The Truth About Celia Frost (27 page)

“So you kept experimenting on babies?” Celia said, sickened.

“It was the only way,” Hudson retorted defiantly. “And my gamble paid off. When you were taken from the clinic, your body was riddled with cancers I’d introduced into
you. No amount of conventional treatment could have prolonged your life for more than a couple of years so, after this time, logic dictated that you must be dead and the population safe from the
virus. But I just couldn’t let you go. I kept thinking how responsive you’d been to my experiments. I knew that the virus was behaving differently in you from the outset. I became
fixated with the idea that you were still alive. I started following up leads which I thought might be you, but they all came to nothing. And, after all these years, I was on the verge of giving up
my search, accepting it as a vain dream. But when my computer flagged up the A & E report from the hospital in Wales, I just couldn’t resist, even though I expected it to be another wild
goose chase. Celia, you can’t imagine my joy when I got a positive ID from your hair follicles. I believed that the only explanation for your survival was that my virus had worked in you, and
I was right!” she proclaimed triumphantly, her face aglow.

“But why have you brought me here? You’re meant to take me back where I belong. That man who kidnapped me, he said you would.”

Professor Hudson threw her arms out. “And I have. This is where you belong, here, with me. This was your room. You shared it with the other babies. For a long time I hardly ever left this
place. I worked day and night, but then I was forced to shut it down. This clinic hasn’t been in use for thirteen years, but it’s stood up to the elements well. The generator is still
working; we have our own water supply from the moor; the structure seems sound.” She spoke like an excited estate agent. “It shouldn’t take long to set up my lab again, get all
the necessary equipment installed. We won’t be disturbed out here, Celia.”

“I don’t belong here!” Celia bawled. “I belong with my parents!”

“But, Celia,” the scientist replied, “you have no real parents.”

“Of course I have parents,” Celia spluttered. “Everyone has parents.”

“But your biological parents don’t even know of your existence. You were just an unwanted embryo that they’d created. Their other embryos were selected to be implanted in your
mother’s womb. They were the ones that became the longed-for children. You were simply surplus to requirements. Like thousands of other frozen embryos in clinics all over the country, you
were just waiting to be destroyed. It’s only because of me that you were given life at all.”

Celia shook her head, confused, distressed. “I don’t understand.”

“For my research purposes, I took dozens of unwanted embryos which were then implanted in surrogate mothers. Those women gave birth believing that they were providing babies for childless
couples, but in fact I used those babies for a far greater purpose. Without them, the Saviour Virus would never have been developed.”

Professor Hudson was in her stride now, captivated by her own words. “It was astounding being able to study how the virus behaved in them. And with each death, I was able to perform
meticulous post-mortems, working out how to refine it before trying again on another subject. Eventually, as I kept modifying the virus, it became more effective, the babies were surviving the
cancers for longer. Some lasted weeks, others months, but you, Celia, you did more than survive.”

“So you bred us to experiment on. You riddled us with cancer.” Celia’s face was twisted with fury. “You watched and made notes as all those babies suffered and died for
your research... You’re a monster!” she roared.

The professor snapped back indignantly, “Think of all the millions of people that I could save. Can’t you understand that the lives of those unwanted babies are a small price to
pay?”

“You can’t use human beings like that!”

“Do you have any idea of the courage it took to take that step? Don’t you think other scientists would secretly applaud me for doing it, while they’re too cowardly, wasting
their time using rodents and monkeys. But the irony is that if my methods were ever exposed, those same scientists would have to be seen to condemn me. And the ignorant, idiotic public,
who’ve been crying out for a cure, will be the ones to be outraged; demanding to have me locked up. But you’d better believe that those same people will be the first to queue up to be
treated with my virus. In the end, they won’t care how the results were achieved, as long as they have their cure. They’re all hypocrites! I’m the only one with any integrity. So
you see, Celia, I’m no monster. I did what had to be done. I need you, of all people, to understand that.”

“I understand the difference between right and wrong and what you’ve done is wrong!” Celia raged.

“You’re being naive. Wouldn’t it be simple if everything was really as you see it? Black and white, right and wrong. But I’m afraid life is more complicated than that.
Those messy grey areas keep getting in the way.”

“But you have children of your own – twins. I saw a photo of them when you were on the news. Don’t you look at them and feel sick about what you’ve done; don’t you
look at me and think about every baby you ever experimented on?”

For the first time the professor turned her eyes from Celia, her voice unsteady. “If I’d allowed my emotions to cloud my judgement then I would never have achieved my goal. What I
have done is for the greater good of humanity.”

“And what about me? What’s going to happen to me?” Celia said quietly.

“I need to study you, Celia. Discover how and why the Saviour Virus works in you. Every part of you will tell me more. Your body holds the key to the most important cure in the
world.”

“So you’re going to keep me locked up here, pick me apart while I’m still alive. And what then? What happens when you’ve finished with me? Will you bury me on the moor
too? Is that where you put all the other babies you killed?”

Distress darkened the woman’s face; unwanted tears welled up in her eyes. “This place is full of ghosts,” she whispered. “But with you I can exorcize them. You’re
proof that their sacrifice was worthwhile. Having the Saviour Virus will justify what I did. I promise you won’t be in any pain. You’ll be sedated. You won’t be aware of
anything.”

