Embers & Ice

Chapter Twenty-One

“Did you say someone escaped?”

“Chevie Pulicover – great name, huh?”

Hunter glared in a way that said ‘Zac. Get on with it’.

“Okay anyway, he was pretty much the coolest person you’ll ever meet – one of those real indie types. Everyone loved him.”

“What was his power?”

“Uh…”

“I’m pretty sure he could fly,” said Chantal.

Zac clicked his fingers. “That’s it! He could fly. So yeah, Chevie had been here for only… two years, I think, before he decided he needed to get out. We all thought he was joking. One morning at breakfast he said ‘guys… I’m going home tonight.’ Yeah right,” Zac snorted.

“But he wasn’t kidding, was he?”

“Nope. The next morning, he was gone. Benji swore he saw him sneak out of his cell in the middle of the night, and he wasn’t seen again.”

“His time was nearly up,” said Chantal. “He’d already reached twenty-one. Gorgeous guy, too.”

Hunter stared at the both of them. “How long ago was this?”

“Mmm, about three months I think?”

Chantal nodded in agreement.

“So this guy escapes–”

“Well we don’t actually have proof that he did technically escape. He could have been caught and locked up somewhere, or killed, or both.” Zac scooped food into his mouth and pointed his fork at her. “But Dr. Wolfe was really pissy the next day. And since then, they always have guards patrolling the corridors at night. So we figured he got out.”

Hunter felt elated, as if a balloon had blown up inside her stomach. If someone could walk out just as easily as this Chevie guy, maybe it was possible for the rest of them to escape as well.

“So no one else has tried it?”

Zac and Chantal exchanged glances.

“Hunter… Chevie was a genius. I’m not kidding, his power might as well have been intelligence. And he never told anyone about his escape plan. He just up and left us.”

Thinking of Joshua, Hunter looked down at her plate. “He didn’t come back for you, obviously.”

“Well,” Zac shrugged. “I never pinned Chevie for a dickhead. None of us did. But that’s the way life goes, right?” They ate together silently. Hunter found herself falling deep into her thoughts, running over possible escape plans, letting herself dream of freedom as she so often did.

Fearne walked by their table a few minutes later looking drained of all happiness. She limped on one leg and swayed, as if intoxicated.

“Can I ask you something?” Hunter bent her head closer and the two of them did the same with eagerness. “Do you know anything about what Dr. Wolfe does to Fearne? And not just the testing?”

“What do you mean?” asked Chantal.

“Well… last night I saw her down in the labs in this room with a few other scientists. She didn’t have her brace around her head.” Their eyes narrowed, as if this was news to them. “She was staring at this guy and he was… screaming. She was doing something to him.”

“Sounds nasty,” said Zac.

“Were they testing her power?” suggested Chantal.

“Maybe they were trying to see if she could make someone’s brain explode,” said Zac.