and then turns away, ‘They told me they were going to kill me and take my organs for your medical experiments. You’re a monster!’
Before I can protest Gripper has crashed back into the room. He looks at Rose and then at me, not sure of who to grab first. As he dithers I look down at the knife in my hand.
‘Doc. What is happening? Spike is dead, he’s been shot!’ As Gripper says the words he takes in the scene. ‘Why is she free? Don’t you want the organs?’
Rose runs for the door, but Gripper swipes at her with back of his shovel like hand and knocks her down. She lies motionless on the ground. I stand my ground. Gripper advances towards me. I know I’m doomed. I dart around the table. Gripper leans across and tries to grab me, but I duck out of the way. I wave the knife at him, but he appears oblivious to it.
‘Why have you turned against us Doc?’
‘I needed to save Rose. I need to do the right thing!’
‘Then you will die together.’
As I lash out at Gripper he catches hold of my arm and drags me across the table. As he squeezes my arm the knife falls out of my hand.
‘Now Doc, is there anything that you want to say before the end.’
‘What I did was wrong! God forgive me!’
I feel Gripper’s hand around my neck, choking off my air supply. I struggle, but it is pointless. Then a look of agonised surprised appears on Gripper’s face. He mumbles, ‘What?’ A small amount of blood trickles from the corner of his mouth. He releases his grip on me, staggers backwards and then slowly turns. In his back is a carving knife. Rose stands looking at him, blood on her hands.
I grab another knife off the floor, rush forward and plunge the knife into Gripper’s neck. Blood spurts from the wound.
‘Quick Rose, we have to run.’
We run through the door and stumble down the stairs. The heavy footsteps of Gripper follow us. At the bottom of the stairs I see Spike’s body, as I step over it I see the last of my pistols. I grab it, turn and fire at Gripper. He halts for a few moments and then continues to lumber after us.
Rose has rushed through the door. I see her run off in the direction of her home. I pause for a few moments and wait for Gripper. His wounds are slowing him down, but he still comes after us. He sees me. I run in the opposite direction to Rose.
Gripper follows me and soon we are on the riverbank. I wait for him to catch up and then he lunges at me. We fall into the river in a tangled mass.
Gripper and I struggle as we sink down into the darkness of the water. I can feel Gripper trying to grab my neck. As we sink deeper I see an anchor embedded in the bottom of the river, attached to the anchor is a chain. I grab the chain and swim around Gripper and then loop the end of the chain around the anchor. Gripper struggles against the chain, but he is shackled to the bottom of the river. I swim up towards the surface, followed by great rushes of bubbles from Gripper. I turn and see Gripper motionless.
For a moment I think about simply letting the water take me, but suddenly my need for life overcomes me and forces me to struggle to the surface. Moments later I break the surface and with the last of my strength make it to the river bank and drag myself onto land. I lie on the bank, looking at the water. There is no sign of Gripper. I have destroyed the source of the organs I need, condemning myself to old age and death.
I drag myself to Rose’s lodgings and peer through the window. The place is full of armed men. I hear one man shouting.
‘Spike and Gripper have been killing young woman and mutilating them. They have been doing it for their friend the Doctor!’
The crowd gasps in disbelief.
‘Spike is dead, but we will hunt Gripper and the Doctor down and rip them to pieces!’
A loud cheer goes up and the men begin to swarm in the streets. I know I am evil, a destroyer of life, I should stay and take my punishment but my desire for life still rules me. I slip quickly into the foggy night and return to my apartment. It has been empty for decades. I lie on the mouldy old bed and fall into a sleep.
A soldier coughs, waking me from my fitful sleep. I look, bleary eyed, at the train carriage full of young men, aged and withered by years of fighting.
The young soldier looks at me, eyes tarnished by the horrors of war, ‘I can’t believe we’re going home.’
‘That’s right, Hitler’s dead and we survived. Get some rest.’
As he lays his head down, I try to think of a home. But there is no home for me, just a strange limbo state that has lasted decades as I wait for my body to age. In the last sixty years I have never taken the potion again, but I am still physically young. My soul, on the other hand, has been tortured by the crimes I committed and the hellish sights I have seen. I’ve spent nearly six decades moving from war to war trying to atone for my sins by tending the sick and the dying. Sixty years of seeing the brutality of war, men ordered to forget all moral decency and commit terrible acts in the name of some great cause, which most of them never understood or much less cared about.
An image of Rose comes into my mind, how I long for her and a normal life. I am sick of the endless repetition of life, war after war, financial folly after folly, the endless crowds of people that clutter the world all trying to solve the same problems as their forefathers; repeating the same mistakes. Am I cursed with eternal life?
Has man advanced in my hundred and fifty years of life? For ever technical advancement in medicine of science, there has always been an equally bad use of the new technology. Better planes have just meant better bombers, as we found to our cost.
As we shuffle off the train at the station I begin to wander the streets. What should I do? Out of the corner of my eye I see a young girl walking along the pavement. I can’t believe it. It is Rose! How can this be? I am only ten yards behind her as she crosses a bridge. An old woman comes up to her. The girl and old woman stop close to each other. I hear her words.
‘Hello Granny.’
‘Hello Rosemary.’
I walk past. The old woman stares at me in disbelief. It is Rose, but she must be at least eighty years old. She calls out to me. ‘I know you. You are the killer Doctor.’
The girl asks, ‘What do you mean Granny?’
Rose starts to shout, ‘Murderer! Murderer!’
Out of instinct I start to run. Rose starts to cross the road after me, with her granddaughter just behind her. I can hear the sounds of feet thudding on the ground behind me. I hear police sirens. I run towards the bridge across the river. A police car is coming across it. I stop. I see an open warehouse door and dart in. I peer out of the warehouse door and see Rose and her granddaughter just by the edge of the river. I look at Rose and know I have cheated aging and death.
Rose starts to talk, ‘That man was responsible for the deaths of many young people. He worked with two people Spike and Gripper. I thought he was dead.’
‘Granny don’t worry the police will catch him.’
Rose is out of breath and looks tired. Rosemary helps Rose sit on the edge of the road, without thinking Rosemary steps back into the road. I can see a car hurtling along the road. I dart across the road and push Rosemary out of the way. The car hits me full on and flings me across the road.
A spasm runs through my body, every muscle tightens and twists. Images of the past pump through my mind. My body feels old and withered.
I hear a distance voice, 'Granny. He's crumbling.’
Elixir of Life Page 4