‘So we need to get out,’ Seymour said, and he turned to Dr. Reid. ‘Don’t you have a key for the main door?’
The doctor shook his head. ‘No, I was never in possession of one. If I ever wanted to leave for any reason, it had to be arranged.’
‘Then what good are you to us?’ Seymour said. He stepped forward and shoved the man backwards, a snarl forming on his face.
‘Stop it,’ Adrian said. ‘We don’t have time for this.’
‘Stop it?’ Seymour snapped back. ‘Are you serious? He’s one of the reasons all of this happened. He’s part of it. Tell me why we’re helping him again?’
Adrian then realised that Seymour had a point, and he turned to Dr. Reid.
‘Wait,’ the doctor said, holding up his hands in supplication. ‘I was never a part of this. I was here strictly as a doctor and nothing more. I had no idea what these people were doing until recently, I swear.’
‘And why should we trust you?’ Seymour said and pushed the man again.
‘Because,’ Dr. Reid said, ‘it’s the truth. And I may not have a key, but I think I know where we can get one.’
Adrian had a feeling he knew what the man was going to say. ‘The Director's office?’
Dr. Reid nodded. ‘That’s right.’
‘Excellent,’ Seymour said. ‘Now we know where to look. Don’t need you anymore.’ He let fly with a punch, catching the startled doctor on the chin and sending him sprawling to the floor. Seymour then started to kick the fallen man, and Adrian saw a look of savage delight in the fat man’s eyes as he did.
He knew exactly what Seymour was feeling when he let loose like that.
It was a feeling he knew well.
‘Stop,’ Adrian commanded.
‘Fuck you,’ Seymour said, continuing his attack. ‘Who made you the leader?’
Adrian stepped forward and pushed Seymour back as hard as he could. Seymour backpedaled, pinwheeling his arms a little, but managed to stay on his feet.
‘I said stop! We don’t have time for this. No one appointed me the leader, but if we stay here, we’ll die. We have a plan of action, so let's go.’
‘And what about him?’ Seymour said, pointing to Dr. Reid who was still groaning on the floor.
‘He comes with us,’ Adrian said.
‘What? Are you serious?’
‘I am.’
‘Well, I ain’t going anywhere he goes.’
Adrian shrugged. ‘Fine, you can stay here.’ He then hooked his arms under the doctor's shoulders and heaved him to his feet. He looked the dazed man in the eyes. ‘This still doesn’t mean I trust you.’ Dr. Reid nodded his understanding, and Adrian asked, ‘Which way?’
The doctor then pointed to a door up from Ward B. ‘There.’
Adrian recognised the door; it was an area he had been dragged through before when he had been slung into isolation. He also saw that the door was open, hanging on its hinges.
‘Something got through,’ he said. ‘We need to be careful.’ He then looked at the weapon on the floor, knowing they would need it. The problem was, however, that the bindings that would hold the propane tank to one's back had completely torn when Jones had transformed. That meant he would need to carry the tank and try to aim with the nozzle at the same time.
While he was figuring out a solution, Jack reached down and easily plucked up the tank. He then nodded to the connecting nozzle.
Adrian understood.
‘Thanks, Jack,’ he said, and Jack adjusted his hands to give another thumbs up.
Adrian retrieved the nozzle and checked to make sure the small blue flame was still on.
It was.
‘Let’s go,’ he said, and he, Jack, and Dr. Reid began to walk away. But Seymour did not follow.
‘I said I wasn’t going anywhere with him,’ the fat man yelled. Adrian could still hear the carnage emanate from Ward A and knew that whatever was still happening in there wouldn’t keep the creatures occupied forever. When everyone was dead, the things inside would come looking for more.
Which meant Adrian and his group needed to be free of this place before then.
‘Stay here on your own, then,’ Adrian said. They reached the door Dr. Reid had directed them towards, and Adrian turned back to Seymour, giving him another chance. ‘Are you coming?’
Seymour looked furious, but was also clearly considering Adrian’s words. Eventually, he started to jog towards them, his mind made up.
