Author's Note: I know that this is a ridiculously short chapter, and it has been a long time since I updated. I just wanted to get back into it. My vacation was AMAZING. If you ever have the chance to go to St. John in the Virgin Islands GO... It is truly paradise. I loved it so much I predict that there will be a lovely smutty one shot for B and B with that location in the very near future. :-) Anyway. I return to you all relaxed, and ready for summer. For those of you who have been following, and still love me despite my extended absence. I hope you won't be tooo disappointed!
Cam was relieved as Angela began to come around, she was moving and her eyes had begun to flutter. It was clear that she would physically be all right, but how was Cam going to tell her that everyone she cared about were lost in the flame? How did she end up being the one to destroy Angela's life? Cam was nothing if not a realist, perhaps even a pragmatist, there was no possibility that anyone would be coming out of that inferno alive. The rest of their team was gone.
Angela's eyes locked with Cam's, they burned with remnants of the smoke, it was nearly impossible to focus. For a moment her face came into perfect clarity, and it only took a glance to have her worst fears realized. If it was Cam that was with her, then there was no one else. They were alone; she was alone. The love of her life, and her best friend had been taken from her, on the same night, by the same killer, there was nothing left. She wished that she had the energy to run back into the flame herself, to surrender to its fiery tongue. But she just lay there on the sand, curling into a ball, crying out into the night.
Sweet's had never been so terrified in his life, even when he had been beaten. The scourging he received was familiar to him as a young child. It had been localized and nothing that would kill him, or more importantly, the one's he cared about. He could grit his teeth through the pain. He wasn't sure if he would be able to deal with the loss. He continued on feeling the heat on his skin, searing into every pore, as if his clothes would ignite at any minute. The pounding of his heart was brought on by fear and his inability to breathe the dense air. There would only be minutes before he too would succumb to this death house. Minutes would have to be enough.
He nearly leapt out of his skin as the wall beside him came bursting toward him. His first instinct was to start swinging, desperate to protect himself. "Wait, wait. Hey kid. It's me!" Opening his clenched eyes Sweets saw Hodgins standing, slightly singed around the edges, in a cloud of smoke and dust.
"Jeeze Hodgins where in the heck did you come from!?" Sweets stood bewildered, trying to make sense of what had just happened.
"A passage in the wall, but there is no time for that now, come on we need to get Brennan and Booth."
Hodgins raced ahead, knowing the old house well, was definitely a benefit as the think smoke made it nearly impossible to see, as they approached the door at the end of the hall both men slammed into it with as much force as their frames could muster. Adrenaline can do amazing things and the wood smashed off its frame. The two men frantically scanned the room, trying to avoid the searing blaze, but there was no sign of anyone inside. Not Brennan, nor Booth or even a sign of the killer himself. Hodgins was filled with a combination of desperation and hope. Where were Booth and Brennan? He turned to go running out of the room; they needed to get out of the house if they hoped to live themselves. As Sweets turned to follow, he suddenly caught sight of Booth's foot, sticking through the balcony doors.
"Hodgins! WAIT!"