Emily and CR both look around the cab of the truck and see a group of the infected on the other side of the highway to their left. They immediately check their guns, making sure they are properly loaded. As CR keeps her rifle directed towards the Sightless, Emily turns about and starts grabbing more ammunition clips, placing them between her and CR. She then knelt on the left side of the truck bringing her AR-15 to bear on the Sightless. The young women each have five extra magazines within easy reach.
The two soldiers are actually impressed with the speed and skill each woman shows handling their military-style rifles. "We can help you," Zeke said crawling forward so he's next to the window. Beca, as well as the two Bellas in the bed of the truck, can hear him.
Beca takes a quick look around at the group. She goes with her gut and makes a snap decision. She grabs several guns and some ammo clips, handing them to Zeke. He hands one rifle and a pistol back to Chicago, who instinctively checks to see if they're loaded. He then crawls back to the rear left corner of the truck. Zeke keeps the AR-15 Beca hands him for himself and focuses on loading more ammo clips as he kneels between Emily and CR.
"It's best not to engage until they get closer," Zeke instructs everyone. "If they charge at us then we fight."
"What about the grenades?," Emily asks.
"They're too close," Chicago replies. "The explosion could propel them into the truck. They won't be dead, just more pissed off."
CR and Emily looked at each other, uncertain if he was being serious or trying to make a joke. They didn't have time to think about it.
Zeke quickly loads three more ammo clips and then takes his position.
"I'm going to do a quick check on the other side," CR said once the soldier is in place. "Make sure there aren't any to surprise us." She moved to the opposite side of the truck and scanned as far as she could see up and down the area.
"Chloe pull up as close to Stacie as you can," Beca said and put down the back passenger window.
CR sees that Chloe is pulling even with the van. Not seeing anything to worry about on that side, she moves back to kneel beside Emily.
When her window is even with the van's driver side door, Beca yells out to Stacie. The window goes down and Stacie glances over to show Beca she's listening. "Stace, keep driving no matter what. We'll take care of these things and meet up with you. Just get those kids out of here and keep them safe. Hopefully, you won't encounter any trouble, but know we'll be there as soon as we can."
Stacie relays what Beca said to Aubrey and Lily. She turns back to Beca and just nods her head and hit the gas.
"Should I stop or keep moving?," Chloe asks watching as the group gets closer.
"Keep moving, but hang back some," Beca said. "I want to see if they do anything when Stacie drives by them. Be ready to intercept if they start moving towards the van."
Chloe nods and they both watch the van moving along at a good speed and passing by the zombies. Both let out a breath when the Sightless didn't do anything.
"Maybe we'll be just as lucky," Beca said. "Speed up some." Chloe does and Beca moves to sit behind her and puts the window down. She checks her gun and leans slightly out the window ready for whatever might happen.
Chloe is scared and nervous. She keeps moving and they were passing the Sightless. It looks like they were going to get by them without anything happening and she breathes a sigh of relief. Chloe's relief was short-lived. Suddenly, there's a screech, followed by more screeching. The redhead then hears Beca yell, "Here they come!" She presses down on the accelerator, praying for the speed of the truck to pick up. Unfortunately, they are climbing a hill and the pickup doesn't gather as much speed as she had hoped.
Then all hell breaks loose. There were about a dozen of the things running straight for the truck, with more running out of the tree line. These creatures are fast, too, closing the distance to the truck in a matter of seconds. Beca and the four in the back start firing, killing about half of the closest Sightless before they can reach the truck. The remaining half make it close enough to the truck to start reaching out, attempting to grab onto the truck. The occupants of the truck are all shocked to see them running and keeping up with the speeding truck. Zeke and Chicago keep shooting at them but the Sightless seem to sense the bullet coming and each shot has missed them so far. One of them manages to put its hand on Beca's gun and she fires but misses. She struggles to keep the gun until she sees the creature's mouth open as he leans in to bite her. Chloe sees what is happening in the side mirror and just as Beca lets go of the gun she swerves the truck hoping to make it loosen its grip. The creature tumbles off and rolls away while Beca is thrown back onto the seat.
