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| Bob had been dreaming about game cubes and users when he awoke by the sounds of banging on the far side of his apartment. Looking up from his pillow, he frowned. What was that? The banging continued, growing more frantic all the while. Finally he sat up and clapped his hands twice. The lights in the room flashed on and he climbed out of bed, scratching himself as he made his way to the wall. Then he realized that was the wall connecting him to Billy’s apartment. That woke him up. Grabbing a pair of pants, he pulled them on and burst into the hallway, not bothering to throw on a shirt. Standing in front of Billy’s door he kicked at it viciously and it flew open, the lock shattering on the ground. Groping for a lightswitch, he flicked it on. Billy sat huddled on the ground by the connecting wall, trembling hands covering her head. She looked up as he walked further into the room. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?” he demanded, looking around. “I-I…” she began, and he started searching the apartment, flicking on all the lights as he went. Finally he returned to the room. “Daemon vidwindowed me,” she said hurriedly. “She knows where I am, Bob! She knows where I am!” “Okay, calm down,” he said, putting his hands on her shoulders. “What did she say?” “She said she was after something and that I knew what it was, and then she said she could see me, and I know she was watching me from somewhere, over there-“ she pointed at the glass wall overlooking the city. “-and I was afraid she’d do something if I screamed so I banged the walls and I don’t know what to do-“ She continued stammering and he started leading her to the couch. “Relax,” he instructed, seating her down. “Breath Billy, I need you to relax. Is that all that happened?” She gave him a withering look. “‘All’? That was plenty enough for me!” “I didn’t mean that. Was that the whole conversation?” “Pretty much, yeah-“ “Okay then.” He released her and started pacing the room. This upset him just as much as it did her. “Did she bring up the thing about earlier this night?” Billy nodded. “Then she has to be in one of our friends’ bodies. We were the only ones there. It wasn’t me, I was sleeping, and it couldn’t have been you since she called you.” Just the thought gave them both the shivers. “I don’t want to stay in here alone,” she said finally. “Who lives nearest here?” “The others live in the same area,” Bob replied, “like a grouping. The closest would be Dot and Enzo.” The minute the words left his mouth, they both looked at each other. “Here,” he said, “sleep in my apartment, you can take the bed- don’t worry, I’ll use the couch. I don’t want you in here alone.” She nodded, grabbing a blanket off her own couch. “Thank you so much. I don’t think I can stand being in here alone for another minute.” Grabbing her things, she followed Bob out of her room and down the hall, just now noticing that he was shirtless. Smiling secretly to herself, she walked into his apartment, hugging her things against her chest. “The bedroom’s over there,” Bob pointed, “I’ll sleep in the front room. Are you going to be okay?” She nodded. “Yeah, don’t worry about me. Thanks for…everything.” “No problem.” He was just beginning to be conscious of his bare chest, and started fidgeting as he grabbed a blanket to lay on the couch. “Good night.” She smiled. “Night.” Turning, she headed for the bedroom as Bob turned out the lights in the front room. The bedroom was still lit as she walked in, closing the door behind her. Throwing her stuff on the foot of the bed, she sat down and slowly breathed in. Thankfully there were no window-walls in this particular apartment. Sitting there for awhile, not yet turning out the lights, she brought up a vidwindow and called Turbo. It took awhile for him to answer and when he did, he looked tired, like as if she had woken him up. He squinted at the vidwindow. “Billy? Why you calling so late? Got any news?” “Yeah. It’s Daemon, for sure.” “Oh? What happened?” Billy took a deep breath before explaining the whole story to him, taking care to keep her voice down and not wake Bob in the next room. When she was finished, Turbo was frowning, and wide awake. “I see,” she said, after she stopped talking. “Well take care of yourself. It’s going to be awhile before we send backup and if we do it now, Daemon will get suspicious and do something drastic. Watch out and be on the alert. I’ll contact you tomorrow with an update.” She nodded. “Okay. Good night.” He smiled comfortingly. “Everything’s gonna be okay. Sleep tight.” He cut the connection, leaving her alone in the room, huddled on the bed. Finally she brought up enough courage to climb under the covers and turn out the light, listening to the silence around her, wondering if she would get to sleep. She did eventually, her dreams haunting her with the same faces that haunted her every night, the same faces