Embers & Ice

Chapter Twenty-Six

Another three weeks passed, and Hunter and Will continued to meet in secret, sometimes late at night and sometimes in the middle of the day. It didn’t matter down below, because there were no windows and it was always dark. Nor did security ever pick up, and many of the others were starting to wonder what had happened. Apparently there was ‘some sort of shortage of men with no souls in the world’, as Zac had said.

She and Will went down to the old quarters whenever they could, and there they smoked and talked in the candlelight about life and their future and where they’d rather be. Most of it was light hearted. Eventually Hunter told Will her story. Will said not a word about Eli and Joshua, but the fury in his eyes was greater than the rage that stirred in her own. He asked a lot of questions about Joshua. Those hours spent in the cold, dark room were what Hunter looked forward to most.

Second in the running was her afternoon gym sessions with Mosi and Marcus that had, since that day, turned into a sort of amateur fight club. Most of the others came to watch as she and Marcus practiced the skills that Mosi taught them – Hunter having covered the basics with Joshua. Mosi never told them where he learned to fight so cleanly when all they knew of him was his work in the mines as a child. But he was a patient teacher, and sometimes other volunteers joined in for a lesson. They were caught several times by a passing guard, but since the numbers grew, he could only close the fitness room and give them a warning rather than send them all to Solitary. The fight club started out of boredom, but became – for Hunter and some others – like a sort of silver lining; if they learnt to fight, then their chances of escaping Death Cave were greater. It gave them all hope, and especially the younger ones who observed with careful attention.

The constant nightmares she’d been having about Eli and Joshua and Dr. Wolfe slowly drifted away the more her friendships grew. Despite still being locked up in a prison from hell, Hunter learned to grasp the positives. After the fight club, she no longer feared an attack from the guards. She grew closer with Fearne and Will and all the others, and found she actually enjoyed getting to know them. Hunter had never really had close friends, particularly in the past few years of her high school life. At ICE, everyone was the same. Sure, they all had different powers and some were a little nuttier than others, but they could get along – minus Jet, who was an asshole to everyone – and soon she was part of the family.

At breakfast, she always sat beside Will at a table with the others. Hunter noticed everyone come together – Marcus and Mosi joined Zac and Chantal, Benji and Ryo sat with them, and Will and Fearne were no longer alone. It made the institution feel much smaller now that they were all good friends, and Hunter knew everyone by name and power. She often smiled and laughed with the others at Zac’s hilarious jokes and goofy nature, greedily consuming plates of food after early morning workouts. She and Will decided to start exercising more often to gather their strength back. It was more for his benefit. The weights, boxing and strength training were much harder when Will didn’t have enough energy in his system from the surgery he still undertook in the evenings. Often when they spent time together in the secret room, Will was so weak that they would just lie there in silence. She didn’t mind though. Helping him recover his energy kept her mind off of other things.

Like Fearne, for instance.

Ever since she saw the young girl interrogating a scientist, Hunter knew it had something to do with the lack of security. The guards were either being fired or killed, and no one had any idea why. Fearne could never remember anything about what Dr. Wolfe was forcing her to do. Hunter was almost afraid to get involved. If she knew Dr. Wolfe, and by now she had a pretty good inkling, he was most certainly up to something sick and twisted.

Dr. Rosenthal was no help on the matter. He was quite good at not giving anything away when Hunter saw him every once in a while for a consultation, but it was obvious he wanted to tell her. She often didn’t understand why he couldn’t help her escape again when he’d already done it. But above all else, Hunter trusted Dr. Rosenthal. He was kind to her and there was an aura of knowledge about him, as if he knew everything that was going on now and in the future at ICE. He was never afraid of anything. Not even Dr. Wolfe could control him.