I woke up in the morning in good spirits, while struggling to accept that the people who held me hostage did not wish me harm. They would harm me given the first chance they get, especially that long haired prick, and if they would harm me what would they do to Lily? Yesterday's foray into the reception had earmarked him as a danger. For now I stretched my legs in the bed, the sheets feeling so nice and warm. The clock on the bedside table read nine in the morning. I had slept for over fourteen hours, the longest I had ever slept in my life. I supposed I deserved it though, after the last two weeks. As I lay there, staring up at the ceiling, the door unlocked and opened. Surprisingly, in came a girl, with black hair and a large birthmark on her arm, while carrying a tray of food. It was breakfast in bed.
“Who are you?” I asked, leaning up in the bed.
“I’m room service? Jaime?” She answered, before placing the food on the table.
She turned to leave, but before she could I got up out of bed.
“How many people are in this hotel?” I asked her.
“Not many,” she told me leaving the room and shutting the door.
As soon as the door shut I thought of how to could escape. I’d have to manipulate them into thinking I was on board, friendly and co-operative, to have any chance of finding Lily and escaping this place to pastures new, I would do anything. Wait a minute, I thought, touching my feet to the soft carpet. She had left the door unlocked!
I peeked through the door at the red and brown corridor of the hotel, then treaded lightly back inside to put on my socks and shoes. Looking back at the room by the foot of the door, it had all the comforts I had missed from home. A big warm bed, clean sheets, soft pillows and a perfect view. Would I give it all up for freedom and family? Of course I would!
After giving a little look out both ways as if I was crossing a road, I headed down the corridor. Taking a turn, I found the stairs at the end. I had no idea how high up I was. There were doors to rooms open here, along the corridor. A pair of men carrying a sofa were down the hallway. Thankfully, the one with his back to me was a giant stout man, completely covering the view to me from the other. I quickly hid in the room's bathroom and waited as they went by.
“Watch it Mark! Pillock!” The larger of them said.
When they had gone, I moved out of the room and broke out into a light jog down the hallway. Coming to the stairs I ran down them, down seven floors in all, seconds later arriving to the ground floor where I ducked and resumed my secretive demeanour once again. I scrambled into a storage room as the girl who’s clothes I had worn came past. Her hair was braided as she carried a pile of fresh towels away and up the stairs. I slowly crept up and looked out for anyone else around, then stepped toward a doorway near to the cafe and reception. Inside the doorway, it led to a security room, with camera visuals on eight large screens. There were four men inside, two sloths sat on the sofa either side of decorative plants, smoking weed while another man, the long haired guy, leaned on the wall smoking a cigarette. The last of them sat in the chair looking at the black and white cameras. It was Peter.
“First responders were the first ones to go,” he said looking at the screens. “That's the police, fire brigade, hospitals…”
“I mean London's gone, that's seven million of them,” said the long haired guy. That old lady called him Terrence. “There's at least a million in there just waiting to come out and say hi and you want to run in all guns blazing, you can think again my man.”
“That's enough,” Peter told him as I hid in a storage room.
“Yeah, that's what I'm thinking, when will it be enough, for you to realise we're screwed,” Terrence said, putting out a cigarette. I waddled across hunched down in the shadows as they spoke.
“That girl up there, she was screaming as you locked her in the room,” he added. I stopped in my tracks and listened in for a moment. “She will never stay here mate, she is scared to death of us! You kept her separated from her sister, what for? Let's be honest she should never have been here.”
“I'm not keeping her separated from her sister. She was injured, because of you,” Peter said.
“Well, she's not anymore. Why not let her out, let her run free around the place if you trust her?” He asked, and I agreed, why the hell not let me out?
“No,” he added. “You're scared she’ll run, and take the kid with her. But you need to realise that kid is not Sophie, and never will be. Our sister is dead!”
“Shut up, just shut up,” Peter raised his voice. “Go check on the kid.”