When Chloe swerved the truck it causes the four in the back to fall and one of the infected manages to grab CR's arm and fall on top of her. She struggles with it, trying to fight it off when Zeke grabs it from behind and throws it off the back. The fall didn't do anything to deter the creature. It just gets back up and runs right at them again. Zeke shot it as it reached for the tailgate.
Beca grabbed another gun. She hung half out the window and shot the closest creature as it reached the truck. She pulled herself back in when she saw that four of the creatures made their way onto the truck. She hesitated to fire because she was afraid she'd miss and hit one her friends. She could only watch through the back window, hoping for a clear shot, as her friends fought for their lives.
Beca watched as the others fought with the creatures in the close quarters of the bed of the pickup truck. They were unable to use their weapons and had to use hand-to-hand combat tactics to keep from being bitten. They would throw the zombies off the truck only to have them back up and running at them again in seconds. They were so fast there wasn't even time to get a shot off at them. Beca goes back to the window and shoots at the ones that get thrown off the truck, only managing to hit two.
Emily is desperately fighting off one and manages to pull her pistol out. She presses the gun to the Sightless' forehead and pulls the trigger. The shot causes the dead Sightless to fly back into Chicago who was leaning over the tailgate, having just stabbed another Sightless climbing up. Before anyone can react, Chicago and the dead zombies tumble over the back of the truck.
The girls and Zeke feel ice in their blood as they hear Chicago's screams and the creatures screeching as two more attack him; they couldn't do anything to help him. They feel the truck slow down.
Zeke takes aim, shooting one Sightless attacking Chicago, but it's quickly replaced by two more. He can see that Chicago has numerous bites already. He lowers his aim to Chicago lying on the ground and squeezes off a shot. Chicago's screams are cut short. CR and Emily flip their rifles to three round bursts and open up on the growing pack of Sightless around the soldier's body.
In the cab, Chloe had watched in her side mirror in horror as Chicago went over the back. She had started to hit the brakes but had seen the two Sightless attacking him and more on the way. Beca slides to the truck's right side and shoots one running at them; the redhead realizes they are at risk of being surrounded.
She wipes a tear and gets angry. Pressing down on the accelerator, the truck speeds up. She turns the wheel to the right and catches two Sightless coming at them and drives over them. No one pays any attention to the thump of the truck running over the two bodies.
CR and Zeke manage to rid the truck of the last two of the infected, while Emily drops a grenade out the back that takes out the legs of four that had started to pursue them again.
They instinctively kneel at strategic points around the bed, looking all around to make sure there were no more Sightless coming at them. Zeke takes the spot where Chicago fell, Emily the right side, CR the left. Each holding onto the truck breathing heavily, feeling bone weary.
Beca felt a profound sense of helplessness as she watched Zeke, CR, and Emily sit in the bed of the truck obviously in shock, all having just barely survived the attack. She wants to do something but feels completely useless.
Chloe is crying freely now and her body shakes with small sobs. For some reason, the deaths of everyone seem to be hitting her at this moment. The young soldier she's barely met and doesn't really know, being a trigger.
CR reaches out and puts a hand on Zeke's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. He just continues to look down at the pavement as it flows by the moving truck.
Beca hears Chloe sniffle and reaches over the seat and hugs her around the neck, glad that they are safe and can breathe easier. Chloe puts a hand on Beca's arm and just enjoys the moment. "You okay?" Beca asks quietly and Chloe nods. Beca kisses the side of Chloe's head and looks behind to check on the three in the back of the truck.
"We need to keep watch," Emily said with no emotion. She sits down, resuming her previous position, only she's looking down instead of actually keeping watch.
"Emily, it's not your fault," Zeke tells her. Emily looks at him; it was like he could read her mind because she was feeling guilty. It was her shot that sent that thing into Chicago causing him to fall off the truck.
