Grayson Ryder: A Thief's Thrill

by M. L. Giles

  Once at the bottom of the ramp, Carl stopped the car and put the lights on for five seconds, then flashed them three times in quick succession. While the lights had been on, I had seen we were at the shutter of an underground parking area. The shutter itself was metal with tiny circular holes in it.

  “Light signals?” I asked.

  Carl nodded. “Yeah, both to get in and out. Can’t be too careful these days.”

  After a minute or so, the metal shutter rose slowly with a loud clanking sound, breaking the silence of the night. Carl immediately put the car lights on again before driving forward, passing under the shutter and entering the darkened underground parking zone.

  “That shutter was electric…” I stated.

  Wendy leaned forward from the backseat. “There’s still power here? How?”

  “Generators,” Carl explained. “We use them rarely. Mostly for the gate and some lighting.”

  I wanted to make a joke about finally being able to charge my electric toothbrush, but being slowly driven around a large underground car park was putting me on edge. Even the sound of the shutters closing behind us was making my hair stand on end.

  Carl continued driving past various unused cars and support pillars until we reached a turning. When we went around that corner, everything changed.

  To the left of us were cars and vans parked up neatly side by side. Each one looked well maintained. Some were either painted a camo green and brown or had mesh netting with branches and fake leaves attached to them. On our right was a concrete wall with tools, tool boxes, paints, spare car parts, and various other unidentifiable bits lying untidily around. This section of the car park looked far from disused or abandoned like the earlier part was.

  “You need to hire a cleaner for in here,” I joked.

  Carl mumbled something under his breath before saying, “Tyrone doesn’t like anyone touching anything in here.”

  “Who’s T-Tyrone?” Thomas asked, clearly nervous of our new surroundings – not that I blamed him this time.

  “Tyrone’s the mechanic. He fixes everything around here.” As soon as Carl finished speaking, a man appeared from out of the large, open, concrete doorway we were slowly approaching. “Speak of the devil. That’s him now.”

  As Tyrone came more into range of the car’s headlights, I could see he was a younger black man with a heavy stubble over his chunky cheeks and chin. He was wearing sky blue overalls with a zip up the front and a white shirt underneath; both stained with large patches of oil and paints. On his head sat the most glorious flame-patterned bandana which, I must say, made him look pretty badass!

  Strangely, though, the bandana was pristine. Not a single drop of paint or oil blemished it, making it look almost brand new.

  Carl opened the car door and got out with the engine still running. “Come on. Tyrone can park this up.”

  The three of us got out of the car while Carl and Tyrone talked.

  “Where have you been, Carl?” Tyrone asked with a voice as smooth as butter. “You were only meant to be gone a day or two.”

  “There were complications.”

  “Yeah, I can see that.” Tyrone gestured towards us. “Who are they?”

  “People I think might be useful.”

  “Cool. Where’s Kumar?”

  Carl looked away with a saddened expression on his face. “He didn’t make it. Sorry, Tyrone.”

  “We didn’t k-kill him!” Thomas blurted out, making Tyrone look over at us suspiciously.

  I rubbed my forehead out of embarrassment. “…Smooth… Real fucking smooth, Thomas.”

  “…Anyway, can you park the car for me, Tyrone? I want to get them to Colton soon as,” Carl said, pulling Tyrone’s attention away from us.

  “Yeah, man. Of course. It’s good to have you back with us.”

  The two shook hands in a friendly manner before Carl beckoned us to follow him.

  “Nice headpiece,” I said to Tyrone as I walked past.

  “Aww, thanks!” he replied, giving me the most genuine smile I had seen in months.

  Carl had led us up a flight of stairs and into a dimly lit lobby. It was then that I realized we were in a posh hotel.

  “You three wait here. I need to speak with Colton first,” Carl told us as he left.

  I examined the lobby, giving a lengthy whistle at the same time. “This place is nice! Real swanky.”

