Schism

Chapter 6 part 2

William leaned back from the edge.  He thought, tried to find the man's face in his memory, but it was still too clouded.  He shook his head to try to clear it, but was left with the fog that surrounded him and the fuzziness he had felt for the last two years.  He knew the drugs they had been giving him couldn't be completely out of his system yet.

The Hunter tensed by him and growled near his ear.  Now.  Go.

He tried again to look down at the apartment across the street, at the curtained windows, but the fog thickened as the first street lights popped to life below and obscured all the details of the building. 

The Advisor pointed away from Jess' apartment again and The Caretaker leaned a hand into William's chest.  She needs your help, she said.

"Jess needs my help, my protection," William said.

Go.  Now, The Hunter said.

The Advisor pointed away from Jess' building again.  She will lead him to you.  It was another typical answer from them.  They always seemed to withhold something, didn't care that William didn't understand.  He sighed, hoped that at the very least, they wouldn't make him dumpster dive this time.

He turned and the voices led him to the fire escape.  He put a hand onto the eave and dropped down onto the metal platform as the sun went down behind the buildings.

After hurrying down the steps and a final jump to the street, William sped up from a jog to a run, The Hunter only steps ahead of him.  Horns blared at William as he followed the voices through a miniscule break in traffic on a busy street, then down a side street.  As dusk dimmed to full night, a dozen blocks slid by in the fog, and while it numbed him from the pain of tired muscles, his breathing began to grow more ragged.

Finally, The Hunter stopped, rose and pointed to a tight street ahead.  All of the streetlights  above were cracked, useless and dark.  In the darkest recess of the street there was a brief shadow of movement.

Now, The Hunter said.

Before it is too late, The Advisor said, next to him.

*

William walked forward, his breath suddenly even, steady and quiet.  The fog around him intensified the outlines of the boarded up tenements that crowded against the sidewalks, painted everything in greater contrast for him to better see in the faint light.

Ahead, two men leaned into the shadows, obscuring a third, smaller figure.  The bigger of the two men was older, with a shaved head that did nothing to disguise his heavily receding hairline.  The younger man walked with a distinct limp.  In the fog a faded red glow throbbed out from his left hip.

Baldy moved aside and the fog swirled, highlighted a woman, her features Asian, in a black skirt and button down top.  Underneath the numbness of the fog, William recognized it as some sort of waitress' uniform.  She backed away from the men and looked more desperate as she noticed William.

The smaller man saw her reaction, turned.

William stopped in the middle of the street, not ten feet away from Baldy, Limp and the woman.  He stared as the fog churned around the three.

Limp swung out a hand, slapped Baldy on the back.  "Hey, check this out.  A retard."

"Get rid of him."  Baldy barely turned from the woman, but she took the opening to try to dash away.  William watched the fog swirl with angry red as Baldy grabbed her and shoved her back into the shadows. 

Limp made his way up to within inches of William, puffed up his nonexistent chest.  "Get lost."

William watched.