The Dark Messenger

by Milo Spires

  Karnargie Ward

  Stepping forwards, she pushed on the doors and found that they swung back easily. Behind them was a long, empty room that was clearly an old ward. She cursed, stamping her foot as she thought about being misled. There was no way that Becky was in here, and now she had to somehow find her way back downstairs again.

  The apparently deserted ward she found herself in was about eighty feet long and forty feet wide. There were four large windows, two down the left side and two directly opposite running down the right, with a set of double doors at the far end. The glass in the windows had been painted over many years before with something to block people from seeing through. Added to that was several layers of dust from years without cleaning.

  Glancing across at the window furthest away on her right, she noticed that the top of it was ever so slightly ajar, and she could hear the wind whistling through from outside. Seeing it suddenly made her feel quite cold inside, and she quickly pulled the furry hood up on her Parker jacket, wrapping it tightly in all around her neck. The soft fake fur felt so nice on her skin; instantly she felt so much warmer, and she cursed how she always felt the cold. Even on a sunny day when everyone was in their T-shirts she found herself shivering at times.

  She thought back to the conversation that she’d had downstairs with the nurse. The woman had sounded so positive when she had said to her that Becky was up in Karnargie Ward. Wanting to be fair, Jenny considered the possibilities.

  In her defense, could there maybe be two wards somehow? Perhaps this one is derelict, and there’s a brand-new one somewhere with the same name? A stupid decision, but not unheard-of.

  ‘Damn!’ she cursed again. Could it really be this difficult to find Becky?

  Suddenly an idea crossed her mind that made her smile.

  A fire escape! Of course! she thought as her eyes flicked around in different directions, looking for one. But where?

  Nothing obvious presented itself.

  Then, looking to the other end of the ward, she thought maybe there might be one through the double doors at that end. As she started toward them, she noticed another sign. A surge of relief went through her as she read the word ‘FIRE’ above the entryway.

  She had to double-check just to be sure it did actually say what she was seeing, and that it wasn’t somehow her mind playing tricks on her. The way things had gone so far, she felt like anything was possible. Looking up at it though, there was no mistake; it definitely did read ‘FIRE’, although the faded letters had made it quite difficult to read.

  Jenny hurried towards the doors, wanting only to find her way out of this nightmare.

  As she approached them, she suddenly she realized that there was something beeping somewhere. It seemed as if it was coming from the other side of the doors.

  Curiosity overtook her, and she pushed on the doors, expecting them to swing back easily. However, the left side was jammed solid. Looking down, she realized why; the door was screwed down to the floor. When she looked up, she realized that it was secured to the doorframe as well. The right door was difficult to shift, but it was not bolted into place. She had to put all her strength into pushing it open because the builders’ dirt underneath was wedging it closed. It made a horrible noise as it forced the dirt hard against the floor.

  Once through the doorway, Jenny turned to look at where the beeping noise was coming from.

  She couldn’t believe what she saw. There, lying in a steel-framed bed, was her mate!

  ‘What the hell?’ she screamed as she ran over to Becky.

  As she got closer, Jenny noticed a dirty old rag had been stuffed in Becky’s mouth, and her eyes were wide as saucers. Once Jenny had pulled it out, Becky started screaming at her to leave. However, Jenny was in too much shock to take notice at what Becky was shouting at her.

  Becky looked terrible. Her eyes were dark black now, and her skin was completely white.

  ‘Oh my god! What’s wrong with you?’ Jenny cried hoarsely.

  ‘Jenny listen to me, will you? Get the hell out of here! Go get help!’ Becky shouted.

  ‘What? Oh my god, NO! Darling, I am not leaving you here! What do you mean, go get help? I am getting you out of here first!’ Jenny insisted.

  Then she noticed the handcuffs, and her heart sank. Without the key, it would be impossible to free her.

  Jenny gestured toward them. ‘Why…?’

  ‘They think I am a vampire,’ Becky said.

  ‘What? Who does?’ Jenny asked, shocked to her core. She looked down at Becky, wondering for the first time if her friend was schizophrenic or something. The thought unnerved her.

  ‘Vampire! Do you know what you are saying, darling?’ Jenny asked. She found herself wondering if perhaps the handcuffs had been put on Becky to stop her from hurting herself. Then she remembered the nurse downstairs saying the specialists would be here in twenty minutes or so.

  Maybe when they arrive this whole mess will somehow start to go away. It surely won’t take them that long for them to diagnose Becky’s illness, will it? she thought.

  ‘There’s no time, Jen. You’ve got to leave, do you hear me?’ Becky’s voice was urgent, pleading. ‘They said that they are coming back here. They only went downstairs to find you!’ She yanked desperately at her handcuffs.

