Blood Water

CHAPTER 18

The key was lying at the bottom of the large green mug on the caretaker’s desk, exactly where Sean had expected it to be. As he picked it up, he was aware of movement outside the window. He turned to see the drenched figure of Mrs Rees, stumbling and then falling, splashing on the sodden ground. He watched, his mouth open, as she ran on behind the annexe towards the main road that led to the town.

Why is she running? Sean wondered. He hurried back to the hall and found the other two waiting anxiously by the cupboard door with the inert body of the headmaster.

‘I just saw Mrs Rees,’ he said, handing the key to Waites. ‘She was running away from the school. I’m going to check on Dr Morrow, see if he knows anything about it. I think something might be wrong. She wouldn’t just take off like that.’

‘All right,’ Waites said. ‘But hurry back. James and I will get Titus into the cupboard.’

It didn’t take Sean long to return to the toilets and find out from Morrow that Mrs Rees believed she was infected.

‘You have to find her,’ Morrow implored. ‘She mustn’t spread the infection.’

‘OK, I’ll try.’ Sean headed back to the main hall, wondering how he had been given so much responsibility. After all, was he really capable of doing anything to stop it?

He thought about Mrs Rees and the effect the disease would have on her and her family. If she was indeed infected and died in the middle of town, amidst thousands of other people, they would be facing a far greater disaster than the one they were currently trying to deal with. The authorities would then determine the source of the problem and descend on the school before he, James and Waites were able to deal with the parasite. Right now they were the only ones with any understanding of it. The government would have to quarantine the place. The creature had to be destroyed before it got away.

‘We have to stop her,’ Sean said simply when he’d explained the situation to the others.

‘All right,’ Waites said. ‘You and James go after her and bring her back here – by force if necessary. I’ll stay and watch Titus.’

‘Maybe you should go and see Morrow before he… you know,’ Sean suggested. ‘Just in case he’s remembered something that could help us kill this creature – he said he would try to think back in case there was something…’

‘Maybe I will. But I don’t think I should leave that thing unguarded for long.’

‘Yes, do be careful, Mr Waites,’ James said. ‘If that thing manages to get out…’

‘All right. You two, just go. Go and find Emily before it’s too late.’

Sean led his brother out of the hall, pushing the entrance doors open and grimacing at the ferocity of the rain. He pulled the zip on his coat up as far as it would go and tugged the already wet hood over his head. But suddenly he realized James was no longer behind him; he was standing by the stairs, deep in thought.

Sean shook his head and opened the door again. ‘Come on, James, we have to find her!’

His brother looked up, confused at first, then nodded and followed him. ‘Sorry, I just remembered something…’

‘What?’

‘Oh, nothing… Let’s go.’

They ran across the car park towards the main road. They had considered taking James’s car, but the roads could now be so flooded that it would only be a hindrance. It was even darker now; the sky was covered in thick, heavy clouds. They crossed to the narrow pavement and ran down the winding hill towards the town, hoping Mrs Rees hadn’t found somewhere to hide.

Waites was pacing up and down outside the cupboard, biting his nails and wondering what he would do once the thing woke up and started trying to get out. He had no idea whether the cupboard would hold it – or whether he could overpower the possessed headmaster if he got free. There was no sound from within, so there was no need to panic just yet, but the time would inevitably come. And he couldn’t help wondering how long Morrow had left. Had the man remembered something useful – something that could be used to kill this creature and reverse the effects of the infection? If the man had information, it might be valuable. Perhaps he should risk leaving the headmaster unattended for a short while and go and talk to Morrow before it was too late. He paced a while longer, his eyes on the locked door, then made up his mind: he ran across the hall, then out into the corridor.

Morrow had coughed up so much blood he couldn’t believe there was any left. Surely he didn’t have much time now. The pain within had been replaced by a numbness that made him feel shrunken and deflated. His head felt like a huge hand was squeezing it, and his teeth were loose, and moved every time his dry tongue passed over them. He didn’t feel human any more; he felt like a different creature altogether. With his remaining energy, he prayed that Waites or the boys would come back so he could pass on the piece of information he had just remembered – otherwise they’d have no chance of beating the thing.

He waited, his laboured breathing the only thing disturbing the silence. His head was hurting so much now that even thinking was painful. Please, he willed. Please come. But it sounded as if everyone had gone – he had been abandoned. Such a big tomb, he thought wryly. Then, without warning, there was a huge explosion in his chest, and all at once the veins in his arms felt like they had been pulled tight, constricted. Oh hell, he thought. Here it comes. And unlike Emily Rees, what was on his mind as death came sweeping towards him was not his family, but the overwhelming need to deliver his message.

By the time Waites reached the boys’ toilets, Morrow was dead. He’d actually begun speaking to him and only stopped when he saw the glazed look in the man’s staring, lifeless eyes. His shoulders sagged. He was too late. But as he approached the blood-soaked corpse he saw what Morrow had done with his last few seconds of life. A message was written in the man’s own blood on the tiled floor nearby.

Sall…

Morrow’s finger lay curled near the last letter, its job apparently done. But the message couldn’t be complete. Sall… What did it mean? Perhaps Morrow had been trying to write Sally. If so, who was she, and what was her involvement in all this? Waites knelt and looked again into the dead man’s eyes.

‘What were you trying to say?’

He remained there a moment longer, then remembered his captive in the hall. He was tempting fate by staying away any longer than he needed to. If that thing got out and headed towards town, it would be all over. He left the toilets, jogging back towards the hall and hoping the headmaster was still unconscious.