The Blood Sword (Book One of The Blood Sword Series)

Chapter Twenty-Two: Hunter

Hunter left the elevator heading for the labs. She had gotten a call from Sam to meet her down in lab two. She just hoped he did not call her down here so the lab tec's could try to get her to spill the Takeda smelting secrets again. They had tricked her into coming down here more than once attempting to get the formula for red steel out of her.

She entered lab two and froze her eyes widening. For a moment, she was back in Jeric's torcher chamber, naked and freezing. She blinked and she was back in the lab. Her body gained a mind of it's own as it started to shake and she could not seem to stop it.

'Are you ok?' Sam asked worried as he helped her sit down. Hunter did not remember him approaching her at all. 'I am sorry Hunter; I should have warned you it was here.' Hunter shook her head and looked at either an exact copy of the cell she had been trapped in, or the cell itself.

'Is that?' she asked with a frown. Sam nodded.

'Yes. I had it removed after we freed you.' He explained. 'I did not recognize the technology used in its creation so I had it sent here for study. When Joe told me you wanted to work on building an immunity to cold, I thought this may be the way to do it.' Hunter nodded rubbing her arms. Just looking at the cell sent chills up her spine. 'If you are not up to this, we can try something else.'

'No.' she said giving herself a mental shake. She stood up forcing her body back under control 'No, this will do. It is what he used, and I am sure others like Jeric have similar technology.' She frowned to Sam. 'It is too powerful a weakness Sam. I have to beat it.' He nodded then motioned to a door to the right.

'That is a bathroom.' He said. 'There is a bathing suit in there. I need you to put it on and nothing else. Then we will get started.' She did as told. Once she was dressed, Sam locked her into the cell.

The door opened and three men in lab coats entered. Sam scowled at them. 'Out.' He ordered. 'This lab is off limits until further notice.' They looked like they wanted to argue but Sam's look of anger stopped them. The three left and he went to the door locking it. He looked to Hunter. 'I did not think you would want an audience for this.' She nodded her thanks and he returned to the panel. 'All right Hunter, the temperature in the cell right now is seventy one degrees. How is that for you? Cool? Warm? Comfortable?'

'It's comfortable.' She replied and he nodded.

'Ok when Jeric had you, his man dropped the cell to ten degrees.' Sam said studying the screen before him. 'Man that had to suck.' Hunter snorted.

'Yeah, you could say that.' She replied with a frown. Sam looked to her.

'Don't worry. When I am done with you, I will have you running in the snow naked and loving it.' Hunter laughed shaking her head. 'Ok get ready. I am dropping the temp to forty five.' He pressed the buttons. The cold washed over Hunter just like before. She wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to keep warm. Sam was on the other side of the panel shaking his head.

'That will not work. I want you to repeat this phrase to yourself. Movement equals warmth. Jog in place, push ups, sit ups, squat thrust. Anything to keep your body warm.' Hunter jogged in place with her arms wrapped as tight as she could around herself self. 'That's it. I will keep you in there for an hour to start.' He set a timer then looked back to her. 'It will help to keep your mind occupied. Think of anything but the cold.'

Hunter had her doubts at first about this whole thing, but as she picked up her pace and put more energy into some of the hand-to-hand drills and sword drills she knew, she felt warmer.

The door beeped and opened. Sam looked to it annoyed, but relaxed seeing Ty and Joe come in. Joe closed and locked the door behind them.

'I received a call from some tecs saying you kicked them out of their lab.' Joe explained. 'I explained to them this lab will be reserved for this hour and they would have to be patient.' Sam nodded and looked back to the read out on the screen.