Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing.
"Never heard of this place," Daniel Bryan noted, looking carefully at the pamphlet Vince McMahon had given him. The pamphlet looked legit enough, but the hotel itself seemed to have sprung out of early 20th century Europe.
"Yeah," Shawn Michaels agreed. "It all seems a little bit fishy to me."
"Are you two coming?" Triple H called. He and the others were already heading inside. The two idling Superstars shared an uneasy glance before following.
Once inside, the Superstars instantly noted that it wasn't much colder than the summer heat outside. It was dark, but not pleasantly cool like they had hoped. The only light filtered through the grimy windows. The grand front doors squeaked shut behind them, making the foyer darker still.
"Hello?" Triple H called into the darkness. "Is there anyone here?" Nothing but the echoes of his own voice answered him.
"Must be closed," Shawn noted, already heading back towards the front door. The general abandoned feeling of the place wasn't appealing to him at all. "Let's go." As he began tugging on the door handle, however, he found it stuck. "Um, guys?" he said shakily, "The door's jammed."
"It can't be," Triple H said, waving aside the notion. "Here, let me try." Shawn stepped aside and Triple H took the door handle in hand. He also couldn't make it budge. "That's weird," he murmured.
"What's the matter with you two?" Stone Cold Steve Austin asked them. He shoved Triple H aside and yanked on the door handle. Unfortunately, he pulled so strongly that the handle came clean off the door.
"Way to go," Triple H said flatly. "Now we really can't get out."
"Well," Steve replied hotly, "How was I supposed to know that it'd come off?!"
"Guys!" Shawn cried. "This isn't helping!"
"Maybe we should have a look around the lobby," Daniel suggested, trying to be helpful.
"Alright," Triple H said, begrudgingly leaving his argument to follow the suggestion. "Can't hurt to look around."
The foursome split up to inspect the foyer. Daniel moved left, towards a vase that seemed a little mysterious. There was a suspiciously healthy-looking plant growing inside. He touched one of the leaves. Fake, he thought. Go figure.
As he turned to examine something else, Daniel accidentally brushed against the vase, knocking it over. The fragile glass shattered as it collided with the floor. "Daniel!" Steve bellowed. "What was that for?!"
"Sorry!" Daniel snapped. "It was an accident!"
Grumbling to himself, Steve returned to trying to examine a dark corner. Daniel looked down at the fragmented vase. There, in the mess of broken glass, plastic plant, and fake dirt, was a flashlight. "Guys!" he called. "Come over here! I found something!"
When the other three had gathered around the spot, Daniel pointed out the flashlight. "This flashlight can help us get out of here!" Steve exclaimed eagerly, picking up the flashlight and brushing the dirt off of it. He tried to turn it on. "It's not working," he said dejectedly.
"Wait, let me try," Shawn said, taking the flashlight. Much to the confusion of the other three, he began to shake it.
"What are you trying to do?" Triple H asked, rather confused.
"I'm making it work," Shawn answered. He then turned the flashlight on without trouble. "See?" he pointed out, "It's one of those flashlights you have to shake."
"Oh," Steve said, slightly sarcastic. "That makes sense."
"Let's check out the counter," Triple H suggested. "We could see if there's anything good there."
They made their way over to the counter. There was nothing of interest there. "Not even any keys," Shawn noted after poking around a bit with the flashlight.
"Well," Triple H sighed, "All we can do now is hope that some of the rooms are unlocked."
The small group of Superstars began to walk down the nearest hallway. From the point they left the foyer, the flashlight became an absolute necessity, since the halls were so dark. They soon came across a door. "Should we open it?" Daniel asked.
"I don't see what other choice we have," Triple H said, reaching for the doorknob.
Giving the flashlight a good shake, Shawn shone the light inside the room. The foursome froze. There, hanging from the center of the ceiling, was a mutilated corpse. Triple H rapidly shut the door.
"Good luck sleeping tonight," Stone Cold said, dazed.
"I'm gonna have a difficult time forgetting that," Shawn whimpered, visibly shaken.
"I'm sure we all will," Triple H confirmed.
After quite some time of wide-eyed staring at the closed door, the group decided to move on to another door. "Please don't let there be a dead body behind that door," Shawn prayed quietly as he shone the light into the room. Luckily for all four of them, the room was empty, save for a bed, a lamp, and a small table. The group let out a sigh of relief.
At that moment, they decided to make that room their base until they found a way out of the hotel. "Alright," Steve said. "I think it's night out there now. We should probably get some sleep."
"What we saw in that other room," Shawn said shakily, "couldn't have happened all by itself. What if whatever did that is still lurking around here?"
"Maybe we should have shifts," Triple H suggested. "That way, we'll be ready if something does come."
"Who'll have the first shift, then?" Daniel asked.
"I think I should," Steve spoke.
"Well, I think I should," Triple H countered.
"How about both of you have the first shift?" Shawn advised.
There was tension in the air as both men curtly answered, "Fine."
Later, as the first shift of the night was nearing its close, Steve suddenly broke the two men's long silence. "I'm hungry," he said.
"Then go find the kitchen or something," Triple H responded.
"I'm taking the flashlight," Steve announced, plucking the flashlight from its perch and making his way out of the door.
XxXxX
It took Steve five minutes of wandering to find the kitchen. From there, he quickly located the fridge and opened it. There wasn't exactly much in there, but there was a good wheel of cheese that caught Steve's eye.
As he reached for it, Steve became aware of a loud chewing sound. He turned around and pointed the flashlight in the general direction of the noise. What he saw making the noise both surprised and scared him. It was clearly a zombie, eating what may or may not have been brains.
Forgetting the cheese, Steve made a break for it. He had no intention to have his brain eaten, so he figured it best to flee the scene. Although he no idea whether or not the zombie was following, Steve didn't really want to stop and find out.
Bursting into the foursome's base, Steve swiftly moved the small table against the door as a makeshift barrier. "What's your problem?" Triple H asked.
"Zombies…" Steve panted. "Zombies… Here…"
"Zombies, Steve?" Triple H sighed, shaking his head. "You expect me to believe that?"
"You weren't there!" Steve bellowed. "It was eating brains! What else could it have been?!"
"Huh?" Shawn murmured groggily, woken by Steve's loud shouting.
"Nothing, Shawn," Triple H said. "Go back to sleep."
"Zombies aren't nothing!" Steve hollered.
"Zombies?" Shawn enquired, sitting up.
"Yeah," Steve confirmed. "It was sitting on the kitchen floor, eating something. It was probably the brains of the last poor sap that wandered in here."
"Steve," Triple H groaned. "You're making it worse."
"I'm telling him what I saw," Steve protested.
"Some people can't handle the truth," Triple H pointed out.
"You think I can't handle the fact that zombies do indeed exist?" Shawn queried.
"Yes," Triple H replied flatly.
"You're probably right," Shawn sighed.
"What's going on?" Daniel mumbled woozily.
"Zombies exist," Shawn replied shortly.
"What?" Daniel cried.
"Shawn!" Triple H snapped.
"What?" Shawn objected.
"What?" Steve asked, knowing full well that saying this would make Triple H even angrier.
"Really, Steve?" Triple H complained.
"What?" Steve repeated.
"Enough!" Triple H roared.
"Maybe now would be a good time to switch the shift?" Shawn recommended.
"Sure," Triple H huffed.
"What?" Steve asked, trying to aggravate Triple H further. Fortunately for him, Triple H was too tired to argue any more. Shaking his head, he bade the other two a good night and went to sleep as far away from Triple H as he could get. Shaking their heads, Shawn and Daniel braced themselves for a long, hopefully unexciting shift.