It was the other zombies gathering before the hotel that gave Jenni pause. They were looking around, as if sensing that there was flesh to consume nearby. One of them looked up and reached toward her.
About ten of them began to screech at her. Backing away, she looked toward the doors behind her. She had no gun and no idea if anything lay beyond that door.
Taking a deep breath, she began to reach out to open the door when the doors began to shake under the pounding of fists on the other side.
Jenni looked back at the other balcony she had come from. Her gun lay that way as did the other zombie.
Looking back at the door quivering before her, she made a choice.
2. Nightmares Realized
Katie came running down the hall with Travis and Felix close behind. They had heard the screams and had immediately charged down the hall. Roger huffed and puffed behind them as they rounded the corner.
Curtis and Jimmy stood out in the hall shouting at each other as screams came from beyond the door.
“Where is Jenni?” Katie shouted at them.
Jimmy desperately checked his pockets as Curtis cursed at him.
“Jimmy flipped out and shoved me out of the room and shut the gawddamn door. Jenni is in there. She has a set of keys and Jimmy can’t find his,” Curtis responded, his face red with anger.
Jimmy continued desperately checking his pockets as Katie whirled on him. “Jenni is in there? Screaming? What the fuck were you thinking leaving her alone?”
“I got it.” Roger unlocked the door with their set of keys.
Next to Roger, Travis steadied himself, ready to fire.
“That fucking zombie had a metal plate in his head,” Jimmy screamed at Katie. “Our shots didn’t even phase him!”
“You don’t leave people behind,” Katie shouted angrily. For a moment, Lydia flickered in her mind. She fought back the image.
“We don’t leave people behind.”
“Ready?” Roger asked.
Katie nodded collected herself and readied herself.
Roger flung the door open.
Something that had been human was on the floor crawling toward the balcony. When the door banged opened, it slid around, opened its mouth and hissed. Katie felt her stomach flip-flop but managed to keep it under control as she raised her gun and shot the thing in the head.
“Jenni,” she called out cautiously. That thing on the floor could not be Jenni. Jenni had to still be in here, somewhere, alive.
But if she wasn’t…
Entering first, Travis right behind her, Katie held her gun up and ready.
If Jenni were turned, she would have to kill her. Jenni was her friend and she loved her. It would be only right for her to be the one.
But it was a task she didn't want.
Jenni couldn’t be gone…
A shape loomed in the doorway.
It took a second for her to take in the long black hair. The form limped into the room and raised its head. Blood poured out of its mouth.
It was Jenni.
Katie felt like screaming.
Travis raised his gun higher. “I’ll do it.”
“Fuck no,” Jenni choked out.
Katie hit Travis' arm and the gun went off, the bullet hitting the chandelier over the bed and sending it swinging.
“Gawddamn.” Jenni spit blood out of her mouth.
Katie moved slowly toward her.
“I thought-” Travis started.
“Are you bit?” Katie had tears burning her eyes. Jenni looked bad.
She could feel chills sliding up and down her spine and her stomach getting tighter.
“No,” Jenni spat again. “I busted my lip jumping to the balcony.
Twisted my ankle climbing over.” She shoved her hair back from her face and licked her lips with a bloodied tongue. “Bit my tongue, too.
Juan is so not going to like that.”
Katie couldn’t help but laugh. She lowered her gun slowly.
“Shit, girl. We thought you were dead,” Felix exclaimed from the doorway.
“I'm not that easy to kill.” Jenni grinned, then got down on the floor and climbed under a chair to retrieve her gun.
“You’re fucking lucky she’s still alive,” Curtis hissed at Jimmy.
“Look, my bullet bounced off the fucker’s metal plate,” Jimmy protested.
Katie walked onto the balcony and looked around. Slowly, it dawned on her what Jenni had done. Looking down she saw a zombie impaled on a street lamp and another crawling slowly up the stairs to the front doors of the hotel.
“Travis,” she said.
