Silence. Sylvia made no response.
“Try again,” Max said, still not looking at Sylvia.
“You’re Sylvia… right? Do you want to know my name?” asked Raven.
There was no reply. The only sound in the cellblock was the splatters of rain hitting the windows.
“Great,” whispered Max. “I’m not sure I can spend a night here with her just standing at the bars staring at us.”
“Me neither,” I agreed. I glanced back at Sylvia. She hadn’t moved an inch. Her arms hung loosely by her sides and her head drooped slightly to the right. If her feet hadn’t been firmly on the floor, she would have looked like she was hanging.
“Ask her something else,” pushed Max, still looking into our cell, afraid to look at Sylvia.
I took a deep breath and peered through the bars and into Sylvia’s cell. “Sylvia… do you remember what happened to you at Cruor Pharma?”
A sudden gust of wind had the rain pelting against the windows, but Sylvia remained quiet.
I looked at Max and Raven and shrugged my shoulders.
“It’s no use,” sighed Max. “She’s like brain-dead. We’ll never get any information out of her.”
I wasn’t so sure. As I stared at Sylvia, I felt certain that there was something behind those menacing eyes of hers. A twitch – a small flicker had caught my attention as I’d mentioned Cruor Pharma.
“Do you remember Robert O’Brien?” asked Raven. “He helped you to escape?”
I watched Sylvia’s reaction closely. She stood motionless, yet there it was again – a faint movement of her pupils at hearing Robert’s name. I lifted both arms and waved them franticly at her. She didn’t flinch.
“Sylvia, do you remember Alex?” Raven quizzed.
There it was again. Another movement of her eyes. I turned away from her and whispered, “She knows more than she’s letting on. I can see it in her eyes. What I don’t know, though, is whether she’s keeping quiet deliberately. Maybe she doesn’t trust us? Perhaps she’s playing at being crazy – you know, to keep herself safe. After all, it’s kept her out of the hands of Doctor Middleton for the past three months. Could it all be just an act?”
“It’s a bloody good act!” whispered Max, through the bars. “She’s got me well and truly believing.” He shivered and rubbed his hands up and down his arms. “Trouble is, I’m not sure if I want to test the waters! I don’t fancy entering the lion’s den in the hope that I won’t get my head bitten off!”
“The only other scenario is that she’s completely deranged from the VA10 or…” I trailed off, suddenly feeling very cold. A disturbing thought had entered my head.
“Or what?” hissed Raven impatiently.
“Or… she might have a Demon inside her,” I whispered, feeling a chill run up my spine. “It’s possible. We know there are lone Demons out there – not just the ones from Cruor Pharma.”
“Well that’s it then,” sighed Max. “We can’t possibly risk taking her with us.” He looked disappointed – or was it relief? I couldn’t tell.
“No… we have to take her,” insisted Raven. She glared at Max. “Stick your finger through the bars and see what she does!”
“What?” said Max, his eyes wide. “I’m not sticking my fingers through there or anything else.”
“It’s the only way we’re gonna find out if she’s friendly or not,” spat Raven. “Kassidy and I can’t do it. Your cell is next to hers. Only you can reach her.”
We all turned round, each of us flinching. Sylvia was now pressed up tight against the bars, her fingers wrapped firmly around them. That same piercing stare lingered in her eyes. Had she been listening to us? She had crept up against Max’s cell without us hearing her, like an animal stalking its prey. We jumped at the sound of rain hitting the window hard, but not Sylvia. Nothing seemed to stir her.
“Well?” Raven asked. “Go on, now’s your chance.” She placed her hand through the bars into Max’s cell and gripped onto his arm. “Do it now while she’s pressed up against the bars.”
“No way!” said Max, refusing to move.
“We need to know before we get a chance of escaping out of here,” pushed Raven. “As soon as we get a chance to run we don’t want to be pondering – should we or shouldn’t we let her out. Decisions need to be made now. You never know how soon our chance of escape will be!”
“Wait!” I whispered. “You can’t make Max stick his fingers in there. You wouldn’t do it!”
“Would you?” snapped Raven, her eyes narrowed into slits.
