Sanctuary

And I never stopped to notice the fire in your hand

The way the chemicals were wired, one would spray out for four seconds at a rapid rate, killing anyone within minutes who inhaled it. After the four seconds, another chemical would spray out, forcing a chemical reaction between the two, creating a hard explosion. I looked at the two bodies Andy and I had taken the lives from, pooled in blood. This bomb was meant to kill us. Not them.

A burning so consuming, but now I understand.

I counted the ticks. 42. 18 to go. I had my mask and war mind in place.

5..
4..
3..
2...............
1.

And now I've fallen, like Icarus to land.

I heard the second spray stream out, and my stomach lurched forward. 15 seconds until this building went up in flames. Andy had been gone 4 minutes and 10 seconds. I ached for him already. I wanted to cry. I was scared. But I had to do this. If I survived this, it would lead the Birdcage's operators to the building. I could then shut this down. I sat under the steel table with my knees to my chest. Hoping. Praying I would make it through this.

The he walls started to shake subtly, then the ground. I looked over, and the bomb caught fire. An explosion erupted from the wall to my left, nearly shattering my hearing. Fireballs shot across the room. I jumped up, dodging a flaming sphere hurling towards me. The floor started to shake even more, I assume I was about to be burned from head to toe, drug down to Hell.

Too late to kill the flame that I fanned.

The the wall I was facing, 50 feet from me shook violently and then erupted. A curtain of flames, and from those flames fireballs shot viciously at me. I dropped onto my hands and knees avoiding them. I covered my head with my hands, mistake. One fireball scraped against my forearms covering my head, causing me to scream in pain. I dropped flat on my stomach, the pain of my arms being burned sending me over the edge, leaving no thoughts except pain. The third wall erupted, then the fourth. All the while while I screamed in pain, and on the fourth wall one fireball caught me. Burning me up the length of the side of my leg, all the way up to my hip. The pain started to make me lightheaded, my vision got blurry, I saw the fabric gone from my leg, leaving charred and bloody muscle and flesh. Then I heard the ceiling crumble. Pieces of the ceiling started to drop, then I felt the immense pain of being struck in the back of the head, a chunk of falling ceiling.

Then it went black.

Notes