Burning Slow

Planning Phase

"We've got sixteen days to stop this." Ember sighed, massaging her forehead. "Any questions?"

"You... you mentioned something about glaciers, right?" Kenneth asked while all the other teenagers looked like they were still processing the information that Ember and Nathan gave them.

"Yeah, we're going to make a couple of places colder so we can pinpoint where the person will place the bomb 'cause as Ember had stated, the virus spreads faster in colder areas." Nathan answered.

"If you already know that it's going to be in Greenland, why still go through all that?" Jacob spoke next.

"Well. there's no really guarantee that it will explode in Greenland this time. What if it exploded in Switzerland or something like that?" Ember waved her hand in the air as if shooing away Jacob's question.

"You do have a point but if you're from the future, then isn't all this-" he gestured to the whole room- "just a repetition?" Then he moved his hands in a circular motion.

"I get it. I really do. But we're just trying to be safe here. Aside from that, I don't know where the exact location of where it exploded."

"So we'll all be in Greenland on the 31st?" Ember nodded at Astraea.

"I'll start making some places colder and we'll be scattered all throughout Greenland in the coldest of places."

"What if it doesn't explode in Greenland?" Grace asked after a few moments, her eyes shaking in fear.

"We'll think of that if it happens." Ember calmly answered.

"Can't we warn the public somehow?" Rocco roared.

"We can't do that."

"Why the f**k not?!"

"Because if we did. it would cause a global panic!" Ember snapped, slamming her hands on the table as she stood up.

Everybody gave her cautious glances, seeing that her white shirt already had a couple spots of blood.

"Em..." Nathan tried to make her sit back down. She quickly complied, feeling the familiar burning sensation of her freshly stitched wound.

"Ember, you are not even supposed to be awake now but for some reason you are. All your blood hasn't been fully restored yet." Grace hinted at the fact that she should keep resting. "You did lose a f*****g s**t ton of blood."

At this, Nathan's eyes widened a bit at Grace cursing, seeing someone that looks so innocent hurl a curse word and it was as if it frequently happens. He looked around the room in a subtle way and noticed that he was the only one who acted that way. He nodded to himself and thought that it was normal.

"Alright, fine. I'll f*****g rest." At this, Nathan and Grace who sat beside her grabbed both of her arms gently.

"I can do it myself." She harshly pulled back her arms, hissing at the sudden movement, almost pulling out the needle still injected to her and Rocco.

"I'll rest alright." Her voice barely above a whisper. "Just please continue planning. Come on, Rocco." The man nodded and helped her walk as her gash was still not complying with her wishes to walk by herself.

"Seventeen days left." She announced before both of them was fully out the room.

The remaining teenagers in the living room watched the two with worried eyes.

"Why are you so headstrong?" Rocco asked as he helped Ember lay down on her bed. Her sheets were still stained with blood and they only covered it with a thin blanket.

"Am I really?"

"Yeah." Rocco breathed out. "You never stop arguing until you've got the last word, based on the argument seconds ago. Aside from that, you never even told us, not even Nathan nor your dad, that you were already bleeding out. But overall, that's just the general vibe that I got from you when I arrived, especially since you practically judged my whole being immediately." Rocco ended with a chuckle.

"I guess that's something that a leader, s***h, dictator is supposed to have." Ember simply shrugged, making Rocco burst into a fit of laughter making her laugh a bit too. Not entirely because his laugh was pleasing to her ears, but mostly because his laugh was so weird, it was like an overly dramatic girl laugh crossed with a weird hiccup.

"But I do listen to you guys, you know. Like when we were waiting for the rest of the people and you wanted to watch a boring football game."

"Yeah." Rocco mused. "Even though we've only met for a couple of hours, we're practically like a weird messed up family already."

"I thought I was the only one who thought that!" Both teenagers laughed.

Ember laughed so hard that her wound started to bleed again, making her groan in pain.

Rocco stopped laughing, grabbing another pack of gauze on the table beside him.

"Why the hell are you bleeding so much? At this rate, we're both going to get sucked dry." He changed the gauze with a deep frown on his face.

Ember hissed as Rocco accidentally pulled the, once again, blood soaked gauze in a not so gentle way.

"Sorry." She breathed out.

"Why are you saying sorry?"

"Because I'm bleeding so much?" She questioned more than stated.

Rocco lightly flicked her forehead, making her protest.

"Alright." He lightly patted Ember's stomach. "Rest now. You promised them that you would. We'll wake you up later."

"Can you... not leave?"

"I really can't." Rocco chuckled, gesturing to the needle on her arm.

"Oh, right. Sorry." She giggled. 

"It's just..." She trailed off, fiddling with her fingers as she stared at the ceiling. "Nathan and Dad told me that I died three weeks ago 'cause I was left on the street, bleeding to death. Even though I don't remember that happening nor did I experience it, it's become pretty traumatic, I guess. Just imagining the pain she had to go through." She shuddered, an unpleasant image popping in her head.

She told Rocco all of that in one go, making her blush as she usually never tells anyone what she feels, even with Nathan.

"Don't worry. I'm here. We're here. We're this weird wholesome family." Ember nodded with a smile.

"Besides, I'm not going to leave your side even when Grace removes this thing." He raised his arm for emphasis.

"Thanks, Rocco..." She slurred as her eyes started to droop.

"Get well soon, little flame." Was the last thing she heard before the sleep finally got to her.