“No, I wouldn’t,” I argued. “I’m not fucking suicidal and neither is Max!”
“Fine!” huffed Raven, folding her arms across her chest. “We’ll just wait here and fuck-up our escape when the time is right!” She turned her back on us.
I looked at Max. He stared down at his feet.
“It’s okay, Max,” I said softly, slipping my arm through the bars and taking his hand in mine. “I think it’s a dumb idea – a dangerous one at that.” I looked at Sylvia and shuddered. She still clung onto the bars and watched silently, only now she had pushed her face right up to the bars so it was half-pushed between the rows of metal. It looked scrunched up like it had been trapped in a set of lift doors.
“It’s not okay,” said Max, pulling his hand away. “I want to find out about Robert. I want to help Sylvia like my brother had… but…” He stopped mid-sentence and looked down at his black fingernails. “But… I guess I’m not as brave as Robert.”
“You need to be like a bloody gladiator not to be afraid of that!” I said, looking at Sylvia. “There aren’t many who would enter the arena with her standing inside!”
“My brother did!” whispered Max, still staring at his fingernails. “I wish I was as strong as him.”
“You are,” I argued. “Stop thinking like that.”
Max shook his head. “No – Robert’s always been the stronger out of the two of us. It was him giving himself up for a drug trial to get us some money – not me!”
“It was you who put yourself up for one so you could find him,” I said. “That’s brave! You knew there was something wrong at Cruor Pharma, yet it didn’t stop you from going in search of Robert.”
Max took in a deep breath then let out a slow sigh. “I just feel fucking useless, Kassidy. Look at me! I can’t even poke a finger through those bars over there without getting shit-scared!” He dropped his head down, his long, blonde hair draped over the side of his pale face.
“Max,” I whispered. “We’re all shit-scared – who wouldn’t be?” I looked up at the window as the rain continued to fall. “But we can’t give up. Yeah – we’re stuck in a hole at the moment but we’ll get out – I know we will. We have to. The Cleaners, Cropper, and now Jude are all after us. We’ve got two choices – we can get out of this cell and run… or we can lay down on these shit bunks and wait for them to come get us!” I felt my heart sink at the mention of Jude. I still felt cheated – deceived. And a part of me felt sad. Sad because I had liked Jude. Sad because a part of our group had fallen away, leaving now just the three of us. But I also felt scared. I had seen what Doshia was capable of and if he ever got inside one of us then… I shuddered.
“Hey, pretty lady!”
I looked up. The voice had come from the man locked up in cell 8. He staggered over to the bars which adjoined Sylvia’s cell.
“Hey, lady in the gown,” he slurred.
I looked at Sylvia. Was she going to respond? No. She still had her face pushed between the two bars, staring at us.
“Hey!” shouted the man, rattling on the bars. “I’m talking to you!”
“Piss-head!” moaned Raven, coming over to stand beside me.
“I wouldn’t talk to her if I was you,” called out Max. “She’s not right!”
“Ya bird, is she?” laughed the man. “Well… she might wanna talk with me!” He yanked on the bars again, filling the cellblock with echoes of clanging metal.
&
nbsp; “Oh – what’s ya name, blondie?!”
“Listen,” began Max, peering through the bars to get a better look at the drunk.
“No!” piped in Raven, grabbing hold of Max’s arm. She pulled him up against the bars. “Let him!”
“What?” I gasped. “He’s just a drunk – he doesn’t deserve to get attacked by Sylvia!” I suddenly had painful images of my dad floating before me. Just because people had a drinking problem, didn’t mean that they were disposable – that they didn’t count.
“We need to know what she’s capable of,” snapped Raven. “Max won’t do it so let him.”
The cellblock suddenly filled again with clanging metal. The drunk pressed his body up against the bars and continued to call out to Sylvia.
“Stop!” I shouted, looking from the drunk and then at Sylvia. “Please… don’t do it… you’ll get hurt.”
“Listen,” hissed Raven, “It’s us against everyone else. You wanna get out of here? Then stop thinking about everyone who doesn’t matter and start thinking about our survival. If she attacks him then we’ll know for sure that we can’t take her. If she doesn’t then we’re safe to let her come with us!”
