11. Go-Live. Stay-Die. Your choice.

Jim and Yoko sped down the alley, fists and legs pumping, Jim's high pitched, wheezy and labored breathing barely discernable from the moaning of the zombies.

"Hoo," he said between breaths. "I gotta, huff, work out more! Huff. That's what happens, huff, when you, huff, sit my black ass on a train all damn day! Huff. I need a fuckin' union!"

"David!" Yoko said, looking back to see if he was still following.

"Man I told you, huff," Jim said. "Leave that fool ta' die!"

Yoko stopped and looked back, her chest heaving in and out, hoping he would emerge from the darkness.

"C'mon Yoko, don't stop!" Jim yelled, still running, only to find that around the next corner was a group of the undead, blocking his path to any sort of freedom he could have hoped for. "Shit! Shit! We're fucked, man! I dunno what to do! SOMEBODY HELP MEEEE!"

Yoko screamed as another zombie emerged from the shadows directly beside her. She took a few steps back and found herself pinned against the wall. "Stay back!" she screamed, cowering like a small child against the wall. The zombie loomed over her and opened its rotting mouth, a long string of saliva mixed with blood dripping onto her jeans, when David bolted forward and tripped the zombie from behind, knocking it to the ground, then stabbed it in the throat at least ten times. Yoko saw the look in David's eyes, and felt herself more frightened by that sight than she did only inches away from the hideous monster. Never before had she seen such violence, even if the zombie was already dead, and the darkness, the utter focus and the completely natural way that David gored and mutilated the corpse sent a chill up Yoko's spine. David continued to stab it until the head completely dislodged from the body and rolled around on the ground. David got up and glared down at Yoko, his shirt and part of his face stained with blood and his chest heaving in and out, not from his having run after them, but from the rush of his fresh kill.

"What are you doing?" he said. "Get up and keep moving!"

Jim came running back and grabbed David by the shirt.

"You gotta help! They're coming, they're coming! DON'T LET THEM KILL POOR JIM!"

David looked behind him and saw the group advancing. He searched around and saw a familiar door.

"This way, move your ass!" he said, sprinting forward and turning left towards a door. Yoko and Jim quickly followed, and as soon as they were in David shut the door behind them and locked it.

They stood in a plaza, the center of the Apple Inn, which overlooked all three floors of the hotel. David felt confident this was a better place than any to be in, since he at least knew the place well enough. It was better than being out on those streets, at the very least. He looked around and recognized the door to the boiler room. He searched his pockets and pulled out a ring of keys.

"What is this shit, man?" Jim said, searching around. "A hotel? Phat! I can find a bed, and get me some eats, yo. Jim needs a lil' shut eye, he been workin' all damn day without havin' to worry about no zombies all up in his shit!"

"Do you ever shut up?" David said. "You could learn something from Yoko."

Yoko was off looking through the windows when she heard David's comment. She turned away to look back at him, when a skinny, almost lizard like form crawled past the window like an enormous, mutated gecko with no epidermis. Yoko glanced back and the window and swore she had seen something move. Before she should get a closer look David opened the door.

"C'mon," he said.

The three of them entered the room and David looked around, Yoko noticed a long steel pipe on the floor and picked it up, just in case. The chugging of the boiler had gotten louder and the room was filled with steam, even hotter than the last time he was there. He began to realize he'd made a mistake, when he heard footsteps clanging against metal above their heads.

"Hey!" a voice said. David looked up saw two firemen peering down at them. "Are you three okay? Any of you infected?"

Jim stood behind David and covered his still wrapped and blood stained shoulder.

"Nope! Not us!" he said.

"We're evacuating the building," one of them said. "Gill, let's,"

Suddenly the boiler began to whistle and growl, an intense anger that seemed almost human.

"What's going on!" the fireman said.

"Shit!" David said. "It's going to blow! Get out, NOW!"

David sped out the door followed by the other two as the confused fireman decided to follow his advice, despite the fact he didn't understand, but his actions were too delayed as the boiler erupted, sending a wave of flames up into the rafters and charred the fireman whole. On the other side Gill, his partner, reached for the door, when it suddenly vaulted forward and slammed him against the wall, the fire shooting it out like a cannon so hard it knocked Gill unconscious.

Jim and Yoko were first through the door as David tried to shut the door, but the explosion also sent him flying backward at least fifteen feet onto his back, the door on top of him. Stunned, he lay on the ground grunting to him self as Jim walked up to him and knocked on the steel door over David's body.

