Quick Thinking

Matt woke up with a start and wiped his sweaty brow with the back of his hand. Something wasn't right.

He looked out the window. It was dim and clouded outside, giving the view of a street outside a very grimy effect. Across the street, only some of the windows were blazing with light. It must have been late evening. He pulled a blanket off of him and realized he was still in his clothes. He shrugged; the Nexus would be willing enough to buy him some more. Although, he must have smelled quite bad. He hadn't taken a shower for a couple days, mostly out of laziness or hopelessness. It hadn't seemed like they were going anywhere soon, anyways. Of course, they didn't know where to go until then.

The boy pulled himself out of the bed. Lohan was sleeping stomach down on the other bed, snoring quietly. His feet dragged across the floor to the bathroom and turned on the light. It stunned him for seconds and took a while for him to get used to the light. He rubbed his eyes and wondered how long he had been sleeping for. His eyes met the mirrors edge and he stepped into it, looking at himself. The hair on his head was sticking up in places and smoothed down on others. Below, his eyebrows twisted and relaxed with half open blue eyes that scrutinized his face. His lips remained in a solemn line.

Pushing down the feeling of amiss, Matt took off his clothes and stepped into the small shower. The water streamed down, a lot cooler than he would have wanted. Several minutes later he was done his shower, dressed in his only clothes, shaking his hair dry with a towel. When he was done he carelessly threw it back in the shower. The maid would clean it up later, he thought. With one final glance behind his shoulder at the mirror, he turned his head toward the door and grabbed the door knob.

And then he smelt it.

He didn't smell burning. He smelt garbage. A horrid, awful smell that was a strange combination of dusty, damp, and something utterly scorched. It filled his nose and he retracted from the door, his fingers soon pinching his nostrils, plugging the smell from coming in them. He closed his eyes, squeezing them shut to concentrate harder, wondering where the smell was coming from.

And then he heard it:

"Room service."

It had a rough, ghastly voice that almost sounded like feet crunching against gravel that was loud enough to hear from the bathroom between closed doors. Obviously, it wasn't anyone working for the hotel. He hadn't called in for anything and by the sounds of Lohan's snoring he hadn't called in recently either. Matt opened his eyes and they leaped around the small room. Suddenly, the conclusion came to him: it wasn't human. He sucked in his breath and looked behind him to see a small window. He wasn't sure if he'd fit. What if he was wrong and it was nothing?

Then Matt's head flew up. A loud crash had come from the room that he had just been sleeping in. Someone had burst the door open, probably off its hinges. The boy raced to the window; he had decided quickly. He climbed atop the sink and tried to worm his way to the window. It took him minutes and those were costly. Another loud sound came from the hotel room. It was someone screaming. Lohan. Matt almost got down from the window and ran in to help him. He wanted to, but gunshots came quickly after and he knew Lohan would be just fine. Although, after the gunshots he swore he heard the thing laugh. More screams and gunshots followed but he tuned them out.

Matt directed his attention back to the window. He didn't think it would be necessary to break the glass; it was one of those windows that just slide open. Opening it would be easy. Getting through however, would be the hard part. The window width was a lot less than his shoulders. If he goes in at an angle it might work...

His mind was a mess; he didn't know what to do. The bullets might slow the monster down, but nothing more than that! Should he just escape, and leave Lohan to his doom? Again, his question was answered for him. Another, louder scream and then glass shattering. Lohan had done the smart thing. This was just a simple motel. He wouldn't get killed from jumping out of a window and it was another obstacle for whatever was in the other room, to provide distance between the both of them.

Matt lifted the bottom part of the window up. He heaved his torso through it. The door knob was shaking; whoever was on the other side was trying to open it. He used his legs to push him through and his arms to hold him up. The window was too small. His shirt was tearing. Matt's hand tried to grip some stucco on the outside wall. Someone was chuckling on the other side of the door, he wasn't imagining it. With his newly found grip-hold, he used it to force himself onto more of an angle, so he was in line with the bottom-left and top-right corners. A loud bang went off behind him and something fell, then a short clink sound.

It took Matt some time to realize what it was. The thing had knocked off the door knob. It spoke, muffled through the door, "Where are you going?" The voice this time was so full of menace that Matt wanted to jump back down. He didn't know where the feelings came from, but it took a lot of effort to not drop back down to the bathroom floor. Hurriedly, Matt lifted his legs, pushing with whatever strength he had left.

The door opened.

With one final push Matt fell on the dead grass outside. And he ran.