Floor 31

Chapter 5

Travelling by stair was dangerous, but travelling through the floor was even more dangerous. They didn't know what to do, in the end. They all decided to go into one of the apartments before the sun went down. They had travelled to the 4th floor by stair but going any further would be far too dangerous. They could hear the zombies and monsters above them. Their growls echoed through the stairway, stairs were not an option to travel.

"Should we check all the rooms?" Zayd asked, stupidly.

"No." Everyone whispered.

"That's too dangerous." Dream explained. "We have to check 1 or 2 rooms so that we don't face a ton of zombies and monsters at the same time. I'm surprised how little zombies and monsters there are right now. Most would probably be hiding in rooms and elevators. So be on the lookout."

Most felt that Dream was almost taking Alexa's place as leader. Just by the way she talked and explained things, everyone had concluded that Dream was the most experienced in this field. She was confident, smart and a fighter. She was the most well rounded out of everyone, she had the highest chance of surviving alone. She didn't depend on anyone.

"If you hear noise from any of the rooms, walk quietly away from the room and signal the rest of us. We need to make camp in one of these apartments so no playing around."

The group was split into 2 teams, Dream, Kai and Zayd. The other team was Clara and the twins. The objective was to find an apartment that they could sleep in. That was the main priority, which is why Dream was constantly agitated at Zayd as they searched for a room.

"Shut up." Dream whispered with frustration.

"What?"

Dream rolled her eyes at him. She couldn't stand the fact that he was here acting as if they weren't fighting for their lives. She was getting annoyed at how 'normal' he was. Everyone else were true survivors, they were smart, they were fast, they were strong. Zayd on the other hand was fit, but he wasn't a fighter. He wouldn't have survived even a week alone, yet here he is.

Dream leaned onto the door of Room 17 on Floor 4. She patiently waited for any sounds, a room too quiet could be dangerous, a room too loud could kill you. They needed quite noises, breathing, creaking, footsteps and murmuring. Dream pressed her ear against the door, hoping for any noise. This floor was strangely quiet, they could've just hit a jackpot. A floor clear of any zombies and monsters but Dream knew better than to believe that.

Dream heard the quiet footsteps, slow and steady. A zombie, maybe 2 but that was enough to kill them. Kai signalled for the other group to come to them, this could be their camp for the night. But they had to quick, they had to be smart. Too much noise could awaken the whole hotel, it could hundreds of zombies and monsters after them.

Kai sniffed the air, there was something off about the smell. A rotten smell. It was appalling, it reeked of rotten flesh. It was the smell of a zombie.

"2 or 3 months old." Kai explained. "Whatever's in there, it's at least 2 to 3 months old. Adult, most likely male. The movement of the air is slow, the smell barely travels. It's most likely reached its peak transformation."

"Should we kill it?" Alexa asked.

"I'd say we take this room, and the zombie seems easy enough to kill."

"Then that's what we do." Alex replied. "Clara and Zayd, stay behind us. Everyone else be prepared to fight anything. We aren't certain that there's only 1 or 2 zombies in there, there could a dozen. So, pay attention and don't mess up."

Dream had respect for Alex. She liked his determination, she liked how he gave instructions. He knew how to tell the instructions in a way that made them remember. He sounded almost threatening, he knew who could do what just by looking at them. He wasn't afraid to speak his mind.

Alex was leading the group into battle, he had Dream but his side because he knew that she could back him up when needed. Kai and Alexa followed with Clara and Zayd at the back on lookout.

Dream knew the risks of stepping into that room. It was a battlefield, there was no going back once you were in. Dream had been in this position many times, she had become accustomed to the pounding beat of her heart. The adrenaline that was rushing through he body. Despite this all being normalized to her, fear was churning up in her stomach. In this world, if you lost track of your concentration for even a second, you could die. Blinking could end your life, sleeping could end your life. Not sleeping could also end your life, there was no right decision, just the best decision.

"3." Dream whispered.

"2." Alex whispered.

"1."

Alex slowly turned the knob the door. His hand was shaking in fear, even someone as fast and strong as Alex couldn't hide his fear in this situation. As Alex slowly opened the door, the fumes of rotten flesh intensified. The murmuring of a zombie grew louder the wider the door opened.

Everyone could see a glimpse of the zombie's head as it wandered around the apartment, limbless. This meant there was definitely another zombie or monster hiding in the apartment. The zombie was almost pure sludge at this point, its body was disintegrating, there was barely a body left. Just a chest and head, that zombie wouldn't be much of a problem. But what occupied the rest of the room was what scared the teenagers.

"Everybody..." Alex began. "Try... try not to die. Not yet anyway."

Slamming the door open, Alex charged at the zombie's head with his bloody bat. Blood splattered across the walls as he beat what was left of the zombie. But just as Alex killed the zombie, something large knocked him over. A monster.

No one knew what it was or what its original form was. It was a new creature that no one had ever seen before, it had tiny black eyes that you could barely see. Long tentacle-like arms grabbed Alex's ankle. Dream charged in, shooting the monster with the remaining bullets she had. This monster was huge, it covered majority of the room with its massive body. Zayd stood bewildered at the monster, his eyes stared in fear. He froze, unable to think or move.

"ALEX!" Alexa shouted as she ran up to her brother.

Using his weapon, Kai dashed up to tentacle that was gripping Alex's ankle, trying to drag him across the room. With all his strength, Kai swung his weapon straight through the tentacle. Slicing it off the monster's body. With the knife part of his weapon, Kai stabbed it into the monster's body. Pushing the wires and batteries together, he electrocuted the monster, the room filled with the smell of smoke. Clara coughed as her lungs filled with filthy air.

Dream glared at the monster, this was the scary side of her. She glared straight into the eyes of the monster. The monster stared back, its eye fluttered for a second. A soft flutter, something that made everyone feel a sense of guilty for trying to kill it. Everyone except Dream. Dream lifted her gun and aimed it at the heart of the monster, pulling the trigger without any sense of remorse.

As the bullet plummeted into the depths of the monster's body, everyone could the last drop of life disappear from the monster. It was dead.

"What... what was that?" Zayd stuttered.

No one knew. "It was a deer and an octopus." Dream answered. "To be exact, it was a deformed deer mixed with an octopus."

"It looked nothing like any of those animals." Clara replied.

"It doesn't have to look like an animal. They're called monsters for a reason." Kai said. "That's how no one knows how to define the origin of a monster. They're nothing like what they originally were. The reasons the origins are mixed is because I assume something happened between a deer and an octopus. Maybe a deer bit an octopus, but somehow, these 2 animals were connected."

"So how does she know what it was?" Zayd asked, pointing at Dream.

Dream didn't answer him, no one answered him. Despite everyone wondering the exact same question. They knew Dream was special, they knew she was different, strange and smart. They knew that she didn't grow up normally, so they never questioned why she had the answer to everything. They didn't question why she was so smart and fast, they didn't question why her aim was perfect. She was strange, almost mutant but she was useful. They needed her.