by Amy Cross
Chapter Twenty-Four
“This place is banging!”
Merrie winced as Kay screamed in her right ear, while her left ear was already filled with the music that was pounding out of a nearby speaker.
“When Greg gets back from the bar, we're gonna dance!” Kay continued. “Do you wanna dance? Come on, it might loosen you up!”
“Are you still worrying about Judy?” Gemma asked, nudging Merrie's arm. “You know she's fine, right? Your sister is literally incapable of getting into trouble. She's the straightest straight-ass I've ever met in my life! She probably found a library somewhere and went to study. Seriously, that's the kind of lame thing she'd do, even on the biggest party island in Europe.”
“I just want to know where she is!” Merrie shouted back. “This is going to be our best night yet! I want to know that she's going to be fine in the morning!”
“She'll be more than fine!” Gemma yelled. “She's not the one who's gonna be hanging the whole time! Now come on, we've all wasted enough time on this already! You don't want to miss this chance to have fun, do you?”
“I guess not,” Merrie replied, but she still couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. She kept telling herself that Judy would be fine, that her sister was smart, but deep in her belly there was a strange nagging sensation that something bad had happened. It was illogical. It was irrational. And it wouldn't go away.
“Hey ladies,” Greg said as he returned with several drinks. “Miss me?”
“Hey, I'm just gonna pop outside,” Merrie said, and then she slipped away before the others could even begin to dissuade her. “I'll be back in a few minutes.”
***
Music was still pounding in the distance, at the other end of the street, as Merrie made her way past the little supermarket and finally stopped in front of a wall that was filled with posters.
As soon as she saw all the photos of missing people, she felt a shudder pass through her chest. She'd looked at the posters earlier, of course, but now she couldn't help imagining one showing Judy's face. It seemed as if young party-goers had a real habit of vanishing on Mallaca, mainly in the area near the Apocalypse nightclub. She figured somebody would already have checked to ensure that there were no links, but that nagging fear was still filling her gut and she knew she wouldn't be able to have a good night until she knew for certain that Judy was okay.
“Come on, you selfish cow,” she muttered under her breath. “Just show up.”
“Lost someone?” a voice asked.
Startled, she turned and saw an elderly man sitting on the ground nearby, watching her from the shadows.
“Oh,” she stammered, “I was just -”
“How long's it been?”
She hesitated for a moment.
“Not long,” she said finally. “Just a few hours, really.”
“Hmm. That one could go either way.”
“I know she's fine,” she continued. “I mean, she has to be.”
“No,” he replied, “she doesn't.”
“You don't know her,” she explained. “She's smart, she's sensible. She's not like me.”
At this, the man began to chuckle.
“You haven't seen her, have you?” Taking her phone from her bag, she brought up a picture of Judy and then stepped over to show the man. Ignoring the faint smell of urine, she turned the screen toward him. “This was taken about six months ago. She's lost a little weight since then.”
“I see lots of people every day,” the man replied, barely even glancing at the screen. “Hell, wait ten minutes and I probably won't even remember you.”
“That's okay,” she said, although she felt a flicker of disappointment as she put her phone away. “I know she's fine, anyway. I'm just worrying for no reason.”
“I'm sure you're right,” the man said. “I hope so, anyway. I hope your friend hasn't gone up to that villa.”
“She's my sister, actually,” Merrie replied. “And my friend.” She paused. “What do you mean about a villa?”
“I've told the police,” he continued, “but they don't want to know. They're too scared to cross the man who basically owns most of this island. But I've told them how I see the girls sometimes, heading up there. They don't even take the road, either. They go wandering up across the rocky ground, up the hill. Sometimes I call after them, but it's not like I can tackle them to the ground. I always know though. I always know that give it a few days, and they'll start appearing around town on posters.”
“What are you talking about?” Merrie asked, before turning and looking back along the street. For a moment she was almost blinded by the huge sign above the Apocalypse nightclub, but finally she was just about able to make out the lights of the villa high up on the hill. “Do you mean that villa?”
“It belongs to Andreas Velucci,” the old man replied. “He's the richest man on the island. Not that anyone ever sees him around very often these days. He's become something of a recluse. He sends his representatives into town occasionally, but for the most part no-one knows what he gets up to.”
Merrie turned to him.
“The missing girls went to the villa?” she asked. “And no-one saw them again after?”
“Not all of them,” he corrected her. “Some of them go missing the normal ways. A lot of them have been up to the villa, though.”
“For parties?”
“I'm not sure they have many parties up there anymore,” he replied. “Listen, I can't tell you what goes on up there, because I don't have a clue. All I know is that when I look at those posters, I can see a dozen faces that I personally witnessed making the walk up there. And the posters are still there, aren't they? Sometimes replacements are even put up. Those girls didn't ever come back.”
“But the police -”
“The police won't do a thing, not if they think it might upset Velucci. He's got them all in his back-pocket.”
“There's no way my sister would just go up to some random villa,” Merrie told him. “She's not that kind of girl.”
