Dean Carter - Blood Water

‘I guess we just wait then,’ he said, watching his brother and Morrow scan the room.

‘Yeah,’ James said, sounding almost bored. ‘We could be in for a—’

He was interrupted by the loud voice of a teacher behind him: ‘Nigel! You’re drenched. Come on up to the staff room.’

Sean, James and Morrow turned and saw a woman – Mrs Rees, Sean thought her name was, though he couldn’t remember what she taught – taking a bedraggled man by the elbow and escorting him back out of the room. He looked absolutely soaked, his hair plastered down, his clothes filthy, and his eyes somehow hollow and lustreless – but it was definitely Phoenix.

‘God,’ Sean said. ‘He looks terrible.’

‘The rain could have done that though,’ James said.

‘Perhaps,’ said Morrow, moving through the crowd after the departing teachers. ‘But we need to be sure.’

They could have waited for Phoenix to get changed and return to the hall – but what if he was infected, and attacked someone? They had to check him before he had a chance to do any harm. As they left the hall, two teachers seated nearby stopped them and asked what they were doing.

‘I have my car,’ James said. ‘I was waiting for my dad to text me to tell me the road home was clear, so we’re going now.’

‘Oh, right,’ one of them said, eyeing Morrow strangely as the trio walked past.

They hurried back to the annexe. Morrow was humming a tune as if trying to calm himself down – and with good reason, Sean thought. He had already seen some terrible things at the study centre; perhaps he was preparing himself for more. Sean still had questions, but he’d have to wait for a more convenient time to ask them.

At the top of the ramp they waited for Mrs Evans to turn her back before continuing past the reception desk towards the stairs that led up to the staff room.

‘What now?’ Sean asked.

‘I must go up and talk to him,’ Morrow said. ‘Try to ascertain if he’s infected or not.’

‘But how will you tell?’ James looked up the stairs as if expecting to see an inquisitive face at any second.

‘Well, I don’t know… There might be a way… ‘ Morrow took off his glasses and rubbed the lenses thoughtfully. ‘There could be physical signs. Sean, you said that Holland’s skin was in a bad state, didn’t you?’

‘Yeah, but he’d had that thing in him for a while, hadn’t he? If Phoenix has been infected it won’t have been in him for long.’

‘No, but still… There may be signs. Perhaps his behaviour will give him away. I saw and heard what Holland did when he was infected. I might recognize some of that behaviour in Mr Phoenix, and perhaps I can stop him before he does anything terrible.’

‘What sort of things did Holland do?’

‘He seemed odd – it wasn’t like he was under the influence of something, but as if he was… someone completely different.’

‘What do you mean?’ James asked.

‘Well, I think the creature takes control of the mind of its host. Don’t ask me how.’ Morrow stopped as his eyes were drawn to the figure at the top of the stairs. It was the woman who had escorted Phoenix from the main hall, Mrs Rees. She took a few steps down, then stopped, a curious expression on her face.

‘Can I help you?’ she asked, looking at them in turn, her eyes questioning, suspicious.

‘Yes,’ Morrow answered, before either of the brothers could. ‘I need to speak with Mr Phoenix immediately.’

‘I’m sorry, but he can’t really see visitors right now. He needs to dry off and get warm. He got caught in the flood, and—’

‘Yes, I know, that’s why I’m here. I’m Dr Morrow, Mr Phoenix’s GP as well as a good friend of his. He called me because he fell in the river earlier and was worried that he might be ill. I live nearby so I said I’d come and see him. He may well be fine, but it’s probably best that I check, just to be on the safe side.’

‘Oh, I see. Right, well, you’d better come up then, Doctor. I’m Mrs Rees, by the way. I teach English.’ She turned and went back up the stairs.

Morrow told the boys to wait there for him; then followed her up to the staff room.

‘What now?’ Sean asked his brother.

‘We’ll just have to wait and hope Dr Morrow can determine whether Phoenix is infected or not. God I really hope he isn’t… Not just for his sake, but because it means that creature is somewhere else then, and somebody else’s problem.’

Upstairs, Dr Morrow was shown into the staff room. Phoenix was slumped in an armchair, his face averted, a mug of tea in one hand. He was drenched but didn’t appear to be shivering.

‘We should get him dry, shouldn’t we?’ Mrs Rees asked. ‘He’ll catch a cold.’

He could have caught something a lot worse than that , Morrow thought.

‘Could I see him alone for a few minutes?’ he asked, looking across at her.

‘Well, yes, of course. I need to go back to the hall anyway. I’ll come back as soon as I can.’

‘Thank you, this won’t take long. And he’ll be fine.’

Mrs Rees nodded and turned to leave the room.

‘Now then,’ Dr Morrow said, approaching the seated man and already noticing a strange reddening of the man’s forehead. ‘Tell me how you feel.’

Without warning, the mug of tea dropped from Phoenix’s hand and hit the floor with a thud, spilling its contents on the carpet. Then he turned his head to face the doctor.

‘Come on, boys,’ Mrs Rees said to Sean and James. ‘You’d better come back to the hall with me. The headmaster wants everyone together. Mr Phoenix will be all right – I’ll check back on him in a while.’

‘But we’re looking after Dr Morrow. He doesn’t know his way around the school,’ Sean insisted.

‘Yeah, and he said he wouldn’t be long,’ James added before Mrs Rees could get a word in. ‘Just a quick look, that’s all, then we’ll bring him back to the hall.’

Mrs Rees thought it over. ‘All right, but be sure you do. This storm isn’t getting any better and we can’t have people roaming around the school on their own. What exactly are you two doing here anyway? James, you left school three years ago, and you, Sean, you’re supposed to be off sick.’

‘I am, miss. I mean, I was, but I, well… It’s a long story. We were on our way home when we got caught in the storm and we stopped to give Dr Morrow a lift. He works with James at the study centre.’

‘Study centre? I thought he was Mr Phoenix’s GP.’

‘He is,’ James said quickly. ‘But he’s also a marine biologist and runs courses.’

‘He must be a busy man.’

‘Yes, very busy.’

‘All right, well, you may as well go on up to the staff room then. But don’t let the headmaster know I let you up there. I’m trusting you two. Understood?’

‘Yes, miss,’ they replied in unison.

Mrs Rees still looked sceptical, but she left them to it.

‘I can’t believe this,’ James said. ‘It’s like I never left school.’

‘Never mind that,’ Sean said, leading the way up the stairs. ‘We can’t leave Dr Morrow on his own with Phoenix if he has that thing in him.’ They ran up the stairs to the staff room, and were surprised when they went in to find no one there.

‘That’s strange,’ Sean said, scanning the large room with its sofas and coffee tables. On the floor a mug appeared to have been knocked over, its contents saturating a large section of the carpet. All was quiet.

‘I don’t like this.’ James walked slowly towards the middle of the room. ‘What’s through there?’ he asked, pointing to an open door on the far side of the room.