It had appeared as if it would be a quick run out of that hellhole of a hotel, now that the survivors had the silver key. All they needed to do was run up to Room 302, twirl the key in the lock, snatch the missing jewel to the bust in the security office, and all would be said and done. Unfortunately, looks were deceiving, given the fact that the group was low on ammo and healing supplies, as well as the fact that the fire was spreading fast.
David bolted up the stairs with Yoko not far behind him. He didn't bother to wait for the others to catch up; they had to move. Yoko had stowed the key in her backpack, and he was acting as a sort of bodyguard to her. Alyssa and George, although lagging behind, brought up the rear. The reporter was yelling at the plumber and the student to slow down, but they paid her no attention. The group was split in half, and the others were...somewhere. George seemed to be the most worried for them, and especially someone in particular: that perky waitress, Cindy. David was just glad that at least George had the common courtesy not to constantly mention her name, unlike Alyssa, who kept muttering that Kevin must have gotten himself into some trouble here or there because he was such an idiot. True as that statement was, David knew she was saying it because she actually felt something for the guy.
King was coughing hard on his right arm as he rounded the bend on the landing separating the second and third floors. Gray smoke spilled down the stairs. He squinted and held an arm up over his eyes as he looked up at the top. The hall was bright orange from the fire, and the smoke was pouring from the left and right. However, there didn't seem to be any possible assailant. Then again, it was hard to tell from just that viewpoint. Although he still went quickly, David felt a little hesitant at the unknown, his steps choppy.
Yoko apparently was feeling the same because her footfalls matched his in their tentative sounds. The top of the stairs was an inferno. The two squeezed their eyes shut for a moment at the dancing flames on the left, and swung their heads in the opposite direction. Behind them, George and Alyssa trotted up the stairs.
There was a door at the end of the right side of the hall. On its left, the hall wrapped to the side. Dangling from the ceiling, with drool falling from its open mouth to the floor, was the emaciated embodiment of muscle mass called the Licker. It hauntingly drew in a sharp breath as it waited. The survivors felt a small sense of relief. One Licker was trouble, but it wasn't too hard to tangle with. However, the underlying problem was the rapidly spreading fire, and the lack of space it brought. This monster, with its long-extending tongue, could easily create chaos in such a small area.
David felt someone prodding his shoulder sharply, and looked over it to see the reporter using the tip of her shotgun to grab his attention. She arched a blonde eyebrow at him, and he moved to the side to allow her to pass. After all, she was the best armed out of them, and he really wasn't in the mood for an argument.
Yoko fumbled inside of her backpack, and smiled when her hand hit the key. "Ready to go," she whispered reassuringly to the two men as Alyssa's high heels began to pad to the right down the soft, musty carpet of the corridor.
A moment later, she darted forward, and screamed, "Hey, asshole, c'mere!" David promptly followed with Yoko at his shoulder. George wasn't too far behind. The doctor stopped behind them about halfway to the door to aim his handgun up at the creature, which Alyssa had accidentally missed with her first shot.
"Go! We'll be here if you need us!" George called after them. His first two shots hit the monster, but did little.
David latched onto Yoko's shoulder, and yanked her down as the Licker's tongue flashed right over their heads, its drool falling into their hair. Alyssa fired her shotgun at the appendage, and blood burst from it, covering the floor and the three survivors with a scarlet color that seemed black in the bright light of the flames. The creature shrieked in pain, and savagely swatted its tormentor with an arm. It didn't carry enough force to send her flying, but it pushed her back a few steps to the left from the door, and extremely close the flames that engulfed the rest of the hall beyond. The heat made her scream, "What the hell are you waiting for? Move!"
Yoko shakily tried to press the key into the lock, and missed the first time. David's hand fastened around her wrist to steady it. "Relax," he reassured, although some of the word's effect was left by his coughing at the end of the statement, which was soon echoed by her own cough.
The key found the lock, and turned. Yoko pushed the door open and ran inside. David followed with the sound of George's gunfire and coughing ringing in his ears. As the door slammed shut behind them, David quickly scanned the room. Yoko was running over to the sculpture of a red tree on the stand by the double bed. Smoke was seeping in from under and between the cracks of the door they had just come through. Outside of it, he could easily heard sounds of battle. This was why Apple Inn was so cheap; its walls were thin as paper.
