Blood Water

CHAPTER 6

Although he was worried about the flood, Sean’s primary concern was getting home – it would be difficult as the only direct route from Orchard Wells’ high street to the suburbs was now under water. There were back roads from the other end of town that would get him there, but it would take all day if he had to walk. He needed a lift. Then he remembered that his brother had said he’d be finishing college early today and might go for a swim afterwards. If so, his car would be at the pool.

Sean turned and headed up the high street, taking a left at the library, then over a small bridge that was dangerously close to the rising stream, and into the swimming pool car park. He scanned the vehicles. There were people chatting on their phones, no doubt informing loved ones of the situation. Others were getting into their cars and driving away while they still could. He checked each parking space, his eyes sweeping the vehicles, until he found it – a red Ford Fiesta with one hubcap missing. His brother was still there. He made for the entrance to the building and went inside.

Mr Phoenix scanned the path and the bank leading down to the water’s edge for signs of disturbance; soon enough he came upon muddy footprints and trampled grass that he guessed had been left by Sean. He looked down through the trees to the brown, swirling water below, reluctant to go near it, but interested enough in Sean’s story to see if there was any truth in it. The boy believed he’d been hallucinating after what had happened to him on Sunday, but maybe someone really had come to harm.

Mr Phoenix made his way slowly down the slope, using the trees for support when he slipped, but he soon reached the water and saw signs of a recent disturbance in the mud. It was hard to tell if anyone besides Sean had been there. He looked around for any sign of vomit, but could see nothing except… In the grass to one side he glimpsed something dark and slimy. He moved closer and looked down, trying to guess what it was. It looked like oil, only thicker, more viscous, and gave off an awful pungent smell. He squatted down to take a closer look but had to turn away as the smell of vomit assailed him.

Suddenly he saw movement in the grass on the other side of the rough path: something was making its way towards him. He waited to see what it was – a rabbit, he guessed – but the grass stopped moving and nothing appeared. He walked over to the spot, crouching down to get a better look. In the thick tangle of grass and twigs lay something shiny and wet, long and dark – an eel perhaps. Whatever it was, he didn’t really want to touch it, and he was about to leave it be when it shot out from its hiding place and attached itself to his face.

He cried out, more in revulsion than fear, and fell backwards onto the muddy ground, scrabbling madly to remove the thing from his face. It had contracted its body now so that it was shorter and fatter, like a slug, and though he pulled at it with both hands, it wouldn’t come away. He yelled in panic as he felt it slide its way down from his nose and cheeks to his mouth, the smell making him gag. He didn’t want it near his mouth, didn’t want to taste it. He turned and crawled over to the edge of the stream, splashing water into his face in the desperate hope that it might remove the creature, but it was still sliding down and was now above his top lip.

‘Urgh!’ he cried. He got back to his feet, tried once again to wrench off his unknown attacker, then slipped and fell backwards into the water. The intense cold, the ferocious current and the incredible roaring force of the water claimed him.

Sean knew the boy working behind the reception desk at the swimming pool.

‘Hey, Ed, is my brother still in the pool?’

‘Nah, he got out about five minutes ago.’

‘Ah, great, I’ll wait for him.’

‘Hey, Sean, is it true that the river’s flooded the bridge?’

‘Yeah… News travels fast.’

‘Dad phoned. He said I should probably let everyone in the pool know.’

‘Yeah. They’ll have to go the back way up the hill. That’s why I came to find James. I can’t get home without him.’

‘Oh, yeah. Why aren’t you at school then?’

‘Oh, long story…’

‘Is it to do with the race?’

‘Yeah. Still feeling a bit— Ah, here he is.’

James was coming towards the reception area. When he noticed Sean, he looked confused. ‘What are you doing here? You should be at home.’

‘I haven’t got time to explain. The river’s flooded, it’s over the bridge and into the town.’

‘Bloody hell.’

‘Yeah, so we have to go home the back way.’

‘All right, let’s go. I’ve got to pick up some things from work. It won’t take long though.’

As they went out into the car park, James took his car keys from his jacket pocket and looked up into the sky, which was still disgorging the seemingly endless rain. ‘So why were you in town?’

‘I had to get out for some fresh air. Thought I’d manage an hour or two before Mum came home.’

‘But it was raining.’

‘I didn’t care.’

‘So is the flooding really that serious?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Why didn’t you go back over the bridge before it got so bad?’ James unlocked the car and they got in.

‘I was in the park and I… saw something really weird,’ Sean said, buckling up his seat belt.

‘Weird?’ James started the car and checked his mirrors before driving towards the exit.

‘Yeah. I saw this guy crawl out of the water – I don’t know how, the current must have been really strong – but anyway, he crawled out, looking really bad, and puked this black stuff out and then just fell back into the water.’

‘Are you serious?’ James pulled out of the car park and headed up the hill past the small woodland path where Sean sometimes walked with his friends.

‘Yeah, but I think I must have hallucinated it… I mean, it doesn’t make any sense, it’s mad. And I’ve been seeing some really strange stuff since the… you know.’

‘Yeah, but what if you did see it? We should probably tell the police.’

‘No, it’s OK, I met Mr Phoenix from school when I was walking back to the bridge. I told him what happened. He said he was going to check it out.’

‘Weird thing to hallucinate.’

‘It wouldn’t be a proper hallucination if it made sense though, would it?’

‘I dunno. Shit, is this storm ever going to end?’ The windscreen wipers were on full now, but the rain was so heavy that they were struggling to shift enough water to allow James to see the road ahead. ‘If the bridge is already flooded and the river’s coming up into the town, what’s going to happen if the weather doesn’t ease off soon?’

‘I don’t know,’ Sean replied. ‘But even if the rain did stop now, the shops and houses would still be flooded.’

They both shook their heads in bemusement.

‘Maybe it’s global warming,’ James said. ‘Or maybe it’s just a freak storm.’ He kept moving his head from side to side in order to see through the splashing of the wipers. ‘This guy you saw… did he say anything?’

‘Er, yeah… I think he said "The centre", or something. I don’t know what he meant though.’

‘The study centre maybe?’

It was only then that Sean made the connection between what the man had said and the Lake Byrne Study Centre, where his brother worked part time. It must have been the muddled state his brain had been in since the run.

‘I could check everything’s all right there when I go in to get my stuff,’ James said. ‘You never know, they might be missing someone. It might be the guy you saw.’

‘I really doubt it.’

‘Why?’

‘This guy looked like he should have died days ago. He was like a zombie or something. His skin was all yellow and his eyes were red. He had sores all over his skin… and no one should puke black stuff like that.’

‘Jeez, I hope it really was an hallucination.’

‘Yeah. This thing came out of his mouth too. It was like a massive slug or a snake or something. Really gross. Made me turn and run.’

‘I’ll bet. Well, maybe we’ll find out whether what you saw was real when we get to the centre.’

Sean didn’t like the idea. He didn’t want to find it was real. He wanted to believe he’d imagined the whole terrible thing.