Chapter Twelve Burials of the Dead
Preparation in silence. That's all that happened after the moment they arrived in Hikari's apartment room, located on the fourth floor of a hotel that was not too far off from the warehouse they were in previously.
They spoke soft words to each other as Sicarius recuperated in the room and gathered his strength for the upcoming journey. Hikari had left with Arashi only previously to the lobby to fetch a map from the lobby, while Alexis and Masako left to search the couple neighbor apartments for food, water, and supplies.
"What if they are in there?" Masako asked, referring to the walking dead that seemed to haunt everybody's lives like a horde of ghosts in a haunted house. The pair of girls stood facing the first door to the left of Hikari's hotel room. Masako fingered the key around her neck. Hikari had stolen the key off a dead body, who must have been the manager because the key opened every door in the hotel.
"Well, we bash their heads in," Alexis grinned from her blunt response and Masako swallowed, "Don't be such a baby. Come on, let's get this door unlocked."
Alexis lifted her weapon, a blunt hockey stick, over her head like a baseball bat. Masako placed her weapon, a fire axe, along the side of the wall next to the door. Then, moving swiftly lifted the manager's key from under her shirt and inserted it into the keycard lock. The lock beeped and Masako put the keycard back under her shirt before twisting the lock down and pushing open the door silently.
Alexis took a step into the room first as Masako was lifting her axe off the wall. She readied her hockey stick by her head and slowly scanned the room as more of it opened up to her. She stood in the center of the bedroom and waited patiently with Masako next to her, readied with her weapon across her chest. There was no sign of movement for a long while and Alexis kept scanning the area like a cat. She slowly began to tap her hockey stick across the bed frame. Nothing happened.
"Nothing," Alexis pointed out as she lowered her hockey stick. Masako was wearier and kept her axe up in case of an emergency. Alexis immediately shrunk over to the mini-fridge for a quick look at the contents. There were a couple root beers, waters, and a coke.
"Hallelujah!" She half whispered as she tucked the coke into her pants and gathered the water and root beer in her hands.
"I find some medical tape and some snack cakes in the cupboards," Masako stated as she returned from the bathroom. She held up the supplies as proof and the pair of women slowly left the room and returned to Hikari's room next door to find Sicarius sitting up.
"How ya doing, Nox?" Alexis questioned as she appeared in the room like a butterfly with her giddiness. She walked over to the mini-fridge and opened it up.
"Holding up. You seem…. content," Sicarius pointed out as Alexis began to hum to herself and put away the waters and root beers.
"I am! I found my baby!" Alexis exclaimed. Sicarius and Masako gave her dumb looks.
"I wouldn't have thought you'd of gotten pregnant before Alexis," Arashi pointed out as he walked into the room followed by Hikari and the map of the city, "We got the map. I feel like I'm from Dora now."
Alexis giggled and Arashi gave her a strange look, "Something's not right with her."
"I found my baby!" She exclaimed again and popped the can of coke in her hand before taking a swig, "You got to preserve the flavor by taking small sips or it'll go away too quickly." She giggled again.
"That's your 'baby'?" Masako questioned aloud as she motioned Arashi and Hikari deeper into the room and closed the door behind them. She made sure it was locked and then followed Hikari into the room.
"Yup! Isn't it cute?" She exclaimed again and she held up the drink like a prize. Hikari giggled and Masako laughed a bit.
"It's just a coke," Arashi pointed out.
Alexis gasped, "It's heaven in a bottle!"
"Okay? Then it's good coke," Arashi stated sarcastically as he rolled his eyes over-dramatically.
"It's amazing coke!" Alexis argued with a slight pout.
"Shh. Keep it down Carter," Sicarius stated, "Don't be too loud. We don't want to attract any of them to our presence."
"Sorry," Alexis apologized and quickly danced to edge of the bed, giggling the whole way until she sat her butt down on the edge of the bed in front Sicarius's feet.
"I have the sudden urge to relieve the coke from your possession," Arashi stated. Alexis hissed at him and held the coke close to her bosom in a defensive manner.
"Hey guys; we need to come up with a different place to stay," Hikari piped up as she leaned against one of the walls.
