The Tribe - A Whole New World

19. Jade

The hotel was both amazing and sinister, a building which seemed to be both a sanctuary and a tomb. It had that stale smell of air that hadn't moved in months, mixed with the remnants of linen and potpourri. It was ominous as the boarded windows meant we were heading into darkness, but I knew that we were safe. Behind us, the hall was partially illuminated by the open door leading to the lobby and through it came the voice of Dean. I couldn't understand him, but I knew he was talking to the girls and I found it reassuring. He'd always had that ability to keep me calm and level, even when we were in the middle of a Militia war zone, or low on food and water. He was that guy you could rely on and knowing he was nearby made the darkness less miserable.

'Through here,' Skye says, holding open another door ahead. 'This leads to the kitchen.'

Our torches dance over the metal surfaces in the kitchen as we enter, shining brightly and adding prisms of light across the walls. I could see the whole room was spotless, minus the few specks of dust floating in the air. Pots and pans sat on shelves and utensils were idle in containers, all of them yearning to be used again. There were a few aprons on the back of a metal door opposite and a whiteboard labelled 'roster'. There were names listed in one of the columns, but no shifts or dates were filled in where they once would have been. It was empty. Empty of workers, void of adults, absent of life, because there was no one left to work. A shiver ran down my spine, picturing the kitchen haunted with the ghosts of chefs and waiters who had worked here.

'How many people used to work in the kitchen?' I ask, trying to distract myself, 'it's really big.'

'Quite a few,' Skye responds as she searches through the bundle of keys in her hands, 'I don't know how many exactly. People used to come and go so often, especially the wait staff. But the people who stayed, they were like family.'

'Sounds nice.'

'Yeah, it was,' Skye answers, and I hear the memories playing over in her mind. 'I don't know what happened to any of them... I assume all the adults that worked here are long gone, but some of the people working here were only just out of high school. I mean, they weren't much older than we are now.'

I could hear the conflict in her voice and knew what she was thinking. Fresh out of high school meant no older than eighteen. We weren't much younger than that. What would happen when we turned eighteen? Would we technically be adults? Was it different for everyone? We're we all just ticking closer to the day when we caught the virus too?

'I'm sure they're around, trying to survive the madness like we all are.'

'I hope so.'

'Hey, doesn't this kitchen remind you of that scene from that movie where the kids were hunted in the kitchen by dinosaurs?' I ask, desperate for a topic change. Skye pauses and looks around, then bursts into laughter.

'I never noticed, but you're right, it does,' she says, looking around the room, 'especially because it's so dark.'

'I'm waiting for the moment I have to run and hide in cupboard,' I joke, and she laughs again.

'I used to love that movie,' she says, rattling the key in the cupboard lock and opening the door. She lifts her torch and sighs in relief. I look at what Skye illuminates in the cupboard and my stomach answers in delight. Canned goods. Long-life, perfectly good canned foods. It was as close to a miracle as I'd ever seen.

'I can't believe it,' I say, shocked, 'the last time I saw this much food, it was before the virus and it was all in a grocery store.'

'Same.'

'Wait til the others see this.'

'Actually,' Skye says, her voice shifting, 'I was thinking we don't show them. At least, not all of them.'