The Pale King - XIII
Part 1
When James emerged from the morgue, he was glad that certain
precautions were in place for emergencies just as they were in right now. The
black ward, being as it was both the place for escape should something happen
during the lockdown, and home to the most vulnerable patients. The precaution
was holding thankfully for James and the staffers locked in with the black ward
with the frightened patients. The main door was locked during every lockdown and
wouldn’t be unlocked until the lockdown was over. It was still locked right
now. Beyond the main door James peered out and could see the blue ward patients
shambling around like dead men lost in the red darkness. Black ward, closed off
as it was, still retained its normal light and power being on a separate grid
from the rest of the building for such occasions. The fail safe was holding
even thought James wasn’t sure what had caused the problem in the first place.
The
breakers were down in the morgue and he was the only one down there. Maybe a
power surge? Or a faulty connection somewhere? That didn’t matter now as all
questions were pushed aside as a group of bloodied men pushed through the crowd
and stood at the window peering down at him. The man at the front had blood on
his face and it dripped from his mouth. His black eyes shined, and it made
James’ blood run cold.
“Just
like…” James turned around towards the silent man’s cell. “Unlock cell 6.”
James rushed over to see the silent man laying still on his bed. His eyes half
open in sleep.
A
muffled voice came from the door. James had to move closer to hear it.
“Open
up. We need to see him.”
“Who?”
“The
King. Let us see him.”
“How do
you…”
“Let us
in, or we will find our own way. We won’t hurt you. We just want the Pale
King.”
“No.”
James turned away and his body was shaking as the man outside started to yell
and pound on the door. James clutched his crucifix and prayed that they’d
leave. The pounding stopped and he rushed to the window to see the band of men
leaving the door. James turned back to the men standing in the hall with him
speechless.
“Get
them dressed, we have to go downstairs.”
“Okay.
You heard James, let’s go.” Lucas, one of the orderlies, replied and motioned
for the two others to get moving. They unlocked and entered each room in turn
to get their charges ready to move. James took a group down and left Lucas up
to tend to the others above. After a few minutes James returned to bring
another group down. It took him about ten minutes or more between trips until
all that was left was bringing the silent man down which would take the most
effort. James went into the silent man’s room and got him up and into his
wheelchair. He heard a voice or an echo far off and turned.
“Just like this.”
“What?”
James asked over his shoulder.
“Are
you ready to go?” Lucas said leaning into the room.
“Yes.
Let’s go.” James wheeled the silent man out of the room towards the stairwell.
With
great pains they got the wheelchair down the stairs into the darkness of the
morgue hallway. The two men stood listening to the commotion above.
“Where
are the others?” Lucas asked looking up and down the hallway. The other
orderlies and patients were nowhere to be found.
“I put
them in a side room to wait until we could come down.”
“Right,
we need to turn the power back on.” Lucas said moving towards the breaker box
just out of reach of the light. James grabbed his arm and shook his head.
“We
can’t. Turning the power back on now might reverse the lockdown and unlock all
the doors. We can’t risk that.”
Lucas had a look of defeat that turned to fear as his eyes
fell upon James.
“What?” James said or at least he
thought he did.
“What’s
that face for? You’re freaking me out. Shit!” Lucas backed away into the
darkness and tripped. James reached out a hand to help him up and felt a wave
of confusion and his own sense of fear rise in him. Was Lucas talking to me?
James thought, or the man in the chair? James turned to see what had frightened
his friend so but only saw the silent man staring into nothingness. When he
turned back Lucas was gone but he could see something else. The shadows seemed
to shimmer.
“Just like this.”
James froze in fear. The voice
came from the man behind him. The silent man was no longer silent.
“What
did you say?” James looked down at the feeble old man. Without
seeing his lips move, James heard a voice again that he could only assume was
from the old man.
“I’m here to help you end the suffering.
Let’s get to work.”
James felt a presence fall upon him in the dark and he breathed a sigh of relief as the fear drained from his skin. He turned away and smiled a grim dark smile. He did have work yet to do.
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