A stream of slow, steady, forcefully loud banging on the door to his room abruptly wrestled Nick from his bizarre dreams. He quickly threw on his blue shirt without buttoning it, jumped into his pants, and crept slowly towards the door with the forlorn hope that something as benign as room service would be waiting on the other side. As he brought an eye tentatively to the peephole, he was greeted to the familiar sight of a police officer.
Nick gritted his teeth and slunk back over to the bed, quickly threw on his jacket, and fumbled with his shoes as the banging became more forceful. He then rushed over to the mini fridge and shoved its contents into his pockets before exiting through the window and traversing along the ledge.
"Holy shit!" Nick sucked in a hissing breath as he pressed his back against the side of the building. Of course the receptionist had to give him a room on the top floor.
"God damn cops…always so fucking persistent."
Despite his best effort not to, Nick looked down at the earth below him and was surprised at the sheer number of people grouped together on the ground. Suddenly, the deafening whir and blustering gust of helicopter blades nearly sent him over the edge as the rescue vehicle landed on the roof. Nick unceremoniously shot through the window of an adjacent room with the intent of making it to the stairs and up to the rooftop, not caring if it was occupied. Before he ducked into the empty room, he caught sight of the policeman sprinting fearlessly across the ledge towards him.
"What the fuck?" Nick snarled as he opened fire. He knew he was popular with the police, but this was a ridiculous stunt even for the most stalwart, reckless, rookie cop.
"Looks like you're literally dying for a promotion, you pathetic little boy scout!" Nick shouted derisively as his bullets struck their mark. He jumped into the room and scrambled over to the door with his gun outstretched as he quickly scanned both ends of the hallway. Finding it empty, he swiftly ran towards the stairway, only to run into another policeman- whom he nonchalantly shot in the shoulder.
"AH, FUCK! Wait, don't shoot! Stop!" The officer was frantic with fear.
Seeing that he was unarmed, Nick decided to humor him.
"Say your peace, but I'm gonna shoot you no matter what." Nick smirked, "I seem to have developed a taste for cop blood."
"You have no idea what's going on, do you?" The policeman was interrupted by a chaotic blend of footsteps, hacking coughs, and frenzied screams- both human and non-human. Several of the non-humans made their way up the stairs towards them, and Nick immediately high tailed it in the opposite direction, back down the hallway.
"God damn it!"
Nick began firing as he sprinted towards the elevator. The rooftop could only be reached via the staircase and therefore he would be forced to descend to a lower level once inside the elevator- assuming he could hold off the creatures until the door opened.
Halfway down the hall, something lunged at Nick from one of the rooms, sending him to the floor. Looming over him was the cop that had been banging on his door. He was dripping blood onto Nick's suit from the gunshot wounds, along with copious amounts of dark brown saliva from his snarling mouth. The creature's eyes were cue balls devoid of pupils.
"God damn it! God damn it! God damn it!"
Nick began frantically beating the zombie's face with his gun, closing his eyes and mouth shut all the while as body fluids rained down on him. If only he had taken the vaccine last night. To make matters worse, the uninfected policeman- with the small horde nipping at his heels- was preparing to leap over him and continue towards the elevator.
Nick promptly shot the man in the leg, sending the unfortunate bastard screaming to the floor as the creatures descended upon him. The conman then shoved his oppressor off and bolted the rest of the way to the elevator. He slammed on the button and reloaded his pistol, nearly having a panic attack as he wiped the infected blood off of his face.
"Come fucking on!" Nick beat the door with his fist as the zombies began abandoning the sufficiently mutilated police officer and headed towards him. When the door opened, he rushed inside and randomly pressed a button- he didn't care what floor he was headed to, as long as the damn door closed.
