Beneath the Flesh: They kept all the demons out … except one (6 page)

Eric just watched them.

“Well,” said Jess quietly, turning to Luke, “Do you want the honours? I don't know if I can.”

Luke's hand went to his pistol. As he took it out, he saw his hand was trembling. Ridiculous, really. They'd been living with death for the past two years, hadn't they? And Eric had reason to want to die; it's make things better.

“Do it,” whispered Eric.

Luke shot him through the head.

They didn't speak much after that. Jess alternated between telling herself it had been a help, and berating herself for being too weak to shoot Eric herself. After all, she though, she'd been the one to talk to him, to build some sort of bond. Why did she retreat on his last moments?

She supposed Luke was thinking whether he'd ever have to do the same to her.

The balcony of the next apartment building was just over a metre away. Overcrowded buildings, too many people, made it easier for the demons to kill once they arrived.

So the walked through the bedroom without looking at Eric, whose skull lay opened like a crushed flower. They threw their backpacks over, then with some difficulty climbed over the gap themselves.

The apartment on the other side was grimy, dark, abandoned. From another window, she caught sight of the Temple in the distance:

A fleshy skyscraper taller than everything surrounding it, all asymmetric curves surfaces lined with spikes and spines, and covered, it looked like, with pustules or holes or boils. She watched it for a while, almost entranced.

There was something in her head. She realised this without surprise, just a sort of acknowledgement. A voice? Well, yes, but more than that. A presence, a feeling, a whispering so quiet she couldn't make out what it said.

Was this what people talked about when they said the Temple could get inside your head?

She asked Luke, offhanded, if he felt any effects from the Temple yet. He said he didn't, so as they left the apartments and headed cautiously down the stairs, her thoughts went back to Eric.

They found the road outside free of demons, and walked alone past the usual remains of cars and broken glass, and other old thing. Above, dark grey clouds covered the sun and threatened rain.

“Can we get back from here to the meeting point without going through the apartment?” she asked Luke.

“I don't know.” He looked in the direction leading away from the hospital. “I think it turns away from the plaza. At the end.”

“Shit. I was hoping we could pick up a replacement for the trolley in the hospital, but we won't be able to get it through the apartment.”

“I guess we'll just have to figure out a way around that problem when we come to it.”

At the end of the road, they turned right. And there it was, close, path still free of demons: The hospital.

The hospital looked like an irregular collection of boxes: All right angles and square overhangs supported by concrete pillars. It was three floors high at the most, and stretched out for hundreds of metres in both directions. Its white paint was now dirty and chipped, revealed the concrete below.

Out front, a cheery blue sign announced the hospital's name. It had been punctures by a three-inch thick hole.

On the main road just in front of the entrance, there was an ambulance lying on its side. It too had been punctures – a dozen or so holes in the metalwork and rear doors.

Walking around it, Luke froze and raised his gun, then lowered it again. “Look,” he said.

Behind the ambulance there were was another demon dog, lying on the ground with its head at a strange angle. She realised its back had been broken. A little further away there was a second dog. Its head had been twisted off and was lying a couple of feet away from the rest of it.

Finally, there was something else clutched in the mouth of the second dog. A human arm, severed just below the shoulder. The skin on it was young-looking: pale and smooth, save for a few wounds that looked like dog bites. The hand was small, with long, delicate-looking fingers.

It was some of the first human remains she'd seen since she arrived, she realised.

And …

There were something about this hospital. It had a sort of magnetic pull to it. An unplaceable feeling told Jess that it important. Or that there was some
important thing
inside it. Something beyond what they were here to collect. She stared at the building, then shook the feeling off.

They past the ambulance and the dead dogs up to the main entrance. There had been two sets of sliding doors here, but they'd been twisted open, all the safety glass lying in pebbles on the floor.

In the reception area they stopped and checked all the surroundings with guns raised. Then Jess pulled out the list of equipment Dr Patel had given them and skimmed it. Every item came listed under the best place to find it, sometimes with helpful diagrams to show what it looked like.