“Blondie – blondie!” the man hollered, swinging on the bars.
I held my hands up to my face. “This is so wrong!”
“No, it’s called looking after number one!” spat Raven. “If she attacks him then the police will come in. That will be our chance to get out of these cells.” Raven stared out from under her hair. “I’ll play dead or something – you call them over. When they open up – you attack them!” She looked at me, her eyes almost as crazy as Sylvia’s.
I looked to Max. Did he think this was a good idea? He seemed stunned by the very thought.
“Max?” I stared at him through the bars.
“I’m not sure this is gonna work… or if I even want to watch that drunk get assaulted,” said Max. “I was kinda hoping that I’d left all that shit behind.”
“Hey… sweetheart!” The drunk shook the bars again. “Come and chat with me… it’s lonely over ‘ere!”
We stood, breath held. I hoped that Sylvia would take no notice of him. I waited, frozen to the spot. Time seemed to slow. I found myself wishing that the drunk would just give up and move away from harm’s reach. The tension growing inside the cellblock filled me with dread. I didn’t want to see any more death. After what seemed like forever, I felt myself relax a little. Sylvia had paid no attention to the drunk man whatsoever. As I let out a deep sigh, relieved that nothing terrible had happened, the drunk called out again.
“Hey! Blondie, what ya doing in that hospital gown… come ‘ere… I’ll give ya a kiss better.” He sniggered, pushing both arms through the bars and wiggling them about.
All of a sudden, Sylvia pulled away from where she had been standing. She turned around and faced the drunk. Her steps were stiff as she shuffled towards the drunk’s outstretched arms.
“No!” I shouted. “Move your arms – get away from her!” I clung onto the bars and shook them. “She’ll kill you!” I watched in fear as Sylvia staggered over. Couldn’t the drunk see what she looked like now that she was facing him? Didn’t he see her bloody eyes – her black veins, and rotten, stumpy teeth? “Move – move!” I screamed at the top of my voice. “Max – stop him – tell him to get away!”
Max suddenly leapt over to the bars adjoining Sylvia’s cell and gripped them tightly. He shook them, filling the cellblock with a thunderous clanging boom. “Get back!” hollered Max. “Move away!”
Raven stood and smiled.
I threw my hands up to my face. My body trembled. I stared in horror as Sylvia reached the drunk.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
Before the drunk man realised what was happening, Sylvia had snatched hold of his arms. The man’s body hit the bars at speed as she yanked him forward. His face hit the metal so hard that you could see an indentation running vertically down from the top of his forehead to his chin. Sylvia wrenched him forward again. The clang of metal and the crunch of bones filled my ears. Within seconds, the man’s nose was flattened to a bloody pulp. Blood poured down his chin and into his mouth as he opened it to scream.
“Stop it!” I yelled. “Stop it, Sylvia!” I pulled on my cell door, hoping the noise would alert the police officers. Surely they could hear all this turmoil? The drunk was screaming, the bars clanging, Max and me shouting and… I stopped. A chill ran up my spine. A deep cackle filled the room. I turned my head slowly, almost afraid to look. Sylvia was laughing. Her head snapped round and she grinned at me from under her matted hair. Her black, stumpy teeth chatted together like she was out in the cold. She jerked backwards again and again, still hanging onto the drunk man’s wrists. His face pounded and pounded into the bars until it looked no more than a bloody mush of flesh.
“Please… help us!” Max shouted.
Sylvia cackled again. She lunged forward and ripped into the man’s arm, her black teeth sinking deeply into him. I felt my stomach lurch as a lump of flesh was torn free and swung about from between the rotted stumps in her mouth. She stretched open her lips and gulped the flesh down – swallowing it whole. The man slumped down to his knees, still pressed up tight against the bars. A whimper escaped his mouth. Sylvia dropped to the floor. She snatched at his hair and pulled his head forward. I heard the man squeal as she bit into his face.
“For fuck’s sake!” screamed Max, pounding his fists against the metal bars. “Help!”
