Running

Finale

TW: Fire, death mention, threats, cursing

Virgil's POV:

Holy shit, this is cool.

Okay, okay, let me rephrase. What I mean, is that now we're all outside, the burning building looks fucking awesome. It's like watching freedom with your own two eyes, except as well as watching freedom, you're also having to listen to some crying kids and police sirens in the distance.

I snap out of my thoughts when I realise that I probably look like the world's strangest psychopath staring at this burning building while smiling.

"Virgil?" I'm drawn away by Logan's voice from behind me. "Come over here, some government official wants to speak to us."
I turn on my heel and see the man in question, he's tall and does look genuinely nice, standing and having a conversation with Patton as the other 30 or so kids linger around. One runs up to me and tugs at my jacket. "Virgie, I'm scared."

It's Tyler. He's an eight year old boy who I haven't ever spoken to much before, but he seems like he wants my comfort, as most young people do when a big change happens, such as having to escape a burning building. "It's okay, c'mere," I reach down and pick him up, letting his legs wrap around my waist before smiling and ruffling his hair, which makes him giggle.

That's the one thing I got out of my childhood; I'm pretty good at comforting children.

Then, I walk over to where the others are. The man speaking to them is reletively short and stout, with a round face and beard that isn't completely grown out.
"So, you'd call yourself the orchastrator of this, young man?"

I lean against the brick half-wall, adjusting the way that I'm holding Tyler while I speak. "I'd consider myself the orchastrator of protecting these kids, if that's what you mean."

He turns to let his eyes glance over the kids, then he smiles slighty. "You children really don't deserve this, do you?"

Patton looks sympathetically to the group and then to the floor. "I think you're the only adult who seems to think that." At the the end of the sentence he raises the pitch of his voice to make it sound lighthearted in one way or another.

The man reaches out to touch Tyler's hair, and he flinches before relaxing when he realises this man isn't going to hurt him.
"Look, guys. I don't want to send you off somewhere, and quite frankly it would be a lot more paperwork on my part. Having said that, I can't not do anything with you all."

"Hey, Ro, can you take Tyler for a moment? I wanna go for a bit of a walk." He nods and takes the child from my arms as the government official writes something on his clipboard.

Then, I take a moment to step away from the group as the dialect continues, walking across the car park and back up to the building, or as close as I can get realistically.
At this point, the whole thing is engulfed in the same flames that I can sleep at night knowing all those fucking doctors burned in.

It's almost concerning to me that I'm not feeling a single bit of guilt about being the reason they're all dead. I mean, everyone dies. Theirs was just premature.

Well, I say all. Not all.
I completely understand why Logan might have wanted to spare his father's life, but to be honest if it were up to me he wouldn't be breathing right now.

Speaking of, the man in question is standing with a police officer near the gate of the parking lot, looking scared as he'll occasionally glance back to his son.

Coughing while I inhale some smoke, I decide to head over to where he is and see what he has to say. I hope Lo was telling the truth when he assured me Dr Berry would be keeping his mouth shut.