All The Beautiful People (A Dread Novel Book 1) Page 4

  “With all the worries of the world you deserve the very best. The last thing you need is to second guess your outward appearance or be hindered by insecurities you don’t deserve…”

  The male paused briefly to let his message seep through to eager listeners. Jason leaned back in his seat and looked at Taylor. The voice, full of hope, continued.

  “Introducing Vanidrum. Vanidrum is the first drug of its kind that alters both perception of appearance and promotes inner happiness. With only a few weeks of medication research has shown an improvement in temperament, lifestyle and overall satisfaction. You deserve to enjoy life to its fullest. Let Vanidrum show the beauty within. Talk to your doctor today to see if Vanidrum is right for you.”

  The commercial ended and another immediately took over. The next advertisement boasted an energetic man speed talking about car sales. Taylor mentally blocked it, her mind replaying what the Vanidrum commercial had said: “Let Vanidrum show the beauty within.”

  Jason must have caught onto the same phrase. “Looks like Mr. Jones was lacking in the beauty within department.”

  Taylor eyed the GPS displaying their route. Their exit was coming up soon and the school was only a few blocks off the freeway.

  “No word from Wade,” she said as a fact rather than a question.

  “I’m sure he’ll call soon,” Jason replied. “Usually, it would be me handling this part of the job. I’m sure he’s on the phone with the school now taking down the specifics.”

  As Taylor exited the freeway a thought struck her. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t asked the question yet. “Jason, how much field experience do you have?”

  When Jason cleared his throat nervously, Taylor knew he had none.

  “Well,” he started in a very political manner of speaking and danced around the question, “I graduated with my masters in—”

  “You can stop there,” Taylor said with a smirk. “You’ve never been in the field, have you?”

  Jason looked at her, offended at first. Then he hunched in his seat in a sign of defeat. “No, not exactly. This is my first job out of college. I do have degrees in both technology and pharmaceuticals though.” When he added the last part, his voice raised as if that fact was going to redeem him in Taylor’s eyes.

  Taylor was a lot of things but one thing she was not, was a complainer. She’d been dealt a rough deck of cards on this one. Still, she’d find a way to make it work—she had to.

  “How old are you?”

  Jason fingered his seatbelt buckle as they turned onto the street where the high school stood only a few blocks away. “I’m twenty-six, I’ll turn twenty-seven this year. Why? How old are you?”

  “That doesn’t matter. What does matter is that this is your first time in the field. You need to do what I say when I say it. Trust me, this is what I do for a living.”

  Jason sobered for the first time since she met him. He knew she was a professional and he was taking her advice seriously.

  They reached the high school and pulled to a stop at the curb. It was a private school with manicured lawns that spread out in lush green hues. An American flag rustled in the light breeze and another flag boasting the school mascot fluttered beneath. The school mascot was a yellow jacket. The flag portrayed the school insect on a field of blue, its wings extended, nose forward with narrowed eyes.

  The school buildings themselves were massive. Cream colored walls with white roofs made the structures look more like a museum than an educational institution. The parking lot was full of SUVs and sport cars, but there was no one in sight.

  Jason’s phone started ringing again. He turned to Taylor with a look that said, “Here we go” and answered the phone.

  “Sir, this is Jason. I have you on speaker. Both Taylor and I are in the car outside the school.”

  Wade Treadstone’s voice came over the phone, strained and weary. It was hard for Taylor to imagine the voice belonged to someone who seemed so confident and sure only an hour previous.

  “Taylor, Jason, I know this is anything but normal having the two of you go in the field together but the Board has deemed it necessary to travel in teams for the time being.”

  Taylor heard frantic voices in the background. Wherever Wade was calling from was a center of chaos. She leaned toward the phone as if closing the few inches between herself and the square plastic handheld would help. It didn’t. She couldn’t make out the words being said in the background of Wade’s call, only the panicked tones of both male and female voices.

  “Your target is a freshman at the high school. Her name is Rachelle Lake. The principle called the local authorities regarding a student acting hysterical in class. A quick background check brought up her doctor and prescribed medication.”

  “Vanidrum,” Jason whispered.

  Despite the low tone, Wade Treadstone heard his mutter. “That’s correct. She’s been taking Vanidrum for the last few weeks. Handle this one as quietly as you can and call in for anything you need once you assess the situation. Remember, no local authorities or press. Under no circumstances do you let her blood or saliva enter your own blood stream. I…”

  The hesitation in his voice confirmed what had been building in Taylor’s mind since she talked with Wade the previous night. This wasn’t a man with a steel heart. Despite his status and rank, Wade actually cared about his people. A trait Taylor found confusing.

  Wade recovered and left one parting comment. “Both of you be safe. We’ll need your skill sets for what comes next.”

  That was it. The phone hung up, leaving nothing but questions in his wake. Jason was the first to speak.

  “What do you think he meant by that?”

  Taylor unbuckled her seatbelt. “Let’s go. There’s a girl in there who is a danger to herself and to others. If it’s anything like what happened to James Jones, then we have no time to lose.”

  Taylor grabbed her notebook from the back seat and exited the sedan. She walked to the rear of the car where Jason stood by the trunk waiting.

