Blood Water (5 page)

As they approached the town, they started seeing other
cars. People were either leaving work early or collecting
their children from school, knowing it might be impossible
later. When they drove past the industrial estate,
they could see more evidence of the rain's work. Even
though they were on high ground now, blocked drains
were spewing out water: there was simply nowhere
underground for it to go. However, the driveway leading
to Orchard Wells High School was clear, so James drove
in and parked. They walked up to the new reception
annexe. The receptionist, Mrs Evans, looked curiously
at the scientist, asking his name and the nature of his
visit but ignoring Sean and James – whom she knew.

'Yes, hello. My name is Richard Morrow. I'm from
the Lake Byrne Field Study Centre. I, er . . . need to see
Mr Phoenix urgently.'

'Mr Phoenix . . .' Mrs Evans checked her log book. Sean
and James exchanged worried glances, wondering what
they'd do if Phoenix was elsewhere or, worse, missing. 'I'm
sorry, I don't have your name down here in the visitor's
book. Are you sure your appointment was today?'

'Yes – no – look, I really need to see him right now
– it's very urgent. Could you please call him?'

The receptionist merely checked the book again, as if
to say
That's not how it's done around here, I'm afraid.

Sean decided to have a go: 'Mrs Evans, it's really
important we see Mr Phoenix. He found something of
scientific interest and Mr Morrow needs to evaluate it.
It could be very, very important.'

'Really?' She looked up. 'What did he find?'

'It's, er, a rare species.'

'A rare species of what?'

'We don't know yet.'

'All right, bear with me a second.' She sighed, shaking
her head as she picked up the phone.

Pupils and teachers alike were leaving reception and
heading out into the rain, beginning their journeys home.
Sean had a feeling that for some of them it might already
be too late; some were going to get stuck. He looked down
the corridor and saw Mr Titus, the headmaster, conversing
with two teachers and pointing in the direction of the
main hall. He looked very animated and concerned.

'He's not answering his extension,' Mrs Evans said
eventually, after being interrupted by several teachers
and pupils asking about the weather conditions
and travel arrangements. She hung up her phone in a
manner that suggested she had more important things
to do than chase errant teachers. 'He might have gone
home already. I remember seeing him go out earlier, but
not coming back. You could see if his car's in the car
park, it's the black Honda Civic . . . By the way, Sean,
aren't you supposed to be off sick?'

'I am. It's a long story. Thanks, Mrs Evans.' Sean then
remembered that Mum would be home by now. He
didn't have his mobile – he hadn't thought he'd need
it on his walk – but James should have his. He would
wait until they'd checked the car park, then get James to
phone her with a plausible story for his disappearance.

With no other obvious course of action they went back
out into the rain, scanning the cars for the one belonging
to Mr Phoenix. James spotted it almost right away.

'There it is.'

'He hasn't gone home then,' Sean said. 'So he must
either be here, or . . . he never returned from his walk.'

They stood there getting wetter and wetter in the
rain, trying to decide what to do. Suddenly there was
a flash of lightning, followed closely by a loud clap of
thunder, and the rain intensified.

'This is ridiculous,' Sean said, the water dripping off
his hood.

'Come on,' Morrow said. 'Let's get back inside
– quickly.'

* * *

The rain prevented any part of him from drying out or
getting warm. Not that he was concerned. He couldn't
even feel the cold anyway. He was numb, devoid of
sensation. All he could do was watch and listen as the
thing controlling his body took him up the road to the
top of the hill. Phoenix didn't know what the thing was
planning to do with his body, and he didn't care, he
just wanted it back. But he knew where it was taking
him – that seemed pretty clear now, though he couldn't
work out what it intended to do when it got there. He
kept getting flashes in his mind – images of murder and
mayhem involving people he didn't recognize. Were
these memories? Things the creature had done while in
someone else's body? He remembered the horrible pain
he'd felt when he'd tried to regain control of his body
earlier. The cold, searing sensation in his head was like
an icy dagger. He knew he had to try again at some
point, but the idea made him feel nauseous. Was he ill?
Would it allow him to be sick? Maybe not.

There was a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder.
The weather seemed quite appropriate for what had
happened to him. Monstrous and terrifying. There was
so much rain, so much water around. The road was just
a river now, flowing back into the town. Had the thing
inside him come with the flood? Maybe this was the
end of the world. Maybe this was what happened when
you went to hell. He coughed, though he hadn't meant
to. Perhaps the thing had made him cough for some
reason. Maybe it was still breaking in its new suit.

