Read Online A World Reborn: The First Outbreak by Chris Thompson - Free Book Online
Authors: Chris Thompson
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cause this, how will
that help her?”
“I don’t know.” Donna repeated. “Unless she
meets him out there.”
“What she needs to focus on right now is
getting to the roof. If she makes it that far, then we can share our theories
with her about how this started.”
Breathless, Melissa approached the door to
the top floor where the executive suites were located; which were the largest
and most expensive accommodation in the hotel tower. According to the brochure,
each had two bed rooms with their own bathrooms and storage space, a private
room for conferences, and a large lounge and a kitchen-diner area. Some even
had three bedrooms, but these were no doubt more expensive. That meant if the
whole floor was rented out, it could only be for a corporate event or something
similar, some organisation with a lot of money. Roy had said they were also
expecting visitors, which meant she couldn’t even begin to estimate how many
people could have been caught up in an invasion from the floors below. She
reached the door and rested her hand on the handle while she breathed deeply a
few times; regretting she hadn’t slowed down even more on the way up. Even so,
she snatched up the radio and spoke slowly and with an effort.
“Roy.” Melissa got out. “I made it to the
executive suites.”
“Are you okay?” He asked sharply.
“Lots of stairs.” Melissa responded simply,
trying hard to get her breathing under control. “Where’s the roof access?”
“Okay, it’s going to look like this:
there’ll be a corridor with rooms on either side. In the centre of it there’ll
be a cross section; turn left, past another series of rooms, and there should
be a door dead ahead that leads to a single set of stairs. That’ll take you the
rest of the way to the roof.” Roy explained; Melissa tried to visualize what he
was saying, just in case she needed to move quickly.
“Straight, then left, door, stairs.” She
repeated. “Got it.”
One more deep breath and then she tried the
handle; it clicked easily and the door opened smoothly. She tried to prepare
herself for whatever might lie beyond, but to her surprise, and considerable
relief, the corridor was empty. No blood, no bodies, no sick people waiting to
take a chunk out of her, just an empty corridor with no evidence of habitation.
But there was a strange thing; metal barricades had been erected in front of
the elevator doors. They were waist high, and reminiscent of the ones used by
police to cordon off areas when a disturbance was happening. The room doors
were closed, and it was deadly quiet. Melissa entered the corridor, shut the
door behind her and advanced slowly. The corridor itself looked identical to
the ones downstairs, except perhaps for a bit more gold plating here and there
to make things appear more luxurious. Melissa figured this was to help justify
the excessive price tag. She briefly strayed towards a room door on the left,
resting her ear against it, but heard no signs of occupancy. Furrowing her
brow, Melissa continued forward, passing more rooms until she reached the
expected cross way further on. As she approached the cross section in the
corridor, she saw dead ahead a door marked stairs, presumably the north side
stairs, and then she saw that there were more metal barricades in front of the
elevator doors, and this puzzled Melissa. There’s no way, unless it happened to
be a highly specific convention, that people would’ve had access to these kinds
of barricades, so why were they here? And how did they know to set up the
barricades seemingly in advance? Further, if they had barricaded themselves in
up here, where the hell was everyone? Even if someone had managed to get word
from the ground floor to the top floor, it would have taken time to build such
an effective defence, yet, from what Roy said, everything had happened suddenly
and without warning. She shook her head dismissively, having no time to
contemplate the mystery.
Melissa moved
that help her?”
“I don’t know.” Donna repeated. “Unless she
meets him out there.”
“What she needs to focus on right now is
getting to the roof. If she makes it that far, then we can share our theories
with her about how this started.”
Breathless, Melissa approached the door to
the top floor where the executive suites were located; which were the largest
and most expensive accommodation in the hotel tower. According to the brochure,
each had two bed rooms with their own bathrooms and storage space, a private
room for conferences, and a large lounge and a kitchen-diner area. Some even
had three bedrooms, but these were no doubt more expensive. That meant if the
whole floor was rented out, it could only be for a corporate event or something
similar, some organisation with a lot of money. Roy had said they were also
expecting visitors, which meant she couldn’t even begin to estimate how many
people could have been caught up in an invasion from the floors below. She
reached the door and rested her hand on the handle while she breathed deeply a
few times; regretting she hadn’t slowed down even more on the way up. Even so,
she snatched up the radio and spoke slowly and with an effort.
“Roy.” Melissa got out. “I made it to the
executive suites.”
“Are you okay?” He asked sharply.
“Lots of stairs.” Melissa responded simply,
trying hard to get her breathing under control. “Where’s the roof access?”
“Okay, it’s going to look like this:
there’ll be a corridor with rooms on either side. In the centre of it there’ll
be a cross section; turn left, past another series of rooms, and there should
be a door dead ahead that leads to a single set of stairs. That’ll take you the
rest of the way to the roof.” Roy explained; Melissa tried to visualize what he
was saying, just in case she needed to move quickly.
“Straight, then left, door, stairs.” She
repeated. “Got it.”
One more deep breath and then she tried the
handle; it clicked easily and the door opened smoothly. She tried to prepare
herself for whatever might lie beyond, but to her surprise, and considerable
relief, the corridor was empty. No blood, no bodies, no sick people waiting to
take a chunk out of her, just an empty corridor with no evidence of habitation.
But there was a strange thing; metal barricades had been erected in front of
the elevator doors. They were waist high, and reminiscent of the ones used by
police to cordon off areas when a disturbance was happening. The room doors
were closed, and it was deadly quiet. Melissa entered the corridor, shut the
door behind her and advanced slowly. The corridor itself looked identical to
the ones downstairs, except perhaps for a bit more gold plating here and there
to make things appear more luxurious. Melissa figured this was to help justify
the excessive price tag. She briefly strayed towards a room door on the left,
resting her ear against it, but heard no signs of occupancy. Furrowing her
brow, Melissa continued forward, passing more rooms until she reached the
expected cross way further on. As she approached the cross section in the
corridor, she saw dead ahead a door marked stairs, presumably the north side
stairs, and then she saw that there were more metal barricades in front of the
elevator doors, and this puzzled Melissa. There’s no way, unless it happened to
be a highly specific convention, that people would’ve had access to these kinds
of barricades, so why were they here? And how did they know to set up the
barricades seemingly in advance? Further, if they had barricaded themselves in
up here, where the hell was everyone? Even if someone had managed to get word
from the ground floor to the top floor, it would have taken time to build such
an effective defence, yet, from what Roy said, everything had happened suddenly
and without warning. She shook her head dismissively, having no time to
contemplate the mystery.
Melissa moved
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