What the hell did he mean? I hid again and watched as Terrence walked out the room and back out into the corridor. I had to follow him. The kid was Lily! Or Mike I thought then, but finding one meant finding the other. I crept out and into the corridor again. No one was coming, thank goodness. I was very stealthy. It was a wonder no one had seen me skulking about, or even on one of the screens of the security room. I followed him up the stairs, and silently closed the door to the ground floor and walked up the stairs as quiet as I could be. He went up two floors, and I chased. I heard the shutting of the door, it was room 36, and behind it, the sound of a child playing! I stepped light footed across the corridor and took in my hands a steel mop from outside the room, then knocked on the door. I stepped away in time before he opened it and hid from sight behind a cleaning station with towels and sheets. He came out and looked down the hallway where I was, then at the path leading to the stairs.
I pounced on him with all my strength, whacking him on the back of the head so hard I thought I’d killed him. I stepped over his collapsed body and went inside of room 39, finding on the floor the boy Mike.
“Mike,” I said as he lay his toys out on the floor.
“What have you done?” Mike asked on the verge of tears after seeing what I’d done to the man, Terrence.
“Where is Lily?” I asked him then.
“They took her!” He said loudly. “The bad men!”
“Keep your voice down!” I harshly whispered to him.
“Which ones?” I asked, hearing someone coming.
“The black ones,” he said. What the hell did that mean?
“Come on, we’re leaving,” I told him, taking him by the arm. Walking out into the hallway, I saw blood on the carpet floor, then glanced up and saw one of the men from earlier who were carrying the sofa. His eyes met mine and I panicked and ran as fast as I could, pulling Mike with me down the corridor to the other side of the building.
“Stop!” He shouted to me. I ran and ran faster, coming to where another set of stairs lay. He chased me even more, I could hear him getting closer as we charged down the steps, to the ground floor, to the reception. It was pure luck that we had not ran into another person yet. We came to the open foyer and the man chasing screamed.
“Peter!” He called his boss. The old woman in the cafe sprang up and looked over as we ran, through the glass doors, to the outside, where another set of glass doors lay. I went forward, but hesitated seeing the infected outside. I went forth unafraid, taking with me the steel mop through the revolving doors.
“Stop!” A voice cried. “Go out there and you may never see her again!”
I turned back around and found Peter, their leader. He could not open the doors to get to us, as I had jammed them with the steel mop.
“Where the hell is she? You tell me now!” I demanded to know, holding Mike close. Peter looked down and sighed frustratedly.
“Another group took her,” he said, as my anger boiled beyond forgiveness.
“Who?!” I screamed, so loud that a group of twenty infected husks came groaning to the windows of the hotel, gnawing at the glass and pressing at the bases.
“Don't please, you're drawing their attention. If more of them come they will smash through the windows!” He pleaded with me.
“Who took her?” I asked again.
“It was a group of thugs, from the shopping centre!” He shouted. The man I’d hit, Terrence, came walking into vi
ew and stood beside him. He looked to be unharmed, how? I had hit him so hard…
“I am trying to get her back, to reunite you!” Peter claimed as a last ditch attempt at stopping me from leaving.
“Love, come back inside, don't risk the boy’s life out there. It's safe here,” said the old lady. I listened to her, and felt calmer after she spoke.
“We only want what you want,” said Peter.
“You promise to not harm me, and to get her back. How can I trust you?” I said.
“Trust me, love, we don't want anyone hurt, we’re good people,” said the old lady.
“It's ok, there's no need to be afraid,” said the blonde girl from the hotel cafe.
“I promise,” he said, as Terrence shook his head in disagreement. I looked to the outside, to the dead clawing at the windows, trying to get to me, before looking back to the people inside. I had no choice. I went back inside. I took the situation in and cleared my head of paranoia. The owner, Peter, extended his hand to shake. I inspected his gesture, then clasped his hand with my own and shook. This was a safe place, I needed to calm down.