“Here,” said Luke.

Between the reception desk, with its papers scattered all over the floor, was a message board. On the left was a poster about flu vaccinations and an advert in cheery colours for a “Fun-Run Fundraiser”. On the right was a map.

“So where do we need to go?”

“Surgical department, pharmacy, lab.”

Luke studied the map for a while. “Okay,” he said, and pointed to the right. “That entrance. I think. Yeah. That way, one floor up to the main corridor.” He showed Jess where they were heading. “We should also check out some of the rooms on the way, see if there's a good defensible place to spend the night.”

With the plan in hand, they set off, past the broken set of doors and up a flight of stairs accompanied by a ramp.

The main corridor was dark and immense, stretching off in both directions. There were only a few small windows, and without electrical lighting, great chunks of it were swallowed by shadow. It ran the whole length of the hospital – nearly half a mile – but Jess couldn't see either end clearly.

After a moment Luke stopped. “I know this  might sound silly,” he whispered, slowly raising his pistol, “but did you hear anything just now?”

Jess silently shook her head. But the question reminded her: The presence in her mind hadn't gone away. It was silent, yes – but she could feel it. She could feel it had intentions, thoughts – but she couldn't make out what they were.

They stood in silence for a moment, then Luke started walking again, slowly, quietly.

The next time it came, Jess did hear the noise. It sounded like one of the dogs they'd run into earlier, the same same bark and shriek. Except this time it was cut off halfway through, stopped by a faint but definite crunch.

A second later came a third sound: A long, low groan. It sounded human, and yet not.

Jess and Luke looked over at each other at the same moment. This wasn't a hallucination.

Still, there was nothing to do but carry on, so carry on they did. They walked as quietly as they could down the corridor, pistols ready, prepared to shoot any anything that came their way.  At every side-corridor, Jess half expected to come across some demon. They passed through a section of the corridor that was almost pitch black. Jess became aware of how loud their boots were, squeaking constantly against the rubber floor.

They passed back into a better-lit section of the corridor. Enough to see, at least. Looking round into one the side-corridor, Jess found what she'd been looking for.

It was a cart for carrying medical equipment. With two layers of silvery metal, and a few extra hooks for hanging things on. She gave it an experimental push. Its wheels rattled, but it moved smoothly. In fact, the wheels were bigger than the trolley's had been, so it would be easier to get back.

She wheeled it back into the main corridor. Rattle-rattle-rattle. Luke gave her a look.

“Fuck it,” she said, not whispering. “We're going to have to be loud.”

He looked at the cart and shrugged. “Fair enough.” Then, looking behind her, he saw something. “Look” he said. “This leads to some wards. Let's check them out and see if any of them are a good place to spend the night.”

They set off down the side-corridor. It went a short way down, then turned right into a sort of mini-reception area with a desk, some seats, and doors leading onto the wards.

In front of the desk was a dead dog.

There were three holes down the side of its body, and a final one that seemed to go through its head,  which had torn one of its jaws off. It gave off a sharp smell. It was lying in a pool of its own blood. Still wet, still warm, still fresh.

It was obviously the dog they'd heard a few minutes ago.

There was a trail of blood. Not footsteps – strings of drops, great big smears, sometimes on the floor and sometimes on the walls. Looking up, Jess saw there were even some parts on the ceiling. The trail left away, past the doors to the wards, and down a flight of steps.

“I'm not,” Jess said slowly, “entirely convinced this is the safest place to sleep.”

“Okay, so whatever did this – it might just be an ordinary runner – didn't actually go into any of the wards. And just because it came down this way doesn't mean it will come back.”

“And it might easily go to any other place,” said Jess. “Yeah, I know.” She shrugged.

They checked the each of the wards. In the dim light coming from the small windows, everything looked fairly clean. Some of the beds were upturned and the curtains torn from their railings, but that was it. Two of the doors were broken, but in the other four wards it would be fairly easy to barricade the doors with some of the beds.

