Duet

by O'Gorman, Brian

  “Go on. I’ll be the first line of defence,” said Francis. As she turned back Pam Davidson shambled around the corner and began to shuffle towards her. She was closely followed by John Rogers, the retching vet. Soon there were a dozen others following him. Francis took half a step forwards and swung with the baton as hard as she could. The baton struck Pam right across her left cheek. It made a dull smacking sound as it made impact with Pam’s doughy, pale flesh. Her head snapped to one side and her skin rippled and shook from the point of impact outwards through the rest of her naked body. It reminded Francis of the time that she had been shopping for a new bed and the smarmy salesman had tried to sell her a water bed. She had pressed her hands on the water bed and given it a small push and watched the thing ripple and jump around. Out of curiosity she had rolled beck the covers and taken a look at the water filled mattress underneath. She had given the black rubbery looking material a hearty slap and it had rippled in exactly the same way that Pam Davidson’s skin had rippled just now.

  They’re just skin and water kiddo, said June’s voice in her head. It was clearer than before and Francis had jumped and pulled her neck in, just like she did when a wasp flew too near her ear. Pam was starting to advance towards her again. She swung with the baton and it bounced off Pam’s left temple. It was the same effect again, the skin wobbled and rippled just like the water mattress. Francis glanced behind her and saw that the rest her new friends had made it to the top of the first flight of stairs. Francis turned and charged up them as fast as her legs could carry her.

  “You hit her, why didn’t she fall down?” said Nicola. She was sounding badly out of breath, but it was due to the fact that she was scared not because of their progress up the fire escape.

  “They’re not real people any more. I don’t know what they are, they are like walking water bombs,” said Francis.

  Nicola burst out laughing, “That’s crazy, you’re talking crazy, that’s not possible.”

  Francis felt her temper flare, she gripped Nicola by her collar and pulled her in close.

  “If you want to go and discuss with them, then be my fucking guest, but if I were you I would start swinging with that bat,” she hissed.

  “You two cut the bullshit, we don’t have time for it right now, we have to get moving,” yelled Louis. She was already getting Greg up the second flight of stairs that took them to the next floor and the halfway point.

  Francis let go of Nicola. Nicola’s top lip curled upwards in a hateful sneer and then it went back down again. She pulled her top straight and was about to go and follow Louis up the stairs when she saw something move out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head and saw that Pam was nearly upon them, her bloated and colourless hands reaching out for them. Nicola screamed and fell backwards onto the hard metal of the fire escape. Francis saw Pam and she placed her hands on the rails of the steps, brought up her foot and gave Pam a big pushing kick right to her chest. The Pam thing fell backwards and bounced down four of the steps. Then she managed to get herself wedged in the open stair rails on either side, partially blocking the stairway. The other townsfolk were on their way up and the first one behind Pam tripped over her and bounced off the metal steps. The ones behind began to slowly and carefully climb over them.

  “Come on,” said Francis and tore Nicola to her feet.

  It was only when they were on the last flight of steps that the townsfolk finally managed to move Pam out of the way and continue their progress up the stairs. Louis finally managed to haul Greg to the roof and then dragged him to the far side of the building. She sat him against the low brick edge of the roof top and collapsed herself for a moment. Sweat was pouring off her nose despite the cooler air of the oncoming night. Francis and Nicola were right behind her.

  “They’re still coming up the stairs, there is nowhere for us to go,” said Nicola. Her bottom lip was quivering with terror.

  “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to go down fighting,” said Francis. She brandished her baton to show that she meant business.

  Greg opened his eyes, “June, we have to get to June. I think she is our only hope,” he said.

  “Whatever it is that’s doing all this, it’s got her mister, it’s in her head,” said Francis.

  “Is she dead?” said Greg.

  “Not exactly, she is in there too, but the water thing is in control. Now and again I can hear her.”

  “What is she saying?”

  Francis paused for a moment, looking mistrustfully at the young policeman sprawled out on the floor.

  “Please, what is she saying?” said Greg.

  “She said ‘How do you kill a circus?”

  “Go for the juggler,” said Greg and Nicola at the same time. They looked at each other, puzzled at first and then they both began laughing at each other.

  “Would you mind sharing the joke?” said Louis.

  “It was the first joke Greg told me on our first date,” said Nicola. “He always did have a crap sense of humour.”

  “I can attest to that, but how does that help us now?” said Louis.

  Francis looked over at the fire escape on the far side of the roof. The first of the towns folk were beginning to appear at the top of the stairway.

  “Shit, we haven’t got much time,” said Francis and brought the baton up.

  Nicola raised hers, looking like she was going to have a go.

  “Give that to me Nick,” said Louis. “Stay with your man, I’ll fight them off.”

  Nicola didn’t put up a protest, she handed the baton to Louis and she went and sat with Greg. If she was going to die right here on this grotty roof at least she would be with the man she loved. Louis and Francis began to step forwards ready to fight. Francis stopped in her tracks.

