Demon Hotel (Zombie Apocalypse Series, Book 1)

by C. M. Chidgey

  “Now what?” Someone muttered when they all had swords.

  I smirked and walked the rest of the way towards the front door before grabbing the handle.

  “Blondie, are you really doing what I think you’re doing?” Lucian growled.

  “Probably.” I said with a smirk before unlocking the front door and pulling it open slightly.

  I opened it enough to allow one zombie through at a time, when five of them staggered in I slammed the front door shut again and locked it.

  “What the hell, are you crazy?” One of them yelled.

  Instead of looking angry, Lucian actually looked amused to my surprise.

  One of the zombies turned towards me, but I kicked it in the stomach. “Nope, I’m not on the menu tonight, but those guys really want to meet you.” I said nodding towards the terrified looking men.

  With a little encouragement from me and Lucian who somehow seemed to be a pro at making them retreat to where he wanted, the zombies started toward the terrified looking men, the few who had refused to take the swords quickly picked them up from the floor and stared as the five undead creatures advanced on them.

  Chapter 12

  An hour and around forty zombies later over half of the men had started building up the guts to kill the zombies after they realised that Lucian or I weren’t about to start killing them for them and we really were going to stand there and watch if they got bitten. The last part wasn’t entirely true, but we left it for long enough that they thought it was.

  The first one that killed a zombie was Liam before the next ones managed to who were the guards from earlier followed closely by Jack, Kaleb, Jason and Gordon. When they had killed enough zombies to convince us that they could do it without hesitation they were sent to the side to watch, this was the main barrier we had to break through. After they had all accomplished this we would work on their fighting skills.

  Lucian and I took it in turns letting in a varying amount of zombies depending on how many they had killed so far and how many men were left. Things were going pretty well, we both shouted advice from the sidelines when they were doing something particularly life threatening to themselves or others. After killing a few Jason went to the side to start covering wounds that they had inflicted on each other with swords or where the zombies had scratched them since it was important to keep all wounds covered. Jason tried covering my arms several times, but after reminding him each time that I wasn’t fighting them he gave up on it.

  I watched as one particular man chopped off a head, then glanced at a zombie a few feet away before turning his back on it to get another one. Big mistake, the zombie immediately sped up towards him seeing an opening and dove for his neck.

  I pulled my gun out and shot the zombie through the head before shouting out. “Don’t ever underestimate how fast they can be by turning your back on one!”

  The guy looked a little sheepish before he continued swinging his sword. The gunshot drew everyone’s attention in the lobby, but they were soon back to work too when they realised what had happened.

  “Ow, you deliberately shoved me out of the way!” Someone yelled.

  “I did not, you should have killed it quicker!” Another yelled in response.

  I groaned, why did men have to act like such assholes sometimes? It could have simply been because we were all tired, but they had to pull themselves together, it was urgent that they were able to face zombies. The more they argued, the longer it would take.

  “Shut up!” Another one shouted from close by.

  It wasn’t long until the argument consisted of ten men and two zombies were advancing on them unnoticed.

  “Hey, you’re going to die!” I shouted, but of course they ignored me and continued to argue.

  Lucian was over the other side of the lobby directing people so he had no idea what was going on over here. It would have been useful if he did since he seemed to intimidate everyone and they would have listened. Having no choice since the zombies were just inches from the guys and they were still arguing I let loose a bullet into both of the zombies heads, the shots echoed around the lobby silencing everyone since as of yet there hadn’t been a need for me to shoot two zombies. The argument was silenced and everyone stared at me before I yelled at the idiots responsible.

  “Next time you dickheads feel the need to argue with zombies around I’ll let them eat you for dinner! Who the hell cares if he shoved you? Big fucking deal, get the hell over it and keep fighting for your life because I can promise you that the zombies aren’t going to stand and wait for you to finish your pathetic argument!”

  They all looked ashamed of themselves and they should be, this might be some training thing, but the danger was still very real and they could have been zombie food. Speaking of food I hadn’t eaten all damn day and it was well into the night by now.

  I was panting from my outburst and everyone was still staring at me, it was only then that I realised the two zombies I had killed had been the last left in the room.

  Thankfully Lucian cleared his throat then pulling all attention away from me before heading to the front door again. “Ok she is definitely right, but let’s get back to work.”

  I crossed the room to him just after he had locked the door behind the ten zombies and said to him.

  “I haven’t eaten all day, can you deal with it for a minute while I get some food?”

  “Sure, you look tired. Take a break if you need to.”

  I snorted. “We are all tired Adams, I don’t need a break I just need to eat I’ll be right back.”

  He grabbed my arm and turned my hand over until it was palm up before placing a key in it. “Here’s the key for the room.”

  I frowned at him, I couldn’t remember him opening it with a key when we had gone in there last time, but I guess he must have done it without me noticing. “Why is there a key?”

  He smirked. “I’m sure you can figure it out Tink. Now I’m trusting you with that, so don’t go and clear out everything.”

  “I’ll try not to, but who knows how hungry I am.”

  He raised his eyebrows before grinning and grabbing for the key, but I snatched my hand out of his grasp. “I’ll be one of the people scouting for more food if we run out so I think I can contain my hunger Adams.”

