Clifton Falls (9 page)

Nash shook vigorously in an attempt to loosen the grip on his cock, but it didn’t work, it never had time to work. The zombie pounced, biting his throat. The penetration tore deep into the jugular vein. Nash was then swiftly thrown across the room as thick, red blood sprayed long lines across the walls and ceiling. His shocked body landed on the ground, eyes transfixed and staring upwards. He remained breathing as the redness pumped out, but it now landed on his face, covering the hazelnut colouring of his eyes. As the blood slowed down to a trickle, then stopping, all breathing sounds ceased. The crimson splashes gave the constable a face painting that Wayne was never going to forget.
The monster lifted off the ground, staggering over to Wayne, but after witnessing two people become victims of this thing he wasn’t going to fall for any tactics. His gun aimed and he waited for the right opportunity to fire. Nervously, he fired the weapon. A bullet blasted into the zombie’s left knee, but the creature remained on course to attack. Its left leg now close to snapping off as it hopped toward him.
“Where’d you think you’re going? I think it’s time you went back to hell where you belong.”
Another shot was fired. This time the bullet drilled into the zombie’s forehead before crashing out the back of the skull and into the wall behind it. Decayed blood trickled down the monster’s face as its eyes slowly closed again. Seconds later it crumbled back to the floor.
Wayne had found a way to destroy this strange, crazy character.
He made his way to the front door, entering the outside again. He blocked the images of what’d happened, but if he’d dwelled on what he’d seen then wouldn’t have been able to reach the door to escape this nightmare. He would’ve collapsed after witnessing the murder of Nash.
In the life of Wayne Strong, this day would be remembered as the beginning of his worst days on this earth. Whatever happened in his life after this would never push these memories to one side.

ELEVEN

Hazel Knutts, the chief nurse at the local hospital, was worried about her latest patient. Respected by the hospital staff for her experience and loyalty she was like a textbook when it came to patching up the injured, but this latest visitor had her baffled. Frank seemed extremely weak. His legs were unable to take his weight. Hazel removed the emergency wrapping and stared deeply at the wounded area. “This doesn’t appear to be very pleasant. It looks to me like you’ve been bitten...”

She placed two fingers over the bite mark, feeling the area of discomfort, then, squeezed them together until a poisonous liquid seeped out of the infection. Hazel then reached for a test-tube, placing a sample of the substance into it. “This bite isn’t from an animal. I’m pretty certain it was caused by another human being but I’ve never seen humans bite so deep into other humans before.” Her head shook as if she disagreed with what she said. “This can’t be right. No human has bitten another human quite like this, it’s not normal.”

Frank noticed the woman’s baffled expression, so, in a rasping, hard to understand voice, tried to explain what’d happened on the road. Hazel remained confused, but smiled at her patient. It was a sad smile, but it made Frank feel more relaxed. “Hold on. I’ll be right back.” she said.

She grabbed the cubicle curtain, sliding it enough to slip past. Once out, replaced it and walked over to where Mike sat. “Nurse, is there a problem?” he asked, while jumping up from his seat.

“Yes, you could say that. The patient was bitten by another human.” The worried stare was back again. “I’ve taken a sample of the infection to find out if it’s some form of rabies. Its released puss very quickly, so I’m also going to test it for other viruses.”

