It was dark and thunder drummed in the background. Ivan was tucked at the corner of his room, watching the string of light under his door. There were two shadows outside—one for his mother and another for his father. The shadows were motionless for a while until it started moving.

Ivan tucked himself tighter as the faint sound of glass breaking and his mother yelling sung in the background. He was afraid…so afraid. And then the shadows were motionless again. Gone goes the first one and the other—still there.

The shadow grew larger and larger accompanied by heavy stomps against wood.

“Ivan!” his father yelled, his voice, gruff. He twisted on the knob violently shaking the door, almost breaking it. And then…

“Ivan,” a feminine voice called. “Ivan…” it called again.

Ivan snapped back to reality, his heart a prancing beat. Melissa was a few paces in front of him, down a dried river. She was drenched in rainwater. Both of them were soaked. It had been raining for an hour now. And for an hour now, they’ve been traversing the forest. For all Ivan knew, they were lost.

“Are you alright?” Melissa asked.

Ivan swallowed and tucked his lips. He opened his hands and lifted his foot to show Melissa that it was dripping with mud and rainwater.

“Am I alright?” he sarcastically repeated. “Melissa. I am not alright, okay?” Ivan ran his hand down his face. “We’re soaking wet, we’re lost and I don’t even know why I’m following you.” He was panicking and failing at it miserably. Melissa seemed calm despite their situation. After all, she was the one who got them in it.

Lightning flashed and thunder roared not long after. The storm was directly above them. Ivan staggered as the sky growled. He didn’t have a pleasant memory of storms especially thunder. It triggered a memory he wanted to forget.

“I’ll explain once we find shelter, okay?” Melissa said, “For now, just try to stay calm.”

Ivan got to thinking. “No…” he said, “I think I’m going to find a road so I could get a ride home and forget that this ever happened. If Rhodes finds me, I could just tell him I’ve no interest in whatever they’re doing... Hell, I should have done that in the first place!” Ivan turned away and was headed back.

“They’ll take you away,” Melissa shouted. She climbed back up the muddy slope and blocked Ivan’s way.

Ivan eyed her suspiciously. “You’re taking me away,” he said.

“To safety,” Melissa added. “I know Rhodes and his men. I was assigned to get you before they did.”

Ivan pushed back his hair. “Bullshit.” Ivan faced the sky to let the rain land on his face. That ought to refresh him. “How could you possibly know this much stuff? We’re the same age.”

“That’s not true. I’m two years older than you,” Melissa pointed a hand.

“How does that make any difference?” Ivan was frantic, “and how did you know my age? What else do you know?”

“Everything that is essential about you.” Melissa sighed. “Look, Ivan, I know this is difficult to accept but you’re gonna have to get used to a few changes. I’ll explain everything once we’re safe. Just keep in mind that you won’t be safe with Rhodes.”

It was suspicious. Melissa was leaning too forward on Ivan’s side almost as if she was desperate. And desperate means dangerous. “And I’m safe with you?” Ivan returned.

Melissa understood Ivan’s doubt. She failed to establish trust with Ivan. She focused too much on getting out of Rhodes’s scope since she knew that he was watching Ivan. She wanted to be untraceable but somehow, that wasn’t even possible anymore as one of Rhodes’s men already saw her fleeing with Ivan.

“You cannot choose two sides of one coin,” Melissa grabbed Ivan’s hand. It was almost as cold as ice but still tolerable and Melissa bore it, “and the coin has already been tossed when you followed me.” Melissa smiled and placed her other hand on top of Ivan’s. “You really are a Kryo.”

Ivan didn’t have the slightest idea what Melissa meant but he was sure it had something to do with his coldness. He was too distracted by Melissa’s smile to even ask about what she meant about Ivan being a Kryo. Melissa was warm—at least, the Melissa right now and not the one who couldn’t even talk to him back at the school. Her aura was calming.

Melissa walked aside and headed down for the slope again. Ivan turned to follow when a loud gunshot exploded from the distance. Ivan was rooted on his spot as he saw crimson liquid splash out of Melissa’s left leg, accompanied by her high pitched, cry.

