Hailstone

by Nina Smith

  Magda and Adam flattened themselves against the wall of the laundromat and looked at each other.

  “He’s completely barmy!” Adam hissed.

  “Barmy doesn’t even begin to cover it.” Magda looked across the crowd at her father. She’d lost sight of Kat completely. Preacher looked the same as he’d ever done. Maybe a little crazier, she wasn’t sure. “What exactly is he proposing?”

  “Sounds like convert or die to me.” Adam gripped her arm. A second later Magda realised why; the crowd surged and they were caught up in the movement. The only way to keep from going under was to move with them. The Congregation surrounded them, all yelling and chanting something too garbled to understand. Magda clung to Adam and looked around her. These people just weren’t right. Had they all been given the holy water?

  The surge took them to the two cars before she realised what was happening. Magda tried to find a way out, but that only brought her face to face with Zack.

  “Magdalene!” he reached out for her.

  The immediate future flashed in front of her eyes. A lot of it involved Preacher’s fist in her face. Pain seared through her head again. She tried desperately to communicate her fear to Zack without words, to find some well of compassion in the man. “Please let us go,” she said.

  A strange look crossed his face. He dropped his hands.

  Adam tugged on her arm and they pushed their way through the crowd again. That was when she finally spotted Kat. Behind the police car, through shifting groups of people, she saw her arguing loudly with Joseph. One of Joseph’s friends had her arms pinned to her back. The policeman in the car ignored them completely.

  “Shit,” Adam said. “Come on Mags, before this gets any worse.”

  They shoved their way through the crowd until they reached Joseph. ”Hey!” Magda pushed him, hard. “Leave her alone!”

  Joseph rounded on her. Kat used the distraction to wrench herself free from the other boy and retreat to Magda and Adam. “I’m glad to see you guys,” she said. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “I don’t think so, young lady.”

  The pain again. Magda almost doubled over, but Preacher’s hand on her shoulder kept her upright. How the hell had he got over here so fast? Zack. Zack must have followed them and alerted Preacher. She looked around and sure enough, there he was. She ground her teeth. “Let me go, Preacher. I’m not one of yours.”

  “I know, my dear, I know.” He sounded sorrowful. “But never fear Magdalene, if you are in there somewhere we’ll rescue you. And your friends, too. This police car will take all three of you to an outreach centre right now.”

  Magda exchanged a look of naked fear with Adam and Kat, who for now were unharmed, but hemmed in. The crowd had made a little space around them all.

  “You can’t do this!” Kat yelled. “You’re insane! This is illegal!”

  “The law is on my side, young woman,” Preacher said, with barely a glance at the police car.

  The police officer finally got out. He leaned against the car, folded his arms and said nothing. Magda recognised him from the Congregation.

  “Adam!” a voice yelled from the crowd.

  “Oh God no,” Adam muttered.

  The crowd parted to let Amanda into the circle. She rushed to Adam, threw her arms around him and laid her head on his chest. “Oh Adam, I’m so happy to see you here, I didn’t think you’d really come. You’ve heard the call of Jesus, finally, you’ve come to be saved! I promise you won’t regret it, I’m going to make you so happy once we’re married.”

  Adam peeled her off. “I don’t think so, honey.”

  “Oh, but I will, you’ll see!” Amanda turned to Preacher, starry-eyed. “Preacher, everything you said has come about. I feel the presence of God, right here, and He’s so happy these three souls are returning to him! Magdalene, isn’t it wonderful you’ve been reunited with your father?”

  “Fuck off,” Magdalene spat. Preacher dug his fingers into her shoulder; she winced.

  “It’s time for you three to go,” he said. “We have many others to save today.”

  “For Christ’s sake, you people!” Adam yelled. “Do you not realise how insane you all are? There is no law that allows you to force us into your religion! This is mob rule and it’s going to get people hurt! Take your goddamn hands off my friend, old man! And as for you!” He rounded on Amanda. “Get one thing into your thick head, little girl. I’m gay! I was born that way and I’ll die that way, so forget about your fucked up little heterosexual fantasy, it’ll never happen!”

