Apocalypse: The Ice King Returned

Chapter 41: The Navarro Restaurant

They approached the entrance of the restaurant together. Although the front door was made of glass, it looked very thick. Even if the effects of doomsday hit the restaurant head on, it left only a few cracks left behind. But the glass was covered with dried blood, sending a chill down the spines of everyone who saw it. It looked like the restaurant of the dead.

Luther frowned when looking through the glass door at the scene inside. 

A cursory glance at the 300-square-meter hall revealed dozens of mutilated bodies sprawled across the floor.

The hall's marble floor was stained with streaks of blood.

The hotel counter was overpowered by the smell of the wine shelves in the rear. The bottles were smashed all over the floor, and a decomposing body was lying under it. Looking at the corpse’s dress, it looked to belong to the lady behind the counter, but now she was nothing more than a pile of rotting flesh.

The scene in the hotel lobby was hellish and filled with gore.

Luther pulled on the handle of the glass door, and there was a man inside who did the same thing as Luther. The corpse of a man was lying on the floor, and he must have been hanging onto the door handle trying to escape a horde. He wasn’t so lucky, however.

Luther looked at the half-headless body hanging from the door handle. He pulled open the glass door, and the body followed as if the tension in the body was still gripping on in hopes that it can still escape.

A gust of wind blew by, carrying a rotten smell through the hall. It was extremely pungent, and it made the group cringe.

Luther held a wet cloth around his nose and exhaled, steadying his breathing.

The group of survivors followed closely behind him, and as soon as they reached the door they were thrown back a few paces by the strong smell of decay. Elena even retched.

"I can't stand it anymore. It smells like the underside of a graveyard in here."

"I wonder how many people must have died."

A few imitated Luther, covering their noses with wet cloths, scanning the filthy hall. Their faces were all grim and their hearts beat faster.

Before, if they were attacked by a few zombies, they wouldn't have seen it as a big deal, but now as they were looking at the hall full of corpses, they were frightened at the thought.

Luther peeked down the dark stairway inside the hotel lobby. It resembled the mouth of a monster, ready to devour anyone that goes inside.

Of course, there was an elevator next to it, but the elevator doors were stuck open from a dead body in between them and the lights weren't on, so it obviously wasn't working.

"I've been in the Navarro restaurant before. The second and third floors are above the restaurant and banquet hall, then above that is the sports room, then the network club; KTV entertainment. We need to go through the entertainment club to get to the 7, 8, and 9 floors, which are the residential suites.

"The difference between them is that the seventh floor is a high-end room, and the eighth floor is an ordinary room. There isn’t a staircase going straight up there. We have to go through the high-end rooms to get to the ordinary rooms, and finally to the top of the luxury suite. I don't know how to get to the rooftop any other way." Elena, recovering from her nausea, explained all of this, but Luther didn't get it.

"In other words, these stairs do not reach the rooftop?"

When Elena shook her head, Luther frowned.

Frank, who kept quiet, spoke up, “Isn't that illegal? Shouldn’t this building have an emergency stairway in case of a fire or something?”

"They do it for the money, of course," said Oliver, rolling his eyes in a familiar expression. "If you walk through an entertainment club, you go in and play. Will you go to live in an ordinary house after seeing an expensive one?"

Elena only sighed. "There is no way out. Business is not very developed here. The landlord has been warned to change the entrance to a proper one, but he has been putting it off. He is a big taxpayer, and besides the fact that there are some security risks on this staircase, other security measures are in place."

Angry Frank said, “No wonder there are so many bodies in there. It looks like they're all people trying to get out. It must be the complexity of the stairs; they've lost the best time to escape. The owner of the restaurant did a terrible job, asking so many people to pay his debts when he knew he had made a mistake."

Frank looked fat and honest and spoke with such good sense that Luther couldn't help but look at him curiously.

"Frank's dad was hit by the boss in front of doomsday. A few days later, doomsday was coming. His dad was bitten to death by the zombie because of his weak legs. So, he has a lot of hatred for the bosses."

Elena was afraid that Luther might misunderstand Frank's state of mind, so she explained, "I oversaw the investigation when Frank's father was hit. When I took the evidence, I knew Frank through my neighbors. Frank used to be very filial, helpful, humorous, and talkative, but after his father died, he became silent.

Luther nodded his head slightly. In fact, he didn't mind the mentality of Frank. If he could survive on doomsday, no matter how good he was, he would be affected by the rage of doomsday. Compared to Eric, who was kind on the outside but treacherous and wicked on the inside, Frank was a very normal person.

Frank looked at Elena, his red face softened.

“Go upstairs when you're ready. There is no danger yet, but you have seen these bodies, and if you are careless, you may well be their companions."

Luther’s words applied some pressure on the group, but overall their spirits were raised. They were motivated to walk away from this unscathed.

Luther stepped over the bodies on the ground and walked inside while others followed, gingerly.

At the top of the stairs, Luther turned on his headlight. The corridor was very dim despite the small beam of light.

On the banisters, they could see rotting hands and bodies still leaning on them. It was a frightening sight for them.

Luther heard Oliver gulp. He smashed the wall beside him, and the silence was broken by a long echo.

Luther did this mainly because he wanted to make a sound that would distract and embolden the rest of the group. It was also a way of attracting any zombies out of the shadows so they wouldn’t be in danger of a surprise attack later.

The echo died, they were left in silence. No zombies seemed to be in the building.

Luther was the first up the stairs, and the others, though their hearts beat fast, followed.

The corridor was about two meters wide. Except for the small light, it was completely dark the further they went. Only their footsteps could be heard in the corridor.

On the second floor, there was a closed metal door in the corner, and suddenly there was a cry behind it. It sounded sad, like a ghost who was mourning. The sound sent a shrill jolt up their spines.