Although David wanted to prop his lead pipe against the door knob as a barrier, he knew it would be too much of a hazard. Soot coated the wallpaper, rug, and furniture with a light gray, smothering blanket. In the back right corner of the room, small flames were slowly climbing the walls, licking at the curtains, and wearing out the rug down to the floorboard. The nearby small, round wooden table wasn't touched yet, as was the television. The area was too isolated to be much of a threat, as long as they stayed away from it. Against the right wall before the corner was the once-white door to the adjoining bathroom.
It was too bad that what David needed was near the fiery area. Sitting on the floor before the front of the bed were two potted green herbs, and on the table were shotgun shells. He knelt down, and yanked the herbs up. Dirt showered from them. He called Yoko over to him, and felt elated to see that she was holding the jewel they needed. He handed over the herbs, and carefully picked his way over to the table on the other side of the bed for the shells. Yoko tried the bathroom door.
David's eyes caught sight of a blue spark emitting from a sliced electric cord hanging from the television. He quickly spun, and grabbing Yoko's arm tightly, sprinted out of the room. The explosion of flames occurred just as they had taken the fourth running step from the doorway. David was propelled headfirst into the hall, with Yoko held tightly against him to keep her from suffering the harsher of the blows. King twisted slightly in the air, and as a result, his back slammed against the wall. He sucked in a breath through his teeth at the impact. As he slid painfully to the floor, his grip on Yoko slackened, and she tumbled down the short distance.
"David!" She called out worriedly, kneeling down next to him. She began to cough violently. He cracked open an eye to see her soot-covered face being completely filled with concern. Parts of her short black hair and clothes were singed, and also covered in soot. The sounds of the flames breaking apart the hallway from each side came as loud snaps, and the heat was becoming unbearable. He wanted to move, but it was too painful.
As she begged him to get up, Alyssa and George charged over. "What the hell did you two do?" Alyssa snapped.
George waved her away with irritation. "There's no time for that! Get Yoko out of here!" Alyssa gave him a sour look, which he returned whole-heartedly. She finally complied, harshly yanking the Asian girl up by the arm. Yoko gave David one last worried look, her brown eyes wide, before she was tugged down the stairs. He didn't want her to leave, but that wasn't an option.
"David, you have to trust me. You can make it down," George said in a professionally calm voice. David nodded and tried to push himself up, but fell back with a wheeze of pain. George caught him before he hit the floor again. Both knew that the doctor couldn't support his weight on his own; the plumber had too much muscle mass. Still, George remained patient as the fire licked closer and closer. Calling Alyssa back up wouldn't be a good idea; they needed someone to watch over Yoko in case an unseen Licker suddenly made its appearance.
A high-pitched, inhuman resembling the noise of fingers scraping along the surface of a chalkbaord made the two wince, and the disgusting smell of burning organs soon filled the air. King almost laughed. Still, he couldn't let himself be subjected to the same fate as the Lickers. The second attempt, although it hurt like hell, got him up, and before he knew it, he was half over George's shoulder. David coughed hard as he was led down the stairs to dimmer lighting. It was nice, compared to the extremely bright lights above. In fact, it was so nice that he felt his eyes slowly shutting...A loud gasp from George and a slight falling sensation drew him back into consciousness.
"David, stay with me!" The doctor ordered, releasing the railing he had grasped onto. He then coughed into that hand's arm. The quick gain of weight had caused him to lose his balance.
"Sorry," David muttered, and they continued on their way.
The foot of the stairs at the second floor was warm, but it wasn't burning like the third floor. Alyssa and Yoko were further down the hallway, with the blonde pacing and the brunette tiredly slumped against the wall. "Took you long enough!" Alyssa admonished, placing her hand on her hip. As angry as the words and gestures seemed, the expression on her face was one of relief. Yoko raised her head and smiled.
"Is she all right?" George asked, indicating the smaller of the two women.
"Yeah, just worn out. How long you think we got?" The reporter asked, indicating the staircase. Worry was in her tone.
"I'm not sure." Frustration at his helplessness was clear to hear in the doctor's voice as his green eyes narrowed.
