The Inn

by D. R. Mather

  She disappeared into the center of the bridge.

  Kevin dropped to his knees; Beth ran to him and grabbed him tight, both of them were crying hard. Alex was as well, but he needed to keep the shield up too. Shots were ringing out from everywhere now, all of them bouncing off of Alex’s barrier. The men, what was left of them, had them surrounded but stayed quite a way off.

  Mick threw a hand grenade. It bounced off and landed right in front of two of his men, then went off, killing them instantly and wounding a third.

  “AH SHIT!” Mick ran right at Alex, then bounced off the barrier and landed flat on his ass.

  Alex expanded the barrier to go over Mick and yelled to Beth, “KILL HIM BETH!”

  Beth looked up from Kevin, turned, put a hand out and Mick was ash. She turned back to Kevin and hugged him again.

  Everyone started shooting again but it soon died off. They couldn’t figure out why these clowns weren’t dropping.

  Then a voice.

  “Hold on boys, let’s try this.”

  From the left corner of the pool house came a massive white hot ball of fire. It crashed into the barrier and Beth heard Alex scream. She looked up and saw Alex drop to his knees. His hands were still protecting them, but something was wrong with him.

  Beth ran over to him. “What is it?”

  “What is it? That hurt like a son of a bitch, that’s what it is.”

  Kevin was up and over near Alex. He reached down and took his shoulder, “Alex, you can do this, you have it in you.”

  Alex stood back up, but he was shaking all over.

  Another blast hit the barrier.

  “UUUGGGG…”

  Alex was back on his knees again. “Kevin I can’t keep taking those!”

  Kevin looked around the pool area; everyone was watching the corner of the pool house, where Benny was forming another fire ball. Kevin thought fast, very fast.

  “Alex, let the shield down. Beth, two bolts spin in a circle.”

  They both got it; the guys were so mesmerized by Benny’s fireball that they weren’t looking at the group in the center. Alex dropped his hands like they did while practicing. Beth released fast and hard, VERY hard. She spun over Alex’s head and Kevin ducked really fast. After she made a complete circle, Kevin said, “Alex, shield!”

  Benny managed to escape the blast because he was hiding on the side of the building; all of the others did not. Beth cut them all in half.

  It seemed fireball or not, Benny…..was alone.

  Benny let it fly and it hit the barrier, but Alex was now smiling after its impact.

  “Nice try numb nuts, got anything else up your sleeve?”

  “FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!” screamed Benny. He started another fireball, he just never got enough time to finish it. He must have figured that they would all stand and wait for the next hit; he was wrong, DEAD wrong. His little fireworks show was just getting warmed up when he felt Kevin grab his neck.

  “You know what Benny, I should rip you apart, piece by tiny piece, but I’m not going to. Nope, and do you know why?” Kevin smiled at him, “Let me tell you why – because I happen to know that something is hiding in you, something much bigger than you, and I want it. The only way I can get it is if I kill you quickly, so, say goodbye shithole.”

  Kevin reached down with his left hand and pushed it through Benny’s stomach until he reached the spine at the back. Benny was still alive and let out a grunt from Kevin’s entry into his gut.

  “Ah, here it is.”

  Kevin smiled at Benny one last time, then wrapped his hand around Benny’s spine and PULLED! Benny came apart as Kevin pulled his spine through the front of him.

  Kevin dropped whatever it was that he ended up holding and jumped back; very far back. A black and fiery dark red and orange cloud began to come from Benny’s body. It started to form a shape, but none of them could quite make it out.

  Kevin spun fast, “BETH NOW!!!!!!!”

  Beth let both hands go and hit it dead center. There was a horrific screech from it and then a scream like no sound ever heard on earth. The cloud simply exploded out in all directions, then the night returned and the silence with it. They all stared at it for a minute, then Beth looked at Kevin.

  “Is that it, did we do it?”

  “Yeah beautiful, we did it.”

  Another thought hit him like a sledgehammer.

  “JUDY!”

  He ran to the bridge. He wasn’t half way across when Judy came through thin air.

  “Hi honey pie, miss me?”

  “BABY!!!!!!!!!!”

  Kevin ran to grab her and they both started kissing, hugging and crying.

  For a change up, they went to just hugging for a minute. Kevin turned his head long enough to see Beth doing Judy’s bunny hop. He laughed, and then he attacked Judy’s neck with kisses.

  After a few minutes of this, Kevin pushed back from Judy, “Go with the others baby, I have a ‘thank you’ I need to use.”

  Kevin walked to the center and disappeared.

  “Well done, well done Kevin.” Both the ‘voice’ and the ‘female’ were on the bridge when Kevin appeared.

  “I think I owe you more than I can ever repay.”

  “Actually Kevin, no you do not. We saved one woman, you saved your entire race. You just pushed evil back one thousand years. The evil that remains on earth will still need to be dealt with, but it will no longer progress. With our guidance, you can help achieve that to a good degree.”

  “Are you telling me that you want me to keep doing this forever?”

  “Oh no, no, I believe our original agreement has come to an end Kevin. I’m talking about a whole new agreement, one which you won’t even take a full part in, only an important part.”

