Graham Masterton - The Doorkeepers

“So what are those two going to do to me? Those surgeons?”

“You’ll find that out in the morning, so I’m told. But I think you can safely assume that they’re going to be carrying out one or two operations on you. Major operations.”

“Operations for what? What the hell are you talking about?”

Frank Mordant leaned over her, so close that she could see the hairs in his nostrils. “You seem to have forgotten that you came from Purgatory. People who come back from Purgatory are dead already. They don’t have any rights to their life or property. That’s what the Lord Protector teaches us, anyway. So gentlemen surgeons like Mr Leggett and Mr Crane feel quite unconcerned about cutting them up and taking whatever organs they require.”

“You’re crazy, all of you. You’re all stone crazy.”

Frank Mordant stood up. “You know that it’s tommy-rot. I know that it’s tommy-rot. But men like Mr Leggett and Mr Crane have been brought up to believe it, as do ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent of the rest of the population. You took the chance and came back here, my darling; and now you’re going to have to pay the price.”

“You, Frank Mordant – you are the most disgusting piece of slime that ever slid across the earth.”

Frank Mordant’s left eye twitched. “It depends on your yardstick, my darling. I do have a heart, you know, whatever you think. I had a dog once. I loved that dog. I really, really loved that dog.”

Nancy had never spat at anybody in her life, but now she did, hitting Frank Mordant on the cheek. The saliva slid down to the corner of his mouth. He stared at her for a moment and she thought that he was going to hit her, but then he took a carefully-pressed handkerchief out of his pocket and dabbed at his face.

“Don’t you blame me,” he told her. “You’re the one who came back.”

Nancy had another night of appalling nightmares. She saw dark crablike shapes leaping and hopping across the ceiling. She heard her grandmother screaming her name. When she woke up, the sun was shining through the window again, and a nurse was setting out her breakfast on a tray. Toast, solidified scrambled eggs, and a grilled tomato. The nurse was young, with a long pale face and freckles, and she stared at Nancy anxiously all the time that she was serving her.

“What’s the matter?” Nancy asked her. “I don’t bite, you know.”

The nurse gave her a quick, nervous smile.

Nancy said, “Haven’t you ever seen a Purgatorial before?”

“Not one like you.”

“What’s different about me?”

“You’re awake. You talk.”

“That’s because I’m still alive. Here, you want to take my pulse?”

The young nurse shook her head.

“So what goes on here?” Nancy asked her. “What kind of a hospital is this?”

The young nurse didn’t answer, but gave her a nervous shrug.

“Come on,” Nancy urged her. “What do they do here? Heart surgery? Orthopedics? Pediatrics?”

“We look after – you know. We look after her.”

“Her? Who’s her?”

“Her, that’s all.”

“Does she have a name, this her?”

“I suppose she must have done once, but nobody ever mentions it.”

“You’re not telling me that she’s the only patient here?”

“Oh, no. She’s not a patient. She’s … well, she’s …”

The young nurse was obviously struggling for the right words. Nancy sat up and said, “Are you frightened of what goes on here?”

“Of course not. It’s a privilege.”

“Then why can’t you tell me all about it?”

“I’m not allowed to. Not to you. Not to anybody.”

“Don’t you trust me?”

“You’re a Purgatorial. You’re dead.”

“You’re a nurse and you think I’m dead? If I’m dead, why are you feeding me scrambled eggs and grilled tomatoes?”

“I don’t know. I was told to.”

“So where are you going next with your breakfast trays? Down to the mortuary? Wake up, boys, come and get it while it’s good and hot!”

“Don’t. You’re confusing me.”

“I’ll bet I am. I am absolutely and positively not dead. I never have been dead. I have never been to Purgatory. Everything that you’ve ever been told about Purgatorials is a lie. When people are dead, they stay dead, they don’t come back. But when people come from another world – when people come from another reality – now, that’s something different.”

The young nurse stared at her for a long time, and then she brushed a strand of hair away from her face.

“What’s your name?” Nancy asked her.

“Sophie.”

“Well, Sophie, thanks for the breakfast. And all I can say to you is, never believe what you read in books. Especially A Child’s Book of Simple Truth.”

Sophie, still staring at her, crossed the room, opened the door, and walked out. Nancy lay back on her pillow. She didn’t know what to think. All she knew was that she had very little time. Josh probably would have given her twenty-four hours to come back – but when she didn’t, there was no question in her mind that he would come after her. He could arrive in this reality any time today. It might take him a few hours to find her here at the Puritan Martyrs, but she knew how resourceful he was.

She closed her eyes and said a prayer to her ancestors, to protect her. But here, in this existence, she wasn’t at all sure that she could still feel their closeness.

Early in the afternoon, when she was halfway between sleeping and waking, she heard the door swing open, and the sound of boots on the polished linoleum floor. She opened her eyes and saw two Hooded Men, one on either side of her bed, with their tall Puritan hats and their black tunics and their long swords and their grotesque hessian masks. She sat up in bed and tugged the blanket up to her neck. She was too frightened to say anything.

“You believe that your friend will come looking for you?” asked one of the Hooded Men, in the softest of rasps. It was like somebody sawing a velvet cushion in half.

Nancy still couldn’t speak.

“You don’t think he’s going to abandon you, do you? Especially when he discovers what fate we have in store for you.”

“I don’t know what he’s going to do.”

“Oh, he’ll be here. In fact, we’ve given him a little guidance, so that he knows where you are, and how to find you.”

“He’s not stupid, for God’s sake. You think he’ll walk right into a trap?”

“I think he loves you,” said the Hooded Man, and it sounded as if he were smiling.

“Why can’t you just let me go? We only came here to find out who killed Josh’s sister.”

“So you keep telling us. But what mayhem you created, you and your subversive friends. And this morning we learned that your precious Josh has killed one of our number. Taken his head off. You don’t think that we can turn a blind eye to murder, do you?”

“You’re lying! Josh couldn’t murder anybody!”

“There were more than enough witnesses, I promise you.”

“Where did this happen? Was it here? Is Josh in this London?”

“It happened in another London. At this particular moment, we think we know where your partner is, but we can’t be certain. He could be hiding in any one of a million Londons, and we could never find him. That is why you are so valuable to us. When he discovers that we have you here, and what we intend to do with you, don’t worry, he’ll be here as fast as the turning world will allow him. We’ll give him three or four days. We’re not in any hurry.”

Nancy said, “You’ll be damned for this. Call yourself religious zealots? You’ll be damned for this and you’ll all burn in hell.”