Just as Nick was home free, one of the zombies thrust its arm through the narrowing gap of the closing door, causing the censor to force the door back open. Nick let out a terrified yell as all of the zombies poured into the narrow tomb of the elevator. His trigger finger never moved more rapidly in his life as he hunkered down against the wall and blasted away at the creatures. He shoved the ones directly in front of him, causing them to stagger momentarily within the cramped space. He then dove between their legs and out of the elevator just before it closed, banishing the monsters to whatever floor he had pressed on the console.
Nick flew back down the hallway, determined to make it to the roof. No sooner had he crossed the threshold of the doorway before a giggling ghoul leapt on top of him. He tumbled down a flight of stairs with the creature absorbing most of the force of their fall. Its grip was loosened, and Nick kicked the little monster in the ribs before running down the remaining steps to the next floor and into a large all-purpose room. He simply had to catch his breath. He was panic-stricken, and his heart felt like it was going to explode.
Nick could see charts and graphs all over the walls. Apparently CEDA had been using the room for a conference meeting. A large map of the US displayed, to Nick's dismay, that the entire east coast was already overrun with the Infection. He did, however, note that Louisiana- specifically New Orleans- was circled with a bright red marker.
Nick could hear the creature swiping at the door. That little thing's hands had been all over his face.
Nick suddenly felt his stomach turn, and he vomited uncontrollably all over the map.
"Fuck!"
He had to administer the vaccine before it was too late. Perhaps it already was. His hands dove into his pockets, but he only found the syringe filled with the sterile diluent. Nick snarled. The vial with the powder must have slipped out of his pocket when he fell. That balding little bastard was going to pay.
He heard the creature shuffle away from the door, still producing the sinister laughter. Nick opened the door cautiously and followed the little monster as it made its way further down the staircase. The conman stopped when he noticed the vial and picked it up. The sound of an oddly familiar human voice below him caused Nick to venture further down the stairs- despite his better judgment.
His pace quickened when he heard the screams.
"OH, HELP! PLEASE SOMEBODY!"
Nick sprinted into the hallway, determined to kill the hideous little creature. He watched as it led its new victim towards a window and aimed with great care at the back of its head. Nick sighed with relief as the laughter finally ceased. He then frantically ducked into one of the staff bathrooms to administer the vaccine once and for all.
Upon entering, he was immediately gripped by a feeling of dread, and a weighty heaviness hovered all around him. The air inside the bathroom was thick and extremely difficult to breath in. He could practically taste the stench, and it had the sickening flavor of decay- not excrement. Although the lights were on, they seemed extremely dim and muted, and failed to properly expel the inexplicable darkness within.
As he slowly approached the toilet stall, he caught a flurry of movement out of the corner of his eye and he immediately fired his gun. The shards that had held his own reflection erupted throughout the room, producing almost musical chimes as they ricocheted off the surfaces of the sink and floor.
The conman wiped his brow, entered the stall and locked the door behind him. Nick reconstituted the vaccine. He trembled as the powder mixed with the diluent and changed to the same glowing, eerie green it had been in his dream. The conman pulled down his pants and shoved the needle into his backside. He knew enough to administer the vaccine intramuscularly, and figured if it was going to make him sore, it would be easier to aim a gun with a sore ass than a sore arm. The vaccine stung terribly, and he hissed as the liquid entered into his muscle. Not knowing what to do with the empty syringe, Nick threw it in the toilet.
He suddenly became aware of another presence with him in the bathroom, emanating from beyond the closed toilet stall. The feeling sent an uncontrollable shiver throughout his entire body. Nick sucked in ragged breaths as he placed his hand on the door to the stall, still gripping the gun fiercely. The sense of foreboding terror was driving him mad as he slowly opened the door and anticipated the horror that awaited him on the other side.
His heart froze.
No amount of mental preparation could have prevented him from uttering the almost inhuman scream that slithered from his throat at the sight of the dark abomination that was crouched in front of the door. Nick couldn't peel his eyes away from the indescribable, unspeakably horrible face that bared double rows of blood-drenched teeth. The monstrosity emitted a singular growl of the lowest, deepest audible pitch that reverberated throughout Nick's being before it lunged and smothered him with the weight of its body.
