Smells Like Winter

08: Shut Up and Run

"What the...?"

"Shit." Carter slid behind one of the cars lined on the side of the road, bringing Maddy back on her feet in the speed of light and making her sit down on the asphalt next to him, the tarmac still wet from the morning rain.

"Why are the cops outside my house?" Whether it was from the shock or her inability to comprehend what was going on, she didn't know, but her whispering voice was shaking.

"You tell me."

She stopped for a moment to think. The first person that came to mind made her heart sink.

My mum.

"I need to get closer," she said without thinking.

"What? Are you mad?" Carter whisper-shouted at her, but she didn't let him finish off his sentence: she had already sneaked out of their hiding spot, crawling past the parked cars, knees bent so she could stay low.

Until a large, cold hand gripped her wrist and pulled her back again, behind another car. Her back slammed onto the back of the parked car as he tightened his hold around her shoulders, almost hurting her.

"What do you think you're doing? Have you lost your mind?" he asked in a low voice.

"I have to find out what's going on! My mum..." Maddy tried to explain. "What if someone broke into the house? My mum might have been hurt, and... and..."

And as if she knew, her mum spoke from somewhere behind them, her mellow voice overflowing with honest concern and panic.

"Where is she now? Did she get hurt?"

"Not as far as we know, Ma'am. According to our source, she ran out of the school building along with four other students," answered a police officer in a cold, formal tone.

"But my daughter would never do that!" Her mother burst into sobs. "Why would she ever do such a thing?"

"The school informed us she refused to get vaccinated, just like the other four. That's a violation of the new law, Mrs. Wesley. The nurse has already submitted her report. Your daughter jumped out of the window and-"

"She did WHAT?!"

Maddy shifted uncomfortably in their hiding spot, gulping down her shame. She didn't know why she felt ashamed, but, with the eyes of her imagination, she could see her mother's shocked expression of disapproval.

"... The man that FROST delegated to the school ended up in the hospital with a broken jaw, caused by one of the students."

Carter scoffed next to her.

FROST? Maddy didn't understand a thing, confused as ever.

"My daughter would never get involved in such a scandal! There must be some mistake!" Maddy's mother screeched.

"There's no mistake. The police are already looking for all five of them. You should get a lawyer, Ma'am." Maddy could almost hear the pity in the officer's voice as he watched her mother lose her mind.

A lawyer?

"A lawyer?" her mum called out, voicing her own thought. "But officer, there-"

"Orders are orders, Ma'am. Your daughter will be arrested, just like her friends. It's against the law to remain unvaccinated."

"Dear God!" Maddy's mother cried out in terror.

"As long as we vaccinate her, she will be free to go, but the Federation of Remedial Organisations and Scientific Testing will have to run some tests on her, as you have already been informed by the school, I assume. Actually, the Assistant Director of FROST, Harper Max, has asked to speak to you in person about your daughter and..."