A noise came over the public address system. It sounded
like someone had their hand over the microphone, but
then it cleared and the headmaster's voice took its place.

'To all pupils and members of staff. I have been informed
by the police that not only is the main bridge over the river
Teme out of service, but the roads leading in and out of town
are flooded in several places. There have also been a number
of accidents because of the weather, and it is very dangerous
for anyone now travelling in a vehicle
. . .
or on foot for that
matter. If you already have someone coming to pick you up,
then please wait inside until they arrive. If, however, you
normally walk home, then you will have to wait here until
we have confirmation that it is safe for you to leave. The
school buses left the depot but we don't know whether they
will come here as normal. It's possible they may have to turn
back, in which case some of you may have to stay the night
here – or with friends who live nearby. Please don't panic,
this is just a precaution. With the exception of those who are
being picked up now, would all pupils, members of staff and
visitors please go to the main hall.'

'What should we do?' Sean asked.

'I think we should wait here to see if Mr Phoenix
turns up,' Morrow said.

'But he could go anywhere, couldn't he?' James said.

'Well, yes, but . . . what else can we do? Waiting here
is our only real option. And if he does come back we
need to determine if he has the specimen inside him
– although I'm not quite sure how we do that.'

'Yeah, but what if he doesn't turn up? I don't want to
be stuck here all night. We should drive home while we
still can . . . if we still can.' James still had his car keys in
his hand, and looked like he was ready to leave.

'What if he does though?' Sean said. 'What if he does
and that thing is inside him? There are hundreds of kids
here. What if he goes mad and starts attacking them?'

'But if he isn't infected, then we've wasted our time
and that thing could be anywhere,' James argued.

'God, there are too many "ifs",' Sean said. 'We're
going round in circles.'

'Yes, that's right,' Morrow agreed. 'Let's just see if he
does come here and deal with the situation then.' He
sounded worried. Sean wondered then what he intended to
do if he did decide Mr Phoenix was infected. How would
he get the thing out when he knew so little about it? He
also wondered how dangerous Mr Phoenix might be: the
creature had killed several people at the study centre.

'You three will need to go to the main hall if you're
not leaving now,' Mrs Evans said from behind the glass
window of the reception desk. 'Before you do, though,
could you sign the book?' She looked at Morrow. 'Sorry,
it's procedure, especially at a time like this.'

Once Morrow had signed in he turned back to them.
'We should go to the hall then. That's where Phoenix
will go when he gets here, I assume.'

They walked down the sloping corridor connecting the
new annexe to the older building. Just then they heard
muffled, tinny music, and James retrieved his mobile phone
from his jacket pocket. He looked at the lit-up display.

'It's Mum,' he said.

'She probably wants to know where I am,' Sean said.

James answered the phone and began explaining the
situation as best he could, trying to leave out as many of
the bizarre details as possible.

'Yeah,' he said, trying to wind up the conversation
as the three of them went into the hall. 'Yeah, Sean's
fine, honestly. We should be home soon once we've
seen his teacher. Mr Morrow needs to be sure he isn't
sick. This parasite thing isn't contagious but it can do
harm to whoever's carrying it . . . Sorry? . . . No, we're
perfectly safe – don't worry. It's, er . . . not the sort of
parasite that can go from person to person through the
air, it's . . . a bit more complicated than that. I'll explain
when we get back . . . Yeah, I'm looking after him – he
was just going crazy stuck indoors, he didn't realize the
weather was so bad . . . I know, I know, he's really sorry,
but . . . No, neither of us knew it would get this bad. I
think we should be able to find a back road home once
we've checked out Mr Phoenix, but I'll give you a ring
in a while to let you know what's going on . . . I will,
honest . . . OK, bye.'

Although many pupils had already left, the main hall
was still busy. Despite the situation the mood was generally
upbeat. All around the room groups of people were
deep in conversation: the flooding was generating more
excitement than concern among the pupils, though the
members of staff seemed genuinely worried. Sean saw
some of his friends on the other side of the hall.

'I guess we just wait then,' he said, watching his
brother and Morrow scan the room.

'Yeah,' James said, sounding almost bored. 'We could
be in for a—'

He was interrupted by the loud voice of a teacher
behind him: 'Nigel! You're drenched. Come on up to
the staff room.'

Sean, James and Morrow turned and saw a woman
– Mrs Rees, Sean thought her name was, though he
couldn't remember what she taught – taking a bedraggled
man by the elbow and escorting him back out of the
room. He looked absolutely soaked, his hair plastered
down, his clothes filthy, and his eyes somehow hollow
and lustreless – but it was definitely Phoenix.

