We approached the casino slowly. We were out of breath and soaking wet but we were optimistic. If this place was deserted, and if we could get inside, it could be the perfect hiding spot.
Out the front, parked right near the main entrance were rows of abandoned cars. There were Ferraris and Lamborghinis, Aston Martins and stretch limos. All of them shiny, some of them unlocked. We came to a stop in the entryway, near the valet parking area, and crouched behind a bright pink Rolls Royce.
Kenji held his index finger up to his lips, urging us to be quiet. “Kim and I will check the doors to see if they’re open. You guys stay here.”
Kim gave him a look like she was saying, really? You want me to go with you?
“Be careful,” Maria whispered.
The entrance to the casino appeared to be locked. The automatic doors were shut, and unless they were somehow still working, I couldn’t see how we’d be able to get inside without breaking the glass. On the other side of the doors were a large set of stairs that spiraled up and around a water feature.
“The stairs probably lead up to the gaming floor,” Kenji said. “Let’s go.”
Kim nodded her head in agreement.
As Kim and Kenji made their way to the automatic doors of the entrance, my leg began to cramp up. I leant against the Rolls Royce for support.
“Watch out,” Jack said. “Don’t want to set off the alarm.”
I took my hands off the car immediately and reminded myself to be more careful. I hadn’t even considered the possibility that the car might have an alarm system. A noise as loud as a car alarm would’ve attracted all kinds of attention. Not that there seemed to be many people around.
“Hey, where do you think everyone is?” I asked.
Maria shook her head. “Maybe everyone in the city was evacuated in time?”
“Yeah, or maybe they’re all dead,” Jack said.
“Please don’t say things like that.”
As I stretched my leg out carefully, making sure I didn’t cramp up again, I heard something that sounded like a truck approaching from back down the street.
“Now what?” Maria said.
Jack moved over to one of the limos parked near the road to see if he could get a better look.
“Well, what is it?” I asked.
Jack turned around, his face was pale. “Hide,” he said. “Slide underneath the Rolls. Quick!”
“What the hell is it?” I asked again.
“It’s a goddamn tank.”
We crawled underneath the Rolls Royce, lying flat on our bellies. Kenji heard it as well and immediately knew what it was. He grabbed Kim and pushed her into the back seat of a convertible.
The tank rolled closer and the ground shook. If it saw us we were screwed. There was nowhere to run. The tank stopped suddenly right out the front of the casino. The main gun lowered slightly and then fired three times. The noise was deafening. I covered my head with my arms and turned my face away from the tank, away from the cannon blast and the shockwave. They appeared to be shooting at something further down the road, out of sight. The tank then continued rolling on. Thankfully, they hadn’t seen us.
Kenji slowly stepped out of the convertible, keeping his eye on the road, making sure it wasn’t coming back.
“What was that all about?” I whispered.
“Not sure,” Kenji answered.
“Who do you think they were shooting at?”
“Don’t know. But I don’t want to hang around to find out, we need to get inside.”
Kenji stood in front of the automatic doors. They didn’t open. He tried to pry them apart but they wouldn’t budge. It looked like we would have to break the glass, but then Jack moved over to help and together they were able to pull the doors slightly apart.
Kenji motioned for us to come inside. “Quickly, we can’t hold this thing open for much longer.”
We were barely able to slip through the tiny gap between the doors. Once we were inside, we moved up the stairs silently. Looking down from near the top of the stairs, I could see the bottom of the water fountain. There was an endless scattering of casino chips and coins that had been thrown in for good luck. Or maybe whoever was throwing away that kind of money just wanted to impress people. I could imagine some hot shot high roller throwing hundred dollar chips into the fountain just to show off to his lady friend.
Kenji moved up to the top of the stairs quickly. He waved us forward.
“Is it safe?” I asked.
“Not sure,” he replied.
When I reached the top I could see why he wasn’t sure. The gaming floor was absolutely massive. I’d never been inside a casino before but this looked pretty damn huge. I looked to the left and all I could see were black jack and roulette tables, and hundreds upon hundreds of poker machines. I looked to the right and all I could see were more tables and even more poker machines.
Kenji surveyed the room. “What do you think, Kim? Have you ever been here before?”
“No. Never. I’m not a big gambler.”
“This place is huge,” Maria said. “Does anyone else feel really exposed?”
“What do you mean?” Jack asked.
“I don’t know. I feel like I’m being watched or something.”
I felt it too. A nagging feeling, something I couldn’t shake. Maybe it was because we had been feeling this way all day. And even though being inside the casino was better than being out in the harbor, or on the streets, I still felt exposed. And I still felt like we were being watched. Paranoia is hard to shake.
We crouched behind one of the roulette tables to at least give us a little bit of cover. It was a pretty poor effort but it was all we could be bothered doing at that point.
“Do you think it saw us?” I asked, referring to the tank.
“If it did, it means they’ll be sending reinforcements soon,” Jack said. “Just like they did before.”
“We need to secure this whole building,” Kenji said.
We all deflated. We couldn’t even see where the gaming floor ended. Securing the whole building would take a lifetime. There’s no way we could do it in our current state.
“You’re kidding, right?” I said.
“No. There’s a reason why we’re all feeling exposed right now. It’s because there’s a million places for someone or something to hide in here. We need to make sure this place is empty. We need to make sure we’re the only ones here.”
“Can’t we find something to eat first?” Jack complained.
“Not yet. We need to make sure there’s no infection here. And we need to make sure the military aren’t using this building. Shelter first. Food second.”
“But it’ll take forever,” I said. “This place is too big.”
Kenji thought about it for a second. He knew it would be an arduous task but it had to be done. “Maybe we should split up,” he said.
“Hell no,” Maria replied. “That is never a good idea. In the history of ideas, splitting up has never been good for anyone.”
“We don’t have a choice,” Kenji said. “Jack is right, we need to eat and rest. We can’t spend any longer than necessary securing the building. We need to split up so we can get it done quicker. Jack, you go with Kim. Maria, Rebecca, you’re with me.”
Jack went to stand up but Kim pulled him back down. “Wait just a second,” Kim said. “Splitting up into two groups isn’t going to speed this up much. This is a huge building. Maybe we should look for food first and then eat on the go. Or maybe we find some food, find one secure room, hide there, and eat. And then once we’ve rested we can start securing the rest of the building. Even if there are other people in here somewhere, if we’re quiet, we could stay hidden without anyone knowing that we’re here. This place is certainly big enough. If we can’t see them, they can’t see us, right?”
Just then it hit us all at the same time; the reason we were feeling so exposed, the reason it felt like we were being watched. We were in a casino. Casinos are among the most secure places on the planet. More secure than banks or stock exchanges or prisons. OK, maybe not prisons. But casinos were famous for having water tight, air tight security, famous for having hundreds upon hundreds of security cameras that could cover every angle, record every hand dealt, and catch every cheat. Someone could be watching our every move; someone could be watching us right now.
We all craned our necks and looked at the ceiling. Sure enough, spaced evenly between the light fixtures, were small black domes. Inside those black domes were the cameras.
Kenji swore under his breath. “We need to find the security room,” he said as he stood up.
I guess there was no use in hiding. If someone was watching, they had already seen us.
