They Left Us For Dead

Dead Center: Hotel

"HEY! COME BACK!" The dark-complected man yelled to the chopper, which had already made its way away from the hotel's roof. The hope I had was dwindling, and the fact I don't know these people only made matters worse.

"That chopper looks like it's headin' to the evac center at the mall!" They country boy with the cap, states. I think he might have a plan, a plan I will gladly follow.

"Gotta agree, let's follow 'em to the mall." I nod and grab an axe from the side of the table situated against the wall. I was clearly nervous, but I managed to keep a firm grip on the axe.

We all made our way down the steps and came to a closed door. I take a deep breath, preparing for what ever should come from the other side of that door.

Zombies in hazmat suits, people gone crazy, people that I once knew are just dead. The literal walking dead. There were dead bodies astray in each hallway, with blood spatters all across the walls, covering the floral wallpaper. The place I once called home was gone.

"Hey, this elevator works!" The only other woman in the group, yells. She looks like she knows how to handle a gun, making me wonder what these people did when they were normal.

"My friends call me Coach, y'all can do the same." The darker complected man says, and we all nod. Greetings.

"Name's Rochelle, you?" She cocked her gun and got ready to run.

"Ellis, it's a pleasure to meet you Rochelle and...?" Ellis turned his head to face me, giving me a slight wink.

"My name is Kelsey." I say, wiping the extra blood off of my axe. They all look at me like I'm crazy for still maintaining my 'germaphobe' trait.

"It's a pleasure to meet ya, Kelsey." I smile, Ellis seemed like a real nice man. A man I might like to stick around with.

"Son, what's your name?" Coach asked the suited man, and I was honestly curious about him the most. He seemed to hide some dark shit under that facade. Only time will tell I suppose.

"The name's Nick and that's all you need to know." He mostly ignored when we asked each other  questions, causing me to only get more curious. He carried himself like a man who knew his away around, and not exactly like a tour guide.

We raced through the horde of zombies, whilst trying our best to not become human chips. The fire was so hot, I could feel it in my bones. The smoke made it extra hard to spot incoming infected. Let alone the special infected.

"Look, it's a safe room!" Rochelle shouted and ran into the room. Coach quickly turned around and latched the door so we could be safe for a while.

Coach was cleaning his gun, Rochelle was fixing her hair, Nick was looking through his pocketbook, and Ellis was looking out the door for any stray zombies. Which left me with nothing to do. Except of course, be nosy as hell.

"So," I broke the silence and they all turned to me, "what did you guys do before the world went to die?" I situated myself on the table and waiting for their responses, or any.

"I used to be a football coach for the local high school." Coach answered, looking down at the floor while he said so. There was so much more to him, and I think we all knew it.

"I used to help my family with raisin' cattle and tobacco. Mostly, it's me and my buddy Keith doing fun shit like getting electrocuted. Oh man!" I could tell Ellis was going to be the talkative one of the group. But, sometimes silence kills.

"I worked as a news writer, and was getting ready to get married to my fiancé, Lorenzo." Rochelle's little spill had me thinking about all the futures that could have been and what they've been reduced to now.

"What about you, sweetheart?" Nick smirked at me, and I rolled my eyes. I don't need someone calling me sweetheart in the fucking zombie apocalypse.

"I'm actually a doctor, or was almost. I only had one more semester of residency and then I was a certified doctor." The whole group looked at me with hope in their eyes, like I could solve something.

"So, what do you think this 'infection' even is?" Nick asked, pausing what he was doing.

"Well, CEDA said it was a simple strand of flu, which is utterly incorrect. It is an infection, but its consistently mutating and changing so there really isn't going to be a single working vaccine or cure when we cannot trace down patient zero and so forth."

"Basically, there is no cure? We're just expected to live like fucking rats in New York City?" Nick was getting frustrated at the facts, so I decided to fill him in on some other deets I gathered whilst killing, slaughtering, and observing the zombies we encountered.

"Well, I was able to make some conclusions as to how it might work, using their symptoms, reactions, and physical appearance."

"And?" Nick was the one asking the questions but refused to answer any of ours. Times were bound to change.

"You haven't introduced yourself, Nick."

"The world ended. What I used to do doesn't matter anymore."  He had a point, but curiosity took over and I continued to bug him about it.

"Fine! I gambled. That's all you're getting." At least I got an answer. I let the rest go and we prepare for the next step on our way to evacuation center at the mall.