Alright, and here I am with my chapter of this brand new story! I was so excited to start writing this, I don't think any of you have a clue. I simply love apocalypse stories. I've even been reading up on The Zombie Survival Guide to help with the progression of this story.
If any of you have read that or a wonderful blog post about the phases of an outbreak, we are in between 3 and 4 in this fic. We are already in phase 3 by the first chapter (as writing the first and even second would've been very...boring), and by the end of this chapter we have transitioned into 4. To go into a little more detail, phase 3 is the outbreak. After patient zero has began infecting more and more people, but the authorities still aren't taking the threat very seriously. While phase 4 is the start of containment. Quarantine, etc., and the authorities are finally beginning to realize that something is up. Not what, and the severity still isn't acknowledged, but they understand something isn't right.
This story is also set with the idea that patient zero was somewhere around LA or Anaheim. I know we mentioned that there had been cases in London, and that also implies that those patient zero infected traveled to these areas, as LA and Anaheim are big tourist areas. These zombies are NOT zombies created through genetic testing gone wrong. They are your typical Walking Dead style zombies, with their exact design, behaviors, abilities, etc. based around the Zombie Survival Guide.
Joe walked slowly to his room that night. The party at Mark's had been better than expected, and he was thoroughly trashed and ready for a good night's sleep. The man had spent the better part of four hours just talking with Zoe and Alfie, and the time then was well past five am. If he didn't have to get up in less than 3 hours, he might be a little less reluctant to actually sleep once he got to his room. What was the point of sleeping that amount of time? So much for his good night's sleep he supposed.
He made it to his room in a record breaking speed, a whole twenty minutes. Not exactly the quickest, but it might be the slowest. Especially considering his room was only down the hall. The first thing Joe noticed as he prepared to insert the key card into the slot, was the sound of rustling in his room. That struck him as odd, he was nearly positive he hadn't agreed to sharing his room with anyone.
"Probably Caspar." He sighed, opening his door without a hint of hesitation. It wasn't odd for Caspar to end up in his room at odd hours of the night. Especially after both of them had been drinking heavily and didn't feel tired enough to sleep. "Mate, you know you could've let me know you were coming? I'd have shown up sooner." Joe said, flicking the lights on. That confused him, it wasn't like Caspar to leave the lights off.
It wasn't long after that Joe heard the distinctive sound of wet groaning, his hair being pulled back by amazing force. A shrill scream escaped his throat as he shifted his position towards his assailant, his right leg connecting with the stomach of someone who was definitely not Caspar Lee. He stood still, heartbeat sped up at the sight of what he could only assume was his housekeeper lying still on the ground.
"Oh my God." He breathed shakily, stepping back against the door as the woman began to moan that sickly noise again. Joe's heart was now beating rapidly, his breathing coming in short gasps. "Are you alright?" He asked, hand going instinctively to the door handle when the woman didn't respond. All she did was gnash her teeth at him, limping slowly towards him with her hand outreached.
"Oh, I see what's going on. Is this another prank video?" Joe said, his heart rate still just as high as it had been before he came to that conclusion. This did seem like something Caspar would do to rile him up. He jumped up onto the bed, narrowly avoiding one of the woman's outstretched hands. The groaning didn't stop, and she continued to move after him. "Come on now, Mate. Out with it." Joe looked around closely for a camera, unable to find one within his eyesight. "Casper, please." The brown haired man cried out as the housekeeper grabbed for him yet again, her nails digging sharply into the skin of his legs. Clearly not a prank, Caspar would never tell someone to intentionally harm him. It had to be a prank though, what would he do if it wasn't? He ripped his leg out of the lady's grasp, jumping off his bed towards the door yet again. She was after him immediately.
"Caspar I swear to God, I'm going to kill you!" He said, his heart stuck in his throat. He was beginning to feel light headed, panic budding to life and causing him to feel faint. What if this really wasn't Caspar? He ran to the door of his room, fear causing another whimper to leave his throat as the woman grabbed at him. He pulled the door open quickly, slamming it shut just before she had a chance to make it out with him. Even after the door was securely shut and locked from the outside, he continued to hear banging and moaning. The door rattled with the housekeeper's continued attempts to get outside, and he felt no shame as he ran full speed to his sister's room, tears threatening to fall from his burning eyes.
