8. The Hospital

That night, Aubrey sat awake in her chair, staring out the window. A storm had begun to rage outside. Harsh winds whipped at the window frames, rattling them in a chorus with the drumming of the rain on the glass. It showed no sign of slowing as the night progressed. 

The weather had caused the creatures to disperse, scampering off into the dark, empty depths of the city. The streets below were clear for now. Aubrey had thought about escaping straight after leaving Ravi’s office, but of course, Lottie had been waiting for her through the doors, smiling too sweetly. 

‘What have we been up to, eh?’ Lottie had said, shaking her head. ‘I can’t believe you. You’ve barely been awake for two minutes, and you’re already causing trouble!’

Now hours later, Lottie hovered around her like a shadow, and if Aubrey so much as twitched a muscle, Lottie was there, fetching water she hadn’t asked for, adjusting the blanket on her lap, asking if she was ‘quite comfortable?’ every half hour. Neither had approached the idea of going to bed, although the moon was rising outside. Aubrey just sat and stared, and Lottie busied herself tidying up the room.

God, all she wanted to do was think.

The door creaked open behind her, and someone else came in. Aubrey craned her neck to see who it was, but it was only Neus, handing Lottie a bundle of clothes before scampering back out into the hall.

‘Here, we can finally get you out of that filthy gown,’ Lottie said as Aubrey wheeled herself around. Lottie unfolded the clothing and held it up piece by piece. There was a navy hoodie, a small white t-shirt, and a pair of blue jeans. ‘Neus has been very kind. She went out on a run, just to get you these.’

‘What?’ Aubrey said, a little shaken. Neus, who’d she knocked over and then threatened to run over, had gone outside, in this storm, to find her clothes? ‘Why?

A laugh escaped Lottie’s lips. ‘After the way you treated her, I have no idea! You must have made a good impression. Now, are you going to let me get you dressed?’

As much as she didn’t want to, Aubrey stubbornly agreed. She could get the t-shirt and hoodie on, no problem – she could drag them over her head, manage her own body. But the jeans? Trying to pull the jeans over her legs was like trying to wrestle two waterlogged sandbags. She hated it. She hated the heavy, dead weight of her own legs, hated how close Lottie had to get to help her with such a simple task, hated the clinical familiarity in Lottie’s hands as she tucked the fabric around her hips. Every touch felt like a cruel reminder that she needed to rely on them, you belong to us now. Then something worse dawned on her, a sudden and sickening pang in the stomach. If she needed the bathroom later, this humiliating spectacle wouldn't just repeat: it would be a million times worse.

She had to admit it was nice to be out of the hospital gown and dressed more like a normal teenage girl, but the clothes were ill-fitting. The jeans sagged around her waist, the hoodie swallowed her arms. The t-shirt was a child’s size, and cut into her under the arms, but she didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to go through that again. 

‘There we are,’ Lottie said, cheerfully. ‘You look much better! Just need to drag a comb through your hair.’ She rumaged around in the pocket at the front of her nurse’s apron and produced a small, plastic comb. ‘This will have to do. Do you want to face out the window whilst I comb?’

Aubrey nodded, feeling a bit like a child in a pram. Lottie turned the chair around and returned her to the view of the grey rain-slicked city below. Lottie started to hum a tune as she attacked the knots in Aubrey’s hair.

‘Is that Clair de Lune?’ she asked.

The comb scraped lightly against Aubrey’s scalp, pulling through a tangle with a deliberate stroke. ‘Yes! I didn’t think you would be into classical music!’

‘I’m not,’ Aubrey replied. ‘My mum had a CD she used to play songs on to help me sleep when I was little. It was the first track.’

‘That’s so cute,’ Lottie said, slowly detangling another knot. ‘My dad was a piano player. Debussy was his favourite composer, followed by Satie and then Chopin. Sometimes Clair de Lune was the only thing that would stop my brother from crying.’ She paused, the comb resting lightly against the back of Aubrey’s neck for a fraction of a second too long.

‘Neus said something earlier,’ Aubrey said carefully. ‘About you having a brother.’

‘Did she now?’ Lottie parted Aubrey’s hair with her fingers. ‘You have lovely locks, Aubrey.’

‘Do you miss him?’

Lottie paused. ‘What?’

‘Neus said you had a brother,’ she said, unsure of why this was bothering her so much. 

‘I wouldn’t worry about what our Neus say,’ Lottie dragged the comb a little too roughly, jerking Aubrey’s head back. 

‘What was his name?’

‘Jack,’ Lottie finished up the combing and pocketed the comb. The name hung heavy in the room as the wind howeled outside. ‘Jack broke the rules, so we don’t talk about Jack, okay?’

