A Broken World (Book 3): Fractured Memories Read online

  Assuming it would be careless to investigate, especially alone, I kept walking to a door at the end of the hall. Passing by a cart, I bent down to grab a couple of towels for Mills for when I got back to our room. This room was cleared without incident like the others, and, after picking up some pain medicine from the bathroom, I shut the door behind me and stood there, biting my tongue in thought.

  Something was seriously off, reader. Normally I would have shared my concern with Jessica, but she wasn’t present in the hall. Even if our luck was better, three rooms in a row just didn’t happen. The city was devastated, sure, but the warnings were written by someone. Where the hell was the evidence of their stay? We couldn’t be the only ones who headed to the Marriot.

  There was a glimmer of moonlight through the window at the end of the hall, so I knew I’d find at least one answer soon, but I needed more. Walking back toward the room, I stopped outside the room with the horrible scent and noticed the number. That was one of the missing keys in the office locker, so I decided to get more answers by kicking the door in.

  I wasn’t prepared for what was behind it.

  Chapter 4

  The smell that washed over me was overwhelming, immediately pulling at my gag reflex, but I forced myself to breathe through it and brought up my rifle. In the ghostly green of the night vision, I could see streaks of blood covering the floor, splattering the walls…it was a visage of grotesquery. Most of the blood was dried, having been there a while, but some of it was still liquid, pooling in areas of the carpet that couldn’t retain any more.

  I followed a trail of intestines and assorted gore across the floor, regrettably locating the source: The bodies of two survivors, one male and one female, were splayed in disturbing fashion. The woman was carved open, her hollow body pressed into the wall mount where a television had once been. The man, however, was laid out on the bed, his body mostly untouched.

  My boots sunk into the carpet as I stepped forward, the blood coming up around my foot placement. The bathroom was no better, evidence that true horror was still able to shock me, but I knew there were pieces to the puzzle I was still missing. Reaching the man’s body, I checked his pulse and, not finding one, sifted through his pockets. My fingers touched paper and I withdrew a small book from his jacket, pulling out a lighter from my pocket and flicking it on.

  The woman’s body jerked to my right and I jumped, almost falling onto the bed before catching myself and turning. She couldn’t possibly be alive, lacking the majority of her insides, so she was definitely infected, but why the effort to display her like that? Making sure she wasn’t going anywhere, I flipped open the pages of the book and read their story.

  It wasn’t long, beginning just before they reached the city and ending with their last night spent alive. I would take the time to read it later, but I went straight to the last few pages for a possible explanation to their current state.

  We found a hotel to stay in for the night, maybe for a couple days if it’s got running water. The city is empty, but Carl swears he heard something earlier.

  Carl? There wasn’t a third body in this room, and I hoped it wasn’t the guy we had found in the snow. I flipped to the next page, skimming.

  We got the box open in the office and found a room on the second floor for safety. This hotel had a lot of vacancies these days, I guess. Mary didn’t like my joke, but sometimes I try to make her smile. Our room is nice, but there’s only one bed. Still, it beats the woods, especially in this weather. Tomorrow, we’ll definitely look for some winter clothes.

  Hoping he was referring to last winter, I went to the next page, a chill running down my spine and causing the hair on my arm to stand up.

  The sun went down a while ago and we’re in the room, but we’re not alone. There was a sound outside and we all heard it this time, but I don’t know what the hell it was. Carl went downstairs to check it out, but he hasn’t come back yet. Mary’s starting to get worried. I- Something just broke outside. I looked out the window and saw Carl running, but it was too dark to see what he was running from. I’m about to go down and look.

  I flipped to the last page, my chest tight.

