The Purple Haze Read Online Free PDF Page B

a bandage that had been wrapped around an infected wound. He pulled his hand back.
    “ What's happened to him?” asked Martin. He looked at Dave and Dave looked back. They were both looking a bit scared at this point. Martin moved slowly. He didn't know what he was going find, all he knew was something bad had happened to Conner, and he needed to find out what. He gripped the edge of the stocking mask, and slowly pulled it off.
    What the two men saw nearly made them vomit. It was Conner all right, but not as they remembered him. His brown hair had mostly come off when Martin had pulled the mask off. The rest of his face was a mess. It was shiny as though covered in sweat, but everywhere the skin was cracked and weeping puss from what looked like lots of freshly burst boils on his face. His eyes were open and had glazed over with a milky colour. Martin didn't need to check for a pulse, he knew he was dead. At first he felt grief. His friend of ten years was lying dead in front of him but this feeling passed quickly. “What the hell is going on?” he said out loud.
    Dave looked around and then noticed what he knew was Gaz on the floor across the room. He ran over and pulled his mask off. Martin saw that Gaz looked just as Dave had. His blonde hair was still attached to his head and he looked like he was sleeping. Dave shook him and he stirred. He came too and looked up at Dave. “What happened?” he asked.
    “ We don't know mate,” said Dave. He paused a moment, “Conner's dead.”
    Gaz sat up with a jolt. “What? Dead?” he asked.
    “ Yeah, he's all messed up. This gas has done something to him. It’s done something to all of us by the looks of it.” He looked around and saw the hostages. Yvonne was led there looking peaceful, her brown hair tied up in a bun as it had been. He looked over and saw the young couple lying there also, but like Conner, it was instantly obvious that they were dead. The both of them were on the floor in an embrace, but their faces looked as though they were falling apart and most of the hair on their heads had fallen out. Martin walked over to Yvonne and shook her awake. As she stirred she caught his eyes and their gazes locked.
    “ Slowly get up and come with me.” Not recognising the face, she at first thought that the police had come in, that the memory of the gas she saw must have been from the police, knocking everyone out so they could break in and save them. It was only when she noticed the boiler suits on the three men stood around her she realised it wasn't the police. She looked to her right and screamed in fright when she noticed the three dead bodies lying on the floor.
    “ What did you do?” she screamed as she quickly jumped up from the floor.
    “ Nothing,” said Dave.
    “ You call this nothing?” screamed Yvonne, walking over to them with tears in her eyes.
    “ We didn't do this!” shouted Gaz, “One of our men is dead, there!” He pointed at Conner's body. He looked around and looked out the window. He saw the fog and pulled her to the window. “Look at that! You think we could do that?”
    Yvonne calmed down slightly. She looked mesmerised. She just stood there looking out the window at the fog. She could see what everyone else could see. The street looked deserted, only the blue flashing lights remained to tell you that anything else untoward was happening that night. She walked to the door and tried to open it. It was still locked by the security alarm.
    “ How do we get out of here?” asked Dave.
    “ We can't,” replied Yvonne, “not while the alarm systems are still active.”
    “ Well can't we just shut them down?” said Gaz.
    “ No. The police have to reset the system, and I can't see any police out there.” Yvonne turned away from the door and walked back into the middle of the room. She stood over Conner's body and looked at it. “Who was this?” she asked.
    “ Conner,” Martin told her, “or 'Two', as it were.”
    “ So which of you