In a pleading voice, Mrs. Davis stuttered out, “But the consulate?”
Mrs. Moore shook her head sharply. “We’re not going to the consulate. Use your head. There’s no safety there. We only walked a few blocks today and we lost two students and almost got shot. How many of us would make it all those miles to get to an empty office building? It’s not an option. We need to find shelter in place. That means we need to find somewhere that we can lock down, keep secure and defend. Preferably somewhere that’s not likely to catch on fire and burn around us. We need to gather as many supplies as we can and then keep our heads down. Put simply, we need somewhere we can hide for quite some time.”
Mrs. Davis’ eyes were wide with fear. “How long?” she whispered.
Mrs. Moore knew that telling the woman that it could be months was likely to send her into a panic so she just said, “We need to stay hidden until this city burns itself out and most of the people have either left or died. Only then will it be safe for us to try and leave. Will you help me?”
The only response she got was a dazed nod.
“Alright, let’s get the students moving. We’re going to climb up the emergency stairwell to our floor and see if we can get the room doors open.” She turned away from the dazed woman and saw April staring with worry so she waved the girl over.
“Will you help your Mother up the stairs, please?”
When April nodded, she left to gather the rest of her charges. She didn’t know if the sharp reality of their situation had penetrated fully into Mrs. Davis’ brain but she hoped that it would at least stop her from arguing so much.
Chapter Four
Mrs. Moore herded the group over to the stairwell door and was happy to see Liam and the only other male student that was left in the group, Ben. They both had their arms filled with red frosted glass candle holders. As the group joined them, they passed out the holders and matchbooks they had found behind the empty bar. Mrs. Moore opened the door and cautiously looked up the stairs. She was glad that it seemed empty and relieved to see that there were skylights letting in enough light that they wouldn’t need the candles yet. She turned back to the group and instructed them.
“I’m happy to say that there’s enough light in there that we won’t need the candles. Take them with you because we might need them in the hallway. Go up to the tenth floor but wait at the landing until I can check to made sure it’s safe before we go into the hallway. Watch your step and hold the railing. We don’t want any accidents as there’ll be no ambulances coming for a broken leg.”
Just as she finished saying this, there was a huge crash of broken glass and screams from the front lobby. She threw the door open and waved them through.
“Quickly now, but stay calm!”
As the students and chaperones rushed into the stairwell, she moved back and looked around a corner to see what was happening in the lobby. The front picture window was shattered and there was a large broken planter on the floor in front of it. The flowers and potting soil were spread out over the carpet. She looked through the broken window and saw a group of teens and young adults wreaking havoc. They were smashing car windows and spray-painting graffiti all over the place but none of them seemed to be coming inside the hotel. She shook her head at the senselessness of the destruction and quickly joined her students climbing the stairs. She called out reassurance and everyone’s pace slowed to a manageable level.
By the fifth-floor landing, Mrs. Moore was feeling the strain. She kept herself in good shape and worked hard on her small acreage at home, but climbing stair after stair wasn’t something she was used to and it put a strain on her older body. She paused to sip from a water bottle before continuing the climb. When she reached the tenth-floor landing, everyone was waiting for her and she had to pause for a minute to get her heart rate down. She scanned the faces of her charges and saw the gamut of emotions from fear to confusion.
Liam had gone up another flight of stairs and he was looking up higher. She called for him to return to the group and then slowly opened the door to the tenth floor. It was very dim with only the faintest light coming from under some of the room doors. As in the stairwell, even the emergency lights weren’t working. At the opposite end of the hall, she could see a brighter area. There was a window down there but the curtains were not opened all the way. Most important was that the long hallway was empty of people.
Mrs. Moore had one of the girls hold open the stairwell door to let the dim light from the stairwell in and quickly walked to the opposite end where she pulled back the curtains. Turning back, she could see much better but the middle of the floor was still very dim. The sunlight glinted off of glass and she turned that way to see what it was. The fire ax that Liam had mentioned earlier was secured against the wall, covered by a glass door. Once she’d removed it, she made her way back to the other end of the hall. There was a housekeeping cart abandoned in the hallway and she pushed it out of the way so no one would run into it.
After everyone had moved into the hall, Ben stayed at the stairwell door to keep a watch in case other people came up to their floor. It was decided that they would start with the room closest to the light from the stairwell and Mrs. Moore started swinging. Many years of splitting logs for firewood on the acreage gave her the strength and conditioning to wield the ax but it still took many hits before the lock was smashed off and they could shove the door open.
With the door open and the curtains on the window drawn open, there was even more light. Mrs. Moore looked down the hall at all the doors that still needed to be opened and shook her head. This was a waste of time and energy. They could spend the next hour or more smashing doors open but it didn’t solve the problem. Yes, they would all have their belongings but what then? They couldn’t stay here. There was no way to secure the building and there wouldn’t be enough food and water to last them long. They needed a plan and her normally sharp brain couldn’t seem to come up with one. She needed help.