Yoko met David's eyes for a moment, and let out a cry. "The herbs!"
She began to take off her backpack to search for them, but George stopped her with a wave of his hand. "You can search for them later."
"You actually forgot that you happened to have some herbs? How the hell did you manage that?" Alyssa hissed as she led the way around the corner, her tussled mane of blonde hair and haggard face matching the animalistic sound. Yoko looked slightly hurt, but went on after her with the two men following. In more ways than one, this was going to be a long walk.
XXXXXX
David panted hard as he crouched over the form of the Licker whose head he had bashed in. The mixed green herb hadn't completely healed his back, but it had given him enough strength to move on his own. George had said that for him to fully recover, he would need to see a paramedic, if there were any left.
Descending the emergency ladder down to the lobby itself had been an annoyance, but he had pushed himself through it. He'd been perturbed that George had remained at the bottom of the ladder in case he slipped, but he soldiered through it. What had made everything hit the fan was that just in front of the door out of the building, a nasty, super-powered Licker had dropped down from the ventilation shaft above, effectively blocking the way, and knocking his allies to the ground with its long-reaching tongue. Added to that was the fact that a few lesser Lickers had been called to its aid. David and Yoko had chosen to take care of them while the others fired on the stronger creature. To top it all off, heavy amounts of smoke were pouring into the lobby from above and below, causing everyone to cough and feel their eyes burning.
It only made killing the beast all the more of a pleasure. He wiped his forehead, and turned to Yoko, who smiled slightly. She had stunned the creature by dropping a heavy piece of concrete on its head while David had distracted it by smacking his pole on the floor several times. A shrill scream pierced the air, and they looked over to see the two that had been battling the strongest Licker waving them over beside its limp form. David smirked. They were free…at least for the moment.
XXXXXX
"Are you okay?" David looked up at Yoko's voice. He was sitting on the back of an ambulance that was parked in an alleyway against the windowless, doorless sides of two buildings that had been cleared of zombies.
He scowled. "Depends. I'm back together, but they say I can't move around much."
Yoko folded her hands together as she sat down next to him. "So, what does that mean?"" She asked softly.
King looked over his shoulder to make sure the vehicle was deserted. The paramedics were tending to others nearby. "It means they'll want me to run off with them to safety, leaving the seven of you to be zombie food."
The group had been reunited before he had been hustled off for medical help. He'd seen Mark, Jim, Kevin, and Cindy running over not too long after leaving the hotel. Yoko rolled her eyes as she crossly replied, "How considerate."
She looked up at him, asking, "Is it wrong for me to be expecting that of them?"
David shook his head. "Not in this pitiful excuse for a city."
She smiled wryly. "So, when should I tell the others you'll be coming by?"
He pushed himself to his feet. "Now would be good." As she came after him, King turned slightly and asked, "By the way, how did you make it here past the cops?"
Yoko chuckled. "I didn't. I got George and Kevin to say I was a nurse. They're keeping the police busy right now. I can't expect much time out of George, though. He wants to talk to Cindy. Kevin, on the other hand, wants to stay away from Alyssa for a little while."
It was David's turn to have a little laugh as he completely faced her. She slowly came toward him, and placed her arms around his waist, the fact being that he was too tall for her to reach his shoulders. In the pale illumination of the streetlight, he kissed the top of her head before tilting her chin up for a kiss on the mouth.
When it came to Kevin and Alyssa, they fought like cats and dogs to further underline how much they had come to care for each other. They would spend their time fighting, and enjoying it all the while. David really didn't need the visuals that thought was giving him. George and Cindy's relationship partly made David want to hurl. It was sweet to the point of being annoying. A little Cinderella working minimum wage met her dashing prince in the form of a heartbroken doctor. King had a feeling that if those two made it out, he'd be reading about their wedding in some newspaper. But hey, as predictable as it sounded, it made them happy. But for him and Yoko, it was something much easier. It was give and take. They found comfort in one another, avoided unwanted subjects, and helped each other survive. It also just happened to be that some of him was wearing off on her. Whether or not that was a good thing, he would just wait and see. What was certain to him was the fact that he was going to fight tooth and nail for them and the six other survivors to make it out together from land of the dead to the land of the living.