Beneath the Flesh: They kept all the demons out … except one (8 page)

The ward was still quite dark when Jess woke. She checked her watch. 8:12. Not still dark then – it was just that the ward window, like most of the windows in the hospital, didn't let in enough light.

Luke was already moving behind her. “You awake?” he murmured.

“Yeah.”

“Three hours until we meet with the van.”

Slightly less than three hours – but it was more than enough time.

“I think we should get out of here as soon as we can,” said Luke. “With whatever we saw last night, it's probably safer out there than in here.” Already he'd slid off the bed and was getting his stuff together.

Jess sat up and rubbed her right arm. It was aching, but that was normal. She felt almost like there was something they'd forgotten. Seeing that Luke has caught sight of what she was doing, she said, “I'm good, don't worry.”

“Are you sure?”

“I'm sure.”

He didn't look convinced.

Anyway. Something they'd forgotten. Or, at least, there something important here, lying around the hospital.

She got up, pulled back the curtain around the bed, and went over to the cart holding the stuff they'd collected. From her pocket she pulled out the list of stuff Dr Patel had given to her, then began checking it against what they'd collected.

Luke was ready before she was half done. “Is everything alright?” he said.

“Yeah,” she said. “I just want to make sure we're not missing anything. Better realise it now then when we're back home, right?”

“Fair enough.” He went and started pulling away the beds they'd used to block the door.

But at the end of the search, it seemed like they had everything they needs, plus extra. She began to search again, but seeing Luke ready and waiting made her stop. No, it was something else.

Was it something they'd forgotten? No, that's didn't feel right.
Something important
felt better.

She didn't want to delay things, though, and she knew Luke was right – it was better to get out of here. “Okay,” she told him. “We're good. Let's go.”

They headed out with Luke leading. His machine gun was ready again. Jess followed with the cart, flashlight in one hand, pistol ready in its holster.

Her mind was still running through it. Something important. Something important.

Oh shit.

The realisation made it feel like her insides were made of ice. The presence. The parasite. Maybe it was suggesting stuff to her.

They rounded a corner into the main corridor. Even at this hour, in the full sun, it was poorly lit and full of dark sections.

Could she communicate with the presence? It was worth a shot. She could still feel it moving in her, just about. She concentrated on it, tried to push it with her thoughts. If she could feel it, maybe it could feel her.

It shifted. A response, or just another movement? She tried thinking about this need for
something important
that was bugging her. Then about the presence again. The need. The presence.

It responded.

Perhaps.

It turned over in her mind. Wriggled. It felt there was something important out there too. But it didn't seem to be manipulating it. It didn't seem smart enough.

On the other hand, if it
was
manipulating her, it would want her to think it exactly that.

On the other-other hand (the hand made of spider-legs coming out of your arm, she joked to herself), if it could manipulate her, why would it let her feel any suspicion at all?

She decided to herself that she wanted to see what was so important in any case.

Which was useful, because at that moment they passed a side corridor, and she realised
it's down there.

Yes, that was it. There was something important down that corridor. She knew she could choose to walk away if she wanted – the same way someone might choose to walk away from an interview before the fall. She was in control, but she was still aware of its importance.

They passed the corridor.

She stopped.

A moment later, Luke stopped. He turned. “What is it?”

Well, this should be fun to explain,
she thought. “There's something down this way.”

He cocked his head. “Okay?”

“Don't ask me how I know. I just do, alright?”

He was silent for a moment. “Jess, we need to get out of here as quickly as possible.”

“I know. I know … but there's something we should look at.”

“Like what?”

Wonderful.
“I don't know what exactly. But I want to see what it is.”

Now he looked worried.

“Look,” she said quickly. “I think with the parasite, I can feel things through it. It sees something important – important to demons – so I can see it too.”

Luke held his hands out. “Okay, look, I believe you. But important to demons? Doesn't that mean lethal to us?”

“Maybe it means something that can hurt them, or stop them. Or something that helps us understand them.”

“That's kind of a long shot, don't you think? And what about that demon we saw last night – what if we run into it again?”

