Fighting to Survive (As the World Dies #2)(18)

“It is a good day to die,” she heard Roger mutter in his best Worf imitation.

Jenni suppressed a smile and continued down the hallway. There were no doors off this hallway. Just pretty gilded mirrors and fancy artwork. An occasional table or chair rested against the wall. It was a fancy way to decorate a very boring hall.

Reaching the dining room, she swung the rifle from side to side, looking all around. The pretty round tables were decorated with a spray of now dead flowers. The china and silverware were laid out meticulously with napkins twisted into the shapes of swans resting on top of the plate. There was no sign of disturbance here. Jenni was rather overwhelmed by the old-fashioned opulence of the room. The hotel had obviously been carefully restored with the hope of luring in high-end clientèle.

Moving determinedly toward the kitchen, Jenni took a deep breath and caught the faint whiff of decay.

“Shit!” Jenni exclaimed. “They're here!”

Abruptly, the door to the kitchen was flung open and the wait staff flooded into the room ready for their breakfast.





Chapter 5





1. The Away Party





Katie took point with her group since she was more experienced with weapons. It didn’t escape her how ironic it was that she was finally doing what her father had always hoped for. Being a good solider. She had considered following his footsteps into the Marines, but had opted for college and law school instead. Now she was wondering if she should have gone into the Marines. Maybe if she had she wouldn’t be scared shitless.

Travis tripped and fell over a chair in the hallway.

They all froze.

Katie turned to give him a dark look and whispered, “Shhhh” at him.

“Sorry,” Travis muttered.

Their destination was the first floor lobby. The idea was to clear out the center of the first floor first and work outwards. The lobby was quite large, so they were taking the left-hand side. Another group was taking the right. Two halls lead to the lobby.

Katie walked slowly, her steps measured, cautious. Nearing the archway leading into the lobby, she took a deep breath. If the front door was open, they were most likely f*cked. Sunlight was very visible on the far wall, illuminating their way. Something was open.

Travis and Roger behind her, she moved slowly along the wall, and out onto the tiled floor, her boots making soft tapping sounds. The enormous oak staircase cut the lobby in half and they slipped along its side. Katie glanced upwards, toward the railing and the second floor.

Nothing.

Slowly, one of the large windows came into view. Light was pouring in through it, but the front doors were closed. Chained, in fact.

She sighed with relief and turned to see a zombie staring at her. It was a maid, standing on the stairs. Her head was hanging by sinews and flopped sideways on her chest. She would have appeared headless from the behind. But from her angle, she could clearly see the barely attached head and its crazed eyes. It was obviously too confused by its condition to know what to do. It scuttled one way then the other, uncoordinated.

“Damn,” Roger whispered.

Katie drew her bowie knife from her belt and approached the creature slowly. It blinked at her, its mouth open, trying to scream at her, and started snapping its jaws at her. Again it swayed back and forth, obviously not sure how to move toward its prey.

With a grunt, Katie shoved the creature over and it landed hard on the stairs. Its head flopped to one side, its teeth snapping. Lifting the knife over her shoulder, Katie narrowed her eyes, aimed, and struck the zombie through the eye as hard as she could. The knife hit bone and she twisted, pushing further in. The jaws stopped snapping. Katie braced her foot on the head and drew out her knife. Cleaning the blade on the dead maid’s dress, she looked up to see Roger and Travis looking at her in shock.

“What?”

“Damn,” Roger said.

Katie looked around and saw the other team lead by Katarina entering the far side of the room. They signaled that they were clear and Katie nodded.

The walkie-talkie sputtered, “Dining room! Now! Fuck Fuck! Fuck!” Jenni’s voice was frantic.

The gun shots began.





2. Nothing Ever Goes As Planned

In some ways it was just like a video game. You fired until the gun clicked empty, reloaded, fired again, reloaded...

There just needed to be an annoying male voice telling you when to reload and it would be perfect. But there wasn’t and the zombies rushing them weren’t carbon copies of each other and wouldn’t vanish when hit. They were dressed alike in their waiter costume, but very different. Some were almost sprinting toward them. Others were struggling just to walk. The more whole “I obviously died by my throat being bit out” were fast and the “I got swarmed by a bunch of them and obviously got really eaten up” staggered.

The runners went down fast, since they were the front of the pack, but they were so quick they closed the gap between the living and the undead with startling swiftness.

Luckily, Ashley and Ned did exactly what they were supposed to do. Mike had taught them to divide up the zombies into, as he put it, “Pie slices” with everyone taking one slice to concentrate on. Jenni fired right down the center. Ashley fired at anything to the left of them as Ned took care of those on the right.

The swarming zombies fell quickly as the shots hit them true. Some even tripped over their comrades, landing hard on their faces, before having their heads blown off.