Page 14 of Burn For Me

Adam’s eyebrows raised, and a sadistic smile curled his lips. “As much as I’m looking forward to meeting my maker, there are a few things I’d like to accomplish first. It’s a deal. Lead the way.”

Opening the backpack, I pulled out a spare sweater and hat I’d taken. “Put these on and act normal. Or as normal as you can anyway. That means don’t try to kill or eat anyone.”

“I like you, West. You have potential.” I blinked and stared at him.

Didn’t think that was the compliment I ever wanted to hear, yet it felt good to have a serial killer with over fifty known kills tell me that I had potential.

Rolling out my shoulders, I stood straight and marched toward the exit. Dumping a handful of condoms down the laundry shoot and another in a hamper on my way toward the exit. Adam was a silent ghost beside me, his head down and a slight limp to his normally even gate gave him a whole new appearance. The man was a chameleon, and I wanted to learn to be like that, but not from him, never from him.

I swiped the card to open the first set of doors, and the little lock box clicked green, unlocking the metal lock. Taking a deep breath, I felt an electrical charge race through my body as the door clicked shut behind me. In front of us, there was a short corridor and a set of double doors with a security guard station being managed by one male.

“If he gives us any trouble, I will take care of him,” Adam said softly, and I swallowed hard at the tone in his voice.

I made sure the burnt side of my face stayed hidden from his view as I said goodnight and unlocked the door the guard was manning. He obviously didn’t know or care about the orderlies because he didn’t even pay us any attention. In fact, he never lifted his eyes from the tablet he held that had a show on he was watching.

As soon as the doors were closed behind me, I made my way over to the fire hose they kept locked up and broke the glass pulling it free. I always knew memorizing the building map would come in handy.

Adam watched me slip the thick hose through the pair of handles on the doors and then use the fire extinguisher as the center of my tourniquet-type knot that I twisted tight.

“I like your style, West.” I looked at Adam over my shoulder and wished I had eyes in the back of my head. If people thought they shouldn’t turn their back on me, they hadn’t met this man.

This time of night was a beauty and a curse because of the skeleton crew staff. On one hand, I wanted to kill as many the people here that had hurt me as possible, but I wanted to escape more. Looking around to make sure there was not a soul in sight, an evil grin spread across my face when I saw the coast was clear. Leaving the remaining condoms in the backpack, I dropped the whole bag into the trash by the front exit. I stopped with my hand on the door, glanced at the empty administration area, and sighed with relief.

We’d only made it to the parking lot when the first explosion erupted inside, setting off a chain reaction of events. The bombs themselves were relatively harmless, but miniature annoying fires, but I knew that the fire sprinklers would come on, and that was the key. Anticipation vibrated through my body as I waited, and I almost cheered with triumph as the spray could be seen flicking on through the windows and dousing the floors. I’d specifically chosen that combination of chemicals because they spread with water and spread like a wildfire in a dray forest with a gentle breeze, they did. Within a moment, the entire building was a bright orange glow that filled me with a sadistic desire that was as loud in my ears as the screams.

“I must admit that is quite impressive, my boy,” Adam said and turned to face me.

The shadows from the blazing fire danced across his face, and the normally disturbing eyes practically glowed an unearthly shade. He looked like he belonged among the flames, and as I stared into his eyes that seemed black, I wondered if I’d regret this moment. Had I just made a deal with the devil?

“I owe you one favor for setting me free. If we meet again, be sure to use it, and then we will be even.” Slipping his hands into the sweater, Adam whistled a tune that I didn’t know as he casually strolled out of sight.

I turned my attention back to the flames that were now out of control. They sprouted out of the top of the building in turrets that reached for the sky like arms grasping for something only it could see.

I wanted to stay here all night and watch as the people still stuck inside ran past windows, trying to find a way out before the whole building came down. But they were realizing by now that they were trapped. The same safety measures specifically designed to keep us horrifying members of society in the building now prevented those trying to escape from getting out. They reminded me of fleeing rats in a flood. I could picture that terror in their eyes as my creation fed on their flesh as it devoured them.

“Too bad those windows aren’t breakable huh,” I said to myself as more than one chair began beating on the panes of re-enforced glass.

The fire trucks in the distance were closing in and a giggle snuck out. Until they realized what kind of fire it was, they were only going to make it worse with their water hoses. As my cock stirred in my pants, I knew it was time to get going even though every instinct screamed to stay and watch. Fighting the internal battle, I turned and jogged a few feet away and froze in front of a small yellow car.

“No, no, no.” My eyes roamed over the brightly colored Volkswagen with the pink flower on the dash. How many times had Adalyn joked about how silly I’d look driving her bright yellow Bug? Jogging around to the passenger side, I slammed my foot into the window two or three times until the glass finally shattered.

Reaching inside, I unlocked the door and opened the glove compartment in search of what my racing mind needed to know. My hands shook as I grabbed the little folded piece of plastic and opened it to stare at the name: Adalyn Cooper.

“No, no, no.” The only words my mouth could form as my eyes shot back up to the building—no one was getting out of there. “No, she hadn’t been to work. She can’t be inside.”

But the voice in the back of my head understood one thing. It wasn’t that she hadn’t been back to work. It was that the good doctor had assigned her to a different wing, one that was far away from me. With the car ownership record clenched in my fist, I ran for the building as the firetrucks came screaming up the driveway.

The front entrance was fully engulfed in the bright flames, so I ran around the side of the building, searching every window on the lower level to find a way inside. Even though I had no idea where she would be, I found none that weren’t already on fire and the windows groaning with the heat of the flames. I’d done too good of a job. The fire had used the water as a mode of transportation and had spread faster than even I could have fathomed.

The water turned from savior to weapon as it rained down on all those inside.

As I reached the backside of the two-story building for the second time, I stopped and stared up at the place I’d lived in for the last nine years.

There was a creak and a deep groan as the fire and building fought with one another, but the fire won as the top floor exploded outward. With glass raining down on me, I ducked and covered my head. The blaze was so hot that it had me backing away until I stood among the tall trees at the edge of the property. It was my only option.

With each new explosion and the crumbling walls from the force of the blasts, my soul crumbled with them.

I’d killed her.