"Anybody home? House keeping! HA HA HA! Aaaaah I crack myself up!" he said, holding his stomach as he laughed. David shoved the door off and sat up, holding his head.

"David," Yoko said, grabbing his arm. "Do you have a concussion?"

"Hmph…no." he said.

"Are you hurt? Is anything broken?"

"What are you talking about, I'm fine."

"What the hell do we do now?" Jim said.

Before anyone could answer a window above them exploded with fire, the glass falling like rain from the sky. A large chunk of concrete landing a few feet from them as a bright glow began to resonate from the window. The explosion had caused a fire, which was growing at an incredible rate.

"Holy shit!" Jim said. "You see that shit! It almost landed on me!

David got to his feet and looked at one of the windows. It was built into the walls of the hotel so he couldn't just life it open, then he tried elbowing and kicking it, but found the glass was far too thick for him to break with his bare hands, despite his well conditioned and tough body. If anything the owner, Chamberlain, took pride in securing the hotel to make sure it wasn't easy to break in, or out of.

"Shit," David complained, but then saw the steel pipe Yoko had brought with her from the boiler room, then the chunk of large concrete that lay on the floor, and the wheels in his head began turning. He lifted the concrete piece and weighed it in his hand, then lifted the pipe, banging it against the ground to test its durability.

"Man," Jim said, laughing. "This is just like the beginning of that flick 2001 Space Odyssey where those primate, caveman freaks are makin' new weapons to get some grub with!"

David ignored his comments then went to work, taping up the pipe and hammer together. He lifted the new weapon up with one hand, then swung it to the side making a heavy whoosh sound. He then walked up to the window like a batter steps up to the plate and lifted the custom-made sledgehammer with both hands.

"You two should move," he said to Yoko and Jim, who stepped back. David then swung the hammer and shattered the thick glass in an instant. David then climbed through the opening and motioned for the others to follow. They did so and David scanned the hallways. He considered whether or not to give one of the others his weapon, and decided it was better if he was in control. He didn't enjoy being unable to control the situation, and had previously done so only from a strictly utilitarian perspective: more guns in a fire fight means more targets for the enemy.

David crept down the dark hallway, the crackling and grumbling of the fire a few stories above them becoming louder. It was spreading. On the wall an old painting stared at them, the man's portrait stained with splotches of blood, as a long streak of crimson covered the wall nearby, a bloody hand print showing whatever was there was clawing at the wall in agony. Yoko became nervous as Jim flipped his coin.

"Well," Jim said. "Guess you got lucky, Davey boy, you turned up a heads. So I'll just stick with you for now, till I find a way outta this shitty hotel. But first I gots a find a bed!"

David was so focused on caution that he barely heard Jim's commentary. He slithered down the hall until a right turn. As he looked around the corner, a door right beside him opened up and a figure stepped out. David lifted his weapon and stepped forward, ready to smash the sledgehammer into the figure's head, when it spoke.

"WAIT! Hold on a second!" said a man wearing a gray jump suit. David stopped himself, but held his weapon at the ready.

"Who are you?" David asked.

"Oh shit," the man said, looking at David's face. "You're David King! Holy shit I know you! It's me, Johnny!"

David lowered his weapon. "Johnny the Bull Layfield?"

"Yeah!" the man stepped forward and David recognized his outfit as the one prisons in the state penitentiary wore. "Man, I heard all about you, in fact I talked to Doug right before you,"

David put his hand out to shush him. "Shut it," he said, looking toward Yoko and Jim who were baffled at what was going on. "If you want to stay alive, we'll hafta stay together. Don't fall behind or get lost, or you WILL die. I know this place."

"Is this where you've been?" Johnny said with a laugh. "Man, I never thought David King would end up as a janitor to some old hotel."

"I could just leave you here," David said, his anger increasing. "Is that what you want?"

"No no," Johnny said putting his hands out. "Of course not. Not when I got the Iceman David King with me!"

David harrumphed and proceeded up a flight of stairs to the second floor as the group followed him. Yoko glanced over to Johnny, who gave her a strange, almost sick smirk that made her uneasy.

They strolled he halls a bit until they reached the unconscious Gill. David slowly snuck along the wall to see if he was still alive, or if he was one of those things yet. He slowly put his hand out, Gill's body motionless, and placed it on his shoulder. He shook him a bit, when Gill screamed. David jumped back and raised his weapon as Gill looked around confused, finding it hard to see with his thick, heavy fireman's helmet and facemask clouding his vision. He grabbed a wooden axe next to him.