“Yeah, it's a long shot. And if our moaning friend was chasing us right now, I'd drop it. But he's not, and we have a chance to do something.”

Luke looked at her, his jaw tensed.  “Okay,” he said at last. “Let's have a look.” He walked around her and went into the side corridor. “Come on”

“Thank you,” she said, following him.

They headed down the side-corridor. On Jess's instruction, they took a left, headed that way for a short while, then a right.

That led them into a children's ward. There were cute, brightly-coloured murals on the walls, bad drawings in frames, some bright plastic toys, some broken. And, on top of a hopscotch grid painted onto the floor, the carcass of a dog lay in a puddle of its own blood. This one, at least, wasn't fresh. It stank of rot, but a sort of rot that was sickly sweet and cloying.

Jess tried to ignore all the bright colours, what they meant, and instead concentrated on the
important thing
.

“Here,” she said, leading the way through a door on the far side of the room.

The room was lined with small beds, four on each side. It reeked too. Something meaty clung to the two walls, part of the floor, and one overturned bed.

“Christ,” said Luke.

A little red plastic box with a clip-on lid was lying on floor by the overturned bed. It was the sort of thing a child might use to hold their lunch in.

And just beyond it, lying near by outside the fleshy substance on the wall, was the important thing.

It was small – about the same size and shape as an egg, with sort of transparent hooked tendril either end. It was a sort of golden-brown colour, almost like maple syrup. Dry to the touch, smooth without being slippery, cold. It gave slightly under Jess's fingers, and she got the impression it was a flexible casing full of some liquid.

As she held it, she felt the presence again, gently turning over. It felt the egg too.

She held it out on the palm of your hand. “This is it.”

Luke stared at it. “What is it?”

“I still don't know exactly.” She rolled the egg about and passed it from one hand to another. “I'd guess it's some chemical important to demons.”

“What?”

“Like demon blood.”

Most demons weren't infectious; most simply attacked. But the few that were injected their victims with a substance called demon blood. A few hours after injection, the transformation began.

“So you're saying this is demon blood?” said Luke.

“No, It's the wrong colour. I'm saying it might be
like
demon blood. Look, the blood is a substance that governs how demons are created, right? Maybe there are other substances that tell them how to interact. Something the temples create. And if it is, we might be able to use it against them.”

“How can you know?”

“It's got to be something. Otherwise why would this fellow –” Jess gestured to the right half of her body. “– get so worked up about it?”

“Okay, supposing you're right. What is this thing attracts demons? What if that's its purpose? That makes sense, if it attracted your parasite. If we brought it back to Paradise Compound, the place could get swarmed by them.”

“How many demons are in this hospital? Just the big guy with the arms and a few dogs. We're not being swarmed.”

“Okay, but you get my point. It might be dangerous. It's more likely to be dangerous than not! I mean, it's a demon creation for crying out loud! Do you really think it's worth the risk?”

“But –”

“No. I'm not going to take it back. It stays here. Let's just go. Please.”

Jess swallowed. “Okay,” she said. “Yeah, let's go.” She gently put the egg back on the ground. Richard turned and headed out of the room.

As he was going, she very quickly ducked down and grabbed the egg and the with it, the little plastic box. The egg went in her pocket it, and the box with the rest of the equipment on the cart.

As they passed through the children's ward, seeing a moment where Luke wasn't likely to turn around, she slipped the egg into the plastic box, and the plastic box into her backpack.

That was it, then. Done. They were ready to leave.

Ahead of them, in the direction of the main corridor, came a groan. It was very close.

They came to a dead halt. Luke's machine gun, already ready, aimed at the door to the ward. Jess readied her pistol, one hand still on the cart. If she lost it during the fight, the entire trip would be pointless.

Thump-thump-thump came the demon down the corridor towards them. By the sound, she guessed it was moving briskly – a jogging pace, perhaps, not a run.

Luke moved forward and pulled the door to the children's ward closed. “Anywhere we can hide?” said Luke, looking around.

