Blood Water

CHAPTER 27

The revelation was punctuated by a deep and unsettling laugh that came, most unnaturally, from Sean’s mouth. In an instant he was on his feet. He kicked Titus in the stomach – which ruptured the man’s stomach, spilling blood and matter out onto the floor. Staggering backwards, Titus hit the corner of a bench, cracking his spine and releasing his liquefying kidneys. He sank to the floor in a twitching, haemorrhaging heap. All life was gone from him in seconds.

Sean panted like an animal, then rushed down the aisle between the lab benches, making for the door. Waites was quick to respond and rugby-tackled him to the floor. He knelt on his legs and drew his arms behind his back, incapacitating him.

‘James! Quickly, get some more salt water from somewhere. We have to drive it out.’

‘What? From where? I—’

‘If there isn’t any more sea water, find something similar.’

‘There might be some saline solution somewhere.’

‘That might not be strong enough,’ Waites said as Sean struggled beneath him with surprising strength. ‘Get some neat salt, and try boosting the saline with that. But hurry, we might not have much time. We’ve got to get it out of him now.’

James flung open all the cupboards and found both saline solution and sodium chloride. He opened the solution and added nearly a quarter of the sodium chloride, then resealed and shook the bottle, hoping the mixture was well blended. He ran over to where Waites was still battling with his brother, barely noticing the dog, which had come out of hiding and was edging closer.

Waites took the bottle. ‘Right, when I turn him over I’m going to sit on his legs. I want you to grab both his arms and keep them down, OK?’

‘Yeah.’

‘I’ll try and get this stuff into him. It’s not going to be easy though. Are you ready?’

James just nodded. Waites turned Sean over, fighting to stay on his thrashing legs. James quickly grabbed his brother’s arms and forced them down, using every ounce of strength he possessed to keep them there. Waites shook the bottle, then unscrewed the top, and held Sean’s lower jaw. The boy’s mouth was clamped shut and wouldn’t open. A snort came from his nose, and his eyes betrayed the evil monster lurking within.

Waites didn’t have time for games. Without any warning, he jabbed his fist into Sean’s stomach. As he had hoped, it knocked the wind out of him and the boy’s mouth opened. Instantly the liquid went in and was swallowed involuntarily, followed by much coughing and spluttering. There was a delay of a second or two, then the boy’s eyeballs started rolling and his body convulsed, making it even harder for them to hold him down. An agonized scream issued from his mouth, then, completely unexpectedly, he threw off the two men holding him down and crawled towards the dog.

James was OK, but Waites had banged his head against a desk in the tumble and was momentarily stunned. They could only watch in shock and exasperation as the thing controlling Sean flew out of his open mouth and straight into the dog’s. James got to his feet to grab the dog, but it was off before he could reach it.

Waites looked down at Sean, who was now twitching and foaming at the mouth. ‘Take care of your brother, James – I’ll go after the dog. If it gets out of the centre it’s all over.’ Without waiting for a reply, he set off.

Sean looked exhausted after his ordeal. The blow to his stomach still hurt, but it was having the thing in his head that had really shaken him.

James helped his brother into a sitting position. ‘Are you OK?’

‘I don’t know,’ Sean gasped. ‘My head feels all bloated and… messy.’

His brother was staring at him, tears flowing down his cheeks.

‘James?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Am I going to die?’

‘Don’t be stupid. Of course you’re not.’

‘It was in me though. I mean, that’s enough, isn’t it?’

‘Yeah, but it wasn’t in for long though. Maybe… ’

For a while they stayed there, not moving, not talking, too numb to do anything.