“Welcome to the Bridgewalk Hotel,” said Peter with a smile.
I gave a glance to the long haired Terrence, who now had Mike. I was still unsure how he was up and about so quickly. In a way it was fortunate, as if he had been severely injured, I doubted they would be so welcoming of me now.
“Keeping you locked in the room was bad, but you must understand I didn't know you, I didn't want you to harm my guests,” he said, but I gave him an untrustworthy glace.
“I trust her, don't worry. My name is Betty, Betty Beatrice,” said the frail old lady, coming to greet me. “What's yours?”
“Jessica,” I told her, as Peter and his men backed off.
“Samuel, keep watch over her,” Terrence said to the tall man who I had ran from.
“No,” Peter turned and said. “We have to trust she wont do anything.”
“Come,” the old lady, Betty, took my hand. “We need to talk, it is long overdue,” she said, leading me into the cafe. We sat together, and she spoke cordially with me. As if I had always been a member of the hotel.
“I don't know why Peter insisted on keeping you in that room, probably to do with your sister and the wrong’uns who took her,” she said.
“What do you know of my sister?” I asked. I felt like I’d asked this question a million times and no one would give me a straight answer.
“Just that they took her back to their shopping centre. That place they boarded up and hijacked. They are evil. They killed one of our group when they took your sister, Darren. He was a good boy, and he made me coffee every morning,” she said smiling. I shuddered knowing she had been taken by murderers. What use could they have for a little girl? She saw my reaction and took my hand.
“I know, knowing about all this, must make you worry. Peter and his brother, Terrence, have been scouting out the place, readying to get her back.”
“You don't have weapons?” I said, as she smiled. “I do not trust him. I just want her back. If they had not stood in the road I would not have crashed, I would not have lost her!”
“Bad people are out there Jessica. It was fortunate you landed with us. Peter saved my life, he saved us all when he had to make a decision. Save his sister, or save all of us. He looks strong, but he's really not,” she said, leaning closer and whispering. “He cries for his sister, I hear him at night.”
“What? I cannot imagine a man like him crying?” I whispered back, gossiping with her was fun, I thought, then my mind wandered of Lily. She was out there in the world, scared and alone, oh god, it knocked me sick.
“He loved her,” she continued. “She was only seven, and the last thing he told her was that he was coming to save her, but he never made it in time, I know he wouldn't allow that to happen to you, you see this has become personal to him.”
“He promised didn't he, he’d get her back?”
“He did,” I nodded and said.
“Then he will, and I’ll hold him to it,” said Betty, sounding sure. “And you said we don't have weapons, honey, we have weapons,” she spoke while pulling out a taser. I smiled as she took it out, and felt amused by her spirit.
Jess’s Friends - Day 16 - Blake
It was a cold day in the camp as I woke in the early morning. My breath fogged in front of me, leaving a trail of mist as I jumped out of bed and donned my uniform. I yawned stepping out into camp, it must have been freezing overnight. I went to patrol; I needed the exercise. Wandering the camp was easy work, well it was, until I heard a kerfuffle near the secured crates of food. I jogged over, as no one should be near the storage area except the soldiers. Someone was skulking about where they were not meant to.
“Blake!” Said a surprised and scared David, as he turned with water bottles in his hands.
“I've gotta find my family. They're in the city somewhere. I can't just leave them,” he said, as I glanced at his duffle bag full of supplies. He was stealing from the camp. I should turn him in, call for Thomas, but what the hell would he do in his manic state? He’d probably shoot him.
“Ok…” I spoke looking at the supplies. “Ok. Take, ugh, take one of the civilian cars outside, you get caught on the roads. You went AWOL. Do you understand?”
I couldn't believe I was letting him abandon his post. But I couldn't let him die.
“Yeah,” he answered nodding and taking his bag.
“What the hell’s going on?” Mason said as he walked out from behind some barrels of water.
