The rooms were disgusting. The floors were covered in garbage. The strong odor of rotting meat wafting out of them. Randy shone his light into one room and saw two old women sitting on the couch. The women just sat there blinking while Randy played the light over them. He looked at Kelly who just shrugged. After the fight in the hotel room she wasn’t really in the mood to shoot two old women who were just sitting there looking at them. Randy decided it was probably safe to just keep moving. He didn’t like leaving the creepy looking women behind them but didn’t see where they had any reasonable options.
They marched to the end of the hall passing by a haunted house full of oddities. Each hotel room was darker and more depressing than the last. The last one they’d passed by a bald obese man was sitting in a chair by the door completely naked. He looked up at them as they went past but didn’t make any other gesture indicating he actually saw them. Before Randy had even gone past the door, the man was back to staring at a blank TV screen and moving his lips like he was reading a book out loud. Kelly was practically pushing him along at this point. She’d never been great at haunted houses, so this walk down a real-life hallway of horrors was something straight out of her nightmares.
A door in the corner of the building had the word ‘stairs’ over it with another sign informing them there was ‘no reentry without a room key’. Kelly practically threw him through the door. She was obviously ready to get the hell out of there. It figured they’d wind up in the one place weirder than a world full of Zombies. He hadn’t thought anything could top being swarmed by a horde of flesh-eating maniacs but strolling down that hotel corridor had definitely been a contender. He opened the door to the stairs and carefully slid into the carpeted stairwell.
They started moving down flights of stairs in a single file line. They were approaching the third-floor landing when the door to the hotel for that level opened up. A large man wearing a bloody apron and a yellowish chef’s hat stepped into the space in front of them with a large meat cleaver in his hand. The man busied himself with propping the door open before turning to walk up the stairs. He turned to find himself staring into the barrel of Randy’s rifle with Kelly’s aimed at him from behind Randy.
The crazy chef flung the door back open to the third floor. He flung the meat cleaver at Randy one handed as he ducked back behind the heavy door. Kelly and Randy both shot in his direction at the same time. Bullets were ricocheting around the stairwell like crazy with chips of concrete striking Kelly’s forehead raising little spots of blood. The cleaver had bounced harmlessly off Randy’s chest, but he didn’t think leaving this guy behind them was a smart idea. None of the others they’d passed had shown any signs of aggression. There was no telling what the crazy looking chef might do to them once their backs were to him.
The door was still propped open to the third floor. Randy motioned for everyone to stay in the stairwell and he ducked through the door. Kelly followed directly behind him. The hallway they’d ducked into was pitch black. Randy reached into his pocket and pulled out his Maglite. He shone it down the hallway revealing a hotel hallway just like the one they’d just come through. Up ahead he saw a movement as the chef ran around a corner. Without much thought other than they needed to kill this guy and get back to the kids Randy sprinted down the hallway in pursuit.
Kelly followed more reluctantly. She’d taken out her flashlight as well. She didn’t really get why they were bothering to chase this guy down a dark hotel corridor. To her mind they should just be focused on getting to the first floor and getting the hell out of the city. She jogged along behind Randy who was running like he was on a mission. Kelly supposed to his mind he probably was. She just wished he’d focus more on the ‘getting them the hell out of the city’ mission and less on the ‘chasing the creepy chef guy into the dark abyss after splitting up the family like they were on a Scooby Doo episode’ mission.
Randy slowed down to take the corner. He didn’t want to be surprised with a cleaver in the face by going around it unprepared. Heart beating wildly, he aggressively went around the corner leading with his flashlight and rifle barrel. Up ahead he caught a glimpse of daylight as a door shut. Kelly had caught up with him. She had her eyebrows raised and was motioning for him to go back the way they’d come. She obviously wanted no part in chasing down this guy. Randy didn’t know why he was so committed either. Other than the obvious part of not wanting to leave someone like that behind to follow them. He couldn’t think of any other legit reason to be playing hide and seek with this guy.
He decided to press on. Kelly gave an exasperated sigh and followed behind. She made sure to turn around and check their backs every few steps to make sure no one was following them. The hall they’d gone down led to the fitness center and pool. Randy was pretty sure based on the flash of light he’d seen that the chef had run outside to the pool. This hotel had a rooftop pool for guests to use.
Randy got to the door leading outside and waited for Kelly to catch up. She caught up to him and grabbed his shoulder.
“Why don’t we just turn around and get the hell out of here. The kids are back there standing in a stairwell in the middle of some kind of haunted hotel with Tony the gimp. This guy isn’t going to come after us. He’s probably still running away.” Kelly said. She tugged on his shoulder to emphasize her point.
“Ok. Let’s go through this door and if we don’t see him, I’m good with turning back. Deal?” Randy asked. Kelly didn’t look thrilled with the idea, but she nodded her acceptance. They both got their weapons ready. Randy pushed the door open as hard as he could. Kelly went though it with her weapon raised. Randy followed directly behind her. He turned to the other side of the door in time to get hit in the side of the head by an aluminum pole being thrust at him.