He banged loudly on the door of his sister's hotel room, not caring in the slightest if he woke up the entire hotel. Not ten seconds after he started, a very tired and annoyed Alfie ripped the door open.
"Joe, what the Hell-" Alfie stopped in his tracks at the sight of his girlfriend's brother. The smaller man was shaking, eyes glassy and fingers dancing together in a fit of anxiety. "Hey, hey calm down. What's a matter?" He said, his hand going to rest on Joe's shoulder. The older flinched, pulling away from the touch. Alfie was shocked, Joe had never done that before. What could have possibly happened in the twenty minute time frame he had been gone? "Joe, what's happened?" By this point he could hear Zoe shuffling from inside the room.
"Where's Zoe?" Joe said, voice cracking. Alfie looked back and saw his girlfriend looking at him with curious eyes.
"Come in, Joe." Alfie said, shocked as Joe shook his head violently and backed away.
"No! No, I just...Where's Zoe?" The older of the two siblings immediately came forward, not quickly enough to frighten her brother, but enough to show him she was there. She knew the tell tale signs of a panic attack quite well. It wasn't common for Joe to experience them however, and that left even herself with a lingering anxiety.
"Hey." Zoe said, her arms outstretched only slightly. Joe's eyes kept flicking down the hall, back towards his own room. What could possibly have her brother this upset? "What's happened?" Joe seemed to stand still, right in the middle of the hall. Even when Zoe attempted to egg him closer to the room, he refused.
"No, not in there." He said, head shaking violently. His heart was practically non-existent, the organ feeling like it had exploded many times by now. Joe couldn't understand why he was feeling this way. For all he knew, it really was Caspar or someone else playing a nasty trick on him. Save for the fact no one had come to laugh at him, and the distant sound of banging still lingering in the hall, he decided that just couldn't be true, just as he'd already decided.
"Joe, listen. It's going to be alright. I don't know what's happened, but you need to know you're safe with me." Zoe said, her eyes desperately trying to convey the truth in that statement. Joe's eyes watered up, a single tear rolling down his cheek as he buried his head in his sister's shoulder. With his eyes hidden, he allowed her to guide him into the room. Alfie shut the door behind the siblings, Joe's head immediately shooting up.
"No!" He screamed, shoving Zoe away and going to stand by the door. His mind was racing a thousand miles a second, he was behaving irrationally. This isn't like me. Why was he doing this? Oh I don't know, a crazy lady tried to rip my leg off and chase me out of my hotel room while moaning like a dead person? "I think I drank too much." Joe said suddenly, shocking both people in the room with him.
"Why's that?" Zoe said, not moving an inch. The last thing she wanted was to lose Joe on his first cohesive thought since he'd come banging on her door.
"I don't know, I...I went to my room, and I heard rustling." He paused, making sure that Alfie and Zoe were listening. He had their attention. "So, you know. I just assumed it was Caspar. So I open the door, turn on the lights and all the sudden I get grabbed by the hair and something's gnashing their teeth behind me."
"I just thought it was Caspar. Seemed like a joke he'd pull on me so I turned around and kicked whoever it was in the stomach. Well, it wasn't Caspar." Joe had trailed off by this point, hands coming to cup over his eyes. His breathing had begun to get sharper again, and it took him a few minutes to calm himself enough to speak again.
"It was the housekeeper. She was still dressed in her uniform but it was covered in blood. All down the side. Old blood nonetheless. Brown and caked and you could smell it from a mile away if you really tried. Then all the sudden she gets up and starts coming after me. It freaked me out of course, but you know Caspar likes to play jokes. So I hopped around her and onto the bed and started looking for cameras. There weren't any."
"So right as I make that connection the lady grabs me by the leg and just, digs her nails as hard as she could into it. I just...kicked her off and ran. Out the door and into the hall and I could still hear her slamming as I left." Joe kneeled down, pulling his pant leg up and showing them the cuts on his leg. Yes, they were definitely there. At least that much wasn't a hallucination.
"Joe! That looks awful." Zoe shouted, kneeling down. "Alfie quick, go get out first aid kit." Alfie ran off immediately, not saying a word as Zoe stood and lead Joe over to the bed. She helped him sit slowly, and once he was settled she lifted his leg into her lap.