  I don’t know what the fuck that was. Carl was bleeding and something was chasing him into the forest, but I don’t know what I saw. It was…I don’t know. I don’t think it saw me, though. I- There was that sound again. It was a lot closer, like it’s inside the hotel. Mary is scared and I’m trying to calm her down, but I am, too. Carl- It’s outside the door. I don’t know how it found us. Maybe it knew the key we took, or maybe…I’m so scared, but it’s still outside the-

  The “e” stretched, ink scratching off the page, with spots of blood staining the paper. I shut the book and slid it into my back pocket, hurrying to the door before stopping in place. These people had been viciously murdered, but not by zombies. My eyes shifted to the woman, watching her zombified corpse wrench against the anchors. Simple zombies wouldn’t have displayed them like this.

  I had seen this carnage before, back in Louisiana, but this…did they let them turn before eating them? There was too much weird shit going on, and I needed to get back to Jessica before…

  A primal howl outside cut off my thoughts, sending my brain into survival mode.

  There was that sound again…

  Chapter 5

  I ran down the hall, flinging our door open and locking it shut. Kicking open the bathroom door, I quickly averted my eyes as Jessica was getting out of her bath. I held out the towels, which she took and wrapped around herself.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I’ll explain in a minute, but the short version is that we need to barricade this room as best we can and hope I’m wrong.”

  “Okay.” Mills pushed past me and grabbed a side of a nightstand, glancing over at me. “Are you gonna stand there or help me?” I picked up the other side and we set it against the door, doing the same with the other nightstand. By the end, every piece of moveable furniture in the room was against the door, but part of me still continued to look for a way out.

  “Assuming that a bedroom set is enough to hold the door, care to fill me in?” I was about to answer when I heard something downstairs, bringing a finger up to my lips. Reaching in my back pocket, I pulled out the journal and handed it to her, whispering, “Last page.” She flipped to the end, her expression becoming grimmer as she read.

  When she was finished, she held it out and met my eyes, thinking the same thing. If he was right in this journal, and whatever it was came to their room because of the missing key, then it was only a matter of time before our door was next. Right now, I know you might be asking why Jessica and I didn’t just sweep the halls, guns blazing, but seeing as we didn’t know what, or how many, we were up against, it seemed prudent to wait.

  Jessica turned and glanced at the window of the room, stepping softly across the carpet to crouch next to the glass. Looking back at me, she shook her head, letting me know she didn’t see anything. I pointed to her clothes on the bed and resumed looking for another way out, knowing the window was probably a bad idea.

  With a cinephile revelation, my eyes shot to the ceiling. While Mills pulled her jeans on the rest of the way, the denim hugging her figure, I stood on the edge of the bed and stretched my arm to push on the air vent. It barely budged, and I noticed a screw holding each corner in place.

  My arms were losing feeling as I withdrew the Ka-Bar and painstakingly began unscrewing the cover. No matter how much my arms protested, or how many times I had to lower them to let blood flow back in, my instincts demanded I prepare for the worst. Jessica finished dressing and tried to help, bringing over a chair and reaching up. Her hands came well-short of the screws, though, bringing a smile to my face even as the situation grew dire.

  The smile quickly faded when I heard a door down the hall crash open, making Jessica’s adorable frown become one of genuine concern. With renewed vigor, I eased the cover down and had her hold it as I finished unscre
wing the last corner. Moments later, the vent cover dropped into our hands as another door was forced open, this one closer.

  I had grabbed the keys in the office, staggering them in case we had wanted variety, which fit the idea that they checked which keys were missing. Of course, that meant our room was next. It was also safe to assume that whatever it was would be pissed after two empty rooms, so I didn’t want to be here in the off-chance that the furniture didn’t hold.

  Pointing up, Jessica planted her foot in my hand and I hoisted her up. She pulled herself into the shaft gracefully, her slender frame fitting the tight space easily. I rushed to hand our packs and weapons up to her, along with the vent cover, sliding the M16 to her when my ears picked up a sound outside the room.

