“And what if we let one person with a bite live long enough to change and began spreading it through the fort? Then that is the end of us all. Do you want to be one of those things? Do you? Do you want to be the reason all the survivors of this fort die? Tell me. Do you want that on your hands?” Nerit gave Shane a cold, fierce look.
Shane didn't answer. He just looked away.
Bill began reorganizing the teams, trying to keep them evened out with skill level. Everyone was emotionally and physically exhausted, but they had to go on. This is what Mike had trained them for and even though he was no longer with them, they had a job to do.
Katie looked at all the bodies again and looked down at Mike's covered body. Jenni was standing nearby, her expression a little distant and disturbing. Katie reached out and took her hand and Jenni turned to look at her. Her eyes had a glazed look Katie hadn't seen since the first day they had met.
“Jenni?”
Jenni frowned a little, and said softly, “He wasn't supposed to die.”
Katie hugged her tightly. “None of us are. Not like this.”
Jenni nodded mutely, drew away, and clutched her gun tightly. “I just don’t want it to be the end.”
“It’s not,” Katie said firmly. “We just have to keep going. Fighting.
For everyone’s sake, Jenni, we gotta get this done.”
Jenni looked up and her gaze seemed a little more focused. “Yeah, for everyone still alive.”
Bill looked toward Nerit, who was standing near the doorway watching the hall. “Nerit, we clear?”
“No movement. I think the rooms are what we need to worry about now,” Nerit answered.
“But be cautious anyway,” Bill reminded everyone.
There were nods and people visibly pulled on their inner strength as they prepared to go on.
Bill raised the walkie-talkie to his mouth and pressed the button.
“Juan, we’re continuing on.”
“We heard gunshots,” Juan’s voice cackled through the receiver.
“Yeah, we lost some people. Mike and Ashley.”
“Shit,” Juan’s voice answered.
“We’ll be in touch.” Bill motioned to Nerit.
The older woman started down the hall followed by her new team of Katarina, Shane and Jimmy. The other teams followed as Bill pointed to them. They were back on schedule and heading to their assignments.
Katie looked toward Roger and Travis. They were talking softly.
Roger nodded slightly, but obviously looked ill at ease. As she neared them, Travis sighed and looked toward her.
“I’m sorry, Katie. I won’t fuck up again,” he said.
She shrugged and looked toward Roger. “No one thinks it’s easy killing what used to be your friend, Travis.” Forcing herself to look at him, she could see the pained expression in his eyes.
Travis said softly, “Just a living nightmare, isn’t it?”
Katie blinked, realizing what had happened. Travis had once confided in her that he had been struggling with his bizarre visions since the first day. He often saw his friends transformed into zombies for quick flashes. Now he was seeing those nightmares become reality.
No wonder he had hesitated shooting Mike.
She reached out and touched his cheek. He nuzzled her fingers, comforting himself, then he straightened.
“Let’s do this.”
Room after room was empty. Offices, closets, bathrooms, empty…
Each time a door swung open, Nerit’s gut clenched and her finger prepared to squeeze the trigger. Nerit rarely flinched in the face of danger. In fact, she rarely felt afraid. Her calmness was something she was used to, but now, she felt fear struggling to gain a hold of her.
Each large piece of furniture could be hiding danger, every partially opened door a potential for death…
There were signs of violence. Behind the front desk there was an enormous pool of dried blood and pieces of intestine and organs. The manager’s office had all the furniture knocked over and the heavy desk shoved aside, but no blood. Maybe he had escaped.
Walking quietly down the narrow hall, opening closed doors, the four of them moved with silent efficiency. The remains of the life that existed before the undead rose danced before their eyes as tombstones of days gone by. TVs and computers sat silently, screens blank. A newspaper laid on the floor in a bathroom declaring, “The Dead Walk”. A reminder of the first days, of what had happened, and of what now existed in the world.
In a supply closet, banners for the grand opening of the hotel were folded up, waiting to be hung up. But that Grand Opening would never happen or at least not the way the investors had thought it would.
As they opened the very last door, it swung open into a small office.
Inside were three bodies. None moved.
It was a woman and two children. The woman had evidently smothered the kids and drove an ice pick through their skulls. They were carefully arranged on the floor, their arms around each other. She had then clutched the ice pick in one hand and had fallen sideways onto it. She was lying next to the children, her eyes wide and staring, but they were all most definitely dead.
Making sure the room was clear, Nerit approached the door and studied it. There were no claw marks on it or any sign of distress. The woman had hidden back here, terrified, until she had made a desperate choice. Nerit returned to the manger’s office and found a framed photo. It showed a young man, the dead woman and three children.
“What do you think happened?” Katarina asked.
“I think he told her to hide with the kids. Maybe he tried to go for help,” Nerit answered.
“And never came back,” Jimmy finished. “And she stayed here.”
“She may have been too terrified to try to go for help or try to escape,” Shane said.
“And yet the construction site was so close, safety so close,”
Katarina whispered.
Nerit nodded and lifted her walkie-talkie to her mouth. “Juan, first floor is clear. We’re joining the teams on the second. But we may have one more zombie. I think the manager's family was visiting on the first day. One of his kids is not accounted for.”
“Shit,” Juan's voice said.
“Zombie kids. I hate them,” Shane muttered.
Nerit motioned for the group to follow her. They moved down the hallway in silence, leaving behind the mother and her two small children to rest in peace a little longer.
Jenni's revised group of Ned, Felix and Charles moved down the second floor hallway, guns at the ready, alert, and fearful. Ned held a large flashlight up, illuminating their way. The power grid was still up for the town had power, but a breaker had been tripped inside the hotel and it was dark, musty, and terrifying.
Despite the renovations, it seemed the hotel had been determined to keep its old world charm. The doors were not unlocked by card keys, but with regular keys. Master keys had been found behind the front desk and passed around to the various teams. Charles carried their set in his meaty hand. He looked very nervous as sweat poured down his face.
They had figured out a method for clearing out the rooms. Jenni and Felix would keep watch while Ned held the flashlight up so Charles could unlock the door. Then Charles would fling open the door while Jenni and Felix aimed straight into the room, ready to fire at anything that stirred. If nothing immediately popped out, they would move slowly into the room and check the bathroom the same way. The beds were old fashioned and so they had to check under them. This was accomplished by Felix ripping the comforter off and Jenni squatting down to make sure it was clear.
It was definitely a good plan and it worked through four rooms, but the stress level was growing. They were all struggling with a growing sense of dread. Maybe it was the darkness that dwelled in the hallway, the cloying stench of death that seemed to hang in the musty air, or the way the world outside seemed so far away as the storm boomed overhead.
The fifth door loomed before them and Charles wiped his brow with his hand and looked toward Jenni. “Ever feel this was a bad idea?”
Jenni laughed. “Ever since we came in.”
Charles leaned over and unlocked the door.
Felix made a little noise in his throat.
“What is it?” Charles looked at him nervously.
“The stench,” Felix answered.
Jenni let herself sniff the air and flinched. “Shit.”
They all steadied themselves and Charles flung open the door.
Nothing stirred in the room.
Cautiously, they moved into the room, doing exactly what they had done before. The space under the bed was clear. The wardrobe was empty. The bathroom door loomed before them, taunting and terrifying.
The stench was so bad, their eyes were watering.
“I hope I don’t get this room,” Charles muttered, and flung the bathroom door open.
Nothing stood before them, but the toilet with a tidy little white strip of paper across it and an empty clawed tub.
“Where the fuck is it coming from?” Ned exclaimed.
Jenni looked back toward the open door that led to the hallway, then back into the bathroom. “We’re missing something.”