Zombie survivor

Chapter 4.

I let out a scream of horror at the sight of the creatures. They were all humanoid in shape with completely pale, almost grayish skin. They had bloodshot bulging eyes, disheveled and rather unkempt hair. And their clothes, they were completely filthy. Many had bloodstains under their noses, as a sign that they had bled there at some point. There were dozens of them, dressed in different ways, some were men, and some were women. Some were adults, teenagers, and children.

Most of them were tearing the glass or hitting it with their fist or head, which only generated more wounds. However, they continued, as if they did not feel any kind of pain. And many others remained still and static, watching us through the glass.

All the people stayed away, but close enough to be able to see what was happening. The guards at the reception ran to secure the security gate, while a couple of guests dragged the chairs and began to form a blockade with them, many joined them. Tables, armchairs, luggage carts, and the luggage itself. Everything they could get their hands on. I lay there for a long time, watching those creatures. I could not believe my eyes. I felt that it must be a bad dream, my body was shaking too much and felt very heavy. I had a lot of butterflies in my stomach, which only made me feel very nauseous.

Behind me, I could hear Sam's hysterics and Vanessa trying to calm her down, while I heard Halston and Austin chattering too quietly for me to understand anything. And Jeff had possibly gone to look for his girlfriend. Alex was panting because of his asthma, he wasn't used to running so much.

The hotel manager, a middle-aged African-American man in a lustrous wine-red suit. He approached everyone nervously and caught our attention by climbing on top of a desk, which is nailed to the floor had not been able to be moved.

"Attention everyone..." he began to say: "We have no electricity, just as the phone line is dead. We will turn on the power plant for a while, but I ask that you please refrain from using electricity unless it is really necessary, as we don't know how long we will be here.”

"What about the glass?" asked Professor Carlwell in fright.

"It's bulletproof, it will hold" he assured, although he didn't sound too sure about it.

The bustle began in the room. A couple of the attendants turned on the television set that was attached to one of the columns. It showed us nothing but static, they began to move channels one at a time waiting for an image.

Vanessa approached me.

"Your head! Are you okay?" she asked.

Then I remembered the blow she had given me. With the scare of the monsters, I had forgotten about the burning.

"I'm fine... I just tripped.”

"Are you sure? It doesn't look good.”

"No" I replied: "It was so close to me... What if I had stumbled without being able to stand up? What if I had gotten tired? It was too close...”

I rested my head on her shoulder as deep tranquility came over me completely.

"You're alive, you're safe. You made it, that's what matters. Now let's get Jeff to help us with your...”

I felt a tug in my stomach, I stood up quickly and ran to vomit in the bathroom. When I came out, I felt terrible but much better. I looked in the mirror as I washed my mouth and face, I looked paler than normal and my hair was too disheveled for my liking. As I looked at my wound, the burning increased. I was relieved to see that it was no big deal. When I returned to civilization, all my friends were in a circle.

I joined them.

"Are you all right?" they asked.

"Yes, I feel better...”

An employee, apparently from housekeeping came running in with a huge first aid kit in his hands.

"The doctor didn't come today, but I found this...”

Jeff quickly accepted it and thanked him with a gesture.

"I'll take care of it" said Jeff, very sure of himself, the employee vanished: "Louis, sit.”

I obeyed in a daze, sitting down on the floor. The boy opened the first aid kit, first took a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, and with a cotton ball began to apply it to my forehead, while the rest of my friends discussed what the whole thing was about. In case I forgot to mention it, Jeff had been a volunteer at the local hospital for two years, where he had also been a paramedic assistant. He was just a year older than me and knew too much about medicine.

"How bad does it look?” I asked with a grimace from the burning.

"I've seen worse, it's not very deep" he smiled.

After a few minutes, he had finished and placed a small gauze pad on my forehead.

"Is that better?”

I nodded.

"That's good, because what I'm about to show you might upset you too much" Jeff explained.

"What's wrong?” Vanessa asked.

"I already found Janet.

We followed him up the stairs, as we had been asked not to use the elevators. We went up several floors following Jeff, although he refused to tell us where we were going. I watched everyone, everyone was coping in their own way, some were good at hiding their fear, and however, if you looked into their eyes, you knew that inside they were terrified. We went up several more floors until I understood that we were going up to the roof.

As we walked out the door, I felt the wind hit my face. The sky was sadly overcast. A few feet ahead was Janet, the girl turned and looked at us intently, and she looked worried. Jeff went over to her to hug her. We walked up to the shore and took it all in.

The main street was deserted. It was littered with hundreds of monsters that slowly roamed the street with no specific direction, just wandering around looking for someone to attack. There were many people on the roofs of other nearby buildings, all watching the street. In the distance, large plumes of smoke and fire were rising into the sky. Alarms could be heard from cars and businesses. But there was no longer a helicopter in sight.

"There's no one coming to save us" Sam said quietly.

"There's too many of them" Austin blurted out: "That glass won't hold out long.”

"What exactly did Jackie tell you?" I asked Halston.

We all looked at her.