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Harry hit the floor hard and rolled into the side of the bed
"Then you!"
Gasping and dazed, Harry looked up and saw the hobo filling the dooratching hi man’s feet He kicked it into the room, toward Harry, and it spun to a stop on the carpet, just out of reach
Harry wondered if he could get to the gun before the bastard ca Four shots, four hits, no blood
"Did you hear rant demanded "Did you hear me’ Did you hear me, hero? Did you hearthe question in an increasingly angry and curiouslytone of voice, louder, louder still, "Did you hear me, hero? Did you hear me, did you hear me, did you hear me, hear me, hear me? Did you hoor me? DID YOU HEAR ME, DID YOU DID IOU DID YOU HERO, DID YOU DID YOU?"
The hobo was tree and hatred He wasn’t even looking at Harry any longer, but at the ceiling, howling the words-"DID YOU HEAR ME, DID YOU HEAR ME?"-as if his fury had becoer be a satisfactory target for it, screa at the whole world or even worlds beyond, voice oscillating between bass thunder and a piercing shriek
Harry tried to get to his feet by supporting hiht hand, and green static electricity crackled between his fingers Light shimmered in the air above his palm, and suddenly his hand was on fire
He snapped his wrist and flung a fireball across the room It hit the drapes, and they exploded into flaer Instead, fire licked out of the sockets, lapping up over his eyebrows, as though he was just the hollow figure of afros were shaky
All he wanted was to get out of there Burning drapes covered theThe hobo was in the doorway No exit
The vagrant turned and snapped his wrist in thea dove, and another whitehot churning sphere spun across the room, smashed into the dresser, burst like a Molotov cocktail, showering flames The dresser mirror shattered Wood split, drawers popped open, and the conflagration spread
Smoke curled out of his beard, and fire spat froan to melt His mouth was open in a shout, but the only sounds he made were the hiss, pop, and crackle of combustion He exhaled a pyrotechnic cascade, sparks in all the colors of the rainbow, and then flames shot from his mouth His lips curled up as crisp as deepfried pork rinds, turned black, and peeled back frole up the wall fro In places the carpet was burning
Already the heat was treht flares squirted out of the three bullet holes in the vagrant’s chest, red and gold fire instead of blood He flicked his wrist once lobe erupted øfro mass streaked at Harry He dropped into a crouch It passed over his head, so close that he protected his face with one ar heat washed over him The bedclothes erupted into flaasoline
When Harry looked up, the dooras eone
He scooped the revolver off the floor and rushed into the hall, with the carpet sprouting flalad his socks were sopping wet
The hallas deserted, which was good, because he didn’t want another confrontation with hatever the hell he’d just had a confrontation with, not if bullets didn’t work The kitchen to his left He hesitated, then stepped in front of the doorway, gun at the ready Fire eating the cabinets, curtains flapping like the skirts of dancers in Hell, s The foyer ahead, living roo not hobo He was reluctant to pass the archway, afraid the thing would plunge out at hiet out fast, the place was filling with sh clean air
Edging to the foyer with his back against the hallall, facing the arch, Harry kept the gun in front of hi and habit than because he had any faith in its efficacy
Anyway, only one round re, too, and in the ulfed, arms spread wide to embrace the torrid tempest, consumed by it yet obviously in no pain, perhaps even in a state of rapture Each lambent caress of fla
Harry was sure that it atching hiht suddenly approach, arainst the wall again
He crabbed sideways past the archway into the s sed hiy shoes, and he snatched theun The sht penetrated to the foyer even fro and flooded with tears; he was forced to squeeze theer of beco disoriented, even in such a small space
He held his breath One inhalation would be toxic enough to bring hi clean air since theto be able to hold out long, a few seconds Even as he scooped up the shoes, he grabbed for the doorknob, couldn’t find it in the darkness, fuan to panic, but closed his left hand around it Locked Deadbolt latch
His lungs were hot, as if fire had gotten into them Chest ached
Where was the deadbolt? Should be above the knob He wanted to breathe, found the deadbolt, had to breathe, couldn’t, disengaged the lock, are of a growing inner darkness rasped the knob, tore the door open, plunged outside The sht, and he had to weave to the right to find clean air, the first breath of which was painfully icy in his lungs
In the garden courtyard, where ound alish pri around hi his vision He saw a few neighbors co out of their apartments onto the lower promenade, and above were two people on the secondstory promenade by which all of the upper apartunfire, because it was not a neighborhood where that sound was co in shock at hi out of his front door, but he didn’t think he’d heard anybody yelling "fire," so he began to shout it, and then the others picked up the cry
Harry sprinted to one of the two alarun and shoes, and yanked down the lever that broke the fogged glass Bells clanged stridently
To his right the livingroomof his own condo, which faced the courtyard, blew out and showered glass onto the concrete deck of the pro pennants of fire, and Harry expected to see the burning h the brokenand continue the pursuit
Crazily a line froonna call? GHOST BUSTERS!
He was living in a Dan Aykroyd ht have found it funny if he hadn’t been so scared that his thudding heart was halfway up his throat
Sirens rose in the distance, fast approaching
He ran fro with his fists on each More soft explosions A strangealar like hundreds of wind chi storm Harry didn’t look back for the source of any of the sounds, kept rew to dominate all other sounds and seemed to be only a couple of blocks away, he was finally confident that everyone in the building had been alerted and gotten out People were scattered across the courtyard garden, staring up at the roof or watching the street for the fire engines, horrified and scared, stunned silent or weeping
He raced back to the first alarm box and pulled on his shoes, which he’d left there He snatched up his revolver, stepped over a border of azaleas, waded through blooh a couple of puddles on a concrete ay