Blood Water Read Free Page B

ground, staring up at a night sky illuminated by flashes
and explosions. The noise all around him was deafening
and made his head hurt. He tried putting his hands
over his ears, but he couldn't seem to move them; all
he could do was lie there, wondering what on earth
had happened. Then, amidst the cacophony, he heard
the sound of heavy boots stomping across the ground
towards him.
    'Just what in the hell do you think you're doing,
soldier? Did I say you could take a nap? Get on your
feet before I tear you a new one!' A face came into view.
An angry, ugly face, almost green in colour, pockmarked,
scarred and wasted. There were no lips. One eye was
missing, and in places the skull beneath showed through.
'You're a disgrace to this platoon! I ought to stuff you
into a body-bag myself and ship you back with all the
other lumps of useless meat. You make me sick! You
hear me? You make me sick!'
    Sean opened his eyes to find himself back in bed, but
the sounds were still there. Then as his senses returned
to some kind of order, he realized that the noise was
different. It wasn't gunfire or the sound of exploding
shells, it was the rain again, and it sounded just as
insistent as before. He turned over and looked up to see
the decaying, putrid face of Sergeant Maul.
    'You make me sick!'
    'Aaaaargh!' He closed his eyes and braced himself
for the next shock. He waited for what seemed like
ages, shivering beneath the bedclothes, praying that
when he opened his eyes again the horrible image
would be gone. When he finally summoned up the
courage to look again, the sergeant was nowhere to be
seen.
    'Bloody hell,' he said, gazing around the room before
focusing his attention on the downpour outside. 'I
can't take any more of this.' He looked at the clock
– almost four – then got out of bed and headed downstairs.
    His mum was sitting on the sofa, a magazine on her
lap, once more talking into the phone. She hung up and
looked at Sean questioningly.
    'I thought I told you to stay in—'
    'I can't,' Sean protested. 'I keep freaking out.'
    'What do you mean?'
    'I keep seeing things . . . I just don't want to stay up
there. Can't I just watch TV down here for a bit?'
    'I suppose so. At least I'll be able to keep an eye on
you. I brought your soup up earlier but you were fast
asleep. I didn't want to wake you. You can put it in the
microwave when you're ready.'
    The only things on TV were boring discussion programmes,
soaps and quiz shows like Brainbox , Mum's
favourite, but Sean didn't really mind. He didn't want
to be alone in his room any more. It was having a bad
effect on him. He occasionally turned to the window
to see how the rain was doing; just after five it actually
started to die down.
    'Looks like it might be over,' he said.
    'Yeah, but they've forecast more for tomorrow,' Mum
replied, her attention on her magazine. 'That's when
we'll get the worst of it apparently. I hope the river can
cope. It's burst its banks before.'
    'Yeah, that'd be bad.' But for some reason Sean
actually found the idea of a flood quite exciting. And
if he was off school tomorrow as well, he might be able
to go and take a look. That's if he could persuade Mum
to let him out of course.
    Dad arrived home shortly afterwards, and while he
washed his hands in the sink, Sean filled him in on the
strange vision he'd had earlier.
    'You saw me in the garden? What was I doing?'
    'Just standing there in the rain . . . Enjoying it
from the look of things. It was like that scene in The
Shawshank Redemption .'
    'Ha ha. Well, that's not the sort of thing I'm likely to
do, trust me.'
    'I know, it's just . . . It was so real, you know?'
    'The brain can make you believe whatever it wants
you to if it tries hard enough.'
    'Yeah, but it's my brain. It's me . . . It should do what
I tell it to. It's not some other creature.'
    'Well, sometimes it can seem like that. It can rebel,
do things you don't expect, don't want. It's