Emily started to say something but was beaten to it when CR cries out, "There's more!" Zeke and Emily look to see three more zombies charging at the back of the truck.
"Be ready, Chlo," Beca tells the redhead. "There's more coming at us."
They can hear the screeches of the zombies as they again close the distance quickly and are almost to the truck before any of the three can react. Zeke momentarily freezes when he sees that one of them is Chicago, a scar across his head where Zeke's round grazed him.
"How did he change that fast?" is the last thought Zeke had before finally lifting his gun and shooting his longtime friend and colleague as the newly created Sightless was climbing up over the tailgate. Emily and CR take out the other two with well-placed shots.
Zeke lowers his gun and looks down solemnly, sending up a quick prayer for Chicago. Emily wipes at her tears and CR gathers her in her arms. She can't think of anything to do but hold Emily while she cries. They both jump when they hear another shot. They look back to see Zeke putting his gun back down after shooting one last Sightless which had crawled from under the carriage of the truck.
"Thanks," CR said. Zeke just nods and takes up his position to watch their surroundings. He sits with his back to the two girls so they can't see the tears in his eyes.
Beca and Chloe jump when they hear the last shot as they thought they were in the clear. Beca jerks her head to look in the back but could only see Emily and CR huddled together. Chloe looks in her side mirror to see the zombie fall and tumble away before coming to a stop. It doesn't get back up.
"It was one of those things," Chloe tells Beca. "I think that was the last of them. I'm going to speed up so we can catch up with Brey and Stacie."
Beca yells through the back window for everyone to hold on and then climbs back into the front passenger seat. Chloe checks to make sure everyone is secure and hits the accelerator causing the truck to speed up. They drove for about ten minutes before they saw the van up ahead. Stacie must have seen them coming because she pulls onto the shoulder and stops to wait for them. Chloe pulls in behind her. Beca and Chloe get out of the truck and run back to check on Emily and CR.
"You guys okay?," Beca asks looking at the three occupants.
Stacie and Aubrey come running over from the van. Aubrey hugs Chloe and asks if everyone was okay.
"Where's Chi-," Stacie starts but was stopped by Beca who shook her head. "Oh."
Lily walks over with Sammy and Taylor. Beca looks around at everyone and could see they were all exhausted. It had been a hell of a day.
"Maybe we should try and find someplace to rest for the night," Beca suggests. "We probably have another two hours before we get to Tybee Island but we're all exhausted. If we should run into any more of those things, I don't think we'll make it."
Everyone is listening as they constantly check their surroundings. They didn't want to be sitting idle for too long out here in the open. They all nod in agreement to Beca's suggestion.
Beca looks at Zeke. "Zeke, what do you think? Are you okay with us stopping for the night?"
He looks at Beca and said, "I think it's a good plan. We can take the next exit and find a hotel or something. I could sure use a hot shower and a hot meal."
The others nod in agreement to that idea as well. Aubrey gives Zeke a small smile and he returns it. He may have been in the military for a while and seen a lot of things he wished he hadn't, but Chicago was his friend, his family. He needed to have some privacy so he could mourn for his brother in arms.
Beca wanted so badly to grab Chloe and hold onto her for a while but knew they needed to get moving. It was a somber group that got back into the vehicles. Chloe takes the lead this time and drives until they see signs for lodging. She takes the exit and Beca points out a Ramada Inn. Chloe looks at her with a raised brow.
"What?," Beca asks. "I've always wanted to stay at a Ramada. They have those comfort controlled beds."
Chloe lets out a laugh but cuts it short. It didn't feel right to laugh after what they just went through especially since they lost Chicago. She drives into the Ramada's parking lot and parks right next to the door; Stacie pulls in behind her. They all look around to make sure they didn't have any unwanted visitors before they exit the vehicles.
"Come on, CR, Stacie," Zeke said. "Let's check the inside before the others come in."
