FIRE [FIRST DRAFT]

Chapter 14: We Can't Both Be Immortal

 Stefan sat at the foot of the stairs; he hadn't had the chance to leave that cave. His knees were raised to his chest, and his right hand wrapped around his shin, where fresh blood percolated through the threads of his pants and in between his fingers. His eyes, they were ethereal, their natural blue colour was drastically diluted, and he was shivering like a stray animal caught in the rain. Finn bent down in front of him, his hands on Stefan's knees as he called him. He seemed to be in a reverie – still, dazed, lifeless.

"What happened to you?" Finn whispered to himself.

Gavin walked in, stopped for a second when he saw what Stefan looked like, and then knelt beside him, too. Finn was shocked to see him there, all torn up, but at the same time, it was in his nature to put Stefan before himself.

"Stefan," Gavin shook him into consciousness. "Stefan!"

Soon enough, Stefan jolted dramatically, returning to the world, and blinked a couple of times until his eyes were their shade of blue. He stopped shivering, but for some reason, was still colder than normal.

His voice came out as a shudder, alarmed, through his bouts of suddenly heavy breaths, "You c-can't be here."

His eyes spun around the room, turned to where Benjamin had been. Gone; nothing but a pool of blood and the knife that had caused it. It stood slanted in the ground. Stefan placed his hand on his forehead and grimaced with pain. But it was an unfamiliar pain, like his body was being pricked by rime needles. The strangest part was that he looked fine on the outside – he was dressed in filth and worn clothes, but his skin was pale, smooth and unscathed.

"He got away," he murmured.

"Stefan, do you know what happened?" Gavin asked, filled with empathy. It was a question he already knew the answer to.

Dominick arrived in time to hear those words.

Stefan tried to catch his breath for a moment, and when he did, he said: "Yeah. I've been chipped. Benjamin shot me in the leg to keep me from running away, and then he injected me. After that, everything went blank. Why does it h-hurt?"

"Okay, just breathe, you're okay," uttered Gavin, trying himself not to freak out.

Finn helped Stefan onto his feet, asking if he could walk. Stefan nodded, and he did not hesitate to lead his friends out of that room. But they could not shake their anxiety, dread. Stefan was chipped. It was unexpected, something very difficult for them to absorb. Was this part of Abba's plan? If so, where did it fit in?

Stefan walked in front of them, stumbled only once or twice. Relentlessly, he endeavoured to mask his incessant pain. He thought the AIM chip was supposed to heal you, not tear you apart.

"Where's Aimee?"

"With Abba – on the fourteenth floor about," uttered Finn.

"Don't worry; Val's got her back," Dominick assured him. "The sooner we get you to them, the better. They need to know that you're okay."

Was he? The word 'yeah' fought its way out of his mouth, a thread of a word. It did not matter; Dominick spoke truth, he had to get to Aimee and Valerie. And then put an end to Abba. As Stefan thought this, his pain diminished as swiftly as it had come. His body was no longer tingly all over; he could breathe, like a human. It was an even more unusual and sudden change.

"Weird," he said. "It stopped. The pain, I don't feel it anymore."

The others barely had time to enjoy the news; he had not ceased walking. They passed the fourteenth floor, it was empty. As they continued on, and levels were left behind them, their temperatures started to rise. Three floors up and they were walking onto a battleground. On the seventeenth level, in the ash and flame, they found them: Abba, Aimee and Valerie were in a triangle, either engaged in combat or choking heavily on smoke. Every now and again, you could hear the crackle of burning wood and the faint yell of an agent or soldier, somewhere in the building.