As if in response to Max’s cries, Sylvia jumped up, a handful of flesh grasped tightly between her fingers. She flung the bloodied mess through the bars into the cell that Max occupied and stood swaying on her feet. Her arms now hung loosely again by her sides – her head drooping again to the right. She stared – a bloodied grin across her face.
Max stepped aside, away from the flesh, which had landed near his feet. It lay splattered over the floor, bits of it stuck to the bars and slowly slithered down the metal.
The doors to the cellblock suddenly flew open. Dave walked through.
“What’s all the commotion about…?” he grumbled, his eyes searching each cell. He gasped – took a few steps back as the carnage in cell 7 and 8 became apparent. “What the hell…!” He staggered forward and gripped hold of the bars to support himself. Reaching for his radio, his voice trembled. “Eric, call an ambulance – there’s been an incident down in the cellblock. That nutter from the asylum is all bloodied–up and the man in cell 8 looks like he’s been through a blender – hurry!”
He reached for his keys and headed for cell 7.
“No!” I screeched. “Don’t open up that one. Cell 8… that man is the victim… not her!” I could feel myself shake. My stomach still churned. I stepped over to the bars and peered through, hoping that the drunk was still alive. He lay still, sprawled out on his back. His face, or what was left of it, looked like a regurgitated mess of Bolognese and jelly. I wanted to vomit. “Is he still alive?”
Dave didn’t answer. He was on his hands and knees. I glared at Raven. She stood beside me, watching Sylvia.
“This is your fault,” I spat.
“How?” scowled Raven. “It wasn’t me in there ripping that pisshead to shreds.”
“No, but it’s what you wanted,” I snapped. “You were quite happy to watch that man like he was nothing but a guinea pig in an experiment. After what happened to you in Cruor Pharma – I can’t believe you would be happy to let that happen.” I peered back through the bars. Dave was still down on his knees.
“Well?” whispered Raven. “Are we going to stick to the plan or what?”
“What plan?” I snapped.
“Me pretending to be dead or something, and you calling that police officer over – now’s the perfect time.” Raven stood with her hands on her hips.
“That was never my plan,” I glared. “That was your sick, fucked-up idea. Do you really think he’s gonna come running over here when he’s got that mess to sort ou
t?” I turned away from Raven and looked at Max. He was leaning up against the bars. His face was pale.
“Max, you okay?” I asked, reaching through the bars and gently running my fingers down his arm. I knew it was a stupid question to ask after what had just happened, but what else could I say?
“We have to get out of here,” he whispered. “We have to get VA20 out of us. I don’t want to end up like her.” He glanced up at Sylvia, who still stood swaying on her feet.
“We won’t be like her,” I said. Even as the words escaped my lips, I doubted them myself. “We’re not like her or Alex.”
“They’ve had three months to become that,” whispered Max. “We’ve only had VA20 in us for a short time – I already feel different – you know what I mean. You said yourself that you didn’t like the way it made you feel. We’re changing, Kassidy, slowly, but it’s happening.” He took hold of my hand and squeezed it. “Maybe Robert did try to push Sylvia off that bridge… and you know what? I don’t think I can blame him.”
Eric strolled into the cellblock. He took one look into cell 8 and stood just outside the door. “Jeez, what the hell happened?”
“I don’t know, but he needs an ambulance.” Dave stood up. His hands were covered in blood and the knees of his trousers were wet through.
“The ambulance is on its way,” frowned Eric, cautiously looking into Sylvia’s cell. “That freak should have never been let out of the asylum. The Sarge is pulling his hair out in custody – swearing all sorts about the doctor who allowed her out.”
“Someone’s gonna get their collar felt for this,” said Dave. “And it ain’t gonna be me.”
“I told you – I warned you about her!” I shouted, angry that they hadn’t listened.
Eric strolled towards my cell. He glared at me and said, “Of course, you’d know all about this, you filthy crackhead. How you can just stand there after what you lot got up to on that train? You’re worse than her.”
“Whatever!” sneered Raven. “When we get out of here…”
Demon (Kassidy Bell Series Book 3) Page 13
