Trapped

The boy had fallen asleep shortly after the older man had cleaned him up. The older man was sitting on the desk chair, and Henry was standing next to him. They thought it would be best to stay away from the door, and they wanted to stay with the boy, in case he needed them. 

"I know I mentioned before that we were random strangers that were never going to meet again, but I think we're sort of past that now," the older man said with a chuckle. 

He offered his hand to Henry. 

"Roy."

Henry shook his hand. 

"Henry."

He pointed at the boy. 

"Do you know his name?"

Roy shook his head sadly. 

"No. I wish I did. I did ask his name several times, but he never answered me. I don't blame him…after what happened to his folks."

Roy took out a small flask from his trenchcoat, and took a quick sip. He offered it to Henry, but he refused. Roy shrugged, and took another drink. 

"I was coming back to my room, because I forgot the simplest thing. My flask. I'm glad I did, because I was there. For him. His parents…it happened so fast. His mother…I saw her get attacked by your room, and his dad…well…he was swarmed by those things, and the blood fell all over the kid. I didn't think. I just charged for the kid, scooped him up, and locked myself in his room. Luckily the door was already open, but that poor kid…he never made a sound."

Roy dragged a hand down his face, distraught. Henry tried his best to compose himself, coming to the horrific conclusion that the boy's mother was the one who had been killed by his suite. Henry told himself there wouldn't have been any point to save her, but the nagging thought that he never even tried to save her wouldn't leave him. He swallowed, waiting for Roy to finish his tale of survival. He almost laughed, picturing himself staring in his own zombie movie. 

The only difference was that the actors were actually getting killed. 

"I'm surprised you even let us in here. I just…didn't want the kid to be in that room anymore. It was a reminder of his parents…I didn't want him to see that."

"I get it. And it's best to stick together than be alone. I honestly don't think I can do this on my own."

Roy chuckled nervously. 

"You're telling me. A small part of me thinks we have a chance, but after I saw all those people bite the dust, I'm genuinely not sure anymore," Roy said quietly. 

He purposely lowered his voice for the last part, but Henry doubted the kid was even listening to him. The kid was long gone for the time being. He watched the kid's chest move up and down through the covers. 

"If we do die, I at least hope the kid makes it," Henry whispered. 

Roy picked up his flask in Henry's direction as a salute. 

"Amen."

He took another drink before putting it back in his trenchcoat. 

"So…do you have any plan with how we can go about getting out of here?"

Henry pointed at his charging phone. 

"I tried calling a family member back home, no luck. At least for right now. And I tried the police, that obviously didn't work." Henry swung his arm hopelessly at the window, conveying the damage that was left outside of the hotel. 

Roy slapped a hand on his leg. 

"Shoot. I forgot to offer you something. You haven't had a bite to eat, have you?"

"I don't think I can eat anything."

Roy stood up from the chair, and walked over to the backpack by the bed. He opened it, and showed Henry the contents of the bag. There were snack trays, chocolate bars, water bottles, and mini Gatorades inside the bag. 

"What the fuck? Why is there so much food in here?"

"Well…from the way his parents were fighting all the time, they wanted to be left alone. They literally left the kid to fend for himself. I always thought it was weird how only the parents left the room. I think I saw the kid leave about four times in total since my stay here."

"Fucking assholes. Who leaves a kid behind like that?"

"Fucking assholes."

Henry stifled a laugh, including Roy. They both struggled to keep it together for a moment, trying not to make that much noise, in case the infected were to hear them. 

Roy took out a chocolate bar, and Henry took one himself. There was plenty of food inside of the bag, so the kid will have more than enough. Even though both men were actually very hungry, they knew better than to take all the food. This belonged to the kid, and they were going to make sure he would have more than enough to eat. 

Roy opened up his bar, motioning to the door. 

"Have you noticed something odd about those things?"

"What?"

"I think they're blind."

"What?"

Roy pointed to his own face. 

"I noticed there were multiple scratches on their faces. I think they damage themselves while they are turning…I had unfortunately witnessed that. And their eyes turn white."

Henry thought of the video he had seen on his phone, showing the infected running, their eyes a pure white. 

"Oh shit. So maybe that explains why they ran toward the elevator just now. But there was no one inside. Alive…I mean."

"Maybe one of them accidentally pressed one of the buttons?"

"Oh. Yeah."

"So…if no one had been panicking earlier…"

"I highly doubted that would have made much of a difference."

"How the fuck did this happen?"

"Hell if I know. I'm only a guest here, visiting from another state."

"Me too. Fuck. Out of all the places to choose from…we ended up here."

"You know how people say that everything happens for a reason? I think we were meant to be here. To save at least one life. And you know what? I'm fine with that."

Henry thought of his father cheating on all of his wives throughout the years. If he hadn't done any of that, he never would have had a sister. 

