Drug

by O'Rourke, Lynda

  “Which way is it?” asked Max, pushing his damp, blonde hair from out of his eyes.

  “We go right and follow the path until we come to the chapel,” I whispered. “I don’t think it’s too much further.”

  “Look, there’s someone at the top of the steps,” pointed Jude, head tilted up.

  A cone of light swooped about – the beam not strong enough to reach the bottom of the steps where we stood. Whoever was holding the torch couldn’t be seen through the fog. Muffled voices filtered through the haze – it was Steve and someone else – probably his security guard mate, Charlie. They were still searching for us.

  We kept still, afraid that if we continued down the path they would hear our footsteps on the gravel track.

  “I’ve been down these steps five times already through the night,” moaned Steve, “I’m bloody cold and damp. I just want to get back indoors, warm up, and eat my pastry – I’m starving.”

  “Me too, mate,” said Charlie. “I’ve got a nice pork pie waiting for me and a Pot Noodle to warm me up, but the boss ain’t gonna let us in until those volunteers are found. This night shift has been nothing but a fucking headache, and I bet they won’t let us go home at the end of the shift either. The police will have to be called in sooner or later.”

  “What do you think they’ll do with the volunteers when they catch them?” asked Steve.

  “Who gives a shit? I don’t. Serves them right for being greedy little fuckers. Why don’t they get a job like the rest of us? These kids want everything for doing nothing. They make me sick,” spat Charlie.

  “Yeah, but, come on – you wouldn’t want your daughter coming in here and getting messed up – no one deserves that,” said Steve. “If my daughter signed up for some drug test I wouldn’t expect her to come out all messed up, or the police trying to cover it up – that ain’t right.”

  “Nothing’s right about this place, but I wanna keep my job. There’s no other work in Holly Tree. This is as good as it gets. I keep my head down and my mouth shut – you can’t go wrong. What goes on behind these walls stays behind these walls,” said Charlie. “I’ve heard some of the other staff gossip about this place – sends shivers right through me.”

  “What gossip?” asked Steve.

  “Shit you wouldn’t believe. Some say it’s haunted. Some say it’s got deranged patients wandering the old corridors, others say the doctors aren’t like us,” whispered Charlie.

  “What do you mean – not like us?” said Steve.

  “Middleton, Wright, Fletcher, and Middleton’s son. I dunno, there’s something weird about them,” hushed Charlie.

  I wanted to give them a round of applause. I had only spent a night here and it hadn’t taken me long to figure out that Middleton and the others weren’t right, yet these two security guards who had probably worked here for a while were only just getting it. And who was Middleton’s son? That was twice now I had heard him be mentioned but still had no idea who he was.

  “You mean like aliens?” asked Steve.

  “Not fucking aliens, you dick,” said Charlie. “I mean…”

  The sound of static cut through the fog as a voice came over Steve’s radio. It made me jump.

  “Steve, get Charlie and make your way to the locker room.”

  “The locker room?” asked Steve. “That’s in the old part of the hospital, isn’t it, boss?”

  “Yeah, meet me at the front entrance and I’ll show you the way. Fred Butler’s been murdered.”

  “What… how... by who?” asked Steve, his voice shaky.

  I looked at Max, then Jude and Raven. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Fred was very much alive when we had left him.

  “Those volunteers, that’s who. Fred was found all taped up – his throat has been slit. Middleton’s going mad. If we don’t find those volunteers soon, Middleton will be after our blood I reckon. Hurry up and get round here – we’ll need to stick together if we’re going into the old hospital.”

  “Shit,” I heard Charlie say. “What the fuck are they injecting these volunteers with?”

  I looked down at the black, lumpy veins covering the back of my hand and thought the same thing.

  “That’s not for us to know, Charlie. We just keep the outside secure.”

  “Then why are we being sent inside? We don’t patrol in there,” huffed Charlie.

  “We’re not patrolling… we’re moving the body. Middleton wants us to tidy Fred up – make him look like he had some kind of accident.”