  The floor was made of marble, with a huge, luxurious, blue carpet just in front of the grand reception desk. The walls were painted a dark shade of cream and had rather lacklustre paintings of scenery hanging on them. In the corner of the lobby were a bunch of white leather sofas sitting in a square pattern. Each one looked like they had been placed there after the outbreak – probably a meeting place.

  “I don’t like this,” Wendy said as we examined the place.

  “What’s w-wrong, love?” Thomas asked her. “Isn’t this what you always wanted? A safe place for us to settle down?”

  “It’s too… normal. Look how clean the place is.” She pointed to various areas of the lobby. “No blood stains, no bones, nothing destroyed either. The only abnormal thing here is the boarded-up windows and blocked entrance.”

  I closed my eyes, replaying that awful night in my head. I remembered being locked away in the bathroom, and how Gloria didn’t once try to use the door handle.

  “If the doors here are electronically locked or require a key to open, I imagine most people who went berserk were confined to their rooms at the time,” I explained. “This place probably got off lightly in comparison to the rooms people were staying in that evening. Wouldn’t take much to clean up a small mess in here.”

  “I guess that makes sense,” Wendy conceded. She went to sit down on the sofa. Thomas, playing the role of a good boyfriend, went with her.

  While the two love birds twittered away, I decided to jump behind the reception desk to have a snoop about for anything useful. It always pays to be prepared! Unless you get caught snooping around where you aren’t meant to be. Which is exactly what happened.

  Whoops!

  Carl returned to the lobby while I was still behind the reception desk, and it sounded like someone was with him.

  “These are them, Colton.” I heard Carl speak first.

  I was tempted to jump out immediately and make up some excuse for being back here, but I opted to wait in the hope my dear, intelligent friends would make up an excuse for me. Something simple would suffice, such as going to look for a bathroom.

  All I needed was a few seconds with them out of the lobby.

  “Nice to see more sane folk.” I heard a voice speak. It was gruff and ridiculously manly sounding. Whoever it was clearly gargled with gravel each morning.

  “Likewise,” Wendy said.

  “Huh? Thought there were three of you?” came the manly voice.

  “Oh, there are,” Wendy answered. “Grayson was just here a second ago.”

  “Come on, Dee… Make something up!” I thought with my lip bit hard.

  “Hey! I thought I told you lot to wait here.” Carl sounded angry. “What’s the big idea?”

  “W-We did! Grayson?! GRAYSON?!” Thomas yelled out in panic.

  Wendy also called out for me. “Grayson?”

  “Bloody idiots. Serves me right for relying on others,” I thought.

  Reluctantly, I emerged from behind the reception desk with my hands held up. I tried to look as goofy and innocent as possible.

  All of them turned to look at me.

  “What the fuck are you doing back there?!” Carl stepped forward, his cheeks red with anger.

  “Er…” No excuse I could make would defuse the situation, so I just went for it. “If you must know, I am looking for… a… key to… a room with… a jacuzzi? I mean, this place is so fancy! I’d hate to get stiffed with just a shower. I am high maintenance after all.”

  Carl’s look went from angry to furious instantly. Wendy seemed embarrassed for me while Thomas looke
d scared, but that’s nothing new for him.

  There was, however, one person who seemed to find my terribly constructed lie amusing, given his one-sided smile.

  “Ah-a! You must be the one that Carl mentioned wouldn’t stop yakkin’,” the man with the deep voice said. “I’m Colton.”

  Wow. Okay. Where do I even begin with this guy?

  Firstly, he was huge. I’m not talking fat, I’m talking both tall and muscular. I like to consider myself tall, but this guy was a mountain by comparison.

  Secondly, he wore thick black boots, a black tank top which failed to contain an abundance of chest hair, and camouflage green army trousers that, unlike his close-to-bursting tank top, seemed loose fitting.

  The third, and definitely most prominent feature, was his strapping face. Colton was completely bald on top and had what can only be described as the weirdest beard I’d ever seen. His well-maintained beard was black with tiny grey specs mixed in, but it was only shaved on the chin which exposed a line running down it. Without wanting to sound mean, it looked like a butt. I think it’s called a cleft chin.