Chapter 46
Thankfully, the journey to the office Dr. Reid and the group now searched had been a clear one with no further incident. But that didn’t mean they could take their time and rest easy. They’d had to kick in the door to the director’s office upon arrival—courtesy of the large patient, Jack—but as much as they searched, they could not find the key to unlock the main entrance.
Reid was worried, as the lack of progress would undoubtedly infuriate Seymour, the one who seemed most volatile, and that could lead to another confrontation. And Reid wasn’t confident Adrian James would save him this time. So he continued to search, throwing books from the shelves in desperation, but noticed that Mr. James was entirely focused on something else.
‘It isn’t here,’ the fat man yelled, almost predictably. Seymour held up a small, open case that he’d retrieved from one of the shelves he was searching. Inside was a foam base, with the impression of a large key, but no key to go along with it. ‘Shouldn’t it be in here? If so, it's gone.’
‘I don’t know,’ Reid replied. ‘Keep looking.’
Adrian, however, was currently focused on the folder in his hand, engrossed in what he was reading. Reid kept his head down and continued looking.
Upon entering the room, Reid’s first place to look was in those drawers that Templeton kept locked, but it had turned up nothing. However, after grabbing the key from its location beneath the carpet, the others had noticed the director’s folders and notes, and it was one of these folders that now so intrigued Mr. James.
‘Would you just drop that and help?’ Seymour shouted.
But Adrian ignored him, keeping his focus on the file. He eventually looked up at Reid.
‘Is this true? What I’m reading here?’
Reid hesitated. ‘Depends on what you read.’
‘Don’t play coy. There are reports here saying the medicine that you forced on us is… blood. How can that be?’
‘Let’s just find that damn key,’ Reid said, but Adrian stepped forward.
‘No,’ he replied. ‘Answer me. What kind of blood turns people into those things out there?’
‘How should I know?’ Reid snapped back.
‘Because you’re part of it.’
‘I’m not. I swear on my life, I’m not. What I said before was true. This was all going on without my knowledge. I was being used, just like the rest of you.’
‘No,’ Adrian said, shaking his head. ‘Not like the rest of us. You weren’t locked up and fed that filth. You weren’t turned into one of those things like my friends were.’
The man was growing angrier the more he spoke, and Seymour and Jack stepped closer as well, causing Reid to back up.
‘That’s true,’ he said. ‘But I was only trying to make people better, I swear. I didn’t want any of this. I told Templeton that, repeatedly, but he said I could either go along with what they were doing here, or I would die.’
‘Go along with what, exactly?’ Adrian asked.
Reid sighed, realising he had no way to divert the subject any longer. If they were going to press on and find that damn key, then he needed to get them all searching again.
And now it seemed there was only one way to do that.
‘I don’t know everything,’ Reid said, ‘but they did take me down below this place. There is an underground ward where more of those creatures were being held. And… there was something else down there as well.’
‘What?’ Adrian asked.
‘The body of a man, only I don’t think it is
a man anymore. And I know this will be hard to believe but there is something… possessing it. Some kind of entity. Templeton and the others who work here, they are all part of some cult that worship this thing like a god. They extracted its blood and fed it to the patients here.’
A silence hung over them all, eventually broken by Seymour.
‘You expect us to believe that rubbish?’
‘I don’t know if you’ll believe it,’ Reid said, shrugging, ‘but it’s the truth. I swear on my life. I didn’t believe it either, but I’ve… seen things. I’ve seen it talk, and I’ve tasted its blood as well. When I dreamt, I saw a place, the place that thing comes from.’
‘I’ve seen it too,’ Adrian said. ‘It’s hell.’
Reid nodded. ‘Worse. Because, as much as I hate to admit it, this place actually exists.’
‘And this… thing, underground, is the cause of it all?’
‘Yes,’ Reid said. ‘According to Templeton, they had measures in place that would bring this whole operation to a close, if needed.’
‘Well, those clearly failed,’ Seymour said.