“He told me he was bitten by a person, but I couldn’t tell from his state of mind if he was lying or not.”
“Whoever did this to him was either completely insane or could’ve contracted the rabies virus from another source. Frank will have to remain here for further tests. Let’s hope he hasn’t got it. If he has, then he’ll have to be isolated and you’ll have your hands full trying to sort this problem out.”
Hazel re-entered the cubicle to see to her patient, but Frank’s face and hands now dripped from an increased supply of slippery sweat, and he shook vigorously from convulsion symptoms. Hazel stared deeply into his focused eyes so the chance of this being a fit wasn’t as conclusive as she’d first thought.
What’s making his body do this?
she wondered.
Those extra tests were urgently required. She rushed out of the cubicle to find some assistance, spotting two staff members. “Gary, Julie, I need your help.”A very tall, thin, experienced male nurse and a petite, dark- haired, eighteen year old new recruit to nursing, moved toward her. “I want you both to take Frank to the isolation/testing room. Be gentle. He’s extremely poorly.”
Gary and Julie nodded. They knew Hazel cared about all her patients. She would always urge her staff to treat them in a considerate manner and not like a racing driver at a Grand Prix. Gently, they removed the still shaking man.
Mike watched them leave and moved toward Hazel.
“Nurse, what’s happening to the driver?”
She rushed around in search for the answer. Mike was an obstacle slowing her down, but she knew the chief also cared about people; he’d proved that with his concerns about the patient, so, for that reason alone, was willing to spend time explaining the situation to him. “He desperately needs those tests doing. He’s weakening with every minute that goes by and it’s worrying me. If he hasn’t contracted the rabies virus then we need to know what other infections he may have caught from that bite. I’ll need all those who’ve been in close contact with him to take a blood test, and that includes you.”
Loud screams interrupted their conversation. They looked up to see Julie running over to them. “Come quickly, we need some help with the patient. He’s in a lot of pain.”
“All right, calm down. I’m on my way.”
Both nurses disappeared back down the corridor, leaving the chief abandoned again.
Gary tried restraining the injured man as the nurses entered the testing room. Frank consistently twitched with violent shaking, the agony too much to hide his tears as he struggled to fight the pain. He needed some form of sedative to help get through this awful moment.
Julie placed a wet sponge over his brow. Hazel rushed to the medical trolley, but Frank let out his last scream before she’d time to inject him. He grimaced as Hazel saw the final tears slide down his face. She wasn’t given time to find the answer to why he was hurting so badly. A race was on to restart Frank’s heart but it’d shut down for good, and all traces of breathing had left him forever. A slight moment of weakness caused Hazel to release a tiny tear of her own. She knew she should be used to this kind of trauma happening, but sorrow sometimes crept back up, affecting you like it was your first victim of the casualty department all over again.
Young Julie sobbed into her palms as Hazel consoled her. “Hey love, these things happen in hospitals.”
“I’ve never witnessed anyone die before. It’s shocking. It was very sudden and freaked me out,” Julie said, after removing the wet hands from her face.
“I know, but you have to be ready for the unexplainable in this business.” Hazel waited for Julie to dry her eyes. “Julie, I’m going to need you and Gary to take Frank to the morgue. Do you feel okay to do this?”
The young nurse acknowledged she was fit to continue, as Gary placed a sheet over the dead man.
Hazel walked sluggishly back to Mike. He sensed from her facial expression that something wasn’t right. “What’s happened?”
“He didn’t make it. We never stood a chance to save him. His heart just caved in.” Hazel gulped, as she managed to prevent another tear from falling. “We’ll need to examine the body to hopefully solve this, so he’s on his way to the morgue.” “I’m sure you did your best for him.”
Mike was close to holding the drained looking nurse, but Hazel snapped out angry words before he tried it.
“My best, my best wasn’t good enough.”
This woman wasn’t looking for a shoulder to cry on so the chief took back the intended gesture. “Calm down. You’re not to blame for this.” Hazel apologized for her outburst then Mike spoke again. “I need to track down the man’s family. Could someone check his clothing for any pictures, addresses, or phone numbers I could use?”
“I’ll do it for you,” Hazel replied.
She headed for the elevator that would lead her down to the destination point. She chose to fetch the required information because it would give her the opportunity to speak to the morgue staff about the mark on the dead man’s arm, and, to sort some tests out.
The time was now approaching 2.30pm. This day was going to be remembered for many years to come and may never be forgotten. The morgue filled up with bodies now.
Mike still waited for Hazel to get back to him with the driver’s personal details, but was now speaking to Wayne. The sergeant looked close to collapsing after the pressure of the day. He’d been in the hospital for about half an hour and had stayed after the corpses from the Smythes house had been brought in. He was giving Mike an update on the day’s events, but the details were so disturbing that he took extended breath intervals every few seconds.
“Wayne, there’s nothing you could’ve done to prevent Nash’s death.”
“I was in charge. Everything that went on in that house was down to me, but I fucked up big time. I was responsible for two deaths.”
Mike needed his second-in-command fully focused. He worried that if things weren’t sorted out fast then Wayne could lose it, spreading the word about what’d happened.
“Sit down, have a rest. I’m sure you could do with one.”
“Sitting down won’t automatically make the horror go away.” Wayne stared into emptiness as though he could see something only he knew was there. “I keep seeing the beast with those evil eyes. It slaughtered Nash and tried to kill me.
There has to be some kind of witchcraft going on around here. How else can we explain this?”
It was one of those days where Mike was to be the victim of high-toned verbal abuse from everyone. First Hazel had shouted at him and now Wayne was aiming his anger toward him. Mike knew the other man was on edge but he needed to keep this low profile.
“You’d better calm down before news gets out about these bizarre happenings. I don’t want the town finding out about this. There’ll be chaos everywhere and I personally don’t need any more shit to deal with today.”
Wayne stepped in and interrupted his superior’s little speech.
“But chief, if we don’t warn the people about the dangers then we’re going to have a massacre on our hands, and I don’t want to be part of that.”
He wasn’t thinking properly. If the townsfolk got wind of this vital information, be it true or false, then there would be pandemonium, people would scatter, and the streets would fill with frantic, frightened humans. This would be too much for the police to control. Mike needed a softer approach, something that would sway the other man into agreeing with him. “We don’t know for sure if there’s any more of those weird characters roaming around. We must keep this hush, hush, until we’re certain that the town is in critical danger.”
The tired sergeant still wasn’t happy. “You’re the boss, but let’s hope for everyone’s sake you’re right.”
Mike felt alone on this subject. He needed the support from his sergeant, because one slip up from Wayne and the news would spread as quickly as a forest fire.
“Wayne, I mean it. Don’t even think about breathing a word of this to anyone. We’ll sort it out.”
Both men agreed to disagree. Either way it meant Wayne was going to keep this tight against his chest.
Mike explained about the truck driver passing away. It seemed both men were going to have a few horror stories to tell their grandchildren one day.
Mike mentioned there was a good chance that both of them would need to take a blood test to confirm whether they’d contracted something from the recent victims of the crazy, unexplained virus. It wasn’t greeted with the greatest of praise from Wayne, but he knew it made sense.
“I’m also going to need Susan to give a blood sample. She was with me when Frank came into the station.”
Wayne raised his eyebrows as he nodded in agreement.
Hazel had been down in the morgue for over twenty minutes so Mike’s patience gave way. He couldn’t wait any longer for her to return so took Wayne to find her.

