Others (42 page)

‘Constance is waiting for you,’ I said hopefully and it worked, the sound of her name, the thought of her waiting for him, did the trick. He came down the stairs fast, like an infant shuffling on its bottom, squeezing past the others and disappearing into the crowd below.

‘Dis!’

It was Louise’s voice. She looked up at me, then pointed along the hallway.

They’re afraid of the fire,’ she called out. They won’t go past the doorway. We’ll have to close it’

I saw what she meant. Along with billows of dusty smoke, flames were licking out from the studio-room, lapping around the edges of the door frame. The closed half of the double doors was alight from the inside, its white paintwork blistering, the raw wood beneath turning a dark, scorched brown. I thought I could hear screams from inside, but the noise from those in the hallway and the roaring of the fire itself was too loud to be sure. Constance was urging those in the packed hallway to hurry past the opening, but they cowered back, some even turning towards the stairs.

I hobbled down to meet them, waving my arms and shouting.
‘Not this way! The quickest way out is through the front door! Come on, please, go back!’

They hesitated, but were not convinced. I pushed through them until I was beside Constance. She stood close to Mary, who clung to her like a frightened child, while holding the hand of a small man - he might have been just a kid, but what I could see of his face was so lined and wearied, probably from the misery of his burden, that it was impossible to tell. A huge tumour grew from the side of his head, the hardened flesh so rutted and bulbous it seemed to be cascading from him; so large was it that its base rested against his shoulder, its heaviness causing him to lean to one side.

‘Nick, they’re too afraid,’ Constance said, her voice raised so that I could hear over the general din.

‘Yeah, I know. Don’t worry, I’m going to try to get that door shut.’ Their hesitancy was strange, for the hallway was wide and they could easily have kept to the far wall, well away from the room that was on fire. Yet I could understand their fear: it wasn’t just the flames licking through that open doorway that they were scared of, it was the whole thing of leaving their hated but safe haven, the idea of stepping out into a world that none of them knew; I think the fire represented an obstacle, even a hurdle, that had to be overcome if they were to break from the life they had always known; or maybe it was just an excuse not to venture further, a reason for not hurrying down that hallway and out into an alien world. I could not let them linger here any longer though - the smoke was dangerously thick by now, many around me finding it difficult to breathe, their hands clasped to their mouths or holding their throats as they choked.

I edged along the wall towards the door, an arm raised to my face against the heat that spilled out, trying not to inhale too much smoke, my chest and throat already painfully restricted. When I was beside the open door, still protected by the wall, I whipped off my jacket and held it up before me with one arm, using it as a flimsy shield against the worst of the heat. I ducked around the door frame, the sheer intensity of that heat almost throwing me backwards. I cried out, but forced myself to reach forward with a scrabbling hand, trying to find the doorhandle so that I could pull the door towards me. I screamed when my fingers touched red-hot metal, snatching my hand away again. I spun back against the protecting wall, its hot bricks burning bare flesh. Oh God, why not just rush past and make for the main door? Surely they’d all follow? I could call back to them, they’d see I had made it safely. They’d be bound to follow. I looked around and saw Constance - Constance and all the others - watching me, eyes red and tear-stained from the smoke. I wondered if she could see my desperation.

‘Be careful, Nick!’ she called to me.

I groaned. Holding the jacket before me again, I whirled around to face the inferno, this time dropping my arm just enough to see. My eyeball immediately felt roasted, tears caused by smoke instantly evaporating, and I closed my eyelids to a sliver. In the second it took for me to hook my hand around the edge of the door and pull it towards me, I thought I caught something moving inside just beyond the conflagration; then the door slammed shut before me and I wheeled away, sticking my burnt fingers into my mouth, hoping the juices there (what juices? My mouth and throat were as dry as parchment laid out in a desert) would soothe the stinging. Ignoring the pain, I limped back to Constance.

‘Okay, let’s get them moving,’ I croaked and she managed a smile for her friends, drawing them forward, encouraging them with soothing words. They began moving as one towards the big entrance doors at the end of the hallway.

