Red at Day

I wake up in the most comfortable bed next to Jackie. Honey and Kasmira are fast asleep in the other bed. None of us bothered to put pajamas on. Later when we get close to the North Pole we'll be sleeping in layers. The candles burnt out while we were sleeping.
“Room service!”
“How have you not run out of food yet?” I yell.
“We have our own farm in the back.” Jack says, unlocking the door and entering.
“Too early!” Jackie yells, pulling the pillow over her head. I pull the blanket over my head and Jack takes them off.
“You wanna die?” I ask, glaring at him. I take the blanket and pull it over my head once more. Jack lays down between Jackie and I.
“He really wants to die.” Jackie says.
“I'm just getting comfortable with my new group.” Jack says.
“New group?” Kasmira yawns.
“I know you're leaving today and I was hoping I could join you guys.”
“How about no.” I say.
“C'mon, I want to see what it's like out there. I don't want to be stuck working here for Stan or anyone. I want to be free like you guys.”
“Trust me, we're not free.”
“You're teenagers on the run.”
“We're teenagers doing what the government should have done.”
“And what's that?”
“Why should I tell you?”
“Because I'm in your bed and you're half naked.”
“I have a gun.”
“Fair enough. C'mon, at least tell me what you're up to.”
“The government built a pole on both the north and the south pole. Once they're activated, all the zombies on that hemisphere will die. We're off to activate the north pole.”
“And to think I thought you were headed to the south.”
“I'll send you alone.”
“I can't do it alone. Babe. I'm all muscle.”
“That's obvious.” Honey retorts.
“C'mon, you have to let me in on this. I'll be good.”
“Will you? Will you, really?” I ask.
“I'll be a gentleman.” I groan and say “Fine.”
“Yes! Thanks, guys! I won't disappoint!” Jake gets out of the bed and walks to the door.
“Don't forget to eat, guys.” He says then leaves. I stomp over to the cart and take off the lids to see what he brought us. French toast, waffles, pancakes and bagels. All have a side of sausage. Jackie takes the pancakes, Honey takes the waffles, Kasmira takes the french toast and I take the bagels. I can't wait to leave here.
When we get dressed we head out to the entrance.
“Where do you think you're going?” A Native American looking guy asks.
“We're leaving.” I say.
“Not without a pass from Stan.” says a Polish looking guy. I sigh and head back inside. We look for Stan in the thousands of hallways. It isn't until we enter the hotel gym that we find him.
“Stan, you need to write us a pass so we can go.” I say.
“Can't do that.” Stay grunts as he lifts some weights.
“And why not?”
“You guys are just teenagers. You have your whole lives ahead of you. Why would you want to waste it out there fighting and killing? You could even die out there. No, I'm keeping you guys here where you can live like normal teenagers. You guys can relax, make new friends and even start dating some of the people here.”
“We don't want that.”
“Well that's too bad. You're just teenagers who don't know what you want. You're rebellious and need some guidance.”
“We need to leave.”
“You're staying.”
“This is kidnapping!”
“You came here willingly.”
“You're holding us here against our will!”
“You'll like it here eventually.”
“Never!”
“Now stop being so stubborn or I'll have some men escort you to some cells.” I storm out of the room and the group follows me. We go into the all girls room and sit around.
“He can't do this!” Jackie yells.
“He has no right to keep us here!” Paris fumes.
“He can't do this!” Reed bellows.
“I say we make a break for it!” Bruce thunders.
“We have enough people to run out!” Kasmira snaps.
“We need to destroy the gate!” Angel hollers. The group runs out of the room.
When we get to the lobby everyone is screaming and running around.
“What's going on?” Rose asks someone running by.
“They're here!” the man passing by us screams.
“Who's here?” James asks.
“Guys, you need to get out of here! A herd of zombies came in through an opening in the back! They turned all the farmers into zombies and they're inside the building!” Jake calls as he runs towards us.
“Everyone, help as many people as you can! Tell them to go out to the gate with as many weapons as they can hold! Meet back at the cars! Jake, come with me! I don't want you slowing anyone down!”
“I can help!”
“You don't even have a gun!” I run around screaming for everyone to go to the front gate.
“Bring your guns!” I scream. When I see a zombie chasing a group of people I shoot it down. The people here really have no idea on how to take care of this. Even if you don't have a weapon you can curb stomp the zombie. I hear sobbing so I open the closet door. Two small children are huddled together underneath a bunch of towels. They scream when I open the door but calm down when they see I'm alive. I help the two out of the closet and say “You guys need to go to the front gate. Your mommy and daddy must be worried.”
“The zombies got them.” The little boy sobs.
“Then it's your job to take your little sister to the front. There are people there who will protect you but you need to get there fast. Jack, help them!”
“I don't have a gun, remember?” Jack retorts.
“You can still indent its head!”
“Fine.”
“Wait!” The little girl says. She takes some of the towels off and inside in a newborn. I hold the baby, making sure to hold its head, and hand it to Jack.
“How am I suppose to fight zombies with a kid in my arms?” Jack yells.
“Oh just do it!” I yell. Jack takes all three kids and I continue on with my message.
Every door I pass I open it to make sure no one's inside. Of course I get a few zombies from time to time but I don't mind. Eventually I reach the last room. I hear more sobbing so I open the door. Three zombies are eating a man. I shoot down all three and rush to the side of him. When I pull the zombies off of him, I see it's Stan.
“I'll give you a choice. You die, turn into a zombie and then I shoot you or I can shoot you and keep you from being a zombie.” I threaten “Either way you're dying and either way I'm shooting you.”
