Blood Water

CHAPTER 10

As they approached the town, they started seeing other cars. People were either leaving work early or collecting their children from school, knowing it might be impossible later. When they drove past the industrial estate, they could see more evidence of the rain’s work. Even though they were on high ground now, blocked drains were spewing out water: there was simply nowhere underground for it to go. However, the driveway leading to Orchard Wells High School was clear, so James drove in and parked. They walked up to the new reception annexe. The receptionist, Mrs Evans, looked curiously at the scientist, asking his name and the nature of his visit but ignoring Sean and James – whom she knew.

‘Yes, hello. My name is Richard Morrow. I’m from the Lake Byrne Field Study Centre. I, er… need to see Mr Phoenix urgently.’

‘Mr Phoenix…’ Mrs Evans checked her log book. Sean and James exchanged worried glances, wondering what they’d do if Phoenix was elsewhere or, worse, missing. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t have your name down here in the visitor’s book. Are you sure your appointment was today?’

‘Yes – no – look, I really need to see him right now – it’s very urgent. Could you please call him?’

The receptionist merely checked the book again, as if to say That’s not how it’s done around here, I’m afraid.

Sean decided to have a go: ‘Mrs Evans, it’s really important we see Mr Phoenix. He found something of scientific interest and Mr Morrow needs to evaluate it. It could be very, very important.’

‘Really?’ She looked up. ‘What did he find?’

‘It’s, er, a rare species.’

‘A rare species of what?’

‘We don’t know yet.’

‘All right, bear with me a second.’ She sighed, shaking her head as she picked up the phone.

Pupils and teachers alike were leaving reception and heading out into the rain, beginning their journeys home. Sean had a feeling that for some of them it might already be too late; some were going to get stuck. He looked down the corridor and saw Mr Titus, the headmaster, conversing with two teachers and pointing in the direction of the main hall. He looked very animated and concerned.

‘He’s not answering his extension,’ Mrs Evans said eventually, after being interrupted by several teachers and pupils asking about the weather conditions and travel arrangements. She hung up her phone in a manner that suggested she had more important things to do than chase errant teachers. ‘He might have gone home already. I remember seeing him go out earlier, but not coming back. You could see if his car’s in the car park, it’s the black Honda Civic… By the way, Sean, aren’t you supposed to be off sick?’

‘I am. It’s a long story. Thanks, Mrs Evans.’ Sean then remembered that Mum would be home by now. He didn’t have his mobile – he hadn’t thought he’d need it on his walk – but James should have his. He would wait until they’d checked the car park, then get James to phone her with a plausible story for his disappearance.

With no other obvious course of action they went back out into the rain, scanning the cars for the one belonging to Mr Phoenix. James spotted it almost right away.

‘There it is.’

‘He hasn’t gone home then,’ Sean said. ‘So he must either be here, or… he never returned from his walk.’

They stood there getting wetter and wetter in the rain, trying to decide what to do. Suddenly there was a flash of lightning, followed closely by a loud clap of thunder, and the rain intensified.

‘This is ridiculous,’ Sean said, the water dripping off his hood.

‘Come on,’ Morrow said. ‘Let’s get back inside – quickly.’

The rain prevented any part of him from drying out or getting warm. Not that he was concerned. He couldn’t even feel the cold anyway. He was numb, devoid of sensation. All he could do was watch and listen as the thing controlling his body took him up the road to the top of the hill. Phoenix didn’t know what the thing was planning to do with his body, and he didn’t care, he just wanted it back. But he knew where it was taking him – that seemed pretty clear now, though he couldn’t work out what it intended to do when it got there. He kept getting flashes in his mind – images of murder and mayhem involving people he didn’t recognize. Were these memories? Things the creature had done while in someone else’s body? He remembered the horrible pain he’d felt when he’d tried to regain control of his body earlier. The cold, searing sensation in his head was like an icy dagger. He knew he had to try again at some point, but the idea made him feel nauseous. Was he ill? Would it allow him to be sick? Maybe not.

There was a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder. The weather seemed quite appropriate for what had happened to him. Monstrous and terrifying. There was so much rain, so much water around. The road was just a river now, flowing back into the town. Had the thing inside him come with the flood? Maybe this was the end of the world. Maybe this was what happened when you went to hell. He coughed, though he hadn’t meant to. Perhaps the thing had made him cough for some reason. Maybe it was still breaking in its new suit.

A noise came over the public address system. It sounded like someone had their hand over the microphone, but then it cleared and the headmaster’s voice took its place.

