Firefly

Thirty-Three

The Grand Hotel 

After we looked around the bookstore for anything useful, we walked out one of the doors upstairs that led out back of the store. It led into a different alley behind other stores and out onto a street. Part of the street was flooded, buildings half submerged in the water, and no doubt cars littered the bottom. The other half of the street nature had started to overtake everything. 

The front entrance of The Grand Hotel stood across from us partially in the water. The water covered the front doors, and a bus sat in front of the entrance half submerged. We quickly ducked down when two men walked across a two by four from the building that sat across from the hotel. Once they were on the bus, they pulled the board over towards them and then walked to the broken window that led into the hotel itself. 

Once they were out of view, we stood up. Ellie had walked over to a window display of an old lingerie store. The road was completely bl9cked off, not giving us a way around. The only way was to go through the hotel. "I thought you said you had plenty of food back then," Ellie said. I walked over and stood beside her. "We did," I said. She looked up at me with a confused look. "She's so skinny." 

"Some people chose not to eat, or were on diets, and watched what they ate," I told her. "Why?" She asked. "Lots of reasons. She was a model. She had to keep herself fit. Some people had eating disorders, which just that alone is more than not eating enough or not eating at all. Some people liked to keep track of what they ate. But mostly it's just how society was." 

After she looked at the model a little longer, taking in what I told her, we went over to Joel, who was trying to figure a way across. Well, mostly away to get Ellie across. "I'm going to swim across and find a way to get up onto that bus. Then look for a way to get her across. You stay here," he said, then jumped into the water. 

"Do you trust me?" I asked Ellie. "Um…yes?" She didn't sound so convincing. "I'm going to get you across there once Joel appears." She shook her head, "maybe we should just wait for Joel to find away," she said. Joel appeared on top of the uhaul truck that was behind the bus and looked like it had crashed into the building across from the hotel. He jumped over to the bus, picked the board up, and positioned it between the two. 

"Hey, catch!" I called over to him. He looked at me and I held my bag up. I stepped as far as I could without dropping down into the water and threw it over to him, then did the same with Ellie's bag. "Okay, I'm going to get in and then I want you to ease yourself into the water. I'll be here the whole time. I want you to get on my back and wrap your arms around my neck. Just don't fucking choke me out." 

She was shaking her head and backed away from me. "No way! Are you fucking crazy? I can't swim!" I sighed and took a deep breath. "I know that. That is why you're going to get on my back. Look, I'm a strong swimmer Ellie. Always have been. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I'm going to get you over to that uhaul and Joel will lift you up with my help." 

Ellie looked behind me at Joel and I turned my head. He looked just as confused. "Just trust me, okay?" I slipped into the water and urged her to come closer. She knelt down and I turned my back to her. I felt her arms wrap around my neck. "Okay, I'm going to start swimming across. It's not that far. Just breathe and relax. I got you." 

She held on tight and I moved my arms and legs, swimming the short distance ro the uhaul. Joel was already there waiting, knelt down and ready to grab her. I knew he was probably a little upset that I didn't just wait for him to figure out a way but I didn't give a shit. I didn't want to stay out in the open longer than we needed to. 

After Ellie was up Joel helped me up. Three of us were soaking wet now and it was an uncomfortable feeling having my clothes cling to my skin. We walked across the bus to the window, Joel went first making sure it was clear. Like the hotel back in Boston the lobby was about knee deep. The stairs to get up to the elevators were completely destroyed. scaffolding was in front and across from them from where they were doing repairs before the outbreak. 

Joel found a ladder and placed it against the scaffolding in front of them and the three of us climbed up. "Another fancy hotel," Ellie said. "Come on," Joel mumbled and headed for the stairs. We climbed the stairs, the stairs to the next floor were blocked off with furniture. It was clear that when things went down, the people who were still here tried to fortify the place. 

Since we couldn't go up we had to go through another window onto part of the roof. There were two other windows, one led into a room and the other led to where the elevators were. We started walking across to the one where the elevators are until we heard voices. The three of us quickly ducked down behind the ventilation system and listened. 

We would have to fight our way out of here just like we did at the bookstore. And something was telling me not only would there be more, but these guys were probably from the same group. Joel quietly went over to the window of the room and looked inside. 

When he crouched lower and looked over at me he held up four fingers. Meaning there were four people inside the room. I was not looking forward to fighting more fucking people. Especially since we were way out numbered and only had so much ammo. But it was the only choice we had if we wanted to get out of here. 

Joel came back over, staying low so nobody would see him. "There are going to be more the further we go inside. But we need to make it to the otherside of the hotel to be able to get out. We need to make quick work of these guys and do it silently. I'm hoping we can take them down easily and not alert the others. Don't use your gun unless it's absolutely necessary. And you…" he turned to Ellie and before he could continue she cut him off. "Stay behind you. Yeah. Yeah, I got it."