  He grunted. “I hope you can contain it better than your anger.”

  I just gave him a glare and before he could say anything else I walked over to the door that lead to the kitchen and stupidly left the door open behind me.

  I was in and out of the storage room in seconds, grabbing a tin of ravioli and making sure to lock it behind me before slipping the key into my back pocket. After grabbing a fork from one of the drawers I pulled open the ring pull and fished out the pieces of ravioli before eating them. It was cold and before the apocalypse I probably would have spat it back out, but right now it tasted like heaven. Every last piece was soon in my stomach, I gave the fork a quick wash before putting it back and then threw the tin in the trash before heading out. I wasn’t full up by any means, but at least my stomach wasn’t rumbling to get my attention.

  The dining room was the room that I met a little visitor in. There was nothing special about it, it was just like any other zombie and it staggered towards me. I started to pull my sword out, but stopped realising that I couldn’t risk getting blood on myself so I moved my hand to the handle of my gun and pulled that out instead before taking aim. The second the gun was aimed I pulled the trigger, its brains were blown out and it was dead. Great, now there were zombie brains all over the dining room floor too.

  I hadn’t been expecting any kind of rescue or anything so to say I was surprised when everyone who had previously been in the lobby came charging in lead by Lucian was an understatement.

  “Ok, are we no longer training in the lobby?” I asked as I slid my gun back into place.

  “Yeah, but we heard a gunshot.” One man said.

  I shrugged. “Yeah, that was me killing a zombie, b
ut I have to say I’m impressed with the arrival speed. I’m pretty sure a couple of hours ago you guys would have run the opposite way from a gunshot.”

  They beamed seeming happy at the compliment. “Ok, back to the lobby.” Lucian shouted with a clap of his hands.

  They started filing out and Lucian looked at me with raised eyebrows. “Did you have to get brains on the carpet?”

  “It was either his brains or my blood, take your pick Adams.”

  “Ok, I see your point, did you get something to eat?”

  “Yep, let’s go.” I said following the others back out to the lobby with Lucian on my heels.

  I was almost to the door when I felt his hand on my ass making me stiffen and growl out.

  “Move it or lose it Adams, your choice.”

  He chuckled before his hand disappeared and he walked past me with a smirk on his face holding up the key that had been in my back pocket seconds ago.

  “Just retrieving my key Mckenzie, relax.”

  I stood there glaring after him, why the hell did his touch always leave me wanting more? I didn’t doubt for a second that he knew what he did to me either, which just pissed me off all the more. Damn him and his stupid need to be an asshole.

  “I think we’re going to call it a night Blondie.” Lucian said when I reached him. “Everyone is tired and we’ve been at it for hours.”

  I shrugged. “Ok, but who is going to clear this mess up?” I asked looking around at the chopped up zombies.

  “A few of us will see to it, you can go to bed.”

  “It’s ok, I can help.” I insisted.

  He raised an eyebrow. “There’s a reason only a few of us do it Mckenzie, you need a strong stomach.”

  I shrugged. “I have a strong stomach.”

  He smirked. “Ok then Tink, but make sure you get those arms wrapped up. We don’t want a repeat of earlier.”

  I didn’t understand the smirk at the time, but now I did. He had known full well I would only be able to take it for so long. The first just over an hour was fine, we just had to stack zombies up on trolleys before they were wheeled out the back somewhere outside where they were being piled up to be burnt. It was when we started cleaning up rotting brains and guts that the problem arose. I thought that the zombies had smelt bad, but they smelt like flowers compared to this.

  We had to scoop up their insides before depositing them into plastic boxes, also to be burnt on the fire. I was only doing it for five minutes before the constant whiff of it became too much and I stood up before turning away to take deep breaths. The other guys, including Lucian didn’t seem at all affected by it, I mean they could obviously smell it, but they could clearly deal with it better. Compared to these guys I did not have a strong stomach at all.

  “Just go upstairs.” Lucian said walking past me.

  “I’m fine.” I stubbornly refused. “Just give me a second.”

  Why did I have to be so damn stubborn? That was a huge flaw, especially in a situation like this.

  When my stomach settled down at least a little I turned back to carry on, but the smell immediately met my nostrils again and my stomach somersaulted. Knowing I wouldn’t make it to my room, I sprinted across the lobby to the toilets on this floor before running into one of the stalls and throwing up.

  “Ok, that’s enough, you’re going up to your room.” Lucian said from the doorway minutes later.

  “Yeah, yeah.” I mumbled as I stumbled out of the stall and splashed water over my face before rinsing my mouth out. After using the hand dryer to dry my face off as best I could much to Lucian’s amusement I walked towards the door. “You really stink Adams.” I muttered as I walked past him only to inhale the same scent that had come from the zombies, but it was only to be expected I guess.

  “So do you Mckenzie, now go and take a shower.” He said stopping as we reached the elevator giving me a glare as if daring me to refuse.

  If the idea of getting out of there as quickly as I could didn’t sound so appealing I would have refused just to annoy him, but as it was I just wanted this smell removed from me so I stepped into the elevator without question when it opened.