The chef pulled the pole back to make another run at Randy. The end of the pole had been filed down to a sharpened spear tip. Kelly shot the chef in the leg. The man crumpled down to the floor. Randy went and put his knee into the chefs neck and searched him for weapons. He pulled out a few knives and threw them into the pool. When he’d finished searching the chef he got up and moved back a few steps keeping his rifle trained on the whimpering chef.
“You have to see this. I’m going to be sick.” Randy heard the sounds of Kelly puking behind him. He turned to see she’d wandered over towards the section of the rooftop that had a couple of grills. He looked closer and saw what appeared to be stacked wood next to the grills. Keeping one eye on the chef he walked over closer to see what Kelly was so upset about.
The stacked wood was arms and legs. They’d been cutoff and then grilled. The picnic table behind them was covered in blood, bones and skin. Flies were everywhere. Randy hadn’t realized the enormity of the stench until now. He’d been too focused on not being killed by the crazy man with the bloody chef hat on. There were two living child Zombies tied up under the picnic tables. They’d both been gagged so they couldn’t screech out, but Randy could see the fierce glow of lustful hatred in their eyes. It was such a powerful emotion it seemed to radiate out from them. Everywhere Randy looked was more evidence of something so hideous he had no words for it.
No wonder no one in the hotel had been able to look them in the eyes. No wonder they’d turned into a bunch of weirded out freaks. These morons were eating Zombies. How did they think that was going to turn out for them? They must be going out in the parking lots to catch them then dragging them down here to cook. The two trussed up Zombies under the picnic table were probably still alive so that they’d stay fresh. It wasn’t like they had ice to put the parts on.
“You guys must be the fresh meat. Lonny told me we’d be getting some fresh meat down here soon. You can go now though. We won’t hurt you.” The chef hat guy was sitting up now. His eyes had lost their humanity. He’d been butchering and eating Zombies for too long to maintain a solid grip on his sanity. Then something he said triggered Randy.
“What do you mean fresh meat? Did you just cook Zombies, or did you co
ok up uninfected people too?” Chef hat guy looked away too quickly before trying to talk his way out of it. Randy walked towards the man. He’d pulled one of his hatchets out of a loop on his pack as he walked. He didn’t want to be shooting outside where the noise may carry and attract more attention than they wanted. The shot Kelly had taken had probably already attracted too much attention. He knew now why he’d felt the need to chase this man. Somewhere deep down he’d sensed there was some dirty secret hiding here. Something that needed to be exposed and destroyed. This wasn’t a disease. This was just pure evil. This guy had been waiting down here excited about being able to cook up some non-infected people for dinner.
“If you want, we could do those two Zombie kids under the table. You could take the meat with you. It’s safe as long as you cook it hot enough. Burns the disease right out of them. The kids are the best for cooking and easiest to catch too.” The chef was looking up and smiling like he’d just offered to make them a bunch of sandwiches to take for a picnic.
Randy swung the hatchet.
Chapter 17: Empty Inside
Kyler tossed and turned in the bug infested pile of pine straw he’d collapsed into an hour earlier. His adrenaline had kicked back in from the visions in his nightmares. He sat up straight. He listened to the random screeching coming from the Zombies out towards the road. The Zombies who’d killed Jeff. The Zombies who’d taken so much from him. He knew these weren’t the exact same Zombies who’d killed his mom and his friends, but they might as well be.
He stood up and ejected the magazine in his M-16. He looked down at it to make sure it was full. Once he’d confirmed that it was fully loaded, he slid it back in place. A twisted grin crossed his face when he heard the audible click that meant it was inserted all the way. He patted his side pocket where he had four other magazines ready to go. He took off his pack and pulled out an additional two magazines. He slid those into his other pocket. He drained one of his water bottles and started walking towards the road without any regard for how much noise he made or trying to stay hidden.
Standing on the edge of the road he watched the shadowy figures of Zombies moving around on the blacktop. He ignored them for the moment to stare up at the stars. They seemed closer than he’d ever seen them before. The full moon was huge. He was able to see easily without needing his flashlight. Cradling his rifle in his arms he walked fearlessly towards the road. He knew he was probably going to die, and he welcomed it. It’d be an end to all the pain. An end to dragging his battered body through the wasteland of America watching everyone he got close to end up getting slaughtered. He sighted in on a large Zombie standing in the center of the road. The Zombie was looking at him with its head cocked to the side. It was probably confused since normal humans didn’t just calmly walk towards Zombies.
Kyler’s finger was tightening on the trigger when he noticed a light out of the corner of his eye. He loosened up his trigger finger and looked over towards where he thought he’d seen the light. There was something over there. He thought it might be the trucks rolling out of the loading area they’d been parked in waiting to be filled with supplies. If so, then he may still be able to get aboard one of the trucks to help the looters waiting up and down the road.
The Zombie who’d been staring at him curiously moved closer. Kyler had set aside his suicidal impulse to walk into the middle of the night gunning down random Zombies once he’d seen the glow from the headlights on the other side of the interstate. His sense of responsibility rearing it’s annoying head. Now he had the issue of what to do about this Zombie coming towards him. The plan had changed from just shooting until he was surrounded by spent brass and piles of dead Zombies to actually needing to survive the night. He needed to somehow end up on one of the trucks and rescue as many people as possible. Which meant he couldn’t pull the trigger and make any noise until the trucks were a whole lot closer. This fight was going to get close and gross.
