He Strikes at the Hotel

Chapter Forty Five

Zachery's POV

The voices that I heard didn't sound too far away, so I knew she was close.

As close as she was, it didn't help the fact that these underground tunnels were like a black maze. There were doors spotted across each of the walls one after another, all of them being closed apart from the clinical room that I saw earlier. I walked down the hall as fast as I could without making any noise, trying to listen for the direction that the voices were coming from.

Then they stopped.

"Damn it!" I hissed under my breath. Now how was I meant to know where they were without opening every single door? That's when I heard footsteps coming in my direction.

I had to think fast, otherwise we would cross paths in here and there would be no way out of it, there would be no way I could save Audrey Rose. I had a single second to make a choice that meant life or death.

I need to hide. Let them pass, then go on.

I opened the first door that I saw and quickly ricocheted myself in and slowly pushed the door to, hiding my existence. I held my breath as I heard the footsteps practically right in front of me. For a second, I felt as if they hovered in front of me, sensing me behind the door. Luckily, it was my paranoia, as they continued down the hallway until their footsteps echoed in the distance, finally disappearing completely.

"Right. Now back down to business." I told myself, puffing my chest out and pulling my shoulders back, ready to face anything that came in between me and the annoyingly addictive Audrey Rose.

I opened the door ever so slightly, to check that they were definitely gone, not just my mind playing tricks on me. Once I was satisfied the hallway was empty, I crept out and headed straight down the hall, where every door looked exactly like the one before.

The air was damp and cold and clung onto your lungs as you breathed it in, as if it was poison. My footsteps were light, but they still echoed ever so slightly, teasing my senses.

Once I turned the corner, I could see there was one single door that wasn't fully closed like the rest. This was the strongest sign of hope I had seen since I had been down here, and there was the warn amber glow creating an aura that surrounded the room, pulling me towards it. She was here. She had to be.

I began to run towards the door, I had lost my consciousness of my sound, I was running full pelt towards the door where I knew she was.

Then there was a crash. It sounded like... Wood? What the...

I slowly approached the door, peering round the corner to see its contents. I laid my eyes on Audrey Rose and instantly noticed her wounds, and realised the crash was the chair she was now de-tangling herself from. I ran over to her, trying not to startle her as she was still fully engrossed in her actions.

She spun round and opened her mouth as if she was about to gasp, holding my gaze for a moment. A flash of emotion shot across her eyes, but I couldn't tell what it was. I doubt I would ever know either, as she greeted me with a fiery tone:

"It's about time you showed up! Come on, we need to get out of here!"