Schism

Chapter 28 part 2

Run, The Hunter said again.

This will not help, The Advisor said.

The Caretaker moved next to Bryan.  He needs your protection.

The first detective took another step closer to William, one hand on his handcuffs.  "Rios, let me talk to him," Bryan said.

William said the word to Bryan, but directed it to everyone there, human and non-human.  "No."

There was a ripple in the fog as the three detectives tensed.  William didn't move.  He waited and The Hunter stepped up, swiped targets on Rios' throat and abdomen.

"No," William said.  The Hunter turned to him and the red targets faded away.

"That's it," Cray said.

The fog around Cray's taser crackled with red and blue light for a fraction of a second, then showed the path of the darts straight to William's chest.  He waited.

"Don’t," Bryan said.  William didn't turn to him, kept his eyes focused on the taser.

As Cray squeezed the trigger, William lashed out with a hand and yanked Rios to the spot he'd been standing.  The darts struck the detective in the right side of his chest and the current running through them dropped him immediately to the ground, the shotgun tumbling a few feet away.  William looked over at Cray, who took two full seconds to realize he had hit the wrong target.

Finally, Cray pulled his finger off the trigger and dropped the taser.  The Hunter painted a series of targets on this detective.  Eyes, sternum, side of knee, neck.  "No," William said.  He thought of dropping the heavier detective to his back, formed the image in his mind and got a nod from The Hunter.

As Cray dug under his shoulder for his gun, William closed the distance.  The Hunter showed him a sweep on Cray's outline.

The gun came free and Cray swung it out, but William ducked and rushed forward, already in close range.  He drove his right arm up, his shoulder under Cray's armpit, then swung it downward across the heavy man's chest and neck as he chopped his leg back and up in a sweep behind Cray’s knees.

Cray's legs sailed up as his back plummeted down to the grass.  William guided him down until he hit with a loud thump.  His gun made a softer thud as it landed in the grass a few feet away.  The detective went silent, wide eyed for a moment, then his face tightened in pain and he groaned loudly.  As Cray rolled to his side and pressed a fist into his lower back, William saw little shoots of red blossom and pulse from the man's back down his writhing legs.

William turned to Bryan, saw that the taser was out again.

Protect him, The Caretaker said.

The others cannot know that he knows you, The Advisor said.

The taser showed no crackling light around the barrel.  Bryan wasn't going to try to shoot William.

He still needs your help, The Caretaker said.

William felt his lips pull away from his teeth, heard the breath hissing out between his clenched lips before he was aware of what it meant.  Then, the emotion began to push up through the fog.  It was anger.

With it came a wave of other feelings and sensations.  The hopelessness returned and pain began to spread through his body.

Before it burned the fog away and left him without the help of the voices, William snatched a hand out and grasped the barrel of the taser.  The plastic crunched and broke beneath his fingers.