  “I see, so I can live a normal life again?”

  “Oh most certainly, come with me and we will discuss the terms.” They left the bridge of the ship and headed off to another room.

  As Kevin was escorted into the room he saw only one thing, a table with some type of machine on it. The top had a glass bubble over it.

  “What’s this?”

  “Go on Kevin, take a look.”

  Kevin walked up to it and looked in. “Is this, a…a…what I think it is?”

  “That would depend on what you think it is.”

  Kevin looked again.

  “It looks like a human embryo.”

  “Then yes, it is what you think it is.”

  “Okay, but who is it?”

  “I believe this should help you to decide.” The ‘voice’ handed Kevin a gold rose, “She’s waiting, waiting to be reborn to ‘special’ parents Kevin. Tell us Kevin, do you know where to place the rose?”

  Kevin slipped the delicate rose into his coat, “Yeah, I think I know where.”

  “And what will you name this rose Kevin, when it blooms again?”

  “I believe I’ll name it April, April Rose Chase.”

  “Excellent Kevin, then we understand each other perfectly. Mind that you watch after our ‘rose’ well, she will have important business in the future.”

  Kevin looked at them both, “As much as I’m able to, for as long as I’m able to.”

  “Your words are pure to us Kevin. Now, about your new agreement…”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Judy, Beth and Alex were all hugging when Kevin walked off the bridge.

  “Don’t I get anything?”

  None of them were as fast as Judy, who came crashing into Kevin at almost full speed. He caught her, picked her up around the waist and spun her around.

  “Hi honey pie, miss me?”

  Judy started laughing and crying at the same time. Alex and Beth joined them.

  “Well gang, I have it on good authority that we at least won’t have to clean up this mess of vermin – our ‘friends’ told me they’ll take care of it all.”

  Judy was about to say something good when it hit her.

  “Oh, April, Oh.”

&nb
sp; “I know, all of us will miss her, but I also happen to have it on good authority that she’s being taken care of, so how do you like that?”

  Beth looked at Kevin, “What exactly do you mean by that?”

  “Oh, let’s just say that Kevin’s got a secret that he can’t tell, and that you should all be happy for April.”

  Beth looked at Alex, then Judy, then back to Kevin, “Really?”

  “Aha,” Kevin winked at her.

  Dawn was beginning to break in the east as they made their way over to the old hall side of the building. Beth and Alex had left the building that way, hoping that the strong lock would be enough to keep the men out. It seemed they never got the chance to try it. Kevin unlocked the door and ushered everyone in.

  They spent the next half hour opening all the shutters again. Kevin disappeared for a few minutes during the reopening of the Inn and no one noticed. He came back downstairs and went to the front doors. As Kevin opened them he noticed something, something cool: both buses were gone. He walked around the building once and saw no evidence of anyone, anywhere.

  “Nice job guys.” He turned and went back inside.

  Judy came from the elevator as Kevin walked in, “Honey, I can’t, I can’t look in our room. I tried but I keep stopping at the doorway. I don’t want to see April like that, I really don’t.” Judy’s eyes were dripping tears.

  “Hey, hey, baby, come with me, I think you need to see this.” He took her up on the elevator to the attic, then walked her past their apartment and down to Beth’s. He knocked, waited, and Alex opened the door.

  “Get Beth and come with me,” Kevin said. Soon they were all in Kevin’s living room. He started to bring them to his bedroom.

  “No Kevin, I don’t want to,” exclaimed Beth.

  “Same goes for me honey, please?”

  Kevin looked at them and put on his best stern face, “Get in there, NOW!”

  They both went, holding each other as they walked. Judy noticed it first: April’s legs should have been showing by now. She walked a little calmer but faster. Beth was trying to slow her down but couldn’t.

  “Come on Beth, I think it’s okay.”

  They both saw past the bed at the same time. There was no blood from April; there was no, well, there was no April. What there was, lying on the floor where April had died, was an exact replica of a rose, only this one was gold. Judy bent, picked it up and cradled it gently in her arms.

  “April always was as beautiful as a rose, wasn’t she?”

  Beth came over and touched the rose with Judy, then Kevin and Alex followed. The petals seemed delicate, and each one had a tiny teardrop diamond at the tip. It sparkled when Judy moved the slightest bit.

  They all wept for the death of their friend. All but Kevin, who had a warm smile. April would be missed…for now.

  The rose forever sat at the back of the signatures in the basement, encased in glass with a small plaque on top:

  “Our April. May she shine forever.”

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Kevin got off the phone from Will after telling him that all was well and that they could come back in a few days. The place just needed a little ‘fixing up’.

  If you called over seven hundred bullets through the attic rooms a ‘fixing up’, then Kevin didn’t lie.

  Kevin called Steve that very day and told him that he needed his entire crew there as soon as he could arrange it.

  “Tomorrow for sure, did you go and wreck something on me Kevin?” Steve asked.

  “Amm…a little?”

  “Okay buddy,” Steve laughed, “see you tomorrow.”

  The evening was very quiet at the Colburn Inn. With only four of them there, they could all sit at one table. Beth and Judy made a light dinner, but no one seemed to be doing anything more than pecking at it. Everyone’s head seemed to be mostly down and deep in their own thoughts.

