Chapter 9: Unknown

We approached an at least a 15 story tall hotel with faded red lining and a yellowing white stone wall. Some floors were blasted apart, but compared to the other hotels next to it this one was the best, just as Cyanide had said. We walked to it and forced open the doors, walking into the lobby, where grass and other vegetation already started to grow in through the cement, and it bristled past our legs as we approached the stairs. The six of us started to walk up it, passing the floors that seemed full of soldiers resting until we reached the twelfth floor.

"This one's burned halfway to shit!" Jessica asked.

"I hate these stairs. They remind me of that dream I had… the one with the stairs." Casey sighed.

"Just one more floor, and we'll see if we can rest in one of the rooms there." Natalie eased her daughters.

"No can do, the stairs end here." Joe said.

"That's impossible! It's way taller than that!" Carrie shouted.

"Let me try it." The man said as he knocked on the wall where the stairs were supposed to be.

"It's hollow, there's something behind it." He said as he back away from it.

"Good, let's tear up the building that we were granted to rest in." Joe said as he pulled out his shotgun and fired into the wall, knocking over dust and creating a small hole in the wall.

Joe walked closer to it and moved over the crumbling hole with the barrel of his gun, moving away the dust and collapsing the wall down so we can walk through. We entered the cold room and looked around it.

It was basically empty, except for a metal framing, presumably holding down some kind of tube, next to it was a locked terminal.

"Hold on, let me see this." I said as I walked to it.

I cracked the password to the terminal by factoring out the impossible, just as I have always done. It was good to get some practice after being away from a terminal for so long. When the terminal opened up, I looked through the files, and spotted one, hidden away as much as the room has been. It was a text file, so I opened it up to read it.

"What are you doing, Sarah? Let's just go." Joe sighed.

"Hold on, let me read this." I said to him.

The note read:

"Clarke Beters, April 4th, 2079

Walt's condition has been fading fast, and we had to make harsh choices. We're taking him away and shipping his stasis chamber across the country to Nevada, with a new persona so he can get the treatment he deserves without the attention of the media, if there's even any left. I'm not like the others here I don't care if there's been a nuclear bombing. We've kept this away for so long we can do it again. The neuro-scientist here altered his memory while he was in the stasis chamber, and now he has the memories of a person we created named "Robert House", and if he ever wakes up again, he won't be obligated to spill the beans on the experiments done here. The rest of the staff was afraid of what's out there for the first few months. They haven't left the park since the bombings, and frankly, even I don't know what the state of the outside is like. We have a lot more people trying to come in, there are so many people, and we turn them away every time. They started to get angry with us and attacked last week. They killed Donothan and ran off towards the pond inside the park. The rest of the team drove them away and drowned the wounded in the water, and left the bodies inside as a warning to others. The staff here got angry with us then, but we had to do it, I mean, we don't have anything else to fight them off with. The rest of the team just set out to hunt down the rest before they attack again, leaving me and Walt here. I've decided to keep Walt away from all this and hide him on the thirteenth floor from everyone, because one day those people are going to be back, and I hope they only find me: a single man, in a giant amusement park."

I looked at the message, nodding at its information. I got up and looked around the room more.

"What is it?" Joe asked.

"There must be more here, this can't be the entire floor." I said as I felt the walls.

Behind me, the man looked at the stasis chamber frame, and grabbed it as his dog tilted his head to the side. At first I was going to ask what he was trying to do, but then the frame started to move, and it activated a series of wires that were tucked away in the wall, dropping it down into the floor, and revealing the entire floor to us, complete with red velvet carpet and red paint that seemed like it was brand new. The air smelled fresh, and there didn't seem to be a lot of debris in there, except for some parts of the ceiling and wallpaper tearing off. All the doors where made of wood, and were closed. Upon the activation of the wall, the lights switched on, one by one, until the entire hallway was illuminated. We walked through to the hidden away hall, appreciating the beautiful interior.

"Well... this is... better." Joe sighed in relief.

"You got that right." I said back in awe as I looked around.

"I want this to be my room!" Carrie shouted as she ran to the nearest door.

"I want this one!" Jessica shouted as she ran to the door next to her.

Carrie ran and held out her hand to the door, and began to open it.

"Wait." The man shouted as he ran after her.

It was too late, as Carrie opened the door fully, and revealed two Clampers, their faces warped into evil wrapped in infected wounds, with its bladed bodies, with spikes coming out of every orifice. They choked on the spikes sticking from their throat, and had dried blood all over their mouth. They jumped up and attempted to roar as they choked on their spikes. They ran at Carrie as the man reached her and pulled her away as their clamped hands grabbed onto the door frame, and ripped the wood off. The man turned around with Carrie in front of him and pushed her away as Jessica backed away in shock. The man back kicked the door closed on the two Clampers and turned around with his bow as Joe unsheathed his shotgun, and Dogmeat ran and bit the finger off of one of the Clampers. The Clampers ripped the wooden door off of its hinges and charged at us, knocking through the man and running into Joe's shotgun. He fired off into its head, making a clean hole through its brain, and making it drop to the floor slowly. The other Clamper still had a bone to pick with Carrie and ran at her as it slobbered blood and gargled bone it in its throat. It ran into Carrie and clamped her arms as it open its mouth full of spikes and tried to take a bite out of her. Joe pulled the trigger of his shotgun, but it only clicked in response. Carrie screamed as she tried to wiggle free of it, but it only made its clamps dig into her arms more. The Clamper then retracted its head back and slammed it forwards with its spiked mouth open. The Clamper jerked back for a moment, and fell to the ground in front of Jessica, who held her pistol, and shook her hands violently. Carrie sighed and felt her bleeding arm while Dogmeat barked at the corpses.

"I'm not sleeping in that room." She said quietly as Jessica had a nervous breakdown immediately afterwards.