“Alright everyone, I would like us all to go into the room and have a discussion on what our plans are. Please go in and find a seat.”
When the students entered the room, Mrs. Moore saw Jessica head straight into the bathroom. As she was about to shut the door Mrs. Moore called out to her.
“Jessica, wait!”
The girl looked at her in confusion and pleaded, “Sorry, Mrs. Moore, but I really need to go!”
“Yes, I’m sure you do, but you can’t flush the toilet.” At her bewildered expression, Mrs. Moore continued, “Just come out here for a minute. Attention, everyone! I’m sure many of you need to use the bathroom so I’ll explain a problem we have. There’s no water being pumped anymore so the toilets have only one flush in their tanks. You can all use it but we can’t flush it until everyone has had a turn. Girls, please put the used paper in the garbage can. If anyone has to go number two…hold it. Once we have a few more rooms opened up we can use the other bathrooms for that. Just remember that you can only flush once and then those toilets will no longer work. Go ahead, Jessica, just don’t flush it, please.”
The girl made a face of disgust but went in and shut the door. There was a quick scramble by the other girls to line up for their turn. While they waited, Liam approached Mrs. Moore.
“Would it be alright if I took the ax and tried to get the next room open? It’ll be a few minutes before you’re ready to start the meeting.”
She handed the ax to him with a warning to be very careful. They couldn’t afford any accidents. He left the room and soon they could hear the sounds of the next door being struck by the ax. It took about ten minutes before everyone had used the bathroom and when Mrs. Moore took the final turn, she flushed the waste away. There was a small trickle of water and the bowl filled half of what was normal. She went out into the hall and called Liam back in just as his final swing of the ax pushed the door in.
When they entered the first room again, she noticed that Liam was flushed and covered in sweat. It was only then that she
realized how warm the hotel was getting. The temperature had been slowly rising in the building since the air conditioning had stopped that morning. She did a quick head count of the people spread out on the two beds and three chairs in the room and was relieved to come up with fourteen. Mrs. Moore went to the window and searched all she could see from her vantage point. She knew it was unlikely that they would ever see the two missing boys again. Turning away from the window, she pushed away her sadness and addressed the ones she had left.
“I need your help. I need every single one of you if we’re to survive what’s happening out there. We won’t be walking to the consulate. It’s too dangerous and there’ll be no one there to help us anyway. We need to think of a place that we can stay and be safe. We need a building that we can secure and possibly defend and we need supplies. We can’t stay here as there are too many windows that can be broken and it’s too close to other buildings if there’s a fire. As you can see from the window there are already many fires burning out of control. So, think of something that has open space around it, something that’s walled in or even underground. You all did an assignment last month on this area as a tie-in to this trip. I want you to think about all that you learned and see what you can come up with. We’ll figure this out and make a plan; we just need to use our heads. We’ll also have to start stocking up on food and water so empty out the minibars in all the rooms we get open and start filling your luggage with their contents. You’ll have to leave some of your personal belongings behind but food and water are more important than extra clothes. Take a few minutes and think it over and then we’ll discuss our ideas.”
Mrs. Moore waved Liam back out the door and then looked around at the other students. No one was talking and they all seemed to be sitting in stunned shock. She hoped that they would come out of it soon and contribute some ideas. She asked April to come out in the hall as well to help Liam with the doors. April shot a quick look at her mother but she was still in a dazed state and made no move to stop her so she followed them out of the room.
In the hallway, Mrs. Moore asked them to keep working on breaking down the doors and went to check on Ben who was still keeping watch on the stairwell. When she went back into the hotel room, Liam paused before his next swing and looked around to make sure no one else had come out into the hall. Seeing that it was clear he turned to April and waved her closer.
“I have an idea to get these doors open quicker but I doubt Mrs. Moore will let me try it so I need you to cover for me while I’m gone.”
“Gone where? What’s your idea?” she asked.
“Just hold on for a minute. I need to get this door open and then I’ll show you.” He waved her back and kept chopping at the door until it finally slammed open. He leaned the ax against the wall and rubbed at his shoulder. It was already aching and he’d only opened two doors. Waving for April to follow him, he entered the room and went straight to the curtains and opened them. He bent down and examined the frame of the sliding glass doors that led out to a small concrete balcony. Satisfied, he flipped the lock open and stepped out. He turned at the door and told April.
“Okay, close and lock the door for me. I want to try something.”
She gave him a weird look but did as he said and slid the door closed and flipped the latch back to locked. Liam pulled the door away from the lock and it only moved a fraction of an inch. He then started to jerk the door by the handle straight up. April stood on the other side of the glass with her hands on her hips. She started to shake her head and was about to open the door when the lock lever jumped off the latch and Liam slid the door open triumphantly.
