Life In A Dead World

July 14

            On the day of July 14, at 1:10 AM. Maya Kingsly had just taken a young Layla into her care, whom had been brought into the hotel by Sarah and Chris, while on an expedition to bring in food, water, and other necessities to keep a community alive. Maya was walking Layla to her room in the hotel, when Layla tugs on Maya's sleeve. "Yes, Layla?" Maya said, smiling, as to seem as friendly as possible to the frightened child. "Where are we going?" Layla asked. Maya kneels down and says "We are going to my room, so you can stay with me. Is that alright?" Layla nods, though she wanted to stay with the nice people who found her, she understood that this is what was decided and didn't protest. 
            They arrived at room 204 and Maya checks on Layla. The fluorescent lights weren't helping, but Layla's eyes seemed like they didn't have a soul behind them. Layla had gone through a lot before Sarah and Chris had found her. From having to watch her father get feasted on by mutants, To her herself nearly starving to death. All of that to show that she definitely  knows the struggle of surviving, along with the ever lingering stench of death. According to Layla, this hotel, was potent with that stench. Everywhere she went she felt unsafe, matter of fact she only ever did feel safe around that of Chris. He had some kind of familiarity she couldn't quite understand.
           Maya unlocked the door and stepped in, Layla stepped inside behind her. Maya's hotel room was pretty basic, the walls were a light tan wallpaper with brown floral designs. There was a lamp in the far right corner, with a drawer set next to it, a bed in the far left. The floor being a rich dark wood. After letting Layla get a good look at the place she would be living in, Maya led her to another portion of the room where she would be sleeping. This room was an oversized closet that Maya had repurposed to be an office, now to be again repurposed into a room for a small child with her own small bed that touched either wall at the end of the room with a nightstand beside it. "Layla, I know you just got out of that lab, and you might want to do something fun after having to deal with all those tests, But its late and you need to get into bed okay?" Layla silently agreed and walked towards the bed and laid down in it. "Would you like a nightlight?" Maya asked. "No." Maya looks at Layla with a little sadness in her eyes, then turns off the light and leaves her be. 
          After about 10 minutes of laying in bed, Layla hears a knock at the front door. She waited for Maya to answer it, but it knocked again. Tired, Layla walked into the main room to find Maya listening to music in pajamas, doing some kind of paperwork. Layla tapped on Maya's arm and Maya looked at her and took off her headphones. "What are you doing up, Layla?" Maya asked, Layla pointed to the door, as the stranger on the other side knocked for a third time. "Oh, I see." Maya got up and walked over to the door, checked who it was through the peephole. "Good evening, President." Maya greeted President, James Welsh. James stumbles into her room, dressed in only his slacks and dark blue button up shirt.  "Hey M-Maya." He says, slurring his words. James leans himself against the wall for support. 
            Bringing him a glass of water, Maya asks "What exactly are you doing here this late?" James looks her up and down, with fascination as if he'd never seen her like this before. "Well umm.. You see I was down at the r-refreshment ssection and I started thinking ssome k-kind of way" His eyes focus on her chest. "I think.. ssince you are working under me and have to do as I say.." Maya looks at him confused, "and so?" James stepped forward and tried to place is hand on Maya's shoulder,  she dodged. "Sso.. That meanns.." He looked at her with a wicked grin. "Take off your clothes." Maya stumbled backwards. "N-no! What is wrong with you?!" James took a step towards her, "take them off, Maya." He commanded again, "NO!" She screamed back. 
          "Do as I ssay dammit!" James grabbed Maya by the shoulders, making Maya to call out for help. "HELP! SOMEONE PLEASE-" this causes James to panic and throw her against the nearby desk, hitting Maya's temple on the corner of it.  Layla, who was sitting in the corner of the room outside her closet, started uncontrollably sobbing. Layla, forced to watch James strip Maya down, felt her whole body start shaking with memories of a broken past. The painful deaths of everyone who had tried to take care of her. "Stop it.." She muttered through her sobs. "Please.."  James, so infatuated with the awful sin he was about to commit, didn't hear the cries for him to stop from the little girl. Suddenly, there is a loud crashing sound coming from the door, fallowed by Chris. Layla watches as he searched the room, The first thing he looked at is her. He then saw Maya's unconscious, naked, body. With James sitting on top of her, facing away from Chris. 
         Chris slowly walks up behind James, close enough to the point that Layla cant even hear the words Chris mutters before grabbing the back of James's shirt collar. After grabbing his shirt collar, Layla watched as Chris began beating him. Punching him, over, and over, and over again. Even though they were a decent distance from each other Layla could feel the immense hatred coming from every punch. Even so, even though Chris seemed so angry, Layla felt relieved.
          When Chris finally finished beating him, he stood up. Blood covering his fists, and even the sleeves on his dress shirt that had been rolled up at the time. He stepped over the presidents lifeless body, walked to Layla, and sat down beside her. Layla felt strange when that happened, because he was definitely here. what he did had to be real, but the look in his eyes, said something else entirely. Soon afterwards Chris passed out sitting against the wall. There they sat until the guards searched the building for their missing president.