Chapter 4

413 15 2
                                    

It's been a few weeks since Keith, Takashi and Lance all came together. They were all exhausted, tired and confused. They still didn't get any news and barely met any people. Most of their trips were quiet unless talking was really necessary. Keith actually enjoyed that a little, though the silence was a little awkward sometimes.

Lance even managed to get some weapons from a sports shop close to their last stop. So, pretty much everything was okay. It felt a little like a roadtrip across the entire country to Keith. Just without traffic and other people. Actually, cross out the fun of your roadtrip checklist as well and add walking corpses instead. And instead of cool retro fast food restaurants they have canned food and only water. But that sounds nice, too, right?

Takashi let out a small sigh and rolled down the windows. The air was actually somewhat clean in that area. Either all the zombies skipped it or the air was long filtered by the trees again. Maybe it was also just the night air.

Right. Night. Keith didn't even notice it got late again. He also didn't notice how numb his butt was from all the driving again. He couldn't wait to get out of the car again to walk a steps. The next stop would probably be like disney-world to him. He was excited and would be the first one to be out of the car. Just like the kids they always show on the disney commercials and ads. His excitment was pretty well hidden though. It was probably thanks to the fact he was tired.

 Keith never even thought about being tired. At least not since he met Takashi. He barely slept and if he did, he was easy to wake up. Keith just assumed the tall man had seen some stuff before, but he never really asked. Privacy was always very important to the Korean so he wouldn't really force people to tell him something if they didn't seem comfortable, no matter how curious he actually was. 

He could only imagine what Takashi might've seen and went through. Keith assumed he might've been in a war or maybe the man used to be a police man. Police men get hurt often, right? Maybe there was a dangerous killer he tried to stop, but lost his arm instead. That would be cool. Well, a cool story to tell small kids, not really cool for Takashi or the people who might've seen what happened.

"There's a hotel. It seems secure," the japanese man mumbled as he pulled in a parking lot close to said hotel. Keith didn't even notice that there were any buildings around them, but instead of asking if it was a good idea to go he turned around to shake Lance awake. "I assume there are people in there. I hope they won't mind us," he continued as he looked around to make sure everything around them was save.

He slowly climbed out of the car, signaling Keith and Lance to follow. Lance didn't quite understand anything until Keith made the first move. They moved quietly and carefully as they went over to the door of the hotel. It was pretty big but no lights were on and no one was in sight. Takashi softly knocked on the door, even though it was abvious no one would here that. He knocked a little harder. If there were any people they might've thought they were zombies, running against the door.

It took a few moments until Keith could see someone walk down the stairs. Whoever was walking down there was careful and quiet, but made fast movements. Once they noticed three actual people standing there they moved closer to the door, holding a bat in their hands. "Weird guy," Lance mumbled under his breath. The closer the person got Keith could also notice that it was a man. A man with very long hair.

The stranger lowered his bat as he unlocked and opened the door slowly. He couldn't even ask who were before Takashi started to talk. "Hello, sorry for that. We kinda don't really know where to stay. We have a few cans with soups and other stuff,magazines, candy and clothing," he explained. Good job. That's how to make people think you controll everything and are basically a computer who doesn't know how to sound nice. Well, Takashi did sound nice and even smiled, but his words weren't really welcoming.

The man with the long hair blinked a few times and scanned the group, his eyes landing on Keith last. He stared at him for a while before grinning and opening the door a little further. "Very well, strangers. Bring everything inside and let's have a talk!"

A shiver ran down Keith spine as he turned around, pulling Lance to the car as Takashi had a little chat and guarded the door with that person. It was so weird how easily they could gain the strangers trust. The Korean let out a small huff of air as he started to unload the car and bring the modst important stuff into the hotel's lobby. Lance helped of course and even went to lock the car after everything was on top of the reception counter.

Keith flinched when he heard the big door slam and lock shut after a few moments. He couldn't help but feel a little weird in this hotel. Why would it still be this neat, with almost no one left. There weren't even blood stains anywhere. Almost as if the zombies never reached the tall building.

About an hour later they had everything stored in the kitchen and in their rooms. They didn't really want seperate rooms but apparently that man wanted to save the bigger suits and room for families who might find this place here. It almost sounded like a bad excuse to have the group seperated just to feel saver or something like that. The point is that Keith felt very uncomfortable as he walked down the hall.

They were told they're gonna meet in a bigger room to introduce each other and just talk for a while. Getting to know each other better.

Keith was the last one to arrive. He didn't say anything as he went inside the room, sitting down on the small sofa placed in the middle of the room. There was a coffee table between two bigger sofas. It almost seemed like an apartment. It even had a coffee machine and a small stove and a microwave. He let out a small hum as he looked around.

"Well, now that everyone is here," the man began and smiled as he leaned back against the sofa. That was when Keith noticed three women next to the man. They all had strange looks on their face as they watched every movement Lance, Takashi and Keith made. 

"I'm gonna start. My name is Lotor and I own this place. These three beautiful women are Acxa, Ezor and Zethrid. They work here as waitresses, actually. Or at least they used to when our restaurant was running."

Takashi barely hesitated. "Nice to meet you. I am Ta- Just call me Shiro. This is Keith and Lance." He pointed to the younger men with a friendly and warm smile. Lance smiled too while Keith just gave a small nod.

These women were just as strange as that Lotor guy himself. They didn't seem to friendly. Only one of them smiled and they just looked like they were ready to attack if anyone made a wrong move. Keith wouldn't be surprised if they would kill without even thinking about it twice. He's not really different when he feels like someone would wanna hurt him or who he liked to think of as his friends.

"Three very excelent looking man. What a coincidence!" Lotor grinned as his eyes fell on Keith again, who just tensed up a little. There was something very wrong, but Keith couldn't really tell what.

He felt uncomfortable and he could tell that Lance wasn't fully comfortable either. His eyes kept shifting from person to person as he hugged a pillow tightly to his chest, though he smiled anyways.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

I am so sorry for the long wait! I've been really busy lately and I didn't really know what to write either! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, even though it's a little short.

Do you think Keith has the right to feel that uncomfortable around Lotor and his three companions? Or is he just overthinking stuff?

More Than SurviveWhere stories live. Discover now