Defiance | Book 1 [EXTENDED]

CHAPTER 15

I walked out through the front this time. It was blown up to pieces so it was just a huge hole in the building's main entrance. A few mutant bodies lay at my feet. I looked around. The streets were clear. 

The eerie stillness of the wind gave me chills as I walked along the pavement, Wilson purred at me from the safety of the bag. I held the gun with my other arm ready to pull it up to shoot. I looked back. There was no returning.

2:00pm. My watch was losing battery as it flashed the time dimly flickering. II had been working for hours. I had no idea where I was going, I just found myself moving forward blindly. I wasn't thinking. My mind was elsewhere, thinking about Max. Was he telling the truth? I couldn't believe him anymore.

Sweat beaded on my forehead. The heat was killing me. My head was spinning. I felt my hands ache after gripping onto the gun. My mouth was dry and my eyes were closing. I needed to rest.

I walked into the abandoned motel. I leaned over the counter and opened one of the drawers. taking one of the key cards. I walked down the dim hallway to the last room, 237. The only glimpse of light in the corridor, came from the holes in the ceiling. 

I took the key card and held it in front of the sensor. How could I be so stupid. There was no electricity. I dropped the card and put the bags down, Wilson jumped out. I kicked the door down. It fell with a 'THUD' making the dust that rested on the floor, whirl. 

I coughed, waving the dust from my vision. The room was cold and...empty. I missed my home. The bed was in the corner of the small room, it's frame was old and creaky. I pushed down on the mattress, it's stiffness made me cringe. The rusted springs underneath it made a high pitched squeak as I sat my bag down on it. Wilson wasn't enjoying the new surroundings either. I took off my shoes as I watched him run after a rat, his claws trying to grab at it's fur, missing each time. 

The walls were stained with old, dead fungus and the sound of the wind winding down the halls from all the holes in the wall, outside could be heard.

I sat down on the bed and immediately got back up. The mattress was killing me. I pulled it off onto the floor, the frame, bare and rusted. I dusted the mattress and turned the pillowcases inside-out before putting them back on. The sheets had holes in them from insects. I threw them all onto the 'bed' and lay down on it. I was exhausted and immediately found myself knocked out.