"You got it," CR said. She and Stacie follow Zeke as he cautiously opens the door and enters the hotel.
The others stand watch outside. Chloe notices that Emily was just sitting in the back of the truck looking down at her feet. She climbs into the truck bed and sits next to Emily.
"You okay, Em?," Chloe asks the younger girl.
"It's my fault Chicago is gone," Emily whispers. "I shot that thing and knocked him off the truck."
"Oh, sweetie," Chloe said putting her arm around the younger girl's shoulder. "We all know that anything can happen to anyone of us. Unless you actually shot Chicago on purpose, it's not your fault he fell."
"That may be, but it's because of me that Zeke had to shoot his friend," Emily said as she wipes a tear away. "I kind of know how Beca must feel now." Chloe just holds her.
Both women tense when screeches can be heard, but the sounds seem far off at the moment.
The girls are restless and on edge as they wait for Zeke, CR, and Stacie to return. Beca is pacing back and forth, continuously scanning the area. Aubrey walks over to her. "Go sit with Chloe and Emily," she tells Beca. "Lily and I will keep watch. You guys have been through a lot. Take a minute." Beca just nods and gets into the truck. She sits behind Chloe and wraps an around her waist. Chloe leans back into her and sighs. Beca grabs Emily's hand and gives it a squeeze when they hear more screeching far off in the distance.
Sammy and Taylor sit next to each other in the bed of the truck, quietly watching the adults. Sammy is watching Emily as the tears fall down the older girl's face. She gets up and moves to sit in Emily's lap. She lays her head on Emily's chest and puts her arms around her. Emily lets out a sob and grabs the young girl in a hug. Chloe smiles and wipes a tear from her cheek.
Zeke, Stacie, and CR come back after about 30 minutes. "All clear," Zeke tells them. "We made sure all other entrances we could find into the building are locked. It looks like we can lock this one, too. Let's get checked in, shall we?"
Lily takes Taylor's hand to lead her into the hotel. Emily keeps her hold on Sammy and manages to climb out of the truck and carry her into the hotel. Beca gives Chloe a quick hug before they get up and start gathering a few supplies to take in with them. Aubrey continues to keep watch until she sees they are ready to enter the hotel. Beca stops just as she gets to the door and asks, "Do you think we're okay leaving the trucks here?"
"There's a parking garage," CR said. "Let me see if I can open it."
CR grabs Stacie and they head to the parking garage. They manage to open the gate to the garage. Stacie and Chloe drive the two vehicles into the garage, parking them side by side near the stairwell. CR closes the gate and jogs over to the girls. They secure everything and take the stairs to the lobby where the others are waiting.
"All good," Chloe said with a smile. "Now we just need to get into the rooms."
"Well, it's a key card system," Zeke said. "We can't use the computer unless someone can hack into and knows how to key each card to a particular room. We'll just have to break in."
"Hold up," Lily tells him. She goes behind the registration desk and starts opening drawers. One was locked and she uses a pair of scissors she found on the counter to pry it open. "Found them," she said and holds up two key cards. "Master key cards. These should open all of the rooms." She hands one to Chloe and keeps one for herself.
"We should probably stay on the second floor," Beca suggests. "Close to the stairs so we can bug out quickly if we need to."
"That's a good idea," Zeke said.
"Those are the stairs we used to come up from the garage," Chloe said pointing toward the door to the stairwell. "Let's just go up to the second floor from here. Then we can just take the rooms that are closest."
"Let's go," Aubrey said. They grab their stuff and head up the stairs. Once they exit on the second floor, Lily uses the key card to open the first room. It is directly across from the stairs.
"This one has only one bed," Lily said after looking inside.
"I'll take it," Zeke said. "I'll keep the door open so I can hear if anyone, or anything, comes up the stairs."
"Okay," Lily said. She uses the card to open the next room. "Two doubles. I'll take this one with the girls."
