Jemma: This is the second last or third last chapter; we haven't exactly decided yet lol. It's a little short, but it's definitely still worth it. Review!
"What are we gonna do!?" Mariah let out a shrill scream as soon as the door had slammed behind Jemma. Jemma gulped, glancing at the bloodstained sheets fully knowing Salima wouldn't be there. The icy eyed girl pictured her, lying there, lifeless.... Jemma flinched at the painful memory.
"I-I dunno!!" Emily answered soon after. Jemma looked at them, and for the first time Emily and Mariah thought they saw Jemma ready to cry.
But as soon as Jemma felt their gazes back on her, the girl sniffed and got to her knees beside the table Emily had taped the knife too.
And, it was gone.
Jemma's eyes widened.
"It's gone!" She barked. Emily and Mariah wasted no time falling to the floor as well to check themselves, only to figure out that her proclamation was indeed true.
"Great! Now what!?" Emily cried out. "We don't even have any weapons to protect ourselves now!" Mariah just sat down on her bed, her hands tightly together in her lap, squeezing her eyes shut tightly. The poor girl began to cry, tears running down her tanned skin.
"W-What did we do...?" She stuttered out, her voice choked with tears. "Why is he doing this!?" She said. "I.. I don't wanna die..!" The pitch in her voice rose at the last syllable. Emily visibly cringed, walking over quickly and wrapping her arms tightly around Mariah. So tightly, it hurt.
"There has to be a way..." Jemma muttered. "Some way... To get out of this....." She looked over at the window, blackened by the night and the still-blowing storm. It must be nearly four in the morning... None of them had slept. They were all so tired... So hungry...
It was strange, how none of those underlying conditions seemed of any importance. In fact, Jemma noticed that they only bothered her if she thought about it.
But, that was just it; thought about it. How could she think about that, in the midst of what was happening now? Jemma sighed, looking away from the window and back over at Mariah and Emily.
The two frightened girls had yet to break their hug, Emily's broken glasses smeared by the fog of her tears. Her large opal eyes were half-lidded and hopeless. Mariah had her head buried into Emily's shoulder, her cries loud yet incoherent. Faced by the looming prospect of death, in a painful, lonely way, Jemma wondered what they thought about. She closed her ice blue eyes in concentration, sorting through her own scared thoughts for what would matter most to her two remaining friends.
Mariah would leave behind her older brother, Lee, who'd promised to always protect her. Jemma had been there to hear his very words. Emily, well, she'd leave behind her parents of course. The next few people Jemma's thoughts went to, were those who had died that night.
Just how scared was Salima?
How close was Hilary to actually getting a signal with her cell phone, and saving lives?
How much pain did Mariam feel when her own friends condemned her to death?
..The last thought hit Jemma the hardest. Mariam was her best friend... Jemma would've gladly, if not happily, taken the SaintShield's place in lying motionless at the bottom of those stairs. How could they make Mariam do that!?
..Their mistake had cost her her life.
Kai.
What would Kai be thinking right now...? What would he be doing..? Jemma tilted her head back, resting it against the white golden wall. Memories and photos of the stoic Russian captain filled her mind, flooding her with feeling, regret, and pain.
What would Kai do, knowing the girls he Loved were dead?...
Jemma squeezed her eyes shut tighter at the painful realization of what had become of her, and wrapped her sweater clad arms tighter around herself. Waiting for the monster, out there in the maze of this hotel, to come and claim what was his.
"Mariah!"
The sudden outburst caught Jemma off guard, and her eyes flew to Mariah and Emily. Or, just Emily. Mariah was on her way to the door of the 5-Star room.
"I can't stay in here anymore!" The crying pinkette yelled out. Before Emily could jump from the bed and Jemma could move from her position against the wall, Mariah had flung open the door, and ran out of the room.
Mariah bolted down the endless corridor, over the crimson carpet and down the golden stairs.
Never stopping.
Not going to stop until she got to the door, and out into that world. Out of this Hell.
Mariah tried to see through the blur of her tears and the breeze whisking past her eyes as she ran, headed for an out. Every corner, every door she passed... Something seemed to tease her, taunt her about running away.
Something seemed to call to her, moan to her, 'stop, and come back!'.
But she couldn't. In the course of one night, and one partial morning, Mariah had lost almost everything she held dear. Her friends. Some of them anyway. Mariah tried to push the sound of Jemma and Emily's following footsteps out of her mind, as she nearly leapt down the last flight of stairs and entered the large lobby.
To her, the angels decorating the ceilings seemed to cry. Tears of blood dropped to the floor, and covered the cowardly girl. Flashes of Mariam, Salima, and Hilary dead lit up her mind in horrific slides.
"Mariah!!!!!" Emily and Jemma's concerned voices rang out behind her. Mariah just grit her teeth tighter, trying to speed up her wobbly limbs to make it to the door.
The empty hotel sent the echoes of their screams ringing through the building, only adding to the terrifying cries of the wind and snow battering the hotel outside. The whispers and howls were the scariest sounds Mariah had ever heard.
"Let me out!" She screamed, practically running into the large oak doors and beginning to pull frantically at the golden handles.
They never budged.
"......" Mariah went silent, leaving only the storm outside and the running of her friends behind her being the only sounds throughout the structure. Hesitantly, Mariah turned the hotel door handles again.
Nothing.
"...No..... NO!" She screamed, banging her fist hardly against the cold wood.
Jemma and Emily finally slid across the cool tile floor to a stop at the doors beside their pink-haired friend.
"Mariah what's wrong!?" Emily said loudly, eyeing the neko-jin who didn't even seem to hear her.
"THE DOOR'S LOCKED!" Mariah screamed. Jemma had never witnessed such terror in human eyes.
The black-haired girl grit her teeth, grabbed Mariah around the waist and pulled her back from the door with her still-angry fists raging.
"Stop it Mariah! Stop before you hurt yourself!" Jemma cried, Emily soon joining her in pulling Mariah away.
The pink haired girl continued flailing and fighting against them, until she fell to her knees, and gave a defeated sob. Jemma and Emily looked at eachother nervously before letting go of Mariah and backing away a step to give her room.
They were all scared... Mariah didn't need to overreact that way.
"I jus..." Mariah stuttered, taking a deep breath through a runny nose and teary eyes, "I just wanna go home....."
"We know, Mariah. We do too..." Emily trailed off, looking back at the big wooden doors looming a few feet from them. "..I don't wanna die....."
Those last few words just set Mariah into another round of sobs, even though she must've decided to do them on foot this time, as she stood up.
"..There's gotta be another way out of this hotel..!" Mariah said through her choked voice, looking back at the hallway corridor and turning to walk for it. Jemma sighed deeply and shoved her hands into her pockets.
"Mariah!" Emily said. "I think it's best that we stick together now, and not be so out in the open!" Emily barked, taking quick steps past Jemma to reach her leaving friend once again.
Only, Emily's shoulder bumped Jemma's right arm. Her arm was yanked out of her pocket, and Emily turned quickly to apologize.
Only to see about twenty Room 2342 card keys tumble out of the girl's sweater pocket and made click sounds as they scattered to the floor.
"......." Emily froze; her eyes locked on the yellow keys on the floor. As Mariah looked behind her at the mess as well, two pairs of eyes soon floated up to meet the third.
Jemma gave a deep sigh, and looked at her friends.
Her eyes were cold, cruel and empty.
The lights flickered, and a boom of wind rocked the hotel like a monster waiting to emerge from the dark.