Kyler let the M-16 drop down into its sling. He pulled a hatchet and a hammer out of his belt. He found it amusing that half his weapons came from military depots while the other half came from Home Depots. He still had nail guns on his list of things to learn more about. They seemed like they might be useful Zombie killing implements. He hefted the hatchet and started walking towards the Zombie.
The Zombie let out a screech and barreled forward towards Kyler. Kyler neatly sidestepped and cracked the lunging Zombie across the back of its head with a hard chop from the hatchet. The Zombie was knocked to the ground in a pile of quivering arms and legs. Kyler trotted over and waited for an opening to smash either the hammer or hatchet into the things forehead and finish it. Before he got an opening there was another screech from way too close. He turned just in time to get tackled by a flying Zombie screaming like a banshee.
Kyler took the brunt of the impact to his chest and toppled backwards. He struck the ground hard enough to knock the breath out of him. He looked up woozily as the Zombie who’d plowed into him plunged her face towards his neck. The only thing that saved him was the other Zombie he’d smacked with the hatchet had managed to get to its knees and scramble over to join in on the Kyler buffet. The little banshee Zombie got a big mouthful of the other Zombie before realizing her mistake. She started ripping at the bloody matt of hair on the back of the Zombie who was keeping her from the prey she’d knocked down.
Kyler watched groggily as the two Zombies fought over who got the first bite of him. He knew he didn’t have much time. He’d seen Zombies fight over victims before. The need to feed always quickly overpowering the predators competitive instinct. The bickering Zombies would end up munching on their prey together. The virus coursing through their veins compelled them to sink their teeth into uninfected humans. It did not compel them to fight one another. He probably had about twenty seconds to snap himself out of la-la-land and figure out how to get these two off his chest.
He still had the hammer in one hand, so he shoved it into the back of the larger Zombies head. The Zombie screeched and turned to get at him. The banshee flung the other Zombie off Kyler so she could get at him unopposed. Kyler wrapped his hand around the slender neck of the female Zombie and rolled to the side. He slammed her head down on the ground then attacked it with his hammer like he was trying to build a deck in under five seconds. He completely smashed her head in. Breathing hard and wondering what had gotten into him he bounced to his feet and looked around for the other Zombie.
The other Zombie jumped on his back from behind. Kyler reached over and grabbed the Zombie’s wrist and pulled as hard as he could. He felt something in his own back pop, but the Zombie went sailing over his head before it had the chance to take a bite out of him. The Zombie slammed into the ground. Kyler dropped to one knee and repeated the obsessive hammering technique on the larger Zombie’s face. He kept going until the Zombie’s head looked like a bowl full of mushroom soup mixed with chunky marinara sauce. He stopped pounding away when the sloshy contents of the bowl started splashing back on him.
Breathing hard he stood up and looked around. He’d expected to have a few more running towards him. He’d started thinking he may have to go with the ‘die in a pile of his own spent brass surrounded by his enemies’ strategy after all. The only Zombies he could see now were all moving towards the lights on the other side of the road. He calmed his breathing enough to hear the loud rumble of screeches coming from over by the interstate. They weren’t coming for him. They were going for the trucks coming this way.
Body aching and sweat mixed with gore from the Zombies he’d tenderized Kyler started walking away from the screeching Zombies. He headed towards a part of the road he assumed the trucks would end up on if they managed to make it on to the interstate. He began working the problem of how he was going to indicate he was there without giving his position away to the hundreds of Zombies in the area. They may be focused on the trucks right now but if he made enough noise, he’d get their attention quickly enough.
A small group of Z
ombies ran screaming right past him. They were fixated on the mass of screeching Zombies now converging on the on-ramp to the interstate. Kyler turned and watched as two tractor trailers came slowly down the on-ramp. They were both crawling with Zombies. The one in the lead began pulling away from the one behind it. The one behind it suddenly accelerated forward with a big burst of speed. It went careening off the concrete barrier on the side of the ramp and toppled over onto its side. Zombies swarmed over it like killer bees on a mission. That truck driver wasn’t going to be seeing the sunrise. They may have fences bolted over the windows of the big rigs, but they’d rip off with enough force. Judging by the screeching of the Zombies trying to burrow into the cab of that truck they were willing to exert plenty of force.
The remaining truck continued down the road. The driver must have ice water flowing through his veins to be able to keep the truck moving as smoothly as he was. Even knowing they had webcams and a video monitor setup to be able to navigate Kyler thought it was pretty miraculous that the one truck was still making it. You couldn’t even say for sure it was a truck it had so many Zombies clinging to it. They were hanging on to every square inch of the truck that it was possible for someone to hold onto. In a few places there were multiple layers of Zombies. All of them screeching like crazy and trying to claw their way through the metal to get at the humans they knew must be inside the machine.
Zombies! (Book 4): Nowhere To Hide Page 15