Emily, still carrying Sammy, puts the young girl down and smiles and says, "I'll see you later," as Sammy gives her a small wave and walks into the room with Lily. She follows the others and she and CR take the room across from Lily and the girls; it also has two beds. Aubrey and Stacie take the one next to them, and Beca and Chloe take the one across from Stacie and Aubrey.
They all put away their few possessions they brought in with them. Zeke sits alone at the end of his bed, head bowed, hands between his knees. Lily puts the girls on their bed and they start to play a game. CR sits quietly in the chair, eyes closed, head leaning back. Emily just lays on her bed, staring at the ceiling, wiping an occasional tear that falls. Aubrey and Stacie lay on the bed just holding each other. Beca and Chloe are standing in the middle of their room just holding onto each other like they're afraid to let go.
Beca finally pulls back slightly and kisses Chloe. "I'm going to go check out the kitchen to see if there's any food," Beca said quietly, not wanting to ruin the moment. "See if we need to unload anything from the trucks."
"I'll go with you," Chloe said. "We'll come back and let the others know if we find something to fix for dinner. If we don't find anything, then we'll need their help to get the stuff from the van."
They quietly make their way down the hall to the stairs. They go through the dining room and into the kitchen. Chloe checks the freezers and finds a good supply of frozen foods. She pulls out a bunch of chicken pieces and puts them in a pot of cold water.
"What are you doing?," Beca asks.
"After everything we've been through today, we need a more substantial meal than those sandwiches we had earlier," Chloe said. "The cold water will help the chicken defrost faster so we're not eating at midnight. I'm thinking we just bake these and open a can of those vegetables over there. I think I saw some frozen scalloped potatoes in the first freezer. Could you get two of them out, please?"
Beca goes to the freezer and gets the frozen potatoes. She puts them on the counter by Chloe. She leans against the counter and watches as Chloe puts the last of the chicken in the pot. Chloe adds some salt and other spices. "It's to brine them as they thaw," Chloe said by way of explanation. "They should be ready to cook in just about an hour or so."
"Look at you becoming a real chef," Beca said with a laugh. "It's kind of sexy."
"Only kind of?," Chloe asks teasingly.
"Okay," Beca said and grabs Chloe around the waist and pulls her to her. "Very sexy."
Chloe leans in and gives Beca a kiss. She pulls back and looks at Beca. "You know you were kind of sexy and hot when you went all badass on Zeke and Chicago earlier. I have a feeling that we are going to become so much closer tonight."
"Definitely," Beca said and kisses Chloe again.
"As much as I'd love to take this up a notch," Chloe said with a grin, "we should let the others know what we're doing." Beca's eyes widen and Chloe lets out a loud laugh. "I meant that we were planning dinner, you perv."
Beca blushes and laughs. "You go tell them. I want to see if I can find some clean tablecloths so I can set a nice table for our dinner. Might be nice to sit down to a real dinner all together with real plates and silverware. Like a family."
"I like the way you think," Chloe said and gave Beca a quick kiss. "I'll be back to help in just a few minutes to help."
Beca let Chloe go and she heads out of the kitchen. Beca starts looking around and finally finds a closet with tablecloths and napkins. She smiles as she grabs a bunch and heads into the dining room.
*0*0*0*0*
Chloe comes back 20 minutes later with Aubrey and Stacie. They had offered to help with finishing the dinner preparation. They were chatting casually as they enter the kitchen.
"Hey, Becs," Chloe said and stops when she doesn't see the brunette. She goes through the door to the dining room and didn't see her there either. "Where is she?"
The three girls separate and start looking around for Beca.
"Wait," Aubrey said, having gone to the main dining room entrance. She was looking down at a pile of napkins and tablecloths that were laying on the floor. "Chloe, didn't you say Beca was going to find something to set a nice table with?"
"Yeah," Chloe said walking over to Aubrey. Chloe sees the napkins and tablecloths on the floor and furrowed her brow. She starts looking around frantically. "Where the fuck could she have gone?"
"Beca!," Stacie and Chloe start yelling. "BECA!"
