The Stalk Club Read Online Free Page B

walk-in
pantry and its shelves were neatly stocked and organised with antibiotics,
painkillers and other medications that were kept in the ward.  He cast a quick
glance over his shoulder through the steel mesh that now encircled him and pressed
forward with his task.
    He
quickly located and sized up the stocks of the drugs he was after on the
shelves, knowing that he needed to strike a balance between taking as much as
he could without taking too much and alerting the other staff members,
particularly the hard-arsed Sister Patricia who ran the ward like a detention
camp and possessed a sharp eye for detail. 
    “Though
shalt not be greedy,” he reminded himself quietly.
    He packed
five small boxes into his underpants, dropped several ampoules into the murky
water in his bucket and then quickly rearranged the remaining stock on the
shelves in an effort to disguise what he had taken.  He re-locked the doors
with a gentle and quiet snick and tested it just to be extra safe, thus
ensuring he didn’t make the mistake he’d once previously made by leaving the
door ajar.  Taking a deep breath, he put on his holier than thou face –
which was a stretch of character for him - and ever so casually strolled back
out into the hall, pushing his bucket ahead of him.
    “Craig!” 
Hearing his name called from behind him sent a knife of despair straight
through his spine.
    Somehow
he managed to resist the urge to run screaming down the hallway like someone who
belonged in the psych ward, and slowly turned around as if nothing was wrong. 
He was momentarily confused and yet also relieved to see Natalie Bassett standing
behind him.  She was dressed in tight jeans and a black silk blouse that held
Craig’s gaze for a moment too long before his eyes reached her face.
    “Well
hi princess, if I’d known you were coming to pay me a visit I would have got
dressed up for the occasion,” he said, sweeping a hand across his dirty blue scrubs,
hoping that the tone of his voice wasn’t as high and nervous as it sounded in
his own ears.
    “How
are you Craig?” she asked unsmiling, sounding a little nervous herself.
    “Fine,
never better. I’ve just spent the last half hour cleaning up the shit of some eighty-seven
year old bag, who is too old and weak to make it to the toilet on her own, but
apart from that I’m great.”
    Natalie
regarded his scrubs with new found distaste and took an involuntary half step
backwards.
    “Good
to hear, and too much information as usual.”
    “Yep. 
I tell you, I’ve never seen so much crap in my life.  I think she must have
been saving it up for the last four years.  And of course it had to happen just
before the end of my shift.  I hope someone knocks me on the head with a shovel
if I get that bad.  But enough about me and my problems,” he said, realising
that he was talking way too much, which he attributed to his nerve-wracking
illicit cargo.  “What are you doing here?”
    “Bryce
is in the emergency ward.”
    “What? 
What for?”
    “They
think it’s a nasty bout of food poisoning.  I just thought I’d come and let you
know.  Maybe you could pay him a visit or something to cheer him up.”  
    “Yeah,
sure.  Anything for Bryce.  I’m about to finish my shift so I’ll just get
cleaned up and come on down in five.”
    “Ok,
thanks.  He’d appreciate that I think.”
    Craig
turned and headed off down the corridor.  Bryce was one of his genuine friends,
someone who for whatever reason liked him, warts and all and Craig was the
first to admit that he had plenty of warts.  Bryce wasn’t someone who wanted Craig
to be someone else, someone nicer, more diplomatic and less confronting.  They’d
met four years previously when they worked together at Carmichael’s Security –
still Bryce’s current employer - and had remained close friends
ever since.
    Craig
made his way to the cleaner’s storeroom and was relieved to find it empty.  His
heart was still beating fast,