This Broken City Sky

“How many rooms do you suppose are in this building?” Johnny asked Lily as he walked just behind his sister, keeping a good grip on the pointed broomstick he had been given.

“Well…there are about two-hundred rooms per floor…so that means about two-thousand, two-hundred rooms. That’s not including suites, the gift shop, the pool, the gym, and the restaurant,” Lily said softly, letting out a small sigh after she finished. Kat shot her a look over her shoulder before pressing on.

“Sweet Jesus, that’s a lot of places to check before we can relax,” Frank groaned from the middle of the group as they stopped before their first door.

“These doors lock automatically, don’t they?” Kat asked, glancing back at Lily who merely nodded. “Damn,” she murmured, “it’d be nice to be able to run into a room if we ever needed to.” She bit her lip and looked around, running her fingertips across the still bleeding cut on her forehead and smearing the blood before nodding toward the door. “Alright, let’s do this.” Lily nodded again and moved to the door, sliding in the key car, before throwing open the door and stepping back. Kat moved into the room with her gun raised, much like she had done with the storage room.

By the time they reached the eleventh floor, they hadn’t had the least bit of rest and it was approaching twelve o’clock at night. Fatigue had set in and minds began to wander, movements began to slow, and the fervor to ensure safety died, but only ever so slightly. The stopped just short of their first set of rooms in the corridor, every inch of their bodies screaming at them to stop. Thankfully, they had only encountered six infected within the rooms, including the five suites that were on the first floor.

“Kat, I think it’s time we took a break,” Johnny said softly and she turned to him before glancing around at the other six people they found themselves stuck with. Her lips pursed into a terse line before she looked back at Johnny. He knew that she would say 'no'. She was as stubborn as a mule at times.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” she murmured. She heard a groan from one of the guys, probably Frank, and she immediately took offense.

“Well…if you all would rather be bitten-”

“We haven’t run into many infected in here, so I don’t think resting for a while will put us in any sort of serious danger,” Dylan replied as she placed her shotgun to the side, sitting down with her back against the wall of the corridor. Soon enough, the rest followed suit, all except Johnny and Kat. Johnny knew that it didn’t take a rocket scientist to see that Kat was angry: her cheeks were tinted a bright pink, her jaw was set, mouth tense, and her eyes were incredibly harsh and unyielding. She exhaled sharply through her nose as she glanced around at everyone.

“Do you think the infected are going to rest?” She asked suddenly, her voice remarkably controlled for how angry she looked. No one answered her for a moment, merely glancing around, uncertain of whether they should finish out their sweep of the building or get off their feet for a few moments. “We’ve got just one more floor, guys,” she said softly.

“Then the pool, the gym, the gift shop, the kitchen, the restaurant,” Gerard added before sighing heavily, placing the hammer he had been lugging around for the past couple of hours to the side. Kat turned her eyes to him for a moment before she rolled them and shook her head. She then pulled a cigarette out from her purse, lighting it quickly and taking a drag of it. Johnny took that as indication she was going to take a break and sat down beside Mikey, staring down tiredly at the floor.

Kat turned to him for a moment and gave him sort of a betrayed look before she exhaled the smoke. She bit the inside of her cheek for a moment before turning to Lily, who was talking quietly with Dylan.

“Give me the master key,” she said softly past the cigarette she held between her lips as she stretched out her hand to the woman.

“You’re not fucking going it alone,” Johnny said darkly, shaking his head. Kat’s eyes flicked to his and she took another drag of her cigarette.

“And you aren’t coming with me,” she shot back before looking back at Lily, who seemed a bit reluctant to give her the master key.

“Let her go on and do it, she isn’t going to run into anything anyways,” Frank grumbled from his spot on the floor. Ray quickly shot him a look, silently telling him he should keep his mouth shut. Frank, normally, wasn’t such a grump, but since they had been at this for a couple hours without so much as a break for a cigarette, he was bound to be one. Kat crossed her arms over her chest and turned to Frank with a less than amused expression on her face. “Besides, even if she does, it’ll be one less bitch that we’ll have to deal with in the long run.”

That was all it took. Kat lunged at Frank and Johnny was quickly back onto his feet and holding his sister back. She had a murderous gleam in her eye as she struggled against her brother to get to Frank, who merely smirked back at her. The three guys with Frank gave each other before looking back to Frank.

“Who the fuck are you to call me a bitch!?” She shouted, shaking with anger. Normally, she didn’t have such a temper, but she supposed with the added stress of all that had happened, she would be quick to fly off the handle. “I’m doing all this shit for your benefit and safety, asshole!” Johnny stepped in front of Kat and met her eyes, giving her a stern look. Frank opened his mouth to say something but Ray quickly punched him in the arm, shutting him up before he could say anything.

