Blood Water (10 page)

The two brothers ducked down to shelter under a tree
and phoned their parents. Rather than waste time
trying to explain the unexplainable, they just told
them they were waiting at the school for the weather
to improve with some other pupils and teachers,
which was partially true. Mum was livid that Sean still
wasn't home, but nothing could be done about that.
When James hung up, they started back up the hill
towards the school, wondering what they'd find when
they got there. Sean was already imagining horrible
scenarios, most of them centred around the creature
escaping and disappearing into the night. At the top
of the hill they could see water gushing down the road
like a river.

Sean shouted at his brother: 'James! Are you serious
about the study centre?'

His brother didn't reply – he evidently hadn't heard;
instead he just crossed the road and jogged into the
school car park.

'Because we'll never get there in the car now,' Sean
went on.

'Come on,' James said, waiting for him to catch up.
'Let's see how Waites is getting on.'

They splashed through the reception area and headed
for the main hall. Waites was pacing again now. He
looked up and saw them standing in the doorway.

'Sean, are you OK?' he asked.

'Yeah, we're fine.' Sean hurried over to the teacher.
'We couldn't find Mrs Rees though – she could be anywhere
by now.'

'Then it's out of our hands. We'll just have to hope
that no one else has found her. Sean, can I have a quick
word?'

Both Sean and his brother found the request odd, but
neither said anything. Sean walked away with Waites
so that they were out of earshot, leaving James by the
cupboard.

'Sean, I know what you're going to say, but before
we decide what to do next, we have to consider the
possibility that . . .' Waites hesitated while he found
the right words.

'What?' Sean followed Waites's gaze as it rested
momentarily on James.

'The possibility that James might have been infected
by that thing and not Titus.'

'What? But he hasn't been! You know that.'

'Shh! Keep your voice down. I know that's how it
seems, but we could be wrong. Look, if it is in Titus it
could well have been trying to convince me that James
is infected so I'll set it free – I'm aware of that, but
still . . . there is a chance. Emily said it was in "him". She
didn't say which "him".'

Sean looked again at his brother, unwilling to believe
that he could be the monster now. That couldn't be true.
The ramifications were too horrible to consider.

'No,' he said firmly. 'If it was in him I'd know by now.
It would have done something or said something to give
itself away. It would . . .' He winced and started rubbing
his forehead.

'Are you OK?'

'Yeah. I just . . . It's from the other day, I think. The
run. Still not fully recovered.'

'Here, sit down on the end of the stage.'

Sean did as instructed, perching on the edge. As he
looked around, he realized that the hall itself, and indeed
the rest of the school, seemed strange now, tainted by
the bizarre, the horrific.

'Look, I know my own brother,' Sean said. 'He can't
be infected, and besides, while we were out he had plenty
of opportunities to either attack me or escape. And why
would that thing want to come back here?'

'I don't know. Did he say anything to you that sounded
odd, or out of character?'

'No, I don't think so.'

'OK, well, look, just be careful. We can't be certain
of anything right now, so let's just be on our guard. You
stay here a sec. I'll go and see how Titus is.'

'What about Dr Morrow?' Sean asked, suddenly
remembering the dying man.

'He's . . . He didn't make it, I'm afraid.'

'Oh.' Sean looked down at his feet as they swung
idly below him. He glanced over at his brother, again
praying that the thing hadn't got to him. To have to
watch something so horrible happen to someone he
loved was unthinkable.

'He tried to leave us a message though,' Waites said.
'He wrote it on the floor.'

'What did it say?'

'Sall.'

'Sall? As in Sally?'

'I don't know. Maybe. Do you know anyone called
Sally that might have something to do with this?'

'No.'

'What about James?'

'Well, he worked at the study centre with Dr Morrow
– maybe it's someone they both know.'

'Let's ask him.'

Meanwhile James had heard the odd word from Sean
and Waites's conversation, but had been unable to make
out the gist of what they were saying. He'd seen them
look at him though, and had guessed what they might
be discussing. Not good.

He inched towards the cupboard. He thought he
could hear breathing inside, but he might have imagined
it. And then the man inside spoke.

'Who's there? Is that you, Daniel?'

James didn't reply, but instead turned his back and
leaned against the door.

The voice came again. 'Look, please let me out now.
This is ridiculous. I told you – that thing, whatever it is,
went inside that boy – Sean's brother. It's not in me, for
Christ's sake! Get me out of here.'