“How did you do that, or maybe a better question is where did you learn to do that?” she asked him in awe.
“Last summer my mom locked us out of the house by accident. Our next-door neighbour came over and he had the patio door open in like five seconds. It was awesome! Mom totally freaked and she had Dad installing new doors and locks the next day. Anyway, now that I know it’s going to work, I’m going to jump over to the next balcony and open it that way. My arms are killing me from swinging that ax. This’ll be easier.”
April studied him for a moment before pushing past him out onto the balcony. She peered over at the next room and then looked down over the side.
“Yup, much easier for you to go splat ten stories down then have sore arms,” she told him in a deadpan voice.
“No way! Look how close together the balconies are, it’s an easy jump!” he argued.
Shaking her head at him she countered, “Listen, I have an idea, too. All these rooms have a connecting door. Why don’t we just unlock this one and bust down the next room’s connecting door? They only have a dead bolt and they aren’t as thick as the main room doors. We’d be able to get through them a lot easier.”
Liam looked thoughtful for a minute before he said, “Okay, show me.”
April went back into the room and unlocked the dead bolt on the connecting door and opened it to show the next room’s door. She turned to show Liam what she meant and saw that he hadn’t followed her back in from the balcony. Not only had he not followed her back in but she couldn’t see him out there. She ran to the sliding door and stepped out. She turned and saw his feet slither over the next room’s balcony. His head popped up and he was grinning like a fool.
“You’re a freakin’ moron!” she yelled at him.
He just shrugged his shoulders and, still grinning, turned and went to work on the sliding door lock. He had it open in under a minute and turned to give her a wave but April was already gone.
When he opened the door into the hallway April was standing there waiting for him with a scowl on her face. She pushed him back into the room and in a low voice gave it to him.
“That was the stupidest thing to do. Don’t you get what’s going on here? There are two guys and twelve girls in our group. If you fall, we’re down to one guy. We’re going to need your help!” He was going to argue with her when her next words completely surprised him. “I’ll jump from now on. Keep a look out for Mrs. Moore, or worse, my mom!”
He was so surprised by what she said that he didn’t react when she spun around and went out on the balcony. He rushed after her and was just in time to see her clear the next balcony’s wall and land on her feet.
She turned to him with a smug look and said, “I have longer legs!”
Chapter Five
They managed to open eleven more rooms this way before Mrs. Moore came looking for them. They had all the doors propped open with suitcases and the hallway was filled with light. Finding the ax leaning against the wall by the third open room, she was confused at how all the doors had been opened. She walked quickly down the hall to the last door that was open and scanned inside looking for her two students. She saw them out on the balcony and it struck her as strange that they were playing rock, paper, scissors. Just as she was getting to the door, April boosted herself up onto the concrete ledge and jumped out of sight. In complete shock, Mrs. Moore ran the rest of the way and barrelled out the door. She turned to her left and saw April struggling with the door on the next balcony. She just watched silently behind Liam’s back as April popped the door open and turned to wave at him. The girl’s face changed into surprise and then she gave a sheepish wave to Mrs. Moore.
Liam looked over his shoulder and whirled around when he saw his teacher. He started to sputter an explanation and his face had the classic little boy with his-hand-caught-in-the-cookie-jar expression. Mrs. Moore raised her hand to silence him.
“I do believe that that’s enough rooms open, Liam. Thank you for your help.”
Without another word on the subject, she turned and went back into the room and out into the hall. She came out of the room at the same time that April opened the next door and gave the girl a quick look up and down to make sure her student wasn’t hurt.
“Let’s not mention this to your mother. Please bring Liam and join us in the first room. We’re going to share our i
deas on where to go from here.”
April felt a grin spread over her face. If it had been her mom that found them leaping balconies, the walls would’ve been shaking from her screams. Mrs. Moore was so cool!
She collected Liam and they couldn’t help but grin at each other. It was the first time since everything had stopped that morning that the two teens didn’t feel scared. They followed Mrs. Moore into the first opened room and saw everyone talking quietly. April was shocked to see the state her Mother was in. No loud voice, no flapping hands. She sat completely still and stared down at the floor with a glazed look. She had never seen her mother so still and she was worried. As nice as it was to not be hovered over, this wasn’t the time or place for her to lose it.
She looked to the other two adults in the room. Ms. Scott was ignoring all of the people around her and was playing with her cell phone. It looked like she was trying to text someone on the dead machine but she didn’t seem to notice the black screen. The other adult was Mrs. Hardsky. At least she seemed to be in the here and now. She had her daughter close to her side but she was taking notes on a pad of paper as ideas were thrown out by the students on where they should go. April moved into the room and sat beside her mother. She held on to the woman’s cold hand and focused on what Mrs. Moore had to say.
STRANDED: Box Set: Books 1-6 Page 62
