Schism

Chapter 40 part 1

Chapter 40

Jess had immediately opened the bedroom and crossed to the main door to hear what was going on in the hallway.  After a moment of straining, she heard a low whoosh sound from down the hall, and then a woman's scream.

She stepped back from the door.  In seconds she began to smell the smoke.  The memory of curling up in front of a fire with William came to her, but was wiped away as she smelled the sharp odor of burning ceiling tiles.

Another cry came from the hall and she stepped toward the door.  As she did, the rushing noise came again and heat flashed against her skin.  She stumbled back.  The noise and heat felt like the door itself was on fire.  Slowly, she extended a hand, withdrew it before she could get close.

She turned and hurried to the windows.  She unlocked the middle one, but heard more flames surging up on her left, moving closer.  She stepped back again and felt the heat on her face.  It was lighter at first, but grew more intense quickly.  The windows had caught fire, then the drapes.  The sound she had heard from down the hall had obviously been fire spreading, but how could it have moved to her room so quickly?  Why had it only reached the door and the windows?

Smoke settled down over her.  She dropped to her knees and crawled into the kitchen.  Head low, she grabbed a stack of dish towels and ran them under cold water.  She wrapped several around her head, held another to her mouth.

The window in her bedroom might not have caught fire yet.  She began to crawl there, probing out with a hand.  She had the apartment memorized for walking, not crawling.  As she crept forward, she thought back to Bryan's questions about William, to Bryan's car catching fire.  She knew the voice they had just heard wasn't William's, but Bryan was afraid of him.  Was this why, the fire?  But how could he light her door and windows on fire without being there?

Something pounded on the far side of the door.

*

William limped down the hall.  Westen mumbled something against his chest.  She was heavier than he'd thought, even held tight against his body.  Maybe he was too used to the help from the voices.  He certainly felt like he could barely walk without them at that moment, let alone carry the doctor down a burning hallway.

All the struggle over the last few days, all of his efforts to get rid of the voices had failed, and yet he had been able to send them to help Mickelson with just a few words.  Finally, he was going to see Jess without the voices around.  It was what he'd wanted for years.

Had he done it?  Had he forced them to go?  Or, had they left because they were done with him?  The voices had said that the fire starters were coming together here.  All he had to do was get her out.  Then he'd face the two men who were starting the fires.  He was going to see Jess without the voices, and then he was going to die.  Is that what the voices wanted from him?

He slowed near her door and studied the fire.  Without help, it was hard to see through the smoke and flame.

His left leg buckled under him and he nearly tumbled to the ground as he tried to hoist the doctor higher in his arms.  He took a deep breath and tested it.  It was shaky, but he hoped it would hold long enough to get through the door.

The heat was almost unbearable, but he stepped as close to the door as he could and turned Westen's face into his chest.  He brought his good knee up high and kicked the bottom of his foot out at the door.

It hit the handle first, skidded onto the flat of the door.  He stumbled, struggled to get both feet on the floor before he fell forward into the burning door.  With a backward lurch, he managed to stay upright and out of the fire.

He tried again.  This time, the kick landed hard on the door just beside the knob.

For a long moment, his foot seemed to stick to the burning door, though he knew it was exhaustion.  William felt the boot grow hot, but before he could pull it back, the door fell open.

William stumbled in, Westen held tight.

And there she was.

He saw her turn to the noise.  Her head was covered in wet towels and she held another to her mouth as she sat on the floor.  He limped toward her, and his burnt knee finally gave out.  He dropped down, but managed to keep from dropping the doctor.  He eased her down the rest of the way and fell to his side.  "Jess."

"William?"  She crawled toward him and stopped when her hand touched Westen.  "Who's this?"

William only wanted to look at her.  All of the fighting he'd done to get to her, struggling to push the voices away had finally worked.  But he could barely move.  The pain was everywhere and he was too tired to push it aside.  All he could do was watch her.

She was soaked in water and covered in soot.  He smiled.  It wasn't exactly the image of her that he'd held onto for the last two years.

"Jessica."  Westen's voice was quiet, obviously pained.

"Dr. Westen?"  Jessica's hands explored the doctor, found the burned bandages and retreated.

"My pocket."  William could only sit there as Westen guided Jessica's hands down to her jacket pocket.    Jess pulled out the syringe, then ran her fingers over it.  She dropped it quickly.

"What is that?"  Jess asked.

William knew what it was.

"Just a sedative.  Help me sit up."  Westen turned to William.  She looked exhausted.  How she could think of killing him now, he didn't understand.  He heard no answer from Jessica and Westen turned back to her.  "You remember what I said?"

William tried to rise.  He got an elbow beneath him and felt pain shoot through it.  He fell back to the floor.

He saw Jess reach under Westen's shoulder and help prop the doctor up.  Westen gripped the syringe and popped the cap off the needle with her thumb.  William set his other elbow on the ground and rolled to his side.

"Closer."  Westen said.

Jess stopped and William inched away from Westen.  "The fire," Jess said.  "We need to get out."

"He needs to be sedated first.  Get me closer."  When Jess didn't move, Westen spoke again.  "Remember what he did.  To me.  To you."

William saw Jess turn her face to him.  He had seen her do that many times; look at people's faces to make them more comfortable.  He had loved the gesture before, but there, in the middle of the fire, it made him feel cold all over.

"William.  You're sick."  She propped the doctor up closer to him.  William couldn't move, didn't want to.  He had seen her without the voices surrounding him.  If this is what she wanted, that was fine.

He watched as Westen reached forward, brought the needle close to his arm.  Her hand shook, but with the amount of sedative in the syringe, he doubted she would need to hit a vein to kill him.  He thought of pulling his arm back, didn't bother.  Maybe this was what the voices wanted.

He heard movement in the hall, but didn't turn his head.  Then he heard Bryan's voice.

"No, Jess.  He's not."

The fog formed everywhere around him.  Westen looked at Bryan and stabbed down on the needle, thumb already pressing on the plunger.

The Hunter took shape beside William and placed his outlined palm under the needle.  It stopped and snapped before it touched William's skin.  The syringe slid sideways and hit the floor, liquid oozing from the broken needle.  Westen stared down at it.

"I have to help her," William said.  No one moved, not even the voices.  Even in the midst of the fire, she had wanted him dead.  But he knew why.  She didn't want to kill him because of what he had seen, but because of what he might make her see.  There was something inside her that she didn't want to face, and it was the only thing that would help her.  He couldn't let himself do anything else.  "Show her why.  Now.  I don't care if it's the right time or not.  Do it."  He stared at the voices.  Even knowing how much they needed out of the building, he still had to do this.  Slowly, The Advisor knelt beside Westen and placed his hand over her eyes.  William reached up and set his hand there as well.

*