Rebel Young

Part 12

It had almost been a week since Jack had been admitted to hospital. His wound wasn't healing as quickly as Brodie had anticipated. Turns out the bullet had left a tiny puncture in Jack's left kidney. The doctor's had patched it up just fine, but they recommended that Jack should stay a bit longer.

Since I didn't know anybody in the Lab that wasn't constantly busy (or currently bed-ridden) I'd thrown myself into building up my fitness. There was an extensive training facility underground with no shortage of challenges.

I tightened a pair of boxing gloves around my hands and squared up to the bag. Lacey had insisted I practice combat skills if I was going to stick around. My fist swung forward, taking all of the past weeks' pent up emotion with it. The collisions surprised me at first, but I eventually got used to the dense thud as I pounded the sandbag.

A layer of sweat was collecting on my skin as I bounced back and forth on the balls of my feet. Exercise was exactly the output I had needed. The burn of my muscles distracted me from my current situation.

The floorboards behind me creaked, someone else had decided to spend time burning energy.

"Your stance is wrong," a deep voice sounded from above my shoulder.

Jack placed his hands gently on my waist and twisted me around, altering the placement of my feet. His warm hands sent a shiver running through my spine - in a good way.

"What are you doing out of hospital?" I asked quietly.

He leaned in slightly and I could feel his warm breath against my neck.

"I'm not technically 'out' of hospital," he murmured.

"So you just decided to wander about? Jack! You can just leave the hospital, they'll think you've run off," I scolded.

"Relax April," Jack shifted his hands up to my shoulders, "I saw Brodie in the hall and he promised not to tell anyone. Besides, It's not like I'm out running marathons."

I sighed and removed the gloves from my hands, there was no way I'd be able to fully concentrate on my workout with Jack hovering over my shoulder like a parrot.

"How's the healing going?" I asked, storing the gloves back in a locker.

"Slow, painful, annoying, you know - the usual deep wound routine," Jack shrugged.

"Don't wounds like that normally take longer than about a week to heal?" I inquired.

Jack tapped a finger against the side of his nose, "another one of the Talents, speedy recovery. You, my friend, would heal even faster if something like this happened."

What other Talents didn't I know about? This whole situation seemed kind of surreal. If I told nine-year-old April that one day she'd discover she had what were practically superpowers she would just laugh in disbelief. Well, she wouldn't laugh, nine-year-old April was pretty morbid.

I sighed and wandered over to a treadmill in the corner of the room. Jack had settled on a bench and was watching me moving around the gym.

"Do you mind?" I grumbled.

"I'm good," Jack smirked.

His presence was making me all too conscious about the amount of skin I was showing.

I switched on the treadmill and set it to a light jog, counting my steps as I fell into a steady rhythm. My heartbeat pounded in my ears and my feet thudded against the belt over, and over again. Hard as I tried, I just couldn't focus. With a sigh, I jumped off of the moving conveyer belt and turned off the treadmill.

"Finished?" Jack asked, his self-satisfied smirk still in place.

I walked past him in silence, heading for the showers.

"What? What did I do?" his smirk had left, just like that.

"Nothing Jack," I smiled wryly, "I just couldn't focus."

He followed me out of the gym like a duckling, hiding behind corners whenever another person walked past. Jack rushed into the bedroom before me and flopped on one of the empty beds.

"So, any big plans for the day?" he inquired.

"Showering, so if you'd kindly head back to the hospital-" I gestured to the open door.

"Fine," he sighed, "but you better come visit when you're finished."

"Alright," I agreed.

"Promise?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Fine, I promise," I smiled as I watched him roll off of the bed.

That boy, I swear to god. He was incredibly annoying, but there was just something about him that just kept drawing me back.

Jack had been moved into a nicer hospital room than the one I had visited him in the first time. The floor was clean and bright, the walls a crisp white and displayed proudly was a framed image of the city, a faux window. Lacey was in the room talking to Jack when I entered, a serious expression on her face.

"-We can't wait any longer. The threat is greater than we thought- Oh! Hi April," Lacey stopped abruptly.

"Hi," I said, perching on the end of the bed.

"I'll, um... speak to you later Jack," Lacey rushed out of the room.

"What's all that about?" I asked curiously.

"Uh... it's nothing, so how was the shower," Jack changed the subject abruptly.

"Fine, what are you hiding from me?" I demanded.

Jack averted his eyes, gazing towards the photograph on the wall. I didn't expect to be trusted yet, but there was something suspicious going on.

"It doesn't matter, Lacey just found some old documents that she wanted to discuss," Jack said nervously, still convincing himself of the lie.

"Okay, that was a lie," Jack muttered.

"Really, I couldn't tell," I quipped.

"Do you have an older brother by any chance?" Jack asked suddenly.

"Yeah," I said, "but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Is his name Ethan?" Jack asked quietly.

"Yeah," I murmured, heart rate increasing.

"The name Ethan Harrison Winters appeared multiple times when Lacey ran searches about the enemy army."

"What does this mean," my heartbeat pounded frantically in my ears.

"April, your brother is one of the biggest threats to our city," Jack announced gently moving towards me.

"No," I whispered.

"I'm sorry April," Jack placed his hands on my shoulders, "but we have to capture him, and stop him from causing any more damage."