  “Mags, the camera,” Kat whispered. “Give it to me.”

  Magda slipped the camera from her bag, pressed record and handed it to Kat in time to see Amanda’s face crumple.

  Amanda turned white and then red. Then, too fast for anyone to realise her intent, she turned to the policeman and snatched his gun from its holster. She dodged when he finally came to life and went after her. The click of the safety being released seemed deafening in the sudden silence of the crowd. Amanda’s arm jerked up like a clockwork doll and again, sound deafened the crowd. A red rose blossomed on Adam’s shirt. He looked down, eyes big in surprise. Then he fell over.

  Amanda doubled over and let out a wail. “I’m sorry my love!” she cried. Then she put the gun to her own head and pulled the trigger a split second before the policeman grabbed her.

  Magda could hear somebody screaming. The crowd split apart. Only when she’d broken free of Preacher and run to Adam did she realise the screams were her own; she dropped to her knees and tried to cover the wound. Blood ran over her hands. Adam looked at her for just a second before the life passed from his eyes.

  Magda screamed again. She could see Amanda’s body in her peripheral vision, see the panic-stricken policeman yelling into his radio, see tears streaming down Kat’s face, but the camera never so much as wavered.

  “She sacrificed herself for God,” Preacher said. He raised his voice. “She sacrificed herself for God!”

  Magda sprang to her feet and ran at him. “You fucking bastard!” she screamed. She shoved him so hard he fell back. She pursued and pummeled Preacher’s chest with her fists. “This is your fault! You killed him!”

  Hands pulled her away from Preacher, who brushed himself down and gave her a cold look. “Satan would never have let him go.”

  Magda went cold, still, empty. She stared at the man who could not possibly have been her father, but was. “You really believe that.”

  “Amanda was the instrument of God’s hand.”

  Magda twisted around to find Zack holding her. She jammed her elbow into the soft flesh of his stomach and stomped on his foot to free herself. The wail of an ambulance approached. So at least the useless policeman had done that much. She backed over to Kat, who put a protective arm around her waist. The crowd milled, shocked, uncertain, waiting for direction from Preacher.

  Preacher’s cold look fell on Kat’s arm. “Take your hands off my daughter.”

  Magda straightened and matched him look for look. Her voice seemed to come from far away. “You are not my father.” She watched him and suddenly realised he had no idea what to do. And even though whatever he decided, she and Kat were surrounded and outmatched, she found her voice again. “Kat and I are going in the ambulance with Adam. You will allow us at least to see our friend to a safe place.”

  “Zack will go with you,” Preacher replied.

  “Not him.” Magda almost spat the words, but she didn’t as much as look at Zack. “Joseph. Just Joseph, and without the baseball bat. He’ll frighten the nurses.”

  “Both of them will go with you.”

  Before there was any further chance for conversation, the ambulance wailed into the street. The crowd parted to let it through.

  Magda watched dully while the paramedics swarmed out. Her eyes stayed dry even when both body bags were zipped up. She and Kat climbed into the back of the ambulance with them and ignored Joseph and Zack when they followed. They found a sp
ace on a bench and sat, hand in hand, silent.

  Magda knew Zack was staring at their joined hands. She stared at the broad zip that hid Adam’s face. She wondered if Kat was planning what they’d do when they got to the hospital, because she had no idea. Joseph was just a shadow to her right; he hadn’t spoken once.

  The ambulance pulled into the hospital and the doors opened behind them. Magda and Kat climbed down into the sunlight without looking at Zack or Joseph. They watched the paramedics take out the stretchers and wheel them into the hospital. They followed, hand in hand.

  An orderly stopped them at a set of double doors. Magda watched through the window until the stretcher was wheeled out of sight.

  Zack laid a hand on her shoulder. “Time to go, Magdalene,” he said.

  “Don’t touch me.” Magda knew every inch of naked emotion burned through her voice. She wasn’t surprised when Zack withdrew his hand as though he’d been burned. She wasn’t surprised either when the pain that stabbed through her head became so intense everything around her went black.

