Blood Water

CHAPTER 26

Sean recognized the laboratory as the one in which he and James had found Morrow earlier that day. He hadn’t really noticed much back then, but now he stared at all the containers and bottles in the cabinets along the wall, some with coloured liquids in them, others with preserved animal and marine specimens. He thought he saw something moving in one of the large tanks. Since he was already on edge, he decided not to go and find out what it was; instead he went over to the desk and looked through the notes Morrow had left there. He and James had forgotten about these papers. Maybe the answer to Morrow’s cryptic message was here somewhere. But he could find nothing that seemed linked to it. Looking down, he saw that the dog had followed him and was now busy sniffing his feet. It glanced up at him questioningly.

‘What?’ Sean asked. He sighed and looked back at the shelves. He should be tracking down the headmaster, but there might be something here, something vital. He scanned the labels on some of the bottles: distilled water, rain water, sea water, lake water, tap water. Someone was clearly mad about water. Since it was a lake study centre, Sean supposed they did study water here, though he couldn’t imagine it made for an interesting job.

All at once he heard a sound somewhere in the laboratory behind him. The dog was still sitting quietly by his feet, so it was something else. He swallowed, realizing how dry his throat had become, and slowly turned round.

In a state of panic, James almost tumbled down the stairs, straight into Waites – who was pretty worked up himself.

‘We’ve got to destroy that thing now!’ James blurted out. I don’t care how we do it, we have to destr—’

‘They’re gone,’ Waites interrupted.

‘What?’

‘Sean and Titus. They’re not in the office any more. Come on, we have to find them.’

Together they ran down the corridor.

‘What were you saying?’ Waites asked breathlessly. ‘About destroying it.’

‘It’s worse than we thought,’ James said, unwilling to give away too much. ‘But just promise me that if that thing gets into me… Don’t let me out of your sight.’

‘Fine.’

‘I wish I could tell you what I’ve just discovered, but the fewer people who know, the better. It narrows the chances of the specimen finding out.’

Waites wondered what that discovery could be, but understood that sharing it could indeed be foolish if he were to become host to the creature.

They were hurrying past the laboratories when they heard Sean scream.

It looked like the parasite was the only thing keeping Titus alive. His skin was an awful translucent yellow pocked with bleeding craters and sores, while the creases around his eyes and mouth had now become cracks that wept openly, the blood more black than red. His eyes were weak and watery and seemed to bulge as though being squeezed by some invisible force. Many of his teeth had fallen out and clumps of hair were also missing. The tie that had once gagged him had long been thrown off along with the cord. He hissed at Sean, his breath giving off a stench of festering, spoiled meat.

‘Mr Titus. Are you… Are you still in there somewhere?’ Sean asked.

Ignoring this question, the man advanced, still hissing, still fixing Sean with that crazy stare, hands reaching for the boy, for its next victim. Sean backed away, but behind him there was only the whiteboard and the wall; there was nowhere else to run.

‘Mine,’ the creature hissed again; the smell was atrocious, but Sean was too terrified to feel sick.

‘Please, Mr Titus…’ Sean could hear the quaver in his voice, the terror. Tears were collecting in his eyes now, ready to spill down over his cheeks. ‘Please don’t do it. Please.’

Titus opened his mouth slowly, and Sean thought he was going to speak. Instead he saw the black, wriggling thing coil around in the ruined mouth, flexing in preparation. Sean was paralysed with fear and unable to defend himself when the creature sprang.

There was a noise like someone hitting a large sheet of metal with a hammer, a clang that went on reverberating. It felt as if someone had attached a sink plunger to his face and was trying to pull it off. Sean fell back against the wall and reached up to try and pull the invader off.

It was too late though. It had already slithered into his mouth, and though the obvious thing to do was bite down on it hard, he couldn’t summon up the courage. Then it was at the back of his throat and up inside his head, moving about, finding somewhere to hide. He looked up and saw the headmaster stagger backwards, looking at his diseased hands and then at Sean.

‘Oh God… What has it done?’

In response, Sean could only shake his head, feeling stunned, almost drugged, unable to do or say anything. He was helpless. The dog, realizing something was very wrong, and not liking the smell of the headmaster one bit, retreated to the other side of the lab to watch.

‘Sean,’ Titus muttered through cracked lips. ‘No…’ He looked around for something he could use to save the boy, almost whimpering in desperation, already feeling guilty for what had happened. Then he spied the jars of water on the shelf. He squinted at the labels, and almost jumped when he recognized something. He grabbed a jar, re-read the label to make sure he had identified it correctly, then unscrewed the lid.

Sean’s vision was changing: Titus appeared to be a great distance away. And sounds were changing too. The drumming of the rain became louder, then seemed to disappear altogether. He couldn’t feel his legs and wondered how he was still standing. And all of a sudden, he wasn’t.

‘Put it down!’ came a voice from behind Titus.

The headmaster turned to see Waites and James, the former giving him a stern, angry stare, the latter shocked and deeply concerned.

‘Please,’ Titus said, not putting the jar down, but trying to placate them with both hands nonetheless. ‘It’s not in me any more. It’s in Sean, but I know how to get it out.’

‘Get away from him,’ James said, moving forward.

‘James,’ Waites warned. ‘Don’t get too close.’

But James wasn’t scared of Titus now, just angry. ‘I said get away from him!’

‘Please, you have to listen. I can get it out of him. Please let me, before it’s too late.’ Titus held up the jar, but James slapped it out of his hand, sending it flying towards a workbench, where it smashed.

Waites rushed over and looked for the label. When he found it he shook his head. ‘Oh God, James, I think he’s telling the truth…’

James turned, unwilling to take his eyes off Titus, but the headmaster was also looking at Waites.

‘Look,’ the teacher said, holding up the sodden label.

‘Sea water.’

‘So?’

‘I think that Morrow’s dying message wasn’t "Sally"; he was trying to write "salt"… He just forgot to cross the "t".’

‘He must have worked it out during his experiments… Or maybe he discovered it when that thing was in his head.’

‘Yes!’ Titus was nodding, drool dripping from his mouth now. ‘It hates it! It can’t stand any salt – even the trace salt in the human body almost drives it mad.’

‘Well then,’ Waites said, eyeing the broken jar. ‘Now we have a weapon.’