‘What were those measures?’ Adrian asked.
‘To burn it,’ Reid replied. ‘He believed that if the host's body was burned, then any link that thing had to this place would be destroyed.’
‘And the rest of the creatures?’
‘He seemed to think that it would destroy them, too.’
Adrian James looked back to the file and flicked through it, seemingly lost in thought.
‘Utter horse shit!’ Seymour exclaimed.
‘Believe what you want,’ Reid said, then continued his search for the key.
‘I believe it,’ Adrian said.
‘Then you know we need to get the key and get out of here,’ Reid told him.
‘That, I can agree with,’ Seymour added.
But it appeared Mr. James had another idea in mind. ‘No. Even if we escape, then those things will be free, and if they follow us out then God knows what will happen, or where it will stop. We’ve all seen what they do, how they kill, but also how they turn people. Who knows how far it could spread? We have to stop it.’
‘Excuse me?’ Seymour asked, incredulous. ‘You’re insane, aren’t you? You deserve to be here. Think about it, you fool, if we stay here, then we die. At least if we get out, then we have a chance.’
‘Not for long,’ Adrian said. ‘I’ve seen the place this thing comes from. It is chaos, hate, violence, and death. We can’t let it infect our world.’
‘It won’t,’ Seymour argued. ‘Because it's not real.’
‘I’m not arguing with you about this, Seymour,’ Adrian said. ‘We have a chance to put an end to this whole thing, but we need to work together.’
‘And what do you have in mind?’ Seymour asked, throwing his hands up into the air in exasperation.
‘We go down to the host and use that,’ he said, then pointed to Jones’ weapon that lay on the floor. ‘Then all of this stops.’
‘We don’t even know if that will work,’ Reid said. ‘Templeton couldn’t know for sure.’
‘We have to try,’ Adrian replied.
‘No,’ said Seymour. ‘I refuse.’
Adrian shrugged. ‘Then you’re on your own.’
‘Says who?’ Seymour asked, defiant, then looked up at Jack. ‘Don’t tell me you’re with him? He’s going to get you all killed.’
Jack took a step forward and stood next to Adrian, side by side, and folded his arms over his broad chest. His decision was clear.
‘You fucking idiot,’ Seymour spat. He then turned to Reid. ‘And what about you? Eager to die as well?’
The truth was, Reid was not eager to die at all. He regretted telling Adrian James so much, and he knew that going back down there to face that thing was suicide. But without that weapon of theirs for protection, he wouldn’t last long on his own. Especially if they couldn’t find the key to escape.
Reid felt like his whole world had fallen apart completely. He had leapt from one impossible choice—join a mad cult or die—to another; he could either wait around up here, unprotected, and likely die, or go down with them to try to end things… and likely die.
‘I’ll go,’ he said, hoping there was safety in numbers.
‘Idiots!’ Seymour said, laughing. ‘Fucking idiots.’
‘Stay here on your own then, coward,’ Adrian said. He picked up the nozzle of the weapon as his large friend retrieved the connected tank. ‘Or come with us and help. Either way, the rest of us are going to end this.’
‘You’ll die trying, you know,’ Seymour told them with a smile.
Adrian shrugged. ‘Maybe so. But it’s better than hiding and waiting to die. And to be honest, I’m tired of waiting for death to find me. Time to meet it head-on.’
Chapter 47
Isaac Templeton was being pulled along by someone who should not exist.
‘Come,’ Robert instructed in a hoarse voice. ‘We must be quick.’
Robert had a tight hold of Templeton’s left wrist, and dragged him quickly along as Templeton scampered to keep up. Templeton kept himself low, like his guide, and his exposed, blackened flesh scraped across the harsh ground, sending searing pain through his exposed nerves. He let out a pained grunt.
‘Quiet!’ Robert admonished. ‘We must not be heard.’
‘What happened to me?’ Templeton asked in a panicked whisper. The noises that rumbled all around them were horrifying; thundering roars, guttural growls, and even shrieks of pain were the ambient sounds in this hellscape.
