Haywire Ranger

Chapter 40: Changes (Part 2)

Soft steps moved behind a white cotton curtain the next morning. A gentle hand pushed it aside for a moment.

"How's he doing?" Winona asked with worry while she carried Sky's gadget chest into the tent.

"Spiking a fever," Hazel whispered back as she stood up to meet her gaze.

Winona was careful not to drop his PC tower and his mobile phone, which were lying on top of the chest. She heaved and grunted when the bottom of the chest touched the floor.

"I don't like this one bit," Hazel added. "He had this folder hidden inside his jacket. It's about the Lifebringer project. This, and the fact that he had just found a... mad version of Haywire who didn't recognise him... I... I think he's been exposed to some chemicals."

She sighed, dropping the folder on a nearby table. Massaging her temples, she grunted.

"Headache?" Winona asked.

"I've read almost three hundred pages these last few hours while watching over Sky. I need to know what he's been exposed to, but I'm not an expert on chemistry. The only thing I know for sure right now is... it's crazy stuff. There are things explained here which I wish I could unsee, believe me!"

"Do you need me to bring more water? More blankets? More painkillers or-?" Winona asked as if she'd love to do more.

"It's fine, Winona. The water and food you brought earlier are fine. Thanks." Hazel smiled at her friend. "Now, there's nothing more we can do for him but wait."

"I wish we could call a doctor... or his mother."

Hazel chuckled. "Or his aunt."

"Yeah, she would be of great help right now."

"This is a nightmare," Hazel complained with angst. "He's seriously ill due to some mysterious crazy shit he caught from the lab. Haywire, his best friend, has changed and become aggressive, according to him."

"Well, the entire floor was about to crumble due to his lunges against the walls. I wish we could've got him out of there, but..."

"Impossible. Not in that state. If he didn't recognise Sky, he could've murdered us." Hazel sighed as she sat on her chair beside Sky's bed. "On top of that, his aunt is still missing, locked up somewhere. His mother got him locked up in the first place, so he can't count on her. His father died years ago. Both Mrs Evergreen and Endurance have issued search orders and death threats against him."

"Yeah, it's all over the Internet now that it's finally working. He's not just expelled from the academy, now that he's escaped from that holding facility, he's become the Hovering Hive's public enemy, just like Endurance."

"Which is not true. He's not an enemy of the Hovering Hive! But people are way too dumb. They'll believe any crap Mrs Evergreen tells them." Hazel sighed as she fished her phone from a pocket of her jeans and dialled a number. "To make matters worse, Kovak is MIA. No matter how many times I call the bastard, he doesn't pick up!" she exclaimed in anger, staring at the million missed calls she had made so far on the screen.

Grunting in frustration, she threw her phone onto the table, next to the Lifebringer file.

"The situation is desperate. Everything's wrong in his life," Winona concluded in sadness. "How much longer do you think we can keep him hidden in here, in the hydroponics lab?"

"My uncle works here, so I can come and go as I please. So can you, by the way. I told him we were writing an essay about the hydroponics lab for the academy. He bought it. He even got some holiday days to give us time. He just made me promise we wouldn't break stuff."