  *

  Magda blinked. Light shone through the cracks in her eyes. She squinted and moved her head to the side. Her right arm was hooked up to a drip. She turned her head to the left; Kat swam into view. “Hey there,” she croaked.

  Kat squeezed her hand, but did not smile. “You blacked out,” she said. She leaned across and pressed a button on the wall. “The doctor said to call her back when you woke up.”

  Magda closed her eyes and felt her senses swim back. “How long was I out?”

  “A few hours. Scared the shit out of me.”

  Magda remembered why they’d come to the hospital in the first place. She looked around for Zack and Joseph.

  “Joseph’s outside,” Kat whispered. “The other one went away when the doctor said you’d have to stay overnight. He said he’d be back in the morning to get you. Who is that guy?”

  Magda turned her head into the pillow. “Some Congregation weirdo Preacher decided I should marry.”

  “That explains a lot.”

  “Let’s not be here in the morning.”

  The curtain around the bed flipped aside and closed again behind the now familiar face of Doctor Baker. She laid her clipboard on the table by the bed. “Ms McAllister,” she said, her voice crisp. “How are we?”

  “You tell me.” Magda took a deep breath, frightened suddenly the doctor was going to do just that.

  “We ran a couple of tests.” The doctor wrapped a blood pressure cuff around Magda’s arm and inflated it. “When you passed out, your blood pressure was pretty high.” The cuff deflated. The Doctor watched the figures on the screen. “It’s still a little bit higher than I’d like, but you’ve come right down now. You may be suffering from some hypertension, but this seems to be more stress-related.”

  Magda nodded. “I’m going to be fine, right?”

  Doctor Baker sighed. “If you’re very careful, Ms McAllister, you may be fine. The tests we ran showed some damage to your kidneys, and your liver isn’t in the best of shape either. I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to answer me honestly. Do you have a problem with drugs or alcohol?”

  Magda frowned. “I don’t use drugs, except for the valium prescription. And I drink some, but it’s not a problem.”

  “Mags,” Kat said.

  Magda looked at her. “What?”

  “How often do you drink?”

  Magda looked back at the doctor. She shrugged. “I’ve hardly drunk at all in the last couple of days. Or taken valium.”

  “Before that?” the doctor prodded. “How many drinks a day would you say you had? A couple after dinner?”

  “A couple,” Magda said.

  “And before dinner? With lunch? Breakfast?”

  “Look I don’t see what this has to do with anything.”

  The doctor gave her a look that made her feel like a naughty schoolgirl.

  Magda scowled. “You don’t know what it was like! So maybe I had a few drinks to get me started in the morning. So maybe I passed out once or twice. You would too if you had to put up with their shit.”

  “You mean the church?” the doctor asked.

  “Them and Preacher.”

  The doctor dropped into the one remaining empty chair and fixed her with a beady stare. “Ms McAllister, you have to stop. No more alcohol, no more valium, at least not for a while. Give your kidneys and your liver a break, because they can’t keep up with you. And you need to avoid stressful situations.” She held up a hand before Magda could speak, and lowered her voice. “I know that’s going to be almost impossible, given your situation, but that’s what you need to do. Ms Catrall, I read your website last night, so I know what’s going on out there. We’ve had a few admissions related to Congregation methods since you were last here.”

  Kat moved closer to the bed. “Admissions?”

  “I’m not at liberty to discuss my patients, but I can tell you this, although it didn’t come from me.”

  “Understood,” Kat said.

  “We tested the water you two gave us. It came back as a positive for scopolamine.”

  “What’s that?” Magda asked. Kat produced a notebook and started writing.

  “It’s a drug that was banned at least twenty years ago. It was used medicinally as a sedative and anti-depressant, but the side effects had people hallucinating and suffering amnesia. It’s said to make people suggestible.”

  “Christ.” Magda rubbed at her forehead. “He’s giving it to everyone in those centres. We have to find a way to stop him.”

