Beneath the Flesh: They kept all the demons out … except one (5 page)

Luke's first thought was that it was a runner. It looked like it had been human once. His hand went to the pistol in his belt … then he stopped. It, whatever it was, hadn't moved at all besides looking at him, which it continued to do so.

And now, given time, he realised it
was
human. Just covered in the same sort of reddish-brown mould that had been all over the chairs. A mass of ropy tendrils coated the man's body, totally obscuring the lower body and legs. It extended beyond him onto the wall and floor where he was sitting, with tentacles of mould snaking metres long towards the window and spreading across the floor. A lighter covering of tendrils and fur went up to his neck, through his hair, across parts of his face, up his nose.

His eyes, though, were uncovered – watery and wide and very, very human, they stared up at Luke without expression.

Luke slowly took his pistol out and aimed at the man. Still he made no move beyond staring.

Luke retreated into the living room and, still aiming, pushed the door halfway closed.

Behind him, Jess had come up. “What's wrong?” she said.

“There's something – some
one
– in there.”

Glancing at his pistol and taking out her own, she walked past him and made for the door. Luke put a hand on her good shoulder to stop her.

She gave him a quizzical look, and, finding no reason why he should stop her, he let let go. Instead, he followed her to the door.

“Oh,” she said quietly once the door was open.

The man in the corner one again looked up at the intrusion, first at Jess, then back at Luke. He said nothing.

Jess's hand went to her arm for a moment, and she wiggled her fingers. Then she let go. “Well, at least he's comfortable,” she murmured.

She took a step closer to the man and raised a hand in greeting. “Hello,” she said. “Are you … well, I can see you're not okay. Can you hear me at least?” The man just stared at her. Jess ran a hand through her hair. “Can … can you blink?”

The man stared at her.

His eyelids twitched.

Luke felt Jess grab his hand. Not a gesture of fear, he knew. Rather, a gesture that said
Look at that! We're making progress!
He looked over at her and she gave him a brief smile, then turned back to the man on the floor.

“Yes,” she said. “That's nearly it. Can you do it again?”

Another, stronger twitch of the eyelid.

“I guess it's just yes-or-no questions,” Luke said to her.

“Yeah. Better than nothing, though.” She squatted down so she'd be on an eye-level with the man and put her pistol aside. “Are you human?” she asked.

“Blink for yes,” Luke added.

The man stared at him. So did Jess, with a sort of
that's obvious
look. Then they went back to looking at each other.

“So. Are you human?” asked Jess.

Another twitch of the eyelid. Closer to a full blink this time.

“Right, okay. Do you know if this is infectious?” She gestured at the mould. “Dangerous to me?

No blink.

“You don't know?”

Eyelid twitch.

Jess turned to Luke. “You'd better stand back.”

Luke said, “But you …”

“I'm already infected with something. Please, Luke?”

“Okay,” he said after a paused. He stepped out of the room, but kept his gun ready.”

Jess's attention went back to the man. “How long have you been here? More than a year?”

No blink.

“More than a month? More than a week? More than a day?”

Each time, no blink.

Jess chewed her lip. “You don't know how long you've been here?”

The man managed a full blink.

“You don't know much, do you?” Jess smiled to herself. “Sorry. Just trying to be funny.” She put a hand on her chin and thought. “Do you come from a compound?”

No blink.

“Did you live here, in this apartment?”

Blink.

“But didn't you … No, wait. When the demons came, did you try and escape?”

No blink.

“You were living here when the demons came, and you didn't try to escape. Is that right?”

Blink.

“Do you remember –”

The man's jaw began to work.

Jess stared at him. “You're getting better!” she said. “Keep trying. We're here.”

For ten or so minutes, Jess continued to encourage the man and occasionally ask questions while, by tiny increments, his jaw began to move and his face became more expressive.

While this was happening, Luke reconsidered what they'd learned so far: The man had never been to a compound. It seemed like he'd never heard of compounds. So he'd been here since the Fall. Two years, living in alone in this place before the fungus got him.. How had he survived until then? Not just avoiding demons, but starvation, dehydration …

He was still wondered about this when the first sound came from the man's mouth. A long and worn-out wheeze, almost a death rattle. It came again, ending in what was almost a weak cough. His mouth opened again. This time, there was no sound – a few rags and chunks of stringy fungus fell from the man's mouth, rolled off his lower lip, and fell down onto the larger mass below.