Nick couldn't move. He couldn't think.
An icy jolt of pain traveled from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet, and a feeling of hopelessness gripped his heart. He felt as though he was being consumed. Another jolt of pain, this one filled with fiery heat, caused him to scream in agony. The shock of the pain caused his eyes to water as he shut them tightly. Immense, talon tipped hands, covered in sandpaper-like scales wrapped around his throat. He felt the claws dig into his neck, and felt his hot blood flow onto the floor. One of the hands left his neck and began to attack his chest. The creature wasn't slashing at him; it was simply driving its claws into the muscle, searching to pierce his heart with the sheer force of its driving thrust.
"Help…"
The word, aimed at no one in particular, somehow managed to escape from Nick's clamped windpipe in a barely audible wheeze. It was a word that he had never said before- a word that he had never needed to say.
He suddenly became aware of a pleasantly cool hand pressed against his burning forehead.
"Don't worry sir. Ellis has gotcha' now."
The soothing balm of a voice eased the pain and weight over Nick's body, and he opened his eyes to find the evil being gone- replaced completely by a young man kneeling on the ground next to him.
"Are you alright? I heard you screamin."
"Where'd that thing go?"
"What thing?"
"How did you- you didn't see…" Nick was shaking violently, wondering if he had lost his mind as the young man lifted him off the tiled floor. He held a hand up to his neck to find it unharmed. "What are you staring at?"
"Well...you 'a course." The young man smiled, and Nick realized that he still had his pants down.
"My name's Ellis, what's yours?"
"Nick." The conman immediately lifted and buckled his pants and rushed over to the sink. He began obsessively washing the grime off his hands and face.
"Pleasure to meet you, Nick." Ellis's grin was wide. He clearly recognized the man from last night.
"What the fuck are you doing here, kid? Shouldn't you be headed towards the roof? Or do you not care that this place is crawling with flesh eating monsters?"
"I was already on the roof. There was a chopper, but it left." Ellis's voice trailed off.
"Perfect, just perfect." Nick muttered. He retrieved his gun and headed towards the door.
"Hey, I'm pretty sure the buildin's on fire! So we gotta be extra careful on the way down."
"We?"
"Well, I figured maybe we could stick together. I ain't got nobody else. Anyways, don't you recognize me?"
Both men made their way back down the hallway towards the stairs. How could Nick have possibly forgotten the kid? He quickly shoved the thoughts of his dream to the back of his mind.
"Nope." Nick dismissed the boy quickly as they both ran down several flights of stairs.
"Well I sure recognize you, Mr. Fancy Suit." Ellis grinned, "You got any idea why there's zombies all over the place?"
"Zombies, huh? Well if that's what you want to call them- they're all sick with a virus." Nick suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and quickly noted the scratches on Ellis's nose and arms. He began to back away slowly.
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing…let's just keep moving." Nick realized that he needed to keep an eye on the kid, lest he suddenly change into one of the creatures and turn on him.
Both the smoke in the air, and the piles of bodies on the ground, became thicker the further the pair descended down the stairs. Eventually it became impossible for them to proceed any further.
"Damn, this is jus' terrible. They was jus' trying a' get away." Ellis stated softly as he observed the tangled mounds of bodies of his fellow Savannah residents littering the stairs.
"Let's try the elevator on this floor." Nick stated quickly, "There's way too many bodies clogging these stairs. We might trip or break our legs trying to get down."
They proceeded cautiously through the hallway. The smoke obscured their surroundings in a gray, gloomy haze and caused Ellis to cough rather forcefully.
"Keep your head down, kid."
Ellis obeyed, and instantly found it easier to breathe. They both heard more coughing in the distance.
"Maybe we'll find more people," Ellis suggested hopefully.
