Drowning Utopia

Chapter 25: Darkness in the Tower

Checking that the coast was clear, Gray led the small throng into the hall. The wounded were helped by Xo-Xing and Wooster, as Lonny, Donny, and a few of the other armed survivors brought up the rear.

Fighting still raged around them as they could hear shouts from far above intermingled with muffled gunshots. Tessa was more than concerned about running across another group of Boomers, causing her to panic. As they walked along the hall, she kept looking for something to take, something that could help her situation, something—anything that would take the edge off.

"In here," Gray said finally as the group reached the last door on the right end of the hall.

But just before he opened the door, they heard glass breaking, and someone laughing from within. Tessa and Gray looked at each other.

"More Boomers?" Tessa whispered, feeling her heart race.

"Most likely." Gray nodded.

Donny weaved his way up to the front. "Here, let me have a look." He slid past the two of them and plucking Tessa's mirror from off of her belt, cracked the door, and peered inside. He smiled after a moment. Turning to Tessa, he mouthed silently, "This will be fun," waving for her to look.

It was a game room. Several rows of slot machines accompanied a half dozen pool tables, a few round counters for playing cards, and a roulette wheel at its center. A large bar took up one wall, lined with alcoholic beverages, and a caged exchange on the opposite wall.

The room was indeed occupied by a gang of masked Boomers, but fortunately, they were too distracted by all of the unattended alcohol and slot machines to initially notice the survivors. Of the four masked men, one was already passed out at the bar, another was right behind him, and the last two who had their backs to the door were working at a slot machine with a crowbar.

One of the Boomers spat, "Damn, these things are hard to crack."

The other chuckled taking another swig from a bottle in his fist. "Here let me try again." He grabbed the metal rod from the first.

"You know, there's probably a key behind the tiller's counter if you really want to save yourselves some trouble," Donny said with his gun trained on their backs.

The first stood and turned. "Hey, that's not a bad idea."

He froze when he found himself at gunpoint six times over, as each of the armed survivors had their confiscated weapons trained on the Boomers. The masked man dropped his bottle and raised his hands in a surrendering fashion, tapping the other on the ground with his foot.

"What are you kicking me for...shit." He threw down the crowbar and likewise raised his hands.

Using their own grubby belts, Tessa tied and gagged the half-drunk Boomers with the help of Lonny and Donny, relieving her anxiety by pilfering their valuables and a few weapons which she distributed to several of the other unarmed survivors. They then tossed the four vandals into a closet.

Gray quietly pulled a hidden lever along one of the inner walls behind the teller's counter. A secret door slid aside into an even darker corridor lined with pipes, electrical wiring, and dull industrial bulbs hanging from the high ceiling.

"Are you sure that it's a good idea to leave them alive?" Xo-Xing asked.

Wooster only shrugged. "Do you want to be the one to look them in the eyes as you pull the trigger?"

"Perhaps not," Xo-Xing admitted.

Wooster sighed. "It's one thing to kill in self-defense, but it's completely another to kill someone who has been subdued. Otherwise, we are no better than them."