  “A cover-up you mean, boss?” asked Steve, the sound of static cutting through the fog.

  “Looks like it. Just get your arses over here now.”

  The hissing of the radio cut out. The torchlight moved away from the steps. Steve’s and Charlie’s voices disappeared into the thick, stagnant fog.

  “So now we’re getting blamed for someone else’s murder,” said Max, blowing warm air over his cold hands. “Fred already accused us of killing Nurse Jones and the other volunteers – now he’s part of the body count.”

  “Who do you think killed him?” whispered Raven. “Do you think we’re next?”

  “I don’t think they want us dead. Doctor Fletcher said something about us being a miracle breakthrough. But if Middleton got his hands on us, then he would ruin us,” I whispered.

  “Why set us up for murder then?” said Jude. “If we get locked away for all these deaths then Middleton won’t be able to have us. It doesn’t make sense.”

  “Nothing makes sense in this hell,” hissed Raven. “We’re all doomed, we’re gonna spend the rest of eternity wandering the corridors of death.”

  “Ever heard of the word hope, Raven?” snapped Jude. “We might as well go and hand ourselves in if we are to believe you.”

  “You were the last one to see Fred Butler – did you kill him?” hissed Raven, backing away from Jude.

  “Why would I kill him?” Jude spat. “If I wanted him dead I could’ve killed Fred when we were wrapping duct tape around him. Don’t you think there’s more fucked-up things wandering around that hospital than me?”

  “Let’s not start turning on each other,” I said. “There’s no reason for Jude to have killed him, Raven. We aren’t killers – we’re victims.”

  Raven stood still, a look of distrust across her face. “I don’t trust any of you.” She pointed her finger at us. “You all told me on Ward 2 that everything was okay – but look at us now – ruined – fated.”

  “We will be fated if we don’t get moving,” whispered Max.

  “I’m not waiting around here anymore, I’m going to the chapel,” I sighed, fed up with Raven’s outbursts and feeling a little pissed off at being told I wasn’t trusted. I felt like pointing out to her that she was more like those freaks inside the hospital than any of us. So should we trust her? I looked at Jude. He stood shaking his head, his blue eyes troubled. I couldn’t imagine him slitting anyone’s throat. No, we were all victims – Middleton’s prey – all four of us.

  As I turned to follow the path toward the chapel, Jude spoke up.

  “Let’s just make a run for it, fuck the chapel,” he said. “It sounds like the security guards will have their hands full inside with old Fred. The gate might be unmanned.”

  “I don’t think so,” said Max. “A place like this would never leave the gates unattended – it’s too risky.”

  “I think we should just stick to the plan,” I said. “Let’s wait in the chapel, sort out how we’re going to walk through those gates, and what direction we’re going head in when we get out.”

  “If we get out,” hissed Raven, pushing past me. “I’m going to the chapel – it’s a place of peace. Maybe our souls will be saved from all these dead things. Maybe there’s some holy water and crucifixes in there.”

  “You think that shit is gonna get you out of here?” scoffed Jude.

  “Well the police sure ain’t gonna help us,” hissed Raven. “You heard what those two security guards
said – the police are freaking bent as hell.”

  I’d heard enough. I didn’t want to stand out here in the fog any longer, listening to Jude and Raven bitch at each other, so I continued to follow the path toward the chapel. My head was close to bursting. I didn’t know if going to the chapel was the right thing to do, but so far, everything Ben had told me to do had worked out okay, and even though Raven seemed crazy with her strange thoughts and ideas about the dead – one thing she had said, did seem plausible. The accidental cross I had made back in the kitchen with the knife and ladle had had some kind of effect against the Cleaners. It hadn’t worked on Fred Butler, but maybe that was because he was just like us – alive – or at least, he was when we’d left him in the locker room. A chapel must have crosses and crucifixes, I thought. If I found any, I would definitely be stuffing the pockets of my jacket with as many as I could.