"Who are you?" Gill said, raising the axe.

"Are you infected?" David asked, unrelenting.

"What? No, no."

David lowered his weapon.

"My name is Gill, I'm a member of the fire department. Since the police have their hands full we were sent in here to evacuate the premises. Len went to check the boiler room, when it suddenly exploded! I don't think…Len made it…"

"So that was you up here," David said.

"Are there any more people in the building that you know of?" Gill asked.

David thought for a minute.

"Yes. The owner. And…" he tried to remember the little girl's name. "Anna."

"Okay," Gill said. "We'll have to split up. This place is going to be engulfed in fire soon, so time is of the essence. One group follow me, I'll look for the owner, and the others find that girl. If you find anybody else, keep them with you. We'll meet at the lobby, we should be okay there. There's an emergency ladder on the terrace overlooking that room we can use to get down, I've already activated it. Let's get moving."

"I'm stickin' with the man with the axe!" Jim said, running to Gill. "Can't rely on McGuyver's Home Improvement thingamajigs. Sides, we brothahs gotta look out for each other my man! Can't trust all these white folks runnin' around crampin' my style!"

Gill began to regret he'd allowed grouping by volunteer.

"I'll go with you too," Johnny said in a strange tone.

"Then you, girl, go with him," Gill said pointing to David.

"Hmph," David said.

The two groups split, with David and Yoko climbing a flight of stairs to the third floor.

"David," Yoko said in a low tone.

"What," David said, not as a reply but more out of annoyance.

"Are you scared?" she asked.

David gave no response.

On the third floor hallway the fire had reached the middle of the hall, blocking them off from the girl's room.

"We're gonna hafta go around," David said, opening a door to his right.

The two stepped in and David opened the window. He looked outside and saw a fire escape that led to another room. He motioned Yoko to follow and helped her get on the metal railing. He opened the window to the room and stepped in. The room itself was fairly empty except for a body that lay on the floor near the door. David pulled out his folding knife and advanced carefully. He walked over to the body and moved it with his foot. No response. He then turned the body over and recognized the man's face. It was a security guard employed by the town that he often saw roaming the hallways at night. He had only spoken with him briefly once, so it didn't bother him the guy was dead. Looking at his body again, he saw a gaping hole where his stomach should have been, many of his intestines missing. Yoko tried not to look at the body.

"What the fuck did this," David asked more to himself than to Yoko. He inspected the man's body and found a black Beretta handgun, which he pocketed, along with any bullets the man still had. Out of curiosity he inspected the door, leaning against it, feeling a warmth on the other side trying to get in.

"We'd better not try to go around this way," he said. "We'll end up barbeque."

He then looked around the room and noticed a large crack in the wall. He approached it and remembered that he had filed a report on one of his routine inspections about a large crack in the wall. If he remembered correctly, it was the room right next to the one the girl had been in.

David stood against the wall and listened for any noise.

"Anna," he called out. The walls weren't very thick so he thought she might hear him. "Anna, this is David. Do you remember? Are you there?"

There was no response.

David raised the hammer and slammed it against the wall several times, the crack growing larger, until gradually he was able to make a small hole, the pipe bending slightly and the concrete breaking a little more with each impact. He handed the hammer to Yoko, who nearly dropped it with its incredible weight, and looked through the hole. He could see the bathroom of the next room.

"Yoko," he said. "Crawl through there, and check in the room, I'll be right there in a second."

Yoko nodded. "Okay."

She crawled through the hole fairly easily, but wasn't sure if David would fit. David began to follow, when he heard a low, hushed breathing somewhere in the room. He took out the gun and searched cautiously, listening in silence. He heard the faint wet plucking of small, suction like feet against the wall. He tried to measure its distance but found it difficult. Soon it emerged from the shadows, it's lizard like body crawling along the wall. It breathed out with a low uuuuh and hissed.

"If it isn't Mr. Ugly," he said, aiming his gun. Before he could pull the trigger the thing opened its mouth and shot out its long, wet tongue, and with the force of a whip it knocked the gun out of David's hand, cutting his wrist so that he bled. David frowned.

"I've squashed bugs bigger than you," he said, pulling out his knife.

"David?" Yoko called from the other side. "What's happening?"

"Get the girl, dammit," he said. "I have a new friend to take care of."