Luke briefly saw the man's tongue move again. Another gasp. A few more bits of fungus, wet with saliva, came tumbling out.

The man tried to say something – the word came out as a soundless gasp. The second time though in a dry and weak voice, the word was clear: “Who ...”

A final try. “Who … are you?”

Even when he spoke, he barely moved. Just his mouth and his eyes. Everything else was rock-still.

Jess introduced them, told him she was paradise compound, then asked his name.

The man was silent for some time. Then at last he said, “Eric. How … how long has it been?”

“Since you got infected?”

“Since the … demons came?”

“Two years.”

Eric looked from Jess to Luke and back again. “Two years,” he repeated quietly.

“And how long after then did you get this on you?” asked Jess.

“I don't know. I think … three or four days. Not long.”

Jess gave Luke a look.
He's been sitting here alone for two years.
The fungus must have been keeping him alive rather than feeding him. Why? Well, thought Luke, why do demons do anything?

Eric wheezed. “It felt like … waking up in the middle of the night and trying to get back to sleep. I …” He closed his eyes. “Never mind. My … my wife was here.”

“What happened?”

Another pause.

“Eric?”

“I don't remember. I don't even remember her name.”

Silence.

Jess spoke first: “We're gonna try and get you out of here, okay?”

Eric stared at her. “Don't bother.”

“No, really. I'll try cutting away some of this muck. It's worth a try, right?”

Eric said nothing.

Back in the main room, getting the knife from his backpack, Luke said to Jess, “You sure this is wise?”

“I dunno. It might kill him,” she said. “But, well, he looks pretty fucked already. I don't have any better ideas, or any fancy equipment, and I'm not gonna leave him here.”

“I mean, it might be dangerous if you cut into it. It might come alive and attack you, or give off spores, or something like that.”

She smiled thinly. “I hope it's spores. That way I might live long enough the get that stuff from this hospital. Seriously, though, stand back in case it actually does that.” She started walking towards to room, knife in hand.

Luke caught up to her. “No. If you're gonna do this, I'm not gonna stand on the sidelines. I'm gonna be there in case it really does attack.”

Jess considered this for a moment. “Alright,” she said. “Let's go.”

On Luke's suggestion, they each wrapped some of the clothes from the backpack round their nose and mouth. A quick search of the kitchen turned up some reasonable clean-looking rubber gloves. At least this way, if the fungus was infection, they stood some sort of a chance.

Back in the bedroom, Eric looked up at them. “Back again?” he said quietly as they sat in front of him. “Good luck.”

“I'm thinking,” said Luke, “we should try and cut this thing down the middle –” He gestured at the central mass of tendrils “– and peel it away like that.”

Jess nodded. “Good idea.”

Luke reached out and grabbed the top bunch of tendrils to steady them. Even with the gloves they were cold and wrinkly to the touch, giving a little under the pressure of his fingertips. Jess put the blade against the tendrils and pushed against them. After a moment, they gave, and tore under the pressure, leaving ragged ends that dripped some thin grey fluid.

They worked through the great mass for a few minutes, peeling away layers of fungus as they went, until –

“Oh, shit,” murmured Jess.

“What?”

The lowest layer of tendrils, the closest to Eric's body, had been revealed. Jess pointed to one of them. It took a moment for Luke to see it.

One of the tendrils, about as thick as his thumb, penetrated right through Eric's clothes into his belly. And close to it, another. As soon as Luke realise what was going on, he was about to pick out four or five places where the fungus was pushing inside of Eric.

Jess reached about and experimentally nicked one of the tendrils with her knife. Blood – clearly blood – oozed out of the brown flesh.

She sat back on her knees. “What now?”

“Are … you done?” croaked Eric.

“Not exactly. The fungus is …”

“I mean, do you see now … it's a lost cause?”

“Maybe I can try and pull it out?”

Eric's gaze moved away from her. He said nothing.

She reached forward and pulled at the tendril going into his belly.

Eric responded with a sharp intake of breath. The tendril didn't move. “Stop,” he said.

“Then I don't know how to …” began Jess.

“You have a gun,” whispered Eric. He looked from Jess to Luke. “Both of you.”

“I don't know if that'll help.”

“It'll help.”

Jess's hand went clenched as she realised what he meant. “Are … are you sure?”

“Do it.”

She stood and moved back a few paces. Luke stood too, and walked over to her.