A flash of red lighting cut through the cosmic sky, illuminating more of the horrific landscape. As it did, Templeton’s eyes were drawn to one of the massive, cylindrical towers—and he almost screamed. A huge, multi-legged monstrosity with a fat body at its centre clung to the side of the titanic structure, like a monstrous spider waiting for its prey. Another flash, and he saw it move, its many legs working independently as it scuttled to the hidden side of the tower.
‘I’m going to die here,’ Templeton said, sobbing.
‘Already dead,’ Robert replied, still pulling him quickly along.
‘So what happens here? Can we die twice?’
Robert just chuckled. A horrible, manic sound. But no definitive answer was given.
Robert led Templeton farther along until they reached a split in the ground, a crack that grew wider and wider as it ran down before them, cutting deeper into the ground. They dropped inside and followed the slope down as jagged walls rose up around them. Templeton saw someone clinging to the sides of this wall, hiding in the cracks. His flesh, like Robert’s, was devoid of skin—dark and scabbed with yellows and blacks. Templeton’s own, in contrast, still dripped with blood, raw and fresh.
‘Who is that?’ Templeton asked.
‘Another.’
‘Like us?’
‘Like us.’ Robert confirmed, yanking Templeton forward again.
They continued further, and as they did Templeton saw more like them, all hiding and fearful. Poor souls who had been brought here, somehow, to exist in this nightmare.
Farther into the perceived safety of the underground cavern, Templeton saw groups of the poor wretches gathered around small fires, or hiding away in the shadows. One, he noticed, was tucked away in a corner, sitting on the ground with her knees drawn to her chest. She looked miserable, but very different from the rest of souls here. While thin and dishevelled, she was at least in possession of the skin on her naked, sagging body.
‘Who is she?’ Templeton asked, unsure as to why she was so different from the rest of them.
‘A woman I have spoken to, on occasion. Margaret Hobbes.’
‘Why does she have her skin?’
‘Different things exist here, and she is protected by one. She just waits until her master needs her, then she is pulled away and just disappears.’
Almost on cue, the woman’s eyes opened wide, and she let out a scream as her form dissipated before
Templeton’s eyes.
His lungs burned as Robert pulled him on, relentlessly.
‘Where are you taking me? Shouldn’t we stay here where it’s safe?’
‘Not safe. Never safe. We must go. The Great God Ashklaar demands to see you.’
‘Great God?’
Robert just started his manic chuckling again as tremendous roars boomed from behind. Something big was coming. Shrieks from the gathered souls rang out as they all ran in panic.
‘Quickly,’ Robert said.
Heeding Robert’s words, Templeton pushed himself on.
Chapter 48
Seymour hated that he was so reliant on this group of misfits.
They should have listened to him; his way would have led them to safety. Led him to safety, at the very least. But they had ignored him, and more importantly, they had the weapon. On his own he stood little chance of survival, so he went against his nature of leading and followed.
He hated it.
And he hated the people that circumstance had lumped him together with, and he hated that he followed them like a dog out into the corridor. As they moved, Seymour heard something—a door opening—and looked back.
He shrieked at what he saw stepping out into the hallway. It was of human form, dressed in a blood-soaked gown, with grey skin and white eyes. The skin had been peeled away from the top of its head, revealing the skull beneath, and the flesh from its lips had been torn free, showing a grimacing smile of teeth and red gums.
‘Run!’ Seymour yelled and pushed past the others as he broke into a sprint. Panic rose as the rest of the group laid eyes on the thing that resembled some kind of dark, twisted priest, and they matched his efforts to flee. Seymour cast another look back, but this Dark Priest simply watched them, head cocked to the side like a curious dog. It followed, but at a slow, deliberate pace.
They bolted out from the corridor, out into the Main Hall.
Into hell.
In their panic running from the strange thing behind them, they hadn’t paid any attention to what was ahead and entered a room full of horrifying creatures that had moved away from the carnage of the Communal Area.
The Extreme Horror Collection Page 40
