Author's Note: Have a nice day.
The group was surprised when, in only a matter of minutes after their find, they stood facing a completely different scene. Ana had been right: it was indeed a resort, or at least it once had been. A large building made from wood and shrowded floral decoration lay before them, a tired and empty looking piece of scenery that seemed to be a mere ghost awaiting the arrival of guests who were sure to never come. There was a long pause while they took it in, unsure that it could be truly as abandoned as it looked. Chunks of wood from some unknown torn up structure lay strewn across the sand, chewed up and bloodstained like they had been clawed at by human hands in some desperate frenzy. It was clear that this place had been hit by an attack, but whether or not there would be survivors seemed very doubtful by this point.
After only a glance around, they had found where the tire tracks had come from. An old jeep sat near the edge of the end of the path, the girth of a palm tree's base embedded into its front end like a knife wedged into a stick of butter. A blackened human arm stil leaned onto the wheel, dead fingers resting on it and its gored stump sitting on the seat, a gruesome last clutch on life. The vehicle appeared to have been burnt, and the passenger side door had been torn clean away. Obviously it was rendered unusable judgung purely from its demolished look. Aside from the severed limb, however, there was no sign of human or corpse existence in view, and so they cautiously came into the clearing towards the front of the building. Kenneth, after a long ponder on the deceased vehicle, had his gun raised defensively as he moved, straying from the group and wandering towards a pile of debris in the sand. A long tarp lay on the ground, one which would have been used to cover a boat in normal circumstances. Dried, dead palm leaves lay on top of it along with a good deal of sand, and Kenneth examined it just to be safe.
"Be careful." Ana called out needlessly, looking down as Chips growled.
Kenneth paused, then lifted the end of the tarp with his boot. No sooner had his foot been raised then a creature sprang from underneath it, a snarl chittering out from its teeth in a furious attack. He cried out and fell back a step, grabbing what he now realized was some kind of disturbed rodent-like ferret animal by the middle off his ankle and tossing it a good ten feet away. Chips burst into a barking riot, leaping forward and tearing after it at top speed.
"Chips!" Nicole yelled. After a few moments of the dog having vanished, he quickly emerged back into the clearing, panting as he went back to his master. "You dumb mutt." She sighed in relief.
"Looks like that weasel gave him what's for." Terry chuckled, bending down and looking over a bleeding puncture wound near his muzzle that looked to be caused by miniature claws. Chips barked proudly.
"I think he got the better of Kenneth." Ana mocked, amused to see how flustered he'd been.
"Okay, so the place looks clear." Kenneth muttered, shaking the sand out of his pant leg. "Remind me to look for some rat poison…"
As they came upon the door, Kenneth kicked some broken wood out of the way and jerked it opened, peering in at the darkened room with his gun ready. With a shove, he hurled the door the rest of the way open and walked in, motioning for the others to follow. Inside the building was about as poor off as the outside, the front desk broken and splintered while furniture lay toppled across the lobby, desolate and eerie. Above their heads, an unattended wood ceiling fan still spun slowly, making a nearly inaudible crik every few seconds that made them all jump just slightly. "Well let's have a look." Kenneth stepped forward. Before his foot even hit the ground, however, something exploded from the dark hall behind the main desk, shrieking like a scalded tea kettle. All that could be seen was a wild mash of bloody limbs all racing towards its new desire with a giddy rage before the final moment.
A shot rang out with a near deafening shatter and the others reeled back in time to see the corpse's head snap back as a bullet tore from under its chin to its brain. A heavy crash shook the floorboards as it hit the ground, spraying up a shower of blood and dust and the body not so much as twitching afterwards. Kenneth stood partially in shock, gun still raised and barrell still smoking as he looked down at the disheveled zombie that had come within a mere foot of him. Flecks of blood covered his chest, dribbling down his shirt and the length of the gun. Lowering it, he turned back to the others. "…So uh…like I said." He backed up and, with some effort, turned his attention to the desk, digging around in the drawers.
The others shook off their surprise and followed suit, by this point not too dazed when it came to narrowly escaping death. There really wasn't a use for letting fear absorb them for a moment longer than what was needed. They all spread out over the area of the lobby, turning over furniture to move it from their path and eyeing the staircase that they had yet to dare and venture up. "Ken!" Terry shouted from across the room, holding up a box of bullets. He tossed them in the large man's direction, who caught them high and brought them down to examine the contents.
"That's great, Terry, but these aren't for a shotgun." He said in dismay.
"They don't have to be." He replied, holding up a handgun. "Here."
"Let's just hope this place has a few more firearms held up in here." Kenneth nodded in approval.
"Well how long are we planning on being here?" Ana asked aloud, taking the gun from Terry and opening the chamber to see if it was loaded. "How long are we going to assume it's safe?"
Kenneth shrugged, resting his gun down at his side. "Why not the night?"
The others paused in response, their initial reaction to protest something as radical, but letting the thought sink in a moment.
"Stay here?" Ana voiced the thought first, awaiting an explanation.
"Yeah." Kenneth looked around. "If there were any more stiff bastards around here, they would've been on us by now."
"We've only been here a few minutes, what makes you think they won't eventually find us here?" she handed the gun back to Terry and took a step back, almost tripping over Tyler, who she now realized was right next to her.
"What makes you think they won't eventually find us out on the beach? At least here we have shelter." Kenneth argued. "Some kind of cover. And it's a pretty good vantage point."
Ana sighed and looked down, brow furrowed. After a moment of thought, she turned to Terry, who shrugged. "Well…he's got a point, Ana."
"I guess so…" Ana relented. "I don't know, something about this just doesn't feel right."
Kenneth considered her concern and straightened up, picking up his gun again. "Well we'll check upstairs; all the rooms. Take extra care makin' sure this place is safe."
"Sounds good." Terry chided, loading the newly discovered handgun and looking up at the broken steps.