Schism

Chapter 48 part 2

William felt The Caretaker press down over him.  Lower.  Get lower, she said.

He tried, but couldn't press himself any closer to Jess.  He drew his arm up over her chest and face.

Four shots rang out in the doorway, then the footsteps of two men before the room exploded in a storm of shotgun pellets, rifle bullets and smoke.

With The Caretaker so close to him, William's senses were so dulled that be barely felt the two bullets pass through his left triceps.  Blood poured out onto Jessica's already stained shirt and all William could do was close his eyes and try to fight back the knowledge that no matter what, this was the last time he'd hold her this close.

In talking with the voices, in finding out what they were and how he was a part of them, he had found part of his place in everything that had happened.  But that intellectual realization did nothing to dull the emotions brought on by really knowing that he no longer had any part in Jessica's life.  More blood leaked down onto her as he tried to lean in tighter.

He felt a tug at his leg as a bullet caught his tattered pant leg.  Finally, the shooting stopped.

"Clear!"

William's eyes opened and looked down at his wounds.  Two bullets had passed all the way through, only a breath away from the bone and the large artery.  It would slow him down, make it harder to carry Jess, but not kill him.  He inspected the leg as well, but found that the round had only grazed over the already ruined trousers. 

Two at the top of the stairs.  Ten have gone down the hall, The Hunter said.

Arm tight to his body, William pushed himself up.  He had only seconds before the men cleared the back bedroom and came back to search the rooms again.  But he stopped a moment to look down at Jess.

She was covered in blood.  Thankfully, it was his.  But he could see that the last few hours had taken a toll on her.  Two years in a mental hospital had destroyed the man he had been, the man that he hoped she had loved.  It was obvious that it had taken only one night and one encounter with the voices to break her down into a different person. 

He didn't know who she would turn into after she woke.  All he had to do was make sure she got out of this building alive.

The lid of the footlocker was a constellation of bullet holes, but the contents were untouched.  Next to a stack of small memory cards labeled GILES was a handgun, which he pushed aside, and several knives.  He pulled one out of its sheath, a double sided commando knife with a matte finish.  This wouldn't be self-defense where he used the attacker's weapons against them.  This was killing.

He settled the knife into his grip and turned to the door, where The Hunter waited.

As he stopped at the door, The Caretaker stood close at his side and dulled the pain from the array of wounds on his body.  The Hunter stepped out into the hall and nodded at William.

The men were all focused on the end of the hall.  They were lined up in staggered rows, each ready to step forward when those in front needed to reload, which the two at the back were doing.  It was a simple system that would have been impossible for him to beat in an enclosed area.  He felt beyond lucky that they hadn't been as thorough in the side bedroom and hadn't checked closer before moving on.

Even with The Caretaker's help, his left arm ached brutally as he raised it and lifted the nearest man's chin from behind.  He plunged the knife in the front of the throat and drew it forward as hard and fast as he could.  The man toppled downward, unable to make a sound, and was only noticed by his partner at the back of the crowd.  The man turned, shotgun at his shoulder, but William closed the distance before he could aim. 

William let his injured arm drop and drove the knife straight into the man's ribs, an inch to the left of the sternum.  The shotgun clattered to the ground as the men at the head of the group began to fire into the bedroom where Jess had been captive.  William jerked the blade free and the second man fell.

The third man died just as quickly, but William was only beginning to shove the knife into the top of the fourth man's spine when the men at the front turned and hurried to the back to reload.

They both froze when they saw him and the dying man held in his injured arm.  William saw their eyes dart to the three bodies in the hallway.  He was out of time.

"Back here!"  The man's voice was a panicked shout.  He drew his gun up on reflex, but it clicked empty.  His partner dropped his assault gun and pulled a pistol from his waist.  Red streaks flashed through the fog toward William's head and chest.

He crouched lower, brought the fourth body down with him as a shield.  The first few bullets flew overhead, but the second grouping was lower and the body shook in his hands with each impact.  He pulled the knife free and as The Hunter wrapped around him, he lunged up and threw the body into the six remaining men.

They were tightly packed at the end of the hallway and the two who had seen him tumbled back into the second rank.  All four men went down.  The final two were further in the room, still firing.  They didn't turn immediately and William realized they probably hadn't heard the warning.

Only one of the men on the ground had the foresight to shoot from the ground instead of struggling to stand up.  William ducked down low until he heard the last shot from the handgun.  The Advisor nodded to him and he rose, switched the knife into an ice pick grip and waded into the four men. 

The one with the pistol was struggling to reload, while the others were little more than a tangle of bodies trying to get up.  One knee on a dead body, William leaned over the middle of the four men and brought the knife down into the first, then the others.

He left it sticking out of the last of the downed men for a moment as he eased himself onto his feet.  On top of exhaustion, hunger and pain, he had now lost blood.  How much longer he'd be able to fight was an unsettling thought.

The two men in the room stopped firing and began to turn.  William grabbed the knife in a forward grip and yanked it out, already stepping into the room.

The first man stepped back and shouted at his partner.  "He's here."  He dropped his gun and reached for a revolver.  The second hefted his shotgun like a club and swung at William's head.

He saw the path of the shotgun's stock as he entered the room and stepped with it, ahead of the arc until he could reach out with his injured left arm and catch the man's wrist.  He jerked it to the side, felt fresh blood seep from his wounds, but it gave him an opening under the side of the man's ribs.  He drove the knife up, into the diaphragm and twisted. 

A wheeze of air rushed into the wound as the man twitched and began to topple over.  William held onto the knife as the body fell, then he looked up to see red tracers leave the revolver, all six shots low and at William's center of mass.

(Author’s note:  What would happen if William doesn’t make it?  Would Bryan and Jess have a chance without him?  Thanks for the votes and comments!  Let me know what you think!)