Chapter 16: There’s Always Time For Pizza

Ave taking the lead in this strange hallway, smooth granite dotted with silver specks and built into a cavern, gun up and at the ready, relying on Dylan and me to light her way.  Marci behind me, holding onto my shirt and following close behind like a lost toddler, Bent behind her, Fred taking up the rear and trying to hide his limp.

The ceiling had become flat, as if this were a regular building, and that’s when I noticed it.  “Hey, stop for a sec.”  They did.  The ceiling was three meters up, so whoever built this liked high spaces.  I shone the light up, revealing globular lightbulbs.  “We are no longer in a cave.  It’s a hotel or office space or something.”

“God, this is weird,” said Dylan.  Sword in one hand, flashlight in the other, he turned around, lighting up the hallway ahead of us again.  “I really don’t want to run into zombies here.”

Bentley said, “At least we know how to kill them.  Shot to the head.”

Dylan laughed.  “Yeah, but think about how horrifying it will be to have a dead person chase you.  The smell alone must be awful.”

“Shot to the head?” asked Ave.

“It puts them down in all the stories I’ve seen.”

The green skinned, thick muscled woman patted her submachine gun, clicking it from three shot burst to single shot.  “Not going to be a problem.”

“Assuming,” said Marci, “our zombie stories match this game.”

I ran my light along the walls, searching, “Uh, anyone see a light switch anywhere?”

“Nope.”

“None back here, either,” said Fred, scanning the area.

Ave pointed forward, “Up ahead, I think those are doors.”  Gun dangling by its shoulder strap, she put her pack on the ground, took out her flashlight, aimed it ahead, and began walking in that direction.  “Yeah, guys, doors!”

“To where?” I wondered.  “Hey, don’t touch them until I can, uh, you know, traps!”  I hurried to catch up to her, thinking how crazy this all was.  Especially as the large, golden double doors came into view.  An underground hallway, ornately sculpted doors, painted gold, leading somewhere.

Bentley stepped beside me, robes rustling, “Check for traps.  That’s what you call it.”

I didn’t sigh outwardly, but definitely inwardly, and we caught up to Ave.  She was standing several meters from the doors.

“You seriously think they’re trapped?” she asked.  “Why would anyone trap a pair of doors in the middle of an underground passageway to nowhere, located via mountainside cavern?”

“I’m checking!”

“That’s what I told him,” Bent said to Dylan.  “Those are the right words.”

“Definitely sounds legit when phrased thusly.”

Ignoring them, I focused on the doors.  They looked thick, had enormous iron handles, large iron hinges, rusty through and through, and up this close, the gold paint was faded in spots, flaking off in others.  The floor leading up to it seemed the same.  No obvious lines indicated a trapdoor, no hollow circles in the walls where darts could shoot out.  The handles themselves didn’t have poisoned needles waiting to be sprung.  I still marveled that I knew these things.

“I think it’s safe.  My, uh, trap sense isn’t tingling.”

“That’s good.”  Ave smiled, “Shall we stare at them longer or open the doors?”

“We don’t have much choice.”

Dylan said, “Doors are definitely made to be opened.  Though I feel like we’re opening Pandora’s Box.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Ave.

“Just that we don’t know what’s behind them.  Or what we’ll be releasing by opening it.”

Fred and Marci were just catching up.  Fred favoring his leg more than before, not quite limping.  Marci holding onto his arm, looking deeply uncomfortable.  I missed her happier self and wished I could cheer her up.

“I hope,” she said quietly, “I hope they lead outside.”

“Fred, are you ok?”

“Yeah, Boss.  Just peachy.”

“You’ll say something if your leg gets worse?”

“For sure.”

“Alright.  Be ready everyone.  I’ll open the doors.”  I turned around, grabbed both handles, turned them down and pulled and pulled, and nothing happened.  “I wonder if they’re too rusted?”

Ave went up to the doors, grabbed the handles and pulled.  Her muscles bulging, much bigger than mine, she even grunted, but still the doors didn’t move.

“Uh, guys?” Bent came up to the doors.  “Try pushing them.  There are no scuff marks on the floor.  I think these open outward.”

“Assuming we’re inward,” added Dylan.  “I mean, who builds a long hallway from a cave?  No one.  You build a long hallway to something.  So, I think they open inward.”

Bent shrugged, smiling, shaking his head.

Grasping the handles again, Ave gave a push, and the doors opened.  “That did it.”

“Huh,” I said.

The lady barbarian shrugged, “Outward from our location.  Inward from theirs.”

Fred tapped two fingers on the walls, “You really failed your observation check there, Mr. Explorer.  No scruff marks on the floor on this side.”

“I guess I did.”  Sighing, I shone my light in.  Off-white marble floor, polished, but with a layer of dust overtop, large circular support beams also covered in the same marble.  I ran the beam further out, a wall was just over one hundred meters.  A red carpet ran up the center of the room, directly to a large counter.  “Guys, this looks like a hotel lobby.”

“Who,” whispered Dylan to Bent, “are they?  On the inward side?”

“You’re confusing me now,” he whispered back.  “But the undead.  So we’ve been told.”

My footsteps echoed as I entered, dust swirling away.  As everyone entered with their flashlights, the room lit up, becoming easier to see.  Behind the counters was a long mirror and an open room, probably a place to store luggage.

“What the hell?” said Bentley.  “This doesn’t feel very dungeony.”

Dylan said, “Maybe the nanotech doesn’t work here?  Or maybe it repurposed this hotel into a dungeon?”

