CHAPTER SIX
Bryan and Michael knelt down on the edge of the parking lot by the street, taking cover behind some bushes. They surveyed the front of the hotel, a few dozen zombies lurking by the entrance. Bryan pulled his hunting rifle from his back and looked through the scope.
“What do you see, bud?” Michael asked.
His friend focused on the entrance, seeing the double doors propped open, creatures coming and going as they pleased. There were easily dozens more in the lobby.
“Fuckers are jam packed in there,” he grunted. “Big place too, lobby desk looks like it’s about twenty yards back from the door.”
Michael sighed. “Can you see the stairs?” he asked.
“Too dark to find it on the wall,” Bryan replied, shaking his head. “Can’t see much past the front desk, since there’s an emergency light over it. We just have to assume that it’s wide open like the front door.”
Michael scrubbed his hands down his face. “So how the hell are we doin’ this?” he asked.
“One thing’s for sure,” his friend replied, lowering the rifle, “I’m not singing Baby Got Back.”
Michael shook his head. “First good news I’ve heard today.”
“We gotta figure out a way to get in there to secure the stairs,” Bryan mused. “Or else we’ll just have a constant stream of those things.”
His companion looked over at a car at the far end of the lot. It was an older sedan with bloodstains all over the window.
“Come on,” he said, waving his hand, “I might have an idea.”
They stayed low while moving across the lot over to the car. They ducked down beside it, and Michael peered inside. He recoiled at the sight of a zombie in there, laying in the backseat, writhing around on the leather.
He pulled a knife, motioning for his friend to back up a bit, retreating to the back of the car. He readied his blade before yanking open the back door.
Thankfully, the creature was slow to react, giving him a chance to stab it in the top of the head.
Bryan came back from behind the trunk and crossed his arms. “Congratulations, you killed one that was already secure,” he said dryly.
Michael rolled his eyes before patting the creature down, finally finding a set of keys in its pocket. He held them up and jingled them in front of Bryan’s face.
“Are you kidding me?” his friend demanded, eyes wide. “I know where you’re going with this, and I wish you the best of luck.”
Michael smirked at him. “You aren’t gonna rock, paper, scissors me for the honors?”
“You know damn well that only applies to riding shotgun, and who gets to hit on the hot girl at the bar first,” Bryan shot back, pointing a finger at him. “Ain’t nothin’ in there about suicide runs.”
Michael shrugged. “Fine, be a little bitch,” he said off-handedly.
His friend glared at him and then waved him off. “Well, it’s your ass,” he drawled, “how do you want me to play it?”
Michael studied the hotel for a moment, and then looked back into the car, spotting a large jacket in the passenger seat. “I’m gonna plow right through the front door, and then lay low while you draw them out,” he declared. “Once it’s clear, I’ll get out and secure the doors while you get them to the restaurant.”
“Is that really how you want to do it?” Bryan asked, throwing up his hands.
His friend bit his lip nervously, doubting his own plan. “We’re real short on time,” he insisted. “So I say we go for it.”
Bryan nodded, and then both men jumped at the sound of an explosion in the distance. They glanced in the direction of the blast, not seeing anything before looking back at the hotel. The zombies jerked their heads back and forth, seemingly confused about the location of the noise.
“If that wasn’t the big one, then we’re in a lot of trouble,” Bryan said.
Michael nodded and hopped into the driver’s seat, door still open, turning the key and praying for good news. The vehicle wheezed a few times before it finally sprung to life.
“All right,” he said firmly, “once I’m in, pull them out as quickly as you can. I’d rather not be a box lunch.”
Bryan nodded just as another explosion sounded, this one much bigger, rattling the windows of the car. Despite being several blocks away, the sound resonated, and this spurred the zombies into moving away from the hotel.
“Go!” Bryan said and slammed the door.
Michael popped the car into gear and sped towards the horde. He gained speed as he approached the front edge of them, about thirty yards from the entrance to the hotel. Bodies bounced off of the front end, left and right, as he struggled with the car to keep it aimed towards his target.
The double doors were fairly wide, just big enough for a sedan to pass through if driven properly. Unfortunately, the zombies careening off of the vehicle caused Michael to have difficulty steering, and he clipped the right side of the door frame as he entered the building.
The headlights illuminated the lobby, an upscale marble floor open space with formerly high-end furniture now ruined by the undead.
As he hit the marble, he slammed on the brakes, sliding across it and smacking into a few more zombies before coming to rest just short of the front desk. He quickly killed the engine and then laid down, pulling the jacket over him.
He laid back, peeking out through the tiniest of openings, seeing a few zombies congregating at the window. They moaned, smacking their decrepit hands against it, seemingly unsure of what to make of the situation.
Anytime now Bryan, Michael thought, wrinkling his nose at the putrid scent of old, dead flesh in the car.
As if on cue, gunfire erupted outside. Four shots went off in rapid succession, and Michael watched as the creatures by his window slowly lost interest in the car, and wandered off towards the parking lot.
Michael sat silently for another minute, as the gunfire continued