Nick eyed another pistol on the ground and quickly picked it up.
"Are you armed, kid?"
"Yeah, I got a pistol."
"Good, so now I have two."
"No fair, man."
They reached the elevator, but found a slew of corpses strewn about in front of it.
"Guess this one wasn't working." Nick tried the button, but indeed it was jammed. "Let's get to the one on the other side, but get ready kid. I'm sure we'll run into whatever caused this massacre."
Sure enough infected rushed them as they ran through the hallway, and they were eventually surrounded by a mob. Nick tore through the monsters on his side with little difficulty, rapidly filling their faces with lead from both pistols. Ellis was having more trouble staving them off with just the one.
A zombie struck the boy's forehead, sending him backwards into Nick, and the conman stumbled to the floor. Ellis regained his balance and kept himself from falling on top of Nick, who continued to shoot at the horde as he slowly rose to his feet.
"You've gotta be more careful, Ellis."
"Yeah, sorry. Man I wish I had somethin' better than this measly lil' gun."
The number of zombies was momentarily thinned, allowing the men to proceed further down the smoky hallway.
"So, you really don't recognize me, man? You dropped somethin' when you ran into me. What were you up to last night, anyways? You was in a pretty big hurry…and were those cops chasin' you? I bet they were, weren't they!"
"Fucking candyass cops. Yeah they were chasing me."
"Why?"
"Too many reasons to name, kid."
"Whoa...Badass!" Ellis sounded genuinely impressed, "Well, I better stay on your good side then!"
"Who said you were on my good side?"
"Oh, come on, man!"
A section of the ceiling above them suddenly caved in, raining down debris around them and decreasing the visibility to near zero. More infected began approaching from down the hall. Nick shot through one of the windows to let some fresh air in, and decided to crawl out onto the ledge.
"This way kid."
"Aw, you're shittin' me, right?"
"No, but you're welcome to stay behind if you want. Actually, go ahead and stay, you'll slow them down for me." Nick smirked and began to walk along the ledge, the urgency of the situation caused him to move rather swiftly.
"Hey wait up!" Ellis shouted as he clamored awkwardly onto the ledge. The boy began crawling after Nick on his hands and knees, holding his breath as he kept his eyes from wandering down towards the distant ground below him.
"Scared of heights, kid?" Nick couldn't contain his amusement and began laughing at the poor boy.
"Nah, I ain't scared!" Ellis shouted, nearly slipping in an attempt to move more quickly.
"Well then move your ass cuz they're right behind you!" Nick shot at the zombies that came pouring onto the ledge. Some of the over eager creatures ran right off, bouncing and splattering onto the pavement after a seemingly endless freefall. The rest began to sprint towards Ellis at an alarming pace.
The boy tried to aim his pistol behind him, but was struck with a nauseating feeling of vertigo as he caught sight of the ground below him.
"Aw, fuck," Ellis moaned. He gripped the ledge with his free hand as the creatures piled onto him. Nick continued to shoot them off, but as they fell, one of the zombies latched onto Ellis' leg and dragged him over the edge.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
Ellis fell ten feet but managed to grab the ledge of the next floor down. He kicked his feet savagely and the zombie lost its grip on his leg.
"FUCK!" The boy heard Nick shout above him.
"I'm still here, Nick! Please, help me out!" The mechanic tried to lift himself, but he was hanging on by his fingertips.
"Ellis if you fall, I'm gonna kick your ass!"
The boy smiled briefly, but looked up worriedly as his grip began to falter. To his disbelief, he saw the silhouette of Nick's legs against the backdrop of the sky above him. The conman was dangling just as precariously as he was, but unlike Ellis, Nick began to swing his legs back and forth. He built up enough momentum to launch himself through the window directly above Ellis, and quickly pulled the boy into the room.
Ellis lay on the floor and panted heavily for a few moments, his entire body was slick with sweat.
