by Selena Spry
General Manager Jeffries continued. “I’ve been instructed by management that if any of you would like to remain as caretakers of the property until things get organized enough to return, it would be appreciated, but it’s certainly not expected. And there isn’t any pay in it. What you will receive however is a place to stay, any remaining food on the property, and we will be leaving the electricity on and the backup generator operable until things return to normal or…or the lights go out for good. We will also leave all the entry doors locked, as they have been for the past few weeks, and that includes the main entrance that until now has been guarded by our remaining security staff. The only door currently open is the rear dock access, and that’s because we were waiting for a final delivery to be made…a delivery that by the looks of the traffic outside, won’t be arriving. That door will be locked too at the end of this meeting and once those of you have made your decision to stay or to go.”
He took another long breath and then continued. “For those of you who decide to leave, I would recommend taking that particular exit since it leads to the alley that runs from the rear of the building out to Wabash Street. It will give you some extra cover.”
A raised hand from the assistant front office manager caught Jeffries’ eye. “Yes?” he nodded at her.
“What’s the situation outside?” she asked.
General Manager Jefferies shrugged. “To be honest…not good,” he sighed. “Traffic is at a standstill. Public transportation is a mess. Bus service is stifled due to the traffic issues. Trains are better, but not all the lines are running or operating on normal schedules due to staffing issues and people with the virus who keep wandering onto the tracks. The National Guard and the Chicago Police Department are also enforcing a curfew starting at seven o’ clock tonight. In the meantime, they are checking ids and rounding up for quarantine anyone they think might be infected. So it’s best to make straight for home if you do decide to leave the hotel.”
After fielding a few more questions, Jefferies asked for a show of hands as to who was staying and who was leaving. Almost all of the 32 remaining employees voted to go. Only Jaren, Aileen, Monica (the front office manager), and David, one of the other security sergeants said they wanted to stay.
Monica was from Germany. She had transferred to the Excelsior not long ago and was currently living at the hotel. Dave had no family in the area and was in no hurry to get back to his tiny studio apartment in Cicero after having had the opportunity to spread out in a hotel suite over the past few weeks.
After the departing staff had collected their belongings and said their goodbyes, the remaining four staff members huddled together in the hotel lobby.
“You guys want to come with me for a minute?” David asked.
They followed him to an employee locker room where he led them inside.
“It’s going to be difficult to secure and monitor this place just the four of us,” he said as he opened a locker and rummaged inside. “But these should help,” he pulled out a 9 millimeter handgun and offered it to Jaren. Then he did the same for Aileen and Monica before taking one for himself.
“You’ve got a mini-armory in there!” Jaren half laughed.
“I’ve been keeping a stash on hand for just this sort of event,” Dave explained. “Does everyone know how to use them?” he eyed the group.
Jaren and Aileen nodded, but Monica shook her head ‘no’. “We can practice later,” David said. “I won’t load yours. You can just carry it for show,” he told Monica. “For now, I think we should get organized. A hotel this size is hard enough to keep safe when we have a full staff on hand. Now we’re on our own, and it’s only a matter of time before people figure out we’re here. Infected or not, once they do, they could swarm us like locust.”
* * *
Zach and Jen felt safer as they reached the cover of the alley. None of the National Guard troops seemed to care that they had abandoned their vehicle, but they weren’t taking any chances. They continued down the alley that ran between two massive buildings on either side of them until a gap opened to their left. The space offered a few parking spots, a couple large Dumpsters, and a large loading dock for the building that acted as the left wall of the alley. The thick scent of garbage hung heavy in the humid summer air. Most garbage services had been suspended during the last week, and waste was building up rapidly around the city.
The two paused, searching for signs of other people. Seeing none, Zach said, “Come on. Maybe we can get inside.”
They hustled across the open area separating the alley from the rear of the building and clambered up over the loading dock’s ledge.
Ahead of them, they saw a green button about five feet high on the dock wall. Above the button a sign read, “Door Open”.
Zach glanced at Jen. “Give it a shot?”
“Why not,” Jen shrugged.
Zach stepped close and pushed the green button with the palm of his hand. Ahead of them, two glass-paneled automatic doors slid open.
Without another word, Zach grabbed Jen’s wrist and pulled her along with him.
They paused again, just inside the automatic doors. The doors closed quietly behind them. They stood in a small foyer. A short hallway ahead of them hooked to the left about 20 feet farther on. To their immediate right was a metal sliding door marked “Trash Compactor”, and to their immediate left was an elevator bank with a set of eight shiny steel elevator doors, all closed, all silent.
