Blood was everywhere. Larry was half asleep on his post, staring at the screens that showed the feed from the security cameras outside the gate with his feet up on his desk when a man that could have come from a horror film staggered through the heavy glass door into the security room.
His face was covered in blood, as was his shirt, trousers – Larry thought he looked like he’d been laying in a pool of blood – and his hands. His eyes looked like an unnatural cuts in a grotesque mask, letting pain and fear show even through the dry and fresh blood that keep dripping down on the shirt’s collar.
Larry was suddenly awake and nervous. In his eight months on the job, he never saw anybody like this. His first reaction was to radio for reinforcements, but the man didn’t look like a threat, so he contacted his superior.
“Jaesus, are you alright?” Larry immediately hated himself for asking the question. The man was obviously not alright. ”Sit down” he offered, motioning to a chair in the corner.
“What happened?”
“I… don’t know too well.” The visitor sounded like he was in pain. “I fell off my bed, then climbed back, and fell asleep again, and when I woke up, everything was covered in blood…” the man’s voice lost some vigor, and he swallowed.
“Ok, ok” Larry was nervous, but the story was better than what he had been imagining in his head. “Where are you staying?” He took a note of the room number, then turned again to the man who swayed as if he was about to faint.
“Hey, hey” Larry was trying to see where the man was bleeding from. He found a breach about an inch long on his temple and frowned. Larry was no doctor, but it didn’t look good. “Would you like me to call an ambulance?” he offered, remembering that he was supposed to do something about it. And where in hell was his superior?
The man rested on the wall with his shoulder. He looked up at Larry – “Unless you are a doctor, yes” – Larry was both irritated by the sarcasm, and ashamed he asked.
“Sure” he said, and walked around to the phone.
His superior – a tall man with a horseshoe moustache, beer belly, and army tattoos on his forearms, named Stuart – entered the room.
“What is going on, Larry?” he said. Larry motioned him quiet because someone just picked up the phone at the other end, and offered him the note of the guest’s room number. Stuart keyed his radio. “Can the west patrol drop into this room and see what state it is in? Thanks lads.”
He turned around to Larry. “Ambulance is on its way” said Larry before Stuart asked the question.
Stuart turned to the injured man “We’ll get you to a hospital in no time.” Larry thought that it was just wrong the way Stuart didn’t even enquire about his state or tried to reassure him.
“You’ll be fine” Larry tried to sound confident.
Stuart’s radio went off. “Wes’ patrol’ere.” Stuart left the room and Larry saw him speaking into the radio through the glass door. Larry looked at his watch. 3:10 am.
Stuart came back in. “Will you ring whoever is on call tonight?” he said, and went out again. Larry started searching through the folder for the number.
Stuart came back in with a man dressed in white – a paramedic, Larry guessed. The paramedic only needed one look at the bleeding man to make up his mind.
“Fucking A, lads, this one’s out cold and he’s going to ER.” He looked at Stuart. “I can’t bring the stretcher in ‘ere so ye’ll have to gimme a hand there, boss.” Stuart didn’t look pleased, but he approached the chair.
Between both of them, they managed to drag the unconscious body outside to the stretcher another medic was holding. Larry observed as they strapped him to the stretcher. Then he resumed punching in the number into the phone. Stuart came back in, and Larry handed him the phone call.
“Hello, there. This security at front gate.” Larry could overhear the voice at the other side of the phone line. It sounded pretty alert for … he checked the watch again – 3:20 am.
"…there is nothing I can do right now. Just give him one of the rooms we have for emergencies if he comes back tonight, and I’ll notify the morning supervisor and housekeeping tomorrow first thing in the morning.” Stuart spoke; ”Ok, we’ll do that. Tell whoever goes to clean in that it’s really bad, there is blood everywhere: toilet, bed, carpet, tables… Tell them to bring masks and gloves and all the rest of it.”
“Will do.” Said the voice from the phone. Stuart held it for another moment, as if trying to remember something, but finally said “Ok, make a note of that. You have a good night”
Larry didn’t hear the reply, and then Stuart put the phone down. He turned to Larry. “Go for a smoke?” Larry shook his head “I’m ok.” He didn’t want to go for a smoke with Stuart, although he desperately wanted a cigarette after all that blood. His hands were shaking for God’s sake! Stuart looked at him for another second and then shrugged. “Ok, give me a shout if anything else happens.” Then he left.
Larry waited another few minutes, then took a sip from the can of beer he was hiding under the desk, and went out for a cigarette. The cool night air helped, and he stood there and watched the silent old buildings until the cigarette burned his fingers. Then he put it out with his shoe, and went back in. He climbed back on his chair and put his feet up on the desk. After a while he was half asleep. He closed his eyes. Blood was everywhere.
Night Shift
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Originally Posted by Ludens
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