  The black-shadowy mass of the hospital had disappeared. A steep embankment rose over the path to my right, blocking any view of Cruor Pharma. I knew we hadn’t travelled too far down Strangers Hill, probably not even a quarter of it. If we made it through the gates we would have some trek before we reached the bottom, and probably a further ten minutes’ walk to Holly Tree. I scoffed at my thoughts. Walk – I wasn’t gonna walk – I’m gonna freaking run. Run for my life.

  “Hey, Kass,” Max whispered, catching me up. “Don’t let Raven get to you with all her talk about death and hell and us not making it out of here. She’s just strange and believes in all that weird stuff.”

  “She is strange,” I said, nodding my head. “But maybe we’re getting pissed off with her because we don’t want to admit that perhaps she’s right. Maybe we can’t face the truth. Maybe we’re all just hoping that we’ll wake up and this has been a horrible nightmare. The fact is, we’ve seen things that we never believed in – things we can’t explain – and it’s easier to pretend aren’t real. But no matter how many times I look at my veins – the truth is still there.”

  I looked at Max. He walked beside me, his head hung low.

  “I guess you’re right,” he mumbled. “I don’t even know where to begin. What have we seen? Zombies? Ghosts? Vampires?” He took a deep breath. “Where do we go when we get out of here? Can we go back to our normal lives? Probably not. Who do we trust?”

  I placed my hand on his arm and gently squeezed. “I don’t know any more than you do. All I’ve got is questions and no answers and a head full of hideous images. Oh, and let’s not forget, things that can go through doors and doctors with multiple personalities.”

  “Things really do go bump in the night at this place.” Max forced a smile. “Whatever happens, I’m glad you’re with me. If I was left with just Raven and Jude, I think I would have lost all hope and my sanity.”

  I smiled. “Thanks, Max, I’m glad you’re with me too.”

  We carried on walking until the path split into two directions. An old broken sign hung lifelessly from a wooden stake pushed into the mud. It read To the Chapel. We waited for Jude and Raven to catch up. Their gravelly footsteps could be heard before we saw them appear through the fog.

  “This way,” I whispered.

  “Good,” huffed Raven. “Maybe we’ll be safe in there?”

  Jude hung back. He hesitated – still reluctant with the plan of hiding out in the chapel.

  “Who says that the chapel is going to be any safer than being out here?” he said. “We’ve only got Fletcher’s word on it and I don’t trust him. He stuck that fucking needle in you and pumped your body with a drug that’s turned half the volunteers into crazed zombie-things.” He pointed his finger at me. “I don’t get it. Why are you trusting him?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Because he’s been the only one to help and so far it’s got us here – to the chapel. If he hadn’t have given me that key, then we’d still be stuck inside the hospital.”

  “Listen, Jude, if you really don’t want to wait in the chapel you could always try and get through the gate by yourself. You don’t have to wait for us,” said Max, plumes of cold breath floating from his lips.

  “I don’t want us to split up,” said Jude. “We’re stronger together.”

  “Fine, then let’s keep going,” I said, walking away down the path. I just wanted to get inside – out of the freezing fog. My legs looked blue with the cold.

  We continued a short way until a dark shape emerged through the fog. The path came to a sudden end. Tucked in the side of Strangers Hill and hidden amongst a crop of tall fir trees was the chapel.

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  The chapel, shrouded in fir trees and fog, looked forgotten and neglected. Its grey stones, which were crumbling with moss and ivy, had seen better days. Stinging nettles and weeds grew in thick clumps around its foundations like they were a part of the chapel. It made me feel sad somehow. Lonely. The two arched windows on either side of the front door were covered in grime – its stained-glass pictures unrecognisable.

  “Wow, this place couldn’t have been used for years,” whispered Max, his eyes wandering over the deserted building. “I wonder when the last time that bell got rung?”

  I followed his gaze up to a small tower. The rusty bell hung lifelessly.

  “Not for a very long time, judging by the state of this place,” I sighed, that feeling of sadness creeping through me.

  “What do you expect in an evil place like this? The dead have no need for such a building. It’s probably been turned into the devil’s lair,” hissed Raven.

