Generation Zombie

Chapter 16: Sapphire Cosmos Hotel.

Heavy grey clouds gathered in the horizon, blocking the sun and casting a menacing shadow over the modern building of the hotel. It was a low-rise structure, spanning over more surface area than reaching to the skies. The roof sat in odd, uneven angles and atop it, a century’s-worth of dust settled. A large, brightly colored signboard that probably glowed neon in the nighttime boldly announced to the world; Sapphire Cosmos Hotel. The signboard was the only thing grand about the hotel.

It was located in the middle of a street that left hints, telling visitors that it had once been busy, but now gave away it’s glamour to the zombie apocalypse.

Zombies sparsely loitered the area, and once or twice, Elham had to take a different route because there were too many of the undead roaming a particular street. Within the hotel’s perimeter however, there wasn’t any sign of zombies.

Elham parked the car and the four of them quickly got out, armed themselves, and slipped into the hotel’s lobby without making unnecessary noise. They were starting to get the hang of teamwork; interpreting an instructive glance from Elham, reading each other’s body language and knowing which weapon the other was comfortable using.

The hotel’s lobby gleamed with polished floors and emptiness. It looked and felt like it had never seen human presence; the smell of cheap floral air fresheners and dust made the atmosphere strange and foreign.

"It's too big. We need to span out and search. Look for a green bar or arrow like the one back in Dr. Hink's house. It should have an objective written on it." Elham directed, her voice echoing in the wide space. She turned on her platform boots and surveyed the three hallways; one to the left, one to the right, and the other directly in front of her.

There was roughly about thirty rooms in the hotel, ten in each hallway, and in one of those rooms, the file they needed to retrieve was located.

Elham took a deep breath. Was this really going to be as easy as searching through the rooms? Something told her it would be harder than that. "Scream for help if you encounter anything you can't handle." She called after the others.

Ajax aimlessly wandered towards the left hallway, his heart thudding in his chest. There was no use in holding the harpoon. One; he had no idea how to use it, and two; situations would have to be beyond dire for him to even imagine himself killing a zombie. He cautiously creaked a door open, peeked in, and quickly retrieved his head when he didn’t find the green objective bar.

Back in the lobby, Arthur caught a hold of Ruby’s hand. "Stay with me. Your ankle isn't completely healed." He said, his ocean blue eyes softening. He felt slightly tipsy on his toes, having not slept the previous day because he took it upon himself to keep watch.

Ruby blinked her asymmetrical eyes up at him. Was he seriously turning her into an invalid? "I can handle myself." She returned, yanking her hand away. He was playing the role of the knight in shining armor saving the damsel in distress, a little too good that it was beginning to annoy her. She wasn’t some weak heroine in a lame book that needed saving. And a sprained ankle sure as heck wasn’t about to turn her into one.

"Ruby..." He insisted with a sigh, intertwining their fingers again.

Ruby fought her annoyance, grinding her teeth. Being helped felt good for the first three times, but now it was like she couldn’t even move a muscle without him breathing down her neck and begging to help. Still, she didn’t have the energy to argue with him, and so, gave in. "Fine, whatever... let's take the right hallway." She detached her hand from him again and limped away, determined not to accept any unnecessary help he was offering.

Elham watched them go, and then she took to the hallway straight ahead, actively searching rooms and keeping her ears alert for any sound of danger or cry for help. She opened the fifth room, and was about to rummage through it when she heard Ajax’s loud voice.

"Uhm, guys? We have a little issue here..." He shouted, his voice hinting at danger, but at the same time struggling to stay calm.

Elham sprinted to the hallway and banged open the rooms until she reached the seventh one. The sight she saw was definitely not what she expected, but her fast reflexes took over her surprise and in the blink of an eye, she had her g*n out and aimed at a tall, sharp-boned woman.

The woman was clad in a black catsuit, weapons strapped into every holster. She had sleek, sandy blond hair that stopped at her waist, flawless alabaster skin and wild, gunmetal grey eyes. She kept a Glock 19 inches away from Ajax’s forehead, and moved a second g*n to aim at Elham.

Ajax obediently kept his hands up in surrender like she had told him to, as he quivered and quaked in his shoes.

"Lower your weapon." Elham ordered, keeping her cool. She took a step away from the door to gain a better angle of them both.

The woman followed her with her fast, catlike eyes and her weapon.

