Page 16 of Chaos & Carnage

It had been cleaned recently, the slight film of something wet on the floor tiles catching in the glow from the strip lights overhead. The smell caught in my nose. Chemicals, and an overbearing stench of cleanliness, too clean. Too severe. Memories flooding my brain, a thickness developing in my stomach. I swallowed hard, stealing a glance at Caleb, his face as tense as I felt. And not because we were rushing to visit an injured brother. He walked ahead slightly, with long, determined strides, concentrating on something I couldn’t see, yet I knew his thoughts. Because they would be the same as mine. The deserted corridor. The small hours of the morning. The rush to the hospital from a phone call. All of it flooding back.

We rode the lift in silence, listening to the mechanics work above and around us, pulling the metal box higher and higher. The lift pinged, and the doors slid back, opening onto a corridor of bodies. Leather bodies. The Northern Kings Sigel smiled at us as we approached. There was a buzz in the air, a mix of agitation and excitement, and the slight infusion of anger. And I hoped that cocktail didn’t change composition, or a shitstorm was going to descend on ward twenty-seven.

“What’s the craic?” I asked the four men huddled around a door; my voice hushed in case the worried nurses that bustled about might overhear me.

“One of these nurses caught someone in Demon’s room,” Indie grumbled, his tone as hushed as mine. “She didn’t recognise him. Something about the arms and hands covered in tattoos sending a rabbit off.”

“Nowt wrong with fucking tattoos,” Sicknote complained beside our president.

“Shut-up Sicknote. Not the fucking time,” Fury scolded the newly patched-in member, giving the man a look that made him back up a foot like an abused dog.

“We know anymore?” Caleb asked.

Indie shook his head. “Not yet. Hospital policy. Looks like she can’t tell us much more. But….”

“And you reckon we can get her talking?” I finished for Indie.

“Aye. Before the police get here and shut this whole thing up.”

I nodded, understanding our orders and tipping my head at Caleb.

“I need CCTV too, lads. I want to know who this is. Because they’re our first target. They want a fucking war, then we’ll bring one to them. I’m not fucking waiting for it to come to us anymore.”

We nodded in unison, that deep sense of dread that had infiltrated my veins the moment we’d stepped through those sliding doors, sinking deeper into my body. Caleb patted Indie carefully on the shoulder before stepping around him and we wandered off to where we might find a shaken up little nurse.

We didn’t have to go far. Just to a small station midway down the corridor where two nurses huddled, talking in hushed voices, one looking over their shoulder and closing off their conversation the minute they saw us.

“You shouldn’t be here,” the taller of the two mumbled, her voice lacking conviction.

“I know. We know. Visiting time’s not for another few hours yet. But you can appreciate why we’re here.” Caleb stroked a hand through thick blond hair, his bike jacket opening, the already tight t-shirt underneath, pulling across his chest.

The move never failed, and I watched as both nurse’s eyes tracked across his hand, down his face, dropping onto his chest.

He lowered his voice just a little more and turned to the smaller of the two women, a slim brunette with big doe eyes and her hair pulled back into a ponytail.

“It was you, wasn’t it? Who saved Demon?” he asked, his eyes pinning hers.

“I wouldn’t say saved…” her voice trailed off as she tried to control the squeak.

“But you did,” he hummed, taking a step closer. “If it wasn’t for you, our boy there would likely be dead.”

“I…I don’t know about that.”

“Sure, you do. You saw a guy in there with him. What made you suspicious?”

“I didn’t recognise him. And there was just something about him…”

“What was that? Cos I’d bet anyone else would have just shrugged it off, but you…you followed your gut.”

The nurse flushed, pink leaking from her cheeks, and the taller nurse stood watching, her eyes flicking from Caleb to me and back again.

“He was wearing jeans and thick boots under his scrubs,” she continued. “Nurses wouldn’t wear that. We’d wear trainers and loose-fitting pants; we’re on our feet for hours and it’s boiling in here. There’s no way he could do a shift in those.”

Caleb smiled, and the nurse smiled back.

“That is so observant,” he cooed. “I’d want you as my nurse, too.”

“He had a load of tattoos,” the taller nurse added suddenly.