“I'm sure most of them aren't,” the man replied, “but I see the looks in their faces. They're kind of blank, like they're not thinking at all. You can call out to them and they won't even respond. Sometimes they've even got cut feet, and they just keep on walking. I've seen drunk girls and drugged girls and dumb girls, but this is something different. They just go stumbling up toward that villa, and then the next time I see them is when someone puts up a poster.”
“Well, my sister wouldn't do anything like that,” Merrie replied. “You don't know her, but I do. And I have total faith in her. She's everything I want to be some day and more. She's the best, the smartest person I ever met.”
The man started chuckling.
“You don't know anything,” Merrie added, before turning to walk away. And then, once she was around the corner, she stopped for a moment.
The man's laughter had stopped.
After hesitating for a few seconds more, Merrie cautiously leaned back around the corner and looked at the spot where the man had been sitting.
“Still here,” he said. “I'm not a ghost. By the way, can you spare some change?”
She threw a couple of coins to the ground and then hurried away. Still telling herself that Judy was more than capable of looking after herself, she tried to persuade herself to go back into the club and to just dance and drink all her worries away. At the same time, she couldn't help looking up toward the darkness above the town, toward the distant lights of the Velucci villa.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Calm down, calm down,” Mr. Ford said as Judy pulled again, trying to get free from the metal cuffs that were now tying her to the wall. “You're with friends. You're safe.”
Judy struggled for a moment longer, as if she couldn't quite understand what was happening, and then she turned to Mr. Ford and let out a low, angry snarl. As she did so, a faint dribble of slime began to run from one corner of her mouth.
“
I know that you understand on some level,” he continued. “Your original mind is in there somewhere. If you're listening, I want you to know that your arrival here has been expected. Everything has been prepared, and there will be no more pain.”
Again, Judy wriggled and tried to pull free, before starting to tug her entire body away from the wall and then slam it back with energetic force.
Mr. Ford watched for a moment, with an expression of pride, before turning and heading back over to where Ruth was waiting in the doorway. She'd been watching for a while now, filled with an uncomfortable mix of horror and fascination. She knew she should have left, that anyone else would have run away by now, but she still felt that there was so much to discover about herself, and about her mother. About everything that had ever happened in her life to that point.
“Why have you tied her up?” she asked.
“For her own protection,” he explained calmly, as he glanced back at Judy. “This is always the most difficult phase, when they're halfway between one existence and the other.” He turned to Ruth. “This must seem familiar to you. I hope you're not unduly troubled.”
For a moment, Ruth couldn't reply. She could only watch Judy and think back to the sight of her own mother all those years ago. She was trying to remember the best moments from her childhood, but her mind's eye kept filling with memories of her mother turning into a monstrous, snarling creature. Now she was seeing the same symptoms again, this time in a girl she'd never met before, and she was surprised to feel tears welling in her eyes.
“This won't end the same way that your mother's story ended,” Mr. Ford explained. “We simply won't allow that horror to be repeated.” He made his way over to a bench in the far corner, from which he took a knife and another piece of medical equipment.
“What are you going to do?” Ruth asked.
“I need to see what's inside her,” he said as he made his way toward Judy. “I need to make sure that it's healthy and viable, but don't worry. I won't harm the creature at all. I've practiced this procedure many times, to make sure that I'm ready now.”
“But what are you going to do to her.”
She watched as he began to unbutton Judy's shirt.
“You can't cut her open,” she said, feeling a growing sense of dread. “You'll kill her!”
“The creature will keep her alive,” he replied, as he set one piece of equipment down and then pressed the knife against the top of Judy's chest. He paused, before slowly moving the blade harmlessly down until it was a few inches above the belly button. “Besides, this is only an exploratory procedure. I don't need to see the entire thing, just a small piece will be enough.”
“You can't just stab her!” Ruth shouted. “She's a -”
Suddenly she gasped as she saw him sliding the knife's tip into Judy's flesh.
“Stop!” she yelled, rushing forward, and then as she reached Mr. Ford he saw that he'd already removed the knife.
Blood was trickling from the wound, although after a moment the trickle slowed and then stopped.
Reaching forward, Mr. Ford put his fingertips into the wound and gently parted the sides, before kneeling and trying to take a closer look. At the same time, Judy tilted her head back and let out a slow groan as her jaw started trembling slightly.
“This is wrong,” Ruth whispered, shaking with horror. “You're killing her.”
“No,” he said calmly. “Your mother was killed, by people who thought they were trying to save her life. Perhaps she herself could have become the Pure One, had she not been harmed by those butchers. Unfortunately, they pumped your mother full of drugs and they carved her up. What I am doing is the opposite. I am allowing this young woman to thrive, so that she can reach her natural potential.”
Judy groaned again.
“I'm going to call the police,” Ruth said. “I have to go and -”
And then she saw it.
Something was poking out from the depths of the slit on Judy's belly, disturbing the edges from the inside. Slowly, a thin black tip began to reach through, its tapered end emerging into the light and – in the process – revealing more of its thicker, sturdier-looking base.
