The Spread: Book 1 (The Hill)

mouth remained wide open. All he could do was shake his head.
Ryan stood up. “I’m heading back to the village.”
Loobey appeared in the doorway from the landing, covered in sweat and visibly shaken. “No, you need to stay here, Ryan. You’re the only one who can handle Sean. He stays calm around you.”
The fear in Loobey’s eyes gave away the fact he wanted Ryan to stay for his own benefit, too. He was the only one who knew about his cancer. The only one who could cover for him if he got tired or ill.
“He’s right, Ryan.” Tom adjusted the waistband on his chinos. “Sean sees you as his brother – always has. Without you, he might go nuts, and we won’t be able to calm him down like you can.”
Ryan turned to Sean. Despite the fact they were talking about him, he showed no recognition of their conversation. He was plucking at a patch of green fuzz on his bony elbow. It was slightly darker than the rest, and crusty.
Ryan gave Tom the nod. “Okay, go.”
“I’ll be as quick as I can.” Tom turned once more, asking Loobey to step aside. Then he disappeared onto the landing.
“Follow the stream,” Ryan yelled after him. “You’ll find the road a couple of hundred metres down from it.”
“Got it!” Tom’s footsteps clonked on the stairs.
Brett hobbled into the room with Aaron following. Loobey remained in the doorway, slumped against the frame. Everyone kept their distance from Sean.
Sean smiled, a twinkle in his one eye. “The gang’s all here. We gonna party or what?”
Brett folded his arms and tentatively placed some weight on his swollen ankle. “Sean, do you understand what’s happening? You’ve contracted some kind of fungal infection. You need medical attention. You’re not in your right mind.”
“I’m fine, mate. Hair of the dog and all that. I’ll be up for it again in a bit, right as rain. We came here to party, right?”
Ryan shook his head, growing more and more worried by the second. Had the fungus crept into Sean’s brain? Why wasn’t he panicking about what was happening to him? Why didn’t he recognise the dour expressions on the faces of his friends? He looked like something out of a horror movie.
Aaron moved up beside Ryan and whispered, “Is he going to be okay? That stuff is all over him, and it’s turning dark in places.”
Sean overheard, but he didn’t seem concerned. “Stop worrying so much, our kid. Look!”
Ryan jolted backwards as Sean rose from the bed and reached down near the waistband of his boxer shorts. With no reticence, he plucked at a darkening crust around his belly button. It came away easily, making a faint cracking sound as it removed itself. It revealed a patch of clean flesh underneath, but it wasn’t healthy human skin. It was milky and smooth, more like bone than meat.
Sean pulled away another chunk of blackened fuzz and revealed another patch of shiny bone. Brett hobbled forward, but he didn’t dare grab him. “Sean, stop! You’re doing yourself damage.” When he failed to listen, Brett snatched at Sean’s wrist, even though he clearly didn’t want to touch him.
Sean glanced at Brett’s hand on his wrist and grunted. For a moment, it seemed like he might get angry, but instead he pulled Brett into a hug. “I love you, man. Stop worrying, okay? I just want to have a good time.”
Brett struggled. “Let go of me, Sean.”
Sean did not let go. He wrapped his arms around Brett even tighter. Brett struggled and shoved him away forcefully enough that Sean stumbled backwards onto the bed. He was laughing. “Shite, that hurt. Lighten up, man.”
“Sean, you need to get some rest. I’ll come by to check on you in a bit. We’ll bring you something to eat.”
Sean went to argue, but Ryan cut in before he could. “We won’t be long, Sean, okay? Just chill for a minute.”
With a sigh, Sean lay back on his soiled bed, folding his hands over his green stomach. “Make sure you bring us a couple of beers, mate.”
“No problem.” Ryan turned and ushered everyone out onto the landing. They closed the bedroom door and Brett headed towards the stairs, hopping frantically on his good leg.
“Brett, what’s wrong?”
“His hands were all over me, Ryan. Fuck!”
Ryan hurried to catch up with him on the stairs. “You think it’s contagious?”
“Yes! It’s a fungus. I need to clean myself. Ah, goddamn it!” He winced in pain as he landed heavily on the lower step, jarring his swollen ankle. He almost fell, but Ryan grabbed the back of his shirt and steadied him. “Slow down.”
Brett turned aggressively and broke contact. “Don’t touch me, you idiot. In fact, nobody touch anybody. Fungus can feed on dead skin cells, which means every goddamn surface in this place could be contaminated.”
Ryan’s legs felt hollow as he staggered into the lounge and dumped himself on the arm of the main sofa. Aaron came to join him but chose to sit on the armchair. Loobey sat on the bottom step. Brett, however, went hurtling into the kitchen, almost forgetting his injured ankle. He ripped open the cupboards and tore through them. When he found a bottle of bleach, he poured the chemical onto his skin – neat – and started rubbing it all over his hands and forearms. Then he stripped off and rubbed it on his chest and stomach.
Aaron had fear in his eyes, his knee bobbing up and down as he sat and watched Brett. “Won’t that burn?”
“I’ll take mild chemical burns over a virulent fungus,” said Brett, continuing to soak himself with the bleach. “You should all be doing the same.”
After a moment’s thought, they did just that. There was only a single litre of bleach, so they were forced to dilute it, but Brett told them it was better than nothing. They grabbed a mop bucket they found in a cupboard and filled it with bleach and water before taking off their clothes and scrubbing