When Lottie stepped back around the chair, Aubrey saw her snap a smile back into place like it was an accessory. 

‘What happened to him, Lottie?’ she pressed on, but Lottie had busied herself already, heading to the corner of the room. 

‘I’ll be back in one moment,’ she said, grabbing a tattered paper cup from a cupboard on the far side. She disappeared out of the room for a minute or two, then reappeared holding the cup, steam now curling out of the top. ‘Here,’ she handed the cup to Aubrey, who cautiously received it. ‘It’s been a long day, you deserve a nice hot cup of green tea!’

‘I don’t like green tea.’ Aubrey tried to hand it back, but Lottie refused.

‘Nonsense, this is a special blend! Well, special because I found it in the staff room, not the cafeteria, so it must be better than the weak stuff they usually give the patients!’

The tea was a pale green, with bits of herbs and leaves swirling around. She lifted it to her nose and sniffed it, an aroma of sweet peppermint tickling her nostrils.

‘It’ll help you sleep,’ Lottie said as Aubrey took a tentative sip. It had a strange, metallic taste that she didn’t like. It clung to the back of her mouth and made her want to gag. ‘Good girl. Ravi insists. You need lots of rest. You finish that up and I’ll be back to tuck you into bed after I check on the other, alright?’

After Lottie left, her words kept hammering in Aubrey’s mind. Ravi insists. Well, she certainly didn’t want to drink anything Ravi insisted upon. And what was all that about her brother? He broke the rules? Her mind raced to the noises from the locked doors in Ravi’s wing. There was no way – did he lock up the bad children?  She thought about the taste of that tea, and again,  Ravi insists. Something was off. Had he put something in her tea? She suddenly felt very sick, and very certain that Lottie had tried to drug her. In a quick flurry, she reached upwards and opened up the window. It only opened a few inches, but it was enough for her to pour the tea out. When she pulled the window shut again, a rusted latch jammed. As she fumbled to close her fingernail caught on something jagged along the swollen wood. A loose screw. She teased it free with her fingertips, turning it slowly until it came away. The small piece of metal sat in her palm, cool and sharp.

A sound from the hallway snapped her back. Soft, hurried footsteps pattered closer. Aubrey’s chest tightened, but after a second she recognised the rhythm of Lottie’s footsteps.

There was a hushed whisper as she entered the room.

‘She’ll be fast asleep in her chair by now,’ Lottie said, presumably into her walkie-talkie. Aubrey quickly squeezed her eyes shut and lolled her head to the side in an effort to look asleep. ‘I’ll bring her now, over.’

Lottie’s footsteps grew closer, and then Aubrey felt the girl’s hand touch the back of her chair, testing if she would stir. She kept her breathing slow and shallow, feigning sleep, though every muscle in her body screamed with awareness. She clasped the screw tightly in her palms. What the hell was Lottie doing? She wanted to cry out as Lottie began wheeling her out of the room, but what would it achieve? It wasn’t like she could run away or put up a good fight.

They moved down the corridor. Aubrey cracked her eyes open a sliver, catching the faint orange glow of an emergency lantern swinging on its hook. Lottie was pushing her towards Ravi’s office and the chained rooms. The air grew colder with each squeak of the wheels. 

‘Nearly there, darling,’ Lottie murmured, as though she was soothing a frightened child. Only Aubrey couldn’t tell if it was meant for her or for Lottie herself. A sudden metallic clunk echoed ahead. A lock being undone. Aubrey’s pulse quickened. That had to be one of the chained doors.

A foul stench hit her nose: rot, damp earth, and something chemical, like rusting iron mixed with bile. The chair jerked forward as Lottie pushed her over the threshold. Aubrey forced herself to stay limp.

‘Is she still asleep?’ came Ravi’s low voice. ‘She drank the tea?

‘I think so, the cup was empty,’ Lottie replied. Her voice wobbled a little. ‘Are you sure about this?’

‘You want to find a cure, don’t you?’ Ravi snapped in response. Then, his voice dropping, sharper this time, he added, ‘You want to see Jack again?’

‘Yes,’ Lottie said, barely above a whisper.

‘Then don’t question me again. Prepare the bed.’

The scrape of metal on the floor followed. Something else was wheeled closer. Something heavy. Aubrey risked opening her eyes for half a second. The room was dim, lit by a single bulb overhead. The glow pooled weakly across concrete walls stained with old brown streaks. A gurney stood in the middle of the floor, its restraints buckled open like waiting jaws. Against the far wall, something moved in the shadows. Aubrey screwed her eyes shut again. Thoughts raced through her mind, all of them clouded by the fact that she couldn’t just get up and walk away.