The redheaded girl fell down the slope, her blood washing through the soil with the rain. Ivan was too surprised to move. In that small instance, he saw the bullet go through Melissa’s leg. Another gunshot fired and it targeted Ivan but hit a tree instead. That was enough to get Ivan off his feet. He jumped down the slope and went to Melissa.

She was coiled on the mud, streaks of her red hair messily stuck all across her face. She was biting the pain off, squeezing her bleeding leg. Crimson blood stained her pants and was washed away by the rain. Melissa groaned, enduring the excruciating pain.

Ivan, not knowing what to do, tore a piece of his clothing and tied it above the wound. He tightened the knot. Thereafter, he tore another piece of his clothing and crumpled it to a ball. He pressed it against the wound to stop the bleeding and was surprised at how quickly his white cloth turned red.

“You need to—”

“I won’t run. I’m not leaving you,” Ivan said before Melissa could even finish.

Melissa swallowed the pain. “I’m not asking you to run.” Every word was told with great effort. Watching Melissa suffer shared a small amount of pain to Ivan. The wound wasn’t ordinary. The bullet went through her leg. Ivan could only hope it didn’t hit her bones. “You’re a Kryo, Ivan, that’s why they’re after you. You need to defend us.”

“I-I don’t know how!” Ivan stammered, “I don’t even know what a Kryo is.”

“You’re the only chance we have,” Melissa said. It wasn’t apparent on her face because of her constant effort to bite the pain back but Melissa was afraid too even more than she was in pain. “If Rhodes captures us, he’s going to kill us both. Luckily for you, you’re a Kryo. You get to die instantly…as for me,” Melissa adjusted her position to elevate her back on Ivan’s arms. She didn’t continue.

“What would Rhodes do to you?” Ivan asked when Melissa didn’t continue. “What are you?”

Melissa breathed exhaustedly. Her tongue clicked out her turning-pale lips as she kept her eyes on Ivan, begging him to do all that he can in his power.

“Just human…” Melissa said, “With intelligence on the location of the Kryos. Rhodes will torture me unless in a miraculous event he knows that I wouldn’t speak no matter what. That’s my only miracle of getting an instant death.”

“No…” Ivan pushed his face back as he thought of what to do. He didn’t even know that he was a Kryo—whatever that was. He only looked at his coldness as a rare abnormality albeit other cases weren’t exactly the same as him.

“Cold.” Melissa’s eyes were but slits fighting to stay open. “The drops of rain that came from you are… cold.”

Ivan couldn’t feel it.

“The Kryo has been found. Over.” An envoy spoke behind them to the radio. Moments after, they were surrounded by Rhodes’s men that looked identical because of their black vests and helmets. They outnumbered Ivan and Melissa plus they were all armed. What could two high school students do against them?

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“Kryo subject, Ivan, put your hands in the air,” one of the armed men said as he approached cautiously.

Ivan was quiet…devastated at Melissa fainting inside his arms. “We’re not armed…we’re just kids…” he said through gritted teeth.

“Put your hands in the air now,” the soldier commanded.

Ivan didn’t want to get into further trouble so he complied. He lifted his hands in the air. Out of fear, out of compliance…whatever he had to do to stay alive. The rainwater that ran down his hands stopped and froze. Ivan felt his hand stiffen but no less cold.

The armored man aimed his gun at Ivan. “Don’t even try of using your powers.”

He was afraid of Ivan just as much as Ivan was afraid of him but the cold boy wasn’t using his powers…not that he’s aware of. “I’m not…I don’t know how…”

“Put your hands behind your head,” he commanded which Ivan followed obediently.

The armored man took cuffs from his holster and walked behind Ivan but before he could reach it, he was tripped by the unconscious girl who wasn’t unconscious at all. Melissa had anticipated the scenario to happen and waited it out. The vested man fell on the mud face first and Melissa, enduring the immense pain, pushed herself up to land on the stumbled man’s body. She grabbed the pistol from the man’s holster and loaded the gun.

Three soldiers stationed on top of the slope—all busy talking in the radio to actually notice one of their comrades fell. Melissa took that moment to shoot the nearest one. In one shot, she was able to hit the armored man in the neck, killing him. He stumbled on the slope and that was when the two other soldiers were alerted. The second nearest one aimed his gun but before he could take a shot, Melissa got him. The third one was about to open fire but didn’t.

