Chapter 42: Out Of The Hallway And Into The Fray

The stairway was gloomy and dark, the corpses here and there making it so much worse. Being the service stairwell, it wasn’t carpeted. As we made our way down the stairs, I winced with each step. We were making too much noise, especially our barbarians whose footsteps thumped and thudded on the linoleum. The sound would echo in the empty staircase, but for the many bodies muffling it.

“Guys,” I tapped our two barbarians in front and, after getting their attention, whispered, “we’ve got to move more quietly. They most certainly can hear your stomping footsteps.”

Fred whispered back, “Boss, I’m doing the best I can.”

“Me too,” said Ave. “I think it’s our class. We just can’t be quiet. We’re built for reckless aggression.”

I had to hold myself back from shouting, but I did squeeze my eyes for a moment in frustration and spoke as quietly as I could while damping down the annoyance. “Class isn’t an excuse. You’re navy officers. Please concentrate on being quiet.”

Submachine guns at the ready in their right hands, Fred and Ave looked at each other, nodded, Ave saying, “Ok, we’ll try.”

Slowly going down the stairs, they took each step with toes first. That lessoned the noise greatly and that’s when I heard the slightest scraping sound from further down.

I tapped Ave on the shoulder, speaking quietly, “Wait. Stop walking. Do you hear that?”

“No.”

“No, Boss.”

“I can almost hear something . . . like a body being dragged?” said Marci.

“Yeah,” Dylan nodded.

I cupped my ears facing down the stairs, “I think there’s a few of them below. They’re busy, probably moving these bodies out. It’s got to be the eighth floor, where the zombies broke in.”

Fred pointed at the door on the landing below us, “We’re on twelve. You want to go across?”

I shook my head, “It won’t help. The elevator is stopped just under the eighth floor.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah.”

From up the stairs, Dylan said, “We could try for the other staircase at the far end. Not the main one.”

Marci said, “No good, the doors won’t be locked. The ants are probably using it already.”

“Then,” Fred smiled, raising his submachine gun in both hands, “we fight.”

“If we fight now,” said Marci, “we’re probably going to be fighting until we get to the lobby, and in the lobby, too.”

“How many do you think there are?” asked Ave. “Running out of bullets would be bad.”

I held my hand up, “Wait. There’s another option. Does anyone have rope? I was given forty meters or so when we started this game. I mean, when we woke up.” I shook my head, berating myself for that. It wasn’t a game! We weren’t here to play. “I used mine to tie the doors shut down there.”

Our green skinned barbarians looked at each other, then said, “Nope.”

Standing behind me and up two steps, Marci touched my shoulder, “I’ve got that rope from the elf’s body we found downstairs.”

“How long is it?”

“You want me to measure it now?”

“Yeah, no, not now. Here, this is my idea. We slip into one of the rooms on this floor and rappel down two stories.”

“Rappel?” Marci blinked very slowly.

“We’re just going to tie the rope between the floors and climb down. Not really rappelling. Just climbing down.”

“Climbing down the outside of the hotel, ten stories up, with a raging bonfire and a bunch of hungry insect people below.” Marci held her hands out to the sides, “I’m up for it!”

Fred said, “They really should have given us strong cord in our care package.”

“And spy drones,” added Ave. “Those would have been very helpful. Radios. I’m going to file a complaint when we get back to the Victoria.”

“Guys, let’s focus! We’ll enter here, on the tenth floor and use the rope to go down to the seventh, balcony to balcony, then get into the elevator shaft. Ok?”

Everyone nodded. Except Bent, he nodded with a touch of evil, and a wink. I had to talk to him about the necromancy soon or my mind would keep worrying about him and playing tricks on me.

***

We continued slowly to the tenth floor, me wincing with every footstep, even just our pantlegs rubbing. And the ants could hear much better than I could.

Reaching the door, I felt no danger warning but checked anyways. All clear, I gave a thumbs up, then unlocked and opened the door as quietly as possible. Didn’t get poisoned or bludgeoned. My trap sense was, thankfully, working properly.

Fred entered the hallway first, halted and put his hand up. He then crouched, taking a bead down the hallway with the gun. One of the little ant people was there, scanning in our direction. It moved its head closer, then its head swiveled away, legs pivoted around, body following, and, now facing the opposite direction, the thing took off running.

Marci said from behind me, “That was super creepy.”

“It must have heard us,” said Ave.

Fred walked forward, shining his light all around the hall, checking each door, the corners, then along the ceiling. “Clear.”

“It certainly heard us,” Marci continued. “But have you ever seen anything move like that?”

Ave stepped into the hallway. “A robot maybe.”

“Shit.” I said, “Let’s get a move on, people! To the nearest room facing the outside.”