“He's leaving,” I told him, hoping he wouldn't be angry. “Go,” I said, turning to the deserter. “David one more thing. I hope you find your family.”
He nodded and I watched as he left into the early morning mist. A car headlight drove up and away in the distance. Mason watched and kept quiet. He owed me for standing up to Thomas.
He had found a friend, Haikouro her name was, a Japanese girl he had lived next to him growing up. He was so happy to see her again. She was his best friend as a kid.
“I think we should go with him, take our loved ones, what's left of them and make a run for it. Take Susie, take Maddison, take Jake, whoever else you want, even curry muncher,” he said of Hussain. It was ironic how he was overjoyed at his oriental friend but when it came to Hussain, he was free to racially insult and demean him.
“And go where?” I shouted to him, raising my voice at his crassness. “You heard this went down all across the country. Nowhere is safe. There's only one safety. Safety in numbers,” I said. “And don't call him that,” I added. “Have some respect, respect for Hussain and some respect for yourself.”
I walked away.
“We need to take a chance,” he said as he followed me inside the arena where HQ used to be, a shortcut to the east side of the camp.
“And what? Abandon the camp. We'll be court marshalled or worse!” I told him, I wouldn't have it, any of it, this was our only option.
“Abandon the camp!? You killed the lieutenant! Man, there won't be anyone left to court martial us with the way things are going,” Mason spoke harshly. I leaned on the banister on the walkway to the stage where just weeks prior, great shows and concerts had been held with thousands of crowds.
“What are you saying? Speak!” I looked him in the eye.
“The 1st armoured battalion is gone, wiped out, all of em. The field hospital down in the moors, that's gone too!” He informed me. “Guess Thomas hasn't been filling you in completely.”
“What!?” I said in shock,
“I heard it on the radio days ago. They say the cities overrun with freaks. Toppling trucks and tanks.”
“Jesus! How the hells that possible,” I stood confused. The dead don't have strength like that, surely? I didn't know anything about this disease, or infection, or whatever plague it was, but this was unbelievable.
“What are we going to do?” I spoke.
“I don't know,” said Mason. “But th
at's what I'm saying we need to go before things get worse. Those scumbags are gonna come streaming out of there sooner or later. And I for sure don't wanna to be on the dinner table.”
“He's right,” said Thomas who had been listening from down the hall. I walked up to him.
“I'm staying, Thom I’m staying,” I said.
“Are you a fool Blake! Just look around you, look at who and what is going on. There's 5,000 men in this regiment, do you see 5,000 men? I haven't even seen a quarter of that. That's because none of them cowards came back! They scrambled this platoon out of nothing!” He projected himself over me. I had no idea he had begun to turn his back on the camp.
“There's 500 people in this camp looking to us for answers. I won't abandon them. I'm trying to do the right thing,” I said.
“Yeah you've said that before. But there's also 1.7 million rotten sons of bitches just waiting to creep out of that hellhole,” Thomas said. A profound science hung over us then, I couldn't believe he wanted to leave.
“Christ. Smoke keeps rising,” muttered Mason, as I turned around and saw him gazing to the distance, where the tall buildings of the city blew up with smoke and ash.
“My decision is final,” I said then. Thomas stepped up to face me.
“Well then you have doomed us all.”
He marched off, walking down the hall and through some double doors, slamming through them as Mason left in the other direction at a slower pace. I glanced to the city, and the mess that lay before me. Then down to the roads below, a dead man walked along the path beside a legless girl. They reminded me of those close to my heart, and I wondered if I would see them again. In truth I knew I would not see one of them again, Susie had told me as much. I passed her friend as I went to visit her to hand them their ration. The friend gave me an uneasy glance as I went by. I’d already checked them off the record for enhanced privileges when it came to food and water.
“Thank you,” Susie said as I personally handed her the ration of beef and water.
“Blake, I meant what I said. She's out there, alone,” Susie said, of Jess. She had recounted her story about what happened at her house.
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