“I don’t know, but from the dust it doesn’t look like anyone’s been here in ages.”

Dylan swung his flashlight around, “I’m definitely reporting the maids.  What a terrible state.”

“Hey!”  I said, pointing my light at the counter, “A monitor!  It can’t possibly be the computers running the nanobots, but it’s something.  Let’s see if it works.”

“It still feels like we’re underground,” said Marci.  She’d returned to following me closely.

I took her by the hand, hoping to distract her from whatever she was feeling, “Come with me, let’s check it out.”

As we walked over to the counters, I could just hear Ave asking Fred if he was ok, but didn’t hear his answer.

The counters were, of course, the same marble on the floor and equally dusty.  There was shelving under them, notepads, pens and pencils, other stationary, but nothing interesting to our mission.  Wiping the dust off the monitor, I said, “Hey, do you see a power switch anywhere?”

“Should be behind it.  Or maybe under.”

“Under.  Here it is.  Nothing.”  I nodded.

She nodded.  Smiled.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

“I feel dumb.”

“Me too.”

“No power, why would the computer work?”

“Really dumb.”

“Uh-huh.”

“We’re both dumb.”

“I can’t dispute that.”  I reached up and touched her face, “I’m glad to see you smile again, though.”

She took hold of my hand, “Maybe . . . maybe you’re more dumb.”

“What?”

“Or dumb first.  You thought the computer would work.  And were pretty convincing.  Your dumbness spread to me.”

I looked off in the distance, “My contagion, my curse.”

We both laughed.  I pulled her in for a hug.

“Guys!” said Bentley.  “The dust here’s been disturbed.  Can’t quite make out footprints, but someone or something has been through this part.  And, there’re elevators.”

I looked at Marci, smiled, then said, “Those won’t work.  No power.”

“Of course not.  If you two are done giggling, there’s a stairwell over here, too.”

Ave stepped out of the baggage room, dressed in a fluffy rusty-red fur coat, “What do you guys think?  Is it me?”

Fred followed, sporting a tight black leather jacket.  “There’s a whole bunch of clothing here!”

“It’s not a baggage room?” I asked.

“More like an enormous closet.”  Ave shrugged.  “Maybe the staff left their belongings here?”

Dylan walked over to her, looking up and down, “Isn’t that a little hot for this temperature?”

“Yeah.”  She took it off, dropping it on the counter.

“I kinda wanna keep mine.”

“It’s too tight on you, big guy.”

He looked disappointed.  “It’s just the armor is bulky.”  Fred dropped the jacket on top of Ave’s.  “We can get them on the way out.”

***

Our footsteps echoed up the stairway and sent eddies of dust spiraling down them.  If someone came after us, they’d certainly know we were here.  They were wide, enough to accommodate eight people walking side by side, no handrails.

We took them two by two.  Ave and Dylan first, me and Marci in the middle, Bent and Fred taking the rear.

The second floor opened up, but not quite like the first.  A sign pointed to restaurants to the right and left, one for families, one for adult beverages, and an open bar straight across from the stairs.  Sofas and sofa chairs, with low tables between them, faced large windows that reflected our lights back at us.  They were dark.

“This hotel must have existed before the nanotech took over.  I wonder why it didn’t transform this, too.”

“It didn’t transform our guns and gear we got from the ship.”

“Good point.  It must have limitations.  If we can learn more, we can defeat it.”

“Well,” said Marci, “it certainly isn’t all powerful.  I hope we find the mainframes down here.”

“I’m gonna search the restaurants,” said Fred.  “Maybe there’s some food around.”

“I’ll come with you,” said Ave.

“We should all go.  There might be monsters here.”

“I don’t think so, River,” said Dylan, brushing hair out of his eyes.  “We’d know with all the dust on the ground.  This place is empty.”

“What about the scruff marks Bent saw below?”

“Whatever left that, it’s long gone now.”

I shook my head.  “Doesn’t matter.  It’s not like this’ll take more time.”

Ave added, “Two restaurants, two parties.”

“Ok, but then you guys, Ave and Fred, need to split up.  Sorry, but you’re our heavy hitters.  Two teams: me, Marci and Ave.  We’ll check the restaurant on the left.  You guys got the other one.”

“Sounds good.”

***

It was eerie walking through a dark restaurant using only flashlights to guide us.  Shadows danced low on the walls from the table and chair legs, making it look like hidden creatures moved just out of sight, always in your peripheral.

“This place is creepy.”

“It sure is.”  I squeezed her hand.  Marci squeezed back.

“I’m getting hungry.  Thirsty, too.  How long have we been moving?”

“I don’t know, Ave.  Six hours?  More?  But, yeah, let’s find some food and take a breather.”

“Here.”  Her flashlight found the door to the kitchen.

We entered, lights suddenly shining from points over the place.  Our flashlights reflected from all manner of steel surfaces: pans, counters, knives, steel refrigerators and freezers.

“Oh, I am not opening those.”

“There’s gotta be a pantry here somewhere.  Let’s check it.”

Pretty soon, we’d found all manner of canned foods.  Lots of tomato sauce, tomatoes, anchovies – I guess this was a pasta place – sardines, tuna, even some canned chicken which both gave me relief and felt gross.  A few sealed bags of flour, even.  Bottles of oil.  Dried pasta in plastic that I thought best avoided.

“You know, if we started a fire, we could make pizza.”

“Pizza!  Let’s start a fire.”

Ave said, “No cheese, though.”

“You could check the fridge.”

“Cheeseless pizza it is.”