This Would Be Paradise (Book 3)

Chapter 21

I showed John the office and together we grabbed all the room keys. There were twenty in total, all labelled with the room numbers. We didn't need our people spread out until we could secure the area, so people would not be getting their own rooms tonight. I handed a couple of keys to Rose and Henry for them to search, while John and I took the rest to do a quick sweep. People were starting to get to the point where they would sleep anywhere. I know I was. Hell, I could probably sleep out on the cracked parking lot right about now, even with being a light sleeper.

Other than at the gate, we couldn't see the outside of the motel courtyard. A lot of people had vacated the vehicles to stretch and were regarding the place with curiosity. A couple of people went up to the pop machine to see if they could shake a few cans loose, but the noise had John telling them to stop.

The sun was starting to come up, orange and pink light reaching over the top of the castle themed motel. Chloe and Amanda looked dead on their feet with their eyes half closed. Some people were still streaked with blood and soot from Hargrove. Our group looked like the survivors of a bomb blast.

"Clear!" Rose yelled from across the courtyard.

"She needs to be quiet," John muttered.

"I think she only has one setting," I joked, but it was lost on him.

We examined our first room. There was no one inside judging from our quick sweep-we even checked under the beds. There were two of them inside covered in coral and green comforters to match the decor of the office. I waved Chloe, Ethan, and the others over.

"You guys can take this one," I said.

Chloe and Amanda plunked down on the bed by the window, not even bothering to remove their shoes they were so exhausted.

"Where are you goin' to stay?" Ethan asked.

His head was wrapped in white gauze making his hair spike up in the middle.

"I'll let you know once we get everyone in a room," I said.

"I don't have to stay with them, do I?" Colin asked through a yawn.

"The last thing we need is for people to be spread thinly while we're still checking the place out. Suck it up for one night," I said grouchily.

Colin looked from me to the bed and the bed won the contest for his attention as he all but wandered over to it and collapsed. I gave Ethan a gruff nod and continued on with John to inspect the other rooms that we had keys for.

All rooms were clear. There wasn't a soul staying at the motel. I had a feeling this was more to do with the cheap atmosphere than the infection. Business probably wasn't good beforehand. We stuffed four people in each room with double beds to make sure we were easily accessed should something come up.

Lucas was still our prisoner at the moment to I volunteered to share a room with him. John said he would be staying with us too and then Rose added her name to the rooming list. This was going to be a fun day of trying to sleep. Leo was mad that he had ended up with Henry and two others in the room beside us. He also didn't appreciate that I made him play messenger boy by going to tell Ethan's room which one I was in.

The supplies were packed into our room so that we could monitor the usage. We fed everyone before they went to sleep and it made a noticeable dent in the food we had managed to scrounge up during the evacuation. It would maybe feed the twenty mouths for one more day in total-two if we really rationed.

I mentioned this John.

"We'll worry 'bout that once we've had some sleep," he said.

I pulled back the covers to exam the sheets.