she had seen before Daemon had killed them. “What!” Dot exclaimed, “What happened?!” Bob sat in front of her desk, trying to figure out the best way to explain. “Daemon vidwindowed Billy last night,” he said. “Somehow Daemon was watching her from somewhere while she was making the call. Billy was so scared she banged on the wall for help and I went in. I couldn’t leave her alone, so I brought her into my apartment to spend the night.” Dot’s face snapped up. “What! You let her into your apartment! How could you do that?” The two were in Dot’s office in the Principal Office, alone. In a few minutes the rest were supposed to meet them to discuss what had happened, and Bob had gone there earlier to give Dot the details on what had happened. “She didn’t do anything,” Bob said, almost too sternly. “She’s not Daemon, Dot.” “How do you know? She could’ve just made up that story about the vidwindow just to get in your apartment. Besides…” she trailed off at a loss for words. “She…she could have…” Bob shook his head. “Dot, she didn’t try anything if that’s what you’re worried about.” “But I AM!” He was starting to get impatient. “Look, right now that really doesn’t matter,” he said. “The point is, I believe her when she says she’s not Daemon. What I am worried about is that one of us has to be Daemon if not her. It’s not me, I know that, so that’s two people. The whole group was the only ones there that night.” “Are you saying that I’M Daemon?” “No! Dot, will you listen to me? Instead of arguing about Billy and me, we should be arguing about who Daemon’s new host is.” Dot sighed and put her head in her hands. “Bob…I just don’t know what to think right now. I know that I can’t judge Billy right now, but I feel skeptic about all this. I-“ The door opened then, cutting her off, and they both looked to see Mouse, Ray, Matrix, AndrAIa, and Billy all walk in. “We came as soon as we heard,” AndrAIa said. Matrix noticed the looks on Bob and Dot’s faces. “Are you two okay?” he asked. “Fine,” Dot said quickly, stepping around her desk. “Come on in, guys, let’s get started, shall we?” “I filled them in on everything,” Billy spoke up, looking at Bob. “I thought they should know what we were up against instead of re-explaining everything now.” Bob nodded. “Okay.” He turned to the others as they all seated themselves in chairs. “What do you guys think of all this?” “Shocking,” Mouse replied. “I really don’t know how to react.” “Does this mean Daemon is one of us?” Ray asked. Dot nodded. “As much as I hate that idea, I’m afraid so. Unless someone else was there at the site last night.” “Just that drained binome,” Mouse said. She looked over at AndrAIa when the game sprite shifted in her seat. “You okay, honey?” “I’m fine,” AndrAIa said. “I’m just a little nauseous. Probably from the sight of that binome.” “Either that or you and Matrix have been-“ “Okay!” Bob interrupted. “Carrying on.” He looked at Billy. “Is there anything else? Anything you maybe left out accidentally or something?” Billy couldn’t help but notice Dot glowering at her from her position behind the desk. Frowning, she said, “no, not that I’m aware of.” “So what are we going to do?” Ray asked. He glanced over at AndrAIa, who seemed to be slouching a little bit in her chair, her face slightly pale. He frowned at her, causing everyone else to turn in her direction. “Whoa,” Dot said, “are you okay AndrAIa?” She walked over to her. “You don’t look so good.” “I’m okay,” AndrAIa said, her voice sounding faint. Matrix was immediately at her side. “You should maybe eat something, or go lie down,” he said, “I can take you back to our place-“ “No, it’s okay.” She stood up. “Let me just wash up, maybe I will make me feel better.” Despite her encouraging smile, she looked ready to faint. “Bathroom’s down the hall,” Dot directed, pointing. “Do you want someone to go with you?” “No, I’m fine,” AndrAIa, insisted, leaving the room. As she stepped out into the hall she nearly fell against the side walls, dizziness sweeping over her. She had never felt so sick in her life. Reaching the bathroom she stumbled inside, the door swinging closed behind her. Walking up to the mirror, she leaned heavily against the sink, her pale face looking back at her. “What’s wrong with me?” she asked herself, running cold water and splashing it on her face. For a minute of standing there, the sick feeling started going away and she started to relax. She was just about to turn and leave when a horrible pain struck her inside and she nearly collapsed, falling against the sink, struggling to keep her balance. Clenching her teeth tightly and trying not to cry out, she waited for the pain to subside. But it didn’t and she found her grip on the sink loosening and her legs collapsing. Suddenly she blacked out entirely, but her body straightened up and smiled at herself in the mirror. Her eyes flashed. Daemon admired herself in the mirror, then stepped back, testing her balance