It surprised Melissa that the soldiers were hesitant. Could it be because of Ivan? No, Melissa thought. Kryos were only captured to be slaughtered in a closed facility. Why were they being careful? She took the opportunity and blasted on the third soldier simultaneously, emptying the pistol she held. The bullets rained on the vest—Melissa was too worn down by her wound to aim as well as she did previously. It was desperation and adrenaline that forced her to endure her wound and got up. Once she lessened the threat, the drive resided. The last soldier fell with the others in the slope and Melissa dropped the gun beside her. She lied on the armored man she tripped and realized that he wasn’t dead or even unconscious.

Melissa reached in for the pistol but it was out of bullets. The man wriggled, squelching on the mud as he got up. He pushed Melissa aside and aimed his gun at her.

“You’re not a Kryo,” the man focused on Melissa with those goggles Rhodes possessed. “And even if you were, you’d be killed anyway. Killing you now doesn’t make any difference.”

Melissa panted. She was covered in mud and smeared with blood from her wound that got unbound when she acted. She was facing up as she looked at the man and then she turned behind her—toward Ivan.

“I’m sorry…” Melissa apologized. It was sincere and it was true. The guilt and sorrow in Melissa’s face almost seemed like a mother’s that failed to protect her child. Under those smears of blood, Ivan was able to look through and see a face that actually cared about him. Melissa cared despite not knowing him…despite her efforts being only a part of her mission.

Melissa was seconds from meeting her death and more of Rhodes’s men showed themselves on the high ground. They were surrounded again and with more men this time.

“Contain the Kryo,” the one aiming the gun at Melissa said. “I’ll take care of this one.”

The armored man grabbed Melissa by the arm and dragged her up on the slope. Ivan was guarded by two men, pushing him to walk but made sure to have a safe distance from him. Ivan could only watch as Melissa was dragged by the arm and when she resisted, the soldier pulled her hair instead. They forced her to kneel at the edge of the slope while one of the men handed his pistol to their pseudo-leader. Ivan knew well he should look away. There was no more hope and watching Melissa die would only register inside his mind, haunting him but…he couldn’t look away. Even as one of the soldiers pushed his face to look forward, Ivan kept on tilting his head.

Melissa, all covered in mud and drenched in rainwater, looked at Ivan for the last time before closing her eyes. She was the one that didn’t want to acknowledge their fate even when they were surrounded by four armored men. Ivan had given up long before they were cornered. He had already given up even as they ran away from Rhodes’s men. And now, it was clear to Melissa. She had accepted her fate but Ivan didn’t.

The two men that guarded Ivan kept their distance from him. Out of impulse, Ivan turned back in a swift dash, slipping on the mud but regaining his composure nonetheless. He couldn’t just watch Melissa get killed. He couldn’t just watch anyone get killed. He didn’t even know what he was going to do once he arrives at the scene. Perhaps he just wanted to extend the inevitable—alter what was going to be written inside his mind—that at least he tried to do something.

Ivan tackled the man holding the pistol but little had it done to even make them budge. He only looked like a kid grappling a grown man by the waist. He was a kid though and that was what’s happening now. Melissa, surprised, turned behind her to what was happening.

The soldier squirmed but Ivan’s lock on him was too strong even if he wasn’t moved from their position. The other men idly stood by—guns at aim but none were shooting. Melissa found that very suspicious. Normally they would have just shot a Kryo already but for some reason they were holding back. They wanted a Kryo alive.

The man, tired of Ivan’s vain attempt, used the base of his pistol to knock the boy on the ground. Ivan fell instantly, his face splashed on the mud. He tried getting up but the man kicked him on the ribs with his heavy boot, sending Ivan back on the ground. Still, Ivan tried.

“You want to die that bad, Kryo?” he spoke to Ivan as if Ivan wasn’t human. “Too bad we can’t kill you just yet,” he said, “Oh well, at least watch your girl die.” The armored man motioned on his comrades and two of them picked Ivan from the ground, holding his hands and shoulders.

The previous man knelt down and grabbed Ivan’s hair so he could look Ivan in the eyes.

“This one doesn’t know how to use his powers,” he chuckled. He was able to tell because of the rain water that had been freezing on Ivan’s body.

Melissa put up a last fight, clawing on the man but she was easily shoved by his elbow and the redheaded girl fell on the mud.

