Doc Mortis. Barry Hutchison

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СКАЧАТЬ “Good old Ameena”,’ she repeated. ‘What am I? A faithful pet dog?’

      I arranged my face into something I hoped might pass for a smile. ‘Trusty sidekick, remember?’

      We were moving again, shambling slowly along the pavement in the direction of the nursing home. With every step I seemed to sink further and further into the pavement.

      ‘Yeah, well this trusty sidekick thinks you need to sit down,’ she said, steering me towards a low garden wall.

      ‘No!’ I snapped, with more venom than I intended. I yanked my arm away and immediately wished I hadn’t. The sky seemed to slide sideways away from me, even as the ground raced up to meet my face.

      This time I did feel Ameena’s hands. They caught me round the waist and chest. She couldn’t stop me hitting the ground, but she slowed me enough that it didn’t hurt too badly.

      ‘Good old Ameena,’ I mumbled, letting my head rest against the rough stone of the pavement.

      She rolled her eyes, but flashed me a brief smile. ‘Woof. Woof.’

      ‘Help me up,’ I said.

      ‘Don’t you think you should wait a minute? You need to get your breath back.’ She looked me over. ‘Well, what you probably need is a blood transfusion, but a bit of a sit-down is going to have to do.’

      ‘No time,’ I told her, struggling to push myself up from the pavement. Try as I might, neither it nor I appeared to move. ‘Need to find Mum. Nan will know.’

      ‘What if your nan’s not there?’ Ameena asked. ‘You think of that? You’re killing yourself to get there, and she’s probably at the hospital already.’

      ‘They don’t like her being out at night,’ I said. I heard my own voice trail off and realised my eyes were closing. I forced them wide open. ‘And the doctor said they’d informed the family.’

      Ameena shook her head, not understanding what I meant. ‘So?’

      ‘So if they had to inform her, that means they moved Mum when Nan wasn’t there. Only place she’d be is the home.’

      ‘Maybe, but—’

      ‘Ameena,’ I said, and the mention of her name cut her short. ‘Please. Help me up.’ She hesitated, still holding on to me, even though I had nowhere else to fall. ‘Please,’ I whispered.

      With a sigh, she adjusted her grip and braced her legs. ‘Fine,’ she said, ‘but if you die before we get there, don’t go blaming me.’

      Some time passed. I don’t know how much. The sky grew darker and the well-kept bungalows became badly neglected blocks of flats. Ameena was doing almost all of my walking for me now. Was I even moving my legs? I couldn’t say for sure. Fire burned in my head and in my throat and in my chest, while pain ravaged my brain and through my bones.

      And through it all I could feel the itch on my scalp, where the Crowmaster’s claws had broken the skin. It was growing worse, and I knew that whatever he had done to me was responsible for the way I was feeling now. I thought I’d beaten him, but maybe he’d have the last laugh after all.

      ‘Dead yet?’ asked Ameena, not for the first time.

      ‘No.’

      ‘Good stuff. How much further?’

      ‘Not far,’ I told her, hoping this was the truth. The buildings looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t really be sure how close the nursing home was.

      ‘Thank God, you weigh a tonne,’ she said. ‘And you’re sweating like a Mexican wrestler.’

      I turned my head to attempt an apologetic smile, and that was when I heard it.

      ‘What was that?’ I frowned.

      Ameena stopped, and by default I stopped too. ‘What was what?’

      I listened for a moment, and heard the sound again.

      ‘There,’ I said.

      ‘Where?’

      ‘Can’t you hear that?’

      ‘Hear what?’

      ‘That whispering,’ I said, whispering myself now.

      Ameena tilted her head to one side and listened. ‘Just the wind,’ she said.

      I shook my head. It wasn’t the wind. ‘I heard something. A voice. It was a voice.’

      ‘What did it say?’

      ‘Don’t know, didn’t hear properly.’

      ‘I didn’t hear a thing.’

      ‘Shut up, sssh,’ I urged.

      Amazingly, rather than punch me in the face for speaking to her like that, she did shut up. We stood in silence, both of us listening for any unusual sound, but the whispers didn’t come again.

      ‘Maybe you imagined it,’ Ameena said.

      I let her take my weight again. ‘Let’s hope not,’ I said, and together we staggered onwards into the darkness that loomed ahead.

       Chapter Two THE OTHER HOSPITAL

      ‘She’s not here.’

      The intercom on the nursing-home door crackled briefly, then fell silent. I stared at it, hoping I’d heard wrong.

      ‘What do you mean she’s not here?’ Ameena demanded, stepping closer to the intercom and pulling me with her.

      ‘I mean she’s not here. She’s out.’

      ‘What do you mean she’s out?’

      I heard the woman on the other side of the intercom sigh. ‘Have a guess.’

      ‘Don’t get smart with me,’ Ameena snarled, before thinking better of starting an argument. When she spoke again her voice was measured and controlled. ‘Where is she?’

      ‘That’s confidential.’

      Ameena looked to the sky and shook her head. ‘Is everything confidential today?’ she muttered. ‘Look,’ she began, speaking into the intercom again, ‘I’ve got her grandson here. He’s sick. Can we come in and wait for her to get back?’

      There was silence from the other end for several seconds before the speaker gave another crackle.

      ‘Hello?’ asked a man’s voice. ‘Who is this?’

      Ameena looked as if she was about to punch the intercom off the wall, but she kept it together and explained who we were and why we were there. Again. All the while I had to fight to stop myself СКАЧАТЬ