"Why's that?" Masako asked. She lifted the fire axe across the length of her shoulders and rested her weight upon her legs.
"Well, there's not enough room here for the six… five of us," Hikari corrected almost immediately after saying 'six.' Hikari eyes went downcast, and she stared at the floor as if it was the most amazing thing in the world at the moment, "Plus it's a bit dangerous to be as close so close to the ground."
"Close to the ground?" Arashi questioned, "Hikari, we are four stories high."
"But getting farther up will make us safer," Hikari argued.
"We'll be able to escape faster if we are closer to ground level," Arashi argued back. Both had very good points.
"If we are expecting a long stay, then we follow Hikari's plan," Sicarius decided almost immediately, "If we are not, then we follow Arashi's."
"How long is 'long?'" Alexis asked.
"A couple of weeks or months," Sicarius responded as he swung his legs over the sides over the bed to sit up.
"That's a long time," Alexis stated, "Very long."
"If we plan on staying a maximum of two weeks," Arashi put in, "We'll have to move sooner or later."
"Agreed," Sicarius stated, "Let's check the top suites."
"The top suites?" Masako questioned.
"Well they are bound to have the most food and bedding for the five of us, and maybe survivors as well," Sicarius pointed out. Alexis nodded slowly thinking this over.
"It's twenty floors high," Hikari complained almost immediately after Sicarius had stated the length they'd have to travel.
"But it's also twenty floors between us and them," Masako pointed out, "It's the best chance we got; let alone the safest."
"I know, but twenty floors?" Hikari complained again, "That's really high."
"It was your idea Kinomoto," Sicarius stated, "Unless you'd rather go with Arashi's idea and stay here?" Arashi grinned a big lopsided grin.
"No. We can go up the steps," Hikari agreed grudgingly.
"Let's get moving then," Sicarius stated as he stood up off the bed and led the way out the door toward the stairway.
Sicarius went up first, clearing the stairway of the occasional them that came in the way with a quick swipe of the wooden katana and flinging them down the stairway. With a splat he'd move on, taking out the next one and sending him over the rail.
"It's the best way to kill one without bashing it in the head," Sicarius whispered as he clambered past Floor 10. Hikari groaned.
"We're only half way there," She complained.
"Much easier to go down then up," Arashi pointed out, "I can show you, just lean over the railing."
Arashi stared at him like he was a lunatic and he laughed a little before continuing up the stairs at the normal pace. Hikari kept up with him.
After a short while 'Floor 20' appeared on the wall and Sicarius ducked behind the door and took out the nearest one of them with a quick swipe to the lower jaw. It flew off its feet and into a hotel janitor's cart.
"Guessing that was yours," Sicarius stated sarcastically as he swiped his wooden katana at the air to remove the blood. He put a shoe on the back of the cart and gave it a heavy push down the hall. The cart collided with some of them and crashed into the wall making a loud bang which attracted the rest.
"Come on," Sicarius whispered as he led the way to the nearest suite. The band of people followed him. The first door he tried was locked, so was the second, "Grr."
"Move," Masako commanded as she dropped to her knee and unlocked the first door with the master key she was given. The group ushered into the room quietly and, just as quietly, closed the door behind them.
"Alright. We're safe," Sicarius stated, "But that problem needs to be taken care of as soon as possible." He mentioned to the group of them outside.
"What's that?" Hikari questioned as she edged over to the bed. A thick, heavy rope was tied around a bedpost. Alexis tilted her head.
"I don't know," Arashi responded. He edged closer to look at it as it led out the closest the window. It was tight, as if a heavy weight hung from the other end, and as Arashi peered out the window, he realized that that's exactly what it was.
"It's a man."
And sure enough it was. His mouth hung open, and a noose was tied neatly around his neck like a baby's cradle. His breeches were wet and his nice dress shirt torn apart.
"He threw himself out the window," Sicarius stated, "He proclaimed himself dead before he even died. He was weak before it even began." Sicarius turned from the window and snatched Masako's fire axe from her hand. He lifted the axe above his head
"Let's give him a proper way to die."
And snapped the rope with a quick cut down of the brandished axe.
SPLAT!
End of Chapter 12