"Zoe, what if I'm going crazy?" Joe asked, his voice as distant as the look in his eyes. The older shook her head, sighing in relief as Alfie handed her the first aid kit. She didn't know exactly how to respond. She would've easily attributed what he had seen to too much alcohol or a prank played by one of their many friends staying in the hotel, but the cuts on Joe's leg were far too real. Hallucinations never caused real damage, and no one would ever allow a prank to go so far it hurt someone.
"Here, I'll tell you what," Alfie said, sitting down next to Joe. For the first time since he had arrived, Joe didn't flinch away from him. "I'll go down to your room and check it out. If there's nothing there, I'll come back and get you and we can go back together. Then I'll show you that everything's fine." Alfie knew that what he found wasn't going to be nothing, but he for sure had to see what it was that caused the marks on his friend's leg. If nothing else, he'd get to beat someone's ass for hurting his sister's brother. Joe simply nodded, eyes fixed to the ground. He didn't even flinch as Zoe poured alcohol over the cuts.
"Be careful." Zoe said as Alfie slipped a pair of shoes on. He nodded his head and smiled at her, picking up Joe's keycard off the bed and walking down the hall.
"Alright, let's see what we've got here." Alfie said, inserting the card into the slot. He opened the door slowly, making as little noise as he could. He heard nothing, so he pushed the door all the way open. The first thing he noticed was the room was an absolute mess. Bed sheets thrown all around, the tv remote on the floor, bags of chips and other such items strewn across the table. Joe's bags still remained in Zoe and Alfie's room, so there was no question that the items left were not his. That was extremely out of the ordinary.
The second thing he noticed caused bile to rise to his throat. To the right of the bed was an aged blood stain. Huge, and pooled so far that it was touching the wall and far underneath the bed. Maybe Joe wasn't crazy. Alfie turned around quickly, intent to leave that room as fast as humanly possible when he was stopped by a figure standing in front of the still open door.
"Oh, God." The creature standing before him was exactly how Joe described. Dressed still in her work uniform, blood caked onto the white and black fabric. What Joe failed to mention was the dead, milky eyes, the grey skin, and the sickening groan the woman uttered. Alfie wasted no time knocking the woman out of the way and running full speed down the hall, completely uncaring about the fact he had left the door wide open. His only thoughts were of getting out and getting to someone who could call the proper authorities. He didn't even know the proper number to call for a situation like this one. Who do you call about a dead eyed, bloody mad woman trying to rip your friend's leg off and attempting to grab you as you sped out of the room?
"Get your shit, we're leaving." Alfie said, slamming the door and locking it behind him. The two siblings stared up at him in shock, unable to process what exactly caused the sudden change in Alfie. Joe didn't want to believe what he'd seen had actually been real, it couldn't have been real.
"What?" Zoe said, still not moving from her spot next to Joe on the bed. She had finished patching his leg up only seconds before Alfie came barging in, and was intending to try and talk him through the rest of his panic. So much for that idea.
"I said, get your bloody stuff. Let's go!" Alfie shouted, ripping his clothes out of his suit case and shoving them into his computer bag.
"Why are you doing that?" Zoe asked, her nerves flaring up as she watched Alfie sprinting around, grabbing all of their necessities and leaving all the larger weight behind.
"We're leaving this hotel in 30 seconds regardless of if you have your stuff or not." Zoe's eyes began to water as she quickly jumped up and began gathering clothes and other items from the bathroom. Simple things like toothpaste and brush, her comb, and a bottle of water. She left all of her makeup and other such items behind.
Just as the group was about to leave, the distinct sound of moaning hit their ears. The group stopped in their tracks, breathing all but non-existent as they tried to make as little sound as possible. Alfie took careful steps toward the door, his eye going slowly to the peep hole so he could see outside the room. The woman was there, head snapping left and right, short steps taking her forward ever so slowly. How were they possibly going to get out of the room now?
"Shit!" Alfie screamed, falling back as a person's face blocked his view of the hallway. Hearing the commotion he just made, the new addition moaned and slammed on the door. Joe shot forward from his stance near the bed and threw all his weight against the door, hoping that the poorly made wooden frame wouldn't give under the weight of two insane people trying to break down the door. Alfie joined him soon after, noticing with an unbelievable amount of fear that yet another voice had joined the ranks of the other two outside the door. Why were there suddenly so many?
"What do we do?" Joe cried, his voice quiet but fearful as the force against the door magnified with every passing second. The top lock on the door was quickly giving way, and without just one adversary it would be much too hard to jump past them like Joe and Alfie had done previously. Who knows how many were out there now?
