Chapter 26

With the occasional snore or moan here and there, all was quiet later that night when everyone had gone to sleep without incident into the early hours of the following morning.

Around four in the morning, Brian awoke with the urge to pee, groggily making his way to the bathroom. Once the deed had been completed, he had washed his hands and come back out, the sleeping figures of Kim and Paul around him.

He picked up an odd smell, wondering if something in the room was burning or maybe dumb ass Kim left the stove on again.

Checking around, Brian found nothing out of the ordinary, not even around the outlets; still, the burning odor was still bothering him.

"Kim," he poked her. "Kimberly, wake up."

"Hmmmm," Kim groaned, turning over to continue sleeping.

"KIM!"Brian poked her harder.

"WHAT!"she finally woke up and snapped, glancing at the bedside clock. "It's three thirty in the damn morning. This better be good."

"Jesus, bite my head off, why don't you? I smell something burning."

"It's probably your own brain from thinking up shit," she muttered. "And nobody used the stove tonight. Why don't you go excite Paul with this? Oh wait; he'd body slam you into next century if you woke him up now."

"This isn't the time to be funny. I swear to Christ, I smell something burning."

"Well, if it's bothering you so damn bad, go check it out and leave me the hell alone. Some of us are trying to sleep."

"You're no fucking help," he muttered, going for the door and opening it slightly.

"JESUS CHRIST! HOLY LIVING FUCK, THE HALLWAY IS FULL OF SMOKE!" Brian yelled at the top of his lungs.

"What!"Kim cried, now fully awake.

"We got to get out of here! I'm getting PL the fuck up."

"Yeah, sure; I'll call down to the desk," she said.

"Use the hotel phone; I don't want you blowing us all up to hell from using the cell phone."

"Don't you think I thought of that? God, will just get Paul already before we all burn to death?"

Kim then dialed the desk, reporting the smoke in the corridor. She was in the process of being told that there was a fire in the building and to evacuate as soon as possible when she heard a loud bellow from the next room.

"GOD DAMN YOU, SPANKY! THIS BETTER NOT BE ANOTHER ONE OF YOUR PRACTICAL JOKES OR I WILL FUCKING KILL YOUR MIDGET ASS!"

"Dude, it isn't; the hallway is filled with smoke. You got to get up!"

"There's fire," Kim said calmly when Brian came back out. "We have to get out now."

"Did they say where?"

"Not exactly, but it's somewhere down on the lower levels, which means the elevators are shut down.

"Great, now we'll have to go down one hundred thousand stairs. We'll be fucking burned alive before we're out."

"Oh my God!" Paul said. "Lana! Did anyone try to get her?"

"Actually, I was about to go get her, but it may be a problem," Kim replied.

"Yeah, PL; you if anyone knows how she sleeps. Someone could drop an atom bomb near her and she'd never know it." Brian handed them wet towels. "Put these over your face so we don't breathe that shit on the way out."

"Shit! And I suppose you didn't bring that air horn," Paul said to Kim.

Kim shook her head. "Let's go get her and get the hell out of here while we can."

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Inside her room, Lana slumbered, not hearing Kim or the guys banging on the door trying to rouse her, nor was she aware of a fire going on in the hotel.

"I'm breaking the door down," Paul finally said. "Take Kim and go downstairs."

"Dude, I--"

"Now,Spanky. You want to be burned alive? I have Lana covered, trust me."

"Okay, but I don't know how you're going to break in. It isn't like we have weapons."

"Just take Kim and get your ass out of here, will you? I told you I'll take care of this and there's no fucking time to argue about it."

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"Brian, will you quit pacing back and forth like an idiot?" Kim asked as she watched the fire department and EMT's do their work once the fire had been found and put out.

"PL and Red haven't come out," he said anxiously. "I swear, Kim, if something happened to both of them after he insisted we get out of there, I'll never live with myself for listening to the asshole."

"Being a drama queen and pacing isn't going to help anything; it was more smoke than flames, and if they're still in there, the fire department will find them."

"Yeah, after they've been cremated alive. How am I going to function without my PL? I've seen people come out the fire door or being carried out by the medics, but no sign of him or Red."

"They're probably still coming down the stairwell. It took us awhile to get down here, remember? Of course, you smoke like a chimney, so maybe it might not take them as long as it did us."

"Nice. My best friend could have burned to death and you're making jokes about my habits."

"Brian, let's just give it a few more minutes and if neither of us sees them, we'll ask someone. Okay?" She then grabbed the waistband of his pants. "Now sit the hell down before you drive me to the brink of insanity."