Hotel Selten

Stumbling Into Things

Ophelia looks at Hugo confused, “What do you mean? Is someone stopping me from remembering all of this?” Hugo shrugs, “I meant was, you are free to remember anything you need to remember. You deserve it after all of these years just questioning your existence. Do you even know what’s the name of your parents?” Ophelia nods, “Their names are Dred and Helda. That’s all I know about them. Their names. I don’t even have any pictures of them whatsoever. Just names.” Hugo places the can of heated corn beef on the counter, “That’s rough.” Ophelia finishes her food as she stands and stretches her limbs then decides to take a walk outside. 

She looks at the distance that she can see some excavators, bulldozers, and some vehicles that she can’t recognize. Those are the same vehicles that they saw on their way here, it seems they have been working a lot since they are getting near their space. She decided to approach Miss Eve, “The workers are fast approaching us, should we start preparing to move into places at least?” She said as they both look at the horizon blocked by the excavators’ arms. “Good idea.” She smiles as she went inside and gathered them. “We have a little inconvenience. We need to leave as soon as possible here. The clearing is fast approaching in our own little place. We just need to find a better place to be in. So, pack every food that won’t spoil much and is ready to eat, at most.”

They all agree as they grab some of the grocery bags and pack the things they needed. They gathered once more as they look at Diether who was carrying four grocery bags. “What? We might get hungry a lot.” The others hold their laugh as Melvin helped him to carry all those bags. He looked at the bags which are full of ready-to-eat packs of food such as cooked steaks and fish. “Remember, be vigilant to everything, especially to those who might attack us. Watch out for any debris that is still standing, it might break and fall on you. Be quiet while we travel through this mess. We will only use Melvin’s ability to lift big debris if we really need to since we don’t want any attention. Understood?” 

They nod as Miss Eve smiles, “We shall go then.” They left the convenience store as they traverse the debris-filled lands of Paris. “Damn, even Eiffel Tower didn’t stand a chance to that Godzilla octopus!” Diether said as he looks at the famous tower resting on other buildings that fall with it. “Get it? Stood a chance? Stood…?” Eshne rolls her eyes, “Stop, it’s not funny, Diether.” Ophelia’s action was opposed to what she has said, she giggled. “Ophelia gets it, you slow burner. Get it, slow burn—” He stopped as Eshne glared at him. “Don’t continue that fight and be quiet also. We don’t want any police or anyone who is trying to be the hero for this hopeless land sees or even hear us.” Hugo said as Diether scratched his head. 

“Jackpot! The heavens are with us!” Blaise exclaimed as they found a hardware store that has a lot of debris around it, but it seems its nearby establishments that were much taller than it didn’t smash its roof. The entrance was a bit all jacked up, with the sign just hanging from the single nut that was still intact from where it is attached. “It’s not the best, but I’ll get my projects going to help us!” He said as they traveled through the debris that was blocking the way. Melvin helped them to clear debris that made the blockage taller which he placed gently on the ground behind them since rocks crashing could make a lot of noise. At last, after minutes of traversing the path to the establishment, they have arrived on its front. They entered as Melvin pulled the sign off the attachment to the nut and used it as the door. Its entrance was made out of glass and its door is not in a very good condition, the frame was bent and the glass, like everything else, was broken.

They looked around as they were startled by the dead bodies lying on different parts in the store. They were rotting and obviously smelly. “Oh god, this is not the blessing I am looking forward to,” Blaise said as they all cover their noses in their own way. Peony pushed the metal banner to get out as she pukes outside. “There are three bodies in total here, poor ones, they haven’t made it,” Thilda said as Eshne moves forward as she pulls up her mask that she got from the store. “I can burn them… Like what I did when we found the two dead bodies in the staff room back at the store. It’ll be fast, I don’t like what they look like.” Thilda thinks, “Maybe not here. Ernest, could you take them outside?”

“Well, take a good distance. You don’t want to go nearby this.” Ernest gulps as he stretches his arm in front of the body as he holds the urge to puke and stop. The body floats outside as the others start puking also in the combination of the disgusting sight and smell. Minutes of holding everything later, Ernest have collected all the bodies and piled them all in one place that Melvin cleared just for the burning of it. “Eshne, do it! Fast!” Blaise said as Eshne shots a ball of fire to the body as the upper catches fire and started to burn. The rest of the bodies caught on fire too and finally started to burn. “In we go! I don’t want to smell burning decaying human flesh!” Diether said as they rushed inside the building, blocking it off once more with the sign. 

