Chapter 06 - The Rose Petal Inn
On the way to The Rose Petal Inn they stopped only once so Sharon could clean up and attend to her wounds. Even though she was in pain she couldn't wait to leave that horrible desolate parking lot. The stench of evil was still in the air and she wanted to get as far away as possible. Sharon let Eddie drive, she was in no position to do so herself. The rest stop in which they stopped was a good twenty miles from The Magic Crimson Café yet the roads were still deserted and the sun did not seem to move in the sky at all. The group was silent. Not even Oy would utter so much as a whimper.
After she had cleaned up a bit Sharon pulled the map out of her glove compartment. After inspecting it for a few minutes Sharon announced that the hotel was only about thirty miles away. She resumed her place behind the driver's seat and in no time they were on their way. Under normal circumstances the drive would have taken no more than half an hour, especially when there are no other cars on the road. However, it seemed to take hours to get there and if it wasn't for the scenery passing outside Sharon would have sworn that they were not moving at all. Of course calculating the actual time was impossible because the clock in Sharon's car had stopped working. Time is a face on the water.
A mile or so from the inn Eddie spotted the first real sign of life since they pulled into the bookstore parking lot. Wild roses. A whole field of them. And just past that field, cars. Other cars driving to and from random destinations. Other cars passing them on the road. They were no longer in the twilight zone. "Roland do you see?" Eddie said excitedly.
"Aye Eddie, I see them very well." Roland responded earnestly. Sharon finally turned into the large hotel parking lot. The group waited in anticipation as Sharon drove them up the long driveway to the entrance of The Rose Petal Inn. The inn was actually much larger than the name would suggest. It was a nineteen story fully functioning hotel. The tall building had tinted rose-colored glass on the upper floors while the outside stucco walls of the building were painted in a pale fading pink. A wooden sandwich board announced the nineteenth annual book convention, "Open to the public! Three days only!"
Sharon looked back at her passengers as she pulled up to the curb. "Why don't you guys get out here and see if you can get us a room." Sharon pulled a rectangular piece of plastic out of her back pocket and handed it to Susannah. "Here. Put it on my credit card. Will you sign for me Susannah? Don't worry, they wont ask for id." Susannah nodded and they exited the car. Roland stated that he would keep Sharon company and the others entered the hotel.
The parking lot of The Rose Petal Inn was a huge, hilly outdoor lot. Apparently the book convention was a pretty popular event because almost every single parking space was full. Sharon had to drive clear to the end of the lot, about a half-mile from the hotel, before she found a space. As Sharon and Roland exited the car Roland spotted something unusual. Three people (low men) came walking toward them from a few rows down. Before Sharon was able to comprehend what was going on Roland had shot all three of them. He hit each one in the forehead, where the bleeding eye would have been. Sharon grabbed Roland by the wrist and led him into the tall grass beside the parking lot.
"What was that? You can't just shoot people in broad daylight." Sharon was panicked, not sure what to do.
"They weren't people. You know that."
Sharon did know that, even as people from inside the hotel came out to where they heard the gunshots, she knew that the bodies would already be gone just like the guy in the bookstore. Sharon looked down at her own hands and even though they were clean now she saw the blood that had been there not long ago. She knew that they would see the blood. There might not be much, but they would see something. "I know that they were not people. But Roland, what were they?" Sharon's voice was calmer than she expected it to be.
"Agents of the crimson king. Low men." Roland was watching the crowd that had started to gather in the parking lot.
Sharon touched his arm. "Come on, we need more cover." They crawled deeper into the wild grass beside the nearly full parking lot. "We just have to wait it out. There are no bodies, so there is no proof of a crime. But it may be a while before things calm down." They needed to hide, wait for the commotion to die down. The parking lot was filling rapidly by scared onlookers who heard the gunshots. It wouldn't be long before the local police came. Luckily it doesn't seem as though anyone noticed Roland or Sharon slip out of sight.