CHAPTER 2 - ALONE

Zack groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. Details of Arwin's office came into focus. The charred remains of the engineer's device lay mangled in the center of the room. Zack struggled to a seated position. Doing so sent a searing pain to his ribs. There was no sign of Arwin, but Cody was out cold on the opposite side of the room. Through the pain in his chest and legs, Zack crawled to his brother.

"Cody!" He called out as he got closer. Cody remained motionless. Zack reached his side and began checking his unconscious twin for major injuries. Nothing stood out from the various cuts and scrapes on Cody's face, and exposed skin. Zack debated looking for Arwin. Had he gone for help? Moseby would be furious seeing the condition of the room. Their mother would be worried too. He didn't want to leave the office though. Not until Cody was awake.

"Ow...Zack?" Cody was regaining consciousness. This brought Zack out of his thoughts. He let out a sigh of relief. "What happened?" Cody asked looking around the destroyed room. Dust fell from his long blonde hair as he reached a seated position. He coughed as it fell in front of his face.

"I don't know?" Zack eyed the charred remains of Arwin's invention in the center of the room. He crawled toward it.

"Shouldn't you stay away from it? It did just explode," Cody warned. Zack ignored Cody's warning and looked at the device. What little remained intact was crumpled and destroyed. Arwin must be disappointed at the result of his world changing invention. "Where is Arwin?" Cody must have been thinking the same thing as Zack.

"I don't know that either. I was gonna go look for him when you woke up." Taking that as a cue, Zack stood up. He grimaced as the pain stung in his chest. He offered his hand to Cody. Cody accepted and stood up as well, more dust falling off of him as he stood. "How you feeling," Zack asked, noticing that Cody's range of motion seemed unaffected.

"I feel fine, oddly enough." Cody checked his extremities and was able to move them all. "You? You've been cringing." Of course he noticed that. Zack shook his extremities in a similar fashion to Cody as a way to indicate that he was fine. His display actually hurt a tremendous amount. He didn't want Cody to see that though.

"Nothing that won't heal soon enough," Zack smirked. "Come on. Mom will be worried if she heard the explosion." Cody frowned. He must not have considered how worried their mother would be for their safety. The two boys left the room and made their way up to the lobby of the hotel. A strange sight awaited them. The pristine lobby was empty. Maddie wasn't at the candy counter. Esteban wasn't at his post by the door. Even Mr. Moseby wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"They must be outside," Cody said matter of factly. "If there was an explosion, they probably evacuated." Cody was likely right. Zack made his way to the revolving doors that led to the busy streets of Boston, Massachusetts. However, instead of St. James street greeting Zack, an open grassy field that stretched on to the horizon met his eyes. Zack rubbed his eyes to confirm that he was seeing a field and not a busy Boston street. He staggered back into the hotel. Cody was peering over the candy counter.

"Cody?" Zack called to him.

"I wasn't gonna take any," Cody said defensively. Cody had a notorious sweet tooth and would often sneak candy from the counter, much to the chagrin of Mr. Moseby. His disposition changed when he saw the worry on his brother's face. "What is it?" he said.

"We're not in Boston," Zack choked out the words as he pointed at the doors. Cody raised an eyebrow and smirked. It quickly turned to laughter.

"What are you talking about?" he chided. He walked past Zack and went outside. It didn't take long for him to re enter the building. His smile was gone. A look of horror had replaced it. "Zack...we're not in Boston!" He swallowed a lump in his throat. "Where are we? Where is everyone?" The two came to the same horrible realization at the same time. "Mom!" The twins bolted through the lobby, taking the stairs three at a time. Zack's foot missed one of the steps and he tripped, hurting his shin, but he rebounded quickly. He only thought of making it to his mother. He was usually much faster than Cody, but falling prevented him from catching his brother. Cody swung the door open, but did not enter the room. He stood in the doorway. Zack made it to him and saw the same horrible sight. Nothing.

Their mother wasn't in their suite. The twins shared worried looks. "Maybe she went looking for us?" Zack asked hopefully. This didn't reassure Cody.

"She knew we were going to Arwin's, Zack." He put his hands on his temples, deep in thought. Zack watched his gears turning, attempting to figure out their situation. "Maybe we can check the dining room," he finally said. "Maybe they're all in there." Neither boy seemed confident in that possibility. Still, they made their way to the dining room off of the front lobby. Zack's fall on the steps began to bother him, as the initial adrenaline of running to the suite faded. He started to limp, and Cody noticed. "You need help?" he asked making his way back to Zack. He reached for Zack's arm to assist him with walking.

"I'm fine," Zack pushed Cody's arm out of the way. "I can walk!" Zack knew Cody was only trying to help. "I can't have my little brother worrying about me on top of everything else," he said with a pained smile. Cody nodded at this. It was a running joke amongst the twins that since Zack was born ten minutes before Cody, he was the elder, therefore wiser of the two.

"Ten minutes," Cody took care to remind him. He sighed at his brother's stubbornness. "Well, if the limp gets worse, I'm helping you. Even if I have to drag you." Zack agreed to Cody's terms and they made their way into the dining room. As they had expected, there was nobody in sight. For the sake of due diligence the twins checked the kitchen as well. No guests, cooks, or waiters were in the kitchen. Everyone in the hotel had vanished, and it was no longer where it was supposed to be.

