Beneath the Flesh: They kept all the demons out … except one by Alex Kings Page A

dead.
     
    Not all demons were infectious. Most weren't, in fact – most of them were simply aggressive. But a small portion held a fluid called demon blood , which could infect any living animal and, over the course of a few minutes to an hour, begin the transformation into a demon.
     
    And runners – well, you couldn't call them walkers when they were that fast, could you? But people needed a term to distinguish the demons which had once been human from all the others.
     
    At least the attacks weren't getting worse. For the past year and a half Luke had lived in Paradise Compound, things had been steady. Their precautions had got more sophisticated, and deaths had become less common. Even in the face of apocalypse, daily life had kept going.
     
    There wasn't time to dwell on this too much, though, because there was more stuff to do. The commander had them ready their weapons again and spend a few seconds searching the van to make sure there wasn't anything else hiding. When the search turned up clean, and the van rumbled off toward to loading area, they busied themselves taking the remains to the incinerator to prepare for the funeral.
     
    “We're getting soft,” said Mike to no-one in particular as they carried what was left of Tom's body. “Letting soft people in. That's the fucking problem.”
     
    Luke said nothing. Mike wasn't his favourite person.
     
    “They're gonna fucking drag us down, get us all killed,” continued Mike. With Luke's help, he dumped the body in the storage room next to the incinerator. “They'll be making friends with the fucking demons next.”
     
    Once they were finished, they were allowed to sign their names on the roster and clock out.

Chapter 2
     
     
    Bad dreams:
     
    Her flesh bubbling up and erupting, growing into something new. Holding people she loved down with claws or chitinous legs, tearing away pieces of them while they screamed and begged. Limbs – whose? – twisting round, twisting off, leaving rags of meat that clutched at the air like new hands. And –
     
    Jess woke shivering. A familiar, icy pain swept in waves down the right side of her body, receding after a few seconds to a dull ache. She lay still, listening intently. Not too far away came the sound of gunfire in repeated bursts. Then silence.
     
    She summoned up enough energy to pull herself out of bed. The room was tiny: Barely big enough to hold the bed and the bucket of water. A small unmarked door by the foot of her bed with a bolt. But it was private, which by the standard of the compound made it a luxury.
     
    A thin stream of light trickled through the window up high, just about illuminating all the greys and browns of the walls and floor.
     
    And all the holes in her right arm.
     
    They weren't sores, or spots, or anything like that. Just holes, maybe a millimetre across, circled by a ring or firm, slightly raised skin. But they were deep, too deep to see the bottom, and packed densely. They started halfway between her wrist and her elbow and continued in a dense, random pattern all the way up to her shoulder – then past her shoulder, down the side of her body, covering part of her belly, and ending just above her hip.
     
    When they're started appearing, just under her ribcage, she hadn't been able to look at them. That was three months ago, at least. Now she inspected them every morning with a sort of resigned, morbid curiosity, interested to see how far they'd spread.
     
    The compound had showers – even with warmish water now – but they were communal, so she washed alone with the bucket of water and a couple of cloths. It was easier this way.
     
    Just past her belly, her hand brushed against something – a light presence, but dry, cold and prickly. She jolted her hand back and stared, just in time to see whatever it was retreating back though one of the holes just below her ribcage. It was gone too quickly for her to get a good look at it, but the it made her think of a long, thin