  “See you later stinky.” I said with a smirk just as the doors closed.

  I saw him raise his eyebrows just before the doors blocked him from sight.

  Ten minutes later I was having my third shower since I had woken up that day, removing zombie blood for the second time. The smell seemed to cling to my skin and hair, at least it did until I had shampooed and soaped for about the tenth time that was. I had started to worry that I would smell like zombie forever so I was relieved when I couldn’t smell rotting flesh anymore. When that was done I cleaned my teeth twice to get the taste of throwing up out of my mouth and then I just used a few minutes to relax.

  My bruises were aching worse than they had been and my stomach was itchy as hell, which I could only assume was due to the stitches tightening. All of my scratches and hand stung as if I had fallen into a bunch of stinging nettles. Looking forward to snuggling into my bed and planning on staying in it for the whole day to get some rest before I was going to Cora’s rescue I climbed out of the shower and dried myself before bandaging my stomach and hand.

  After pulling on underwear and a too big t-shirt I was just about ready to fall into my bed and sleep, but apparently that wasn’t happening since someone knocked on my door. With a groan I walked towards it grabbing a pistol on the way just to be on the safe side before swinging it open.

  Lucian was standing there looking hot as hell in clean jogging bottoms and a t-shirt, his dark hair was slightly damp too, he had obviously just taken a shower.

  His eyes fell on the gun in my hand and he raised his eyebrows. “Do you think a zombie would knock Blondie?”

  I grunted and dropped the gun on the desk as I walked back into my room leaving the door open for him. “What do you want Adams?”

  I heard the sound of the door closing before he got straight to the point. “I came to apologise.”

  I snorted in disbelief before turning to face him. “Seriously, I’m tired. Just tell me what you want so I can go to bed.”

  His expression didn’t change to one of amusement though, he looked completely serious. “I am serious, I’m apologising for not being there earlier and for not having the foresight to make sure the men could fight, it was stupid on my part and it could have gotten you killed.”

  “It was stupid.” I agreed. “But not because it could have gotten me killed, because it could have gotten everyone here killed. If I hadn’t heard someone scream I don’t know if they would have even fought by themselves. Fear does bad things to people, it freezes them up. What happened to them is close to what happens to me with spiders and it would have gotten them killed.”

  “I’m sorry.” He said.

  “I know you are, but it’s not me you have to apologise to.” He went silent so I added. “I’m going to get Cora the day after tomorrow.”

  I saw his whole body tense up even though I was standing across the room from him.

  “It’s too soon.” He argued.

  “It’s not soon enough. I should have left as soon as she was taken, I won’t wait any longer than that.”

  “Why do you have to be so damn stubborn?” He growled.

  I groaned before stretching with a yawn. “I’m not having an argument with you Lucian I’m exhausted and I just want to sleep.”

  With that stretch though it was like he suddenly realised that I was only wearing a t-shirt. His angry expression disappeared and turned to one that I had only seen a few times before as his gaze travelled up and down my body.

  “Lucian.” I said in a warning tone as he started towards me.

  I quickly retreated knowing if he reached me I would find it hard to resist him.

  “Lucian, stop it.” I hissed as the backs of my knees hit the bed.

  Before he could reach me I climbed across the bed to get to the other side, each time he moved one way I
moved in the opposite direction to him. After a few movements he ran around the end of the bed, I quickly dove across the top, but before I could make it he grabbed my ankle and tugged me towards him.

  “Not so fast Mckenzie.” He said huskily.

  I let out a squeal and tried to kick him off. I wasn’t scared of what he would do to me, I was scared of how much I would like what he did. No matter how much I kicked and struggled though he managed to pull me to the edge of the bed making my t-shirt ride up over my stomach.

  Before I could make another escape attempt he claimed my lips with his making me respond immediately as I arched my body up against him. Stop it Taylor, why the hell was I rubbing up against him? He didn’t seem to mind though, before I could make myself pull away he slid his arm under my back and held me up. I groaned in frustration as I tried and failed to resist him only to end up wrapping my legs around his waist.

  Great job Taylor, pulling him closer was a brilliant way to refuse to give in to him.

  That was when something inside me snapped and gave in completely. This could be the last chance I had to do this with him, I might never come back from that trading camp. I didn’t know who I had been kidding, but I didn’t hate him, I didn’t know how long ago I had stopped hating him, but I knew for certain that I didn’t now. He would probably just forget about this as soon as I left to save Cora and he would go back to Elizabeth, but I would keep this moment with me, the moment I gave into my feelings for him. I would remember his taste, his scent, how he felt and the way he held me, maybe those thoughts alone would get me through what I would have to face.

  I wrapped my arms around his neck tangling my fingers in his dark, soft hair before slipping my tongue into his mouth. He groaned before massaging my tongue with his and exploring my mouth. My nails scraped against his scalp before I ran my hands down his back and I tugged up the hem of his t-shirt. He lifted himself up slightly to allow me to pull it off and I threw it on the floor before I ran my hands over the muscles in his back. His mouth was on mine again within seconds as if he couldn’t bare to be away from my lips for any longer, but that was probably just wishful thinking.