46

I waited until they were all out, helping those who were struggling, lifting those light enough to be carried and depositing them outside on the step, galvanizing the slowest ones with encouraging words, giving them no more time to think or to be afraid. And Constance helped me, taking them through the wide, open doorway, leaving them gasping in fresh air, and returning to help me. We found a brief moment to look at each other and that did more to strengthen me than a couple of hours’ rest.

Before running out into the night, I quickly checked the hallway to make sure nobody had been left behind in the confusion, or had collapsed unnoticed, overcome by smoke. It was almost impossible to see the stairs next to the lift at the far end and I ducked low to get a better view beneath the swirling haze. All was clear as far as stragglers were concerned, but I noticed flames coming from the crack beneath the studio entrance, as well as the tiny gap between the doors themselves. The paint that hadn’t peeled or blistered was actually melting, running to the floor in gooey rivulets. Time to leave for good and I didn’t pause a moment longer.

Outside, the others were gathered near the centre of the triangular courtyard and I heard them gasping and coughing, some of them sobbing loudly, while a few more were content just to gaze around bewildered by what they saw. I noticed that the big Transit had gone, the film crew obviously having had no intention of hanging around to see if they could help anyone still trapped inside. Again I wondered if the staff involved in this sordid sideline of Leonard Wisbeech’s had fled also, or had gone to the main part of the home to raise the alert. I took a moment to listen, but heard no sound of fire alarms, so assumed they had made off to pastures new, unwilling to face the consequences now that the secret of Perfect Rest was about to be exposed. I was puzzled only briefly by the lack of alarms inside the burning annexe itself, quickly realizing that the sound of fire-bells attracting the rescue services to his hidden dungeons and dormitory was the last thing Wisbeech would have wanted.

The moon was behind a cloud and all I could see ahead of me were dark shapes, lying on the ground, others sitting, and still more milling around, quiet apart from their coughing and weeping.

‘Constance,’
I called softly as I moved among them.

‘Here, Nick. I’m here.’

A shadowy figure detached itself from others and came towards me. I took Constance in my arms and held her so tightly I felt her wince. My cheek brushed her cheek and suddenly I was kissing her, finding her lips, her brow, even her closed eyes, finding any part of her face that was accessible, which was just about all of it as far as I was concerned.

‘You’re okay?’ I asked between kisses.

‘I think so, Nick. My head’s a bit
fuzzy,
but I think I’m all right. You, Nick? You’re all right? They didn’t hurt you?’

I just found her lips again and kissed them deeply, kissed them with a passion that had nothing to do with lust, but a lot to do with wanting.

‘How did you know where I was?’ She was finding it difficult to catch her breath and I eased off a little.

Tour friends helped me.’

The moon resurfaced and the scene around us was bathed in its cold glow. Constance’s eyes were wide as she looked up into my face and I could see the anxiety there, perhaps even the remnants of fear.

‘We’ve a lot to talk about, Constance,’ I said softly to her, holding her tight so that she would not get the wrong message.

‘I know.’ It was barely a whisper. She buried her head into my chest and her hold on me was as tight as mine on her.

‘Dis.’

I raised my head to spot Louise coming towards me, carefully stepping around prone and sitting bodies. I felt a flush of relief, stored up since we had found each other in the hallway.

‘Louise. How the hell did you get inside the house?’ Still clutching each other, Constance and I turned towards the clairvoyant.

‘I could hear them calling, Dis, stronger than ever before. As I waited for you in that old house, their thoughts came to me, so powerfully, so desperately. I knew they urgently needed help.’

She touched my shoulder, resting heavily against me, the breaths she drew long and ratchety.

‘I knew they were coming from this place,’ she went on, determined to explain as quickly as possible. ‘I drove up to the gates and demanded to be let in, told them I was a distant cousin of Hildegarde Vogel.’

They believed you? You’re not even German.’

They weren’t to know that and the sound over the gate’s intercom was so bad they probably couldn’t tell I didn’t have an accent. I insisted that I had to see Dr Wisbeech and they told me he wasn’t available, it was too late. I persisted though and threatened them with all kinds of things, including going to the police over my “cousin’s” death and the fact that I hadn’t been informed. Oh, whoever I was speaking to claimed that no one even knew that Hildegarde had any living relatives to inform, but I blustered on and finally they allowed me inside. I think their intention was to see me quickly just to ascertain my nuisance value.’