"Stop!," Aubrey yells cutting them off. "We need to get the others because I don't think we're alone here."
Chloe swallows and she and Stacie were suddenly trying to see everywhere at once. They all turn and run to the stairs. Zeke hears them running up the stairs and was at his door with this gun ready by his side. He was relieved when he realized it was the girls and they were okay. Well, not exactly okay, but they weren't being chased by anything or anyone. Stacie runs over and knocks on the doors to get Emily, CR, and Lily to come out.
"What's wrong?," Zeke asks as the others came running out of their rooms.
"Beca's missing," Chloe said, eyes filling with tears. "She was fine when I left her and now she's just gone."
"What do you mean gone?," Emily asks.
"Gone as in not here, Emily," Chloe said, getting in Emily's face. "What the fuck else would I mean?"
"Chloe, calm down," Aubrey said grabbing the redhead by the arm and pulling her away from Emily.
"I'm sorry," Chloe said quietly, running a hand through her hair. She turns to Emily. "I'm sorry, Em. I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm just so scared." Emily gives her a small smile to let her know it was okay.
"We need to search the hotel again," Zeke said.
"How did you guys miss someone being here when you checked earlier?," Chloe asks, her anger at the situation visible in her voice and her stance.
"We couldn't get into some of the rooms," Zeke explains. "We figured if we couldn't get into them, no one else would be able to. I'm sorry."
This made sense to Chloe and she looked down at the ground to rein in her anger. These guys were not the enemy. She looks at Zeke and nods her head. "I'm sorry. I know you guys did your best."
"It's okay," Zeke said. He turned to Lily. "Lily, you should get back in your room with the girls. Have your weapon at the ready. We have no idea what we may be up against."
"I'll stay with them," Emily said.
"No, Em," Aubrey said. "Chloe should stay with them."
"What? NO!," Chloe exclaims. "I need to help find Beca."
"Chloe, you're too emotional," Aubrey said. "Plus, we don't know what we'll find." She let out a sigh. "It would just be better if you stayed here."
"Brey's right, Chlo," Stacie said. "You know she is. Just stay and help Lily keep the girls safe. Okay?"
Tears came to Chloe's eyes. She knows they are right but it doesn't make it any easier to do.
"Just bring her back," Chloe said, voice thick with emotion.
"We'll do our best," Emily tells her. "Can I get your key card? We may need it."
Chloe nods and hands over the key card. She then follows Lily and the girls to their room. She stops at the door and looks at Aubrey. Aubrey knows what the look means. "I know. We'll do everything to bring her back to you. I promise."
Chloe just nods her head and lets the door close.
"Okay," Zeke said. "CR, you and Emily will stay with me. Stacie and Aubrey, you two team up and if you find anything you come get us and we'll check it out together. Okay?"
Stacie and Aubrey nod and they start down the stairs. Zeke exits the stairwell at the lobby and asks Stacie where Beca was known to be last. Stacie shows him.
"Okay," Zeke said. "We'll go down this hallway. Check every door to see if it will open. If it is keyed, use the key card to enter, but do it carefully. When we get to the end of the hall, you two go right and we'll go left. Everybody ready?"
The four girls nod their heads and Zeke starts moving down the hall. Stacie and Aubrey check the doors on the right and don't find anything. Zeke's team has the same result on the left. They reach the end of the hall and separate. Zeke, Emily, and CR hadn't moved far down the hall when they hear muffled yelling and some screaming. Emily and CR start to run toward the sounds, but Zeke stops them.
"What the hell, Zeke?," CR said. "That could be Beca."
"I know," Zeke said holding the two girls back. "But, we have to do this calmly. It's obvious she's not alone."
Emily and CR both swallow and look at each other. "What do we do?," Emily asks.
"You go get Stacie and Aubrey," Zeke said. "And hurry. We'll wait here. If it sounds like things are getting worse we'll go in and you guys haul ass to back us up."
