Free Ward Z: Revelation by Amy Cross Page A

asked. “Wow what ? What did you see? No, don't tell me! Wait...” She paused. “Tell me,” she added cautiously.
    “Hang on,” Lizzie replied, taking her phone from her pocket and bringing up the camera app, before hitting the record button. She focused the camera on the deer's body, before using her free hand to reach closer with the remains of the stick, which was now significantly shorter. “I have to get this on video, and then I have to upload it online and hope someone can tell us what the hell we're dealing with here. It's a shame that Unidan guy's not around anymore, I bet he'd know...”
    “Never poke things,” Laura told her. “That's one of the most important rules in life. Never poke!”
    “Always poke,” Lizzie continued with a smile. “That's my rule.” She ran the stick's broken end against the opening on the side of the deer. “When in doubt,” she continued, “always -”
    Suddenly the black tentacle emerged again and grabbed the end of the stick, pulling it closer until Lizzie's hand was just a couple of inches from the fur. Instinctively she let go, as the stick was snapped yet again. One end disappeared into the opening, while the other end fell down onto the forest floor.
    “Always poke,” Lizzie continued, stopping the recording and turning to Laura. “Okay, whatever this thing is, I got it on film!” She tapped her phone. “Now to upload it to a few subreddits while I've still got a connection...”
    “Can we go now?” Laura asked.
    “Let me just save the GPS coordinates.” She tapped her phone again. “Okay, I guess we should keep going. Beth's still out there somewhere.”
    As they trudged away, Lizzie couldn't help but glance back a few times at the deer's body, which was still churning as something continued to move deep within its belly. After a few minutes, once Lizzie and Laura were well out of sight, a thin black tendril emerged from the side of the deer, followed by another just a few inches further along, as slowly something began to crawl out of the carcass.

Chapter Nine
     
    Property of Leadenford Hospital, said lettering on the side of the large yellow sack. Warning: may contain hazardous materials.
    Using a stick, Freeman poked the top of the sack and managed to push it open. Inside, several see-through bags appeared to contain various items of medical waste, ranging from used syringes to bloodied towels and even dirty sheets. He frowned as a twinge of pain briefly hit his lower back, but the pain quickly passed.
    “Interesting,” he muttered, dropping the stick and taking a step back to look at the couple of dozen similar yellow sacks that had been left to rot in the forest, just a few hundred meters from the main section of the camp. “Crystal Wallace, what the hell are you up to?”
     
    ***
     
    “I don't know what you're talking about,” Marlowe said as he made his way into the camp's main office. “ What yellow sacks?”
    “The ones down at the bottom of the eastern path,” Freeman replied, stopping in the doorway. “The ones with hospital notices stamped all over them. The ones containing medical waste that appears to have been illegally dumped in an area of outstanding natural beauty. I mean, I'm the landsman around here, I'm supposed to know everything that goes on, but clearly someone has been pulling this stunt behind my back.”
    “What you're suggesting -”
    “Is a criminal offense,” Freeman pointed out, interrupting him, “punishable by a fine of up to two hundred thousand pounds, plus five years in jail. Any kind of waste from a medical facility has to be properly disposed of in accordance with rules set out by the Department of -”
    “And what has this got to do with us?” Marlowe asked, clearly frustrated. “So someone came and dumped some bags on our land? It's not a big deal.” He looked down at his paperwork for a moment, as if he was hoping that Freeman would simply give up and walk away. After a few agonizing seconds, he