The Children Who Time Lost (19 page)

“We’re not safe here,” he said. “We need to go.”

“No.” I looked at him, filled with fear and anxiety. “I’m not going till I find Warren.”

“But he’s probably already dead, like.”

“Then let me see his body. This is all my fault. I owe it to him to make sure he’s all right. You don’t have to stay with me. This is my fight, not yours.”

I walked past him toward the corridor. He caught up with me. “What do you mean by that? How is this your fault?”

I shook my head and faced him. “Look, I’m so sorry for dragging you into all this. You saved my life and I can’t thank you enough, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if anything happens to you. So please, just go. Forget you ever met me.”

He just stared at me.

I raised my voice. “Go, please. I don’t need you,” I blurted and wiped a tear from my eye. “I have to do this on my own.”

He looked past me and down the corridor. “Lead the way.”

I sighed and continued tiptoeing. Every camera we walked past had been destroyed. Someone was doing everything in his power to cover his tracks. We peeked into a number of rooms but saw nothing. I took a left at the first junction and walked to Warren’s office. I held my hand beside the palm reader but didn’t press it. My heart rate elevated.

“You okay?” Justin said.

I nodded and placed my hand on the reader. A scanner ran up and down my palm. The light flashed green and we heard a click. I pushed the door open and poked my head in. The room was undisturbed. Warren’s chair was tucked under the table. The sound came again. This time, I knew where it came from.

I spun and ran back the way we’d come. Justin charged after me and held my wrist. “Take it easy. We don’t know what’s waiting for us.”

“Warren’s here. I know it.” I went to shout out his name but stopped myself.
Justin’s right. Lorenzo could be here, too.

We took a right and walked back toward the reception area, where we took another right. All the security cameras in this corridor had been destroyed, too. Some of the doors had gaping holes in them. I saw many more in the walls as we walked. Someone must have been running for his life, avoiding the continuous shots. We followed the holes in the walls until we reached another junction. The bullet trails continued to the left, and that’s where we went.

I caught a glimpse of blood to my right. Warren lay on the floor in one of our facilities rooms. I gasped and faltered back. I felt faint. I couldn’t move my legs. All I saw was Warren’s mangled body lying in a pool of blood. His head lay on a floating chair, the rest of his body on the floor. I ran in and lifted his head up. Tears poured from my eyes.

“No. Warren, please. Wake up. No, you can’t be dead.”

I could feel Justin standing behind me, watching. I pressed Warren’s head against my chest. Blood covered my sweater and my hands. Justin knelt beside me. “I’m sorry.” Then I heard footsteps outside. I shot a look at Justin, who stood trembling. I eased Warren’s body back to the position I’d found it in. Justin backed up to the door and listened. The footsteps drew nearer and nearer. We were definitely not alone. Then it stopped. We listened in silence. My hands started shaking. I needed my medication. The stress I felt started to overwhelm me.

The footsteps came back. Justin pointed at the large closet ahead of us. The hospital used it to store all types of supplies. I nodded and slowly rose to my feet. Justin tiptoed to the closet and held it open for me. The footsteps grew louder, almost as if the person were actually in the same room. I stepped in and Justin followed. He left it open just enough for a sliver of light to creep in.

We continued listening. A man entered the room. I saw his shadow and then the reflection off his bald head. The footsteps stopped and I heard some other kind of movement. It sounded like he was dragging Warren’s body. His shadow drifted past us toward the door. He was crouched low with Warren’s body in his grasp. But then his cell rang.

“Williams.”

Justin looked at me but said nothing.

“I’ve taken care of it.” He paused again. “No sign of her yet. I don’t think she’s coming … Okay, I’ll meet you there. I’ll get rid of the body now.”

Justin gave me a long questioning stare and then looked away. I stared at the wall, deep in thought. These people, whoever they were, had now murdered my husband and my friend just to get to me. The message in Tristan’s recording must have been pretty serious. It would probably have explained what in God’s name Lorenzo had morphed into. I returned my gaze to the man’s shadow and kept still. He appeared to be going through Warren’s pockets. Then he stood up and growled, swaying everywhere. Justin looked at me. Then a bright white light blinded us. He was one of them. He was like Lorenzo. Williams’ shadow continued staggering. I saw the shadow of his neck expand and heard the slithering of the organisms that covered his body. Justin winced as he stared at Williams’ shadow. The organisms looked like a pack of deadly snakes. They snarled and exposed their small, sharp fangs.

Justin looked at me and mimed, “What the hell?”

I turned away from him, shuddering. Williams knelt and growled again. Then I heard a loud gulping sound. I reached toward the closet door, but Justin grabbed my hand. I shook my head at him and slid the door open. I peered out but almost jumped back. Warren’s body was half-inside the creature’s expanded mouth. It was swallowing him.

Justin stared at me, silently asking me what was wrong. I could only point outside. He peered out and reacted as I had. He lifted his gun with trembling hands and pointed at the door.

I planted my back against the rear of the closet and shook my head. He leaned toward me once more and pointed at the door again, but with more urgency. I nodded and closed my eyes. It made sense to make a run for it, especially while the creature was feeding. Justin moved in front of me and held his hand up. I nodded and waited. After a silent count of three, he pushed the door open. The creature glared at us with its reptilian face. It had most of Warren’s body in its mouth. There was no way it could be from our world. It had to be alien.

The organisms on its head all stared at us with ruby-red eyes. Justin grabbed my hand and kicked the creature in the head. The beast crashed to the ground with Warren’s legs dangling from its mouth. Justin charged out of the room and ran down the corridor, holding on to my hand. As we approached a junction, I heard a snarl. I glanced back and saw a swarm of the organisms giving chase without their master. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. They could separate from their bodies.

