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Book: Beneath the Flesh: They kept all the demons out … except one by Alex Kings
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Authors: Alex Kings
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to get into a fair fight with.
He eyed Richard with suspicion bordering on contempt. “And who are you?”
“Richard Carter. I'm a representative from Paradise Compound. I thought it would be helpful to see how things are going.”
“We weren't told you'd be coming.”
“The decision was only made a couple of days ago.” Richard gave him a smile tuned to seem friendly but not weak.
The man grunted. “To be expected, I suppose. Name's McAllister.” He offered a crushing handshake. A guard came up and offered the trade letter. McAllister took it, then turned back to Richard. “Come with me.”
Richard had never been to Foxglove before. He'd come to Paradise Compound by a different route, and from what he'd heard, he didn't want to make this his new home anytime soon. Foxglove's population was high than Paradise, but its insistence on continuing salvage trips into Bridgham and elsewhere meant it also lost people at a higher rate.
As he followed McAllister down the street, he did notice a few gardens here and there – they were growing food in Foxglove, but nowhere near as much as Paradise.
McAllister led him into a terraced house, the front room of which seemed to have been converted into a sort of office. There he made Richard wait in the hall for twenty minutes while he read the letter (which, Richard though, shouldn't have taken more than five minutes). At last he opened the door and asked him to come in.
He dropped the letter on the desk. “Did you write this?”
“No. This was written by our trading manager, Jessica Monet.”
McAllister acknowledged this with a brief nod. “Well, you bear it anyway. You accuse us of breaking the agreement. We're not. We will hold to our trade agreement until it ends, for the next month. Then we will renegotiate. We can no longer import enough food at such inflated prices from Paradise, do you understand?”
“Of course,” said Richard. He was not here to argue for Paradise Compound's trade policy – he didn't much care, but if McAllister wanted to try and engage him on the issue, he wouldn't stop him.
“I will explain all this in my reply of course,” said McAllister. “But you should know that our administration is quickly becoming sick of your compound's antics.” He sighed. “Is there anything else you wanted to represent to us?”
Richard shook his head.
“Very well. You will remain in the same rooms as the drivers until it is time to leave. You may not wander around the compound at your leisure. Is that understood?”
“Perfectly.”
Chapter 14
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
He eyed Richard with suspicion bordering on contempt. “And who are you?”
“Richard Carter. I'm a representative from Paradise Compound. I thought it would be helpful to see how things are going.”
“We weren't told you'd be coming.”
“The decision was only made a couple of days ago.” Richard gave him a smile tuned to seem friendly but not weak.
The man grunted. “To be expected, I suppose. Name's McAllister.” He offered a crushing handshake. A guard came up and offered the trade letter. McAllister took it, then turned back to Richard. “Come with me.”
Richard had never been to Foxglove before. He'd come to Paradise Compound by a different route, and from what he'd heard, he didn't want to make this his new home anytime soon. Foxglove's population was high than Paradise, but its insistence on continuing salvage trips into Bridgham and elsewhere meant it also lost people at a higher rate.
As he followed McAllister down the street, he did notice a few gardens here and there – they were growing food in Foxglove, but nowhere near as much as Paradise.
McAllister led him into a terraced house, the front room of which seemed to have been converted into a sort of office. There he made Richard wait in the hall for twenty minutes while he read the letter (which, Richard though, shouldn't have taken more than five minutes). At last he opened the door and asked him to come in.
He dropped the letter on the desk. “Did you write this?”
“No. This was written by our trading manager, Jessica Monet.”
McAllister acknowledged this with a brief nod. “Well, you bear it anyway. You accuse us of breaking the agreement. We're not. We will hold to our trade agreement until it ends, for the next month. Then we will renegotiate. We can no longer import enough food at such inflated prices from Paradise, do you understand?”
“Of course,” said Richard. He was not here to argue for Paradise Compound's trade policy – he didn't much care, but if McAllister wanted to try and engage him on the issue, he wouldn't stop him.
“I will explain all this in my reply of course,” said McAllister. “But you should know that our administration is quickly becoming sick of your compound's antics.” He sighed. “Is there anything else you wanted to represent to us?”
Richard shook his head.
“Very well. You will remain in the same rooms as the drivers until it is time to leave. You may not wander around the compound at your leisure. Is that understood?”
“Perfectly.”
Chapter 14
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
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