TWELVE

The telephone handset had just been replaced at the National Bank as Karen told Blake some distressing news about the Smythes. The policeman said they’d been in an accident and her name was down as contact in case of an emergency. Mary had used her name because the old couple had no known next of kin.

Blake took control of transport and arrived at Karen’s works within ten minutes. He knew his wife would be staring out of the window and would see him drive up to the bank, so didn’t exit the car. Karen rushed out through the main doors and into the waiting vehicle, but her eyes appeared puzzled as she scanned the interior.

“This isn’t your car. Whose is it?”

“I’ve borrowed it from Todd. He took my advice and bought a car just like mine.”
“Well, I could’ve picked you up.”
“You sounded very low when you called me, so I didn’t think

you were in the right frame of mind to drive...”
Karen gave her husband an infuriated glare.
Was he implying that I wasn’t capable of driving?
The thought faded

just as quickly as it appeared after Blake spoke again. “Don’t take what I said the wrong way, love, I didn’t mean you wouldn’t be able to drive, I just thought you mightn’t feel up to it.” She relaxed, responding to his soothing tone. “Shall we go and find out what’s going on with the old couple?”

Karen smiled, indicating she was ready for the short journey. Blake could tell she was still very much stressed over the whole incident. She mightn’t show it, but he knew.

The clock above the hospital sign had just turned 3.00pm when the couple arrived. They headed toward reception, standing in front of the receptionist. The lady smiled at them but they didn’t speak to her. It was as if they’d forgotten why they were there. “Excuse me, can I help you?” she asked them.

Blake and Karen glanced at each other for a second then Karen said. “Yes, sorry. I received a call from the police earlier to say that my boss and his wife had been in an accident. Can you tell me more details please?”