Without a word, and still holding Jen’s arm, Zach led them over to the elevator bank and pushed the ‘Up’ button.
Moments later, they were standing inside a service elevator, staring at the rows of floor buttons before them.
“Where should we go?” Jen asked uncertainly.
“Up…I guess,” Zach shrugged as he hit the button for the 23rd floor.
They stood in silence for a moment as the elevator started to move. “I wouldn’t want to be in here during one of the blackouts we’ve been having,” Jen said after a moment.
Zach shoulders sagged. “Jen,” he sighed exasperatedly. “Why would you even say that?”
“Sorry,” she said, realizing the poor timing of the comment.
A few seconds later, the elevator slowed, stopped, and the door slid open.
Zach and Jen stepped out onto a concrete-floored back landing. A quick scan of the area revealed a vacuum cleaner in one corner of the space, a multi-leveled steel shelf that held several drink pitchers and an array of what looked like room service trays, a brown plastic trash receptacle attached to one wall, a fire extinguisher attached another, and two big black doors at one end of the landing.
It immediately became glaringly obvious to both of them that they were in a hotel.
“Let’s see if we can find a room to hide out in until nighttime. Then, if things have calmed down outside, maybe we can try to make it back home,” Zach said.
Zach realized the ridiculousness of the words as he said them. Home was at least 11, maybe 12 miles or more away. There was no way they were going to make it back with the way things were outside. And even if they could make it back, would they want to with the way law, order, and citywide services were breaking down? But he had no idea what else to say. He had no other plan.
“Okay,” Jen agreed.
They moved cautiously to the black double-doors at the far end of the landing. Zach pushed one open several inches and peeked out. “Looks clear. I’ll go first and you…”
“Hold it right there!” a voice behind them commanded.
They turned to see a man standing before an open elevator. He had a gun aimed at them. A woman stood slightly behind him, a weapon in her hand as well, but it wasn’t pointed at them. “Get on your knees and put your hands on top of your head,” the man said sternly.
Zach and Jen did exactly as they were told.
* * *
As soon as they got to the alley, it seemed like Rob started to freeze up. Wendy was doing her best to pull him alon
g toward the dock of the building she hoped they might take refuge in, but his resistance seemed to intensify.
Ever since he’d been infected with the Vorare Virus, Rob’s displeasure with being indoors had grown steadily. It was a characteristic of many of the infected. They seemed to prefer being outdoors, wandering, hunting for food – for flesh – rather than being pent up inside. But Wendy knew that it was do-or-die. If they remained out in the open in downtown Chicago, it was only a matter of time before they were rounded up by the authorities. And then they would take Rob away to one of those quarantine camps she’d been hearing about, and she’d never see him again.
She had to find a place for them to hide, to get off the streets. But then what?
It was a question that Wendy could contemplate later. She’d been telling herself that for days now. There was currently no answer to the dilemma anyway. She was afraid there’d be no answer. But every day that she could prolong the inevitable was one day longer she’d have to be with her beloved Rob…even if he wasn’t the same Rob she’d known and loved before the virus.
They had lost track of the other couple they’d been following. But when Wendy noticed sliding doors closing on the dock of the building just ahead of them, she had a good idea of where they’d gone.
She pulled Rob along toward the dock, but the closer they got, the more he resisted. By the time they’d reached the dock’s entry doors, he was trying to pull away from her.
“Rob…honey…sweetie…it’s okay. You have to trust me. It’s okay,” she half pleaded, half coaxed.
It was obvious to her that the closer they got to going inside the building, the more agitated he was becoming. It was almost like watching a wild animal being forced into captivity.
Wendy didn’t give Rob time to fight more with her; instead, she hit a green “Door Open” button on the wall to open the dock doors. She swiftly pulled Rob along with her and inside the building.
Once indoors, Rob’s agitated state seemed to ease slightly. Wendy immediately decided that it would be best to get him out of sight as quickly as possible. She didn’t want someone inside the building reporting them to authorities. Therefore, she made straight for the elevator bank she saw to their left and hit the “Up” button.
Inside the service elevator, she looked at the rows of buttons presenting the various floors from which to choose. It didn’t matter. She didn’t know one from the other. A higher floor might be better, but not too high. Somewhere in between…somewhere random might make them less visible. She selected floor number 17.
As they glided upward, Rob pushed himself up against one wall of the elevator. His arms were outstretched, palms pressed firmly against the gleaming metal.
Wendy felt for him. He looked terrified. He jumped as the elevator stopped and the door slid open. He was hardly communicating with her anymore, and she knew he wasn’t far from the virus overwhelming what few human instincts remained in him. She feared she wouldn’t know when that change would come and that Rob would turn on her.