  “Nice to meet you, Colton,” I said in a shaky voice, struggling to contain a laugh from seeing that beard and prickly butt-chin combo.

  “I know you lot had a long trip down here, but I’d like to speak with you separately first,” Colton said with a stern look on his face. “Think of it like a gettin’ to know you interview. That all right?”

  Wendy, Thomas, and I all nodded in agreement.

  “Should I get them sorted with a room for tonight?” Carl asked.

  “Yeah, give ‘em keys to three rooms. I’ll talk with the girl first. Try not to be too loud you lot, people are sleepin’.” Colton walked off towards an arched hallway, leaving us in the lobby.

  Carl joined me behind the reception desk. He still looked mad.

  “The other side…” he mumbled in my face.

  I shrugged and climbed over the desk. I would’ve used the same entry Carl had used but… meh, no reason.

  Thomas and Wendy went first. Carl handed them two metal keys, each had a small tag with a written number on, but Wendy explained they were a couple and would prefer to be together. Carl changed the keys for a new, individual key.

  “Room thirty-eight. Down the hall then up the stairs. The electric locks on the doors don’t work, so we fitted our own locks on the doors,” Carl explained. “Oh, and can you go to room two afterwards, Wendy? It’s where Colton is.”

  Wendy nodded before heading off with Thomas, leaving me alone with Carl.

  I stepped up to the desk, hitting a brass bell twice. “Service, please!”

  Carl threw a key down in front of me. “Fifty-nine. Find it yourself, funny guy.”

  “Does it have that jacuzzi I asked for?”

  “Fuck. Off.”

  “Is breakfast included? If so, is it gluten free?”

  He glared angrily at me. “I’m warning you—ˮ

  “Warning me of what?” I asked cheerfully. “Does this place have roaches? Termites? Ohhh, wait, let me guess: you guys do those annoying fire drills and you need to warn everybody about them.”

  Carl threw himself forward, almost falling over the counter, just to try and grab me. I took a large step backwards, narrowly avoiding his outstretched arm.

  “Awww, come on, Carl! I’m just pulling your leg,” I laughed.

  “You better stay the fuck away from me!” he yelled before marching off in a huff towards the stairs leading to the car park.

  When I first met Carl, his bad temper was apparent. I needed to test him and see just how unstable he could become. Even with all my pushing, Carl had managed to walk away. Admittedly not in the calmest manner, but at least now I knew he wouldn’t go too far. It was a good sign!

  Plus, I get a kick out of teasing guys like him, the kind who take everything so seriously. I used to tease Thomas in the same way, but his reactions were always so depressing.

  Satisfied by the outcome, I made my way to room fifty-nine.

  “Fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-eight, aaand fifty-nine. Here we are.” I happily talked to myself whilst looking for the door to my room for the evening.

  The hallway I’d walked down was just as luxurious as the lobby had been. Typically boring paintings, a few vases with fake flowers sticking out of them, thick and lush blue carpeting, frequent circular lights on the ceiling – not a single one lit, though. I had to use my stolen torch to see what I was doing.

  The door to my room had a metallic box on the handle where a card would slide in to unlock the door. Just above the handle was a poorly attached metal padlock.

  “Oh, yeah, that’s totally secure. No one’s breaking into here…” I mumbled sarcastically. In my vast experience, these kinds of locks were easy to pick.

  I put the torch in my mouth and unlocked the door with the small key given to me.

  Once inside, I closed the door behind me, dropped my backpack onto the floor, and shone the torch around the room to see what it was like.

  The room itself was medium in size, with a silver, heavy-looking curtain drawn across the windows. Two single beds with white covers on were located under a large, broken mirror. The broken mirror shards, busted T.V, and destroyed lightshades of the two lamps were all piled up in one corner of the room – probably hastily cleaned up for visitors of Colton’s group.

  As I’d told Wendy earlier, the rooms would be where most of the damage had been done. I wasn’t wrong.

  To my right, as I’d entered the room, was another door.