He walked out next to her and looked down. “Shit.” Lifting his walkie-talkie, he pressed the button. “Juan, get a crew inside the hotel and secure the front door and windows. We’ve got a crowd gathering.”
“Gotcha,” Juan said. There was a pause, then, “How is it going?”
“We lost Davey. Almost lost Jenni. She’s fine now. We’re going continue on.”
Jenni appeared in the shattered doorway and looked out at them.
“There are some in the room next to us, too.”
“How do you know?”
“I was over there, Katie,” Jenni answered, pointing to the other balcony, “and they started banging on the door,” Jenni pushed her hair back from her face. “Damn, when did I lose my hat?”
Katie reached out and touched Jenni’s cheek lightly. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
Jenni sighed. “Well, I just don’t think I’d make a good zombie. I’d try to hump Juan, not eat him.”
Katie laughed and Travis chortled.
“You are crazy,” Travis said to her.
Jenni nodded. “Yeah, probably. But it’s probably what keeps me alive.”
“I wouldn’t doubt that one bit,” Travis answered.
Curtis came onto the balcony and looked around. “I say we move on together as a group. Might be slower, but probably safer now that my group is down to two.”
Roger and Felix stood in the room looking down at the skeletal creature on the ground.
“You know, I really don’t want to be wearing a red shirt anymore.”
“Just keep it together, Roger,” Felix said.
Jimmy stood near the doorway, looking pissed, and sheepish at the same time. “It bounced off his fucking metal plate!”
Katie could feel her anger against him building up. He had left Jenni to die and she couldn’t forgive that anytime soon. “Just shut up, Jimmy.”
Jenni limped across the room and looked at Jimmy in the eye.
“Yeah, shut up.”
Katie followed Jenni out into the hallway and they looked warily at the next door. “So there are some in that room, huh?”
“Yeah,” Jenni said as she pulled her hair up out of her face and wound it around into a bun. “Banging on the window. I didn’t see how many. Could be one or more.”
Katie nodded and tilted her head. “You know, for a moment, I thought you were gone.”
Jenni sighed. “Yeah, me, too. But I was very determined not to go out like that. If I go, I’m going down for something big. Very heroic.
Not just…not like that. I’ve really made up my mind on this.”
Katie laughed. “Yeah, I can tell.”
Travis and Curtis joined them as Roger finally looked away from the dead female zombie. Jimmy sulked behind them, but at least had shut up.
“Let’s get this done,” Curtis said in a dark tone and moved ahead of them.
Katie felt her stomach tense and she readied herself once more.
Jenni unlocked the door.
Curtis flung it open.
Katie shot the zombie banging on the window.
It was that easy.
Katie entered the room and they systematically checked it. She looked down at the dead maid for a moment. The woman had been untouched except for what looked like a bite on her forearm.
“Why did you tell Davey not to open the wardrobe?” Jenni asked of Jimmy suddenly.
“I saw the blood. Dried, but it had dripped down under the doors,” he answered.
Jenni nodded and looked around the room. “You got him killed,” she said softly. “You distracted him.”
Katie could feel the tension building. “Let's keep moving. There is time for this later.”
They pushed on. Door by door, room by room. Chalk checkmark after chalk checkmark. With the second plumber dead, they were feeling a bit better. Of course, there could be others they did not know about in the hotel, but the number of possible zombies was falling steadily.
“Sixth floor clear,” Bill finally declared.
Jenni was walking with a limp and Katie stayed near her. She could see that Travis was stressing over Jenni’s injury and was keeping his anger at Jimmy in check. Curtis was so red with anger, Katie was afraid he was going to have a heart attack. But they kept going and Roger trudged along mumbling to Felix about his red shirt being a bad idea.
3. Friends in High Places
Juan stood impatiently while the gate into the hotel was unchained.
As soon as it was opened, he hurried through with several construction workers and a small force of armed men in tow. Stepping into the janitor's room, he looked back into the fort and saw Jason standing with a walkie-talkie clutched in one hand and his faithful dog companion at his side. He gave Juan the thumbs up. Juan smiled slightly and turned back into the hotel.