‘Put her on the bed,’ Ravi instructed, and then Aubrey felt Lottie’s hands slip under her armpit and haul her up. Lottie dragged her across the floor, then pushed her onto the bed, but didn’t do up the buckles. Aubrey should have woken up then, had she really been asleep, but she stayed motionless, floppy. It dawned on her that she was going to become a sample. An experiment. What was he going to do, infect her with the parasite? Study her as she turned? 

Behind her, the chains clattered again. This time, a muffled, wet moan echoed throughout the room.

‘I think my dad is hungry,’ Ravi chuckled. 

‘Do we have to do it in here, with him?’ Lottie asked.

‘I already told you. He’d want to see the research. Plus, we need him for phase two, remember? Pass me the vacutainer.’ There was a short exchange and then a needle jabbed into Aubrey’s arm. Every inch of her wanted to scream, to sit up and thrash out, but she was too scared. It was like her entire body was paralysed now, not just her legs. ‘There, that should be enough of her blood.’

Aubrey heard the snap of latex gloves and the clatter of medical instruments on a tray. Ravi’s hands ran through her hair, sweeping it out of the way until he found the spot at the base of her skull. A sudden sharp pinch shot through her neck, causing her to jolt. 

‘Is she awake now?’ Lottie said, grabbing onto Aubrey’s shoulders. ‘Will she feel it?’

Ravi slapped Aubrey’s cheek with a gloved hand. ‘Wakey wakey, little birdie.’

Aubrey snapped her eyes open, staring straight up at Ravi’s face, half hidden by a surgical mask. ‘What… what are you doing?’

‘It’s already done,’ Ravi said. ‘Remember my little friend, the parasite? He’s already moving toward your brainstem, got himself a tasty meal.’

‘Why?’ She tried to move, but her limbs refused to obey. Like her legs, her arms now felt heavy, and a cold, prickling sensation crawled up her spine. 

‘Because you’re the first patient we’ve had that quite literally can’t run away,’ Ravi replied. ‘And you’ve been asking too many questions.’

‘This is going to help you find a cure?’

‘I’m going to study you as you transform. Your spinal injury makes you the ideal subject. Most thrash, convulse, and tear themselves apart before I can even record the changes. But you,’ he said, gesturing to her unmoving legs. ‘Your body will contain the reaction. The paralysis should give me a clear view of the parasite’s path, from the brain down. No interference, no wasted data.’

‘Lottie,’ Aubrey rasped, searching for her. Lottie was standing too far away, hiding in the shadows, ashamed. ‘You don’t have to help him. You know this isn’t right. Please.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Lottie sniffed.

‘Why are you doing this? What did he do to your brother?’ She tensed, still clutching the screw in her hands. Her eyes were getting heavy now, lights swarming in her view. ‘Why did you take my blood?’

Ravi laughed, ignoring her questions. ‘There’s no right or wrong anymore. You’ve not seen it out there, Aubrey. This is tame compared to the carnage three months ago. You’re lucky you slept through it. Now,’ he said, looking at his wrist. ‘I’d say the transformation should begin any second now.’

He peered down at her, waiting. She worked the screw around in her palm until the pointy end was poking out from her fingers. Then, summoning every ounce of strength, she drove the screw upward.

It punched straight into Ravi’s left eye with a sickening, wet snap, and he screamed, stumbling back as blood ran down his cheek. The vacutainer clattered to the floor.

‘You little-’ he choked, but his words broke into a guttural howl. Lottie ran to his side.

Aubrey turned her head to the left. In the gloom of the room, she watched a shape unfurl from the shadows. Two long, bony arms bent upwards at unnatural angles, and long, thin legs, shackled at the ankles by a thick chain, clawed forwards. The chains jingled playfully. Its skin was waxy and green, with patches torn away, exposing raw, rotting flesh. Strings of spit swung from his lips as he snapped his head toward Ravi, nostrils flaring like an animal catching a scent. She tried to move, thinking that if she could just swing her legs over the side of the gurney, she might be able to throw herself back into the chair, but she toppled over the side and crashed onto the tiles below. The sharp taste of blood filled her mouth.

Her vision swam, but Aubrey forced herself onto her front, dragging her hands across the slick floor. A blood-slick hand grabbed her ankle, yanking her backwards with brutal force. Her back slammed against the gurney, knocking the wind out of her. Ravi’s shadow loomed over her, his left eye a gelatinous ruin, blood and vitreous humour spilling over the torn, dripping sclera.

‘Lottie!’ he screamed, lunging for Aubrey’s neck. ‘Help me!’

But Lottie was frozen in the corner, one arm raised, pointing at the creature. It strained against its restraints, the chains rattling like thunder as its jagged claws scraped the floor, eyes locked on Ravi.

Then, with a sickening snap, one of the chains broke.