A GODLESS WORLD [editing in progress]

Chapter 13 (The red brick motel)

We park by the office building.
I take a deep breath as the car comes to a stop.
Thomas had woken up by this point and Ruby vaguely described to him what was going on, leaving out the part with the man and woman.
"Stay close to me," I say to Thomas as we all get out of the car. The air smells as tho it is about to rain. I could almost always smell it when rain was coming. My mom always told me that it was because I could smell the ozone, I never understood what that meant.
"I think it's going to rain," I say.
"Well then let's get this done," Kilik says as he joins the rest of us and leaves Zena in the truck. We walk toward the door of the office building, the boys take a protective stance in front. There is a sign on the door which says that the motel is closed for the season. There is a bored with the fishing seasons, all the places you could fish and the types of fish you could catch on the wall next to the door.
"We'll have to break open the door," Fin says after he tries the nob and it's obviously locked. The door is metal with a bolt lock.
"I may know how to open it. If we can get something hard and bash the lock in it should open." Kilik says. I look around for a rock or something. There's a small flower bed next to the door against the wall. I look behind the small bush on the edge of the flower bed, I find a key.
I grab It and try it in the lock, I twist the key hoping for the best. It won't budge.
"Is that the key?" Ruby asks when she notices what I'm doing.
"it's a key, but unfortunately it's not for this door. Maybe there's a back door." I reply.
"It's worth a look. I'll come with you, well Kilik and Ruby try to get this door open. " Fin says. I nod in agreement. The building isn't very big so it doesn't take long to walk around to the back. The back wall is made from the same red bricks, but these ones look older. There is no door tho. I turn on my heels and start to walk back the way we came, Fin stops me by grasping my hand.
"We should go around this way just to see what's on the other side," he says. I nod and follow him. This side is not much different than the other side, bare red brick with no doors or windows. I hear glass brake out front. I run back to join the others who had noticed a small window above the door. They had broken it and Ruby is on Kilik's shoulders about to climb through. Ruby gets through the window and opens the door from the inside.
The door swings in revealing Ruby who has a huge smile on her face.
"Good job kiddo," Kilik smiles as he tassels her hair.
"Hey, I'm not a kid!" She says hitting his shoulder. Kilik smiles more and walks further into the small building. As I get inside the building, I
see the desk where guests would have checked in. The keys are all neatly hung on nails on the wall behind the counter. There are kid's drawings on the wall next to the counter. The thought of Mollie runs through my mind. She should be here with us, I wish I could have protected her. The tears I had been trying to fight back start to flow. Ruby turns me to face her and hugs me tightly. She knew what I was thinking.
"I know this whole thing is horrible but we need to stay strong for Thomas," Ruby says to me.
"Are you ok Scar?" Thomas asks tugging on my pant leg. I let go of Ruby, wipe my tears quickly and sniffle a little.
"I'll be ok, don't worry." I try to reassure him. I could hear the sadness in my own voice. Thomas gives me a small smile. I turn around to see Fin is behind the counter. It reminds me of the first day of this whole thing when we met him back at the gas station.
"There's not a lot here that's all that important, other than the keys," Fin says before coming to join the rest of us. I look around the room once more and don't see anything useful.
"Let's check the rooms and pick one to stay in for the night," Kilik says.
"We should move the vehicles to the other side of the parking lot for easier access," Fin says.
"Good idea, we should wait till we pick the room we're going to stay in first," Kilik replies. Fin nods yes in response.
"Do you want to wait in the car well we make sure the rooms are safe?" I ask Thomas. He nods in agreement. I pick him up and put him on the driver's side of the car.
"You stay right here. Honk the horn if you see anyone, okay." I say. He nods again and smiles at me. I take the keys out before closing the door and locking it. I slip the keys into my pocket and go over to meet the others. We all start walking across the small parking lot. I feel a drop of water on my shoulder and then another on my head.
"It's starting to rain," I state.
"Well let's start at the far end and we'll each check a room. We'll get done faster that way," Kilik says.
"I'll take the farthest room," Fin says before handing Kilik the keys to rooms 5, 4 and 3. Kilik hands me the key to room 5 and gives Ruby the one for room 4. We each go to our respective doors. I grab the nob, take a deep breath and put the key in the lock. I hear the familiar click of the lock disengaging. I twist the nob and take another deep breath as I open the door.