314 Book 3 (Widowsfield Trilogy) (31 page)

The girl’s blonde hair was wet with her blood, and a small pool had collected on the floor of the CORD’s interior. Oliver rolled up his sleeves as he prepared for what he had to do.

Blue bolts of electricity crackled along the spinning rings, and Oliver flipped the final switch on the CORD’s panel that allowed it to draw in the final surge it needed. Next, he went to the orange stopgap mechanism and held his finger over the red switch that would cut the cord.

“Now or never,” he said to himself before taking a deep breath. He flipped the switch. He heard the stopgap’s gears churning, but it sounded more lethargic than he remembered. He was terrified that something was wrong, but he could only pray that it would work properly.

He didn’t have time to watch for the electricity to take on the green hue that he’d seen in 1996. This time, he was going to try and offer up the sacrifice to the entity in
Widowsfield the same way that had been done by the murderer in the house on Sycamore. He was even wielding the battered kitchen knife that they’d found stabbed through Terry and stuck in the floor.

Oliver went into the CORD, ducking to avoid hitting his head, as the lightning zapped around him. He straddled the nurse and stared down at her stomach. His arms were trembling, and his eyes watered as he tried to convince himself that killing her had been the right thing to do.

Her eyes fluttered, and her head rolled. She started to raise her arms, and then she realized that someone was on top of her.

“What…”

Oliver was spurred into action. He stabbed down with all his strength, and the blade easily pierced her belly. The nurse’s grogginess evaporated. She came alive to defend herself. She screamed and scratched, but Oliver continued his assault. He pulled the knife out and tried to stab her again, but she thrust her hands up at him, catching the blade between the ring and middle fingers of her right hand. His strike slit her down to her knuckle and she retracted her hand as she cried out in pain. She thrust her hips up hard enough to turn to her side, and then she gripped the threshold of the CORD as she cried out for help.

The lights in the room began to dim as the CORD utilized the majority of the building’s power. Oliver saw that the reflection of the electricity shining in on him was still blue, but he didn’t have time to worry about why it didn’t glow green yet. He pulled at his victim, and she continued her desperate attempt to get away. He stabbed at her over and over, each strike glancing off her bones and leaving long cuts that immediately bled. Within only a few seconds, the smooth steel walls on the inside of the CORD were decorated with smears of blood as Rachel desperately tried to get away.

She continued to kick at Oliver, and was able to knock him off of her. He sliced at her calf, cutting her deep, but she was fueled by adrenaline now. Pain wouldn’t slow her.

She screamed for help as she started to crawl away. Her formerly white
Keds, which were now blood red, squeaked as she tried to gain traction, and her knee slammed back down as she slipped. Her foot fell near Oliver, and he took the opportunity to disable her. He aimed carefully with the knife before hacking down at her Achilles heel. She wailed in pain, and then kicked at him hard enough to send him pounding against the opposite wall. She tried again to get away, but the most recent wound was too grievous. She collapsed again, and this time the pain was intense enough to stop her. She flipped over onto her back so that she could face her murderer.

“Why?” she asked as she crawled backwards out of the CORD.

Oliver rose and followed. He wasn’t a psychotic murderer, and he didn’t take pleasure in this. He was horrified by what he had to do, but he wasn’t going to let heaven slip away. He needed to meet The Skeleton Man that Paul had met. He needed to know the truth.

“Why?”

“I’m sorry, Rachel,” said Oliver as he stalked her. He was crying as he loomed above, the knife in his hand dripping with her blood. “I wish it didn’t have to be like this, but trust me…”

She cursed at him and begged for her life as she continued to try and get away. She turned back over so that she could crawl, showing her back to her attacker in her attempt to flee.

“I’m sending you to Heaven!”

Oliver lunged and pounded down on Rachel’s back. The force of his landing knocked the woman’s breath out, and she could only make pitiful gasps as he pulled her head up by her hair and then slit her throat.
 

