Part 10 (2/2)
As he does, I see the dark rings around the doctor's eyes have deepened and there is a transfor within the
”I doubt he's coue
We exchange the briefest look before discharging our weapons in unison
Unlike thebelow us, Jekyll is shaken by the iers back, two cri fro and overlapping in the e of the upper level and into one of the tanning vats below
Hole of the wooden platfor down as we try to discover the doctor's fate
At first there is nothing, then the viscous contents of the vat start to bubble and froth
”Howfroe He doesn't have to tell me to do the same
I check ”Just one You?”
”The very saet as far as halfway back to the steps when sos from the vat whereHenry Jekyll fall to his certain death not a , the equal of the brute but with a feral intelligence in its eye that the other abo with acidic tannin, it looks raw and bestial despite the cognition in its eyes
”Jekyll,” I gasp
The thing wearing the doctor's shredded attire slowly shakes its head and corrects ut, I feel that the thing Jekyll has turned into is about to pounce, and there is nothing Holmes or I can do to prevent it
Or so I believe
Holmes tilts his aim wide and fires off his last shot It clips the lay confines of the tannery, and Hyde laughs at ue's apparent ineptitude until the spark fronites the spilled oil and sets hiration Drenched in tannin, the flaht up, and catches hold of one of the rafters in the ceiling Brachiating fro his way free and douse the fire ravaging his flesh
”After hie of the man as he throws himself across the wooden platforue, I co into Holer still and has the rip around the neck, but just as he is about to dispatch it, he changes again Mutation is rapid this tinals the brute's demise Like a bellows filled with tooto accommodate
”Behind h the gaps in its massive frame I witness an explosion of flesh, blood andis left following this violent reaction, nothing but a pool of sticky red viscera
There is little time to appreciate the connection I hadto escape, he was tying up his loose ends, including the tannery and us
Fire is spreading quickly across the roof, virulent like a plague, colonising every foot and yard, dissolving it in a black and orange sea
Smoke thickens the air, so much that I raise my handkerchief totiet out of here”
”Agreed,” Holaze but can find no sign of Hyde
”You too,” Holmes says to the creature, which nods once
Thearound us now, and our way back is far fro bearotesque companion shoves it aside, despite the obvious pain it causes, and I find ed this poor creature
”Nearly there,” I hear Holrey pall of s around us
Mere paces fro form of Hyde The fire has wreaked havoc on his body His hair is burned off, his skin scorched and blistered Vengeance and anger fill his eyes, his next actions telegraphed by his posture and obvious de hold of Hyde and throwing hies us, ”flee!'
I have a bullet left inmoht In the end, the choice is rabs h the tannery door My last sight before I turn towards the night and the cold air is of the ht
S the rey shadow In it, the tannery burns Fire engulfs it and the vats cook off in a series of sporadic, slightly e of Greenland Dock, Holrateful to be alive
”Hyde and Jekyll,” I say, coughing up a wad of charcoal-coloured phlegm
”Jekyll and Hyde,” Holmes ripostes
”They were one and the same”
Holmes nods His face is black fro quite so dishevelled I expect I look no better
”Jekyll possessed the intelligence, Hyde the brawn”
”So where does Victor Frankenstein fit into all of this?”
Part of the tannery collapses as the flahts into the London sky
”We may never find out,” Holmes admits, ”but I suspect Jekyll wanted the best of both worlds, Watson He wanted Hyde, he wanted to capture that brute strength, that power and fortitude, and marry it to his own intellect Frankenstein's research was key to that You saw his earlier atteriain in the tannery when Jekyll's bodyguard and test subject exploded
”Victor Frankenstein created life from death, Watson,” Holmes went on, ”who knohat else he discovered before he died”
”Noill never know”
”Perhaps,” says Hol up
”How can you smoke at a time like this?” I ask