Emily nods and makes her way back to get Stacie and Aubrey. She tries to hurry and be quiet at the same time. She meets the two older Bellas coming back to rejoin them. "There's only a conference room down that way," Stacie explains. "It's clear."
Emily tells them what they heard and the three hurry back to Zeke and CR.
"We determined the yelling came from in there," CR tells them, pointing at a door up to the left. "It doesn't have a key card lock."
"We're going to stand on either side of the door and I'm going to see if I can turn the knob," Zeke said. "If it's locked we'll have to go in hard and fast, hoping for some element of surprise. If it's unlocked we'll slip in and assess-"
"Wait," Stacie interrupts. "I checked this room when we made the initial sweep. If I remember, this is like a storage room for the kitchen."
"Can you remember the layout?," Aubrey asks.
"Yeah," Stacie responds. "Um, when you first go in there's a small entryway and then another doorway, no door. There were some of those carts with shelves on them, like for trays and stuff, and some carts. There were also some chairs stacked up."
"Anything else?," Zeke asks.
"I think there were a couple of tables," Stacie said, furrowing her brow. "We checked a number of rooms, so I'm not 100% sure that I'm remembering it right. I think this one was the only room unlocked on this side."
Just then they hear, "Stop moving, bitch," and "Grab her fucking legs! Tie her back down."
The girls were all ready to go in guns blazing. Zeke held up his hand and has to be the voice of reason again.
"Look, I know you want to help your friend," Zeke said quietly. "If we rush in without a plan, they may kill her before we get a shot off. Let's do this slow and easy."
The girls all reluctantly nod. He looks at the girls and gives quick instructions on what they should do once he opens the door. Zeke and the girls are at the ready and as Zeke reaches for the doorknob Emily grabs his hand and says, "Wait." Zeke immediately stops and looks at her. Emily just points up to the light above them.
They can hear three distinct voices talking and laughing. They hope that's all there are.
"If we open that door they'll see the light coming in," Emily said. "It will definitely take away our element of surprise."
Zeke gives Emily an impressed look. Before he could say anything, Aubrey was sitting on Stacie's shoulders. She has removed her top shirt and was using it to remove the bulb. It was sufficiently dark enough that they didn't need to remove any more bulbs. Zeke gives them a smile and nods his head.
"Good work," Zeke said. "Let's do this." He reaches for the knob and it turns easily. He softly counts to three. When he hit three he gave a slight push to the door and it opened slightly. They waited to be sure no one heard anything.
With the door open they could hear muffled moans and laughing. Zeke readies his gun and pushes the door open further with his shoulder. The girls quickly and quietly enter finding themselves in a small entryway. It is as Stacie had described and there were some carts blocking their view so they could only see bits and pieces of whoever was in the room. They hoped this als meant that no one in the room could see them. Zeke motions for them to get down. He crawls until he was behind a small stack of chairs. The girls do the same and are hidden by chairs and carts. Looking to the right, Emily taps CR's shoulder and points, mouthing 'Beca'. CR nods her head and they all get ready.
Zeke peeks around the chairs to check every corner of the room. He only sees three men standing by a table with several bottles of liquor on it. To his right Beca is tied to another table, her shirt hanging open in the front and her jeans undone. The men are each holding a liquor bottle and taking drinks from them as they talk about what they are going to do the petite brunette. Zeke and the girls all cringe as they see Beca struggling against the ropes, hearing what the men were saying. Aubrey was ready to kill them with her bare hands. Stacie places a hand on her arm to keep her calm.
"I'm going to shoot the bottle that the guy in the red shirt is holding," Zeke whispers. "When I do, you girls be ready to shoot if they pull guns. Don't hesitate, just do it. They are far enough from Beca she should be safe. Ready?"
The girls nod and Zeke gets ready. He looks up to see when the guy is bringing the bottle to his lips. Just as the bottle is tilted Zeke stands, using the chairs to protect him, and shoots the bottle. Glass and liquor go flying. The girls all jump up and are pointing their weapons at the three guys.