As the elevator door opened, she pulled him out with her. Rob seemed relieved to have escaped what must have seemed to him a human-sized steel cage. She led him into what appeared to be a hotel’s back landing. Several room service trays sat on the floor in one corner of the space.
Wendy paused, listening. Everything seemed quiet.
At the far end of the landing were two black double doors. She led Rob over to them and cautiously pushed one open far enough to peek outside.
The corridors outside looked empty.
“Come on,” she whispered, pulling Rob along behind her. He followed like a faithful dog.
They roamed the hallways for several minutes, Wendy trying different doors, all of which she found locked. Eventually, they came to one where the door’s self-closing mechanism hadn’t worked properly. The door was shut, but it hadn’t latched completely. She pushed on the door. It opened. She led Rob inside, ensuring that the door shut and latched behind them.
The space into which they entered was a linen closet. There were several rows of metal shelves filled with stacks of towels, sheets, blankets, bedspreads, pillows, toilet paper, boxes of tissue, and more.
“This will work…for now,” Wendy told Rob.
She spent a few minutes pulling some of the blankets and pillows off the shelves to pile in a far corner of the room where several of the shelving units offered some privacy.
Finished, she plopped down into the sheets like a bird into its nest, pulling Rob down beside her.
He immediately scooted over close to her. She was wearing shorts and he began stroking her bare leg with a hand. His touch felt good, familiar, still a piece of him. His strokes against her leg intensified. His hand was warm, soft...she had to admit, he still turned her on, even in this infected state. Making it more difficult was that Rob looked better now that he was sick than he ever had before. His body was tighter, learner, his muscles bulged in ways they never had. His biceps were rounder, his calves and abdominals more defined. His butt was tighter and rounder. His face was learner, and his skin looked somehow healthier, almost as if it had a glow to it. Wendy hated that it had taken this horrible virus to bring him into this sort of physical condition. She knew that it wouldn’t last. Like a desert mirage, it was his body mounting its final stand against the virus, which she knew would eventually win. While she had thought Rob was good-looking before, she had to admit that if he’d looked like this, their sex life would have been incredible and virtually non-stop. It was probably just as well that he hadn’t. She would never have gotten anything done around the house with this rock-hard stud strutting around.
His strokes had now become longing squeezes at her inner thigh as his eyes gazed up at her, burning with fiery passion. He sat up, pushing his head in against her shoulder, kissing her neck, giving her light licks and nibbles. He slowly moved his head down to nuzzle her breast as she petted his hair.
Wendy felt her nipples contract at his touch. Rob seemed to sense it too as he focused on the hardness pressing through her shirt. In his current infected state, he seemed to have a heightened sexual awareness. Wendy and Rob had always seemed to have a sort of sixth sense for when the other was horny, but now that sense seemed to be intensified several times over in Rob.
He let his head sink down so that it came to rest in Wendy’s lap. He kept up his nuzzling, pairing it with a soft licking against the crotch of her shorts. He continued in this way until the fabric was nearly soaked through from a combination of his saliva and Wendy’s own hormone-enraged love juices.
It’d been well over a week – by far the longest that Wendy could remember going without sex since they’d met. She was aching inside. She wanted him so bad. She wanted to know this chiseled new Rob. A tinge of guilt shot through her. It was almost like being seduced by another person. Rob’s physique – and even his facial features – had changed so dramatically.
Wendy pulled his head away to let it rest in her lap. Rob sniffed at her crotch hungrily as she continued to stroke his hair. She knew he wanted her bad. She wanted him too. She was just afraid. Would having sex with someone carrying the Vorare Virus infect the other person too? The news hadn’t said anything about sexually transmitting the disease. They said it was transmitted through bites. But maybe they hadn’t said anything about sexual transmission since no one was crazy enough to try having sex with the infected yet. Maybe it was just a given that people wouldn’t be so stupid. What if she was the first? What if Rob got so revved up during the act that he bit her? Then she’d be infected too?
She let her head fall back softly against the wall with a dull thump. Meanwhile, Rob went back to his foraging between her legs, his breathing more like panting now.
Wendy was almost at her breaking point. She just didn’t care anymore. Their world was falling apart around them. Society was starting to disintegrate. They were lost, alone, and stuck in a strange place without food, water or other supplies.
At this point, wha
t did it even matter what he did to her?
It was just all too much.
* * *
The Vorare Virus continues its vicious path of destruction in Carnal Conquest in the Zombie Apocalypse: The Fall.
Pick up your eBook or hardcopy at Amazon.com today!
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