Consuming Fire

Chapter 91

Will opened his eyes to the sound of an engine dying. He could smell fuel and the fresh breeze of something salty blew across his right side. The drug they injected in him had faded and finally, he could feel his body again.

He blinked through the blurriness and found himself inside a plane, the door just behind his shoulder wide open with a ramp folding down onto a sandy beach. He looked around and saw five Agents, a scientist he knew as Simon packing a kit and Dr. Wolfe standing directly in front of him.

"You're awake," he said and tapped Will's cheek. "Good, we have to walk now."

Will stared up at the man responsible for ruining his life and counted him lucky that his hands were tied. It didn't stop him though. The moment an Agent unlatched his seatbelt, Will lurched forward with his hands tied behind his back, intent on bowling Dr. Wolfe to the ground. The Agent only just managed to yank him back against the wall of the plane.

"You son of a bitch, you-"

Will stopped dead when he felt the weight of something heavy around his stomach. He looked down and saw that a belt with several pouches was attached to him. And inside the pouches were bags of dark liquid.

Blood.

A tube ran up the inside of his arm. Will couldn't feel the sting but he sensed a thickness in his veins. He knew that sensation.

"What's in me?" he demanded of Dr. Wolfe.

"You should know by now," said Dr. Wolfe, "that I like to take precautions. You have an unfair advantage and ... with Mikayla's blood in your system, you're no threatto me."

Will's heart began to pound. It was then that he noticed that in the seat on his left was Joshua, slowly waking up. Blood coated his thigh and there was a decent-sized gash in his skin. He moaned and opened his eyes, peering up at Will and then gazing at Dr. Wolfe in horror.

"Hello Joshua," said Dr. Wolfe. "It's been a while."

"Not long enough," Joshua growled.

What is happening? Will thought.

"Where are we?" asked Joshua.

The doctor didn't feel the need to keep them informed. The Agent took Will's right arm and shoved him to the door.

But as he ducked under the doorway and started down the ramp, he nearly went head over heels after being so distracted by the sight around him, a sight he'd been dreaming of since the day he was born.

Paradise.

In ICE, the older ones used to speak of paradise as an island just like this. Crystal-clear waters. A forest of greenery on the right. Pearly-white beaches. Everything was just as warm and just as beautiful as he imagined. Were it not for the thought of Mikayla's blood pumping through his system, Will would have allowed himself a smile.

The sand made him unsteady. He'd never felt anything like it. The air was sticky and immediately he became hot in his superhero suit. The shore ran all the way along the bay, further than he could make out. Behind the plane that had landed awkwardly on the beach, there was only a rocky face that blocked the rest of the shoreline.

The waves crashed in a soothing rhythm that lifted Will's spirits and in the trees. It was magical.

Joshua looked more stoic than ever, his eyes continuously darting behind him at the large hill in the forest and then over Will's shoulder at the coast. There was something in his eyes ...

And then suddenly, he knew. They were near the shack. It was hidden in the trees somewhere, the place that Hunter told him about long ago in the guard's quarters. The mountain had to be the volcano, where Ravenadium originally came from.

They were there for Ravenadium.

But why did Dr. Wolfe need him?

"Alright Harrison," said Dr. Wolfe. He looked very out of place, still in a lab coat over gray pants, his sleeves rolled up to his bony elbows. His skin was as pale and ghostly as the sand beneath their feet. "Since I have neither the time nor the patience to figure out how to get into this volcano so I can extract enough samples of Ravenadium for my experiments, why don't you do me a favor and show me the quick route so we can get this over with?"

Joshua stared at the doctor and then turned to the mountain. Was he trying to remember how to reach the part of the volcano where he and Hunter's dad found the rock samples? Or was he trying to think of a way to escape?

"Tick tock, Harrison, we don't have all day."

Joshua nodded his head at the rock face. "It's this way."

The Agent behind Will shoved him in the right shoulder blade and he stumbled forward through the sand, the blood packs sloshing around in his belt. Joshua limped the way and the rest of them followed.

"Why am I here?" Will whispered to Joshua as they hiked.

Joshua shot a sideways glance at him. "Leverage," he said.