Arthur barged into the room, Ruby meandering behind him. They both froze, and Ruby’s hand instantly shot up, just as Arthur gripped his crowbar tighter. It was a gunfight, and he had a crowbar instead. At the moment, it was as useless as Ajax’s discarded fishing harpoon.

"If any of you move a muscle, I'll blow both their f*****g brains off." Russian. Elham pinpointed the heavy accent immediately. Her voice was husky and snarly like a very articulate snake. It seemed to slither around the room and wrap around their throats warningly.

Elham scoffed. "Not if I put a bullet through yours first." Her fingers pulled back the hammer, c*****g the g*n. Her fingers itched to pull the trigger.

Arthur dropped his crowbar and raised his hands in surrender too. She wasn’t a zombie, so a civilized conversation wouldn’t hurt. "Okay let's all calm down and talk." He suggested.

"Who the f**k are you people?" She demanded.

Ruby scratched her forehead. She really needed to trim her bangs. It was starting to make life harder for her. Her eyes stayed trained on the woman. She was pretty, in a regal, escaped-convict-who’s-anorexic-and-addicted-to-meth type of way. "I didn’t know there were mini bosses to fight besides the zombies." Ruby whispered to Arthur.

"I don't think she's a—"

"Answer the damn question." The woman snapped, her annoyance and unease rising. She hated the feeling of being surrounded. It was the same as being trapped; behind bars, in cuffs, in a marriage.

Elham glared at her. "We don't owe you an explanation." She sneered. Shouldn’t she just shoot her? If she was the fifth player, then she probably had extra lives. If she was a foe, well then good riddance!

"We got sucked into the game!" Ajax blurted out, no longer able to control his fear. Could they blame him? It wasn’t every day that a person —him in particular, gets a g*n targeted at his shiny forehead.

The woman’s nose flared as her eyes went over them faster, accessing every little detail from their weapons to the bulge of their pockets, to the twitching of their muscles. But mostly, her eyes stayed glued to Elham. "No s**t. Did you put me here? Are you with the CIA? Was I drugged?"

Ruby put two and two together. "Wait, I think she's the fifth player." She said out loud to the others, but only Ajax widened his eyes in surprise. Arthur and Elham had already guessed it. Ruby felt foolish for not realizing it as fast, if not faster than them.

Arthur raised his hands higher. "We don't know anything about the CIA, okay? We all got transported into this game too."

"We're on the same side." Ajax persuaded, trying to sound convincing and desperately hoping it works. What if she pulled the trigger by mistake? Well, he’d still have one life left, but the mere thought of having his brain blown to pieces made his bladder full.

"Then put down your gun." She said, addressing Elham.

"You first."

And then the doors of the connecting bathroom swung open, two zombies charging into the room with a screeching snarl and bloated, outstretched hands. Synchronizing like trained soldiers, Elham and Juniper switch their targets from each other to the zombies and at once, pulled the triggers. Brains spilled out of hollow skulls and the zombies fell dead atop each other.

Juniper glanced at Elham, making sure she wasn’t aiming her weapon at her before strapping her g*n back into its holster. "How did you track me down?"

Elham rolled her eyes. Who does this woman think she is? First the CIA, now tracking her down? "We weren't looking for you." She replied smugly, hoping it’d make her feel less important.

"Actually we were, but, we came here because we're supposed to find a bunch of files about the Gen-Z Virus." Ruby chirped in with an explanation, smiling up at Juniper. The woman reminded her of Black Widow. A washed-out, less-healthier version, but Black Widow nevertheless.

"These files?" Juniper grabbed a stack of papers from the coffee table at the foot of the bed and wiggled it back and forth.

Elham reached for it, eager to take in the information it contained. "How did you get that?"

Juniper stepped back, and moved the files away from Elham’s fingers. She narrowed her eyes. "Why should I tell you?" Suspicion and mistrust were written all over her feline features.

"Oh I don't know, because we're on the same f*****g side and we need to work together if we want to get out of this game alive?" Elham replied, sarcasm coating her words nicely. How thick was this lady’s skull? Couldn’t she understand that they weren’t enemies?

Juniper shrugged. What’s the harm in telling them? They didn’t look threatening enough. She could probably take them out in less than five minutes. "A floating green box told me to find it."

Elham rolled her eyes again. "It's called a location objective." She corrected.

"I'll call it whatever the f**k I want to."