Chapter 14
718 Words
14
Milan pulled down the handle on the door and pulled it towards him, the paintwork on the doorframe catching as the door finally gave way with a small thud. He peered through the gap and down the corridor. The coast was clear.
He signalled to Zoran, and opened the door.
They’d decided it was best to leave their rucksacks in the room. All they had was a spare change of clothes and a couple of chocolate bars. Nothing that couldn’t be replaced. Being caught walking down the corridor with all their belongings would look far too suspicious. They had to be careful how they handled this. The girl at the front desk would be easy enough to overpower. Then it was just a case of taking the keys off her and letting themselves out.
They’d both been champion sprinters in their school back home, and they were pretty sure they’d have no trouble outrunning anyone who gave chase. Whatever happened, they at least had to try.
They walked to the end of the corridor and opened the door that led into the lobby. Milan looked up and tried to hold back the gasp that attempted to escape his lips.
The girl working the lobby had been replaced by a man, and a huge man at that. He looked over at Milan and Zoran and his eyes narrowed.
‘What do you want? Get back to your rooms.’
‘Do you have any cigarettes?’ Zoran said, sensing that Milan was about to completely clam up.
‘Cigarettes?’
‘We haven’t had a smoke for hours. We can’t sleep without a cigarette first, and we want to be well rested for tomorrow.’
Milan was impressed with his friend’s sincerity and acting abilities.
The man looked them both up and down, then reached under the counter for a packet of cigarettes.
‘These will come off your allowance, you realise that?’
Zoran nodded.
‘And you smoke the f*****g things outside in the back yard. We don’t need you stinking out the building with this, alright?’
Zoran and Milan both nodded.
The man gestured for them to follow him, through a door behind the desk and down another corridor. Milan noted a fire extinguisher attached to the wall about five or six metres from the end of the corridor. When they got to the end, the man took a bunch of keys from his pocket and started to look for the key to the back yard.
Milan nodded to his friend, who launched himself at the man, jumping onto his back and pummelling his fists into his head.
Milan turned his attention to the fire extinguisher. He tried to wrestle it free from the wall, but it was jammed tight onto its mounts. He looked over just in time to see the man easily throw Zoran from his back, his friend landing awkwardly in a heap on the floor.
He watched as the man aimed one, two, three kicks at Zoran’s abdomen, the fire extinguisher still struggling to come free.
With Zoran groaning on the floor, the man turned to Milan and marched over to him with a look of pure fury on his face. Thinking quickly, Milan pulled the yellow pin out of the fire extinguisher, aimed the hose at the man’s face and clamped the handle down.
The jet of foam hit the man square in the face and made him stagger into the wall. With one final effort, Milan wrenched the fire extinguisher from the wall, brought it back behind him and swung through the foamy fog towards where he thought the man’s head might be.
The sickening thud that followed told Milan he’d hit his target. He stamped and kicked wherever he could, trying to inflict as much damage as possible. He brought the fire extinguisher down again, again, again, listening to the crunch of bone and cartilage.
‘Zoran. The keys. Get the keys.’
Zoran crawled to his knees and retrieved the keys from the man’s hands, just as the door to the lobby flew open. Two men came charging towards them.
‘The door! Open the f*****g door!’ Milan yelled to his friend, as he unleashed another cloud of foam in the direction of their two new assailants.
After what seemed like an age, Milan felt the air rush in behind him and the light flood down the corridor as the door swung open.
Hurtling the fire extinguisher in the general direction of the two men, he turned and fled.
- Writer
