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

spider leg.
     
    She prodded experimentally at the hole where it had vanished. Nothing happened, as if the leg, or feeler, or whatever it was, had never been. She sighed, and went on washing.
     
    Soon after she'd dressed and slid the bucket back under her bed, there came a knock at the door. Then, from the other side came Luke's voice: “It's me.”
     
    Jess surged forward to open the door. As soon as he was inside, she bolted it up again.
     
    Luke had untidy black hair and verging-on-untidy black stubble. He was about her height – not short, but average. Jess was the tall one. And he had in her opinion, an unreasonably nice jawline. And today he looked upset over something. She remembered the gunfire that had woken her.
     
    “What happened?” she asked.
     
    “Nothing, really.”
     
    She gave him a look. “You've got some blood on your collar.”
     
    He glanced at the stain she'd pointed to, then, looking defeated, turned back to her.
     
    “We had a runner get through,” he said. “It got Tom. You know Tom?”
     
    She had done, though not very well. “Shit,” she muttered.
     
    Luke stiffened, like he was trying to brush off his previous show of emotion. “Well, it happens.”
     
    She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. For a while, they said nothing, just standing together and kissing occasionally. She wished she could stay like this forever, but eventually she had to pull away. There was still stuff to do.
     
    They left her room holding hands and headed towards the outer compound.
     
    Paradise Compound had been part of a village, once. Nothing spectacular – houses and shops, maybe a couple of hundred metres across. It was small enough to wall off and clear of demons. Some of the houses had remained as houses, Others had been converted to other uses – food stores, meeting rooms, and even a couple of offices to organise trade. The fences between gardens had been pulled down, and the soil turned into allotments. Over time, with skill, new buildings had been built, like the incinerator. People had put together a system for getting fresh water, for disposing of waste. For surviving.
     
    It was structured around two zones: The inner compound sat in the middle of the outer compound, enclosed in a second wall. It held the homes, the infirmary, some long-term food stores, and a cache of weapons. Everything else – the allotments, other food stores, garages, loading areas, and office huts – was in the outer zone. The idea was that if there should be a breach in the outer wall, if runners and beasts should come through in force, all the most important stuff would still be protected by the inner wall, the inhabitants wouldn't get killed in their sleep, and things might just be salvageable.
     
    A lot of effort, perhaps. But the sort of people who survived the collapse tended to be those who made plans for every eventuality, whose foresight bordered in paranoia.
     
    “Remember our appointment?” Luke said.
     
    She gave him her best hopeful smile. The question didn't need an answer.
     
    “We might actually get all this sorted out,” he said. “When Patel's got what she needs, we might finally be able to –” He paused, taking a moment to see if anyone was in earshot. “– get that thing out of you.”
     
    “Yeah,” she said. Then, in case he might feel that was ungrateful, added: “That'll be nice.”
     
    They passed through the inner gate. It was a door of black metal bars – smaller than the outer gate, not meant for vehicles. Easier to close.
     
    She tried pushing the conversation to a different direction: “What's your next shift, anyway?”
     
    “Maintenance.” He scowled briefly, but it wasn't serious.
     
    She gave him a grin. “Good luck with that.”
     
    “At least it's not more guard duty. Not till Wednesday.”
     
    “What about you?”
     
    “I've got all of today and tomorrow taken up working with that.” She gestured at the delivery van in the