Where Angels Fear to Tread revised

Where Angels Fear to Tread

Chapter 1: Sanctuary’s End

Bailey Regional burned. The west wing had transformed from the bland white walls that bounded the courtyard into a roiling mass of black smoke lit from within by tongues of flame. Swirling madly in the courtyard proper patient and staff alike gathered their cries muted by distance and tempered glass. Some sought the safety of the east wing. Others sought control of the chaos. More simply stood and watched.

Leaning against window the fire loomed large in my eyes. Heart racing I searched for signs of what my gut had been telling me. That my former students had found me at last.

I’d always known that I couldn’t hide forever and when they found me we would have one last reunion my students and I. Just like old times. Only this time they would make sure to finish me.

“Jon?” Ethan whispered one hand clutching at my right arm.

A hiss escaped me as I pushed him away. Cradling the slinged arm and taking deep breaths my gaze hit the window and froze there. For a moment the fire had revealed a form only a fool would have called human. Too tall, too lean, and with knees that bent the wrong way. Smoke may have obscured its features but I didn’t need to see them to know it for what it was.

Kendall’s Ishim.

The tempered glass cracked under my fist before I spun away from the window towards my roommate. Pallid features and shaking shoulders made him younger than the 19 years old he claimed. His thin hospital issue tee shirt was near soaked thru as he kept glancing back between me and the door.

“What’s going on? Why haven’t they come to get us? Why aren’t the alarms going off?” he asked eyes wide and growing wider with every word.

Good question.

Cutting off his next outburst with a firm squeeze of his shoulder I caught his eyes and held them.

“It’s time for me to leave, Ethan. The hospital isn’t safe anymore.” I shook my head when his mouth started to open. “There’s no time for questions. Take care of yourself.”

Moving past him to the door I glanced out into the hallway to find the other residents playing the same game. Whispers and wary gazes marked every doorway. At the midpoint of the hall the nurses station sat full of staff talking softly but urgently. The looks cast our way held the same questions ours did.

The lights were off there too. It wasn’t just lights out.

A quiet dry cough behind me brought my head around to find Ethan right behind me. His shaking had grown worse in just moments. A whole body tremor now from lips to calves wracked him though he made some show of controlling it. Sweat beaded and dripped into his eyes forcing him to blink to even see me. He didn’t look old enough to drive.

Shit.

“Ethan,” I said reluctantly. “Stick close to me. Just follow me and you’ll be fine. Okay?”

He took several deep breaths and nodded.

Ethan following I slipped out the door to find a hallway swiftly filling up with the braver of our floormates. A chorus of questions escaped them as they converged on the station and the nurses within. Questions of safety and protocol. Pleas for direction and protection. Demands of answers and action.

The same ones heard within the walls of the psychiatric hospital everyday.

An older nurse took charge coming out from behind her desk. Samantha Cohen - Sam as she was known to her favorites - the head nurse. Leveling her gaze at the at the gathering crowd she set a reassuring smile on her weathered features.

“There is no reason to panic. Everyone please come out of your rooms and we will proceed outside until the fire department tells us that it is safe. “

With a sense of direction they began to pile out of their rooms trusting in the people who cared for them. A mass of men and women disheveled and confused by interrupted sleep or medication. The rest of the nurses and some security supervised the chaos. Some with smiles and words of comfort stood surrounded by the patients who needed them for support. Others with stony faces and flat voices were islands amidst it all.

Leaning in close to Ethan - close enough to smell his fear - I whispered “We’ll follow them till we get outside. Then we’ll slip off in the confusion.”

“What do you mean? W-why don’t we just stay with them?” he asked quietly eyeing the staff nearest us.

“Too dangerous.”

For them anyway.

Brow furrowed he shot me a look from beneath lowered lids but he nodded. Hugging himself with a thoughtless gesture he stepped back but stayed within arm’s reach. Eyes down he seemed just another of the sheep.

Ahead Sam cleared her throat capturing the attention of the thirty plus patients who filled the hallway by now. Their whispers and talk faded quickly. The silence only emphasized the alarm’s absence.

“Alright, ladies and gentlemen. We are going to do this in orderly fashion. Each of you stay close to your roommate and follow the closest nurse. Once we get outside we will take a headcount.” she said, head raised, clutching a clipboard to her chest. “Now follow me.”

In twos and fours we marched down the darkened hallways next to old faces and new. The depressed shuffled side by side the bipolar. Schizophrenic by the neurotic. A parade of people tormented by the workings of their own mind or the defects of their biology. Companions of many years.

Camouflage of many years.

Down stairwells we went. One floor, then two. At the ground floor we found other groups. Other floors and other wards merging into a river of refugees. All of them walked with their eyes glued to the floor like condemned men. In many of their eyes they already were.

Hope was a rare commodity in this place.

The hospital doors opened onto a world of light and sound. From a dozen vehicles lights flashed painting the world in blues and reds. Police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances scattered across the pavement. Shouts and orders echoed from the hundred or more men and women scrambling to contain the situation.

Above us smoke masked the stars as it poured from the roof but a glow had taken their place. Fire supplanting starlight.

“All of you over here!”

The police officer’s cry somehow cut through the din as he directed the flow of traffic from the hospital’s interior back beyond the vehicles. Hardened features turned aside all questions as he did his job.

Wending our way back amongst the vehicles I took my chance. Grabbing Ethan’s arm I pulled along with me into the shadow of a fire truck. The others never even slowed down. Pointing towards the trees at the side of the parking lot I started forward with a steady even stride. Breathing too quickly Ethan followed at my heels half formed questions struggling to make it past his lips.

The solitude of the oaks welcomed us with little fanfare. Soft spring grass cushioned and muffled our passage. Perfumes of green growing things masked the smoke and danger of the hospital. Even the raucous first responders outside could scarcely be heard. It was then that I stopped for a moment.

Ethan almost ran into me stumbling out of the way at the last second. I laughed. I couldn’t help it.

“Sit down. We’ll rest for a minute. We have some time before they miss us.” I said really smiling for the first time tonight.

Raising my head I took my first full breath of the night air as a free man in ten years. Ten years of hiding and pretending. Ten years wasted. I opened my eyes to find Ethan staring at me.

“Why did you take me with you? You could have escaped without me.” Despite of his fear he asked and spoke with conviction.

Should I lie to him? Give him some comfort? A sigh escaped me. I knew the answer.

“The people after me would have gone after you when they couldn’t find me.” I said leaning back against a tree. “Kendall would have squeezed every drop of information you had about me from you and killed you after. He doesn’t like to leave loose threads lying around. I brought you with me to protect you.”

And because I need you.

“People are trying to kill you?! I mean for real kill you ? Or are you just another para-…” he cut off mid word and his eyes widened. Stumbling backwards he tripped over a root and went crashing to the ground.

Following his eyes I saw what he saw. The Ishim.

Half again the height of a man and as slender as a woman it slid through the trees. It’s skin - black under the shadow of the trees - I knew would be coarse like the skin of a shark. Bent almost in half it stopped at the edge of the clearing watching us. A harsh charred aroma followed it carrying with it a scent underneath it. Roses.

“Oh god. Oh god. Oh god.” Ethan chanted from where he lay the whites of his eyes showing. “Oh father who art in Heaven…”

Growling I pulled myself up straight. “Heaven?! Heaven is a charnel house and God is not listening.”

Slowly I pulled my right arm from its sling. Agony accompanied it as it always did. Inch by inch until the bandaged arm hung straight out from my side. Panting my eyes met the monsters.

“I did not walk through that charnel house to die here. Go back to your master whimpering my name.” as I spoke a light cold and bright began to pierce the wrappings.