  Kevin looked up at Judy, “You know what, I think I’d like to make love to my ‘bride to be’ tonight.”

  Judy giggled, went bright red and slapped Kevin’s arm, “Geeez Kev, announce it to the whole world, why don’t you?”

  Beth snickered and lifted her head, “You know, that might not be such a bad idea!”

  Judy’s mouth dropped, “BETH, we don’t do foursomes!”

  “No Judy, not us with you, I mean Alex an……oh god, never mind!”

  “Oh, because I was gonna say…!”

  Everyone burst out laughing. They laughed harder and longer than the joke should have lasted. They needed to release it somewhere.

  When Kevin entered his bedroom he saw Judy. She was kneeling over the spot where April had died. He stopped and stood quietly. Judy took her hand and kissed it, then placed it on the floor, then she turned and stood up, a line of tears flowing down her cheeks. Kevin went to her and held her. He felt her pain.

  They made love that night. It was slow and rewarding to both of them. In a room not far away, it was the same for Beth and Alex.

  The next few days were very busy; the crews were replacing broken windows in the dormers and patching holes in about every square inch of the ceiling, as well as some of the walls throughout the attic rooms. No matter how hard Steve tried to press Kevin for an explanation, Kevin wasn’t going to budge. Steve finally threw up his hands and gave up asking.

  Judy took the Mustang and left for a while with Beth, they showed up a few hours later with some things for the fridge.

  “That took an awful long time for what, four bags of food?” Kevin looked at them with suspicion.

  Judy put a bag down on the desk, “Yeah, well, we couldn’t decide on a few things.” She looked to Beth and let out a warm smile to her; Beth returned one to Judy.

  On the third day after the siege, sunlight shone through the grand ballroom again as the steel panels were removed. By that evening all that was left to do was reset the paver stones again. Kevin decided it was close enough to finished, and he made the call to bring them home.

  By nine that night they were all gathered once again in the living room. Kevin told them as much about what had happened as he was allowed. The crying went off and on for a few hours. Only Kevin, Alex, Beth and Judy wept silently, as they were already healing themselves from it, the others had received it all as new information.

  Eventually Barb gathered herself together enough to ask Kevin, “What about a funeral for April?”

  “I’m afraid there isn’t any April to have a funeral for Barb; we just have to honor and remember her in our hearts and in our mind.”

  That truth set off another bout of crying between Cindy and Barb.

  The following day, Judy announced to Kevin that she and Beth were taking the Mustang again.

  “Fine baby, fill it up while you’re out okay?”

  “No problem.” Both women went and kissed their men goodbye.

  “Alex, do they seem like they’re up to something or is it just me?”

  “Yeah, I saw it too. Sneaky women, you have to watch them all the time.”

  Kevin laughed a little and went back to the paperwork he was doing at the table.

  A few hours later, Kevin heard the women coming into the house. He heard whispering and things being shuffled about at the desk. He put his pencil down and tried to focus; the sounds were mostly gone now.

  “Okay, now what’s up?”

  Kevin got up and went out to the main desk. When he turned the corner he stopped dead in his tracks. Everyone was standing in a half circle around the large picture of the ‘gold find’. All of them had their heads down. Kevin slowly walked over until he saw between Will’s and Barb’s shoulders. He stopped and looked, then brought his own head down in silence. Sitting directly under the picture, on the counter, were two 8x10 framed pictures of April: the left one looked like it had maybe been taken in college, the right one was April waving to whomever was taking the picture, and had been taken outside the main doors to the Inn. In the center, there was a crystal glass cube with the gold r
ose under it, set in a lead cut vase. The plaque, clean, shiny and new, sat above the container:

  “Our April, may she shine forever.”

  Kevin had his head low when Judy came to him. He looked up and smiled at her, “I know where this will be in a few years. We already made the perfect place; we just didn’t know it at the time.”

  Kevin was referring to the basement.

  ***

  August first took most of them by surprise. The place was up and running, and most every day was filled with guests. Cindy was running the crew in the kitchen along with Barb; she also took care of most of the daily activities. Cindy had to hire a nanny for the twins; she stayed in their old room on the second floor. Roland and Will pretty much saw to the front desk and the guests’ needs. There was an entire hotel staff now: maids, two laundry workers, four cooks, and nine wait staff for the dining room.

  They had a golf pro that took care of the golfers and even had to have a caddy building placed at the beginning of the course. Billy and Michelle ran the lodge, and though it was their slow time, they both kept busy with extra guests from the Inn as well as running the tram and slide. There were several sales employees throughout the area. For instance, the two shops carved out of the mountain, the golf shop and the gym/health food bar.

  Kevin and Judy mostly took a back seat and hung around. Kevin was in contact with Steve a lot. He decided to start up a new construction business; his first job was to build an orphanage, a contract he was sure not to lose. In fact, that was the route Kevin decided to take – quality work for the working man who didn’t have a lot to spend.

  The first surprise came during the morning, when two guests walked in and asked for a double room for one night. Kevin was sitting at a chair in the living room, close to the desk area; he heard the voice and placed it right away.