James considered this while the voice continued, 'It's
you, isn't it, boy?' it said all of a sudden. 'I know it's you.
It's inside you. You do know that, don't you? You might
not remember, but I saw. I saw it! And now it's me that's
locked up instead of you!'

James peered through the crack in the door, fancying
that two eyes were staring out accusingly. 'Shut up,' he
said coldly. 'You don't know what you're talking about.'

'James?'

'Yeah?' James turned round, looking startled.

'Are you OK?' Sean asked.

'Don't listen to him,' Waites said, meaning the man
in the cupboard. 'He'll try anything to get out.'

'Oh yeah, I know. I just—'

'Dr Morrow's dead,' Sean said.

'Oh God.'

'Yeah, I know . . . but he left us a message: "Sall".
We think he might have been trying to tell us
something.'

'Sall?'

'He may not have been able to finish the message,'
Waites said, testing the cupboard door to make sure it
was still secure, 'but we think he may have meant to
write "Sally". Do you know of anyone at the study centre
called Sally?'

James thought for a second. 'Yeah, there is! One
of the marine specialists, Sally Cooper. She's only
there on Saturdays and Wednesday evenings, but she
knows . . . knew Dr Morrow quite well. She shared an
office with one of the other scientists. Maybe there's
something there that can help us. I was thinking
we should go there anyway. That's where the thing
came from. If there's nothing in Sally's office that can
help, then maybe Dr Morrow wrote something in his
notes.'

'Maybe,' Waites said. 'But "Sall" could mean anything.
I think we should stay here and wait for the rain
to stop. In the meantime we can decide what to do with
that thing.'

'But it will probably have killed Titus by then,'
James said. 'If it leaves him, it can probably get out of
the cupboard somehow. I'm sure the answer is at the
research centre.'

'You seem awfully keen to go back there,' Waites
said. Sean could sense his suspicion – a suspicion he
now found himself sharing.

'I just . . . I just think we should do everything we
can to end this. What if it keeps raining until morning?
We don't want to be stuck here all night with that
thing.'

They were all silent for a few moments. Waites was
clearly thinking things over.

'All right,' he said at length. 'We'll go, but we can't
leave him here.' They all eyed the cupboard. 'We
can't be sure that cupboard will contain him. If it
leaves Titus, it could go anywhere. We'll have to take
him with us.'

The bridge was now all but submerged. The raging
waters thundered through and against it relentlessly.
Cracks had already appeared along its length and some
stonework had long since washed away. The bridge's
architects had not made provision for a flood of this
magnitude all those decades ago. The car park of the
nearby pub was completely swamped; the fields on the
other side were now a vast lake. It was like the end of
the world. The pub owners were staring at the waters
swirling around the ground-floor bar, wading around
in their wellington boots and wondering if there was
actually anything they could do. But once the sewage-tainted
water was in, that was it.

The path that ran along the river towards the park was
no longer visible. Nearby, the supermarket was flooded
with over a foot of water. Packets of noodles, crisps and
other light debris floated lazily around in the muddy,
smelly water, as the shop's manager swore and went on
trying to get his superior on the phone. His staff were
waiting to be told what to do, some of them wishing
they'd gone home when their shift finished instead of
agreeing to stay and help.

The water stretched all the way up the high street.
Had it been clean water, the damage would have been
bad enough, but now there was sewage to contend with.

Along Market Street people were wading around
the site where the public toilets had stood. Most of the
small brick building had fallen into the swollen brook
below it, along with a large section of wall and brick
paving. Rubble marked its original location, like an
open, jagged wound. The town's drainage system was
no longer functioning. Blockages that hadn't been dealt
with had pushed water back up out of the drains, so
there was nowhere for it to escape.

Orchard Wells was already struggling with one
catastrophe. It didn't need another.

'He'll just attack us! Why can't we leave him here?'
Sean was panicking now. He wanted the creature to
stay locked up, and didn't see why they had to take him
along with them.

'We can't do both things,' Waites said, trying
to remain calm. 'We should stay together. Getting
to the study centre will be dangerous. We can't leave
him here – like I said, the thing might leave him and
we know it can get around – we won't know where
it's gone. This way, we can keep an eye on it at least.'

'But how are we going to tie him up?' James asked.
'Morrow survived that fall from the window when he
was possessed. He told us that thing gave him abnormal
strength, remember? I don't think we're going to be able
to restrain it.'

There was a moment of silence as Waites considered
this.

