Free Blood Water by Dean Vincent Carter Page B

.' There was a pause, then she
heard him rush to the window and vomit out into the
rain. It sounded rough, painful, like more than just the
contents of his stomach were being brought up. He
coughed, vomited again, then started to cry. She began
to feel sympathy for him, but there was no way she was
leaving this cubicle. No way on earth.

CHAPTER 15
    Waites led the way, wondering what had happened
to his quiet afternoon of marking papers. As if being
caught in the mother of all storms wasn't bad enough,
his world now seemed to have descended into Invasion
of the Bodysnatchers . He still wasn't entirely sure what
was going on, but the scream had sounded awful, so he
led the way towards the staff room, once again hoping
that this was all just one big wind-up.
    Waites immediately saw the blood on the floor – lots
of it – and then Phoenix's body; he was gagging at the
appalling sight when Morrow staggered into the room,
gasping for breath.
    'It's in the system,' the doctor said, leaning against the
wall as if he might collapse at any moment. Control of
his body had been returned to him, but his limbs were
now racked with pins and needles as sensation slowly
returned.
    'Mrs Rees is in there,' he said, pointing behind
him. 'She's fine – she just locked herself in the
cubicle when I . . . I don't blame her. I must look
awful.'
    'I guess you must be Dr Morrow,' Waites said. 'What
the hell happened?' He put his hand over his mouth at
the smell that came from Phoenix's body.
    'His body broke down,' Morrow replied, staring
at the mess on the floor between them. 'I think the
specimen carries an infection that remains even after it
leaves its host. Now I've got it too.'
    'What sort of infection?'
    Until now Sean and his brother had been standing
quietly in the doorway, still trying to take everything in.
Morrow turned to look at them.
    'James, did you tell Mr, er . . .'
    'Mr Waites. Dan,' Waites said.
    'Did you tell Dan what it is we're up against?'
    'Yes, I did. I think he might believe us now,' James
replied.
    'The specimen got into the water system. It could be
anywhere.'
    'Specimen?' Waites asked, perplexed. 'Just what
exactly is it?'
    'It's an unknown species with aggressive tendencies
and is . . . poisonous and apparently fatal if it infects
you.'
    'How do we kill it?'
    'While it's in the pipe-work there's no way we can.
But if we do manage to get hold of it . . . I don't know.'
Morrow shrugged his shoulders helplessly.
    'What did it do to Nigel?'
    'I think it secretes something that attacks the body
of the host, making the organs turn to mush and bleed
out.'
    'Jesus, shouldn't we be phoning someone? Isn't there
some government agency for dealing with this sort of
thing?' Waites asked.
    'Yes, but they wouldn't get here fast enough, especially
in this weather.' Morrow's breathing was now growing
laboured, and the colour had drained from his flesh. 'Do
you understand what I've told you?'
    'Yes, I think so.'
    'Right, well, we need to think about possible
strategies.'
    'Strategies?'
    'While it was in me I heard its thoughts, just as it could
hear mine. If I concentrate I might be able to remember
something that could help us stop it.' Morrow coughed
painfully. 'It's more dangerous than you think . . . It used
my body in ways I couldn't.'
    'What do you mean?' Sean asked.
    'The strength . . . it wasn't my own. It seems capable
of doing things the body isn't used to, or isn't normally
prepared to do. Sometimes we don't attempt things
because we feel we haven't the strength, but usually
it's our body telling us we might come to harm. When
that thing was in me it was able to override those safety
measures and do as it wished.'
    'Like overclocking,' James said. The other three turned
to him, confused. 'It's when you push your computer, or
specifically the CPU, to operate at a higher speed than
the manufacturer recommends in order to get more performance
out of it. Risky, but most