Canopus and Keel - The Hive. (The cases of Canopus and Keel Book 1)

by Stephen Jarrett

  Keel closed her eyes and breathed in and out slowly, forcing herself into a transient state.

  She placed her hands on her leg and imagined the broken bone beneath the skin, leaving out no details. She thought of the freckles on her leg, a scar that ran from her knee, the color of her skin.

  Once the image of her leg was clear in her mind, she thought about the area that was broken and how it could re-form itself. She didn’t think hard, she just let the feeling wash over her, seeing the bones set and mend, the muscles and veins knit together until she had a perfect picture in her mind of her leg fully healed.

  Keel whispered thanks to the elements around her, to the Earth for leading its strength, Air for providing clear thought, Fire for endurance, Water for allowing free-forming thought.

  For twelve heartbeats, she waited and then opened her eyes.

  Holding onto the trunk, she placed weight on her right leg. Satisfied, she retrieved her machete, tucked it back into her jacket and started to make her way back towards the window.

  Above her, she heard some grunts and a figure dropped through the window, white clouds of gas around him.

  “Canopus!” shouted Keel, waving.

  As the smoke cleared, she saw it was the large hulking frame of Drexel, he was breathing hard.

  “Glad you made it girl, that was a frigging ride eh?” Drexel looked around. “Where’s the old man?”

  Keel scrambled over a large rock towards Drexel’s position. “You didn't see him? You didn't stay together?”

  “Now don’t start lecturing me in that tone, girl. As you well know he can look after himself.” Drexel reached out a hand and with a grunt pulled Keel up next to him. He gave her a giant bear hug. “Goddammit you are Samuel’s kid all right. Balls of frigging steel.”

  Keel smiled awkwardly and then shouted back at the window, “Canopus! We are out!”, her voice felt dry and tight, but she was sure, it would help guide him to the window.

  They both stared at the window in silence, the smoke was starting to clear and they could see large figures moving inside.

  Canopus still didn’t come.

  Keel pulled out her gun and machete, “Ok, I’m going back in.”

  She started to walk towards the window, but Drexel grabbed her shoulder. “Oh no you are not, girl. If what Canopus says is true, about this angel and all, I need you alive. I can’t stop a frigging angel, on my own.”

  Keel pushed Drexel’s hand away, “You don’t have a choice and don't call me girl.” She reached for her machete, “Now, back off!”

  Drexel sighed and punched Keel in the face, knocking her out cold. As Keel fell, Drexel caught her and placed her gently, between two large rocks.

  “You’re going to have a headache, when you wake up girl, but Bonners Ferry needs you alive.” Drexel took Keel’s machete and tested the weight in his hand. Nodding his approval, he took a deep breath of fresh air and climbed back through the window.

  TWENTY-THREE.

  “Miss, are you OK?”

  Julia felt her body shake. She opened her eyes and gasped for air.

  In front of her was a man, with short blonde hair, his brown eyes looked concerned.

  “I’m a nurse here, Danny. Here, drink this.” He handed her a glass of water. Julia drank it greedily. She turned to her right, “Melissa?”

  “Over here.”

  Julia turned and saw Melissa standing behind nurse Danny. “Oh my God, Melissa, what happened? Your face.”

  Melissa touched her face and then ran to a large mirror fixed to the wall. A face with wrinkles and gray hair looked back at her.

  “I…I look like Mother.”

  Danny look concerned, “What happened here? I came into the room and saw you both passed out, sitting in the dark. You gave me a fright when I turned on the light.” Danny paused and then whispered, “You should leave, it’s not safe here.”

  Melissa turned to Danny, “Danny Cray, right? I’ve seen you in ER. I’m Doctor Melissa Tyrell, I work here too. This is my sister, she’s a Doctor too -”

  “Veterinary,” added Julia.

  Melissa continued, “You know there has been strange occurrences in the hospital, we all do. Patients have gone missing and we have never been this busy for such a small town. In the past month, we have had most of the residents in here, complaining about symptoms similar to my sisters. Loss of time, headaches, confusion. Somehow, Doctor Lillian Fox is connected. She captured us, she did things to us. It’s hard to explain.” Melissa’s touched her lip, “Look at my face. I am thirty years old and I look fifty.” Tears filled her eyes, “I feel fifty.”