'God,' Sean said. 'He looks terrible.'

'The rain could have done that though,' James said.

'Perhaps,' said Morrow, moving through the crowd
after the departing teachers. 'But we need to be sure.'

They could have waited for Phoenix to get changed and
return to the hall – but what if he was infected, and
attacked someone? They had to check him before he
had a chance to do any harm. As they left the hall, two
teachers seated nearby stopped them and asked what
they were doing.

'I have my car,' James said. 'I was waiting for my dad
to text me to tell me the road home was clear, so we're
going now.'

'Oh, right,' one of them said, eyeing Morrow strangely
as the trio walked past.

They hurried back to the annexe. Morrow was
humming a tune as if trying to calm himself down
– and with good reason, Sean thought. He had already
seen some terrible things at the study centre; perhaps
he was preparing himself for more. Sean still had
questions, but he'd have to wait for a more convenient
time to ask them.

At the top of the ramp they waited for Mrs Evans to
turn her back before continuing past the reception desk
towards the stairs that led up to the staff room.

'What now?' Sean asked.

'I must go up and talk to him,' Morrow said. 'Try to
ascertain if he's infected or not.'

'But how will you tell?' James looked up the stairs as
if expecting to see an inquisitive face at any second.

'Well, I don't know . . . There might be a way . . . '
Morrow took off his glasses and rubbed the lenses
thoughtfully. 'There could be physical signs. Sean, you
said that Holland's skin was in a bad state, didn't you?'

'Yeah, but he'd had that thing in him for a while,
hadn't he? If Phoenix has been infected it won't have
been in him for long.'

'No, but still . . . There may be signs. Perhaps his
behaviour will give him away. I saw and heard what
Holland did when he was infected. I might recognize
some of that behaviour in Mr Phoenix, and perhaps I
can stop him before he does anything terrible.'

'What sort of things did Holland do?'

'He seemed odd – it wasn't like he was under the
influence of something, but as if he was . . . someone
completely different.'

'What do you mean?' James asked.

'Well, I think the creature takes control of the mind
of its host. Don't ask me how.' Morrow stopped as his
eyes were drawn to the figure at the top of the stairs. It
was the woman who had escorted Phoenix from the
main hall, Mrs Rees. She took a few steps down, then
stopped, a curious expression on her face.

'Can I help you?' she asked, looking at them in turn,
her eyes questioning, suspicious.

'Yes,' Morrow answered, before either of the brothers
could. 'I need to speak with Mr Phoenix immediately.'

'I'm sorry, but he can't really see visitors right now.
He needs to dry off and get warm. He got caught in the
flood, and—'

'Yes, I know, that's why I'm here. I'm Dr Morrow, Mr
Phoenix's GP as well as a good friend of his. He called
me because he fell in the river earlier and was worried
that he might be ill. I live nearby so I said I'd come and
see him. He may well be fine, but it's probably best that
I check, just to be on the safe side.'

'Oh, I see. Right, well, you'd better come up then,
Doctor. I'm Mrs Rees, by the way. I teach English.' She
turned and went back up the stairs.

Morrow told the boys to wait there for him; then
followed her up to the staff room.

'What now?' Sean asked his brother.

'We'll just have to wait and hope Dr Morrow can
determine whether Phoenix is infected or not. God I
really hope he isn't . . . Not just for his sake, but because
it means that creature is somewhere else then, and
somebody else's problem.'

* * *

Upstairs, Dr Morrow was shown into the staff room.
Phoenix was slumped in an armchair, his face averted,
a mug of tea in one hand. He was drenched but didn't
appear to be shivering.

'We should get him dry, shouldn't we?' Mrs Rees
asked. 'He'll catch a cold.'

He could have caught something a lot worse than that
,
Morrow thought.

'Could I see him alone for a few minutes?' he asked,
looking across at her.

'Well, yes, of course. I need to go back to the hall
anyway. I'll come back as soon as I can.'

'Thank you, this won't take long. And he'll be fine.'

Mrs Rees nodded and turned to leave the room.

'Now then,' Dr Morrow said, approaching the seated
man and already noticing a strange reddening of the
man's forehead. 'Tell me how you feel.'

Without warning, the mug of tea dropped from
Phoenix's hand and hit the floor with a thud, spilling its
contents on the carpet. Then he turned his head to face
the doctor.