Frustrated, the two sat at one of the many tables, as the guests of the Tipton Hotel often did. Zack propped his injured leg on a chair. Cody put his head on the table and folded his arms around it. "What do we do now," Zack asked. He wasn't used to seeing Cody struggle to find an answer to their problems. Then again, he'd never had a situation like this to solve before.

Cody stood from the table and began pacing. He was racking his brain for plausible explanations to their situation. He looked at Zack. His brother was looking to him for the answer. He could see Zack's lower leg swelling. Whatever plan Cody came up with, would have to be mindful of his brother's decreased mobility. If he could even think of a plan. He didn't know where they were, and he didn't know where anyone else was.

"Maybe we should look around outside," Cody offered.

"Better than sitting here," Zack said, standing up.

"Maybe I should go alone."

"What and leave me here alone?"

"It's safe here, and…" Cody stopped himself. His eyes went to his brother's leg. Zack rolled the leg of his track pants back down around his ankle.

"It's fine," he insisted. "It won't heal if I don't walk it off," he was trying to ease Cody's worry with humor, but it wasn't working. Cody said nothing in response. Zack sighed. "Yeah, my leg hurts, but I can still move around. Besides we don't know if it's safe here. We don't know where we are, and if we're truly alone. This hotel is huge!" He raised good points. Cody sighed.

"Fine. We'll explore outside, but we take it slow!" Zack agreed then made his way back toward the kitchen. "Where you going?" Cody raised an eyebrow at Zack.

"I don't know what's going on. Best to be armed," he said. A minute later he came back with two large butcher knives. He handed one to Cody who stared at it. He held it as his side, and twins made their way out of the dining room. "What are we looking for," Zack asked the million dollar question. Cody let out a heavy sigh. He had no idea what they were looking for. The two were going to have to improvise here.

"Whatever seems important," Cody finally offered. The two made their way to the outside world where the large open field awaited them. "Let's check around the whole building." Zack made his way in the opposite direction of Cody. Exasperated, Cody ran after him. "What are you doing?"

"We'll meet up on the other side!"

"By yourself, Sir Limps-a-lot?"

"Hey! That's not bad!" Zack chuckled at Cody's joke. Cody wasn't smiling.

"With your leg, and all the unknowns here, we stick together. At all times." Zack rolled his eyes, but nodded. The two noticed that there were no other buildings in the surrounding area. There were no trees, or any other visual landmarks, just wide open field. As they rounded the corner they noticed a large mountain behind the building. The hotel looked as though it were part of the mountain itself.

"Guess there's nothing that way," Zack stated the obvious.

"Makes things easier for us," Cody agreed. "Only a few directions we can go."

"So what's the plan?" Zack asked. Cody sighed.

"I say we rest up your leg, pack up some food, and pick a direction." Cody folded his arms. He wasn't too fond of the plan, but felt it was their only option.

"My leg is fine, let's just pack stuff and go. It doesn't feel right in there. I don't want to stay if I don't have to." Zack eyed the hotel suspiciously. Cody saw genuine fear in his twin's eyes. He may not have agreed with that course of action, but if it made Zack feel better, he was willing to do it.

The two went back to their rooms and found their backpacks. They removed all of their schoolwork and textbooks to make room for clothes and food. They loaded Zack's bag with clothes, mostly Zack's. Cody noted that it would be smarter to pack clothing meant for athletic endeavors and that his regular business casual attire wouldn't be prudent. He changed into a pair of green basketball shorts and a Boston Celtics jersey his mother had bought for Zack when she took the boys to a game at the TD Garden. Cody didn't know the player. He enjoyed the analytical nature of baseball over basketball. Zack laughed at Cody in his new outfit.

"How do you feel?" Zack asked

"Ridiculous," Cody frowned. "Come on. Let's go fill my bag with food."

Zack nodded as he pulled the zipper to his own bag closed. He slung it over his shoulder. In spite of only carrying a few outfits for the two of them, it was pretty heavy on his already bad leg. He didn't complain about it though. Cody was worrying about enough to keep the two of them safe on their upcoming journey into the unknown. He didn't need more on his plate. The two made their way to the kitchen ransacked their cupboards for anything they could take.

"I think we should pack food for four days worth of travel," Cody said as he began stuffing cans and packages into his backpack.

"Why?"

"I think it will be smart to walk for two days. If we find nothing in that time, we have enough food to make it back." Before long his bag was stuffed to bursting with all kinds of food. Zack watched his brother throw the clearly heavier bag over his back.

"Do you want me to carry that?" Zack offered, noticing Cody let out a heavy sigh as he adjusted the straps on his shoulders. Cody shook his head.

"I'm good. Let's get moving. I'm going to head to the basement and turn off the backup generator. If we have to come back at least we'll have power for a little bit." Zack's mouth fell open as Cody spoke. "What?" Cody asked.

"I would have never thought to do that," he said. "That's a really good idea." Cody blushed at the compliment. He knew that Zack appreciated his good ideas, but he didn't often praise them out loud. It often came in the form of being called a dork, or nerd. After powering the hotel down, the twins made their way out.

"Let's just go straight ahead," Zack said. "You said pick a direction, right?" Cody took a deep breath and nodded. The two looked back at the hotel. The monolithic hotel beared down on them as they started to walk away. Zack and Cody were off into the unknown.