Chapter 14

As he had stood and listened to the detective, the exertion of the fight had begun to hit William.  His heart had sped up, his breathing became forced.  But now, wrapped in the fog, the voices with him, William felt nothing.  He ran, urged faster by The Hunter.

The searchlight panned behind him, passed across him as he vaulted over the hood of a parked car, turned and ran down the narrow street.

The Advisor appeared between two cars and pointed behind William before he could hear the sirens or see the reflections of the spinning lights following him.  Then, The Advisor was in front of him again, looking down William's path. 

Another police cruiser fishtailed into the road ahead of him.

Before he could hesitate or change course, The Hunter lengthened his stride.  William followed after, began to feel his pulse increase despite the help from the voices.  Distantly, he knew that if he escaped, there would be more pain tomorrow.

The searchlight found him again.  William didn't bother to duck, simply followed The Hunter toward the oncoming police car.  He heard brakes grind from the vehicle behind him.

As The Hunter sped up, the car before him began to slow.  Ten yards away, it spun, left a smear of rubber on the pavement as it skidded to a halt diagonally in the road.

Six, seven more steps and The Hunter leapt.  William followed, leaned forward and pushed off with one leg.  He only needed enough height to clear the light bar atop the car, and hoped that his momentum would be enough to carry him over the length of the vehicle.

He felt The Caretaker join him as he reached the top of his arc and began to come down.  She wrapped herself around his back and arms.  The trunk of the car came up fast, and The Hunter was with him as well, pulling William's hand out to push against the rear of the vehicle, to give him a heartbeat more time before he came down.

Then, the pavement rushed up.  The voices curled around him, drew his body into a ball with his right arm extended in an arc.  The heel of his hand slid along the pavement, barely touching it as the momentum rolled him forward along the arm and in a diagonal across his back, then into another roll as the energy dissipated.

After the second roll, William stumbled to his feet and into an awkward run.  Ahead, The Advisor pointed him down a larger street.  He ran, turned where the voices directed and saw the helicopter’s searchlight pan the ground for him between the two police cruisers before sweeping down the street after him.

On the larger street, a one way, William scanned the fog-draped buildings.  Even with tall buildings now surrounding him in the downtown area, he knew he had no chance of escaping police that were directed by a helicopter.  No one did.

The Advisor took form in the fog, pointed.  A large, open sided parking garage was less than two blocks away.  The Hunter hurried toward it against the traffic.  William ran after, and even through the fog he felt his lungs begin to labor at the prolonged sprint.  He'd always known the voices would one day ask too much, that he would die doing what they told him to do.  But this was worthless if he couldn't protect Jess.  He couldn't die here. 

And getting caught would be as bad as dying.

He followed The Hunter's glowing path through the traffic, stomped across the hood of a car.  He heard sirens behind him.  The diagonal patrol car must have made room for the other to continue its pursuit.  He snuck a look behind and saw the cruiser stop in the middle of the street, snarling traffic further. 

He ran.  More sirens echoed around the building walls.  More police cars converged.  Ahead, The Hunter veered off the street into the parking garage.  As William followed, the searchlight locked onto him.  Even through the numb of the fog, he felt his long unused muscles failing as he ran the last few steps.  Then, finally, he was under the concrete roof of the garage where the light couldn't follow.  He tried not to slow as he stumbled up the first section of ramp after The Hunter.

He heard metal rend behind him as a police car scraped the ticket machine and shattered the lowered barrier arm.  The second car swerved in the entryway and demolished the machine entirely as William ran around a corner and continued up the ramp.

Even with the fog dampening the sound, the sirens assaulted William in the tight space.  The cars sped up the ramp after him, closed to yards, then feet, less cautious than the earlier drivers.

At The Advisor's motion, William dodged to the side, tumbled to the ground between two cars that were parked facing the outside wall of the garage.  The lead patrol car sped on without stopping and the second one skidded past him and stopped with a squeal of brakes.  William followed the voices around to the front of a parked car.  A moment later, the second squad car rolled backward, the side-mounted light trained between the parked cars. 

It rolled past, went down four cars, then drove forward for another pass.

"Shit."  William heard the driver say.

The cruiser rolled up tight to the parked cars and jerked to a stop.  The Advisor formed up next to the door, then returned to William.  He is calling for others.

William looked up and down the row of cars, found no obvious exit.  As he crouched, he felt his muscles begin to seize, he stomach clench.  Nausea rushed through him, caused him to sweat more than all the running had.  He pulled his hands away from the garage floor, tried to let his mind drift, tried to keep the fog around him, but the pain began to grow.  The sensation started to force the fog away.

He knew that without the help of the voices he'd be caught in an instant.  He didn't want them, but knew how much he needed them right then.  As the three figures began to fade, he turned to The Caretaker.  "Help."

Without even a nod, she melted into him, her arms stretched into his stomach.  The nausea disappeared and William collapsed to the concrete.  The Hunter and Advisor became more solid next to him as they stood and surveyed the ramp.

The fog was thick around him again, but William heard the echo of new sirens and saw more lights flash into the garage.  As The Caretaker moved away, he looked across the concrete, underneath the car, and saw one of the new patrol cars stop.  Police got out and he heard garbled chatter from their radios.  "He ducked between two cars.  Start down there."

As The Hunter stalked up to the police, The Advisor opened a window through the car for William and he could see more than their feet and ankles.  He watched as The Hunter began to paint targets on the two officers.