  Jenny wondered if ‘they’ were really the specialists that she really wanted to speak with anyway. Obviously they were, and had gotten here early. Anyway, she didn’t want to tell Becky that she wanted to wait for them It was clear to her that, apart from her really weird looks, that maybe Becky had schizophrenia or something.

  It would explain the vampire business, she thought.

  Jenny shook her head. ‘Anyway, the lift isn’t working. The buttons are screwed and the doors won’t open,’ she said to Becky. Then she remembered that, only moments before, she had actually been looking for the fire exit. Turning, she glanced around and spotted it, over in the far corner. It was a single door that said FIRE across it, with a push-bar on it.

  ‘Are you listening, Jenny?? Four skin-head men put me here! They are gonna hurt you when they find you! Run darling, just leave me and run!’ Becky screamed.

  Jenny was finding it all too much to believe, and had resigned herself to the fact that her mate was mentally ill. Ignoring her, she began to look around at the machine and medical stuff behind the bed--the tubes running from it down to her mate and the syringes lying on a small metal table to her left. There was also a huge window, similar to the ones out in the main ward. However, instead of being completely painted over, this one had a clear pane in it on the top right, as if it had been changed at some point. Turning round to think for a second, she took in the rest of the room now. It was basically just a smaller version of the bigger ward that she had just come through. There were more wires dangling down here and there, no ceiling, and dirt everywhere. She wondered vaguely how a hospital could function in such a filthy environment.

  At the same time, Becky continued to struggle. Her face was red from exertion. ‘Jen they are going to hurt you! Can you fucking hear me? They are here because they said I am a VAMPIRE! They will hurt you! Go before they come back, PLEASE!’

  ‘Just let me speak to them when they come back. I’m sure I’ll be okay,’ Jenny said in a placating voice.

  Jenny felt so sorry for Becky. But what can I do? she thought. I hope they can help her. It’s just not fair!

  She mused on their shared history. They had been mates for years, and now Becky had this horrible disease. Poor love—she’s only in her thirties, like me. Now her life, and mine, will probably be ruined, she thought. Tears began running down her cheeks.

  Jenny sighed and put a warm hand over Becky’s cold one. ‘I’m sorry Becky, but I’m not going anywhere. You are ill, and these people are specialists, coming to diagnose you properly. They are not going to hurt me,’ she said, sniffling and trying to wipe the tears away from her face.

  Suddenly the lift doors in the other room opened
again, followed by the sound of feet approaching on the hard ward floor.

  ‘Wonder where she went to, Geoff.’ A man’s gravelly voice was followed by another man’s, who replied, ‘Don’t know, but they will be here soon, so we need to find her.’

  Jenny was slightly shocked by the tone of their voices, but smiled again as she realized that they might not be the specialists after all, but were obviously hospital staff. Their conversation merely meant that the specialists would be here soon.

  ‘Get out of here!’ Becky said in a hoarse whisper, biting off every word. Jenny sighed and looked away from her mate. She was really trying to ignore her warnings, but it wasn’t easy. Poor dear is obviously not well and quite confused, she thought.

  ‘Jenny, get the fuck out of here!’ Becky insisted. She struggled ineffectively with the handcuffs again.

  ‘Becky, babe, you are sick and obviously need help. These people coming are hospital people, they are here to help y…‘

  At that moment, the door opened and four men walked in. Jenny sucked in her breath, and her blood ran cold.

  They clearly had nothing to do with the hospital at all. She was horrified at their appearance, and suddenly Becky’s voice saying they were going to hurt her echoed around inside her head. She tensed up and backed away as far as she could. Beside her, she could hear Becky whimper.

  The men were indeed skinheads, easily 6ft in height. They wore smart blue suits and a lot of gold rings. What frightened her the most were the tattoos that crept up each man’s neck. To Jenny, they looked like football hooligans dressed up for a court case!

  ‘There you are!’ one of them said as he spied Jenny. His smile was nasty, revealing dirty, nicotine-stained teeth. As he approached her, another man followed him. They sauntered slowly, menacingly. The other two men stayed standing by the doors, their arms crossed.

  Too late, she realized that Becky had been right—she was in mortal danger. How could she have been so stupid, considering everything, not to have believed her?

  She turned and ran as fast as she could towards the fire door, slamming her hands down on the push bar as she reached it.

  Her heart made a sickening twist within her as the door refused to budge. She rammed the bar down again, but it remained closed. The bar wobbled as if the mechanism wasn’t connected inside.

  Jenny turned around, shaking with fear. She was trapped.

  One of the men approaching started laughing as he reached inside his suit jacket. Jenny’s heart stuck in her throat as she saw what it was: a length of black wire. He slowly started to tighten it between his fingers, with the same evil leer on his face.

