“You’re still planning on trying to get out of this hotel then?”

Josh asks in a sarcastic tone trying his best to hide his fear.

“I don’t want to sit cooped up in this room all day”

He leans against the wall while glancing at the others with a contemplative expression.

“But it’s probably a better idea to stay put.”

Probably not the best idea to leave the room especially with those kids here.

Sandra still sitting with her kids, eyes filled with fear but words of comfort leave her mouth for her children who are sitting either side of her under her arms.

She looks up at her husband with pleading eyes, he returns a concerned gaze.

“I think its best we hide here and wait for help”

Gregg explains.

“There is none.”

Cyrus says matter of factly.

“Nobody is returning our calls, and we got no supplies to last us, also if you look outside there are no police sirens going off.” He says while taking a quick gander around the room to evaluate how much food and water they have.

“There’s a large stock of food in the catering room on the ground floor” Josh says “but who knows what we might find on the way down there.”

Cyrus walks over to open the mini-fridge “looks like we haven’t got enough to last us a day”

“If we’re planning to go down there, we’re going to have to take the stairs”

Josh says coldly

“The powers still out and the backup generator doesn’t have enough juice to power the elevators”

“So we have to go down 35 flights of stairs and risk running into one of those things again?!”

Gregg bellows

“Keep your voice down unless you want one of them to come knocking on the door”

Responds Cyrus in a slightly annoyed tone

“What do you suggest we do instead, jump out the window?”

Gregg’s expression falls then he looks to his family, trying to find his courage again.

Maybe I should just make it to the ground floor myself and leave this hellish hotel, but then again who knows what’s out there right now.

Cyrus looks to the mini-fridge, still thinking. Then after a few moments his eyes light up.

Of course, the mini-fridges.

“Josh, are these fridges always stocked up?” Cyrus asks

Josh thinks for a moment then looks to Cyrus with a confused look

“Yeah, they’re stocked up before and after a guest checks in, but most the time the guests just order room service instead. Why do you ask?”

Cyrus leans forward off the wall

“I got an idea”

Cyrus walks to the suites kitchen area and procures a few tools such as knives that could be used as a weapon.

“It’s simple, we’re going to go to the other rooms and get the food from the mini-fridges, safer than running down a bunch of stairs”

“So you’re going to get supplies?”

Gregg asks gleefully

Emily shoots Gregg a serious look as if disappointed with what was said.

“No” Cyrus responds with a slight smile

“if you want some of those supplies, you’re coming with me and Josh”

Josh subtly jolts at the sound of his name being mentioned

“what are we gonna do if we run into another one of those things?”

Cyrus shoots Josh a serious look

“We don’t have many options. We either stay here waiting for nothing with no food, or we get out and get some”

Cyrus hands both of the men a kitchen knife

“If we run into another one, we handle it like we did before”

Hopefully no one dies in the process.

Gregg looks to his family as if waiting for them to intervene, but he looks to his kids and then turns back to the other two.

“Alright, let’s make this quick, I don’t want to be out there any longer than I need to”

“Please be careful dad”

The boy pleads to his father

Gregg walks over to his family and kneels down in front of his son, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry Noah, you just look after Sarah and your mother while I’m away. You’re the man in charge now”

Gregg shoots his family a brave smile then returns to the others.

Josh leans against the door and peeks out of the peephole checking if the hallway is clear of anything.

“I don’t see anything out there, we should be okay”

“Alright let’s do this”

Cyrus open the door and takes the first step outside. He is followed by the other two as they all step into the hallway looking around as if leaving a bomb shelter.

“Let me get to my room first and grab my shit”

Cyrus says in a low hush tone, trying to make as little noise as possible.

I haven’t touched my fridge for sure, must be a bunch of water and snacks in there.

The trio make their way down the hallway, making as little noise as possible, as alert as meerkats looking around for anything that could be lurking.

The lights still flickering filling the silence with a slight humming sounds, then a moment of silence before the lights flicker on again.

They finally reach Cyrus’s suite and enter it gathering what food and supplies they can, filling up plastic carrier bags.

I’m filthy I’ve got blood all over me, my t-shirts fucked might as well freshen up.

“Guys, I’m going to have a shower and get changed don’t want to catch a disease from all this blood. You lot can wait for me or go on ahead up to you.”

Josh looks at him with an understanding expression.

“All right, we’ll wait for you to finish up don’t take too long”.

Gregg seems visibly annoyed at the duo’s nonchalant behaviour.

Cyrus grabs a branded jumper from his closet, and a fresh pair of joggers, as he enters the bathroom.

Fucking hell at least the heated floor is still working, this may be one of the last times I have a fancy shower.

