Blood Water

CHAPTER 21

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?’