Just a few steps away, we tried the door. Locked, of course. And the keys I had wouldn’t open it. Same with the next door down.

“A moment,” said Fred. Handing his gun to Ave, he shoulder bashed the door and it reverberated. “Owe! These are solid wooden doors.” The big man rubbed his shoulder.

“And they open outward,” said Marci. “You’re fighting a rim of metal there.”

“Incoming!” yelled Ave, taking point, aiming, firing shot after shot.

Three of the larger ants ran toward us from the stairwell, falling one by one. I pointed my flashlight behind them to see a mass swarming up near the central stairs, little ones and some of their larger warrior class, more and more joining them. I shouted to Fred, “Bash the door open with Dylan’s mace!” Then, steadied myself, clicked the safety off and started shooting little one-foot-tall ant-people. The gun kicked into my shoulder rhythmically as they dropped from chest shots.

I soon heard smashing and Dylan took his place to my right, aiming. Bodies piling up, the little ants were crawling over them to rush at us.

Ave shouted, “They’re sneaking by on the sides!” She fired downward.

“Watch the ceiling!” yelled Marci from behind.

My light highlighted several on the ceiling, upside down and crawling toward us on the ceiling. They moved almost mechanically, clawing into the ceiling and releasing, clawing in and releasing. A big one was about to drop on me. I shot it. “Holy shit!” Then let loose on the other ones.

A loud smashing sound behind, Fred shouted, “It’s open! Get in!”

My trigger clicked on nothing. Damn, I wasn’t counting. “Reloading!” I dropped the clip, grabbed a new one from my front pocket, jammed it in, cocked the gun.

“Just go, Boss!” said Ave, pointing at the ceiling, shooting one. She shouted, “Reloading!”

Dylan began firing quickly in different directions as I headed into the room. The door had been smashed open, there was no way to close it. Marci and Bent were already out on the balcony, attaching the rope.

I yelled at them, “Go down three floors!” Then shouted at our heavies at the doorway, “Fred, I’m set up here!” I took position, aiming at the door.

Dylan was through first, dropping a clip as he ran, reaching for another and slamming it in.

Then Ave, walking in backwards, firing at the door. “Damn these bastards! They keep coming!” She stopped shooting, turned and ran deeper into the room. “I think they like being shot!”

Fred picked up a sofa chair and hurled it at the entrance. Then he moved onto the TV, entertainment center, dresser, and table.

Letting my gun hang off my shoulder, I put my hands under the mattress. It was too heavy for me to move alone, quickly. “Fred, let’s jam this into the doorway.”

Shots rang out as Dylan and Ave’s bullets met the first ants that came into sight. Not needing my help, Fred lifted the mattress off its frame and all but threw it vertically into the hallway. It wouldn’t quite act like a barrier, but it would narrow the space they could enter through.

Fred ran back to where I was, “Boss, you’re next!”

“What?”

He pointed at the balcony, “They’re down.”

“I thought you were going to toss me into the hallway there for a sec.”

“Maybe when I run out of bullets. Now get going!”

The room’s entrance was jammed with furniture, but little ant-people were crawling through the gaps on the floor, walls and ceiling. The first in sprayed blood back onto the rest as a bullet hit it, temporarily blocking their access. The body was dragged back, another ant immediately climbing through.

Stepping onto the patio, the air was cooler. I couldn’t see the cave walls from here, so large was the space. The rope was tied to the railing in an overly sturdy knot but looked thin. Still, the other two had made it down, so it must be strong enough. Stepping over the railing, I held it in my hands and took one last glance at the situation.

The heavy mattress flew back into the room, smashing Ave down, and falling onto her. At the entrance, a giant ant-person, half as tall as the door itself with bulky plates covering its chest, smaller ones on its arms, charged into the room, bullets bouncing off its armored body, and it tackled Fred. Another was pulling furniture out of the room, two more behind it stamping their feet.

“Shit!” Straddling the railing, I moved my gun up, clicked to full auto, then let loose into the hallway.

Dylan shot likewise, then turned and shouted at me, “Go! If you don’t go, we can’t follow!”

Ave pushed the mattress off her, pulled out her war hammer and crushed the head of the one fighting with Fred.

I couldn’t leave them! But I had to. “God damnit!” I yelled, “Hurry down!”

“Go!” Dylan stood up, walking backwards to my location, still shooting at the ants.

I stepped over the railing just as those three large beasts rushed into the room and reluctantly took hold of the rope, going down it hand over hand as fast as I could, hoping and hoping those three didn’t need me.

Bent gave me his hand to help me onto the next balcony. “What’s going on up there? Are they ok?”

“Large ants rushed in. They’re very strong. The guns aren’t working. Ave resorted to hammers.”

“Why’d you leave them then!”

“I had no choice!” As I leaned over to look up, the gunfire stopped.