Italicized words: thoughts and/or to make emphasis.
THREE
Moonlight Hotel
Earlier that morning the management staff started getting complaints from patrons about there being no hot water to the units and sent a team of their seemingly best maintenance workers down to the boiler room. The maintenance workers find some cracked hot water lines, a few seeping out water, a few seeping out gas. The maintenance supervisor instructs one of his staff to shut off the main gas and water feeds so they can make the necessary repairs. Unfortunately, the staff member sent to turn off the main gas and water lines didn't receive the full maintenance training and were unsure of which levers to turn on the massive board on the opposite end of the boiler room. Not wanting his supervisor to know that he was poorly trained on this crucial information, he began thinking of a process of elimination to himself. "Maybe if I follow the pipe to the lever that might do the trick..." The maintenance worker started following various pipes; well he thought he was following the correct pipes and as a result, made the critical mistake of crossing pipes that he followed with his fingers from where he was standing instead of actually FOLLOWING them leaving his current position.
"Hey Garry, you find the damn lines yet?" hollered the supervisor.
"Uh, ok, one minute!"
"Idiot!" muttered the supervisor.
"The supe will come over and set fire underneath my ass if I don't find these damned lines…." Unsurely, the worker began pulling levers he thought would shut off gas and water feeds and started to hear pressure start to build up in the pipes whose lever he pulled. The mistake would prove costly.
On the opposite end of the boiler room where the maintenance supervisor and the other staff were, pipes that were already cracked started to expand more and more until they started to explode, causing pieces of pipe to violently shoot projectiles of themselves hurtling through the air to mercilessly strike the workers in various parts of their body killing a few and sending survivors scrambling for the exit. Gary, the misguided worker responsible for the disarray, ran over to his co-workers all while ducking and dodging debris. "Sorry sir! I'll get help!"
"Hurry, hurry!" screamed the supervisor.
The boiler room started to slowly fill up with water and the gas that leaked out of the pipes mix with flames in the various heaters and boilers resulting in small explosions that sent workers scrambling for their lives. Garry hustled to get to the main lobby to send for help. As he entered the lobby, the lobby started to tremble violently as the boiler room was exploding and the hotel's foundation started to crumble which would eventually cause a chain reaction with the upper floors until the hotel would just fall inside of itself. Garry managed to alert the security and front desk staff of the impending danger just before the lobby started losing its chandeliers and other suspended items crashing down upon the staff and patrons. Pandemonium ensues; people running for their lives, trampling over each other. The lobby's lights were the first to go out making the scene even more dangerous and visibility became slim to none. The main power then went out and anyone trapped in elevators would have to accept the tin box as their grave as they would not make it out alive. Falling debris continued their assault on lobby staff and patrons, either killing or severely hurting others.
Second floor of the hotel with its power out, started to lose their walls and hanging items as scared patrons scrambled to the nearest emergency exits just to find their escape routes consumed with smoke. Some patrons risked smoke inhalation and went down towards the lobby. Some made it, while others succumbed to the smoke and eventually fire that crept up from the lower two floors. Patrons who decided against the emergency exits jumped out of windows of their rooms to startled townsfolk and visitors walking and/or doing various things. Some of the unsuspecting were killed or badly hurt from falling Mobian hotel patrons. "What the?" "Look out!" "Someone call the police, NOW!" "Oh, Gosh, get help someone!" cried some of the ground spectators. On the third floor however, damage was slowly progressing giving enough time for most of the patrons to find ways out safely.
In room 315, a young female Mobian lioness named Bree was in her room playing with a doll her parents purchased for her as a souvenir. Meanwhile, her parents were in the living area watching TV when the mother was startled by violent rumbling that shook the whole unit causing things not bolted to shelves to tumble onto to the floor. "Honey, you feel that?" Her husband jumped and ran over to the window to find mass hysteria on the ground below from police sirens, fire engines and panicked Mobians. "Something's going on in here; we need to get out, get Bree, NOW!" the husband shouted to his wife. Upon hearing her name, Bree dropped her doll and ran out of her room towards the living room with her parents. "Mommy, Dad, what's going on, I'm scared!"
"Baby, we're getting out of here, let's go!" Bree's mother commanded.
"Ok…"
Bree's father led his family out of the hotel room and was awe stricken by the damage the other units on their floor sustained by the explosion down in the boiler room. "Whatever you girls do, stay very close to me, understand?" Mother and daughter shook their heads in understanding. As the patriarch was leading his family down the partially destroyed corridor, they passed by a few dead bodies and instinctively Bree's mother shielded her daughter from the sight and they slowly made their way stepping over some of the dead. The family continued down the hallway to come to the exit. "No, we can't go this way, too dangerous! Come on, this way…" The father then directs them towards the stairs to the right then another short right. They make it to the stairs and then start to choke and cough for the smoke is pretty dense now. On this floor, the lights are pretty much out except for one or two emergency lights. The family moves along the corridor the best they can until they reach another exit. Upon seeing that this exit would provide the same result as the previous one they encountered should they attempt to use it, opted to follow along what they thought was a way to the first floor stairs.
"We should be near the stairs to the lobby now…" said the father.
"I hope so; I can't take this much longer!" The mother said trying to clear out her smoke filled lungs.
"We're almost…..AAAAAAH!"
"CHARLES!" Charles makes one step too many and falls through a hole in the middle of the second floor and because his wife held his hand, she too fell through letting go of Bree's hand ensuring she didn't fall through as well. "MOMMY! DADDY!" Bree screams with terror-filled eyes.
"Bree, don't step further! Go around and find another way down baby, I know you can do it!" cried her mother who had fallen down and landed awkwardly causing her ankle to snap in two.
"MOM!"
"GO BREE, NOW!" cried her father. Bree cried and went the opposite way paying heed to any dangers she may encounter all while trying to open doors to see if she can hide inside one of the rooms. Surprisingly, many of the doors were locked, but that didn't deter her determination to find some place to hole herself in until help arrived. After some time, she successfully found an open room and made her way to the bathroom and got into the tub and curled her body in a fetal position and remained that way in hopes that she could hold out until that help arrived for her. Meanwhile, her father screams for help for his wife who cannot walk due to her serious ankle injury. Hearing his cries, help finally arrived in the form of a maintenance worker who helps Charles carry his wife to the safety of outside rescue waiting behind police barricades. She is then triaged on the spot for she insisted she'd wait there until Bree was safely out of the hotel.