“Or.” Stan says, taking out a gun “You can die with me.” Stan points his gun at my head and I point mine at his. It's like we're having an old western duel. We stare each other down, daring the other to shoot first. His hands are shaking but mine are steady. I haven't had a battle with an actual human like this. I may even be committing murder but we're in the land of the dead. Are there even rules about this stuff anymore? When I come back I'll take full responsibility for killing this man but right now, I'm on a mission. I pull the trigger and so does Stan. I hit him right between the eyes and he gets my shoulder. I fall back and put pressure on my shoulder. I have to get out of here before a zombie finds me. My left arm is dead and my right is too busy trying to make sure there's pressure on my arm. As soon as I exit the room there are zombies headed towards me. A lot of them too.
“Come on!” I hiss. I run back in the room, pick up my gun with my right hand and and steal Stan's gun with my left. It hurts like an absolute bitch. I turn around and the zombies are running inside. I shoot a whole mess of zombies with my right arm but I'm bad at shooting with my left arm to begin with. I hear more gunshots and the zombies from the back fall down. I continue to shoot with my right arm.
When most of the zombies are down Rose and Reed come running into the room, shooting zombies.
“We looked everywhere for you!” Rose yells over the gunshots.
“Are you okay?” Reed asks.
“Take me to Carter!” I tremble. The couple nod and run out of the room shooting zombies. I put pressure on my shoulder again and run after them. There are a lot of zombies around now. I bet they can smell my blood. I'm nervous the adrenaline going through me might make me bleed more. A zombie grabs me by my hair and I swiftly shoot it in the forehead. When I look at the ground I scream. The zombie was Jack. His mouth is dripping with blood and his face is completely scratched up. He's missing chunks of his stomach and his intestines are falling out. He must have bled to death when the zombies attacked him and came back when they saw more people running by. I stop dead in my tracks and scream.
“There's no helping him now!” Reed yells as he pulls me forward.
When we get outside I'm shaking like crazy and my arm burns. Carter rushes to me and tells Angel to grab him needle, threat, antibiotic and a bunch of other stuff. Carter sits me on the top of his car and says “Annabelle, this is going to hurt like hell. I need to you be calm and don't move!” He looks at the wound and then say “Everyone, I need you to guard the area while we're doing this! Those of you who lived in this hotel, you're going to have to leave here and seek shelter elsewhere! Find some weapons and go somewhere safe!” Angel returns with the supplies. I look away from Carter and let him do his thing. I feel something go in my shoulder and remove the bullet. I clench my legs and tightly grip my pants. I bite my lip to try to keep from screaming but I still manage to grunt.
“Bite onto this.” Carter says, handing me a napkin. I take it and put it in my mouth.
“The good news is it didn't hit any arteries or bones. The bullet didn't even shatter. The bad news is I still have to clean and stitch it.” Carter informs.
“Now I'm going to stick an IV in your left arm which will kill off any bacteria and infection.” One of the many things I hate in the hospital is the IV. I couldn't even watch them take it out of my dad's arm when he was in the hospital. As the needle goes in my arm my scream is muffled by the cloth in my mouth.
“Now I'm going to clean the wound, Annabelle. They may sting and I don't want you moving.” Carter orders. I look away and my arm sizzles. I clench my eyes shut and grunt into cloth.
“The last thing is the stitches. Annabelle, you cannot move at all. In a week or so I'll be able to remove the stitches and soon after that you'll have to take therapy for it. I'll try to help you with that. Now you need to stay still.” Carter says. I nod, silently wishing this never happened. With every stitch I grunt a little more. I begin hyperventilating after the fourth insertion of the needle. My eyes are tightly shut and I'm sweating. The pain is intolerable. When Carter says it's over and I can begin moving again I lay down on his car, take the cloth out of my mouth and begin panting. Carter disposes of the now unsterilized items and puts my left arm in a sling. He moves on to new patients, eager to help. After a few minutes I open my eyes. Carter is treating an old woman and the rest of the group is making sure the zombies don't come to us. There are plenty of gunshots. Jackie walks up to me and asks “Would it be okay if I went around to ask people if they got bit? I want to make sure everyone will be safe in the future.”
“Go for it.” I say, still panting “W-we're still gonna go. W-were going to... to Yellowknife. We'll finally b-be in the Northwest Territories. Th-then we can go to Paulatuk for a boat and we can sail to the north pole.”
“Of course.” Jackie kisses my forehead and leaves to check up on the survivors. I'm sure if they refuse to tell Jackie if they got bit or not, she'll strip search them. Or an attractive guy just because he's attractive.
Jackie shot three people trying to hide their bite marks. One was a cranky old man, one was a teenage girl, and the last one was a baby that the mother tried protecting. I got up and looked at everyone. I spot two familiar faces. I walk up to the two children I saved. They're crying but immediately stop when they spot me.
“A-are you okay?” the little girl asks, hiccuping as she tries to calm down.
“Perfect.” I reply with a smile.
“We all saw you get fixed over there.” The little boy says, pointing at Carter's car.
“Yeah, it hurt but now I'm all better. What happened to the baby?”
“When the zombies came for Jack, he quickly hid the baby and told us to run.” The little girl says.
“When we came back, Jack turned into a zombie and was eating Sissy.” The little boy finishes “If it weren't for Jackie, we'd be gone too.”
“What'd she do?”
“Grab us and run. She couldn't kill Jack.” The little girl sobs.
“Is Jack going to be okay?” The little boy says, beginning to cry again. I grab both children with my good arm and hug them.
“He's all better now, guys.” I say as the children cry on my shoulders.