William's anger with Bryan had faded on the trip over, and the voices had stopped haranguing him once he'd entered the garage.  And then he had found out exactly what the trap was.  It was the little man, who had burned Bryan's car.  He had been about to do the same thing to William.

But now fire grew along the walls and the floor toward him and the children.  He tore into the tape that held the next child to the chair.  It broke easily in his fingers and he moved to the next.  The freed ones sat or lay limply in place.  He didn't know where to direct them even if they had been able to move on their own.

The fire has covered the door.  The Advisor pointed, but William didn't look up.  He kept focused on his work as The Hunter pointed out the weakest points in the bonds.  The Caretaker wrapped around children as they fell.  The youngest looked to be about seven or eight and the oldest was a young man who might have been sixteen. 

William stopped in front of the girl next to him, saw that the young man was shaking.  The girl let out a whimper and the young man echoed it.  When William tore a strip of duct tape away from her arms, the young man flinched with her.

He turned to The Caretaker.  He can feel them.  It is overwhelming for him.

"Can he see you?" William asked as he went back to work.

The Caretaker shook her head.  He is different.

With a final jerk at the tape, William freed the girl and started setting the young man free.  His eyes were glazed and his breathing fast.  Shock.  The last bit of tape at the ankles came away and William put his hands on the young man's cheeks, turned his head up.

No response.

William moved one hand down, dug his index finger and thumb in around the young man's collar bone and squeezed hard.  Awareness flooded the young man's dark face as he howled out a protest.

"Wake up.  I need your help."  William tore the tape and rope off the last of the children.  "Pick up as many of them as you can.  Now."  The young man blinked at him, then grabbed the two young girls next to him and began to lift them up.

The fire had spread across three walls and was moving onto the far one even as it crawled across the floor toward them, spreading out to join the remnants of the two bombs.  The window and the door were both cut off.

The Advisor formed a distance away from him, near a spot on the far wall.  At the base, there is a weak section.

William scooped up the two youngest with one arm, and hoisted the second oldest to her feet beside him.  He nodded to the young man, who had the last two in his arms, and started around the growing leftovers of the second fire bomb to the back wall.

They passed by the burning body of the racist and the young man slowed beside him.

He is dying.  The boy can feel it, The Caretaker said.

"Don't stop."  William nudged him forward with his shoulder.

There is one left.  The Hunter pointed and William saw the outline of the other racist, the one who had fallen for his fake charge and thrown the first bomb.  It had given William a chance to start freeing the children, something the voices hadn't argued against either.

"Does he have a gun?"

The Hunter shook his head.

"Then leave him," William said.  They stopped at the wall.

The heat grew around them and William was grateful to drop down low as he looked at the spot The Advisor had pointed out.  The blocks were cracked and it looked as though the mortar had been chewed away by rats. 

He moved the two youngest away from the wall and started to kick.  The Hunter stood with him and William slammed a side kick downward into the wall.  The growing sound from the flames swallowed the crack of the impact, but he felt the brick give way and saw the cracks widen.

He kicked again, and again.  As the bottom block shook loose, William dropped to his side and began to kick straight at the ones surrounding it.  They cracked and tumbled down outside the building.  None of the children were big.  The hole was just large enough.

The Hunter stood and looked into the fire.  He is coming.

William ignored the warning and turned to the young man, who sat on the ground, his eyes losing their focus.

He can feel how frightened the others are, The Caretaker said.  William grabbed the young man's hand and bent a finger the wrong way.  Another howl of pain.

"That's your pain.  Use it.  It works for me."  William waited for the young man to focus.  He pushed the finger farther.  "Do you need me to break it?"

"No.  No."

"Then get out there and pull the young ones through," William said.

The young man did as he was told and William handed the youngest child to him, then the next.

He is searching for a weapon.  He is closer, The Hunter said.  William ignored the warning.  The fire was spreading close enough; he didn't need more to worry about.  Then, the roof groaned.  He looked overhead and saw that the fire was crawling over the corroded metal ceiling.  At the far end of the building, near the sliding door, a section of it buckled and crashed down.

He pushed the next child through.  The Caretaker knelt close to the two remaining teenage girls, her hands passing slowly through them.  The one on the right turned to William.  "You're him."

William held up a hand.  The last thing he wanted was to be called that stupid name again.  "Go."

She did and the last girl squirmed out after her.

When her tennis shoes scrambled out the hole, William rolled onto his back and started to inch his way out after her, head first.  The blocks above him scraped at his chest as he wormed his way under them.  The hole had been fine for the children, but maybe not for him.

He exhaled, kept pushing forward with his legs.  Finally, he scraped his ribs free and jerked his arms out.  He pushed his palms against the side of the building and was free to his waist, then his hips.

The Hunter took shape above him and simply pointed inside.

William felt the hands grab his lower legs before any of the voices said anything.  Immediately, the man inside tried to pull him back in.  William thrashed his legs, got his right one free and tried to push himself out.

But the man inside the building caught hold of the top of William's left boot and pulled backward.