Lights were coming on in the windows of the main building opposite us, and I could see faces looking down from them. The added glows lit up the courtyard, making us even more visible. Windows started to open.

‘But I never made it to the main house,’ Louise was saying. ‘As I drove in I noticed a narrow lane by the side of. the main drive.’

I nodded my head to let her know I was aware of it.

The voices, those thoughts inside my head - they were calling me from that direction. I don’t know how, direction isn’t normally a part of the sensing, but somehow I knew they wanted me to come to them through that lane. So I turned into it and it led me here, this courtyard. The door over there was unlocked, so I went inside.’

I remembered I hadn’t tried the annexe door after the man taking in equipment from the Transit had closed it behind him. I’d had no reason to - it was the main building that I had wanted to explore. We heard voices coming from above, the old residents, alerted by the disturbance below, crowding round the upstairs windows and jabbering to each other. We would have to warn them to get out before the fire spread, but first I wanted the clairvoyant to finish her story; a few more moments wouldn’t put the old people in any more danger, the annexe almost totally sealed off from the main house, the heavy doors between them the only connection as far as I knew.

There was a lift in the hallway and I used it to take me up. There was no one about, but I was sure I was being called from a room there. The voices were far stronger than they had ever been. And there was one among them whose ability is so powerful, it was as if he’d taken my hand… Oh my God!’ She clasped her hands to her mouth.

Constance reached out to touch them. What is it, Louise?’

The voice… the boy. He’s still up there. He told me to get all the others out first - he
insisted
that I take them -and to come back for him. He was aware of the fire, you see? He knew they were all in great danger.’

‘Michael?’ In panic, Constance was looking around us, searching for the limbless boy among the others.

‘Michael? Is that his name?’ Louise looked from Constance to me. ‘His thoughts were so clear when he told me about this place and his friends here. He told me of the Doctor’s work, the terrible things he did to them. He told me about
you,
Dis. He told me about you.’

In the moonlight, I recognized that same odd look she had given me when first we’d met.

‘You left him there, Louise.’
Constance’s tone was not. accusatory; it was distressed.

‘I’m… I’m sorry. But he urged me to get the others out first. We must go back!’

‘No.’ I was firm. The smoke rolling from the open doorway was full and black. And even as I made the decision, we heard a loud
thwoomp
from inside, the dark churning clouds immediately fused with a bright orange. The door to the studio had burst open, pushed by an explosion behind, and flames were pouring into the hallway. We all flinched, but then Constance made as if to dash towards the entrance. I grabbed her and held her fast.

‘We can’t just leave him?
she screamed at me.

We’re not going to!’ I yelled back as she struggled to get away.

A hand tugged at my shirtsleeve - I’d lost my jacket somewhere back there in the hallway. I glanced down at Joseph, my head busy with thoughts of how I could reach the dormitory again.

‘Michael’s calling,’ Joseph said, and his lips were quivering as if he were about to cry. For a moment, in that bleaching moonlight, he almost looked like the child he truly was. ‘He’s afraid, Dis. He’s calling you, he wants you to go to him.’

‘My God,’ said Louise, ‘I can hear him too, but this time it really is like a voice and not just a thought. He’s calling your name, Dis.’

Terrific, I thought. Even if I’d had a choice a moment ago - and I
had
decided to go back for him - I had no choice now. Not with Constance watching me. Not with Joseph’s ancient-child’s eyes on me. Not with Louise on the point of passing out with anxiety. Not with them
all
seeing the good side of me, the side they all imagined they saw. I was no saviour, no matter what they felt about me. I was a coward. And it was the coward in me that was going to force me back inside that burning building, because I was too scared to let them down! Shit.

‘Louise,’ I said without giving myself further time to think, ‘have you got my cellphone with you?’

She nodded her head, hastily reaching into the deep pocket of her summer dress.