Widowsfield

March 13
th
, 2012

Shortly after 5:30
AM

“Let me check her airway,” said Helen as she held onto Paul’s arm to get him to stop pushing the gurney along.

Rosemary’s breathing had become shallow as they were moving through
Cada E.I.B.’s facility, but then she started to cough and choke. Paul and Alma felt helpless and just watched as the old nurse worked.

Helen lifted the back of Rosemary’s neck so that her chin was pointing straight up, and then she put her finger into the dying woman’s mouth. Helen looked back in frustration, searching for something, and then said, “There’s not enough light in here.”

As if in wicked response to her complaint, the already sparse light in the hall grew dimmer. The red emergency lights that had blazed so bright moments earlier had begun to fade, as if the power was being drawn somewhere else.

“She needs to go to a real hospital,” said Helen. “She’s going to need a…”

Rosemary sputtered on the gurney. She reached out and grasped at Helen, and the nurse moved closer to help.

“Don’t worry,” said Helen. “We’re going to get you someplace that can help.”

“No,” said Rosemary. “You can’t. You can’t.” She was struggling to speak and it sounded like her mouth was filling with liquid.

“You need a CT scan,” said Helen. “We can’t do that here. We have to…”

“Vess will come,” said Rosemary.

Helen looked up at Paul and Alma as if they might offer a better explanation. Alma looked over at Paul and then back at Helen before asking, “Who’s
Vess?”

“He worked with Oliver, right?” asked Paul.

Helen nodded and then said, “He’s our boss.”

Rosemary was holding onto Helen’s arm. Alma saw that part of the
psychometric’s hand was touching a beaded bracelet that the nurse was wearing. Rosemary said, “He’ll be here.”

“
Vess?” asked Helen. “I don’t understand.”

“He’s coming. Keep me here…” Rosemary coughed, and then tried again to speak, but Helen cut her off.

“Fine. Have it your way.” Helen motioned for Paul and Alma to help push the gurney again. “Let’s go. I’ll do what I can here, but she still needs to get to a dang hospital.”

They wheeled Rosemary along as fast as they could without causing the trip to be too bumpy. The lights in the hall got dimmer as they went, and when they got to the elevator the power in the facility had grown so weak that the call-button was no longer illuminated.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” said Paul, “but I sure the hell don’t think we should be hopping on an elevator.”

“The building has back-up power,” said Helen as she jabbed her thumb on the ‘down’ button.

The elevator door squeaked, and then opened only a foot wide before the door stopped. The elevator within was pitch black.

“Well, that settles that,” said Paul.

The light in the hall wavered. “I don’t understand,” said Helen as she looked around. “Something must be wrong.”

“Let’s take the stairs,” said Paul.

Helen agreed, and then she showed them how to lower the gurney so that it could be carried. Paul took one end while Helen and Alma struggled to support the other, and they made their way slowly down the stairs to the level where the sleepers were kept.

“Paul,” said Rosemary as they were nearing the sleepers’ floor. “Listen to me.”

“Just relax, dear,” said Helen.

“Paul,” said Rosemary again, ignoring Helen.

Paul was holding the front of the gurney and Rosemary was looking directly up at him. He gave the woman a pained smile and said, “I’m right here, Rose.”

She gave him the first honest smile he’d seen from her. “My mother used to call me Rose.”

“Just keep calm,” said Paul. “We’re almost there.” He pressed his back into the bar that opened the door to the sleepers’ level and then they unlatched the accordion base so that they could rest the gurney on the wheels again.

Rosemary reached out and grasped Paul’s arm. “You have to save her.”

“Save who?” asked Paul, although he was only humoring the addled woman. He was certain that she’d lost so much blood that she was either hallucinating or about to.

“Alma,” said Rosemary, which drew Paul’s attention.

He gave Alma a puzzled look and then asked Rosemary, “What do you mean?”

“The Skeleton Man,” said Rosemary, although her consciousness was fading. “He’ll try to use her.”

