Demon Hotel (Zombie Apocalypse Series, Book 1)

by C. M. Chidgey

  Lucian nodded and Jason left, his gaze landed on me the second he did. “I’ll just take a shower.” I said climbing off of the bed.

  “That’s going to burn like hell underneath the spray of the shower.”

  “Well, then what do you suggest?” I snapped at him, I wasn’t crying anymore I could be angry as hell about Elizabeth.

  He sighed. “Take a shower and keep it from getting wet, clean it afterwards.”

  I grunted in response and did as he suggested grabbing jogging bottoms and a t-shirt on my way in, it wasn’t the easiest thing to shower with one hand, but I managed to wipe the blood off from around the stitches and from the tiny cuts at my neck, which hadn’t even bled much before stopping.

  When I was dressed I moved over to the sink and turned the tap on before moving my knuckles towards it. I was about an inch from the spray when I stopped and tried to convince myself to do it. It was really going to sting there was no doubt about that and it was definitely my own fault, but maybe I could just put a bandage on it without the cleaning. I mean it wasn’t like the wall was dirty right?

  My idea was put completely out of my hands when Lucian walked in as if he owned the place. A combination of him ruining my plan and jealousy left over from Elizabeth made me hiss out. “What the hell? I could have been naked, you don’t just come waltzing in here.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Well clearly you aren’t.”

  “But I could have been!” I shouted.

  He sighed. “I’d love to argue with you Tink, but we need to clean your hand so save it for later.”

  I glared at him and pulled my hand away from the still running tap. “I already cleaned it.”

  “Yeah Blondie, I’m really not as stupid as you might think.” He said grabbing a cloth and soaking it in water before ringing it. He held his hand out. “Come on, let me see it.”

  I glared at him and shook my head.

  “Ok, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either way your hand is being cleaned, we don’t have supplies to waste by risking an infection.”

  “It won’t get infected, it’s not like the wall is dirty.” I said using the argument I had used in my head.

  “Just give me your hand.” He said patiently.

  “No.” I muttered.

  “Mckenzie.” He growled.

  “Adams.” I returned.

  He sighed. “Fine, I’ll just get some of the security to hold you down while I clean it.”

  “You wouldn’t.” I said my eyes widening.

  He smirked. “Try me Tinkerbell.”

  I glared at him putting as much hate behind it as I could before reluctantly holding my hand out to him with my knuckles up.

  “See, that wasn’t so hard.”

  I grunted and before I could even see it coming he pulled a small bottle of something out of his pocket and poured it on my knuckles. Letting out a yelp I tried to yank my hand back, but Lucian was ready and kept a hold of my wrist.

  “I’m sorry.” He said. “I thought it would be worse if I warned you.”

  “I hate you.” I groaned as he started patting the cloth against my knuckles.

  He sighed and led me back into the room after dropping the cloth in the sink. “I know Blondie.”

  We were both silent as he wrapped my hand up with the stuff that Jason had left.

  “Thanks.” I muttered pulling my hand away when he had finished and sitting on my bed.

  “Listen Mckenzie, you can’t blame yourself for what that asshole did.”

  I grunted and lay down on my bed turning away from him before mumbling. “I don’t blame myself for what he did Adams, I hate myself for not seeing what he was really like and I hate that I kissed him and liked him and we almost…………” I trailed off realising I didn’t really want to be talking about that kind of stuff with Lucian, especially now that I wanted to be doing that stuff with him not that he needed to know that. Instead I sighed and shook my head. “Never mind.”

  “You almost did? What you mean you didn’t?” He asked in surprise.

  I glanced over my shoulder at him with a frown guessing he can’t have been in the room for the part of the argument between Eric and I when he said it couldn’t be his baby. “No, why?”

  He rubbed the back of his neck looking away. “Nothing, just that means your first time was…….” He trailed off.

  I sighed looking away again. “Yes, my first time was against my will, and second and third and if I hadn’t been so scared and freaked out on Eric the night he came back he would have been my fourth and the sick thing is that I’m almost glad those soldiers did that to me so that the fear of them made me stop it that night with Eric.” I couldn’t see Lucian from my position, but I knew he opened his mouth to speak so I said before he could get the chance. “I know, I’m fucked up.”

  He sighed. “You’re not fucked up, you’ve just been through a lot.”

  I grunted and muttered. “I’m going to get some sleep.”

  “Ok Mckenzie.” He said. “Night.” I didn’t respond and he silently left the room.

  Chapter 8

  When I woke up my hand and stomach were burning in pain, but I was so hungry that I forced myself out of bed and headed straight down to breakfast without changing only just remembering to pull my boots on, grab daggers and my sword before leaving the room. It wasn’t all of my weapons, but I was sure they would be enough for a few minutes while I ate breakfast.

  I sat with Cora and Edward while I ate, they were playing a game of checkers, apparently they had eaten earlier with Peter because he had, had to go scouting. When I had finished I sat there and watched them play while they argued and accused each other of cheating. It probably should have been annoying, but it was actually soothing to watch something so normal take place when outside the world was infested with zombies.

  “Why are you smiling like that?” Cora asked me suddenly with a giggle.

  To be quite honest I hadn’t even realised that I had been doing it, I must have looked like a real weirdo sitting there with a smile on my face while they bickered.

  I chuckled at her expression of confusion and shook my head. “No reason.”

  Her forehead wrinkled into a frown as she assessed me as if the answer was going to be written on my face. Before she could say anything though Danielle turned up at our table with her seeming ever present smile.

  “Hello Dears.”

  “Hello.” We all said simultaneously.

  “I just came to tell you Taylor, Lucian asked you to meet him in his room when you woke up, he wants to talk to you.”

  I rolled my eyes and groaned. What could he possibly want to talk to me about?

  She laughed. “You’re acting like you’ve done something bad and are afraid your about to get in trouble.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Afraid of Lucian? Like that will ever happen, I’ve known him too long to be scared of him, but he still annoys me and I don’t feel like dealing with him today.”

  She gave me the same smile she had given me yesterday, as if she knew more than she should before saying. “If he annoys you that much you might as well get it over with Dear.”

  “Fine.” I mumbled reluctantly getting to my feet. “Where is his room?”

  She looked at me strangely before answering. “The room to the right of yours, didn’t you know?”

  I shook my head. “As a matter of fact, I didn’t”

  “Off you go then Love.” She said with a grin while the twins laughed.

  I could have sworn that Lucian had trained everyone here to annoy me at that point, but I had bigger problems at the moment, like building up the energy to argue with Lucian just like always.

  Waving goodbye to them I headed to the lobby and then to the elevators before pressing the up button. My hand and stomach were still sore, but they weren’t as bad as they had been when I had first woken up so that was a plus. Not for the first time I was thankful for the elevator. When it stopped on mine and appar
ently Lucian’s floor I sighed and stepped out.

  Figuring that he was expecting me anyway I just turned the door handle and opened it. I immediately wished I could go back in time and rethink that insane thought, why oh why did I decided to open it without knocking? The first thing I noticed was that Lucian was naked, now that I would have loved to have seen more than I cared to admit, but hey I was eighteen years old and he was very attractive so I figured that was normal anyway. The next thing I noticed was that Elizabeth was naked, well since I wasn’t really into women I didn’t want to see that at all. How the hell they had even managed to get into the position they were in right now though I would never know.

  My face must have been glowing bright red as I burst out. “Oh shit.”

  Apparently the sound of the door opening hadn’t been loud enough for them to notice, but me saying that out loud was enough for them to stop mid-whatever the hell they called that and look towards the open door.

  “Sorry.” I said quickly before closing the door and walking down the hallway.

  Jealousy was burning through me in a rage, what the hell was wrong with me? Ok, so we had kissed once, but we hated each other and that hadn’t really counted so why did seeing that bother me? He had always been a male slut so it was hardly a surprise that he would be like that with someone, and probably half of the other girls in this place too.

  It wasn’t until Lucian caught up to me and grabbed my arm that I realised I had been walking the wrong way to my room, well that was just great. I could hardly slam the door in his face and lock it if I wasn’t in my room and I really wanted to do that right now.

  “What?” I shouted turning around and yanking my arm away from him. “What do you want Lucian? Dani tells me to come up here because you asked to talk to me and I find that? Thanks a bunch for the porno, but believe me I could have really made it through the day without seeing that!”

  “I didn’t think you would even be up yet.” He said defensively running his fingers through his hair as if unsure how to act. “I thought I would see you in the afternoon at the earliest.”

  “Oh really? Well that makes it ok then doesn’t it?” I almost screamed. “If you want me to come and talk to you in the afternoon then tell me to talk to you in the afternoon!”

  He glared at me, his eyes flashing angrily. “Hey, you can’t blame all of this on me, you’re the one that didn’t knock before just walking into someone’s room!”

  “If you didn’t want anyone in there you should have locked it, you asshole and you definitely shouldn’t have put me in the room next to yours!”

  “Yes I should have, I pro-.”

  “Yes, I know already, you promised to keep me safe.” I yelled poking him in the chest, which I now realised, was bare. “Well, maybe I don’t want you keeping me safe, I can look after myself!”

  Wow, his chest looked really nice bare, and he looked really good in just boxer shorts. Wait, what the hell was I thinking? Get your head out of the gutter already Taylor.

  Lucian smirked when my eyes met his, shit had I just checked him out? His expression said it all, yes, yes I had just checked him out. I must be the biggest idiot ever.

  He raised his eyebrows. “Like something you see Mckenzie?”

  Of course he would comment on it, he wouldn’t pass up a chance to piss me off if someone paid him with bacon.

  I glared at him as angrily as I could before hissing. “No, I’m just amazed that you have the guts to walk around half naked when you look that bad.” It sounded mean, but his ego was bigger than Texas so I’m pretty sure I didn’t make a dent in it.

  He chuckled. “That’s not what the other girls say.”

  “That’s because the other girls are blinded by your…..” What the hell was I going to end that with? Sexyness would work, but that would not be an insult.”

  He smirked. “By my what Tink?”

  “By your cockyness, it makes girls think you’re more attractive than you are. Cockyness is like the male version of make up, no one sees what’s underneath until it’s too late.”

  He smirked. “Nice, I quite like that.”

  “Asshole!” I yelled punching him in the shoulder before squealing and yanking my bad hand back. “Damn you!”

  He sighed. “Try to stay out of trouble Tink, I have someone to get back to.”

  “I’m sure you do.” I muttered.

  We turned away from each other at the same time and I saw Jack running towards me waving frantically as if I couldn’t notice him anyway in a deserted corridor.

  “Taylor!” He shouted. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” He stopped in front of me panting.

  I frowned. “Why?”

  “Can you go out on a scout?” He asked straightening up as his breathing evened out.

  My frown deepened. “You sent a scout out this morning.”

  He nodded. “I know, but we’ve lost connection with them. I guess it’s more of a rescue mission than a scout.”

  “Ok, I’m in.” I said immediately.

  “Oh, hell no, you did not just agree to go on a rescue mission when you are injured Blondie.” Lucian said from behind me letting us know that he had heard the whole conversation.

  I turned and gave him a sweet smile before patting his cheek. “Oh, I’m afraid I did Adams, now off you go back to your bed buddy and I’m sure I’ll be back before you even notice I’m gone.”

  He grabbed my uninjured hand holding me in place before I could turn away. “You are not going.” He growled.

  I pulled my hand out of his grasp and hissed. “I am and you can’t stop me.”

  “I’ll lock you in your room if I have to.”

  Without a second though I swung my fist making contact with the side of his face before he even knew it was coming.

  Jack murmured. “Ouch” and I shouted.

  “Don’t threaten me Adams, I’ve had enough threats to last me a lifetime!”

  He rubbed his cheek a little, but didn’t seem that fazed by the punch before growling. “Dammit Mckenzie, I’m trying to protect you and you are making it pretty damn hard. If you go out there you know there’s a chance you won’t come back. Rescue missions are suicide nowadays!”

  I knew he was right, but Edward and Cora’s brother was out there, I couldn’t let them lose him they would be heartbroken. Nope, I would do everything I could to get him and the others back.

  “Then so be it.” I muttered before turning away leaving a speechless Lucian and following a hesitant Jack towards the elevators, I guess he was nervous about being on the other end of Lucian’s anger. I couldn’t really blame him though, Lucian could be very intimidating.

  We were half way down when I paused the elevator realising I had to change and put on the rest of my weapons, I had forgotten with the need to get away from Lucian as quickly as possible being at the forefront of my mind. When we returned to the floor we had just come from Lucian was gone, I could only assume he was back in bed with Elizabeth. Jack waited outside my room while I changed into some jeans and a vest top before pulling my boots back on along with all of my weapons.

  It wasn’t until we were walking out into the lobby that Jack informed me that I was the only one going since everyone else was too afraid. I couldn’t really blame them, but I couldn’t deny that I did feel a little uneasy about the idea of going out there alone again. The idea of soldiers capturing me made me shiver all over, which made me remember Eric.

  “Where’s Eric by the way?” I asked Jack.

  “Oh, we locked him up, we don’t know what to do with him since we can’t really risk him getting into contact with the soldiers.”

  I just nodded, I had no advice and he was right we couldn’t take the chance.

  “Kaleb has a little camera you are going to wear as well as the earpiece just so we know what’s going on and with any luck they won’t both get cut off.”

  I nodded.

  “As soon as you find them you need to get back.”

&nb
sp; Another nod, that one was kind of obvious.

  “If you don’t find them within two hours you need to head back.”

  A third nod, I really didn’t want to be stuck out there in the dark after the turn the last scout had taken.

  We reached Kaleb then and he handed me a necklace that had a small pendant apparently containing a camera, it was very well hidden because I looked for it and I couldn’t see it there.

  “The camera has audio on it too, but it’s not as good so wear the ear piece too.” Kaleb said handing that to me too.

  I slid on the necklace and put in the ear piece silently. To say that I wasn’t nervous about the next few hours that lay ahead of me would have been an outright lie. It only made it worse when I found out where I had to go.

  “What?” I almost yelled.

  “The dangerous area.” Jack repeated quietly.

  “You want me to go in there alone, with zombie dogs?” I asked in outrage. He started to speak, but I shook my head cutting him off. “Never mind I’ll go, but you’re lucky you didn’t tell Lucian, he would have tied me up and he might kill you when he does find out.” They went quiet and before I could chicken out I said. “Ok, let’s do this.” The security guards began to open the door and I looked at Jack. “If you lose connection and I don’t come back, don’t send anyone after me.”

  “Yeah, I’m not sure Lucian will agree with that.”

  “Make him agree.” I said. “I’ll see you guys later.” I added with way more confidence than I felt as I stepped out of the door.

  They shouted bye as the door was closed behind me and I wondered if I would ever see any of them again. I wondered if that argument I had, had with Lucian would be the last one. I wondered if I would find Peter and bring him back to the twins and I wondered if Lucian would really care if I never came back if it wasn’t for the promise he made.

  Chapter 9

  The memory of the journey to the hospital with Lucian was still branded into my mind so I didn’t have to ask for directions. I was glad to see that the fear I had been feeling during that time was absent and I could only put it down to the fact that I was pregnant at the time. Every sound made me alert of my surroundings rather than scared of what was around the corner, I was ready to pull my sword out at a moments notice rather than run screaming. Yep, I was definitely back to myself making my chances of surviving this higher.