‘Good. Call the emergency services from here. We want all of them - fire, police, and ambulances. Do that before you warn the staff in the main building - it’ll save time if they haven’t already called them.’ Because the windowless annexe was so cut off from the home itself, 1 suspected the staff were still not aware of the fire, unless somebody at the windows above had seen the smoke. ‘I’m going to use the fire escape to get back up to the dormitory - it’s how I reached it in the first place.’

‘I’m coming with you, Nick.’

I turned on Constance. ‘Oh no you’re not!’

‘I’m coming with you,’ she persisted, her jaw set tight.

‘You can’t. You’ll slow me down.’

It was the blunt truth, but she merely shook her head.

‘I can help you.’

I held her away from me. ‘I don’t have time to argue.

Please, just stick with your friends here -
they
need your help.’

With that, I was off, limping towards the fire-escape, my leg dragging. People were shouting down to us from the windows, but I ignored them, too busy just getting to the metal stairway and cursing myself for ever getting into a situation like this. Now that Wisbeech was dead, killed in a most horrible way, my anger had dissipated somewhat, revenge, justice, already exacted (though not by me) in brutal fashion. I started to climb, but felt the metal rail judder behind me.

‘Constance,’
I yelled,
‘please go back!’

‘Michael is in my care!’ she shouted back. ‘I have to help him.’

It was pointless to argue: Constance was going to follow me whatever I said. Although exasperated, I think my love for her reached a new high at that moment. I understood her compassion for these others, others like her, others like me, and I also understood the guilt - mistaken though it was - she felt. Perhaps she thought she could have done more for them, that she should have exposed her guardian and the ‘researches’ he indulged in here; she didn’t understand that she was also a victim of Dr Leonard K Wisbeech, that she had been manipulated and used by someone she thought cared for her. Someone who would have had her killed that very night. What else had this so-called physician done to her over the years, what other abuses had she suffered? How far had he gone with the drugs he had used on her? I shut the last screaming thoughts from my mind.

I went on, aware that even in my worn condition she’d have trouble keeping up with me. Smoke swelled across the courtyard from the ground-floor door opposite, curling around the iron stairway like a drifting fog. More shouts came from windows, the old folk beginning to get agitated. I was on the last flight of steps when a light came on above me. I stopped as a figure stepped out on to the fire-escape’s top landing.

Who’s there? What d’you want here?’

It was a female voice and I thought I recognized the accent. She was dressed in a kimono-type dressing-gown, her hair in large rollers, and in her hand she held a key that I assumed was to the fire-escape door. I knew I had seen her before and I couldn’t remember where or when. It was only when she peered over the railing - perhaps to locate the smoke’s source, perhaps curious about the noise from below - that it came to me. It was the rollers that had put me off, maybe the kimono too, for the last time I had seen her she was wearing a nurse’s uniform and her ginger-blonde hair was tied back in a bun at the nape of her neck.

‘Lord save us, what’s going on?’

It was the Irish accent that made something in my brain click. Theresa…’ I said. Then I remembered the correct pronunciation: Therazsa, it’s me, Nick Dismas. We met the-‘

‘Ah, I know you. You were with Constance, weren’t you?’

It was then that Constance caught up with me.

‘Constance, d’you think you’d be tellin me what’s hap-penin here?’

In the light from the doorway I could see her chubby face was set in a frown. She cocked her head to look around me at Constance.

There’s a fire in the annexe, Theresa,’ Constance said breathlessly. ‘You have to get everyone out before it spreads.’

‘Oh Mother Mary, I’d better get on to the fire services.’

‘Already done.’ I scurried up the last few steps to the landing. ‘You just sound the alarm and concentrate on getting people out.’

‘But how did it start, who -?’.

I shut her up by pushing past her and entering the building. As I made for the alcove further along the corridor, I heard Constance’s voice behind me ordering the plump young nurse to arouse everyone on that floor before going down to alert the patients and residents. Mercifully, I had left one half of the double doors in the alcove slightly open, resting against the edge of its partner, afraid of the noise it would make if I pushed it shut completely. (I thanked God that the nurse, Theresa, had come out on to the fire-escape to see what all the ruckus was about, because I was no longer wearing the jacket with my lock-picking tools in its pocket.) I went through into the annexe and found myself back inside the large area at the end of which lay the dormitory.