  “You forgot to pop the trunk,” he said.

  Taylor could almost smell the anxiety pouring from him. “Why would I open the trunk?”

  “You know, for the weapons and vests and masks and stuff.”

  “What are you talking about? I don’t carry any of that with me.”

  “You’ve been going on these calls alone and without gear or weapons?”

  Taylor raised her right pointer finger to tap her temple. “All the gear I need is right here.” She lowered her right hand and balled it into a fist. “If things get bad, then I have these.”

  Even through his black-rimmed glasses Taylor could see Jason’s eyes were glazed over. “You’re crazy, you know that right?”

  Taylor walked past him and motioned for him to follow. “Who’s crazier? The Cleaner who knows she’s walking into danger or the Operator who follows her?”

  CHAPTER 8

  The school’s appearance was nothing like Taylor remembered her own high school looking like. Memories of chipped tile floors, rusted lockers, and flaking paint came to mind when she thought of high schools. Steel Hart High was nothing like that. Glass doors opened to a large building with a welcome desk. Lilac scented air greeted every visitor while soft cushioned carpet almost carried you across the floor.

  Jason whistled low under his breath. Taylor recovered from her momentary awe and looked around for a clerk or receptionist. No one was in eyesight. No music played, no phones rang, nothing.

  A scream ripped through the silence and sent chills up Taylor’s spine. She heard plenty of screams in her line of work; this one was different. This was a young girl’s scream that spoke of a sick mix of happiness and pain. The howl came again, this time louder and with more pleasure than sorrow.

  The noise was coming from the back of the building where another set of glass doors opened into a courtyard. Taylor hurtled over the reception desk and ran through the room of short cubic office spaces.

  She s
lammed into the metal release bar leading outside, her hands tingling at the force of her impact with the lever. Her eyes searched the scene, trying to remember where the sound came from. Was it to the right or the left? She couldn’t tell. Then she saw them. Across a lawn a group of school security guards and a handful of what Taylor guessed were teachers huddled around something.

  Wasting no time, Taylor sprinted across the new sod. Perfectly symmetric squares of the fresh laid sod came together to form a quilt of greens. There were so many different shades of the one color Taylor didn’t know grass could be so bright and vibrant.

  “Stop right there,” one of the school security guards said with an outstretched hand. “Who are you?”

  “I’m here to help. We were sent when you called.” Taylor skidded to a stop a few yards from the group. Her simple explanation seemed to be enough for those huddled around in a circle looking down at something on the ground.

  One man separated himself from the rest and walked forward extending a hand. “I’m sorry. Without the uniform we didn’t know. I’m the principal here at Steel Hart High. Can you help her?”

  Jason arrived next to Taylor at that moment, panting. He hunched over, hands on his knees. “Help—help who?”

  The principal pointed behind him. “Give her some room, guys, the police are here.”

  The wail tore through the sky again. Security guards and teachers parted for Taylor to see. A young girl was lying on the field writhing in pain.

  “Is this Rachelle?” Taylor asked. She asked the question to everyone around her without taking her eyes off the form of the writhing girl.

  “No,” the principal said. “This is the girl Rachelle attacked today, Amber McCloud.”

  Taylor dropped to the ground. Blood was all around Amber but there were no visible wounds marking the area of injury. The girl was wearing khaki pants with a collared white shirt. Red marks splotched her entire body. From her pale lips all the way down to her twitching feet.

  “Jason,” Taylor called over her shoulder. Jason came to stand next to her. Even with their lack of history as partners, Jason knew what she was going to say. His hand was already reaching for his phone. “I’m on it.”

  “A paramedic team will be here soon,” Taylor said to the small crowd. “What happened?”

  An older woman stepped forward. “Rachelle and Amber were in my math class this morning. Rachelle didn’t look well and kept mumbling things to herself. I should have known something was wrong then. Rachelle is one of my brightest students. Never so much as a tardy note or missed homework assignment. Amber is her best friend. She asked to take her to the bathroom.” The woman’s voice caught. “I should have known better. I thought it was something emotional. You know kids this age. Maybe a broken heart over a boy or her parents fighting at home. I excused them both to the restroom. A few minutes later the screaming started.”

  “Amber came out covered in blood and collapsed here,” the principal picked up the story. “The security guards were called. They went to the bathroom to check on Rachelle. She was violent, even tried to bite one of our staff. He was lucky and pulled back at the last moment. We’ve locked Rachelle in the bathroom and have the rest of the students gathered in the gymnasium.”

  The entire time the story was being relayed, Taylor didn’t take her eyes off Amber. The girl was shaking with tremors but her wailing reduced to whimpers. Her eyes were open, staring into the sky above. Her mouth moved, pushing words too low in volume to be heard from her throat.

  Taylor leaned forward so her ear was only inches above the girl’s moving lips.

  “She bled, she bled all over me. So I could see. Isn’t the sky beautiful?”

  While they weren’t the exact words she heard when James Jones spoke they were close enough for her.

  “Do you have any handcuffs?” she asked the surrounding security guards.

  One balding man that looked like he had never missed a meal in his life shrugged. “No, we only carry walkie-talkies.”