There was the room they'd just come from. A dead-end. There were other doors that looked like they led to similar rooms.

And there was what looked like it might be another exit.

“You go through first,” said Luke.

Jess pushed the cart to the door and tried the handle. The door opened fine. As it did, she noticed there was what looked like a lock on the other side. She called to Luke –

And the demon swung into the children's ward.

Not a demon, she thought. A monster. This wasn't something to be classed with demons.

It looked more human than any runner she'd seen before – and yet utterly inhuman. From the chest upwards, it was a man – intact, with a tangle of messy hair and an unkempt beard.

But below that, its flesh erupted into a great tumorous mass of discoloured and folded and ridged flesh, sprouting a dozen or so arms from all directions. Some looked young and delicate; others would bodybuilders to shame. All had too many elbow joints, to the point where they looked more like tentacles than arms. The hand on each one – a different number of fingers every time – clenched and unclenched if it wasn't holding on to something.

With these arms the monster supported itself, with hands resting against the floor or holding onto the wall or ceiling. Elsewhere, there were stumps where arms had once been – he must be growing them all the time, she realised.

There were other things coming out of that great mass too. Jess saw lipless mouths, teeth without mouths, ears, lone twitching fingers, and eyes – eyes all focussing on her or Luke.

The original face, displayed a constantly changing contorted expression – intense rage, aggression, fear – and, Jess thought, surprise at what had happened to him.

Luke fired. The clatter of the machine gun filled the room.  Casing bounced across the floor. A string of bloody holes appeared across the demon's front – but already it was moving.

It moved too fast for Luke to get a good aim on its head, and damage done to its arms barely slowed it down. In less than a second it was halfway across the room, reaching out for Luke. He was smart enough to retreat, to start running across the ward towards the exit.

While he ran, Jess took shots at the monster, trying to aim for its hands and wrists where it was supporting itself. Out of four shots, one hit true, shattering the hand – but another two arms came down immediately to replace it.

Then Luke was through the door. He grabbed it to steady himself as he passed, then slammed it shut just as the monster reached it.

Jess reached up and twisted what she thought was the lock. A fraction of a second later, the monster smashed into the door.

That first hit was enough to make some part of the door crack. It was obvious the door wasn't going to hold for very long.

“Shoot again or run?” asked Jess.

“Run,” gasped Luke.

She went first, running down the dark, unknown corridor, while Luke tailed, gun ready in case the monster came after them again. It continued to hit the door – and they could hear it breaking a little more each time.

Jess turned left at the of the corridor, and a few seconds later she heard Luke shout, “Stop!”

She fought against the cart's momentum and brought it to a halt. “What?”

“Map,” gasped Luke. He was already studying it, muttering to himself, “Come on, come, where are we?”

Behind them came another crash against the door. Something cracked and splintered. A few seconds later it was followed by a final, louder crash – the sound of the door bursting open.

“Okay, got it,” said Luke. “There's a side exit this way. Next right.”

The monster thumped down the corridor behind them. Jess grabbed the cart and pushed it down the route Luke told her.

“You know,” she called back to him, “even if we get outside, it could still go after us And then we wouldn't have doors to hide behind.”

“Yeah. So we stay inside? Can we lose it that way?”

From the sound of the monster's steps and groans, it was gaining on them.

“Turn here!”

Jess did. The turn opened onto another reception area: a standard looking desk in front of some intact glass sliding doors. Down by one side was a door leading back into the building.

Outside on the path a demon dog stepped into view, its wet grey skin glistening in the morning sun. A moment later it was joined by two others. A fourth and fifth. Then more. Their mouths opened to bare oversized teeth.. These were same pack that had blocked their way previously, Jess realised.

“I guess that way's out,” said Luke, heading towards the door back into the hospital. “Come on!”

The monster thumped along the corridor. It was nearly upon them.

Jess gave the cart a push towards the door Luke was waiting by, then dropped it, letting it sail under its own momentum. She ran behind the desk. The chair!

She picked it up and hurled at the sliding doors. It went through with an ear-splitting crash, raining pebbles of safety glass on the path outside. The dogs slipped out the way, then began to race through the hole.