Justin froze and stared at them as they moved closer and closer. I turned left and dragged him with me, but then I realized we were going the wrong way and stopped. “We have to go back,” I shouted.

He nodded and charged back the other way. I followed close behind. Six of the slithery organisms appeared in front of us. Justin stopped and stared at them. They also stopped and lifted their heads like rattlesnakes. I trembled when I saw more and more of the organisms approaching, but Justin just stood there.

“Shoot them,” I shouted.

He hesitated again, as if he’d never fired a gun before. I grabbed the weapon from his hand and pushed the button at the top. The gun glowed blue and vibrated in my hand. The creatures snarled and charged forward. I fired. The light illuminated them before they exploded. We sprinted down the corridor. I could hear more of them snarling behind us but refused to look. After we took another right, I felt dizzy again. I dropped to my knees. Justin held my face. “What’s wrong?”

I gasped for breath. “My … my medication. I need my medication.”

He looked left and right, but just then an organism leaped toward his face. He ducked and the creature landed a few feet away. It spun around and came for us. To our left, at least twenty of them approached. I grunted and rose to my feet, pain shooting through my body. He stamped on one, and I turned and shot at the others. Another giant explosion killed many, but then a flashing white light flew past us and exploded against a nearby wall. The alien ran toward us with a large gun in its hands, much larger than I had ever seen.

I grabbed Justin’s hand and ran for the entrance. Another shot came. It landed inches from us. I returned fire a few times, but the alien leaped ten feet into the air, over the gunfire, defying the laws of gravity and scraping the hospital’s ceiling with its head. We continued before another shot sent large chunks of a wall to the floor beside us. We dropped to the floor, the dust causing temporary blindness. I could feel the footsteps of the creature drawing closer. I swung my hands to clear the dust but still couldn’t see a thing. Then the footsteps stopped. It had reached us.

Chapter Sixteen

I
looked up at it. It growled. Its snout looked like a crocodile’s. Its scales resembled a lizard’s. The pitch-black eyes hanging three feet from their sockets sent a chill down my spine. It flicked its tongue menacingly and crouched down. I backed away, trembling. I saw Justin regaining consciousness.

“Rachel Harris,” it said, “you have done well to elude us for this long.”

I stared at it, unable to take my eyes away. More of the organisms drifted beside me. All stared with their mouths open. I shook with fear. Then they rose into the air and glided back toward the alien, merging with its body and face.

I gazed back at the creature. It just stared at me, almost expecting me to say something.

“What do you want with me?” I said.

It grinned, exposing sharp teeth. “You are coming with me. We have a lot to talk about.”

I glanced at Justin. His gun lay by his feet, out of the creature’s view. I saw his eyes open. He winked at me. I faced the alien again. “What about him?”

The creature laughed. “If I like what you tell me, he might live. If I don’t, he dies, just like your friend back there.” It flicked its tongue again. “He was one of the tastier human’s I’ve had.”

The organisms on the alien’s head retracted, and it started morphing back to human form. I stretched my hand toward Justin’s feet and grabbed the gun. I paused and looked at the beast. The light around its head was fading, and its gaze was toward the ceiling. I tucked the gun into my bra and returned to my original position. The man who now stood in front of me looked as normal as Justin and I, with a gleaming bald head. Williams. He held his hands toward me. I nodded and reached for them. After I rose to my feet, he helped Justin up, too. Justin and I stood next to each other, staring at the barrel of a large silver gun that looked like an old-fashioned revolver from the twentieth century. Williams waved it toward the right and stood aside. I led the way and Justin followed.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“First your boss’s office, and then we can go somewhere and talk.”

I continued walking, trying to decide when to reach for the gun. I wasn’t sure whether it would even kill Williams, but the chances of doing so were probably greater while he was in human form. When we reached Warren’s office, Williams pushed the door open and gestured with his gun for us to sit. Justin and I sat on two chairs behind the center table. Williams bound our hands with string and then rummaged through Warren’s drawers and cupboards. He threw square glass tablets to the floor and broke plaques that had hung on the walls.

“What’re you looking for?” I said.

He didn’t answer but continued breaking things. Justin gave me a long expressionless stare. I felt so guilty for dragging him into my mess, but there was nothing I could do about that now. Williams stood in the middle of the room ten minutes later, scowling. I tried to think of what he might have been looking for. I understood why they might have wanted me, but Warren? What did he have to do with any of this? Williams grunted in frustration, walked to the en-suite bathroom and pushed the door open. He turned to us before entering. “You might want to cover your ears for this.” He smiled and walked in.

Justin and I sat in silence. Then we heard a loud growl. A bright light seeped from under the door. The growls returned but sounded more like sounds of relief. Snarls came soon after and then we heard slithering. He had definitely changed to his other form once more. The organisms banged against the door. I looked at Justin again. He leaned toward me.

“Maybe they change into them things when they go to the loo,” he said.

I stared at the wall and nodded. It certainly seemed that way. The noises ceased five minutes later. The light returned but faded quickly. The organisms stopped making noises. We heard the toilet flush and the door clicked open. I sat in confusion. Aliens that changed form when using the toilet. None of it made sense. Williams stood in front of Justin and me, brandishing the gun as he had done earlier.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” he said. “I’m going to untie you and you’ll come with me. If either of you resist, I’ll kill you both.” He pointed at Justin. “Starting with him.”

Justin winced. I glared at Williams. “What have you done with my son?”

I could feel Justin’s hard stare, but I kept my eyes on Williams.

“You don’t ask the questions around here. I do.” He untied Justin and cut my restraints off. Then he walked toward the door and gestured with his gun for us to leave.