  Max looked at me. He rolled his eyes in response to Raven’s comments.

  “Are you sure you want to go in?” asked Jude. “It looks unfriendly – like it doesn’t want us here.”

  Max sniggered. “Jude, you sound like Raven.”

  “What I mean is… oh, just forget it.” He turned away, embarrassed to be classed like Raven.

  “Let’s go in,” I said, stepping carefully through the stinging nettles toward the wooden door. As I approached the arched entrance, I felt suddenly anxious. I brushed the feeling away. Raven’s and Jude’s comments were playing on my mind. This was a chapel for goodness sake – a place of safety, I told myself. I reached out and took hold of the iron handle. It creaked and groaned as I twisted it round. The iron latch clunked as it freed itself from years of neglect and the wooden door – reluctant to move – slowly grumbled open. A cold, icy blast hit me – knocking me back into Max. He caught me before I fell to the floor. The sound of rasping whispers flew past me, caught up in the icy blast.

  “Get out… you are not welcome… be gone…” the whispers hissed.

  “Did you hear that?” I asked, turning to the others.

  “What?” whispered Max, his arms still holding me up.

  “Something said we aren’t welcome. It told us to go.” I shivered in his arms.

  “It was just the wind whistling through the chapel as you opened up the door,” said Max. “That’s all I heard.”

  “Did you hear it?” I looked over Max’s shoulder at Raven and Jude.

  They both shook their heads.

  Slipping from Max’s hold, I cautiously stepped inside. There was nothing but silence. Whatever I’d heard was now gone. It couldn’t have been the wind – there was no wind. The air outside was filled with a stagnant fog – nothing stirred in the stillness. Something had hit me but now the atmosphere seemed calm – the mood suddenly peaceful.

  It was semi-dark inside the chapel. The approaching morning light didn’t do much to brighten the space. There were two stained-glass windows on each side of the chapel. The centre aisle led up to a wooden lectern and three rows of pews were lined on either side. Large, thick cobwebs hung from the ceiling like threadbare material, which clung to my arms as I pushed them aside like I was opening curtains. The air was filled with dust and the smell of decay was strong.

  “I feel sick,” Jude mumbled. “The smell in here is rotten. I’m gonna sit by the door and get some fresh air.” He slumped down on the floor,
holding his head in his hands.

  I bent down next to him, squeezing his shoulder with my hand. He looked up at me. His eyes looked dark and cloudy and his face had broken out into a sweat.

  “Show me your arm,” I said, fearing that maybe Jude had been given VA20 like the rest of us after all and it was only now taking effect.

  He pushed his shirt sleeve up to the elbow but there were no signs of black, lumpy veins.

  “Shall I see if I can find you something to lay your head on?” I asked, feeling his forehead. He was burning a fever. His head felt like a hot water bottle.

  “Yes,” he sighed, leaning against the wall.

  I stood up. Raven and Max looked worried. They both had their hands covering their noses, blocking the rancid stench that filled the air.

  “Is he gonna turn into one of those zombie-things?” Raven asked, twisting a strand of her black greasy hair around her finger.

  “I’ve checked his arm. There are no black veins like ours,” I said. “But he looks really ill. We should keep an eye on him. That’s all we can do for now.”

  Walking down the aisle, I stopped at the first row of pews. They were lined with prayer cushions. Taking one, I dusted it off and handed it to Max.

  “Give this to Jude to lie on,” I said. “It might make him feel more comfortable.”

  “I think I’m gonna sit down for a bit,” said Raven, knocking the dust from some of the prayer cushions. She plonked herself down. “I’m so tired. I think I could sleep for a year.”

  “Me too,” said Max. “We’ve been up all night. No wonder Jude’s feeling ill, he’s probably knackered. I know I could do with a good sleep, something to eat, and I’ve got a raging thirst.”

  “I’m thirsty, too,” murmured Raven, her eyes shut. She’d put her legs up onto a pew and her head rested against a pile of cushions.