'Well, we've got to tie him up somehow.'

'Ha, good luck. If that's your plan, you're on your own.'

'If he tries anything we'll have to subdue him.'

'Yeah,' Sean said. 'That thing is really sensitive to
blows on the head, isn't it? If we hit Titus hard it should
knock him out.'

'I hope you're right,' Waites said doubtfully. 'We should
also cover our mouths to stop that thing getting in.'

'That . . . won't be necessary,' came the voice in the
cupboard. 'There's nothing wrong with me. And if you're
willing to let me out to prove that, I can promise you
there'll be no funny business.'

Waites looked at the two brothers. 'Why should we
believe you?'

'Oh, come on, Daniel, for God's sake . . .' They could
hear the headmaster's laboured breathing now. He was
standing right by the crack in the door. 'It's me! Just
open the door . . . I promise . . . I promise I won't do
anything. I'll go with you wherever you want. Besides,
pretty soon it'll become quite obvious to all of us
where the monster really is.'

At this, Sean couldn't help glancing over at his
brother, who in turn understood the meaning of it.

'It's not in
me
!' James blurted out defensively. 'It's in
him
, I saw it. He's just trying to—'

'Calm down,' Waites said. 'It's OK. For now let's just . . .
Mr Titus, we're going to let you out. But I'm telling you
now, if you try anything, we're going to have to use force.'

'Oh, this is ridiculous . . .' came the reply. 'How on
earth did all this happen?' There was a shuffling and a
coughing from within. 'Just please let me out – I'm in
no state to do anything. This is just so stupid . . .'

Sean looked at his brother again. James looked
uncomfortable. They were all scared and apprehensive,
but James also looked like he was hiding something.

'Right, you two,' Waites said. 'I'm going to open the door
slowly. When I unlock it, cover your mouths and be ready
to run if he tries anything. I'll tackle him myself if it all
goes wrong – just get yourselves away from here. Right?'

'What are you saying? We're not going to leave if he
attacks you,' Sean said.

'Yeah,' James agreed. 'We're all in this together. We
all tackle him if we need to.'

'I just don't want you guys getting . . . you know.'

'Yeah, I know,' James said. 'But still, we're not leaving
you alone with him.'

'All right then. Ready? Hang on . . .' Waites covered
his mouth with one hand, wondering what it would be like
to have that crazy, wriggling monstrosity trying to burrow
its way up into his brain. 'Nah, this is no good. Sean, does
Mr Cole keep the fencing equipment in that cupboard?'

'No, it's in the store cupboard in his office – why?'

'Go and get three face guards.'

Sean made his way to Mr Cole's office. It was
unlocked and, luckily, so was the store cupboard. He
rummaged around, spilling most of the contents onto
the floor until he found three mesh face guards, which
he took back to the others. He handed one to Waites,
then the other, nervously, to his brother, who noticed
something was wrong.

'What is it?' James asked.

'What? Nothing.'

'I'm OK, really.'

'I know.' Sean went and stood next to Waites.

The teacher put on the face guard, then inserted the
key into the lock of the cupboard. He glanced back to
make sure the two boys had protected their faces, then
turned the key.

The sound was somehow louder than it should have
been. It seemed to echo and linger, as though heralding
some awful event. There was a final click, then Waites
turned the handle and slowly opened the door.

The interior was in darkness, but they could see piled
chairs, gym equipment and a projector screen. However,
the headmaster was nowhere to be seen. The cupboard
extended to the left and right of the door: he must be
hiding somewhere out of sight, but why? Was the sudden
light blinding him, or had he panicked and decided he'd
rather stay there after all?

Waites was peering around nervously. 'Titus? Mr
Titus, where are you?'

There was silence for several seconds; then the headmaster
burst screaming out of the darkness: his arms
were outstretched, bleeding, swollen, covered in weeping
sores and welts, and from his mouth protruded the end
of a writhing black slug like an ebony tongue.

Sean was so shocked he staggered backwards and fell.
James turned and ran towards the windows overlooking
the playing fields, and it was only Waites's quick reactions
that prevented him from being cornered by the
headmaster. The teacher dived for Titus's legs, bringing
him crashing to the floor; he banged his head hard and
lost consciousness again.

James was about to bring a boot down hard on the tail
end of the slug, but it quickly pulled itself back inside
the headmaster's mouth.

James swore and scowled at the unconscious headmaster,
annoyed that the opportunity to destroy their
enemy had been lost. 'So what now?'