"I think you're right."

They ate their bars for a couple of minutes in silence. 

"Henry. I don't mean to kill anyone's spirits here, but do you think this is happening all over the world?"

Henry clutched his half-eaten bar to his chest. 

"I don't want to believe that. No. I refuse to believe that."

Roy gave him an odd look, but he didn't question it. 

"I hope you're right. Unless, this is only happening on islands like this?"

"I have no idea. I was scrolling through social media, and I think it's only this island. I did research prior to coming here, and I recognized a lot of places I was planning to visit. Not anymore, from the looks it."

"If it makes you feel any better, I didn't really have a good time here."

Henry gave Roy a look. 

"I highly doubt that."

Roy shrugged. 

"Only trying to make you feel better."

Henry picked up his phone, and he unplugged it from the wall. It was at 50 percent, but that would be enough for now. 

"Let me call her again. Maybe she will answer -''

"Who - ''

A bang from the door of the suite scared both men so badly that the two of them almost screamed. 

"HELP! HELP! PLEASE! IS ANYONE IN THERE?!''

"Oh shit," Roy whispered. 

Henry ran over to the door, not aware of Roy's pleads to stop him from opening the door. He wasn't thinking of the consequences, he only wanted to save someone else. Inhuman screeches echoed on the other side of the hallway, and they all charged toward this mystery person. Henry should have expected what followed. 

But he wasn't prepared for it. 

The creatures slammed against the mystery person, and then they broke down the door. A crowd of the infected fell through into his suite, on top of their target. Henry barely dodged the crowd, and they all fell on top of one another, as the man was reaching for him, pleading for help as they ripped into his body. 

Henry turned back to warn Roy, but he was one step ahead of him. He had locked himself inside of the bathroom, with the boy. Henry did not make a sound, as the man screamed and screamed. He stayed on the white carpet, terrified to make a sound. He only had one hiding spot, and it was all he could think of at the moment.

There was a closet near his bedroom. He thought of going inside the bathroom with Roy and the boy, but he did not want to do anything stupid to put them in danger. Henry kept his eyes on the infected, as he began to take off his shoes. The crunching noises as they bit into the man was an awful sound, like a dog eagerly ripping into a tender piece of meat. 

It was a whole different story witnessing this brutality firsthand, compared to the last time when the boy's mother was killed behind the door. How Henry was able to maintain a straight face the whole time was the most difficult thing he had ever done in his entire life, as he gently placed his shoes against the carpet. 

The man began to scratch at his face, his fingers plunging into his eye sockets, as he made a sound between a groan and a scream. A tear slid down Henry's eye, but he did not notice. He walked step by step, a slow marathon of patience as he made his way to the closet. It was only a couple of feet away to the right of his bed, but it felt like he was walking across a whole desert to even make it. 

Henry thought of a game he used to play with his sister. When they were kids, they would hear their father having a conversation with his new girlfriend on the phone, in his bedroom. He never liked it when they would sneak downstairs in the middle of the night, to steal a sweet treat from the cookie jar. The floorboards were quite squeaky, so they would play a game of walking as slow as they could, to make sure they would not make a sound. 

They would try not to laugh too, because they found it hilarious how their father would never catch them. After some practice when he was away from home, they had mastered the technique of avoiding making a sound in their home, preferably in their socks, to have a higher chance of not getting caught. He saw his sister walking alongside him right now, and she was even smiling, giving him an encouraging smile. 

Henry smiled back, as he continued his game of not making a sound. Before he knew it, he was right by the closet. Luckily it was already open. He never liked sleeping with the closet closed, it's not like he had anything stuffed inside of this one, so why not keep it open?

He gently stepped inside, until he was fully situated inside. Now what was left was to close the door. While he was an expert with not making a sound, he couldn't exactly believe that a door wasn't going to screw him here. 

He took a deep breathe, hoping he was not going to die here. 

He began to make his way with closing the door, as slowly as he could. 

There was one miracle, that helped him at that moment. 

The ding of the elevator went off again. 

The creatures ran out of his room, toward the sound. Henry did not hesitate. He ran toward the door to the suite, and closed it, gently, of course. Henry could hear the infected screeching, and he could picture them reaching toward the elevator, waiting for another potential snack. They would only be met with disappointment, as it was only one of the infected that was trapped in the elevator, accidentally pressing against the button to any floor. 

Henry let out a heavy sigh, and he fell on his knees in front of the door. The door to the bathroom softly creaked open. Roy peeked out, with the boy in front of him. The boy was staring at Henry, his eyes open in fear. Roy covered the boy's eyes, and he used his other hand to point at Henry. 

He looked down. 

He was in a pool of the man's blood. Henry vomited. 

The bile blended into the blood, creating a sort of sick portrait that only a monster would take pride in. 

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Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn