Normally he would stay clear of the situation, choosing to keep to himself. He never made it a habit to interject himself into someone else’s business. This time, however, it was different. The group needed to look out for one another and protect each other if they were to survive until help arrived. Margie seemed like a loose cannon and there was no telling what she might be capable of.
He waited for an opportunity that wouldn’t seem suspicious calculated. He approached the two when everyone appeared to take a break from working, acting pleasant.
“How are you two coming on the windows?” he asked.
“We’ve gotten a lot of them finished on the first floor,” Margie answered.
“Great,” He said. “That’ll help when we have to turn the lights on. Maybe they won’t see us in here at all.”
“How long do you think we will have to stay here?” Lenny asked.
“Hopefully not long. The State Police are all around the outside of the town and the National Guard should be arriving at some point, I would assume.”
“I hope it’s sooner than later,” Lenny said.
“You want to help me get some more nails and supplies from downstairs?” Joel asked Lenny.
“Yeah, sure. I can do that.”
“Great. Follow me.”
Joel led Lenny to the elevator. He’d spoken with Emily earlier and learned there may be more hardware stashed down there. They’d already wiped out the supply of nails in the maintenance closet and still had more windows to cover.
The basement level was dark and musty as they made their way toward a closet at the other end. Cobwebs and dust layered everything, even though the hotel was only a couple of years old. Joel was certain they were breathing mold spores down here but it was the only place he could get Lenny alone long enough to talk to him without other ears listening in.
“What are we looking for, other than nails?” Lenny asked.
“We want to find anything useful,” Joel answered, opening the door. “I also wanted to talk to you about your girlfriend.”
“What about her?” Lenny asked, sounding suspicious. “Are you interested in her or something?”
“Not in the least,” Joel said. “But you seem a little too interested in any other woman who walks by. I’m not sure you’ve noticed, but your girlfriend is getting extremely jealous.”
“I think you are tripping, dude,” Lenny said. “Everything is fine.”
“Well, you two better keep control of yourselves. I don’t want any trouble with anyone inside this hotel while we’re stuck here. When we are all out of this town, I don’t care what happens with you two. However, while we are all stuck here, everyone’s survival is more important than two people quarreling.”
“Since when are you in charge, anyway?” Lenny asked, his voice rising.
“I don’t claim to be in charge, but we all have to look out for each other. To be honest, I would rather piss you and your girlfriend off than have a big issue that spills out onto everyone else.”
“Whatever, let’s just get the stuff and get back upstairs,” Lenny mumbled.
“Are we clear?”
“Fuck you!”
Joel grabbed Lenny by his shirt collar, shoving his back against the wall. “Are we clear?”
“Yeah, we’re clear!”
“Good, then let’s get the nails and head back upstairs,” Joel said, releasing Lenny and grabbing some boxes of nails. “It stinks down here and, it kind of gives me the creeps.”
As they headed up the stairs, Joel was aware of Lenny’s eyes on him. He wasn’t worried about him, though. Lenny was a punk, but he was sure he would back down easily. It was Margie he was worried about.
CHAPTER tWENTY-fIVE
Rob woke up shortly after noon, angry at himself for not waking up sooner. He was the only law enforcement available here at the time and needed to keep watch over them. He picked up the phone by his bed and dialed the local police department, listening to ring after ring. Still, there was no answer.
He’d already tried calling the local police department a few times since they arrived, but there was never any response, day or night. He was concerned that he had no other law enforcement officers to turn to, leaving him to make every decision or approve every idea that someone else may have. Sure, he had the State Police to communicate with, but no one else in town that had any experience in the field other than himself. He’d tried thinking about what to do earlier, but exhaustion took over and he’d fallen asleep. Now that he was awake, it plagued his mind again.
He walked downstairs after showering in an attempt to revive himself. Though it hadn’t fully rejuvenated him, it had helped a little. The hotel seemed so quiet with the few occupants now roaming around. Apparently, none of the guests had returned last night, leaving only the small staff and the group who had accompanied Rob to dwell within these walls. It was small comfort to have the protection from the dead, yet it was also smothering to know they were unable to go outside, even for fresh air.
As he entered the kitchen for a cup of coffee, everyone in the room appeared to be looking at him, expecting him to give orders and protect them. He felt a fear well up inside him that he may make the wrong decision at some point to jeopardize them, to fail them and put them at risk. His biggest fear was getting them slaughtered.
Without a word, he left the room and headed to the office. He needed to find out how things were going with Sargent Perkins and the trenches. He knew he was expecting a miracle, hoping to keep this situation contained. It seemed unlikely, maybe even impossible that the dead would not get out of the town and into the rest of the state.
He rubbed the remaining sleep from his eyes and dialed the phone, glad to hear Perkins answer quickly.
“How are we doing on the trench?” Rob asked.
“We have it started and the crews are pretty spread out,” Perkins answered. “We’ll keep them working on it until it’s finished. We’ll keep burning anything we see coming out until we can get the trenches lit.”
“Is there any chance of an airlift out for the survivors here?”
“We haven’t found any pilots who will take their helicopters anywhere near that town once we tell them the situation and what we are asking of them,” Perkins said apologetically. “I can’t say I blame them.”
“Well, I may have to figure out a way to get them out myself,” Rob muttered.
“I’ll have men waiting for you at the town border if you can get word to me where you will be exiting if it comes to that, but I have not given up trying to find a way to get help to you.”
“What about the National Guard?”
“They want the military to napalm the entire town, so I asked them to send us some flame throwers and to give us more time before they take that course of action. They said they will give us another day unless things get worse.”
“How are we doing about keeping this contained from public knowledge?” Rob asked, hating the secrecy, yet knowing they needed to avoid a mass hysteria. “The last thing we need is anarchy on our hands in all the surrounding towns.”
“We’ve been holding off the news crews, so far,” Perkins replied. “We keep telling them it’s a chemical leak that we’re working on getting under control. We tell them the trenches being dug are to catch any runoff that may wash out this way.”
“Good thinking,” Rob said. “That’s better than what I would have come up with.”
“I have to go check on the bucket loaders. I have my cell phone with me at all times in case you need to reach me. I’ll call you as soon as I have another update.”
“Thanks, Sargent. Good luck out there.”
Rob hung up the phone and sat back in the chair. Doctor Blake ad Reverend Brighton walked in and sat down in front of the desk, both looking at him expectantly. He was sure they wanted a miracle as much as he did. He wished he could provide the promise of one.
“Good news from the front?” Brighton asked.
“The trench i
s underway and the gas trucks are on the way,” Rob answered.
“How are they going to keep it burning?” Blake asked.
“They are going to feed it with wood once they get the flames going, but they want to give it a burst right off the bat,” Rob explained. “You two are becoming inseparable, aren’t you?”
“We’ve just been discussing science and religion,” Brighton said. “We’ve studied different explanations for why we are here. It makes for interesting conversations and debates while we are cooped up in here.”
“I imagine it would,” Rob said. “Do you find any common ground between the two?”
“Sure, lots of common ground,” Blake said. “As well as some differences of opinion.”
“Don’t you two ever sleep?”
Brighton shrugged. “Who can sleep when we’re all scared to death of getting torn apart?”
“Well, I am counting on both of you,” Rob told them. “I need your scientific expertise to help find a way out of this, Doctor Blake. And I’m relying on your prayer, Reverend.”
“You also have two other reliable sources for the scientific aspect, Sheriff,” Doctor Blake said.
“You mean Joel and Julie.”
“Julie is a good one to have in your corner, she’s a thinker. And Joel keeps referring to Doctor Johnson’s notes when he isn’t working on the windows and stuff. He tends to get completely focused on things to the point of being obsessed. But he does get results. If anyone can find something we’re missing, it’s Joel.”
“I’ll be relying on anyone who can help us out,” Rob said.
* * * *
Bernice bolted upright in bed, awakened by a nightmare she’d been having about Richard and Abigail. She could feel the sweat on her forehead and her eyes were moist with tears. She must have been crying during the horrible dream.
In her dream, Abigail and Richard were standing at the edge of the yard behind their home, beckoning her to join them. They still had the pale skin and the lifeless stare, but they kept signaling her to come to them with their hands.
In the dream, she had run away from them, but they followed. She couldn’t outrun them and they caught up to her. She was fighting them, but it did no good.
Then she watched as Helen came out of the house, falling to her knees and crying for them to stop. She saw them run to Helen and, intent on tearing her apart. The last thing she saw was her daughter running away, followed by Richard, Abigail and a horde of the dead.
That was when Bernice had awoken, her hair sticking to her sweat-drenched head, tears still flowing down her cheeks. She slid out of bed and began pacing the room, her hands crossed in front of her, rubbing her arms, too afraid to go back to sleep for fear that she would fall back into that horrible dream.
As he paced, she thought about Richard. She had lost her mother in law and now her husband, both within a couple of weeks of each other. She wanted so badly to go back into the grieving process, though she knew that would have to wait. She had to be strong for Helen and she had to pull her weight so that this group of people could manage to escape this terror alive. She didn’t know if they would survive but she wanted to see Helen taken to safety and have a chance to live out the rest of her days in happiness.
Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that the dream had to mean something.
* * * *
Just a few doors down from Bernice, Emily woke up from her short nap, as well. She got up and looked at the dress, still draped over the side of the bed where she left it when she had removed it to doze off. She was wishing for a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, but the dress was all she had. She should have kept spare clothes at the hotel, but who knew they would be trapped here fighting zombies?
She slid the blanket back from the window enough to peek out. The building was still surrounded by the dead, even more than before. She stuck her middle finger up at them and closed the blanket up. She wanted to throw bombs out the window at them, but she had no bombs to throw.
She stepped into the shower, letting the hot water cascade over her, opening her pores and washing away the greasy feeling she had woke up with. She wanted to stand here for hours, but she was afraid to remain alone beyond sleeping. There was little comfort in this situation around others. There was even less comfort all alone. She turned the water off and stood for a moment, allowing the water to drip off of her skin.
She grabbed the towel and dried herself off, walking to the bed where her only clothing hung off the end. When she had dressed, she headed out the door and down the stairs to the office to find the others and see what was going on. She couldn’t sleep anyway so she may as well look for any good news they could offer.
CHAPTER tWENTY-SIX
The multitudes of the dead were increasing in number as each hour passed. There were zombies walking around in fast food uniforms, nurse’s uniforms, policeman uniforms and any other attire imaginable. They were all making their way to the hotel because the rest of the town had been overrun and wiped out. Everyone who hadn’t gone to the hotel had already joined the horde of the dead.
The air was filled with the stench of decay and the moans of zombies covering parking lots, fields, roads and lawns. Animals had been changed as well, being chewed on after all the people had been cleared out. Cats hacked a death rattle and came back, dogs yelp their final cries, only to rise up again a few minutes later and even the coyotes were returning from the dead.
They looked up at the windows of the hotel, but they didn’t see the lights tonight that they’d seen the previous night. Perhaps the morsels inside had left before they could be devoured. Maybe they left and were devoured by others. Maybe they had just died of fear, trapped inside these four walls forever. These were the questions that the dead would be thinking if they were able to think on the same level as the living contained inside. But their less than primitive brains only told them that the lights were no longer visible, but the people inside had not been seen leaving.
As they continued to circle the building, waiting for a glimpse of the next meal, a few of them began to feel a surge of something new. These questions actually began entering their brains as more and more neurological pathways opened.
* * * *
Margie and Lenny were lying on the blankets, neither making a move. They were tired from working downstairs, but not tired enough to go right to sleep. Fear nibbled at Margie’s brain, but the anger was still there. It was a dangerous mix. Fear alone could make people do unpredictable things. Fear intertwined with anger and jealousy could lead to desperate acts. Margie lit up a cigarette and handed the pack to Lenny.
“Want one?” she asked.
“Sure, thanks,” he said, taking the pack and lighting up as well.
“We might as well enjoy the smokes. I doubt they will kill us before the dead outside do.”
“There’s a pleasant thought,” He said grimly.
“We could get out of here and make a run for it ourselves,” Margie suggested. “If we get to the woods, we can follow the old four-wheeler trail to the next town. Then we would be home free.”
“Yeah, but getting out of here and passed the zombies would be the hard part,” He said.
“It would sure beat sitting here with all these idiots, just waiting for the zombies to get in and eat us all alive.”
“You think they’ll get in?”
“Of course they will. We may be the only people left alive in town. They are going to have to get in if they want to eat.”
“How would we keep them from following us and trying to eat us instead?”
“We just need some bait to keep the zombies occupied.”
He turned his head toward her, his eyes full of suspicion. “What sort of bait?”
“Oh, I have the perfect thing to keep them busy. Just be ready to move. Wait for me at the front door. I’ll meet you there in an hour. That will give us enough time.”
“Why do you want to leave a large group of people? Wouldn’t we be more vulnerable
on our own?”
“They’ll be in town, not out on the trails.”
“How can you be sure?”
Margie was getting angered even more by all his questions, her voice now rising. “I can’t be fucking sure! I can only be sure that if we stay trapped in here, more will come. When that happens, we will all die!”
“Okay,” Lenny said, holding up his hands in defeat.
“I’m going to go look for the best exit. Just be ready in an hour.”
“Fine,” he said. “I’m just going to take a shower.”
She watched him get up and head to the bathroom. She knew she could persuade him to go along with anything, even the plan she had forming at this very moment.
* * * *
James walked into the office to find Emily sitting at the desk. She looked somewhat lost. He was sure they all did. Though they tried to push it down and look past it, fear was taking its toll on all of them.
“Watching the phone?” he asked.
“Yeah. The sheriff wanted to check all the windows to see if there may be a clear escape route somewhere.”
“Did you sleep at all?”
She shrugged. “A couple hours.”
“That’s not enough.”
“Who can sleep through this?”
“Don’t worry too much. We’ll find a way out of here.”
Even as he said the words, he realized how little he believed them. They would be lucky to live long enough to leave the building. They were even less likely to get far from the door.
“Do you have a family?” she asked.
“I have a wife and two daughters,” He said, smiling briefly as he thought about them.
“How old are your girls?”
“Gina is five, she starts school this year. Lucy is three. Do you have a family?”
“No. I live alone with a cat.”
“I hope your cat is waiting for you, safe at home.”
She gave a weak smile. “Thank you. Have you heard from your family?”
“I was one of the lucky ones. My wife took the girls to visit her mother, so they were out of town before this all started. I talked to them on the phone after we got here and told them to stay put. I miss them. I just hope I’ll get to see them again”
Threshold Series (Book 1): Threshold Page 15
