Chapter Three
When I was five, I asked my grandmother why I saw colors when I closed my eyes. She told me it was my mummy and daddy sending me messages that only I could see. She told me I was special and clever and kind. No matter what, the old woman knew exactly what to say to me to make me feel better no matter what the situation. I found the Doctor to be similar to that as well.
"Run! Now!" I did not know why I turned on my heel and sprinted towards the exit to the garage just like he told me to. I did not know why I found myself stopping after I was outside the door and looking over my shoulder to see if he was coming. I did not care for strangers, they scared me beyond all reason, so why would I trust this odd man?
I had never met him, I would have remember a face and attire such as his. I did not think I knew any of his siblings and yet I found myself wanting to make sure he would not be hurt. Like I said, I turned around to check if he was coming and my mouth fell open at what I saw.
Professor Bedrager was standing by then, rigid and stiff as a board. Water flowed out of his eyes, nose and mouth like several waterfalls. He was disgusting to look at. I couldn't help it, I let out a long scream and my teacher's pale eyes found my dark ones. The Doctor stood before him, showing no fear and holding his hands aloft.
"What are you?" He asked the horrifying being. Professor Bedrager or whatever he was merely pointed at me and clutched his throat. I noticed that the skin on his face and neck was beginning to turn grey and flake off into the air.
"H- her." He stuttered out, pointing to me. The Doctor turned around and his eyes widened.
"Maggie, get out of here." It never occurred to me how this man could know my name. I had never told him, it was almost as if he had read my mind. I was silent however, the time for questions was not then. The Doctor turned back to the creature and asked the same question again with a little more force.
"What are you?" He sounded just barely controlled. I wonder why in Heaven's name he was so angry, I barely knew him!
"I want her." My Professor insisted, pointing to me and moving closer to the Doctor, who stepped back.
"Why?" He asked. Instead of repeating himself, my quantum mechanics teacher threw his head back and laughed, making the skin around his neck crack and peel.
"I need her body. I need her brain." I took a step back as well, closing the door a little bit more.
"What for?" My Professor laughed again.
"So thirsty..." He mumbled under his breath. "I need a drink. I need her blood." I felt so afraid. Darkness was everywhere. Despite my fear, amidst the clouds of black, bold, daring, angry red zigzagged through, igniting a flame in my eyes. I took a step back into the room. The creature hissed as if it was pleased.
"Why me?" I asked My voice was stony cold. The horrible creature gave me a watery smile before collapsing into a fit of coughs.
"Teachers go after their prized pupils." He replied in a hoarse voice.
"What did you do with Professor Bedrager?" I asked him, my voice wavering. The red was disappearing, the darkness began to swirl around me again.
"What did you call him?" I snapped my gaze towards the Doctor, who looked almost outraged.
"Professor Bedrager!" I exclaimed and he hit his forehead with the palm of his hand.
"What do they teach you in schools?" He asked rhetorically and I gave him a confused look. "Bedrager is Norwegian for 'imposter'! He's practically begging you to figure him out!" I gave him a hard glare. I failed French and Spanish almost every year in grade school!
"Well, I don't speak Norwegian!" I snapped at him for the second time in the last ten minutes. From his pocket, the Doctor pulled out a rather odd looking gizmo. It was shaped a bit like one of my screwdrivers, but with a thicker base and it had a bright green light on the tip. Tiny little claw-like things jutted from the end as well, and if you listened closely, it made little noises. It was definitely strange, especially when he pointed it at the temporarily still creature like it would fire a round.
It made a little beeping noise and the Doctor retracted his arm, holding the strange device at eye-level.
"What is that?" I asked him, moving a little closer to him. I know that he told me to run, but I didn't care.
"It's my sonic screwdriver." He replied. He then gestured to my work bench. "It does exactly what yours do but better and with a little more sonic." I frowned, there was no such thing as a sonic screwdriver!
"Like what?" I asked, I found that I could not deny my own curiosity. This man was mad, but he was a puzzle, and goodness gracious did I love puzzles.
"Well, it is telling me that our friend here..." He trailed off and made a noise of pure disgust.
"What?" I asked, growing somewhat impatient.
"Oh, this not good." He said, taking a step back. He did not appear afraid, but merely concerned.
"How not good?" I asked, taking a step back as he did. Something told me to follow his lead. I didn't want to die today.
"Extremely very not good." He summed up and I nodded.
"So now we..."I trailed off and it was his turn to nod.
"Yes, good idea." He spun around on his heel. "Run!" He held his hand out to me and out of habit, I grabbed it. He dragged me out of the garage and I could only spare one look behind me. I wish I had not. The creature, it seemed, had been so still not because it was tired, but because any movement would have shattered its cracked skin.