  ‘Don't worry, it won’t hurt for long, trust me!’ he said.

  Jenny screamed. She turned again and started banging her fists desperately on the fire door, crying out for somebody to help her. Then from behind she suddenly felt the wire being wrapped around her throat, and her breath was cut off.

  Becky watching in horror from the bed suddenly became consumed with anger. This man was trying to kill her best mate! As the anger filled her, she suddenly felt a strange, massive overpowering sensation. Then as her eyes rolled back deep inside her head, everything went black.

  When they reappeared a second later, it wasn’t the same Becky anymore.

  Normally the process of transformation left the human fighting the vampirism inside, and after many days of sickness, only then did the need come for new vampires to finally feed. They would be weak, but the need to kill something and drain its blood would be massive. Becky’s transformation had by no means finished properly; she didn’t even have the lust for drinking blood yet. However the wild anger that was inside her, brought on by the human emotions of seeing her friend about to be strangled, had somehow triggered the advanced stages of her transformation.

  Now it surged through every vein in her body--the overwhelming need to kill everyone in this room. Arching her head back, she roared--an unearthly primal sound. Becky had gone, and this thing inside now had full control.

  Jenny was frantically kicking back at the man who was trying to strangle her, but then she felt her legs stop responding. Her body fell limp, and her vision was slowly fading. Suddenly the horrible realization raced through her brain that she was dying.

  Becky, with her new vampire strength surging through her, snapped the handcuffs like they were made of plastic. She launched herself across the room at Jenny’s attacker. As she did, the tubes connecting her to the machine behind broke, but not before pulling it off the metal stand that it was sitting on. As it hit the floor, the front screen smashed and glass went everywhere.

  ‘Geoff, watch out!’ one of the men screamed.

  The man with the wire let go of Jenny and spun round. She had been suspended in the air but now as her feet touched the ground, her legs gave way beneath her and she fell forwards, clutching at her throat. Even though the wire was gone, she couldn’t breathe! Her neck had a huge red mark running round it, which disappeared on both sides underneath her hair.

  The two men by the door had charged forwards to help, but Becky was already at the man with the wire. Before he could do anything, she had thrust her claw-like black fingernails so hard into his neck that they pushed straight through his skin, burying themselves deep inside. Blood began spraying everywhere from the wound and he dropped to his knees, grabbing at his own throat. Becky’s fingers had severed his main artery, and blood was squirting through his fingers. Then a moment later he fell forwards--dead.

  Becky had stood there watching him in his death throes, oblivious to the fact that now his mates were right behind her. One of them managed to get his arm around her neck from behind, and was deadly intent on strangling her. The other two men saw their opportunity and screamed at him to hold her steady, but even with his size he found that he couldn’t. It didn’t matter though, because the punches started anyway, distracting her from trying to get out of the neck lock that she was in. Many hard throws landed square in her face. Furious, she hissed back at them and swung her legs up in front of herself, before viciously lunging forwards. As she did, the men moved to avoid being kicked. But one of them mistimed his move and Becky’s feet hit him straight in his stomach. Instantly he doubled up with pain.

  ‘Bitch!’ the other man shouted. He stopped punching her and quickly reached behind himself. He pulled out his gun, a Browning 9mm pistol.

  The men’s orders had been to hold Becky there until their chopper arrived and kill her mate, but that had all changed when Geoff had been killed. They were all good buddies and had worked together in the secret government vampire-testing department for years. Now seeing him dead they were going to kill her too.

  Chapter 10 – Shimmering Grey

  (Dec 18th , 2 a.m. Air temperature: Freezing)

  An old man finds shelter inside a huge rock fall a few hundred feet up the side of a mountain pass, waiting, hoping for news that his children were successful in their battle against the undead. All around him as far as he can see are mountains of colossal size, and below, as if it were their private playing area, a huge barren wasteland looms.

  The full moon is bright this evening, washing the landscape well in its eerie cotton-candy glow, as a biting wind whips up flurries of arctic snow. In front of him is a small fire that he was finally able to light after searching painfully for dry timber. Its flame barely taking hold, and its faint heat does nothing to lessen the bitter cold he feels within.

  With deep concern the man is sad that his children are two hours late returning from battle. A sick feeling starts to take hold inside his heart as he begins to doubt if any of them will ever return.

  Standing in front of the fire, he looks outside but sees nothing. As he walks out from his rock shelter into the wind, his clothes begin to flap as he holds his hands above his eyes, desperately scanning the horizon. Minutes pass; he feels so cold, and not just because of the weather. He turns and walks back to sit down in front of the flames. As he does so, he starts to think about how
much he will miss them if they never return.