Page 89 of Something Borrowed

I walk into the other room. Computers sit in long lines across cubicles of desk space.

I walk to the end of the room and then make my way back, tilting the bottle of fuel and letting it splash across the carpet.

I pause when I see a glowing light coming from a room to my left.

Setting the bottles down on the ground I move to investigate.

It’s a server room. The low hum of tech makes me think of Dresden.

I nod in approval towards the information he gave me. Without him I would still wonder what the hell to do. The servers are loud, and the static agitate my skin.

There is a shit load of information stored here.

I hope it’s important, old man. I hope it hurts when you lose it all.

I pick up the bottles again and take a deep breath of the now familiar smell of accelerant.

It’s the scent of anarchy.

The scent of hell I am about to unleash on his life. Building by building I will make my way through the list until he give me what I want.

I use one bottle of fuel to dose the carpets and the other I pour down the elevator shaft. Splashing it along the wooden support beams and smiling to myself.

It’s going to be beautiful when fire consumes everything inside here.

Back out on the fire escape on the other side of the broken window I toss the empty bottles back into the building and slip my lighter out of my pocket.

I can smell gas on my hands.

I don’t care.

A click.

A spark.

A flame.

I touch the flame to the edge of the window frame and gasoline ignites.

I watch the blue tongue lap over the floor, devouring along the wet trail of fuel.

The flames lick upward onto the paper and I duck below the wall beneath the broken glass as explosive fire shoots from the widow.

I laugh as heat burns over my back.

I should move. The second explosion will be bigger.

Grabbing the railing of the fire escape I don’t bother with the stairs. I slide straight down the framework and onto the ground, landing hard and running the moment my feet touch the ground.

Another loud explosion blasts around me and the ground seems to shake beneath my feet.

The flames have engulfed the entire building.

A dragon, eating its way out from the inside. For a moment I stand looking up at it, flames glowing against the windows on the fourth floor where the servers are and beginning to creep through on the other floors - eating from the elevator shaft.

The ground floor foyer area is already burning.

I can’t stay though.

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