Post by StoryGirl83 on Nov 9, 2011 9:38:06 GMT -5
Chapter Twenty – Suicidal Women, Locked Doors, and Sister’s Calls
Nate back against the wall and breathed very slowly. He stared across the room at the door, trying to keep his heart from pounding in tune with the banging on the door. He could hear his cell phone ringing in his pocket and debated whether or not to answer it. Ultimately it stopped ringing before he could decided.
“I know you’re in there!” the voice of a young woman yelled. “Come out now!”
He shook his head, but didn’t say a word. She might think she knew he was in there, but the truth was, she probably didn’t. If he didn’t say anything hopefully she would decide that she was wrong. He was suddenly very thankful to Wyatt Halliwell for telling him to lock the door. He didn’t know what was going on out there, but clearly there was something bad going on.
“Open that door!” yelled the voice in the hall. “The light’s are flickering. I can see the blood, so much blood.”
She sounded terrified, but there was no way Nate was opening that door. He didn’t know who she was and he didn’t know what she might do to him. It struck him as odd that he was afraid of a girl, but he supposed a girl could do just as much damage as any man might if she had the right tools, some even without tools. And this one sounded a little crazy.
“They said he made it,” she mumbled, the banging on the door more rhythmic now, as if she was rocking back and forth against it rather than banging on it with her fists. “They said he made it. They said he made it. They said he made it.” She wailed loudly, causing Nate to jump. “But I can see him. Why can I see him? So much blood. So much blood.”
Another wail and Nate was covering his ears. He didn’t know what was going on, but he didn’t know how much more of this he could handle.
“Let me in,” the woman begged. “The light’s are flickering. There’s a body on the floor. So much blood. I hate blood. Please, let me in. Please!”
Nate shook his head and looked over at the window. Two stories down. He wondered what his chances would be if he tried to climb down. He suspected they wouldn’t be good so he backed away from the window with a sigh.
“I can’t take this anymore,” the woman moaned. “I have to get out of here.”
He heard the pounding of footsteps as they got farther and farther away. He didn’t want to think what she might be up to, or what she might do. He was just glad she was gone and hoped this nightmare would end soon. Nate sat down against the wall and took several deep breaths. This was way out of his league.
Several minutes passed before Nate felt safe getting away from the wall. He knew there was no way he could get back to work so he opened his cell phone and checked his missed calls. He smiled at the sight of his sister’s name on the ID.
“How are you doing in there?” Wyatt asked from the other side of the door.
“Fine,” Nate announced. “Or as fine as one can be with people banging on the door wanting in.”
“You didn’t let anyone in, did you?” Wyatt asked, concern in his voice.
“No.”
Wyatt sighed. “Good.” He paced a moment in front of the door before continuing. “I need you to do me a favor. And before you do anything else I need you to know I am infected.”
Nate gulped. “So you definitely weren’t earlier?”
“I definitely wasn’t earlier,” Wyatt agreed.
“And now that you are you want something from me?” Nate asked just to be clear.
“Yes,” he agreed, “because now I know the seriousness of it and I know time is short.”
“Now you know how serious it is?” Nate asked sarcastically. “Now that you are infected?”
Wyatt sighed. “I got infected while stopping one of my friends from killing himself.”
Nate didn’t respond at once. “I don’t know of any disease that makes one suicidal. Besides, that girl in the hallway didn’t seem suicidal. All that screaming and yelling and banging on the door, she seemed more homicidal.”
Wyatt glanced down at where the unconscious Olivia Tunnels lay. “That girl in the hallway almost didn’t survive. For someone who hated blood she’d found a pretty bloody way to attempt to off herself.”
Nate gulped. “She tried to kill himself?” he questioned. “I knew she was crazy.”
“Not crazy,” Wyatt corrected through the door. “Scared, paranoid, depressed, but fully sane. Now about that favor. Will you listen?”
Thinking of what he had gone through as the girl had banged on his door and all the thoughts that had gone through his head, he knew that he needed to trust this man. “I’ll listen.”
“I need to talk to someone on the outside and it might help us to get out of here.”
“I don’t see how.”
“You don’t need to,” Wyatt informed him. “You just have to do as I ask, no questions asked.”
“What do you need from me?” Nate asked, look out the window, wondering, again what his chances were.
“I need to borrow your cell phone,” Wyatt informed him. “The thing is, I don’t know if I can give it back.”
“Well, why wouldn’t you be able to give it back?” Nate wanted to know.
“Maybe when this is all over,” Wyatt offered, “if Nathan doesn’t break it, too. I’ll buy you another if I need to.”
Nate looked down at his phone and his sister’s number listed there. “My sister just tried to call me,” he announced, not sure where he was going with it, “but she was trying to contract you wasn’t she?”
Wyatt raised his eyebrows in surprised. “I don’t know. I really don’t know Emily all that well.”
“All the same, I think she was trying to call you,” Nate informed him. “Call her. Find out why she called.”
“I will,” Wyatt assured him. “I am infected,” he reminded Nate, “and I don’t know the cure or even if there is one, so slip the phone out the door, close the door, and relock it before getting away from the door. Tell me when you are away from it.”
“How contagious is this thing?” Nate wanted to know.
“I don’t know,” Wyatt admitted. “I know it transmits by touch, because that’s how Nathan got infected and how he infected Andrew and me.”
“And the girl?”
Wyatt shook his head, despite the fact that Nate couldn’t see him. “I don’t know. My guess is that she came in contact with one of them while I was talking to you, but I don’t know.”
“If these people are suicidal and you’re infected too . . .”
Wyatt bit his lip. “I haven’t gotten there yet. I know what they are feeling. I know they’re scared. I know a lot of things about what’s going on with them. What I don’t know is how bad, because I’m not there? I don’t want to be there. I want to get past it. I want to find a way to solve this before it gets to that point. And to do that, I think I need to talk to some people on the outside.”
Nate sighed. “Step away from the door. I’m bringing the phone out.”
“Done.”
Nate walked over to the door slowly. He unlocked it and pulled open the door. He was Wyatt knelt down next to a blond girl who lay unconscious on the floor. Despite what Wyatt had said about her choosing a bloody way to off herself, he saw no evidence of blood. He pushed back the thought and placed his phone on the floor. He straightened and closed the door, locking it once again. He walked back to the window before he said anything. “You think there’s a way to get us out of here alive. Do it.”
Outside the door Wyatt picked up the phone and pushed it into his pocket. He scooped up the unconscious Olivia and head down the hall. Considering how far gone she was, he couldn’t leave her alone and there was no way he was letting Nate Colson in on his conversation. Chris might trust Nate’s little sister, and maybe Wyatt was beginning to trust her, too, but Nate wasn’t his sister and Wyatt knew nothing about him. He reached one of the offices down the hall and lay Olivia down on the carpet. Then, he pulled out the cell and found the last number dialed. He hit call and waited.
“Nate, I was getting worried,” Emily announced over the phone. “What took you so long?”
“I’m not Nate,” Wyatt informed her.
“No, you’re not,” Emily agreed, concern in her voice. “Who is this and why do you have my brother’s cell?”
“You’re brother is fine,” Wyatt assured her. “He agreed to let me borrow his phone, so I can talk to people outside of here.”
“Who is this though?”
“I’m hurt that you don’t know my voice,” he teased, “but then I guess that proves what I told you’re brother, we don’t really know each other all that well. This is Wyatt Halliwell.”