Escaping Demons

Chapter 3

"Brian- ...Were you bitten?" Jane asked again, leaning forward with a more concerned expression. Brian reached for the collar of his shirt, and pulled it away, to show his comparatively massive scars.

"How long do I have?" Brian asked, not making eye contact.

"You won't die," Jane said. "We hadn't gotten to show you what happens when a demon bites someone, but that's solely because of just how much information we've gathered. And... You being bitten shows that it was indeed demons who killed most of the people working that day... means that everyone who was killed, will have he same fate as you."

"You said I wouldn't die!" Brian snapped back, pounding his fist on the table.

"AND YOU WON'T." Jane's calm demeanor all but vanished, as Brian shrunk back into his seat. "IF you would let me FINISH, we now have some work to do." Jane set her satchel on the table, opening it. Pulling out a notebook, she opened it towards the center and began writing something furiously.

"So... what... happens?" Brian asked, still petrified. His fear was only overridden by his curiosity, and the hope that the answer might quell the fear itself. Jane spoke as she wrote,

"Everyone who was bitten by a demon, or ripped to shreds, or anything else, will have less than 12 hours before they turn into one." Brian stared blankly.

"And... that means I'll be one... tomorrow?" Jane shrugged.

"It's more complicated when the victim is still alive. Some will prolong their humanity for up to 6 days, though more often than not they turn after 72 hours. You will likely have that amount of time." Brian sat in silence for a moment, as Jane continued writing. She'd filled a page by now, going to the other side of the page. It was then he also noticed that she was left handed. An unremarkable feat, compared to anything that had just happened within the last 3 hours, but still something he didn't see too often.

"Is that a journal?" Brian asked, not able to see what specifics she was writing.

"It is now," Jane said. "It once was a book of notes, but now it's going to be my continued written documentation of this event."

"If everyone in that parking garage is... going to be a demon tomorrow. What does that mean... for us?" Jane paused, thinking for a moment, before returning to her writing. She replied,

"All of them will likely act as if nothing happened. That tends to happen when demons are trying to fit in." Brian nodded, speaking again.

"So we should return to work tomorrow... as if... nothing happened as well? What does that mean for all of the collected data?"

"Demons don't carry all of a dead human's memory. Only very recent pictures. Therefore, their knowledge is purely face value. They do tend to work in packs, though. It will only be a matter of time before they gain a conscious goal, and work toward it all at once."

"What does that mean for me?" Brian asked.

"You... well, you should be fine," Jane said. "But, with what tests have returned... some results have become inconclusive. Getting answers out of a species so heavily veiled in internal temptation, literally being that temptation, we as bystanders had to take their word as fact. Unfortunately... we still can't read minds."

"I'm going to be fighting temptations... internally?" Brian asked. "Doesn't everyone do that... anyway?" Jane shrugged, giving a 'meh' nod.

"Yes, but... these are, from our reports, much... much worse." Brian slowly nodded, taking a deep breath.

"Well..." He said. "What will we do about the sudden... population of demons living in the heart of a massive city?"

"Protocol states that any infected staff member is still eligible for employment, though must have their personal freedoms limited. More often than not, we track them, and strongly recommend staying away from outsiders as much as possible." Jane paused, and Brian could tell she was thinking about the question.