AUGUST IS A FEVER

8

Terrified was how you remembered feeling. Absolutely and utterly terrified. You had to get out fast.

The fire wasn't so bad so you were fairly positive that your cabin mates would be alive if they escaped it in time. Right now you had to focus on yourself. The PSF's have caught you in the act. You had no choice but to attempt to run for your escape. For your life.

You turned and grabbed the knob of the door, twisting it as you opened it. You immediately booked it for your freedom, running to the tall concrete walls and the metal gates there. You heard the heavy footsteps of leather boots coming behind you. Looking behind yourself, your heart dropped when you saw them. Two PSFs with rifles on their back were running towards you.

"Stop running, Red!" Yelled one of the PSFs.

You ignored them and began to sprint again as fast as your legs would allow. However it was no use, the PSFs grabbed your arms to restrain you. They tackled you to the ground with no remorse, your face scraping against the sharp pebbles and small rocks on the gravel below. You bit your tongue to suppress a groan of pain. It stung like hell and you could feel the beginnings of blood start to prick from the wounds on the side of your face. The PSFs flipped you to your back. You spat in their face as you looked up at them angrily.

"Fuck you." You sneered. The PSFs simply ignored you, the one you spat at wiping off the saliva, staying silent.

One of the PSFs forced your mouth open, it was your turn to feel the pain of your jaw on the brink of snapping apart from your skull. You screamed in pain as you began to feel a burning sensation in the back of your throat. You could see the glowing of fire in your throat reflected in the PSFs eyes. Before your abilities could do anything, they put a handkerchief in your mouth, tying a knot behind your head. It prevented you from talking.

"You think Gray'll want her?" Asked a PSFs to the other as they lifted you up and off the ground. Little pieces of gravel stuck to your skin and on your lime green uniform. You looked at him confused, furrowing your eyebrows.

Surely they couldn't be talking about President Gray. He surely should've been out of office by now.

"I dunno, let's keep her alive for now. The military might want her." The other PSF replied.

The military? What?

You were panting from all the running as they turned around and began to return you to the camp. There was no way you were going to allow that.

The burning sensation in the back of your throat intensified until it was covering every inch of your mouth. It felt like you were eating spicy food, the pain wasn't all too bad. Nothing you couldn't handle.  The fire in your mouth built until it was burning up the makeshift muzzle until it was merely ash.

You groaned as fire on your arms engulfed the men in flames. They screamed in pain as they fell to the floor. With your arms being free you run towards the metal gates and wrapped your hands around the bars, melting them until was molten lava on the floor mixed with the dirt and gravel below.

You ran into the parking lot full of parked cars. They sat there all one by one and you knew immediately exactly what you had to do to get through the second pair of gates. You saw a vehicle that was in front of the gates that was about to leave and you had a plan.

You ran to the minivan that was just about to exit and went to the window to the driver's seat. There was a doctor, you've seen him around. A bitter old man who worked at the infirmary of Thurmond. You melted the glass and he looked scared for his life.

"Sorry." Was all you could muster from your throat that was scratchy from screaming earlier. It was insincere.  An empty apology for what you were about to do.

"What?" The old man yelped as you set the car on fire along with him inside of it.

You finally let all of the anger out and through your pyrokenitic abilities. You've been told ever since the pandemic started that Reds were extremely aggressive. You never believed it, being in denial. But maybe they were right after all.

You backed away as far as you could from the on-fire car. You brought your hands up and from the distance you stood, wanting to test something that would benefit you greatly.

The doctor in your diagnosis that Red's could manipulate fire as well, not just create it. You curled your hands and focused your mind on the flames, making the fire more agitated and intense. The crackling was loud and the black smoke went into the sky. Suddenly the car exploded. It worked. You cackled as the exit of the camp exploded along with the minivan, leaving room for you to book it.

The sleeves of your uniform were burnt off and torn, black on the edges of the jagged fabric that remained.

You ran out of the camp gates finally free, the cool West Virginia wind blowing in your face and hair, cooling off your hands from your fire. You laughed as you felt the freedom. The weight of your secret finally off of your shoulders after all these years felt amazing to say the least.

You were running in the middle of the road, passing the trees that you saw when you initially arrived at Thurmond when you were only eleven years old.

You turned into the forest, your feet crunching on the brown and orange leaves beneath your boots. You looked all around the forest, up the trunks of the trees as you ran your hands through your hair. The smile on your face was apparent as it hit you that you actually did what you just had. This is all real and you have successfully escaped and you were free.

Free from torture, free from being watched, free from the PSF guards abusing and assaulting you - you were absolutely free. No more stale bread, no more cold canned beans or other undercooked food. The euphoria that ran through your veins felt was heavenly.

You stopped walking when you smelled smoke. It wasn't your smoke, yours smelled different. This one had traces of nicotine you could smell in it's smog. It was fresh too. Looking down, you saw a stomped-on cigarette between your boots. Someone was here and rather recently as well. Maybe minutes ago.

That's when you realized that this wasn't the end of your journey. It was only the beginning. You had survived and escaped Thurmond but could you manage as to not get captured by determined bounty hunters?