"Oh, man…I think I… pissed myself a little…thank you so much!" He managed between gasps, but quickly crawled over to Nick when he caught sight of him. The man was seated on the floor with blood seeping through the bottoms of his pants. He winced in pain as he pulled out large shards of glass embedded in his left leg.
"This is why you're not on my- good side." Nick clenched his jaw as he removed the last, largest piece from his shin.
"Aw shit, Nick, you're bleedin' like crazy!" Ellis' voice was laced with guilt and anxiety.
"Nice kid, you're real observant." Nick gripped his head as it began to pound, and he leaned back until he was lying on the floor. Ellis removed his t-shirt and wrapped it tightly around Nick's leg to stop the bleeding.
"Can you stand up? Please, try to get up." Ellis urged him gently and offered his hand. Nick stared at the shirtless young man for a few moments, his expression completely unreadable behind the mask of his poker face. He took the mechanic's hand and rose slowly to his feet.
"Need help walkin'?"
"No, I'm fine. My head hurts more than my leg."
They reached the working elevator and made their way down to the lobby. The smoke was unbearably thick, and Ellis had trouble seeing Nick despite the white suit and the fact that he was mere inches away from him.
"I really shouldn't have to tell you to stay close, right kid?"
"Nope."
The door opened and the two men stepped into a raging inferno. Nick's feet brushed against a corpse that held a submachine gun in it's clammy hands. He grabbed it and handed one of his pistols to Ellis.
"Let's move!"
Ellis could barely hear Nick over the roar of the flames and the screams of the zombies, but the two of them managed to stay side by side as they traversed the fiery labyrinth. A large group of zombies ran through a wall of fire in an attempt to attack them, and Ellis nervously dodged the burning bodies as they staggered past him, hoping that they wouldn't come into contact with his bare flesh.
As the blazing smoke burned his lungs, Ellis' mind was wrenched back to the burning auto shop.
"Keith…"
A flaming specter that materialized from the conflagration in front of him snapped the boy back to attention. The yellow suited zombie, made golden by the flames that danced harmlessly across its surface, brushed into Ellis' arm as the boy unsuccessfully tried to avoid its headlong rush. Ellis cried out from the searing heat, but managed to shoot the creature down. He erupted into a coughing fit, and when he steadied himself, he realized that he had completely lost Nick.
His emotional shock was accompanied by the physical shock of something horribly cold that wrapped itself around his hot skin. Before he could react, he was sliding across the floor on his back.
Already winded from the smoke, Ellis was now completely unable to breath. When he came to a stop, he could feel a slender, slimy body covered in voluminous boils, press against his smooth back. Ellis's vision blurred as the creature struck his head repeatedly, and he nearly blacked out completely when a gunshot caused the creature to release a cloud of filthy smoke.
Ellis crumpled to the ground. A toxic mixture of the smoke from the flames and the monster's own noxious fumes were assaulting his lungs and brain with every breath. He tried to crawl away from the deadly cloud, but his motor functions had all but shut down completely.
"Come on, sweetie. I can get you up, but I can't carry you."
Ellis felt himself being lifted off the floor. He wobbled unsteadily for only a few steps until his legs caved under his own weight.
"Coach, I need help! I found somebody else!"
Ellis opened his eyes to see a young woman standing over him.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Rochelle."
"Pleasure ta'…pleasure…ta'…"
"Just save your strength, baby."
"Where's Nick…"
"I'm right here, kid."
"Gosh, N…Nick. So glad yur' ok." The boy smiled weakly, and as he stared up at Nick's face he began to chuckle, which caused him to cough until his sides ached.
"Come on Ellis, just relax and cut that shit out. What's so damn funny anyway?"
"Nuthin'. This just reminds me…of a dream I had last night…"
The conman's eyes widened slightly.
"It was…about you…Nick." Ellis closed his eyes and fell asleep, oblivious to the swaying motion of the hotel as it prepared to collapse around him.