Jun 10
2011

...CONCLUDING

A polite computery voice came from the same speakers. "This is a Type A alert. For security reasons, the hotel must be evacuated. Please proceed calmly to the lifeboats located in the main hallways."

The Dude stood up, his gunshot wound still bleeding. "You morons. You're running around in ski masks trying to blow things up? What did you think was gonna happen?"

Harry stuffed the gun in the back of his waistband again and grabbed the Dude by his good arm. "You wanna do it this way? Come on."

The Dude tried to reach for his black hood as Harry dragged him out through the door. "That's my robe." He must have felt naked without it, but his bloody arm wouldn't raise far enough to get it. His face was white as a corpse from blood loss, but the pain didn't seem to affect him. He was crazy, but I had to admit, that was kinda badass.

I followed them back into the throne room, but I knew the way out from there. I ran for it as fast as I could.

The next door led me into a long hallway. I kept running, not thinking about anything but escape. I had the only flashlight left, and there was no world except what I aimed it at.

When the hallway opened into the big entrance gallery with stairs up to the second floor, I knew the front door was around the next corner, but I didn't register the flickering red glow bouncing off the wall. I felt the heat before I turned the corner, but I almost didn't stop in time.

I stood staring for a second, my heart racing, before I understood what I was looking at. The front door was on fire. The Dude really did set the building on fire. I swear, that's what happened.

I stared at the flames between me and freedom. I covered my mouth with my sleeve to block the smoke, but I didn't know what else to do. The Dude designed his self-destruct to burn the front door first, trap whoever was stupid enough to go out that way. That was me.

I spun around and ran some more. I had to get away from the flames. I found the staircase and ran up that. My breathing and footsteps were ragged.

I got to the second floor, but I could feel the heat and smoke rising up to get me. I tried to catch my breath with uneven gasping lungfuls but coughed it all back up. I had to keep going, so I stumbled up the next staircase in front of me.

It was the wrong way to go. It took me to a doorway that opened onto the roof.

There was fresh air, but I knew the flames would get up there soon. I had a view of half the neighborhood. The only thing I couldn't see was a way down.

I was on a small flat patio area, like a crow's nest, surrounded by a short wooden fence. Everything past that was clay shingles slanting down to the edge of the roof. It was at least a two story drop down to street level. "FUCK!"

I saw another flickering red light in the corner of my eye, but it was far away. I looked closer and realized they were the red siren lights of a fire truck bouncing off the buildings and trees. I laughed. "Oh, come on, come to papa. I'll kiss your fucking dalmatian." Rich white neighborhoods get the best emergency services.

Then I heard the door open. I turned around. Harry was looking around, as frantic as I was, but he still had the Dude with him, who was totally calm.

Out of my excitement and terror and anger came a manic laugh. "You too? Couldn't find another way out, huh?"

Harry shook his head.

"Fire truck's coming." I knew this was all his fault, but the full facts weren't sinking in yet.

Harry nodded at the Dude. "He's got a way out. I know it. Not talking though." He let go, and the Dude wobbled but stayed up.

The Dude mumbled again. "Captain, being held by you isn't quite enough to get me excited." He cupped some blood going down his arm and tried to push it back into his shoulder.

That's when I finally realized who the villain of our movie was, the man with the gun and the hostage -- and I helped him. I was his henchman. If this was the end of our movie, it didn't look good for us.

I gave into my anger, stepped past the Dude and shoved Harry. "What the FUCK, man?"

He stepped back with his hands up. "What?"

"That's what this whole thing was about, taking over the system? Replacing the Dude?" I clenched my fists, even though I wasn't in a fight since the band. "Why'd you have to nuke the whole building, HANS?"

The Dude stared blankly ahead, losing more blood all the time. "Sir, it's quite possible this asteroid is not entirely stable."

I nodded. I knew what he meant.

Harry looked at me, and the confusion in his eyes was a hint of the stoner I used to know. "Yeah, I'm changing the system. Shit, I thought we were in this together."

The Dude interrupted. "I think violating fire codes and endangering the lives of children would be unwise at this juncture in your career, sir."

"Shut up!" Harry shouted at him again.

"No. The system is evil." I went towards Harry, fists up, my last chance to prove I could still be the hero.

The Dude stepped back to a corner of the patio. "Yet their strength and their speed are still based in a world that is built on rules."

I turned when he mentioned rules, and Harry's fist got me in the ear.

I winced, shook my head and recovered. I went for Harry. He side-stepped, but I still got an arm around his neck.

We grappled. I squeezed his throat, punching his head, shoulder and back with my free hand. He got his leg behind mine, and the world went upside down.

The patio hit my back. I was on the ground. Harry stood over me, but I flailed my legs to keep him away.

He backed up fast and almost went over the low fence, but he stopped.

The whole place was going up in flames. The memory of that is crystal clear. We were fighting on the roof of a burning building. How punk rock is that?

I stood up, and my old instincts took over. I laughed out the smoke still deep in my lungs. The world was on fire. We were all about to die, and nothing mattered again. I had the old freedom from my days in the band.

Harry pulled out the gun.

The Dude mumbled. "Our cruisers can't repel firepower of that magnitude!"

I didn't care. I ran at Harry again, adrenaline taking over completely, no idea what I was doing.

I got my hand on the gun and tried to pull it away. We fought for it, but I remember only bits and pieces while it waved around randomly.

Harry's expression when it pointed at him was the most present I ever saw.

The Dude said something from a movie, and I understood he was calling who would win, but I don't know what he said. I wonder if he was right.

It really wasn't like the fights in the old days. We were half the old lineup, but we were a long way from back in the day. Harry and I were fighting each other for the first time sober. We weren't fighting just because nothing mattered and nobody could tell us not to. It was a fight to decide something real, the fate of the system.

I remember looking down the barrel of the gun, and I swear I saw the face of the man that started our band, inspired us to be who we were, all three of us. Then it was gone.

The world turned upside down, then sideways. I heard a loud bang. I felt a strain on my neck and back. There was a wall of clay things sliding up behind me that I tried to grab, but I couldn't get a grip on any of the roofing shingles. Then they went away, and I was weightless.

I don't remember hitting the ground.