Project Frostbite

Chapter 2

"What about the security cameras?" Kris put a hand on my back and steered me out of the room.

"It's taken care of." He muttered. "Keep your head down and don't stop. I'll answer your questions when we're outta here." I did as he instructed, letting him steer me through the maze of the hallways. At the reception, I was pulled to the side as an alarm went off and a bunch of nurses ran past, heading in the direction we'd just come from. "Keep moving." Kris ordered. I obliged, and felt the cool air hit my face as we exited the hospital. When I made to take off my hoodie, Kris pulled the drawstrings tight and I kept quiet, feeling a sense of relief flood my chest when I saw Jaymee's silver Mercedes-Benz sitting in the park between two ambulances.

I slipped into the back and Kris got into the front. Jaymee started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, wasting no time in hitting the gas and heading off home. No one said a word, and we pulled up outside the home I had moved out of two years ago, a two-story house on a backstreet in Manhattan. Jaymee ushered me inside while Kris rounded the car to open the boot.

I followed Jaymee into the kitchen and took a seat at the island counter while my mother busied herself with making a coffee. I didn't feel anything; no feeling of adrenaline, fear, excitement at just having escaped a hospital, nothing. I felt numb inside. Maybe I was in shock. Kris eventually came in, smelling of smoke and burnt leather. He took a seat beside me, and together we watched Jaymee pour the coffee into three cups. I noticed she took her sweet time handing them out and cleaning up. Finally, she leant against the counter and took a shaky sip of her drink.

No one said anything. I was the first to break the silence.

"How long have I been in the hospital?" I asked.

"A few days." Kris answered when Jaymee made it clear she wasn't going to speak. "We only found out yesterday and spent last night planning to get you out. Jaymee has contacts that she called in a few favors from. They had you in custody, but your temperature was out of this world and your body was going crazy, so they relocated you to the hospital."

"What exactly happened that day?" Everything was still a little fuzzy from the amount of morphine the doctors must have injected. Kris didn't answer, instead Jaymee grabbed the remote and turned on the TV that sat in the corner of the kitchen, atop the microwave. She flicked through the channels, until she came across the CNN network. The producer had just finished the weather report, and had introduced the latest news. The scene flicked to a street that looked vaguely familiar, and I recognized Hal's Diner, the place I'd stormed out of before nearly getting hit.

"Thank you Steve." My eyes widened when I heard that voice. Wendy Groves held a microphone to her mouth and began to speak as the camera surveyed the damage that had been inflicted. "New York has flown into a state of panic, while authorities have some belief that this may be related to the bodies that have been recently discovered within the last few months around our city. As you can see behind me, police have cordoned off Bogardus Place while they survey the destroyed block, trying to fix the mayhem caused by eighteen-year-old Tryston Waters just a few days ago. CNN Network has received much footage of the incident, with this seemingly innocent boy sending five cars more than twelve stories high with this blast of power..."

I zoned out as I focused on the small square in the corner that showed a shaky video of me as I yelled at the man who'd bumped into me, before turning and storming onto the road. The car screeched to a halt in front of me and I saw the driver getting out - I hadn't killed him. Suddenly my entire body erupted in orange flames, and the ground right in front of me lifted up, a yawning chasm splitting the road in half and sending cars into the air.

Jaymee turned off the TV when it switched to another body found outside a club, and both of my parents looked at me, but my eyes were glued to the screen in front of me, my mind replaying the monster I had just seen. The only thing was, that monster was me. Eventually, I managed to tear my eyes away, and looked at both of my parents, trying to swallow the frog in my throat. My coffee had long gone cold.