“Calm down, Kat,” Johnny said calmly, watching his sister closely. “Getting angry isn’t going to make us any safer.” Her expression slowly relaxed before she glanced over and around his shoulder at Frank, shooting him a venomous look, before turning back to Dylan and Lily, who had been watching the small, yet volatile tiff intently. She pulled off her black, leather jacket and tossed it to Johnny, exposing her blood-splattered, white, short-sleeved v-neck.

“Just give me the fucking master key,” she growled through gritted teeth, holding out her hand to have the master key almost instantaneously placed within her grasp. She started down the corridor before turning and looking back at Johnny. She cut her eyes in thought before her eyes lifted to Ray.

“Hey you,” she called out to him, catching his attention, “what’s your name again?” Normally, she was great at remembering names, but it seemed her mind had been a bit jogged.

“Ray,” he replied hesitantly, hoping that she wasn’t going to lay into him like she had with Frank.

“You’re responsible for Johnny should anything happen to me or anything happen out here while I‘m gone, okay?” She watched him carefully and he nodded once in understanding. “And Frank,” she started, sweetly smiling at him, yet the action was obviously sarcastic. Frank looked up at her with a raised brow, wondering just what she was going to say. “Stop acting like a momma bear on her fucking period, okay sweetheart?” She then turned and placed her cigarette back between her lips, taking a long drag as began to walk toward the door farthest from the group, intending on working her way back to them. She heard soft snickers from a few of the guys, her brother included, behind her.

Kat pressed on until she reached one of the suites on the top floor, one that provided the best views of the surrounding cities as well as a spacious balcony space. She stuck the master key into the door and turned the doorknob, pushing the door open with her foot as she stepped into the room and flicked on the light. She lifted her gun, expelling smoke as she took a drag from the cigarette she still held between her lips. She took a hesitant step into the room, since she couldn’t hear anything within the room, and the door closed behind her with a loud snap. She turned and let out a sigh, before shaking her head. There had always been someone to keep the door open, in case of an emergency, but there wasn’t now that she was going it alone.

She quietly stepped further into the room, keeping her gun level and ready to fire. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest and her focus had sharpened substantially. There was a kitchen area to her right, a hallway to her left that most likely led to the bathroom and bedroom. In front of her there was a wall made completely out of glass that looked out toward New York, doors that lead to the balcony, and a fireplace set in the middle of wall. The suite was decorated in the modern style, very sleek and all stainless steel and black, contrasting against the white walls. As she stared out to the large metropolis in front of her, she saw the streetlights still on, dark buildings dotted with lights, and fires burning sporadically in buildings, in cars, in houses; like tiny, orange suns both close and in the distance. The sight shocked her and she knew that there wasn’t much hope for the lot of them.

A loud, feral screech broke her from her thoughts and she spun in the direction of the kitchen, noticing a man, still in his pajamas, edging his way toward her. His jaw was slack, the majority of the lower half of his face ripped off, exposing muscles, bones, and teeth. He stretched his arms out to her, moving faster than she had seen an infected move, and stared at her with his lifeless eyes. She immediately began to back up as she lifted her gun, firing a shot at the man but missing but a few inches and shattering a cabinet in the kitchen. She fired another shot and hit her target, but felt cold, bony fingers on her shoulder, pulling her backwards. For a moment, she panicked, thinking it was over for her and she faltered. Then she felt the cold breath of an infected on the side of her neck and her thoughts focused yet again.

In a split second, moments before blood-stained teeth would have sunken into the tender skin of her neck, she lifted the gun, glancing over her shoulder, and pressed the gun beneath the chin of the infected woman and fired. A sickened wet noise echoed in Kat’s ear before it began ringing from the sudden, loud noise. She could feel cool liquid splashing down the side of her face and she didn’t have to check it to know it was blood. The woman, who was remarkably taller than her, fell limp against her and Kat buckled beneath the weight. Kat had just enough time to see the glass coffee table as she fell toward it and threw her arms over her face, crashing into the table with a loud smash.

She lay there for a few moments, feeling the shards of glass sticking into her forearms and abdomen and warm blood seeping slowly from the incisions in her skin. She let out a low groan of pain before managing to push the lifeless woman to the side, taking in a deep breath of air. There were a few still, silent moments in the room before she heard footsteps in the hallway that lead to the bedroom. Kat glanced up as she saw a dark-haired woman in a silk nightgown lumbering toward her.

She immediately reached for the gun, which lay a few feet from her, and lifted it, shooting two shots at the woman. She fell back into the hallway with a loud thud as Kat collapsed back to the ground in fatigue and pain, staring up at the ceiling. Her whole body felt heavy and on fire, and her mind swam precariously between consciousness and unconsciousness. Her eyes then focused on the door and knew that she had the key to it in her back pocket, coming to the realization that no one would be able to get into the room if she didn’t get up, even to slide the master key under the door.

“Fucking prostitutes and threesomes,” she murmured groggily, angry at the man who had not one, but two women in the hotel room with him when infection broke out.