I looked behind me and I saw the grey monstrosity come alive once more and get down on all fours, its skin falling away and being replaced by hot, red scales. It growled and reared its head back, shedding the white hair and glasses to reveal a horrifying red face covered with large, green sores. Its nose was merely two slits and its large mouth was open wide, black saliva flowing freely onto the floor as it gnashed its six sets of red-stained teeth. Its tongue flapped about as it snarled and I noticed that the creatures eyes were covered by a thick layer of red skin.
I screamed as loud as I could and quickened my pace as the terrible beast sniffed the air and began to chase us. The Doctor was always one step ahead of me, but my mind was not on beating him. I was experiencing something that only ever happened to stupid teenagers in science fiction horror films! It was so terribly exciting, but so awful at the same time. I didn't know what to feel. I forced myself to look at the Doctor, I could not blank out on him. I picked a facial feature that I cannot remember now and focused on it. The Doctor would keep me safe. The Doctor made me less afraid.
"How many people are in the building?" The Doctor asked me in a loud voice as we veered left and ran down an abandoned hallway. I saw teachers in their classrooms look out their door sternly and the realization hit me like a tonne of bricks. The Doctor wasn't saving just me, he was saving the whole building! This monstrous animal wanted blood, and I had a sick feeling that mine would not be enough.
"Most are already at home for summer break, they don't come back until August. There's only a few Professors and around two hundred students taking summer courses, myself included." I replied breathlessly. The Doctor slowed down a little bit, squeezing my hand tighter.
"How do we clear the building?" He asked more to himself then to me. For the first time in my twenty minutes of knowing him, I was one step ahead. The university was too large for a single fire alarm system, but most of the students had been moved to a smaller space. I ran over to the emergency fire kit and raised the connected metal stick, closing my eyes as I brought it down on the glass.
I winced as a few fragment got caught in my skin, making tiny dots of blood appear, but I didn't care for the moment. I grabbed the axe that sat in the fire box and ran towards the nearest lecture hall.
I didn't even bother to knock as I threw door open and barged in. "Get out!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. I brandished the axe wildly, letting out all the fear and anger I felt towards the monster. "Get out now! Someone's killed Professor Bedrager!" It seemed as though they believed me, for mass panic ensued. The Professor in charge of the class tried her best to calm her students, but she revived no help at all from me. I turned and ran, grabbing the Doctor's hand.
"But that's just one lecture hall!" He said to me but I shook my head. Four seconds later, the sound of the Professor's voice came over the intercom.
"Everyone remain calm and evacuate the premises immediately. There has been a security breach and we ask that you evacuate the premises immediately." I wasn't an idiot. I knew which lecture halls had access to the P.A system. I looked to the Doctor, who had a curious look on his face.
"You're welcome." I said with a smile, grabbing his hand again.
"Right." He said, snapping back to reality. "Where were we?" He asked just as I heard a growl from behind me. I turned to see that the monster had caught up with us. "Ah yes, we were escaping!" He squeezed the life out of my hand as we ran down the hallway, taking sharp lefts and rights, trying to outrun the creature. Beside us were countless amounts of scared-looking students. All of them cleared a path for us as we ran right through the middle of them. Some of them screamed at the sight, most remained silent.
"Where are we going?" I asked. We couldn't leave, that thing would follow us, right? I looked to the Doctor, who glanced over his shoulder and then sped up. It seemed as though he didn't know either.
"Do you have a biology lab somewhere?" He asked and I nodded.
"Yeah, but I'm not in the program, I think it might be this way." I replied. I wasn't a hundred percent sure, as it was not a place I regularly visited. I stayed mostly to the East wing.
"Lead on then." The Doctor said and I pulled him down a hallway, praying that this was the right way.
"Memory, don't fail me now." I whispered. I closed my eyes, trying to picture the hallway. I would know it once I saw it. Left. Left. Right. Left. No! My Left! Right. I opened my eyes and found myself staring at the sign on the wall that said 'Biology Wing'. I wanted to dance for joy right then and there, but I knew that I had very little time left.
"Amazing." The Doctor said as he ducked into a lab, my hand still tightly clenched in his.
"So, what do we do?" I asked.
"Put those," He gestured to the lab benches. "Up against the door. Don't move them until I tell you." I did as I was told, dragging the benches in front of the door.
"Wait, we're just going to let it in?" I asked. My voice reached an octave no human vocal chord should have.
"Well, we're going to give it what it wants." He said like it was the most natural thing in the world. I admit that I stared at him like he had gone stark, raving mad.
"We're going to what?" I shrieked the last bit and the Doctor held a finger to his lips.
"If it's blood the monster wants..." He trailed off, running towards the class room fridge. "Then it's blood the monster gets." He pulled out six packages of the pigs blood I heard the labs were experimenting on. I felt a little sick at the sick of the red liquid, but choked back my gag reflex.
"And then..." I began to ask, but instead he threw an aerosol spray can at me. I smiled and headed towards the microwave. "And then we light this place up like the fourth of July." I opened the microwave and shook up the can, shoving it in and keeping my finger on the timer.I could here the monster coming, but I couldn't care less.
The Doctor and I were ready for it.