  It sounded like gurgled breathing, like a dirty pneumonia, before it suddenly stopped. I stayed motionless, waiting, until something slammed into the door with enough force to shake our assembled barricade. I thought about firing a few rounds through the door, but if it wasn’t alone, the noise would-

  There was a strangled howl from the hall, sending a chill down my spine. Seconds later, the call was answered, that eerie scream coming from elsewhere in the building. It didn’t stop there, though, as more nightmarish howling came from beyond the window of the room.

  I ran to the bathroom to blow out the candle before jumping up from the bed, my hands gripping both sides of the vent as Jessica helped pull me in. She handed me the cover and I slid it over the opening behind me, hoping they wouldn’t notice that it was inside the shaft rather than outside. With my rifle in one hand and my pack in the other, not wanting to wear it for the sake of already-limited maneuverability in such a cramped space, I followed Mills as she led the way through the ventilation system.

  I wanted to see what would come through the door, but getting a head start and surviving was more important. Besides, I had a disturbing feeling that I would find out all-too soon, because these things were clearly a threat that Jessica and I needed to remove.

  Assuming we made it through the night.

  Chapter 6

  Weaving our way through the labyrinth of ducts, I’m pretty sure we got turned around a few times. It hadn’t been long after we entered the vent that the door had given way, but it was the ensuing scream that stayed with me. The echo had sounded like they were right beside us, a thought that hadn’t entirely left my mind as we crawled down a decline in the vents.

  The sound of running beneath us caught my ear and we stopped moving almost simultaneously. I hovered over an opening in the shaft, shifting my body to get a glimpse below while also aiming my rifle in that direction. I kept my finger just off the trigger as the sound of footsteps grew closer, thumping footfalls that flooded the silent halls of the hotel. Even with my eyes adjusted to the dark, I couldn’t make out any details in the pitch black before me, but I saw the darkness move. It wasn’t the size or speed, but the possibility of a new threat that disturbed me.

  We waited until the sound of heavy running faded into the distance to move again, remembering to breathe from the tension being so thick. Crawling forward, we came to an intersection in the ducts with a ladder vertically traveling both directions. I heard the soft sound of flesh on metal and knew Jessica was climbing, so I followed suit, feeling the vibrations beneath me to know she went down to the vents above the first floor.

  There wasn’t exactly a plan in motion, but we both wanted to avoid these things until the sun came up. While they may have never figured out to look up, we were both trained in evasion tactics and movement was key. Of course, some tactics flew out the window in the apocalypse, and that lesson was late to the party.

  The first floor seemed clear, with the running and calls all coming from above us, but it wasn’t long before I bumped into Jessica, who had stopped moving. Unable to see, and hearing nothing, I eased back on my haunches and awkwardly looked through my night vision scope. Jessica had her head down, her hand outstretched in mid-crawl, and I could see an opening in the vent about four inches in front of her. Looking closer, I saw two pinpricks in the night vision and time stopped for a moment.

  One of these things was directly below us, waiting and watching for us to move over the cover. I couldn’t tell if it was holding its breath or just didn’t breathe, but it was eerie how it just stood there. Had it figured out that we had to be in the vents and just waited, staring up for however long to locate us? The better question, I suppose, was whether or not it could reach us.

  I could see Jessica try to slowly move back toward me, but the second her hand, as light as it was, touched down, the slight pressure caused the vent to crease and a blood-curdling scream shattered the silence.

  “Move!” I made a gut decision and fired two rounds at an angle, hoping to at least wound it and buy us some time. I couldn’t see the grate to know if I hit it or not, but the scream cut off with my second shot and I took that as an opportunity to catch up to Jessica. We hauled ass away from that section of duct, crawling like a toddler on a deadly mission.

  “They know we’re in the vents, so it’s only a matter of time before they come up after us.”

  “I was just about to suggest we vacate the premises, unless you had a better idea.”

  “No, that sounds good right about now,” Jessica joked, the stress obvious in her tone. She took a few more turns, getting further away from our last-known position, before we heard the terrifying sound of a cover being torn off. Seconds later, the ventilation began to wobble as something joined us in the confined space.