Cyrus turns on the water and starts trying to get the blood out of his hair, the blood covers the shower floor

Damn that’s a lot of blood, what have we gotten ourselves into maybe staying put is not so bad of an idea.

The shower water temperature spikes to a blazing hot heat, snapping Cyrus out of his melancholy.

“Fuck!”

Cyrus turns off the shower, and wipes himself down with a towel. He gets changed as leaves the bathroom.

“You clean up well, Emily won’t be able to take her eyes off you, and you’ve got a wilder look than before.”

Exclaims Josh

“Yea, yea, whatever lets just get on with this.”

Cyrus replies.

They leave the room and make their way further down the hallway to the next room.

They walk up the hall till they reach the trail of blood. Cyrus looks at the splatters of blood with familiar eyes till they all reach the room the blood covered broken door.

“Jesus Christ what happened here?!” Gregg panics and takes a few steps back, backing up till he reaches the hallway wall.

“The woman here wasn’t so lucky” Cyrus says emotionlessly “forget the blood and concentrate on what we’re here for”

They all enter the room slowly, following the trail of blood till they find the mostly eaten corpse of the woman from before.

Gregg notices the body and quickly looks away, eyes wide and pale skin. Josh looks at the body uneasily then turns away, looking at Gregg who is bent over on the side of the room throwing up whatever he ate for breakfast.

“T-t-that thing ate her…”

Gregg stammers as he tries to find the words to express what he feels. He wipes the mess off his mouth trying to recompose himself.

“Stay close, and focus”

Cyrus says while trying to hide his smile.

Josh tries to ignore the blood and packs up the bag with extra water bottles and refrigerated sandwiches, he also picks up more knives from the kitchen.

“Alright we should have enough stuff, lets head back to the room”

Cyrus says while putting the last of the food into his bag.

“Wait, maybe we can check electrical room and try to reconnect the router for the Wi-Fi, that way we’ll be able to get online and find out what’s going on“

Josh explains to Cyrus.

“How far is it?”

“It’s on this floor but on the opposite end, next to the janitor supply room”

“Alright, let’s do it”

They leave the room and head down the hall. As they take the corner they see more puddles of blood soaked into the carpets.

They continue on checking the doors along the way trying to find if there are any other guests still hiding out in their rooms.

“This floor is almost empty of people”

Cyrus says with a confused look on his face

“That’s weird, I delivered room service to some of these rooms, it’s like they managed to get out before shit hit the fan”

Responds josh

“Yeah probably”

Replies Cyrus, eyes looking into the distance, deep in thought.

Or maybe my theory is right and they somehow… vanished?

Collecting supplies where they can, they eventually reach the other side of the hallway and approach the janitor supply room entering and collecting first aid supplies and other necessities.

Cyrus scans the shelves and finds a lighter to replace his dulled one. They leave the room and head to the next room where the router for the Wi-Fi is.

“Alright you guys stay put while I see if I can get this thing reconnected”

Josh explains

Josh pulls out his keys and unlocks the door, upon entering the room, it is filled with wires protruding from cabinets along the wall, lights and light buzzing emits from the wiring.

Josh makes his way to the corner where a computer tower sits connected to a server. Josh fiddles with the wires while the other two stand by waiting.

“Alright that should do it”

Josh says as he returns to the other two

Cyrus opens the door and leads them out slowly

“Nice, let’s make our way back and get the food refrigerated, maybe we can go online and see what’s going on.”

They creep through the hallway slowly making as little noise as possible except the ruffling of the plastic carrier bags over their shoulders.

Suddenly the vibrations from before return, this time more intense.

“Oh shit” Josh exclaims as he feels his legs tremble.

Then a shriek echoes through the hallway sounding like its coming from behind the walls.

That sounds like it’s really close

“C’mon guys we need to run” Exclaims Cyrus as he gestures to the other two.

They pick up the pace making their way back when suddenly there is a loud banging sound coming from the wall.

It’s in the walls…

The wall next to the stairwell breaks open splintering the wood all over, a cloud of dust fills the hallways with a terrifying shriek, this time much louder.

The three stand in shock as a large red figure emerges from the dust, its head almost touching the ceiling of the hallway. The figure looks like the other beast but it stands on its back legs. One of its arms shaped like a huge rhinoceros horn. Its head has no neck and bulges from its shoulders like an oversized wart covered in throbbing veins.

“Jesus Christ…”

Josh stands in horror as he witnesses this beast emerge from the walls

“Run, everyone fucking run!”

Bellows Cyrus as they all sprint as fast as their legs can push them.

The Figure watches as they run and follows, charging down the hallway after them.