Heading back out, they passed the carcass of the dog and agreed they'd keep looking. But if a better option didn't come up, they could easily return here.

They managed to pick up all the equipment on their list without too much trouble, and without running into any demons on the way. First the laparoscopy equipment, which Luke insisted in putting in Jess's backpack where it would be safest. Then Jess pushed on to get the other items on the list: Medication, vaccinations, anaesthetics, needles.

The worst part was having to lift the cart up and down stairs a couple of times.

Jess was with Luke in the back room of the pharmacy, checking for the last of the medicines they needed, when the presence came back.

Came back? Well, it had been there for a while, but she'd been able to ignore it. Now it swelled. She heard whispering, the sort that's just too far away to understand. Her breath caught. The presence, whatever it was, felt like it had uncurled, come out its cocoon, and was crawling like an insect through her mind, investigating.

She put a hand against the wall to steady herself. For a brief moment she felt all the holes across the right side of her body. All of them individually, like they were breathing, like they were looking out into the world.

For a moment she was worried she was going to pass out. Then the feeling retreated.

It left the whispering behind it – but that was all. She supposed the presence – the parasite? – had learned to tread more quietly. But it was still there, still moving.

“Are you okay?” said Luke, looking round the shelf.

“Yeah,” she said. “I just slipped.”

“Alright.” He held up a box of medicine. “Well, I think this is the last of it.”

They checked the items against the list and put them on the cart, then headed out of the pharmacy. From there, they had to carry the cart down a flight of stairs back into the main corridor.

Outside, the sun was going down. With the tiny corridor windows it was getting almost impossible to see anything, so Jess had to pull out the flashlight. Its pale white spot skimmed across the shiny black floor and pale-coloured walls, while Luke held his pistol ready.

“I've been checking a map,” Luke said. “There are some more wards down this way.” He took them to the third side-corridor on the right.

The corridor ended with a T-junction. As they were nearing the end, there came a familiar sound: The shriek-bark of a dog, its paws pounding away on the ground. It was coming from in front of them. Jess let go of the cart and went for her pistol. Luke's was already raised.

The moment the dog rounded the corner from the left, Luke shot it. It yelped, slowed, but continued to amble forwards. Luke moved forward and shot it again in the head. Its skull opened up, and this time it did stop. Its legs crumpled under it, and it skidded to a halt leaving a trail of blood.

As it did so, a second dog came round the corner. Luke's attention was on the first dog, but Jess caught the second one with a bullet to the neck. It slowed enough for Luke to finish it.

They paused for a moment, listening. Nothing. So they slowly advanced to the end of the corridor.

On the left, where the dogs had come from, were the doors to the wards, four on each side. After that, a staircase to the lower levels. On the right was another reception desk. In the pale spots of their flashlights, it all looked relatively clean. They went over to the first of the ward doors .

From the stairwell came another sound – and irregular thumping of something heavy moving. It was accompanied after a moment by a long, low groan.

The dog-killer.

Luke gave Jess a look. Whatever it was, they probably didn't want to run into it. They ran together towards the nearest ward. Luke checked it briefly with his flashlight and pistol. After that he held open the door while Jess pushed the cart through, then pulled it closed behind them.

Another long groan came. The thumping was coming up the stairs.

“Come on,” whispered Luke, jogging towards the back of the ward, behind one of the beds. Jess pushed the cart to one side, then joined him. From here, if the demon did come in, they'd have a good shot at it before it got too close, at least.

Luke shrugged his backpack off and pulled out his machine gun. Yeah, that was probably sensible, though Jess. She did the same.

They crouched behind the bed with the curtain pulled mostly across and waited. In the dark, they shouldn't be too visible.

Thump-thump-thump, went the demon. It groaned. It had reached the top of the stairs now, Jess supposed.

Through the window on the door to the ward, a silhouette appeared. It was hard to make out any detail in the darkness, but it looked incredibly jumbled, almost shapeless. Things that might be limbs spreading out all over the place.