This Would Be Paradise (Book 3)

Chapter 29

A/N: From here on out, this book is going to be a doozy...

We had already spotted the mercenaries hand and eye symbol as we approached the edge of the city limits.

"Take the forty-two exit," Lucas said.

"That's not what it says here." I pointed to the hand-drawn map.

"If we take the 3246 exit, they'll be lyin' in wait. The hotel looks like it's just off of it. We need to sneak up unnoticed," Lucas said.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "How to you know that?" I notice the others out of the corner of my eye shuffle in the back seat.

"I'm gettin' real tired of tryin' to convince you. Believe me or don't, I don't give a shit," Lucas growled. "I just don't wanna be shot as soon as we pull up."

John listened to Lucas's advice and turned off on forty-two. We took an immediate right down another road until we connected with 3246. Everyone tensed as we drove through the south part of the city. Infected had started to come out from the woodworks. John was going fast enough that they couldn't catch up to us, but it was still an alarming amount. Hopefully we weren't forced to come back this way.

We got to a large paved area with a bunch of retail stores.

"Stop," Lucas ordered.

"How do we know which hotel from here?" I could barely see the rest of the retail stores to our right, let alone the area just off the interstate where the hotel was supposed to be.

"We don't until we get closer, but we need to be on foot otherwise they'll hear the engine," Lucas said.

John parked the truck behind Joe's Crab Shack, which left us a fair distance away from the hotels. We loaded up again with weapons, this time leaving the melee ones behind. This would be a firefight. John threw on a backpack and filled it with all the ammo we had taken. He attached a suppressor to the end of his handgun.

"Got any more of those?" I asked.

John shook his head. "Just the one."

I went back to ensuring I had enough ammo. I had one extra magazine for my AR15, but didn't have one for the Beretta so I had to pocket a bunch of loose 9mm rounds. The cool, metal bullets felt weird in my jean pockets-the tight material had pushed the ammunition right against my leg.

For a brief moment, I felt the urge to pray, but I was conflicted as to what I would pray for. Did I hope they were dead like in the last compound or did I hope they were there and that we could kill them all? If they were all dead and Zoe was in there... I shook my head. No point in clouding my head with these types of thoughts beforehand.

We watered up and ate a light meal before we crossed the set of one-way roads. Even though I knew no one was driving along the road, I still looked both ways before crossing the street. It was too ingrained in me. I had to keep adjusting the AR15 on my shoulder as the strap kept slipping. I looked over at John to see he wasn't struggling with his automatic rifle, but it was mainly because of the backpack strap catching the gun one. He had the silenced handgun at the ready in case we ran into anyone or anything. We didn't want them to know we were here until we had eliminated some of them first.

We passed by another restaurant before we reached the hotel. I would have asked which hotel it was except the sound of loud music drifted obviously from the one on the left. A bunch of discarded, dead infected surrounded the area. I cringed at the smell. How did that not bother them?

"Keep down," Lucas hissed.

We practically crawled over the mound of dead infected to get to the backyard terrace wall. The bass was cranked up enough that I could feel the vibrations. Were these guys stupid? The music would bring in the infected for miles; except we hadn't spotted any live ones nearby yet. Maybe the rotting smell was keeping them away. After all, the infected didn't go after the dead. Plus, they were wasting all that power. They must have rigged up some sort of generator as the lights inside were also on.