“Alright. Enough time’s wasted,” said the man.

She picked Melissa up by the hair and made her kneel once more.

“No!” Ivan yelled and tried jerking his arms from the two soldiers.

All of them—the government agents or so they claim themselves to be—were laughing at a helpless girl that was about to get killed. It was beyond cruelty.

“No!” Ivan yelled again.

The man positioned his pistol directly behind Melissa’s head. Ivan squirmed harder and harder, his eyes locking on the pistol, begging for it to have no bullets.

Seconds later, no shot came. The man dropped the pistol on the ground and embraced his hand as if he had been shot albeit there was none. Melissa’ wasn’t armed. Ivan wasn’t warmed.

“Argh!” the man groaned painfully. He took off the glove from his aching hand and revealed that it was a pale blue. His hand had frozen and kept on freezing. The undertone darkened until it was a mixture of grey and blue. The color of his nails faded and the outside of his skin had little coats of ice spreading.

The man fell on the ground curled up and shivering. The rainwater that soaked him froze and then… he wasn’t moving. The soldiers that held Ivan in the hands met the same fate. They fell on the ground shivering for moments before suddenly stopping.

What’s left of the remaining soldiers that tried to approach them was killed in the same process as their previous comrades. Ivan wasn’t moving. He was idle all the while everything happened. The mud underneath him had frozen and so was the rainwater that soaked him.

Melissa looked around to the bodies of curled-up soldiers and then she forced herself up.

“Ivan…” Melissa limped carefully.

Ivan clocked his head toward Melissa. The pupil of his eyes were white. And then it returned to normal.

“The men…” Ivan said. “They started dying…” he swallowed. He tried moving from his spot but he was rooted in the frozen mud.

Melissa bent down and placed Ivan’s arm around her neck. She helped him up, breaking the ice of mud.

“Well done, Kryo,” Melissa praised with a smile. “You saved us.”

Ivan was in disbelief. “N-no…” he denied, “I didn’t do any of this…”

“Then you expect that I did?” Melissa chortled. “You were really cool earlier…literally.”

Ivan wasn’t catching up. For all he knew, these men were dead. He killed them and yet Melissa talks about it as if it were some great thing. She praised Ivan as if they just won a tournament.

“No, Melissa…don’t you get it?” Ivan covered his mouth with a hand. “They’re dead! Why do you talk about it like it’s just nothing?”

Melissa understood. She remembered that Ivan wasn’t like her. Ivan was just a student. Although Ivan was a Kryo, he had more humanity than Melissa.

“Ivan, if you hadn’t done it, we would have died,” Melissa delivered her point. Killing was wrong no matter the situation but she tried shining some light into it.

“I didn’t even know I was doing it…” Ivan’s voice was hoarse. “I was just hoping for a miracle that he wouldn’t pull the trigger and—”

“Ivan…” Melissa interjected calmly. “I’m sorry that I had to put you through that. I promise I won’t let it happen again, okay? Just try and forget that this happened. You’re getting cold…colder.”

“I…” Ivan looked down and caught sight of Melissa’s leg. “Your leg,” Ivan reversed the situation. Melissa had been assisting him to stand up when it was her needing of assistance. Immediately, Ivan wrapped one of Melissa’s arms around his neck and helped her sit by a tree.

“It’s nothing…” Melissa said, “It went numb earlier.”

“We need to get you to a hospital,” Ivan said.

“Sure, sure but first,” Melissa adjusted her back lying on the trunk. “You need to discharge your cold. I could feel it emanating from you.”

“I don’t know how…” Ivan said.

Melissa looked around and pointed to a nearby tree. “Just touch that tree over there and think real hard. You may not get the gist of it the first time but accidentally, you’ll do it.”

Ivan went to the tree and touched his hand. Thinking real hard, he tried to discharge his cold but nothing happened until he recalled how the men died. In an instant, he felt something surge out of him but nothing seemed to happen to the tree until its barks suddenly grew coats of ice.

The tree was frozen inside. Kryo huh, Ivan thought. Just like he’d frozen the tree from the inside, he thought about the men that had the same fate. Freezing their blood, their bones and their guts… it was the cruelest thing he did. And he didn’t want to do it again.