Chiron Academy

Chapter 21.3 Birds In A Cage

Wyatt took a sip from his cup, relishing the feeling of warmth on his cold hands. The hot chocolate was okay, a little strong perhaps, but it helped keep the chill off.

He had tried to convince the EMTs that he wanted coffee but they were only handing out hot chocolate. He would have even taken tea, but they had been firm. They had said they wanted a drink that all 'the kids' would drink.

He leaned back farther onto the ambulance's fender where he sat, pulling his requisite shock blanket around him. It all seemed a bit silly; he was perfectly fine. He'd seen much worse than this before, but EMT's hadn't taken no for an answer on that either.

He understood why. People often experienced a shock after experiencing intense situations shock could easily turn deadly. It was much easier for the medical staff to be cautious and treat everyone as if they might have it rather than to do nothing and have someone die unnecessarily. It wasn't all bad; Wyatt was honestly pretty grateful for the blanket.

He was fairing much better than William and Sally who were seated on another ambulance a short distance away. Sally was almost drowning in the blanket they had draped over her shoulders because of her diminutive size. She had her hands clutched around a plastic bucket just in case she threw up again. Her breathing seemed to have calmed down some since the shooting but was still much faster than normal. Wyatt hadn't heard her speak more than a few words the entire time. That was a new experience.

William was seated next to her, equally silent. He seemed somber, staring off into the distance with a neutral expression. He had taken his beanie off and pulled his cowl down, revealing his extremely short black hair to the elements. Wyatt thought he must have been cold with only his short fade to keep his head warm, but William didn't even seem to register the chill.

An EMT came by and offered William another cup of hot chocolate which he half-heartedly accepted, offering only a small nod in thanks.

Wyatt doubted that either Sally or William had said much in their debriefing with Mr. Buckingham, given their uncommunicative states. Not that they'd seen much to report on.

Wyatt had tried to relay every detail he could think of to Mr. Buckingham: how they had been sitting awaiting instructions but were attacked out of the blue. Wyatt got them all behind cover. The fight he'd seen went to go apprehend the shooter. He tried to include even the smallest details, like the style and color of the mummy's boots.

He was worried about how Mr. Buckingham would react to that part but to his credit, the man had just nodded and continued listening. He'd said that their security team was hard at work trying to track the mummy and the skeleton down, but so far they hadn't found anything. But he would let Wyatt know when they did.

The only real question in Wyatt's mind was where Mariah had run off to. Sally and William had managed to find the other squads but Mariah remained unaccounted for. Groups of security forces were patrolling the streets but so far no one had seen her.

Wyatt hoped she was okay. She'd gotten out of that alleyway so fast that even he hadn't seen her. No one had seen any blood, so she probably made it out okay. Unless the shooter had accomplices?

He took another drag on his cocoa, wincing a face as he tasted the oversweet liquid. It wasn't so bad at first, but the more he drank, the more his body objected to the increasingly sludgelike chocolate at the bottom of the cup. He felt like he was all topped up on sugar for the rest of the year. Maybe he could talk the EMTs into just getting a cup of hot water...

Just then, Mariah, in her distinctive black leather jacket, wordlessly appeared from around the side of the ambulance. The black hood of her hoodie was pulled up and a matching wool blanket was already around her shoulders. Her cheeks were flushed pink with the chill.