chapter 27

Laura heard a distant door slam as she stealthily walked back down the corridor towards her room. After her brief encounter with Iain, Laura knew something was up. Iain hadn't hidden his agenda well from her at all and she knew she was in the firing line. She had only spent five minutes with him before she had left on her own accord, Iain was playing for time and she had got up and left in a barrage of threats from Iain. She knew she was now done on the programme, Iain had told her as much, but there was something else that made her uneasy. Too many questions from Iain about something Becky might have eaten, something Laura may have stolen, she knew that they knew, or at least suspected, and she had to leave, and fast. So much so that she had decided to take an obscure way back to her room to keep out of sight, something just didn't feel right. Where was Tom? Surly he should have been there with Iain. When asking about Becky, Iain had told her that she was safe in the lab, so Tom's absence was highly suspicious. She arrived at her door to find it unlocked. Strange, she could have sworn that she locked it when she left. She opened the door and went in, instantly seeing the empty crumpled rucksack on the bed. Laura stood there, looking at the empty rucksack, knowing what it had contained. She remained motionless for a few minutes, heart pounding, as she was desperately working out her next move. "I'm fucked", Laura said to herself, she knew she should have ditched those empty bags earlier, but finding a place to dispose of them without them being discovered was no easy task. After a moment of contemplation, Laura started nodding to herself, she knew what she needed to do, but she had to act fast, she wouldn't have much time now. She grabbed the rucksack off the bed and went to the wardrobe and then to her draws, stuffing the bag hastily with a random selection of clothes. She then snatched her purse off the side and it too went into the rucksack. Laura looked around the room quickly and thrust a few more items in the very full satchel and then dropped it to the floor. She turned to the bed and quickly flipped the mattress in a single fluid movement, reaching inside a discreet slit on the underside and pulled out an object wrapped in a towel. Laura grabbed the rucksack up off the floor and carefully placed the towel clad object inside and heaved the strained zip of the bulging bag closed. She grabbed a light coat from the wardrobe and, donning it, flung the bag on her back. Laura was leaving tonight, but first there were a few more things she needed to do.

Tom burst into Iain's office and threw the two empty cake mix bags down on the desk in front of Iain. "Jesus..... Two? Fucking two?", Iain looked at Tom his face a mix of shock and anger. "I know, if Becky had all of that shit then she is in a lot of trouble, it's a huge amount, no wonder she is so detached, I bet she doesn't know what the hell is going on". "But Why Tom? Why would she have taken it all? I just can't understand", "Maybe she didn't realise, or more to the point, maybe she didn't have a choice. Becky wouldn't have done this consciously Iain, I'm sure of that, I told her about Paul, there has been some real shady shit going on between Laura and her, it's the only explanation, she just didn't know. Nobody in their right mind would ingest that much of anything". "Fucking Laura", Iain said furious, "I knew we should have removed her when we talked to the behavioural psychologist, now look at what the fuck has happened". "Too late now Iain, we need to get to Becky and start trying to treat this before she completely looses touch of reality, no wonder she looked so confused in my office this morning, it's much more extreme than before, if she has ingested all of this I dread to think". "I know, we should....", Iain started but was interrupted by a sudden deafening alarm. The two men looked at each other as they instantly realised it was the fire alarm. "Becky!", they said in unison and rushed out of the office into the corridor, now misty and hissing with streams of water coming from the active sprinkler system in the ceiling.

Laura watched to two men leave the office and dash down the corridor, slipping and sliding as they made their way to the lab. Other girls were running around screaming under the sprinklers. The chaos of her impromptu diversion was the perfect cover. She slipped inside the office and quickly scanned the room for any of Iain's or Tom's belongings. She saw Tom's jacket hanging on the back of the chair in front of Iain's desk and started to feel in the pockets. She pulled out his wallet and opened it, taking all the cash and then throwing it and the rest of its untouched contents to the floor. She patted the other pockets and then smiled, reached inside and out came Tom's car keys. Laura looked at them for a moment and her smile broadened, she gripped them tight in her hand and and ran out of the office towards the exits nearest the car park.

Iain fell over as he turned the corner nearing the lab, Tom, slightly behind him, grasped Iain and lifted him back to his feet as he passed, "Come on", Tom shouted through the intense hissing of the sprinkler system. The two of them burst into the lab and rushed up to the examination room where they had left Becky a little while earlier. They smashed the door open and ripped the curtain back on the bed...

In the cool and dark car park outside the main building, Laura threw a soggy box into the trunk and slammed it shut, she then yanked the bulging rucksack off her back, flinging it into the open rear passenger door. Its contents spilled out as in came into contact the the rear seats as the zip gave way. She then slammed the rear door shut with her foot and dashed around the front of the car to the drivers door, throwing it open and squeezing herself inside behind the wheel, yanking the door closed after her. She fumbled for a moment with the keys in the ignition, busy watching the fire exit she had just come out of. Girls and staff were now pouring out of the building into the cool evening air from all exits, but thankfully there was no sign of Iain and Tom. The key finally found the ignition and she turned it with the car coming to life. Laura put the car in gear and sped out of the dimly lit parking lot onto the road. She looked behind her in the rear view mirror and could see the tell-tail flashes of red and blue emergency vehicle lights in the distance, responding to the fire alarm she had pulled only minutes ago. Laura looked back to the road ahead and an insidious smile crept over her face. She had made it.

Iain and Tom both looked at each other in silence as they stood soaking in the examination room, a cacophony of noise surrounded them as alarms, hissing, shouts, and screams came from the corridor. In front of them was the bed, empty.

Laura lent forward to switch on the radio, a random station was tuned in and the car was filled with music....

"In your head,
In your head,
Zombie, zombie, zombie, ei, ei, ei,
What's in your head?
In your head,
Zombie, zombie, zombie ei, ei, ......."

Laura smirked to herself. Behind her on the back seat was her rucksack, burst and spilling its contents. As the car crashed and bumped through the dark and potholed street, the towel had slipped from around the object Laura had taken from under her bed. It was the last bag of Paul's weight gain formula. Still smirking broadly, Laura looked to her side. There was Becky, humming to the music on the radio and looking happily out the passenger window.