David ran forward as the thing shot out its tongue; this time David dodged it and made a swipe at its head, which looked nearly transparent because the various folds and lines resembled an exposed brain. It shrieked and stepped away, then climbed the walls. It lashed its whip tongue out, scratching David in the face and back.

"Spiderman you ain't," David said.

He managed to dodge the attacks from the ceiling stationed creature and reached for the gun, but the monster whipped its tongue and pushed it out of the way. It then turned itself and leaped at David, knocking him against the wall with a thud and stunning him. Slowly it crept towards him and opened its mouth, then shot the tongue out aimed directly at his head. David swayed to the side, the tongue barely missing, and plunged his knife through the creature's tongue and pinned it against the wall. The thing let out a horrific scream of agony that sounded more like nails being dragged on a chalkboard, entirely inhuman. David then grabbed the handgun and walked toward the licker and placed the gun point blank against its exposed brain.

"See you in hell, you ugly piece of,"

BLAM BLAM BLAM

Yoko meanwhile opened the door to the next room. The lights were dim, making it hard for her to make out anything. The television set fizzed on, no reception except the undying hum of static. Yoko looked around the room, putting her hands out to search through the darkness. She finally came upon a lamp sitting on a nightstand and turned it on. The light illuminated and Yoko was startled to see a small child sitting at the edge of the bed, her back towards Yoko.

"Anna?" Yoko said.

The girl didn't respond. Yoko looked at a small notebook sitting on the bed.

I met a man named David today.

Something bit me. It hurts.

I'm so hungry. Itchy.

Daddy came back.

I bit daddy.

Daddy died.

Hungry.

The rest was smeared with blood. Yoko looked at the girl again, who was now standing. She let out a weak, droning moan and turned towards Yoko. Her lips and teeth were covered in blood and a large chunk of her neck was gone, apparently ripped off. She slowly walked around the bed and towards Yoko, who stepped away.

"No," she said. "Oh my God, no. She's so young,"

The girl stepped over the body of a man whose neck had been ripped to shreds and whose arm was bitten in various places, leaving some of the bone and muscle exposed. The girl let out a horrific scream that surprised Yoko, when David emerged from the bathroom. Yoko looked towards him and so did the girl.

"Oh no," David said.

The dead child growled and moaned, then slowly dragged its feet towards David. David pulled out his gun.

"She's just a child," Yoko said, sobbing. "She's just a little girl."

David pointed the gun at her head, and for the first time in his life, he hesitated to pull the trigger. The girl was only inches from him and she reached out towards him. David felt his legs turn to mush and his arms suddenly twitch and shake with fright, barely able to grasp the gun. For a second he lowered it, his mind fooled into believing this really was a child, a little girl that at one time could talk. The girl opened her mouth to bite David's arm.

"No," he said.

BLAM

The girl's tiny body collapsed to the floor, her head thumping hard against the ground. Yoko had turned away and sat with legs crossed sobbing in the corner. The gun in David's hand felt as if it weighed a thousand pounds. His normally tight muscles turned to jello and his knees crumbled under his own weight. He dropped the gun to the floor with a thud, then turned around and walked silently into the bathroom. He stood over the toilet, feeling nauseous. His stomach did back flips and his intestines tied in a not. He wished to God that he could throw up, just to simmer down the sick feeling he had and to lighten the heaviness he felt pull him down to earth. He never hesitated before. But this was a child.

"A goddamn kid," he said.

He tried to place blame on her father. What kind of man let's their own daughter, so young, alone, all day in a hotel with strangers? What kind of idiot would do that to somebody they're supposed to care about?

He felt a surge of emotion rise up into his throat and manifest itself into green vomit that splashed violently into the toilet bowl. David vomited only once, but it felt like it lasted forever, all the guilt and shock of the situation now sitting in the bowels of that bowl. He didn't feel any less sick, but his still felt some degree of relief. He took deep breaths then stood up. He wiped the chunks of puke from his chin and washed his hands in the sink. His gloves were blood stained and dirty with her blood. He took them off and threw them in the trash.

Slowly he emerged from the bathroom, Yoko still crying, but now trying to position the corpse of the girl in a position that at least looked peaceful. David picked up the gun and forced his face to harden. Yoko looked at him curiously, seeing something in his eyes that wasn't there before. It irritated him.

"Let's go," he said, the coldness that usually accompanies his manner quickly returning. Yoko got up and the two made their way to the door. David looked back at the girl's body one more time, then left without a word.