The Uninhabited Hotel

Chapter 1

 "Timber!" I yell, "You get back here right now." My big akita barks from around the bend in the trail. He keeps running off, every time I put him on a leash he whines until I let him off again. So instead of the whining, I deal with yelling at him every so often, he usually wanders back to me, just to run off again.

I readjust my pack on my back. Balancing the heavy load, it's already the afternoon and I haven't found the perfect spot to set up camp. I have four days until I'm due back, hopefully with several cartridges full of pictures. My job is simple, camp out in the wilderness and take a ton of pictures of everything. I get paid per picture, really it's my dream job. The weather is supposed to be mild for spring, in the forties. I hear Timber's bark from even farther and hustle to reach him.

Around the next bend, on this seriously minuscule trail is a huge building. The building was once white, three stories high, with big pillars out front. It's must have been really nice back in the day. Timber is on the porch, I call to him.

"Timber don't you dare go in there!" I see that one of the doors is open and sure enough he bursts through it.

I go up the steps cautiously but they seem sturdy, on the doors is painted simply Hotel. Who in there right mind thought to put a hotel in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania. All that's around for miles is empty forest.

I open the door a little wider sliding inside the foyer, the ceilings are falling in, some spots of the floor are missing. I skirt around the holes searching for my dog, his bark comes from upstairs, I slowly go up the two flights of stairs. He's in a bedroom, one that isn't too horrible, the bedspread is covered in dust, but the ceiling is whole. Really other than the dust the room isn't too bad. A big fireplace, a dresser, end tables and the bed take up the whole space.

Putting Timber on a leash, I assess the other rooms on this floor. Four other bedrooms with one shared bathroom, all but one of the rooms are fine too. Weird based on the first level I would have thought it would be worse up here, I scan the rooms on the second floor, more bedrooms, a lot of broken furniture and damage from a few broken windows.

As I slip back out the front doors, I have to wonder why is the third floor fine? I shake my head and snap a few pictures of the outside. "We need to find somewhere to camp." I tell Timber.

We go back down the trail we came from and I take a right at the y, I'm not even sure what I'm hoping for. We continue down the trail for an hour, it's dense forest and nowhere to put my tent up even for a temporary place.

Another half an hour and we come to a clearing, it's perfect, a little stream on the north side, perfect to wash up in. I grin down at Timber, "I think we found our camp site." I release him from his leash and start setting up my tent. As the afternoon turns to evening thick heavy clouds billow in.

"Where are these coming from?" I wonder aloud. There wasn't supposed to be any bad weather for this whole week. I secure a tarp over my tent for extra protection then start collecting wood for a campfire.

Timber runs through the site chasing a rabbit, I laugh because I know despite how hard he'll try he'll never catch it. After I get my fire going, I collect water from the clear stream and start to boil it over my fire so I can add it to the MRE's I packed. Not the most delicious of meals but they work for my camping trips so I always use them.

Once my meal is ready, I shake Timber's bag of dog food, that I put in ziplock baggies for each meal. He appears in moments, nosing his empty bowl waggling as I fill it. We eat together in a happy silence listening to the stream, the new leaves on the trees rustling, and the dead grass in the meadow waving slightly. I don't hear any birds though, I look up at the sky, the temperature has been dropping steadily. The clouds are even thicker and look about to burst. Crap. I clean up my pot and grill, and duck inside my tent.

I know Timber will tell me when he's ready to come inside. I pull out one of the books I brought, and start reading while there is still enough daylight. I expect rain to start with how the clouds look, but I get a shock as I see snow begin to fall. I take a few pictures of the campfire with snow on it. Then around the meadow before getting back into the tent and bundling up in my sleeping bag, Timber paws the tent. I open it and he crawls in snuggling up next to me.

"Looks like we're in for a long night." I tell him. He gives a happy bark and lays down quietly.

I read until it's too dark to see, with the temperatures still dropping I'm worried that I won't make it the four days out here. I definitely didn't bring enough warm clothes for this storm either. My mind places an image in my head. The hotel, with one of the top rooms, and a fireplace. I could take shelter there, there is no way I could make it back in the dark. It was an hour and a half away from the clearing.

When Timber joins me in my sleeping bag I know I'll be making the trip in the morning back to the hotel. If it's too cold for him, there's no way we'll make it in just our tent the four days.