"What the fuck?," the guy yells as the bottle shatters in his hand. The others turn to see where the shot came from. Their eyes grow wide when they spot the five guns pointed right at them.
"I suggest you three put your hands up and don't move," Zeke yells at them. "Emily, you and CR get Beca."
The guys were so drunk they just stood there for a moment, blinking and trying to stay on their feet. In their inebriated state, all three feel a false sense of bravado that is sorely misplaced. They drunkenly move practically as one as each reaches for his gun just as Emily and CR start to move toward Beca. Emily catches their movements out of the corner of her eye and shoves CR out of the way just as all three men fire shots wildly. Stacie, Aubrey, and Zeke react immediately, all firing at the three men. The two volley of shots is deafening in the confined space and the room fills with smoke. They watch as all three would-be rapists fall to the floor.
CR raises herself up by her arms and looks to her left to see Zeke and Stacie running over to the guys to make sure they aren't getting back up. She then looks toward Beca to see Aubrey untying her and pulling the gag from Beca's mouth. She smiles when she sees Aubrey help Beca up, knowing she was safe as well. She looks away when she sees Beca is crying, knowing how the petite brunette hates to have anyone see her cry, no matter the reason. She glances back and sees Beca grab Aubrey. Aubrey puts her arms around Beca and holds her tight while she sobs into Aubrey's shoulder.
CR realizes she doesn't see Emily. "Emily?," she calls out and looks behind her to see Emily lying on the floor, not moving. "NO! No, no, no, no," she cries as she rushes over to Emily and puts her hand over the wound in Emily's right shoulder. "Emily needs help over here," she calls out to the others. She puts her free arm around Emily's shoulders and cradles the unconscious girl as tears stream down her face. "Hold on, Em. Okay? Just hold on."
Stacie and Zeke run over to check on Emily and CR. CR is holding Emily and rocking back and forth. Beca won't let go of Aubrey so Aubrey practically drags her over to the group.
"Hey," Zeke said quietly, getting CR's attention. "I need to check her wound. Okay?"
CR nods and eases Emily down so she's laying flat on the floor. She moves back and sits with her head in her bloodied hands and tears falling down her face. Stacie kneels down and pulls her to her. Zeke rips open Emily's shirt and looks at the wound. He lifts her slightly and sees the bullet didn't exit. "Shit." He looks down at Emily as she moans and starts to stir.
"Emily, I know it's hard but I need you to try not to move too much," Zeke said. "I need to put some pressure on your wound to try and stop the bleeding. I won't lie, it's going to hurt."
Emily groans but nods her head. Zeke pulls off his shirt and folds it several times. He places the shirt on the wound and presses down. Emily lets out an agonized moan and tears fall freely from her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Em," Zeke said. "I'm really sorry." He looks at the other girls. "We need to get them both upstairs."
"Lily was pre-med," Aubrey said. "I'm pretty sure she can take of Emily."
"CR and I will take Emily," Stacie said. "I'll carry her. CR you just try and keep the pressure on the wound."
CR wipes at the tears in her eyes and nods. Stacie picks Emily up bridal style and CR takes over for Zeke. Aubrey manages to get Beca moving although neither has let go of the other. They slowly follow Stacie and CR.
"Wait," Zeke said going to the door. "Let me just check to make sure it's clear." He readies his gun and opens the door. He checks both ways before making his way down the hall to where it meets the main hall leading back to the lobby and stairs. Everything was clear and he hurried back to the girls.
"It's clear," Zeke said. "Just be vigilant. I'll be up in a bit."
"What are you going to do?," Aubrey asks.
"I'm going to get rid of these bodies," Zeke said. "We are probably going to have to stay here for a while and they will start smelling up the place if we leave them here."
"Okay," Aubrey said. "I'll come back to help as soon as I get Beca up to Chloe. I think we should stick together and no one does anything alone."
"Roger that," Zeke said giving her a small salute.