  “No pressure, Jessica, but we need to get the fuck out of here,” I whispered.

  “Yeah,” She breathed, trying to move faster. Her smaller frame slid through the shaft, easily turning at corners, while I had a little more difficulty. “Eric, hurry,” she called back, but it was too late. I knew it had been a while since I had felt the vibration of movement behind us, but as soon as my duct shifted I knew I had company.

  Something breathed, a shallow gurgle of anticipation, before a hand pressed against the metal. There weren’t many options, because I couldn’t move without giving away my position, so I flipped onto my back and tried to bring my rifle to bear directly under me. The sling caught on the hilt of my Ka-Bar, the smallest of metallic jingles, but it was enough in the quiet terror.

  The thing pounced, hands grabbing wildly as it scrambled toward me. Clawed fingers clamped around my calf and it tried to pull me back, but I raised my other leg to kick at it. Being just as liable to shoot myself in the leg as I was to hit my target, the rifle option was out as I wrestled the creature. My hand went to my hip, where my handgun waited, but decided against it, knowing any shot from the unsuppressed weapon would bring the entire hotel down on our position. Instead, I shoved the M4 down, the barrel colliding with something, and its grip loosened on my leg.

  Dragging myself back with my right arm, I tried to create enough separation to shoot, but it was already back on me. I attempted to use the barrel of my rifle as a bayonet again, but I must have been off because it grabbed on and tried to jerk my weapon away. As we fought over my leg and the M4, I felt something beneath us snap as the vent shifted.

  “Oh, shit,” I muttered, just before the duct collapsed and the thing and I fell to the ground below. I cursed as my back slammed into carpeted floor with a jarring impact, but the fight wasn’t over.

  Still unable to see, at least being outside of a cramped ventilation shaft allowed me to be more aggressive. I saw the silhouette of movement and lashed out with my boot, catching something in the midsection, before kicking again. That drove it back long enough for me to slide the M4 into my grip and fire into the darkness, knowing Mills was still safely in the shaft. The fraction of muzzle flash that the suppressor didn’t hide let me shift my aim to the left, landing five shots in the creature.

  When it didn’t get up again, I stood and listened as I heard running in the stairwell nearby. Jessica climbed down behind me, her voice a pleasant relief as adrenaline pounded
in my ears.

  “Eric, are you alright?”

  “Yeah,” I breathed, “but we need to get the hell out of this hotel.”

  Chapter 7

  Knowing that I had seen more enemies swarming to the hotel, the only thing Jessica and I could do was run. We exited through a back door, pushing through snow in the darkness to try and find shelter for the night. I just hoped we didn’t run into any more of those things in our blind rush toward safety.

  “Where the hell do we go?” Jessica called back to me, raising her voice to be heard over the storm that was picking up. We had both put on our coats and pulled our bandannas up to cover our mouths once more, leaving only our eyes exposed to the sleet.

  “The longer we stay in the open like this, the more likely we’ll run into something. We need to get inside, just not this close to the hotel.”

  “I think we’re close to an intersection. Come on!” I felt her hand on my arm and put mine on her shoulder, making sure we stayed together as the weather worsened. We made our way two blocks from the Marriot, after colliding with the wall of a storefront and using that as a guide. Along the way, we heard snow being kicked up nearby and stopped moving, letting the runner pass without incident.

  Far enough away from the hotel to be reasonably safe, I felt along a wall until my fingers touched a handle. Pulling the door open, I ushered Jessica inside before stepping in and pulling it shut behind us. The howl of the wind stayed outside, reduced to barely a whistle as we brushed snow off of our coats. I pulled down my bandanna and glanced around, bringing up my rifle to see without alerting anything of our presence.

  We were in a high-end clothing store, one I wasn’t very familiar with. I would have preferred a hardware store, or something of more use, but we were alone. Clicking off the night vision to preserve the scope’s battery, I removed the lighter from my pocket and flicked it on, holding my hand to the side to avoid being seen from the street.