Celia desperately tried to stay clear-headed.

“You can’t do this to me,” she blurted out. “My mum knows about you. When I don’t come home, she’ll call the police, tell them everything. They’ll come
looking for you, they’ll find out what you’ve done. You’ve got to let me go.”

Hudson smiled. “I will always be grateful to Janice Frost. If she hadn’t kidnapped you, I would have destroyed you, destroyed my virus.”

“She didn’t kidnap me, she rescued me! She’s spent her life protecting me.” Celia suddenly felt overwhelmed by shame, thinking of all the loathing and contempt
she’d shown Janice.

“Janice won’t be phoning the police, Celia. She’s dead,” the professor announced bluntly.

Celia stared at her, open-mouthed.

“The man who brought you to me then went back to your flat and killed her.” She watched as a look of horrified disbelief invaded Celia’s face. “I had no choice,”
she continued. “I couldn’t risk her exposing me. I can’t go to prison. With you, Celia, I have my Saviour Virus. I want to go down in history as the scientist who developed a cure
for cancer, not be remembered for my methods, not be shunned by the medical community and the world for my bravery.”

“My mum is dead,” Celia repeated to herself.

“So you must understand, Celia, no one is coming to rescue you. And when you don’t reappear, the police will assume that you’re just another runaway teenager who escaped from a
crazed parent. You have no one left in the world who cares about you, no one who will bother looking for you.”

Celia stared into the distance as if catatonic.

“Celia.” The professor bent down and stroked Celia’s hair. “Together we can wipe out the most terrible disease in the world. What greater achievement is there?”

Celia sat motionless, unable to process what she’d been told, as the scientist walked to the table and picked up a syringe filled with a clear liquid. Dexterously she screwed a needle into
the end, before partially depressing the plunger, sending a jet of liquid shooting into the air.

The professor returned to the wheelchair, holding the syringe. She spoke soothingly. “You’ll slip into the most beautiful, peaceful sleep.”

Celia couldn’t speak. A thick quiet hung in the room, only disturbed by the noise of the generator. Her mind was numb, her body a lead weight, drained of the will to fight. The scientist
recognized submission in the girl and had to stifle the euphoric sense of victory growing in her.

“I knew that I could make you understand. I knew that you could accept what has to happen.” She smiled serenely. “You’re a hero, Celia. Because of you, millions will be
saved.”

“I love it out here,” Janice said tipsily, leaning on the rickety table that lived on the balcony. “I spend hours out here, smoking, having a think. I
feel...untouchable, like me and Celia are safe from the world up here in the clouds.” Her face suddenly fell. “But now it’s all come crashing down.”

“Think positive, Janice. Celia will be back before you know it,” Frankie replied.

But she wasn’t listening. Janice was caught up in her own reverie. “Do you see those beautiful birds in their golden cages?” she said, pointing randomly at the balconies
opposite. “I try not to look at them, because they make me feel sad. If you watch them, you see how they frantically flutter around in their tiny prisons, damaging their feathers against the
bars. They don’t sing like normal birds, you know. I can hear the difference. I can hear the distress in their song. They look out and see other birds able to soar in the sky, and what must
they be feeling? Their hearts must be breaking.”

Frankie remained a brooding bystander.

“Then I feel even more depressed, because you know what?” There was no need for Frankie to respond. “I know that I’ve done the same thing to my Celia. I may have saved
her, but for what? So she has to spend the rest of her life trapped in a cage I’ve built for her, watching everybody else have their freedom. What kind of life have I given her?” she
asked with self-loathing.

“Whatever you did, I’m sure it was for the best,” Frankie said soothingly.

“It was because I’m terrified for her, you see...and for what could happen.”

Frankie remained silent.

“Do you want to know what could happen? Because I will tell you, Paul. I need to tell someone,” Janice said anxiously.

Frankie shrugged. “That’s between you and Celia.”

Janice let out a punch of a laugh, slapping him on the shoulder. “That’s one of the things I like about you, Paul. You’re a listener, not a questioner. You’re one in a
million. You’re a good, honest soul. Not like me, oh no. I’m a liar!” She pointed a finger at herself. “I’ve lied and deceived the only person in the world I love and
she’s been such a wonderful girl to me; I just don’t know what to do now she knows the truth.”

She slumped over the railings, but quickly raised her head as the ground swam below her. Frankie stood back, watching her unravel.

“How am I going to find her, Paul? She could be anywhere.”

“Shame
you’re
not a bird. Then you could fly off and look for her.” His syrup-coated tones slipped the image into her addled mind.

She lit up, the crazy idea seizing her. “Yeah, you’re right,” she said excitedly. “Help me up.”

Frankie’s heart started to pound as she put her small, rough hand in his and clambered onto the rickety table. She giggled uncontrollably as she attempted to get up on her feet, her legs
like jelly.

Frankie shushed her. “Quiet, Janice, you’ll wake people up,” he whispered, terrified that they would be spotted, searching for lights going on in other flats.

She gave him a theatrical wink and put a finger to her lips with a stage whisper. “Shush!”

He held onto her bony hips to steady her and, once she was standing upright, he let go and stepped back into the shadows. She towered above the railings, her arms outstretched like a bird
preparing for flight. She filled her nicotine-stained lungs with the night air and raised her head to the majestic moon.