  Melissa walked over and held Julia’s hands. “We…we need to get out of here, right now. Doctor Lillian Fox, I think she’s some kind of…”

  “Monster,” added Julia, finishing Melissa’s sentence, “I know it sounds crazy, but Melissa is right. We need to get everyone out of the hospital away from her.”

  Danny sighed and bowed his head.

  Melissa smiled at Danny, “I checked our bags, our ID cards, phones, are all gone. Please call the cops. They need to arrest her.”

  Danny took out his phone. He dialed a number and held it up to his ear.

  “It’s Danny, I’m in the MRI room.”

  Beat.

  “Yes. They are here. I’m sorry I didn't know they were yours.”

  Beat.

  “Understood.”

  Danny put the phone away and faced the girls, “I wish I could have helped, but it looks like I was too late and now you are exactly where you should be.”

  “What are you talking about?” Julia got up, but Danny pushed her back down.

  Melissa grabbed Danny’s arm, whereupon he turned, paused and then backhanded Melissa across the face, bursting her lip. She fell to the ground and held her mouth.

  “I’m sorry I did that. I really am, but you don’t understand.”

  Julia struggled under the weight of Danny’s grip.

  “You can’t escape. She won’t allow it. I was too late. You are hers now and she won’t allow either of you to leave.”

  “Fuck you,” spat Julia.

  “Yeah, fuck you!” said Melissa rising behind Danny holding a heavy trashcan. She smashed the trashcan on the back of his head, denting the metal.

  Danny fell groaning to the floor.

  Melissa dropped the trashcan and searched the unconscious Danny, locating his keys. “Let’s get out of here,” she said, voice trembling. Grabbing her sister’s hand, Julia and Melissa ran out of the MRI room.

  With shaking hands, Melissa locked Danny inside, snapping the key in the lock.

  “We should have grabbed his phone,” whispered Julia.

  “Would’ve been a good idea,” she smiled back weakly.

  Julia held Melissa’s face in her hand, tracing the deep lines on her face. “How do you feel?”

  “I think I’m OK. I’m so sorry. I knew something was wrong in the hospital and I brought you here anyway. I just didn't think it was, whatever this is.”

  Julia hugged her sister, “We can talk about how none of this makes any sense, once we are out the hospital, OK?”

  Melissa nodded and looked both ways down the E-wing corridor. She could hear footsteps in the distance. “The hospital should be pretty empty at this time. I think it’s after visiting hours and this floor is rarely used. I didn't even know we had an MRI machine until a month back.” She checked her wrist watch, it read 18:40 and confirmed her assumption.

  “We avoid anyone who works here and make for the nearest exit.”

  “Where is that?”

  “Two floors up in C wing. There is an emergency exit with a broken alarm that leads to the car park. I’ve seen the interns sneak out there to smoke cigarettes. My car is on the floor above. Here, put this on.” Melissa took off her white jacket and gave it to Julia.

  “Now you are Doctor Melissa and I’m the patient.”

  Julia nodded, she looked back into the room and saw Danny lying
unconscious, a puddle of blood leaking from his head to the floor.

  “We should have grabbed his phone and turned off the light. Also, I think you may have killed him.”

  Melissa rubbed her eyes, she felt tired and weak, “We’ll get him help when we are out. Let’s go.”

  The twins walked as fast as they could down the hospital corridor without looking like they were running. They passed a few patients being led by nurses and a young, male Doctor that hurriedly waved at Julia, believing her to be Melissa. Twice, Melissa felt her heart thump in her chest and had to slow down.

  Julia got to the elevator and repeatedly pressed the call button.

  Melissa joined her, breathing hard. “Being old sucks.”

  Finally, the elevator arrived and doors opened. It was empty.

  Julia and Melissa stepped inside and Melissa hit the button with a large blue C.

  The doors began to close.

