it, she would not attack with fire.

  “Might I remind you,” the doctor’s voice resonated, “that this is the only time you will have to use your powers, Miss Harrison. I suggest you have at it.”

  Hunter looked down at her fists and let the flames creep through her skin. The sensation was… heavenly. The tingling warmth felt like rubbing her skin with soft soap after being dirty for a very long time. It was soothing and velvety and the flames danced around her fingers and up her wrists and arms. For a moment, she smiled at the bliss.

  And then the fire started to get really angry.

  For all the times Dr. Wolfe had prodded her with needles or sucked out her blood or shot her with X-rays, Hunter drew the fire out of the cage it had been trapped in for weeks and unleashed it. Like fire from the mouth of a dragon, flames burst from Hunter’s hands. They were so strong that they kept going, twisting in the air like giant snakes, surprising even Hunter herself with their magnitude. The flames were beautiful, woven and intertwined with each other like dancing eels, bright and angry. The snakes twisted high into the air, brushing the glass ceiling that didn’t burn or break. She launched them again and again at the glass, but it could not be penetrated.

  “Please, Miss Harrison,” said Dr. Wolfe over the raucous noise, “not on the impermeable glass. You are both in the wrong, and this is how we treat misbehavior. I’m afraid you must suffer the consequences, and if you do not comply, I will make things interesting.”

  As he spoke, a strange grinding sound erupted in the Orb. Hunter felt her heart pound against her chest and she stepped subconsciously closer to Will. Holes started appearing in the walls, spaced at intervals, all around the exterior. Hunter knew it would be something horrible, and she had no time to prepare before there was a sound like water from a hose. Then, fire appeared.

  It shot straight at them, a ball of flames with so much power that it looked like a planet, like the sun. Hunter spread herself in front of Will just in time for the fire to hit her in the chest. She stumbled backwards against him.

  “Are you o-”

  Will did not get to finish his sentence before another fireball blasted from the rockets in the walls, this time from behind them. Hunter deflected it, but only just. And then another appeared, and she was too slow to protect Will. The fireball slammed into his back and he collapsed on the floor.

  Hunter dropped to his side and sucked the fire into her arms, feeling another fireball shoot over her head. The contents of her stomach crawled up into her throat at the sight of the burns appearing on his skin. His flesh bubbled and blistered and his jumpsuit was scorched. Only his brown eyes remained rich and unscathed. They gazed up at her in agony.

  “Let it burn me,” Will rasped. “Again.”

  “What? No!”

  “Do it.” With immense effort, he managed to raise his quivering hand and clasp hers. As she watched, she saw that his skin was already reattaching itself, closing over the burns on his back. “I’ll heal, just let me up… so they can see it.”

  A fireball blasted into her, but it was nothing but a breath of air. Another hit Will’s legs and he screamed. Hunter diminished the fire quicker that time.

  “No,” she said firmly. “I will not be that sick bastard’s entertainment.”

  Will looked defeated. “You’ll just make things worse. Please, get it over with.”

  “I… I can’t!”

  “Just do it, Hunter, or I swear I’ll-”

  “I hate to do this,” said Dr. Wolfe over the speaker system, and both of them froze. “But I can see the repetitive nature of this battle and I’m finding it rather dull. Let’s try something different.”

  Hunter prepared herself for a lion to be unleashed into the pit or something horrible like that, but instead large funnels sprouted from the roof, and then it began to rain.

  She dragged Will to his feet and they stared around, wondering if this was some kind of trick. Hunter supposed Dr. Wolfe was only doing this to see whether her fire would still burn even if she was soaked through to her skin. She lit her palms and angry, white-hot flames burned through the rain, sparking like fire crackers. That was how powerful her rage had become. She imagined Dr. Wolfe was impressed, and the scientists who were watching would be scribbling furiously on their notepads. As much as she hated that this was all just a presentation to them, she almost liked the challenge.

  And then Will cried out through the rain.

  She spun and stared. He stood there in his tattered, wet jumpsuit. The drops of rain on his skin were starting to burn through. Hunter lifted her palm up and watched as the water trickled over her skin. It didn’t harm her, but Will’s flesh was sizzling. As if the rain wasn’t water, but-

  “Acid rain,” said Dr. Wolfe, a smile in his tone. “Of course, it isn’t powerful enough to burn you, Miss Harrison, but poor William doesn’t have the wonderful immunity your skin possesses. Though he will heal in time… he still feels the pain.”

  Will collapsed again, writhing, the rain burning gashes in his skin right through to the bone. He curled up in a ball and the
acid poured over his back. A moment more and his screams almost drowned the sound of Dr. Wolfe’s voice.

  “Stop!” Hunter shrieked. She fell beside Will again.

  “I told you how to play the game, Miss Harrison, but you had to be stubborn. Someone must suffer the consequences.”

  He can’t do this to people, she panicked, covering Will’s body but only managing to shield his upper half. He was so tall. The flesh on his legs was almost on fire. He was fading away. This isn’t fair, Will was only trying to save me from Jamison! Why are we being punished for defending ourselves? Why is he being punished at all?

  So great was her rage and so strong was the fire inside her, that in a moment of clarity, Hunter had an idea. With her body shielding Will’s upper half, she lifted her hands and formed a wall of fire around them, dome-shaped and strong. An orb within an orb. The acid rain hit the dome and dissipated into gas around them. It didn’t burn through, and Hunter grinned in relief.

  “Ha! Who’s laughing now, Dr. Wolfe?” she shouted.

  Will stirred beneath her, his skin fusing back together. It was incredible. She understood now why the doctors were so fascinated by Will’s biology. His skin was slowly reforming and within the space of a few minutes – though it felt like an hour – he was right again.

  “It’s not going to end,” he said through gritted teeth. He looked more exhausted than he had the day the guards carried him into the breakfast hall. “He’ll keep going until he’s satisfied. Until we’ve both learnt our lesson.”

  Hunter held her dome, sweat pouring down her brow from the effort. Gazing into his eyes helped distract her. She couldn’t read his thoughts at all. The defeat, however, was gaunt and sullen in his pleading gaze.

  “So we just give up then?” She shook her head firmly. “No. He’s seen what you can do, he’s seen what I can do, that should be enough for him.”