Page 74 of Burn For Me

Car alarms up and down the street blared, lights flashing and winking as if trying to summon help as I slowly drove away. I could imagine the panic and fear that those inside the buildings experienced for the few seconds before they died and loved the idea of them trying to run from the fire like it was a beast on their heels.

I repeated the process at a couple more locations and smiled as I noted that I was right on time. The GPS showed that emergency services had blocked off the roads I suspected they would. Using the back alleys, I rolled into the parking area near the next location. The sun was starting to rise and brighten the sky, making the last couple of targets the most dangerous.

The radio broadcasts were about the fires, how the police were at a loss, and how off-duty emergency crews were being called in to help control the spread. Within me, there was a calm satisfaction that I only found when sitting within a mass of chaos. It was nature’s way to create chaos, just as it was a human desire to create order, but I’d never been one to feel calm within the confines of order like others. My skin would itch, and a restlessness would take hold of my body. It wasn’t until I’d broken the sociological chains wrapped around my throat that I’d finally felt free.

I smoothly parked the truck in a corner spot that was just shy of a ten-minute walk from the next target. For this one, it was better if I walked. I didn’t want to take a chance on the truck being spotted on camera again so soon, so that meant I was going to have to sneak in close enough on foot for the signal from the cell to work.

I grabbed the burner phone labeled ‘college road’ and stuffed it in my pocket as I stepped out into the early morning light. If I listened hard, I could almost hear the scream of sirens in the distance. Sticking to the darkness of the alleys, I wove my way toward a long building posing as a nightclub, smirking as I spotted the long line of motorcycles neatly parked in a row down the side of the building. Looked like a full house. Wasn’t that just a shame?

My thumb rubbed over the little button in my pocket as I stood in the alley hidden among the shadows with the other dangerous things that like to lurk in the dark.

My thumb hovered over the button for a moment longer. Then, with a sharp intake of breath, I pressed the button. It was like having a wet mouth around my cock as the building roared like a dragon. The ground shook with the first explosion in the back of the building, and then, like a deadly game of dominos, the rest detonated in succession.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the sight and watched with evil glee as someone tried to escape the mouth of the beast by running out the front door. Their daring escape was short-lived, however, as the hungry fire, angered by the person’s attempt to escape, reached out with the last of the explosions to wrap itself around the person like a hug.

Leaning against the wall, I could only wish for a bag of popcorn and someone to suck me off as I watched the man run around in circles while screaming hysterically. The fire ate away at his skin and nerve endings before sliding down his throat, which was what ultimately killed him. He stood still for several seconds, frozen in death like a beautiful work of art, before finally collapsing. His skin continued crackling, turning blackened and wrinkled.

When I closed my eyes and concentrated, I could smell the sweet scent of his charred flesh from where I stood. The heat of the immense blaze warmed my skin as I glanced down at the timer. I had time to watch this one a little longer—it was magnificent.

“It’s a bonfire. I need a stick!” My head jerked up at the sudden yell that pulled me out of my reverie. A small, pink, fluffy ball of unicorns and Care Bears trailed by a bobbing blonde ponytail sprinted past the mouth of the alley where I was standing.

What the fuck?

I peeked around the corner of the alley to watch where the glittering ball of crazy was heading.

“Anyone have chocolate? I can’t make s’mores without chocolate,” she called out to the people starting to gather on the street to gawk as she held up a bag of marshmallows. When she turned in a circle, I realized it was the same girl who’d been running around with a strainer on her head. You didn’t forget something like that. I watched in fascination as she skipped off down the alley beside the burning building like she was out for a day at the local amusement park.

Another girl was now heading down the street—she just looked annoyed as she marched toward the scene, like all the dying people were being the biggest inconvenience in the world. The people on this street were the strangest I’d ever encountered, and yet, like a trainwreck, I couldn’t look away. My eyes roamed all over her features as she got closer. She seemed familiar. A quick flash of Chase showing me a picture of his girl that he called Princess crossed my mind.

Huh? Chase didn’t mention she was practically jailbait.

“You dirty old bastard. Good for you,” I snickered.

Peering around the corner at the growing crowd, I saw a group of guys had started talking to Chase’s girl, but it was the strange little blonde near them that had me laughing unexpectedly. She was back after having found a stick somewhere and was currently roasting a marshmallow over the still-steaming dead guy. I had no idea who she was, but she was my kind of crazy.

A few cop cars screeched to a halt at the scene, and that was my cue to get going. Slipping from the shadows of the alley, I walked down the street away from the fire with my hood up and head down.

The pitter-patter of feet running up behind me had me tensing up, and my fists clenched as I prepared to be attacked. Instead, I received a hard poke in the back that had me turning around and looking down into the eyes of the crazy girl. Her lips were covered with white marshmallows, her mouth full of the same sticky substance.

Why was that look fucking hot on her? I shook my head at the weird girl.

“What?” I asked when she just continued to stare as she rocked back and forth on her slippered feet.

She smiled widely, and there was a glimmer in her eyes that I recognized. I saw the same look when I stared in a mirror. Someone had hurt her, and at some point, her mind had protected itself by creating this odd form of her personality. It was like she viewed the world around her like it was a book with continually flipping pages, only catching glimpses at a time of a story that wandered between fairytale land and reality.

“You’re the dragon,” she said, pushing out her chest.

“I’m what?”

She pointed at the fire and then looked closer at her fingers as if just realizing there was sticky stuff on them. She proceeded to suck them all into her mouth while trying to talk around them. For just a moment, I wondered if she was going to put the whole fist in her mouth. The imagery was oddly fucking hot.

“You da dwagon,” she mumbled with a little bit of drool dripping down her chin.

I didn’t know if I should be more concerned that she knew I’d set the fire or that I understood what the fuck she meant and was still enjoying watching her suck on her hand like that. The thing was, now I had to decide if I needed to kill her.

A thought occurred to me, and I narrowed my glare as the other blonde kept glancing our way.

“Do you know Mathers?” I asked.