"Call the police!" Zoe said, quickly running to grab her phone. She quickly powered the phone on, and saw nearly fifty unread messages popping up on her screen. She flicked through them quickly, a horrible feeling of dread washing over her.
Zoe? Please respond to me!
Chummy, come on. Don't not respond to me at a time like this. Please tell me you're alright. I love you.
We just heard what happened on the news. Are you okay?
Zoe, your mum and I are very worried. Please respond. We haven't heard from Joe either.
Hey, it's Poppy. Are you and Alfie alright?
Is that your hotel on the news? Call me!
What the Hell is going on? Zoe dropped her phone, suddenly aware of the fact that what was happening was larger than just them. Had the entire hotel had problems like this one? Were people going crazy on all floors of the building?
"No, no!" Alfie screamed. It suddenly hit her that the door had stopped rattling. "No, go back inside!" He continued to shout. Not a second after, the sound of screaming filled her ears. The sound of a woman screaming, the sound of a man, the sound of children. Alfie was frozen in place in front of the peep hole, his legs giving way as he fell to the ground. Joe's head was tucked tightly in between his legs, hands braced over his ears. All Zoe could do was sit and listen until the screams stopped, and all that was left was the sound of Alfie and Joe's sobbing.
Zoe jumped as her phone screen lit up, the sight of Phil calling her easing her nerves only slightly. At least she knew he was okay, the other staying in the same hall as she, Joe, and Alfie. She answered it quickly.
"Oh thank God, I thought I'd never get through to you." She heard Phil's voice over the line, she sighed in relief as well.
"Thank God you're alright! Do you know what's happening?" Her voice was frantic, and even if she knew Phil hadn't any more a clue than her, she still felt the need to ask.
"Haven't a clue. We saw everything though." Phil said. "From Joe running out, to Alfie, to that thing following him." Zoe sighed as she stared at the two boys sat in front of the door, Joe still with his hands covering his ears and Alfie staring blankly into space. She didn't want to think about what she had just heard. Couldn't even process that it really happened.
"What do we do?" Zoe asked. Phil took a long while to think before responding.
"We're trapped where we are. But next to you, there's a staircase that leads to the back porch. Run, just go as fast as you can and don't look back. Dan and I are watching the news on our phones. They're going to quarantine the hotel. Eradicate the infection is what they said." Zoe's heart was pounding, tears leaking from her eyes at the thought of all that had transpired in the matter of hours. Only this morning instances like this had been nothing but stories that no one took seriously. Now she was somehow trapped in the middle of yet another one of those stories. She wonders if people would take this one seriously.
"I can't leave knowing you're still trapped here. There's got to be a way for you to get out." Phil chuckled softly in response.
"In horror movies that's how people die you know?" Phil said, and Zoe couldn't stand to hear the uplifting Phil Lester talk to somberly. It was like he was a completely different person.
"I don't care. I seem to recall that there was an elevator to the right of you. Take it, meet us outside and we'll go together." There was little but mumbling on the other side of the line before Dan's voice entered her ears.
"We'll meet you out back. Be safe, Zoe." And the line cut. She walked slowly over to the boys and took each of their hands, helping them up off the ground. Joe was shaking violently, his breaths coming in hiccups and gasps rather than actual breaths. She wrapped her arms tightly around him, holding him as close as she possibly could. Zoe couldn't stand to see her little brother like this, and Hell be damned if she'd let something hurt him again. She had to stay strong.
"Here's the plan." She recited everything Phil had said to her over the phone, and only a second after they put said plan into action. They opened the door slowly, not a creak was made. Zoe tore her eyes away from the sight to her left, mind and body only focused on getting to the stairwell only three doors down from their own. They continued to tip toe their way to the door, not caring in the slightest how much noise they made as they ripped the door open and ran inside, quietly shutting the door behind them. The last thing they wanted was another surprise visitor that was already in the stairwell with them. However, their quick steps were enough to alert them if they did exist.
The group ran quickly down the stairs, crying out in joy as they made out into the open air of the back patio of the hotel. They ran as fast as they could away from the building, only to be stopped in their tracks by two armed policemen.
"Stop! Don't go any further." The three YouTubers put their arms up, fear coursing through their veins as the men pointed their weapons toward them.
"No one leaves these grounds."