Consuming Fire

Chapter 35

Her hair was all that Jack really remembered when he woke up. A flash of red in the darkness, even a glimpse of golden eyes and then everything was black and dangerous. That's what his life had become lately; darkness.

But he saw her again, and not just in his dreams, but in reality. In the prison after he lost control and the glass cage burst into a thousand pieces. He saw red hair and he knew it was Hunter. It was a blurry memory, but he clung to it. Did she get captured too? Or was she there to save him? Jack was a mess that day and he could have blown apart every brain in that room if he wanted to. But Hunter was there. He couldn't hurt her.

Then he felt the impact of the bullet in the center of his back. Pain sliced through him from head to toe, but it only lasted a second before ... that was it. Back to darkness.

When Jack woke up, he was thinking of Hunter. 

Voices mumbled around him. Someone spoke the doctor's name. "Get Dr. Wolfe, now!" they ordered. Jack felt heavier than lead and cold and hot at the same time. His eyes peeled apart, sticky and heavy. Most of his body was still numb, pain hovering on the fringe of his conscience, ready to jump in when he moved. So he remained still and looked around.

He was in a giant room, the space wasted by how empty it felt. He lay on a hospital bed, a heart rate monitor beside him and chemicals pumped into his arms. Everything felt gluggy. Bright light beamed down on him from above.

A scientist was jabbering on to another, checking his vitals and pressing buttons on the machines that surrounded him. The sounds of voices throbbed and echoed in his head. The light flew away and he saw stars. When his senses cleared, he tried moving his feet and flexing his wrists. One of the scientists gasped and after that came a sharp pain in his arm. He was soon drowsy again.

"Hello Jack."

The voice belonged to Dr. Wolfe, he was sure of it. Jack didn't care about the pain and clenched every muscle in his body, but an unknown force stopped him from getting up. He struggled against it, as if his body were too heavy for him.

"What have you done to me?" Jack croaked. His tongue felt fat and a line of dribble rolled down the side of his face.

"Sedated you," was the reply. "Your body has healed, so I don't want to take any chances. You wouldn't want to be shot again, would you?"

Jack didn't move.

"You've been in a coma for some time now," said the doctor as he wiped the drool from his mouth with a white handkerchief. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever wake up. Let me explain what you've missed out on. The man who shot you is dead. I had him executed. Many of the other subjects like yourself have escaped. There are only a handful of you left. I have sent my Agents to kill the others."

Jack wanted to ask about Hunter, but he was afraid that if the doctor knew of his connection to her, it would give him motivation to use her as bait.

"Because of this unfortunate incident, we have been forced to move our preparations for the coming war backwards. We have also had to re-locate our base. That was made difficult thanks to the FBI watching our every move, but we managed to escape with you right under their noses, thanks to a certain techno and his security system. And now that you are awake, we can begin."

"I'm not participating in any war. You may as well kill me."

"I would never kill you, Jack. You're far too valuable."

"Then how do you propose to use me if I won't cooperate?"

"Oh," he chuckled. "You'll cooperate. See, Jack, I have a way of making people do as I ask them to. I have connections, I have plenty of money and resources, but I also have something that not many people claim to possess."

Jack couldn't resist. "Bad breath?"

Dr. Wolfe chuckled humorlessly. "No Jack. I have no fear."

"Nobody is without fear."

When the doctor laughed, it was low and hair-raising, making Jack doubt his statement instantly. The man was terrifying, more terrifying than any character in his comic books. Not because he had a superpower or wore an impenetrable suit or looked at all frightening – even though at times he did. Dr. Wolfe was scary because he was unpredictable and psychotic, and right now Jack was helpless before him.

"I'm sure you know fear very well Jack."

He glared up at the doctor. "I knew fear when I discovered what I could do. And then I had no one to turn to when I needed safety. No one I could trust."

Dr. Wolfe's face went suddenly slack. "Of course. Someone they trust ..."

"What?" Jack mumbled. The doctor ignored him, stepping down off the platform they were on and reaching into his pocket. Jack strained against the sedation but could not move his body. He only heard the doctor.

"Alpha? Good news: I know where they're hiding. How fast can you get to Seattle?"

Jack lay there waiting, wondering what the doctor had done with Hunter. He heard the phone beep and seconds later, Dr. Wolfe was back within his sight, leaning over the bed.

"You may as well join me, Jack. There's no one who will rescue you."

Hunter, Jack thought, and it made the doctor's words less heart-wrenching. If she was there in that room, and she saw me, then I know she was there to rescue me.

"You're wrong about that, Dr. Wolfe."

Jack thought he sounded confident, that just saying the words would make him feel better. But there was a look of utter certainty in the doctor's glimmering, oyster eyes that shattered his confidence completely.

"Oh Jack. You don't realize, do you? She got out."

Jack's heart slowed as he looked up at the doctor and hoped he was referring to some other 'she'. "Who?"

"Hunter. She was taken in a few weeks after you. And not even three months later, she led the others in an escape. She took nine mutants with her. But she didn't take you. She didn't so much as try, not even after she saw you in that tank. She was too afraid of the monster you've become."

"You're lying," he said though clenched teeth.

"I wish I wasn't. But it's true." He leaned closer so Jack could feel the chilling, dead breath on his face as he sneered each word. "Hunter. Left. You. Alone."

Time slowed to the beat of his heart. Jack gazed up at the doctor, and those words echoed again and again in his mind like slow, repetitive torture.

Hunter left you alone. She left you. She turned her back and walked away.

You are nothing to her.

Jack didn't think the darkness could crush his soul any more, but suddenly, there was an explosion inside him. It came down upon his heart like a wrecking ball, as if a switch had been flicked in his mind. His emotions shut down. His pain dissipated. And his soul, the good part of him that made him a hero not a villain, was sucked away by the blackness so fast, he couldn't catch it.

By the expression on the doctor's face, he had seen the transformation. And then Dr. Wolfe was smiling wider than he ever had, enriching glee and malice sparkling in his eyes.

"Hunter could not see how marvelous you are," said Dr. Wolfe in awe. "How strong you've become. I have been waiting for this side of you to come out. Do you feel different?"

"You're not speaking to Jack anymore," he replied. His voice was deep, emotionless and fearless. It was the voice of darkness.