  “You, miss, have to rest and keep your blood pressure down,” the doctor said. “And you’ll be in here overnight so I can make sure you remain stable.”

  “Fine, but if Preacher walks in, I’m going out the window.”

  The doctor chuckled and collected her file. “You’re well over the legal age, you don’t have to go anywhere with anybody you don’t want to. I’ll be back to check on you in another hour or two.”

  Magda watched until the curtains switched closed behind her. “She doesn’t get it.”

  “No, but at least she’s sane. This hospital feels like the last sane place on earth," Kat said.

  Magda put her head in her hands. She told herself to be calm. She didn’t want to think about what the doctor had said. She couldn’t. She couldn’t stay in hospital either; she had to think what to do next. She sure as hell didn’t feel like resting.

  “Mags, I need to get home and upload the footage to the site,” Kat said.

  Magda stared at her. “The footage?”

  “Everything you and I got on the camera. I was reviewing it while you were out. Once it gets out there, somebody from outside Hailstone’s got to realise we need help. They’ll come, especially when they see-” she stopped.

  “Adam,” Magda said. “You filmed what happened, didn’t you?”

  Kat nodded. “I can’t let it be for nothing.”

  “Be careful,” Magda said. “It’s not safe on the streets today.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll get a taxi and avoid the city centre. Will you be okay here?”

  “Yes.” Magda tightened her hand around Kat’s. “Don’t be long. And send in Joseph, I want to talk to him.”

  “Really? Shouldn’t you be avoiding stress?”

  “I’m not letting Preacher have him,” Magda gave Kat her best I’m-not-stressed smile.

  “Okay.” Kat didn’t sound the least bit convinced. “Listen, if I’m not back by tonight, or if I come back and you’re gone, what do we do?”

  “Tear apart Hailstone until we find each other,” Magda said. She pressed her lips to Kat’s hand. “Don’t be long.”

  Kat gave her a fleeting smile and left.

  Magda pushed the button to make the bed rise up behind her so she could sit comfortably. She took a few deep breaths and thought about being calm. Soon enough, Joseph parted the curtain, sporting a bandage across his nose.

  “Come in,” she
said. “Sit down.”

  He obeyed. Magda looked at him carefully. His jaw was set in a stubborn line, but his eyes betrayed fear. She made her voice as gentle as she could. “Joseph.”

  “Magdalene,” he said. “I – I’m-” he stopped.

  “Well for starters, you can just stop calling me Magdalene, it’s creepy. You used to call me Mags.”

  The shutters went down over his eyes; he just looked at her.

  “Say it,” Magda said. “Or we won’t be having this conversation. It’s just my name, Joseph, the one I like. You can give me that much. Call me Mags.”

  “Magdalene-”

  “Mags,” she insisted.

  Joseph’s shoulders slumped. “Mags,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

  She smiled. “What are you sorry for?”

  “I’m sorry about your friend.”

  Magda drew her knees up and watched Joseph. He shivered like a leaf in a strong wind. “I’m sorry too,” she said. “All he did was be the person he wanted to be, and he was murdered by narrow-minded bigots.”

  “He sinned in the eyes of God,” Joseph said.

  “Really? Is that what you think, or what Preacher told you to think?”

  “It’s the truth.”

  “Joseph,” she said. “There are lots of kinds of truth. What Preacher tells you is not one of them, it’s just a point of view. What is truth is that you have been manipulated. You were taken to an outreach centre, drugged and brainwashed.”

  Joseph looked away from her. His arms folded across his chest. “They said you’d talk like this. It’s Satan working through you.”

  “Are you telling me I’m lying? Did they take you to an outreach centre, Joseph? Did Preacher make you go, or was it your father?”

  “My father,” he mumbled.

  “Why? Why did he make you go?”

  Joseph scowled at her. “Because he found me smoking. I’m glad I went, Magdalene, so just stop this.”

  “Mags.”

  “Mags.” he muttered.

  “So he found you smoking and took you to a centre. Then what happened?”