  Taylor removed her own belt and forced the young girl in a sitting position.

  “What are you doing?” the principal asked.

  “Until the medical team arrives we need to restrain her. There’s no telling what she might do to herself or others.” A mixture of nods and open mouths answered back.

  “They’ll be here in minutes,” Jason said. He knelt beside Taylor and to his credit held the young girl’s wrists behind her while Taylor secured them.

  “I can see now,” the girl whispered. “I can see why I wasn’t happy and I can fix it, we can all fix it.”

  Taylor motioned to the security guards. “Make sure she doesn’t move. Do whatever is required to keep her here until our backup arrives. Don’t let any of her blood or saliva get in your mouth or eyes. Now, I need to see the other girl. Where’s Rachelle?”

  CHAPTER 9

  So Vanidrum was not only driving people insane, it was spreading. A quick look at Jason confirmed Taylor’s thoughts. His intense look of concentration told her he was thinking the same thing. The two were running side-by-side following in the principal’s wake.

  “The bathroom where we locked her in is down the hall and around the corner. This way,” he explained.

  Taylor’s mind was already racing faster than her body to understand the scope of their situation. If Vanidrum was causing these reactions and the symptoms could be transmitted through blood, then a future that Taylor didn’t want to imagine was at their doorstep.

  The trio covered the inside of the high school building in seconds. Shining white tiles were taken two, sometimes three at a time. Lockers that look new flanked them on either side. Bright white lights reminded them their surroundings were all too perfect to be any kind of nightmare.

  “Here, she’s in…”

  Taylor came skidding to halt behind the principal. She looked first to his shocked expression then to where his eyes were fixed. The door to the girl’s bathroom was wide open, a puddle of dark red liquid flowing from inside.

  “We barricaded the door,” he mumbled as the realization of what was happening began to sink in. “I swear we locked her inside. Is that blood on the floor?”

  Taylor was working to take in her surroundings and formulate a plan of action. A few chairs lay scattered around the open door, what she guessed was the principal’s idea of a secure barricade. There was no noise from the inside of the girl’s restroom. The lack of wails or whispers was even more unnerving than hearing someone scream.

  At least in the event of James Jones and Amber they were making some kind of noise. Nothing besides a pool of blood came from the open door. Taylor took a deep breath and gave herself a short internal pep-talk.

  You can handle this. There’s never been anything you couldn’t take care of. You’re the best at what you do. All those years of training weren’t for nothing. You got this.

  “I told you we should have brought guns.”

  Taylor realized for the second time that day that despite his fear Jason was right behind her. She was beginning to think she had him wrong the whole time. Waves of tension hit her by the second and this was her job as a Cleaner. She couldn’t imagine what Jason was feeling as an Operator whose duties included monitoring phone conversations and coordinating events over his cell.

  “Stay right behind me, Jason. If things get ugly I want you to get out and lock the door. No matter if I’m in there or not. You were right, something big is happening.”

  Jason raised an eyebrow. “Thanks for the words of affirmation. We can talk about how right I’ve been after we both get out of this alive. I’m not leaving you in there.” He walked past her and through the open door.

  Who the heck is this guy?

  Senses working on overdrive she clenched both hands into fists and followed.

  Jason hadn’t made it more than a few feet in the door when he stopped. Taylor sidestepped his rigid back to get a look at whatever it was stopping his forward progress.

  The
bathroom followed suit with the high school décor. The white tiled floor gave way to light green stall doors, white sink tops, and a gigantic mirror. The section of the mirror farthest from the door was broken. Shattered pieces were scattered all around the countertop and floor like sprinkles on a cupcake. Taylor and Jason weren’t the only two people in the room. A tall girl stood over the broken pieces of glass while a boy about the same age lay motionless on the floor.

  The blood traveling into the hall was coming from a large wound on the boy’s scalp. His black hair lay matted against his scalp as if it had been overly gelled. His white collared shirt rose and fell as his chest gave way to shallow breathing. With the boy on the floor Taylor turned her attention to the girl. She was wearing the same uniform as Amber, an exact match, even down to the red splotches covering her face and clothing.

  Rachelle was leaning in close to the broken mirror. In both hands she held a shard of the mirror’s glass. A jagged edge of the glass was buried deep in her face, just under her nose. In a large circular motion the girl tore away her lips.

  “Rachelle,” Taylor edged forward, careful to step over the boy’s body. “Rachelle, I don’t know how much of you is in there but you need to stop. You need to stop hurting yourself. Put the glass down.”

  Rachelle took in a huge breath of air, and something fell from the girl’s face to the sink below. Whatever it was landed with a plop.

  “There! Oh, I’m so pretty now. That voice was right. Look at me, I’m so pretty.”

  Rachelle wasn’t talking to Taylor, she was talking to the reflection in the mirror. Through the spider web of cracked glass Taylor looked at what had grabbed Rachelle’s attention.

  What she saw brought the taste of stomach acid and the cherry Pop Tart she ate for breakfast to her mouth. The thing that fell from Rachelle’s face where her lips. Her skin from her nose to her chin had disappeared in a jagged circle. Bloody gums gave way to stained red teeth.