“I’ll keep her safe,” said Paul.

“Put things back where they came from,” said Rosemary. “Put The Skeleton Man back in his wall.”

They pushed the gurney down the hall and past the sleepers’ room. Helen explained that they needed to get into the room where Alma and the others had been kept. That was where the medical supplies that the nurse needed were located.

“But your friends locked themselves in,” said Helen. “Maybe you can get them to open the doors.”

“I’ll see if…” Paul started to walk away from the gurney, intent on banging on the door that Stephen and Rachel were locked behind, but Rosemary panicked when she thought he was leaving.

Rosemary reached out to Paul and nearly knocked herself off the gurney as she grabbed at his arms. “Stay with me. Talk to me, Paul.”

“I’ll go see what’s up with them,” said Alma as she started to walk away from them. “You stay with her.”

Paul wasn’t sure what was wrong with Rosemary, or why she was so intent on Paul staying by her side, but he did as she asked. She held onto his arm and pulled him closer.

“You’ll be fine, Rose,” said Paul.

Rosemary looked over at Helen, and then back at Paul as she whispered, “Why’d you keep the noose?”

“What?” asked Paul. The injured woman’s question shocked him.

“The noose in the closet,” said Rosemary. “The one you were going to hang yourself from before your friend called.”

“I don’t know,” said Paul as he looked over at Alma. She wasn’t more than six feet away, and had just started knocking on the door that Stephen and Rachel had locked. She hadn’t heard Rosemary, and Paul didn’t want her to know about his near-suicide. That wasn’t something he wanted her to worry about.

“You kept it as a symbol,” said Rosemary.

“Sure,” said Paul. “Look, I don’t want to talk about that.” He glanced over his shoulder as Alma called out to their friends. He could hear Rachel speaking from the other side of the door, and then the ‘clack’ of the lock coming undone.

“You let an object own you,” said Rosemary.

“I don’t want to talk about that,” said Paul as he watched Rachel open the door.

“Burn it, Paul,” said Rosemary. “It all has to burn.”

Paul wasn’t sure what she meant, but didn’t risk asking as Alma came back over to help them guide the gurney into the room with Rachel and Stephen. Rachel was moving the other gurneys in the room out of the way and Paul saw that Stephen was sitting in front of a laptop.

“Sorry,” said Stephen as he closed the computer and stood. “We had the doors locked because…” He looked uncertain and then shrugged. “Well…”

Rachel finished her husband’s explanation, “Because this place is fucking creepy.”

Helen rushed to the counter where Stephen had been working on the computer and told him to move. He stepped aside, and Helen pushed the computer out of the way. Paul noticed that one of Stephen’s cameras was connected to the laptop via a USB cord, and he wondered what the two had actually been up to in the room that they needed the doors locked. He didn’t have time to ponder it.

“Paul, help me,” said Helen as she pointed at the top shelf of one of the cabinets over the counter. “Grab the box of gauze up there, please.”

“Oh my God,” said Rachel as she finally noticed that Rosemary had been stabbed. “Is that a knife? What happened?”

“She got stabbed,” said Helen, obviously annoyed with the reporter.

“How?” asked Rachel.

“It’s a long story,” said Alma.

“Did you guys get Michael and Ben?” asked Stephen.

“Yes,” said Alma as she walked around to the other side of Rosemary’s gurney so that she could hold the woman’s hand. “They’re outside with Jacker.”

The building’s power finally cut out after a sudden, loud bang. They were left in darkness and Rachel succinctly expressed everyone’s thoughts, “Well that’s fucking perfect.”

“I’ve got a flashlight app,” said Stephen as he dug out his phone.

“There’re some flashlights in the bottom cabinet,” said Helen and Paul went to retrieve them. He pushed aside a box that had a label with the contents handwritten on it:
Muriate of Potash. He didn’t know what that was, but pushed the box aside and heard glass bottles clink within it. He found two flashlights and got them both out.