“Hurry!” said Luke.

Jess moved from behind the desk, between him and the dogs. “It's okay,” she said.

The dogs moved towards her at first. She put a hand on her pistol, just in case her feeling was wrong.

But the dogs didn't attack. They stared at her, then turned back towards the corridor the monster was coming from. She felt it through the presence in her mind. She'd asked, and they'd answered. That's why they'd come to her. They'd felt her here when she picked up the egg.

The monster came thumping into the reception area to find the dogs already facing it.

For a moment everything was still, as monster and dogs stared at each other.

The dogs moved first. The closest pair leapt up together, teeth bared. The monster speared one and snapped the other's neck with a giant hand. Both fell, dead, before they even reached their target.

But the dogs behind them were undeterred. The leapt too. They bounded around behind the monster and attacked there. They dodged attacks and snapped at too-close hands. They swarmed.

Half of them died before they could even bite. But the monster only had one spear, only so much attention. Some got through. They came back with torn off fingers, hands, entire sections of arm.

It wasn't enough. The monster could stand the loss of those limbs. It could keep going. It killed another dog in midair, and hurled the carcass into the pack hard enough to snap the bones of the dogs that got in the way.

“
Come on,
”hissed Luke. “
While they're busy!
”

But Jess couldn't. Some part of her refused to budge She'd needed the dogs' help; now they needed hers.

And the monster was still occupied, but wouldn't be for long.

She took out her pistol, aimed at the human head, walked up as close as she dared …

The head saw her. It moaned. Its arms raised another carcass, ready to throw at her.

She fired. Again and again, until the pistol was empty.

The arms holding the carcass twitched and dropped. The tongue-tentacle went limp. The cluster of arms sagged. And the head didn't look so human anymore, missing its most of its cheek, half its jaw, and a good chunk of skull.

With the monster like this, the surviving dogs took the opportunity to pile onto it, savaging and tearing its flesh wherever they could reach it.

Only then did Jess realise something was tickling her skin. She looked down to see three spider-legs slipping out of her cuff. She could feel more beneath the fabric, looking for ways out. Another couple slide out from beneath her collar.

“We need to go,” said Luke, moving behind her with his machine gun aimed at the monster.

“Yeah,” she said. “Okay, I –”

With a great crash, dog bodies flew outwards to smash against the walls or tumble over the desk. The monster – it was up again. Barely – its human head was just a ragged lump of flesh; more than half its arms had gone. But its tongue-tentacle was still attached, and from the bleeding mass of its body, new hands were emerging.

It stumbled after a dog, fell upon it. The log leapt up, big one of the remaining hands. For a moment, it looked like it might win, until the tongue-tentacle slipped out and speared its head. Another two dogs came running up.

It wouldn't be enough. The monster would kill them and go back to healing.

Jess stepped forward while its attention was still on the dogs. She didn't know why, but she knew she had to. It killed one, turned towards to other.

One of the spider legs flicked forward, and its tip, a tiny fang, hit the monster's torso.

The monster killed to dog. It turned towards Jess. Its tongue-tentacle raised, shook, raised again. Just a few more seconds for the poison to work …

Luke shot it. It stumbled back, then turned its attention to him.

Then it collapsed. The remaining limbs went limp, and it fell into a bloodied pile. Something inside wheezed, and the tumorous flesh wheezed and deflated, giving off a stench of rotting meat.

“Holy shit,” said Luke. He kept his gun trained on the thing, then raised it towards some of the surviving dogs who approached.

“Don't,” said Jess.

The dogs ambled over the carcasses of their fellows, over the remains of the monster, and began to eat.

“What the fuck was that?” said Luke, staring at the spider-legs as they retreated through Jess's sleeve and collar.

She paused for a moment, feeling them slide over he skin and finally vanish inside her.  “I think I'm poisonous,” she said with a faint smile. “Look, I have some ideas, but …” she checked her watch. “Shit. We need to get going now. We've got twenty minutes.”