“The store is now perfumed with dead body smell, great!” Blaise said sarcastically said as he browses through the shelves of products that were to be sold to consumers. He grabs some of the products and placed them on the counter. “We can’t do anything about that, even the outside smells worse,” Hibi said as she looks around. Thilda takes a seat on the low shelf with the boxes that were on it on the ground, lying. “That fire might call out ‘help’ to others. Which is bad to us.” Thilda commented as she grabbed an elastic band and ties her hair into a ponytail. “Don’t worry, they will just call that helicopter water thing. I don’t even know if they will care anymore since fires are starting here and there these past few days.” 

Eshne grabbed a bucket of paint and twisted the lid the open it. She grabbed the smallest paintbrush in the store and dipped it on the red paint. She then proceeds to vandalize the wall, writing ‘Eshne was here’ with a heart in the end. “What in Paris’ greatness are you doing, Esh?” Diether said as he approached her, “Just marking I was here, it’s free to vandalize right now!” She said as she continues making drawings with her red paint. Ophelia looks outside as she watches the bodies burn and the smell of the burning bodies are conquering the air they breathe. Blaise is now working with some weapons that could help them, such as knives and repaired some of the guns that he has, and created temporary ammunition for it. 

The smoke from the fire is reaching high up in the sky, the people on the other side notices the fire. “Another fire…” A pilot groans as his companions pat his shoulders, “Well, back at the sweet sweet helicopter!” They board the helicopter as raise it to attach a refilled water bucket. They took their way to where the smoke is coming from. As they went there, they stopped and positioned the helicopter just above and releases the water. “Is that…” One of them spoke as the next one seems to know what he is referring to, “It smells like a burning dead body.” 

They looked down as the fire extinguishes, “It is a dead body!” Exclaimed one of them that was heard inside the establishment. “Oh no, they have discovered it,” Ophelia said as they were hiding at the very end of the hardware store. “As I have said, if we didn’t emit any noise and if we don’t move, they will not gonna see us, never,” Diether explained as they patiently wait for them to go, but it seems the opposite for the team up there. “If there are burning bodies, it shouldn’t be like that! It’s conveniently placed, it would be logical if it's burning because something burned in the buildings. Someone is down there, guys! Believe me!” The man with curly hair enthusiastically looked at his companions, “Our reputation will be retrieved!”

“I am sure they already forgot our failure, let’s just report it.” The pilot of the helicopter was about to leave but he was stopped, “Believe me this time, okay? They will be happy that we saved people! Isn’t that our mission?” The pilot looked at the other man in the helicopter as he shrugs and looks at the waiting curly-haired male. He sighed, “Fine. Just be careful when you are down there.” He nods as the two went down the helicopter and the noise of their boots landing on the ground made Ophelia and others scared. 

“Oh god, why did they came down!?” Diether said as Caldwell covers his mouth and whispered, “Shut up, you are gonna get us all killed.” He looked up to him and mumbles, “Sorry.” He released his mouth and stayed quiet. The two who came from the helicopter went into the hardware store as they all shut their mouths really hard. They hope they don’t need to escape. “Hello? Is anyone here? The rescue is on! Come on, show yourself.” One of them shouted as the sounds of their boots slowly gets louder. Their hearts were pounding and sweat was dripping from their body. Suddenly, a g*n was pointed at them which made them scream. 

“Hey! Don’t be afraid, we are here to rescue you. Why are you guys even hiding?” One of them showed up as he pats him on the shoulder, “Because you are pointing your g*n at them.” The one with curly hair looks in front of him as he laughs. “I am sorry for that, anyway, come, we will rescue you!” He said as the teens and young adults in front of them were hesitant. “Come on—” He stopped and squints his eyes, “Wait, wait, wait…. Wait a minute. You guys are that people that was—”

“Roche, break the wall!” Caldwell screamed as Roche immediately turns his arms into stone-made arms and punches the wall open. They all ran away as Esher set the counter with fire. Before they could even follow, the two rescuers were distracted by the fire emerging. Melvin and Roche helped to clear their way as they lead the group out of this mess as Blaise threw some guns to Hugo and started to shoot to hold them. “Come in, we have some problems with some hostile individuals. They seem are the ones who are on our watch list right now. Don’t question, we need help here!” 

Ophelia and others were still running as they hear some wails of sirens and the sound of helicopters with their propellers. “They are gonna surround us!” Thilda shouted as Melvin threw some of the debris at them. “Get them!” They heard a shout in a far through a megaphone. “They are indeed into us!” Diether said as he shoots them with the g*n that Blaise gave. “We just need to get out of here and find some cars or anything! Just away here from these people!” 

They stopped as there were some helicopters in their front and tried to escape, but they were cornered. “Oh no.”