’To all pupils and members of staff. I have been informed by the police that not only is the main bridge over the river Teme out of service, but the roads leading in and out of town are flooded in several places. There have also been a number of accidents because of the weather, and it is very dangerous for anyone now travelling in a vehicle… or on foot for that matter. If you already have someone coming to pick you up, then please wait inside until they arrive. If, however, you normally walk home, then you will have to wait here until we have confirmation that it is safe for you to leave. The school buses left the depot but we don’t know whether they will come here as normal. It’s possible they may have to turn back, in which case some of you may have to stay the night here – or with friends who live nearby. Please don’t panic, this is just a precaution. With the exception of those who are being picked up now, would all pupils, members of staff and visitors please go to the main hall.’

‘What should we do?’ Sean asked.

‘I think we should wait here to see if Mr Phoenix turns up,’ Morrow said.

‘But he could go anywhere, couldn’t he?’ James said.

‘Well, yes, but… what else can we do? Waiting here is our only real option. And if he does come back we need to determine if he has the specimen inside him – although I’m not quite sure how we do that.’

‘Yeah, but what if he doesn’t turn up? I don’t want to be stuck here all night. We should drive home while we still can… if we still can.’ James still had his car keys in his hand, and looked like he was ready to leave.

‘What if he does though?’ Sean said. ‘What if he does and that thing is inside him? There are hundreds of kids here. What if he goes mad and starts attacking them?’

‘But if he isn’t infected, then we’ve wasted our time and that thing could be anywhere,’ James argued.

‘God, there are too many "ifs",’ Sean said. ‘We’re going round in circles.’

‘Yes, that’s right,’ Morrow agreed. ‘Let’s just see if he does come here and deal with the situation then.’ He sounded worried. Sean wondered then what he intended to do if he did decide Mr Phoenix was infected. How would he get the thing out when he knew so little about it? He also wondered how dangerous Mr Phoenix might be: the creature had killed several people at the study centre.

‘You three will need to go to the main hall if you’re not leaving now,’ Mrs Evans said from behind the glass window of the reception desk. ‘Before you do, though, could you sign the book?’ She looked at Morrow. ‘Sorry, it’s procedure, especially at a time like this.’

Once Morrow had signed in he turned back to them. ‘We should go to the hall then. That’s where Phoenix will go when he gets here, I assume.’

They walked down the sloping corridor connecting the new annexe to the older building. Just then they heard muffled, tinny music, and James retrieved his mobile phone from his jacket pocket. He looked at the lit-up display.

‘It’s Mum,’ he said.

‘She probably wants to know where I am,’ Sean said.

James answered the phone and began explaining the situation as best he could, trying to leave out as many of the bizarre details as possible.

‘Yeah,’ he said, trying to wind up the conversation as the three of them went into the hall. ‘Yeah, Sean’s fine, honestly. We should be home soon once we’ve seen his teacher. Mr Morrow needs to be sure he isn’t sick. This parasite thing isn’t contagious but it can do harm to whoever’s carrying it… Sorry?… No, we’re perfectly safe – don’t worry. It’s, er… not the sort of parasite that can go from person to person through the air, it’s… a bit more complicated than that. I’ll explain when we get back… Yeah, I’m looking after him – he was just going crazy stuck indoors, he didn’t realize the weather was so bad… I know, I know, he’s really sorry, but… No, neither of us knew it would get this bad. I think we should be able to find a back road home once we’ve checked out Mr Phoenix, but I’ll give you a ring in a while to let you know what’s going on… I will, honest… OK, bye.’

Although many pupils had already left, the main hall was still busy. Despite the situation the mood was generally upbeat. All around the room groups of people were deep in conversation: the flooding was generating more excitement than concern among the pupils, though the members of staff seemed genuinely worried. Sean saw some of his friends on the other side of the hall.

‘I guess we just wait then,’ he said, watching his brother and Morrow scan the room.

‘Yeah,’ James said, sounding almost bored. ‘We could be in for a—’

He was interrupted by the loud voice of a teacher behind him: ‘Nigel! You’re drenched. Come on up to the staff room.’

Sean, James and Morrow turned and saw a woman – Mrs Rees, Sean thought her name was, though he couldn’t remember what she taught – taking a bedraggled man by the elbow and escorting him back out of the room. He looked absolutely soaked, his hair plastered down, his clothes filthy, and his eyes somehow hollow and lustreless – but it was definitely Phoenix.

‘God,’ Sean said. ‘He looks terrible.’

‘The rain could have done that though,’ James said.

‘Perhaps,’ said Morrow, moving through the crowd after the departing teachers. ‘But we need to be sure.’