  “What is it?” said Louis.

  “Go for the juggler. It means go for the jugular, the life blood,” said Francis.

  “What do you mean Francis, come on, they’re coming,” said Louis.

  The townsfolk were advancing on them. They were twenty yards away now and it looked to Louis like every single resident had been caught by the water. The stream of townsfolk coming up the stairway wasn’t showing any signs of slowing.

  Francis went off to the front of the roof. When she got there she climbed up on the wall and peered over. Louis began to swipe at townsfolk. The power of her blows managed to knock some of them down, but most of them just took the blows and kept on advancing.

  Francis looked down. The rest of the town’s population were still coming out of the wall of water on the car park. June was stood right underneath her. She was looking up at her. She began to laugh, that horrible gargling laugh that the thing in her brain possessed.

  “The jugular, the lifeblood…..the brain,” whispered Francis to herself. She was on the verge of understanding what it meant.

  Louis was backing off towards Greg and Nicola. Her attempts to fight them were fruitless. Having to half-carry Greg up the stairs had sapped her of her strength and there was just no more left in her for any more fighting. It was done, they were finished. She dropped the baton and sat against the wall next to Greg and Nicola. She caught sight of Francis still standing on the wall. Some of the townsfolk had seen her and were shuffling their way over to her. Louis thought about warning her, but what good would it do? She might as well die not knowing that it was coming then be in the position they were in. Louis closed her eyes. She didn’t want to see them bear down on them, ready to turn them into these grotesque parodies of human beings.

  “Jugular, lifeblood,brain…..” whispered Francis again. Then her mind joined the dots. June was inhabiting the brain of the water thing, it was her. Kill the brain, kill the monster.

  “Oh June, I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

  There was no time to really think it over. Francis launched herself off her narrow perch and began to fall off the building right towards June. It stopped laughing when it saw her falling towards it. It felt real human fear fo
r the first time, and it became aware that, now it had taken a human form, that it could be killed. A whole second before Francis landed on it, breaking its neck and smashing its and Francis’s heads and spilling mashed brains and fractured skull pieces across the car park, it screamed. With its last scream, it almost sounded human.

  Epilogue.

  Down by the north west of Wales, Louis Nelson drove her car onto the smooth sands of Black Rock beach. She was awash with a massive range of conflicting emotions. Right up until she parked the car she was having doubts about the whole thing and she had nearly bolted, put the car back into drive and taken off back to her secluded little house just three miles away. But, there was a big part of her that needed to see this through, put it to rest finally and then perhaps she could have tried to enjoy the time that she had left.

  It had been thirty years since the town of Hurndell had been wiped from the face of the earth by a flood. The newspapers called it a freak accident, as they usually did when there was no explanation for what happened. It was just her, Greg and Nicola that had survived the whole experience. They had spent sixteen hours on the roof of that building whilst the water rushed around it, threatening to break it down and take them away to a watery grave, but the building had held out until the helicopter had seen them and then airlifted them, one-by-one to safety. The moment that Francis Bowers had landed on June Dobson and smashed both their heads into the floor, the thing in the water was dead. Francis had killed the brain and therefore the rest of it could no longer survive. The possessed water had simply turned back into normal water and spread itself out. The whole town was wiped out within a few minutes, lost under an entire reservoirs’ worth of water. The townsfolk had dropped to the floor where they stood and had begun to melt away into puddles. Soon, all that was left on that roof was the three of them and the sound of water crashing around the building that they had taken refuge on.

  Louis had retired not long after that. She decided to sell her house and take whatever savings she had and just go for the coast. Something told her that she didn’t want to be too near the sea, just in case.

  Another car pulled up alongside her and a man got out. He locked up his car, bent down to her passenger window and waved at her. She saw his face, somewhat wrinkled by the passage of time but still good looking, break out into a welcoming smile. She felt a wave of emotion come over her. She hadn’t realised just how much she had missed him over the years. She got out of her car and almost ran to him. He hugged her in a way that nobody had ever been able to do before, he made her feel safe.

  “How are you doing Louis?” he whispered in her ear.

  At first she couldn’t answer, her throat was locked up with emotion. For a moment she hugged him even tighter and then they broke the hug so they could look at each other.

  “It’s good to see you Greg. Where’s Nicola?”

  Greg smiled again, it melted years off his face when he did so, but this time it looked a little pained.

  “I guess you didn’t hear, she isn’t around anymore. She died seven years ago,” he said.

  Louis’s face fell, “Oh Greg, I’m so sorry. What happened?”

  “Oh, she had cancer. I was with her at the end, we had some good years together, got a daughter too. She’s all grown up now.”

  “Has she got a name?” said Louis.

  Greg fished his wallet out of his pocket and showed her a picture of a girl who looked remarkably like her mother.

  “She’s pretty,” said Louis.

