Blood Water Read Online Free PDF

the thing from his face. It had contracted its
body now so that it was shorter and fatter, like a slug,
and though he pulled at it with both hands, it wouldn't
come away. He yelled in panic as he felt it slide its way
down from his nose and cheeks to his mouth, the smell
making him gag. He didn't want it near his mouth,
didn't want to taste it. He turned and crawled over to
the edge of the stream, splashing water into his face in
the desperate hope that it might remove the creature,
but it was still sliding down and was now above his
top lip.
    'Urgh!' he cried. He got back to his feet, tried once
again to wrench off his unknown attacker, then slipped
and fell backwards into the water. The intense cold, the
ferocious current and the incredible roaring force of
the water claimed him.
    * * *
    Sean knew the boy working behind the reception desk
at the swimming pool.
    'Hey, Ed, is my brother still in the pool?'
    'Nah, he got out about five minutes ago.'
    'Ah, great, I'll wait for him.'
    'Hey, Sean, is it true that the river's flooded the
bridge?'
    'Yeah . . . News travels fast.'
    'Dad phoned. He said I should probably let everyone
in the pool know.'
    'Yeah. They'll have to go the back way up the hill.
That's why I came to find James. I can't get home
without him.'
    'Oh, yeah. Why aren't you at school then?'
    'Oh, long story . . .'
    'Is it to do with the race?'
    'Yeah. Still feeling a bit— Ah, here he is.'
    James was coming towards the reception area. When
he noticed Sean, he looked confused. 'What are you
doing here? You should be at home.'
    'I haven't got time to explain. The river's flooded, it's
over the bridge and into the town.'
    'Bloody hell.'
    'Yeah, so we have to go home the back way.'
    'All right, let's go. I've got to pick up some things
from work. It won't take long though.'
    As they went out into the car park, James took his car
keys from his jacket pocket and looked up into the sky,
which was still disgorging the seemingly endless rain.
'So why were you in town?'
    'I had to get out for some fresh air. Thought I'd
manage an hour or two before Mum came home.'
    'But it was raining.'
    'I didn't care.'
    'So is the flooding really that serious?'
    'Yeah.'
    'Why didn't you go back over the bridge before it got
so bad?' James unlocked the car and they got in.
    'I was in the park and I . . . saw something really
weird,' Sean said, buckling up his seat belt.
    'Weird?' James started the car and checked his mirrors
before driving towards the exit.
    'Yeah. I saw this guy crawl out of the water – I don't
know how, the current must have been really strong
– but anyway, he crawled out, looking really bad, and
puked this black stuff out and then just fell back into
the water.'
    'Are you serious?' James pulled out of the car park
and headed up the hill past the small woodland path
where Sean sometimes walked with his friends.
    'Yeah, but I think I must have hallucinated it . . . I
mean, it doesn't make any sense, it's mad. And I've been
seeing some really strange stuff since the . . . you know.'
    'Yeah, but what if you did see it? We should probably
tell the police.'
    'No, it's OK, I met Mr Phoenix from school when
I was walking back to the bridge. I told him what
happened. He said he was going to check it out.'
    'Weird thing to hallucinate.'
    'It wouldn't be a proper hallucination if it made sense
though, would it?'
    'I dunno. Shit, is this storm ever going to end?'
The windscreen wipers were on full now, but the rain
was so heavy that they were struggling to shift enough
water to allow James to see the road ahead. 'If the bridge
is already flooded and the river's coming up into the
town, what's going to happen if the weather doesn't ease
off soon?'
    'I don't know,' Sean replied. 'But even if the rain
did stop now, the shops and houses would still be
flooded.'
    They both shook their heads in bemusement.
    'Maybe it's global warming,' James said. 'Or maybe
it's just a freak storm.'