Chapter Eight
Starsky was dying. He was lying in his arms, the blood pooling around him as he gasped out his final words.
"Why, Hutch, why did you kill me?"
Hutch awoke with a start, the scream barely held. He looked around the room. Everything the same, yet somehow different. It was like when you knew a storm was coming, yet there was not a single drop of rain.
He swung his legs over the bed and picked up the glass of juice. There was more than half left. He drank it quickly and dropped back on the bed. He was so tired. He drifted into sleep almost immediately. A few minutes later, he thought he heard a thump and then someone at his door.
Hutch tried to open his eyes, tried desperately. There was something he needed to see, but he was incapable of movement. He was just so tired. So tired.
He heard a sound. Probably the guards, he thought. His eyes were heavy, couldn't open them, didn't want to, but he felt warmth against his face. Felt the familiarity that he'd known for what felt like a thousand years.
"Hutch, Hutch, can you hear me?"
Starsky's voice. Not dead, but then Hutch realized it was a dream. Starsky was dead. His brother almost told him, when he'd come back after a month of no contact. During that time, he had been alone. And known he was alone forever.
"Hutch, open your eyes for me. Can you do that for me?"
He felt his arm being taken, warm, strong hands pulling him up. Then he was sitting, feeling the warmth of his partner holding him. Then he moved away and Hutch heard something being dragged, a door opening and closing.
He forced his eyes open, staring. He saw a man on the floor, unconscious. It was Kevin, one of the guards. Then he saw Starsky appear with a long golden rope. Hutch recognized it from his draperies. A sash. Yes, a sash, used to keep the curtains open, the plants and lights letting his partner know where he was.
Then the brunet was sitting with him. The man on the floor was tied up, but Hutch didn't remember Starsky tying the man. It was like he was sleeping between scenes, like when you saw a dull movie. You slept, then you woke up, and the scene had changed. Maybe even the movie was over, and you were embarrassed that you had slept through it.
"Hutch, we got to get out of here. You understand?" He was slapping his face softly, looking at him with concern.
Hutch nodded, then tried to lay back down. He wanted to sleep, so he could wake up before he had to watch his partner die again.
The room was spinning. His head wasn't his.
"I've got to get you dressed, Partner, then we're getting out of here."
Was he undressed, he wondered. Then he remembered. He'd stopped bothering with clothes unless Keith brought his girlfriend. Then he would throw something on. No one could see him, not even if he stood at the window and yelled.
Starsky was back. Then he was moving his legs, his arms, clothes appearing on his body like magic.
"Starsky?" he said.
"Yes, it's me. You're being rescued but looks like you've been drugged."
Hutch knew he had been. The drugs were a new thing that started after the television and newspapers were removed. Hutch didn't think his twin knew about it. He figured the guards gave it to him to keep him quiet.
"I think it was in the juice this time," he whispered.
Starsky wiped his face with something cold and wet. "How many guards do you think are here?"
"You're not really here," Hutch said. "All a dream."
Starsky was in front of him, touching his face, making him meet his dark blue eyes.
"I'm here. This is real."
"But Keith…"
"So that's his name. Easier than saying doppelganger, I guess."
Hutch found a way to smile. It was like Starsky to pick a supernatural creature for his twin's name.
"Real. This is real?" Hutch asked, barely recognizing his own voice.
"Yes, you're being rescued. Now, get on your feet." Starsky was smiling. no, he was crying.
Hutch wiped the tears, then grabbed his partner's hand. "Alive. Alive," he said, still not quite believing it.
"Oh, Hutch. My fault. I should have known…should."
Hutch shook his head. "You couldn't have known. Not your fault."
Starsky looked around at the guard on the floor. "How many?"
"Usually two, but sometimes there's another guy here."
Hutch felt himself being pulled up. Then his partner zipped his pants and grabbed him under his arms. Hutch was moving to freedom.
Then they were in the hall, slowly moving, the winding staircase waiting.
"I got somebody waiting for us outside," Starsky said, breathing hard.
Hutch put his hands on the guardrail, hoping to take some of the weight off his partner. "You're alive."
"Of course, I ain't going nowhere without you."
Hutch remembered past conversations where they vowed to live a long time and be there for each other at the end.
If this was the end. Hutch was ready. "Love you," he said as they made it down the final stair into the large foyer.
"Love you too, you big lug. And you're going to be so embarrassed once you realize what you just said."
But Hutch knew that would never be true. If they died now, Starsky needed to know how he felt.
Hutch straightened as they ran. Maybe it was adrenaline, but he was feeling stronger.
"I think I'll be okay to walk on my own," Hutch said.
"You sure?"
"Yeah. They gave it to me before. Just makes me sleep better."
Starsky reached down and pulled his pants leg up, pulling a gun out. "Think you can handle it? I don't know what's outside."
Hutch nodded and Starsky gave him the gun. It wasn't his gun.
"Sorry, Blondie, but the dopp…Keith has your gun."
They headed for the door and Starsky opened it.
And there stood his twin, a glint in his eyes.
TBC