  “Yep, she is and she is called Louis,” said Greg.

  Louis’s eyes grew wide, “Are you serious?”

  Greg burst out into a wheezy laugh, “Of course I’m not serious, she is called Amy,” he said and laughed again.

  Louis slapped him on the arm and laughed with him. “You’re still an arsehole Greg,” she said.

  “Well, I learned from the best.”

  They set off for a walk down the beach. It was an overcast but mild day, good enough for beach walking.

  “I got to say Louis, I don’t think I have ever been the same since that day. I have never fully trusted a glass of water since,” said Greg.

  “No, me neither, but I think if it was going to come back, it would have done it by now. Who would ever believe us if it did?”

  “Well, I guess that will just be something between me and you for the rest of our days.”

  Louis stopped and grabbed Greg’s arm. “Are you happy Greg? What are you doing with your time these days?”

  Greg looked down at the floor for a moment and then his eyes met hers. “To be honest, I’m not doing very much at all. Amy is off in London learning to be a fashion designer; I’m just rattling around the house doing nothing much at all.”

  “Look, you can say no if you want to, but why don’t you come back to mine. I want to get to know you all over again, but not as Greg the police officer, Greg the person, what do you say?”

  He kept his eyes on her and he smiled again, this time with real warmth. “I couldn’t think of anything I would rather do.”

  Louis nipped up on her tip-toes and put a gentle kiss on his lips. They started walking again, not just down the beach but into the wilderness of their final years. As they walked they held hands. Neither of them realised they were even doing it.

  Pharmacon

  By

  Brian O’Gorman

  Text ©2014/2015 Brian O’Gorman all rights reserved

  Dedicated to the memory of

  Gemma O’Gorman 1942-2013.

  “I can’t die before I’ve read my book, so I won’t be dying just yet ‘cos I’m not reading it. There’s logic in there somewhere.”

  With thanks and love to my wife Zoe, without whom I would be another lost soul.

  Contents

  Prologue

  1.

  2.

  3.

  4.

  5.

  6.

  7.

  8.

  9.

  10.

  11.

  12.

  13.

  14.

  15.

  16.

  17.

  18.

  19.

  20.

  21.

  22.

  23.

  Part 2.

  Evil Comes Home

  1.

  2.

  3.

  4.

  5.

  6.

  7.

  8.

  9.

  10.

  11.

  Epilogue

  Prologue

  Richard Hurst had been sitting in his chair for the last four hours. He was beginning to get a dull, aching pain in the lower part of his back from sitting in the same position. He was adamant that he wasn’t going to move until the phone call came. He had the phone in his hand and occasionally he would tap it against his forehead as if that would somehow encourage it to ring. He had spent most of the time taking stock of his life, putting together all the pieces of everything that he had done in this very room, right from the beginning until now. The things he had achieved were going to make a huge difference to the world, change it in ways he never thought possible, but he no longer gave a shit about all of that, his job was done and it was time for him to finally retire.

  His retirement day had begun just like any other. Every day, without fail he had been up at six and during this time of year it was a great time to be up to watch the sun rise. He would drink two cups of strong coffee and eat breakfast as his kitchen became more and more flooded with sunlight. Then he would retire to the front room and get at least an hour of reading in before he cracked on with the days work. Today was slightly different. There was no more work for him to do, he had signed it off as completed at around four yesterday afternoon. He had made the phone call to his superiors, telling them that the project was complete and that was that. He had pulled out a bottle of expensive champagne from his oversized fridge and popped the cork
on it, not minding that a generous portion of it had spilled all over the floor. He had filled the champagne flute to the top and held the glass in the air and toasted his family. Then he drank down the champagne without pausing for breath. He refilled the glass three times before he stopped and stood there in the late afternoon glow of the kitchen with tears running down his face. He wished he had someone to share it with, but that time had long since passed.

  This morning at just after nine, there had been a knock on his door and he had opened it to see a tall suited man standing on his doorstep. The man showed him his identification and Richard had handed him the box of documents that he had come for. It was the culmination of his life’s work and he was signing it over as if it were a box of shoes that needed returning. The man informed him that the monies he was owed would be paid as soon as the client was happy and then he left. Richard had toyed with the idea of inviting the man in for a cup of tea, just to see what he would do, but instead he watched him go back to his expensive looking car where another similarly dressed man was waiting. He had spent the rest of the morning sitting in his special room waiting for the phone call to tell him that it was all done and that he had his retirement fund. More importantly than that he needed to know that his commitment was fulfilled and that he was a free agent.

  He was all ready to leave the moment that call came. After getting high on three glasses of champagne, he had gone about packing his things ready to go. He wasn’t quite sure about where he was going to go just yet but as long as it was away from this house and all the memories it had, he didn’t care. He wanted to run as far away from this place as he possibly could and never look back.

  The phone rang in his hand, making him jump. He pushed the button and held it to his ear.