  A hand shot between the doors and they reopened. A bearded doctor in his fifties entered, studying a file on a clipboard.

  “Can you hit D for me Melissa?” he said without looking up.

  Melissa instinctually reached out, but Julia got there first and pressed D. She looked nervously at her sister, who sank into the corner of the elevator, behind Julia.

  The doors closed.

  The doctor tapped the clipboard, “Why we haven’t moved over to a digital system is beyond me. They have been using iPads in Providence for some time.”

  “Uh-huh,” replied Julia trying to shield her face by pulling her hair from behind her ears and over her cheek.

  The Doctor yawned and looked at Julia. He frowned and then rubbed his eyes.

  The Doctor looked back at his clipboard. “Got one hell of a headache coming on.”

  The elevator stopped at floor D and the doors opened.

  “See you Melissa.” The doctor stepped out of the elevator.

  “Bye.” Julia reached over and quickly pressed the close button.

  The elevator’s doors slowly shut.

  Breathing a huge sigh of relief, Julia turned and hugged her sister. “When we get to the car, what’s the plan?”

  “We head to the sheriff’s dept. and tell them everything.”

  “They’ll think we are crazy.”

  “You have a better idea?”

  “You still have Dad’s guns?”

  Melissa nodded.

  “We get Daddy’s guns and then head to the cabin. If anyone comes for us, we protect ourselves.”

  The elevator stopped and the doors opened.

  Julia tried to grab Melissa’s hand, ready to run, but she was frozen, unable to move.

  Lillian Fox stepped in front of the elevator, she was holding the broken bruised wrists of two young boys. Each child was no more than nine and dressed in a hospital gown, they were barely conscious.

  “There’s my sweet sisters. Come with me.”

  Lillian Fox turned and walked away, dragging the children.

  Unable to resist, Julia and Melissa followed.

  TWENTY-FOUR.

  Previously.

  The exploding fire extinguishers, expelled thick white clouds of CO2 covering the room. Canopus charged into the morgue behind Drexel, the thick gas burning his eyes and throat, making it impossible to speak or see farther that a few feet.

  Squinting, he saw Drexel disappear into a wall of gas, followed by two large screaming hybrids. He held up his gun, ready to shoot at least one, but before he could fire, they disappeared from view.

  Right or left?

  To the left, Keel was hopefully leaving the cold chamber drawer and heading for the window, which should be on his right.

  If he went right, he would be free and could help the others out. But if Keel couldn't get out of the chamber, then this would all be for nothing. Even though the smoke burned his throat he shouted for Keel, but it was impossible to hear over the screaming hybrids and heavy gun fire, that he assumed was Drexel.

  A bullet shot past his face, grazing his cheek. Cursing Drexel’s recklessness, he made a decision. Crouching low, he moved to the left. He had to see if Keel got out, only then he would head to the window.

  Maintaining direction through the heavy thick gas wasn't easy. Canopus frequently became disorientated as he avoided the hybrids.

  Stopping to catch his breath, he watched as three hybrids loomed in and out of the gas, screaming, hands and tentacles swiping the air. It was only when they got close, that he saw it wasn’t three hybrids at all but one giant creature with 3 heads. One head was of a man with a grey beard and black eyes, his lower jaw was missing, replaced by a piece of thick black tar with crooked spikes that resembled teeth. With the second head, it was impossible to tell if it was male or female, from the nose up, the skin was fused with black lumps, the lips were gone, revealing large gums and chattering teeth. The third head was small enough to be a child’s head, but had now become a solid black tar lump. The creature had one body, but six legs, four on the left and two on the right. Three small child-like arms jutted from its chest clawing at the air, while four long tentacles wiggled from its back towards Canopus. It was mostly naked with different colored skin; hairy, hard and soft melded together.

  Canopus drew his pistol, remembering what Keel had told him and unloaded his clip at the hybrid’s chest, aiming for where he hoped it’s heart was. After the sixth shot the creature’s legs buckled and it fell to the floor twitching.

  He checked his clip, only four rounds left.