  I opened it up and walked in. It was a white and red tiled bathroom, very similar in colour to the bathroom at my old home…

  Instantly my heart raced. Memories came rushing back of being curled up under a towel while the world outside sang me to sleep with its death-cry lullaby.

  I raced over to the sink, turning the golden knobs without thinking. It was only after the water hit my hands did it occur to me that this place actually had running water.

  I splashed my face a few times, breathing deeply, trying to regain control of myself.

  “For fuck’s sake, Grayson! Calm down,” I thought. “It’s just a bathroom.”

  When I looked up into the heavily cracked mirror, I thought for the briefest of moments that my sister was standing behind me in the darkness. But when I turned around, it was just a pink shower curtain beside the bath. The shade of pink was almost identical to the one on her cat-faced night shirt.

  For some reason, I grabbed a hold of the shower curtain, placing it against my face.

  “Gloria…” Tears welled up in my eyes when I spoke her name. “I miss you, sis.”

  There were times when I wished I believed in some sort of afterlife; a place we all went to after we died.

  If I knew for certain that death would reunite me with my sister, I’d be dead already.

  It was about an hour later when a knock came at my door. I jumped off the bed and opened it up.

  “Hey, Grayson.” It was Thomas, holding a large, half-melted candle. “Carl said you were in room fifty-nine. This seems a bit far from everyone else.”

  I sighed. “I think he put me here on purpose.”

  Thomas looked at me, confused. “Why would he do that?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “No? W-Why?”

  “It’s because he secretly fancies me. Carl wants me far away from everyone, just so he can come and ravage me in the night,” I joked. “He must know I’m a screamer in the sack.”

  “…Would you r-really sleep with him?”

  I banged my forehead lightly against the doorframe, more than a bit frustrated by Thomas’ density levels. With each day that passed, it was getting harder to have fun or non-serious banter with another human being. I was starting to believe that Gloria was the only one who would ever truly understand me.

  “Sure… Why not! His musk is simply enchanting! Now what is it, Tom?”

  “O-Oh, wow! Well, Colton is done with m
e and Wendy. He wants to see you next.”

  “Ugh, here we go. Anything I should know about the big guy? Did you get any dangerous vibes from him?” I asked while slipping my trainers back on at the door.

  “No, nothing like that. He’s the firm-but-fair type with an army background, it seems. He wants to speak with you before making a call on letting us stay on a more permanent basis. As a gesture of goodwill, he’s letting us stay for the night, regardless of the outcome.”

  Given Colton’s appearance, I wasn’t surprised by the army background. “Fascinating. Anything else?”

  Thomas shrugged. “Regarding Colton? No. Not unless you count the fact he doesn’t want Wendy to have kids yet. One of the many rules here is that people must not t-try having children until this place is more secure.”

  “And he’s right to say that. I know she wants to have another kid desperately, but we only just got here. Not to mention it would just be a liability if this place isn’t stable already.” Thomas looked at me with the sad eyes of puppy that had just been bitch slapped by its master. Sometimes it was easy to forget those two were an item. “Ah, sorry. How was Dee after hearing that doozy of a rule? She okay?”

  “Not great, but she’s accepting it. Wendy does seem to really like it here! She had a q-quick look around during my interview and seemed impressed with what she saw. I think the idea of meeting new people tomorrow is cheering her up.”

  “Yay… A bonding experience with everyone over breakfast. How exciting,” I murmured sarcastically as I exited the room.

  This isn’t the first time we had bumped into a seemingly nice group, only to find out a couple of days later we were hanging around with slavers. Just like then, there was still a chance something could go wrong.

  I had no intention of getting too attached to anyone here.

  Thomas placed a hand on my shoulder, pulling me gently to face him. “Listen, Grayson. I know we came here originally for answers, but this group might be the best thing for us. P-Please, for Wendy and me, don’t mess this up.”

  “Goodness. I certainly wouldn’t want to fuck it all up for us. I mean, it’s not like we didn’t survive this long without any help.” I swept Thomas’ hand off my shoulder and walked past him. “Room two, right?”