Schism

Chapter 49 part 4

Bryan raised the revolver and aimed quickly, for the center of mass, as he took a step forward and pulled the trigger.

The shot was low.  The shotgun pellets hit Jared's spine in his lower back.  The man pitched forward and his rifle skittered across the floor to the side. 

Smith's arms flailed at the floor and he raised his head.  He lifted his hand in a plea for help.  Bryan ignored it and looked into the fire.  "William!"

He thought he saw movement in the center of the fire.  He held his hands around his eyes, squinted out as much of the light as he could.  "William!"

A figure in the center of the fire stood, lurched toward him.  He couldn't make out the face, but it was tall, too tall for Harold.

He ran up as close as he could, stepped inside the door to stand beside Jared's waving arm.  The man said nothing, just tried to pull himself toward the door. 

Bryan stepped away from Jared as William staggered out of the fire and fell to the ground.  Bryan went down to his hands and knees and crawled forward, his face turned away from the heat.  He reached forward and pulled William away, an inch at a time.  He heard his friend gasp in a huge breath of air and kept dragging.

They reached the door.  He staggered up and pulled William with him.  He noticed that William was naked and bleeding from a gunshot wound to the shoulder.  "Good god," Bryan said.  He dragged his friend over the threshold, struggled out of his jacket and put it over his friend's chest.  William's right arm was limp at his side, but he smiled at Bryan.

"I'm just gonna bleed all over it," William said as he crumpled to the ground.

"Better than having to look at you naked."  He fell down on the sidewalk beside William.  They both lay there, unable to move further away.  "Don't make me carry you too." 

"I'm just waiting for some pants."  William said.  He started to look around, but his eyes locked on the open door.  He pointed his uninjured arm at it.

Bryan frowned.  He raised his head and looked back into the brightly burning building, only to see the muzzle of Jared's rifle pointed at him.  The man hadn't been dragging himself to the door, but to the gun.  Bryan rolled away, flattened himself to the pavement, and tried to shout out a warning, but William was still down.  The crack of the rifle echoed out over the sound of flames and breaking support beams inside the building.  Eight shots in rapid succession sailed over their bodies, followed by the ping of the clip hitting the pavement, then silence.  Bryan slowly looked up.

The rifle was on the floor and Jared's breathing was quick and shallow.  The fire was almost on him.  Bryan looked at William. They both started to crawl toward the car as the factory building began to crumble in on itself.

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(Author's note:  Almost there, everyone.  Just a few problems for William and Bryan to settle.  Thank you all for the votes and comments!  If you haven't please follow me to find out more about the sequels to Schism and the other books I'll be releasing on Wattpad.)