Embers & Ice

Chapter Forty

The demonstrations continued with Mosi. It was just as ugly as Benji’s performance. The scientists tested the strength of his skin by firing heavy machinery at his unprotected body. They sawed at his bones with razor-sharp blades and dropped giant blocks of concrete on his head. Mosi grit his teeth and bore through it all, but eventually the pressure put him into unconsciousness and he woke up a day later.

Then it was Will’s turn. Hunter watched them slice and burn and beat and crush his body over and over and she longed to be sick, but there was nothing in her stomach to throw up. His screams still echoed in her mind late into the night. No horror movie she’d ever seen could compare, particularly when it was someone she cared about. Oh, and she knew she cared about him. Because after what he went through, Hunter refused to leave his side in the infirmary until she was dragged away by three of the Men in White.

Her turn came the day after, and she walked into the Orb shaking from head to toe. She told herself to be brave for the younger ones, and having the fire swarm through her skin was blissful enough to give her courage. She wished Will was near, but his body still hadn’t reformed.

The Orb was more terrifying when filled with people. In the center of the giant space was a glass box identical to the one Jack had destroyed in Death Cave 1. It stood on a raised platform, four silver gas tanks attached to each corner with tubes running up the glass and into the roof. Hunter swallowed as she was led up the steps into the glass tank that sealed shut behind her. All of the sound made by the whispering scientists and buzzing machinery around her vanished. In a way, it was oddly comforting. The fire blazed inside her and she lit her hands, forming balls of flames that danced around her like jumping rabbits. She smiled, enjoying the moment, before Dr. Wolfe’s voice interrupted it.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you subject 0997. Hunter Harrison, age 19. Subject has the ability to withstand impossible heat and – as is clearly demonstrated before you – she can also produce flames from within her body. Today we are going to test the limits of her skin and exactly how much heat she can withstand.”

Hunter breathed a laugh and crossed her arms. That’s all he’s got? the fire laughed mockingly. It was easier to laugh than be paralyzed with fear.

“Begin,” Dr. Wolfe commanded.

Four men in lab coats approached the corners of the cage. They turned valves on the oxygen tanks and Hunter heard a very faint, high pitched whistle. Then suddenly, fire burst from the ceiling.

It was warm and wonderful, like walking into a heated restaurant after spending so long in the cold. The fire burned through her jumpsuit almost immediately and Hunter felt sick again, knowing that the guards – Jamison in particular – would be up in the theatre room watching. Don’t forget Zac and Jet and Marcus. Hunter groaned.

She soon lost sight of the scientists as the fire swarmed around her, which made it easier to imagine she was completely alone and no one was watching. Just to piss them off, Hunter put her hand to her mouth and yawned. She imagined Dr. Wolfe sneering. The heat began to build.

Joshua had never done anything like this with her in the lab back in New York, so in a way she was curious to see how much heat she really could take. After so much research on the stone – which came from a volcano – she was pretty sure she could withstand anything, especially something created by chemicals and some stupid gas tanks. What she couldn’t determine was the strength of her skin after living in darkness and near-starvation for so long.

Hunter looked down at her hands. They were slowly turning as bright as the flames around her. Her veins glowed a luminescent orange again. Her hair whipped around her face and the roaring of the fire increased, but still she didn’t burn.

Hunter would have given anything to see Dr. Wolfe’s face.

After a few more minutes, the fire ceased and she stood completely naked in the glass tank. She covered herself as best she could, thinking, he can’t get me a towel or something?  

“Subject has withstood a temperature of 2000ºC. Impressive, Miss Harrison,” he added.

She took a bow just for the hell of it and waited for the ‘but’ she knew was coming.

“But-” There it is. “-You must know the three elements of the fire tetrahedron. Fuel, heat and oxygen. You need oxygen to produce your fire.”

Hunter’s heart stopped. Don’t you do it, you bastard.

“Judging from your pale complexion, I think you know where I’m going with this Hunter.”

Is anyone listening to him? She stared around at the scientists who were scribbling notes, oblivious to her torture. So it’s true. He’s brainwashing them.

“Subject will now be tested in the same way, but without oxygen. I will start with a very low temperature, just to be safe. Are you ready?”

She stuck her finger up at him.

“Very well,” he chuckled.

Hunter looked up at the valves, waiting, her heart about to leap from her chest.

“Begin,” he said.

This time, no flames appeared. The floor quivered and Hunter looked down to see the ground beneath her feet start to split. Vents were opening and something was hissing. Hunter wobbled unsteadily on the uneven floor, praying for courage and strength as a feeling as if someone were pushing down on her lungs hit her hard.

He’s taking away my oxygen.

Immediately, she forced her breathing to slow. There wouldn’t be much left in a matter of seconds, and it was already burning her lungs. Through blurry vision, she saw the scientists approach the silver tanks, turn the valves and fire burst from the roof.

The heat was immense, and it scared her to death.

I could try breaking the glass cage, she thought desperately, but then that would put everyone outside at risk. As much as these scientists deserve some pain, they don’t deserve to die. And then what would Dr. Wolfe do with me? Put me in a Death Cave? I’d never get to help the others escape.

I don’t have a choice. She grit her teeth and thought harder.

A technique she’d taught herself in a hotel room a long time ago came to mind. Using her hands, she pushed the fire away from herself, trapping the chemicals of the flame and forming a protective shield. But the oxygen in the air was slowly fading. She fell to her knees, gravity caving in on her. Her eyes were watering and it blinded her. She could no longer see anything but bright light. The fire inside her roared, protective of her, but it could do nothing. And for the first time, it felt real fear. The fire was afraid of itself.

Hunter couldn’t hold the flames back anymore. She never thought she’d see the day when fire would take her life, but it was only seconds away from happening. She didn’t get to see the others escape, didn’t get to save them, didn’t get to tell Will she-

Blackness came for her, but it wasn’t quick enough. Just as her lungs collapsed, the fire dove on her and she released the shield.

Then, Hunter burned.