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INFERNO 2

1988

After a year in the crazy house, he felt free and alive. He was never going be cooped up again. The world needed him. He missed the fire that had become his friend. He remembered and savored the smell of burning flesh. He dreamed sweet dreams of flames and smoke. He wandered the streets looking for shelter from the bitter cold. As he walked into an alley, he noticed the putrid smells emanating from the sleeping mounds of human trash that lined the alley. These people sickened him. But he knew a way to rid the city of these lice-infested bums that would let him relish the fire that he craved.

He hovered over a sleeping form and grabbed the half-drunk whiskey bottle lying beside the derelict. Michael took a swig and smiled, tipping the bottle and pouring the remainder of the alcohol onto the man, who woke as the fluid poured into his eyes. Michael laughed and pulled out his beloved matches. Striking one, the smell almost intoxicating, he dropped it on the alcohol soaked man and watched as the man screamed and ran through the alley, making the flames worse. The man fell and slowly, painfully burned to death as thirteen-year-old Michael turned and walked out of the alley.

Present day

Gage pushed the rusted shopping cart with its broken wheel over to a grassy area between the warehouse and the woods. He ran a gloved hand over his dirty face and pulled the ragged coat tighter around him. He mumbled to himself like a crazy man. "I'm hungry," he mumbled low.

Sydney smiled, listening to the mumblings over the speakers. Gage was wired and ready for action.

Trivette shook his head. "That boy is always hungry. Don't you feed him?" Trivette joked, something he did even more frequently since the relationship between the two junior rangers had blossomed into romance.

"He eats more in a day then America eats in a week," Sydney replied smiling. She thought about her partner's little quirks, like always being hungry. They were what made Gage the lovable man he was.

"I know you guys are talking about me so laugh away. HA HA," the blond ranger said in a raised voice, as if he were addressing invisible companions.

Sydney and Trivette laughed. Sydney's instinct made her look toward movement in the trees. She laid a hand on Trivette's arm to get his attention and pointed at a lone figure emerging from the woods. A glance in Gage's direction told her he had seen the man, too. Gage started fumbling with the cart as if it were stuck in a hole.

The man from the woods stopped and watched the scene before him. A bum. A useless piece of society that didn't deserve life. He laughed as he watched the hobo struggle with the cart. As he got closer he asked softly," Do you need a hand with that?" His tone was polite, but his smirk betrayed his true feelings.

Gage nodded. The man made him feel uneasy. He kept his guard up.

The man neared Gage, knocking the cart over with a swift kick and laughing as Gage scrambled about talking crazily about his scattered belongings. "My stuff! You get away! It's mine!" He hurriedly grabbed up all his things.

The man laughed menacingly and proceeded into the warehouse. That bum was perfect. A useless nobody that society deserted. His plan was falling into place. Now he just had to wait on the dynamite and he would have that tomorrow.