“What is that thing?” Ruth whispered, mesmerized by the sight.
“You must have seen one at Leadenford,” Mr. Ford replied, watching as the tendril flicked and twitched in the air. “You certainly saw one in Mr. Velucci. This is the beautiful creation that has been growing inside this human body. It's not yet ready to emerge, but that's okay. Now that they're safe here, we can give them a helping hand and work to make sure that there are no further complications.” He reached out and let the tip touch his finger. “Isn't it the most wonderful thing you've ever seen in our life? Don't you wish that you could be a vessel for one of them?”
He turned to her.
“You might be, some day,” he added. “Your mother was a carrier, so there's an increased risk that eventually you will too.”
Ruth opened her mouth to reply, but no words emerged. Instead, she simply stared at the tendril as it twisted and turned, and she realized that it seemed to be exploring its new-found freedom. Finally, as the tendril extended a little further from the wound, and as a thick blob of clear slime dribbled from the wound's lower edge, Ruth felt all the strength fade from her body, and she promptly fainted.
“Never mind that,” Mr. Ford said, still focused entirely on the tendril. “She'll learn. And at least you're here. You're with friends now. You're safe.”
The tendril flicked again.
Above, as Mr. Ford continued to talk, Judy's face stared up at the ceiling. Her eyes were rolled back in their sockets, and more slime was glistening in one corner of her lips.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“No, you don't understand,” Merrie said, trying to keep calm despite the policeman's complete failure to actually listen, “my sister is missing!”
“Yes, you told me already,” he replied with a loud, seemingly deliberate sigh. “For about eight hours.”
“That's ages for her!” she said firmly. “That's like three days in anybody else's time!”
“Have you tried calling her?”
“I already explained, she left her phone in the -”
“So she doesn't want to be contacted.”
“I know you probably think all English girls are like me,” Merrie replied, “and I get that. I get wasted, I sleep around, I go off on adventures. But my sister doesn't do any of those things. She's the smart, sensible one. Hell, I don't even know who she agreed to come on this holiday in the first place. But the point is, she never even goes to the bathroom without leaving an emergency contact number. Plus, I think...”
Her voice trailed off.
“You think what?” the policeman asked.
“She hasn't seemed like herself lately,” she continued. “I can't put my finger on it, but it's as if she's been ill. I'm worried she might have gone for a walk somewhere and fallen ill and now she needs help.”
“What do you think is wrong with her?”
“I don't know.”
“Then what -”
“Can't you just help?” she asked, as she began to lose her patience. “You're just standing there, acting like nothing's happening!”
“There's nothing we can do,” he said, “if she's only been gone for eight hours. What you need to do is you need to come back tomorrow, twenty-four hours after you last saw her, and then we can take her details.”
“And then what?” Merrie asked. “Will you tell me to make a poster, and put it with all those other posters of people you've conspicuously failed to find?”
At this, the policemen visibly stiffened, as if he felt insulted by the mention of all the posters.
“Will there by anything else I can help you with this evening?” he asked archly. “Or are we done here?”
***
“This is insane!” Gemma screamed, holding her arms up as foam sprayed down onto the dance-floor. “I've never been to a club like th
is before!”
She wasn't the only one screaming, either. All around her, hundreds and hundreds of other revelers – in various states of inebriation – were shouting and yelling and generally having a good time.
High above, foam continued to be pumped out of large vents on the ceiling. And around the edges of some of those vents, thin black tendrils were starting to poke out and twitch in the heat of the nightclub.
***
“Stupid arrogant obnoxious idiotic uncaring slime-ball piece of garbage.”
Wandering along the strip, having taken off her heels to give her feet a break, Merrie was still smarting over that policeman's dismissive attitude. She was half thinking of storming back to the station and giving him another piece of her mind, but she figure that'd just be a waste of her time. She needed to find Judy, but that would require a plan and in this particular moment she couldn't work out where to start. She supposed she should check the apartment again, and then fan out from there, but the whole situation was starting to feel hopeless.
Finally, annoyed by the sound of some drunk revelers nearby, she took a left turn and made her way along a side-street, and then she stopped and leaned back against the wall as she tried to come up with some ideas.
“Fucking hell!” a drunk girl yelled nearby, stumbling past the street corner. “What the fucking -”
“Shut up!” Merrie shouted at her. “I'm trying to think here!”
“What's wrong with you?” the girl asked.
“I'm trying to work something out!” Merrie hissed. “Will you shut up with all your inane, drunken bollocks and just go away?”
The girl swayed for a moment, as if she might be about to collapse, and then she turned and tottered out of view, while mumbling something that didn't quite reach Merrie.
“Why did you have to do this?” Merrie said out loud, putting her hands on the sides of her head as she crouched down and tried again to come up with some sliver of an idea. “You're the smart one, Judy. If I'd gone missing, you'd be able to find me. I'm always the one who does stupid things. Why isn't this the other way around?”