  He patted his pants for another clip and remembered he had left them in the trunk of the Pontiac. Cursing under his breath, he reached into his boot and pulled out his thin, silver blade, ‘Lucy-Lou’. Maybe a dagger to the heart could work as well as bullet, if he could get close enough without being torn apart.

  The smoke swirled and shifted as two child sized hybrids ran past him and disappeared into a wall of white.

  Suddenly, the large hybrid on the floor shook and pulled quickly backwards through the smoky gas.

  Canopus was alone.

  Crouched down, screams and gunshots echoed around him. He thought for a moment about his orientation, but it all looked the same. He pulled out his phone and thought about typing Keel a message but wasn't sure if it would distract her or alert the hybrids to her position if it beeped. It’s then he had an idea, maybe he could at least pull the hybrids away from Keel and Drexel, give them both a chance to get out. Canopus hit a playlist on his phone and ‘Annie’s song’ by John Denver played. He turned up the volume as loud as he could and then held the phone high above his head.

  Through the clouds of white, he could see shadows of all sizes marching towards him.

  TWENTY-FIVE.

  Drexel dropped silently, back into the morgue.

  The smoke in the room was thinning, allowing him to see more clearly than before. He counted five dead hybrids scattered around the room, two he had taken down himself, three were eating cadavers pulled from the cold storage drawers.

  Drexel’ eyes searched for Canopus and the other hybrids.

  He spotted some walking around the corridor outside, but was unsure how many were there. The others he guessed must be still in the jail cells.

  ‘Dammit where are you buddy,’ he muttered under his breath.

  A small vibration on his wrist alerted Drexel and he looked down at his watch, he needed to take his insulin shot. Cursing and muttering to himself, Drexel edged towards the corner of the room where the smoke was still thick and disappeared from view. Pulling out his insulin pen, he primed it by dialing it to two units and then shot the insulin in the air. Satisfied, he dialed the pen to 52 units and pushed the pen’s needle into the skin of his belly. He counted to five seconds, removed the pen and placed it back in his pocket. The familiar feeling of nausea crept over his body, but he knew it would pass.

  A large shadow walked past him, close enough to touch.

  Drexel waited for a minute and then crept back into the center of the room, h
e couldn’t see Canopus’ body, so he must be either in the hallway or the cell room, alive or dead.

  He listened. No gunshots, no screaming, or at least no human screaming, but was that? Yes, it was, there was music, coming from the jail cells. Drexel concentrated and then smiled, recognizing the tune.

  “Frigging theme tune from The Big Country.” He smirked to himself, Canopus always thought of himself as a cowboy, a white hatted hero saving the day. Drexel was more of a black capped, Lee Van Cleef fan.

  Drexel pulled out his mobile and Canopus’ business card. Checking his reception bar, he saw that it jumped between one and two bars. Taking a gamble, he punched the number into his mobile and waited. For a few seconds, there was silence, as the phones tried to connect through the poor reception, and then -

  “Hello?” a crackling voice.

  Drexel nearly dropped the phone in shock.

  “Canopus, you son of a bitch, where the frig are ya?”

  “Drexel? Where’s Keel?”

  “She’s out, safe and sound and sleeping like a baby. Now listen, this is a God damn rescue party, you in the cells?”

  Canopus stabbed his blade into the chest of a hybrid, which fell backwards, knocking another hybrid to the floor. Kicking its leg away from the jail cell doorway, Canopus grabbed the cell door and pulled it shut.

  “Yes, but -”

  The connection dropped.

  Drexel edged against the wall, towards the jail cells and peered through the doorway, at least fifteen hybrids were trying to get to Canopus from outside the cell. He pulled back and thought about his options. Fifteen hybrids where inside the jail cell, and a bunch outside in the corridor, that would run in, if he started making noise. He could throw in his last grenade, blow the friggers to kingdom come but he would most likely hurt Canopus more than the creatures.

  Smiling to himself, he had an idea.

  Drexel stood in the doorway and shouted to Canopus.

  “Yo! Count to three minutes and then get away from the walls and under the bed, you hear me?”