in the new body. It had taken quite awhile for her to take over completely, and AndrAIa hadn’t known at all she had been inside her all this time. Reaching for a towel, she dried her face and tried to rub the paleness out of it. Satisfied, she threw the towel on the floor and left the bathroom. After AndrAIa had left, Dot’s office remained silent for quite some time, no one knowing quite what to say. Billy was the first to speak. “I think we all need to be careful,” she said. “I don’t think Daemon is inside any of us because if she was, you wouldn’t be yourselves right now.” “How do you know?” Dot spoke up. Billy looked at her levelly. “Because,” she said, “I think we both know, Dot. When Daemon was inside us, we had no control. And to outsiders, we were nothing like ourselves at the time.” Dot didn’t reply. She stared at the top of the desk. Just then the office door opened and they all looked to see AndrAIa walk into the room, staggering a bit. Matrix was the first out of his chair. “Are you okay?” he asked, approaching her. She smiled at him. “Yeah, I’m fine. I think it was just nausea from the binome thing last night. It really has me shaken up.” “We can see that,” Ray said. “Are you okay now?” She nodded. “I’m okay.” She seated herself back in her chair and watched as the others took back their seats. “What did I miss?” “Nothing,” Dot replied. “I think I’m going to call this meeting off. Everyone…just be careful, okay?” “Don’t worry,” Bob said, kneeling down and kissing her. “I’ve got to go and scout out around the 8-ball apartment, make sure everything’s secure.” He nodded at the others. “You all watch out.” They all stood up to leave, but Dot remained in her chair. She looked worriedly at AndrAIa. “Are you sure you’re okay?” AndrAIa nodded again. “Don’t worry about me. Worry about yourselves.” She smiled. Dot smiled back. “You too.” AndrAIa got up and turned, leaving with the rest. She couldn’t help smiling as she closed the door behind her, leaving Dot behind in the room, totally oblivious to what was around her. Billy had managed to regain courage to enter her apartment again. The first thing she did, though, was drape a heavy, thick curtain over the far window-wall. Satisfied with that, she checked the rest of the apartment, making sure everything was intact. After that, she took a quick shower. In her room while she changed, she thought about what had just gone through. Were they going to find Daemon? Were they going to be able to defeat her this time? Just then a vidwindow popped up, surprising her. Luckily she was wearing her robe, but that seemed barely was enough. Leaping back she screamed as Turbo’s face appeared. “Turbo!” she shouted, “ever thought of ringing first?” “Sorry,” he said, “is this an inconvenience?” She folded her arms. “Yeah, but what do you need?” “I’m sending a detector over,” he said. A mini-window popped open underneath and his hand appeared through it, a device in his hand. Frowning, she took it and his hand disappeared. “It goes off whenever a virus is around it,” he explained. “Carry it everywhere with you and you should know who’s Daemon.” She grinned. “Wow, where did you get this? And why didn’t you give this to me when I first left?” He shrugged. “I don’t know, must have slipped my mind.” “Sure, whatever.” She put the device on the nearby table. “Well, thanks.” “No problem. Contact me whenever there’s more trouble.” “Without hesitation.” He smiled and the vidwindow disappeared. Daemon followed Matrix back to where he and AndrAIa lived, but on the way, she felt chills, the same kind she had when she had first seen Matrix all those years ago. It made her excited. She had never felt this way before. “So, what do you think about this whole Daemon thing?” she asked him casually. “I don’t know,” he replied. “What about you? Still shaken up?” “No,” she replied, “I’m fine. When Daemon had infected Billy, what did you think about her? I mean not Billy, but Daemon?” Matrix gave her a funny look. “What?” “I, you know, I’m just wondering.” He shrugged. “I don’t know, she was evil. AndrAIa, she was a virus, what do you want me to think?” “Nothing, I was just wondering.” “Okay. Well let’s go to Dot’s Diner and see who else is there.” “No!” she said hurriedly, then caught herself. “I mean, no, I’m kind of tired, I’m going back to the house. You go on ahead.” “Are you sure?” “Positive. I’ll walk the rest of the way, you go to the Diner.” “Are you going to be okay-?” “I’ll be fine, don’t worry!” She shoved him in the direction of the diner. “Will everyone quit worrying about me? Get going, I’ll see you tonight or something.” “Okay, bye.” He kissed her, then turned and left. She watched him leave for awhile, a smile on her face, then left in the opposite direction. She knew where AndrAIa and Matrix lived, but she didn’t head there. Instead, she went for Level 31, Al’s Wait and Eat. To Be Continued… |
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