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Cormac hugged his brother, face grim. “It seems a bit too convenient that he was able to set up a trap that separated us from Octavius so quickly.”
Turney frowned. “You’re right… I doubt this was just luck on his part.”
Cormac closed his eyes, head cocking for a moment. “There are cameras in this room… I can hear them.”
Did cameras make a sound?
“So, he is likely watching us,” Henry sighed. “It puts us at a disadvantage, but there’s nothing we can do about it. And destroying all the cameras would take too long.”
Turney looked at everyone, thinking over where to go from here. He paused and listened. Turney didn’t really hear the cameras, but he did hear a lot of clocks ticking, and the heartbeats of his companions. Outside the room, he couldn’t hear much. It was as if most of the sounds of the building had been muted, yet he heard a single heartbeat. A slow heartbeat going up.
“Octavius is going up the stairs, so I guess we should head back and up? On the map…I think it showed the main stairway was around the corner, to the right of where Octavius should leave the room he was in. This trap was likely on both sides, so that no matter what hallway we took, we’d be separated, forcing Octavius to take the stairs. Unless…Octavius is suddenly led to somewhere underground… I’m guessing he will continue upward.”
* * *
Scarlett frowned.Turney wasn’t wrong, Octavius was heading up, unless it was another creature they were hearing—doubtful though. She was pretty sure that Dayan was hiding whatever else was here.
But there were so many variables. Was there a trap waiting to separate them on every floor? Because Dayan had no way of knowing how they were going to search. They were being watched. However, did the traps have automatic triggers, or did someone have to set something in motion? Would it be worth it to track down the cameras around them and take them out? Henry was no doubt correct on that—there were too many, and it would just slow them down.
She sighed. “It’s as good a plan as any. There are likely more traps. I don’t hear any heartbeats besides our own. I’d have to guess that is Dayan’s doing, as surely there are more creatures here than just us. Not that ghouls are likely to have heartbeats, but they do make quite a bit of noise. Either way, everyone needs to be prepared for anything.”
The others nodded. And they headed back the way they came.
When their group reached the lobby, they headed up the stairs to the right of the check-in desk, but ended up turning back when they came across another wall. Taking the left stairway up, they found the way open.
The stairway brought them out onto the left side of the second floor, into a large open space lounge area. The furniture and décor was much more broken down and obviously aged compared to the hallway that had the spike trap. The carpet under their feet was coated in a thick layer of dust, making them leave a trail where they walked. Oddly, halfway in the carpet gave way to tiles.
There was a door on each wall of the large room. Scarlett stared for a moment. She hadn’t gotten a good look at the map, but she was going to assume the one on the far wall would take them out into a hallway that should lead to the stairs.
“I guess we head for the stairway? Maybe we can meet up with Octavius there?” Turney suggested.
“It’s probably blocked,” Theo sighed.
“Probably…” Min-ji said, before adding, “But we may as well look.”
The younger zombie nodded. “From what I recall, there are another set of steps on each floor. But I can’t remember where they are all located. I do know the only stairway that connects every floor is the one Octavius is currently using. But…what if…both ways up are blocked?” Turney asked, voice tinged with worry.
“We’ll break through the damn floor if we have to,” Scarlett said with a smile as she patted his shoulder, trying to help him stay calm. With each passing moment, Turney seemed to be drawing closer to freaking out. He was trying though, she knew he was. But it wasn’t good to place new zombies into such stressful situations.
Turney returned her smile with one of his own, even though it was strained. “Let’s go then, I guess.”
Their group weaved through the chairs, heading to the door on the other side of the room.
“You know…there were supposed to be ghosts, or rather wraiths, right? A shit ton of them. Why…” Cormac’s words trailed off at the sounds of something inhuman.
They all stopped and slowly turned towards where the noise had come from. The door on the right wall bulged outwards twice before it flew off its hinges, and three horribly mangled ghouls burst in.
Three soulless pairs of eyes rolled around, barely contained in their sockets. Those dead gazes locked onto her and the others. They remained frozen for a moment, just staring. Shrieks shattered the silence as the three creatures charged at them.
She witnessed Cormac falling under one, right before another collided into her. Growling, she grappled with the being, falling to the floor. Scarlett slashed and clawed at the thing, before she finally managed to get her hands around its neck. With all her strength, she dug her nails in. Ignoring it clawing at her sides, she yanked its head clean off. Even so, the body still attacked.
Hissing, she flipped them over. Scarlett ripped the thing’s hands out of her flesh. Ignoring the pain, she set to the task of tearing the ghoul to pieces. When there were only harmless pieces of flesh left, she stumbled to her feet. Eyeing the fights going on around her, she quickly assessed who needed assistance, and then jumped in to help Turney fight off the ghoul on him.
Theo had transformed into his second werewolf stage—now a large bipedal beast. He had a body clamped in his jaws and was viciously shaking it. Cormac was fully in his wolf form, attacking the smaller pieces that were still trying to harm them. Henry and Min-ji were working together to take down two new ghouls that had burst through the previously closed door to the left.
“Fuck… How many ghouls did that asshole create?” Turney rasped, just as they finished rendering another ghoul into a writhing mass of flesh.
“I’m going to assume it's a lot more than we have already seen,” Scarlett said with a sigh. “Are you…” Her voice trailed off at the sound of a strange clicking noise from above.
