Prey for a night by Kamen Lowell (reading e books TXT) 📖

the station.I didnt know what was more terrifying,the shriek or the silence after it.The elevator suddenly stopped two floors away from our destination and I looked at the receptionist,who didnt seem worried at all.

- Well aint this a bummer - he said and opened a box on the wall next to the panel with the buttons.Inside the box was a lever and above it a lightbulb that didnt seem to work at the time.The man pulled down the lever sharply and waited for something to happen.

-Dont worry,it usually takes two to three times for it to get back to work - he said after his first failed attempt.He then pulled it one more time and the elevator shook hard and went up again.I was glad we finally got to get out of that moving coffin,next time i was taking the stairs like last time.The door opened with the usual creak and glitch and we went back in the room where the rest were having a chat next to the windows.The faul stench hadnt left the room unfortunately,but at least by the looks of it,we were already done with the investigation for today and we only had to call an ambulance to get the body for an autopsy.

-Can I be of any service to you or have you figured it out already ? - asked the man jokingly,but quickly took his grin off his face when he looked at the woman on the floor.

-I was wondering,did she come alone or did she have someone with her when she checked in the hotel ? - i asked to see if he would mention her husband

-Hmm,no,I dont think so.She came in a hurry and seemed a little upset,but aside from that I dont recall seeing anything unusual - said the man continuing covering his lower sleeve.I wanted to believe him,but evidence was evidence.They were both checked in in the same room on the same date.We were gonna come back either way,so i was going to get to the bottom of it sooner or later,but it was intriguing why he was lying and more importantly,where was her husband now ?

I felt Kirk poking me on my shoulder and pulling me to see something.

-Uhm,did anyone of you uncover the body? - asked Kirk stuttering and seemingly worried.I looked at the womans body and found out he face was uncovered.After moving closer to her my heart skipped a beat from seeing her eyes.not because I hadnt seen them yet,but because they were open again.I stopped for a moment to remember if I had really closed them and I was absolutely sure that I closed them with my bare hands and then covered her fully.The others gathered around me and followed my reaction and then Janine said

-I think this is why she cant keep her eyes closed - she pulled me by the coat and pointed at where she had her light from the flashlight on.I looked up at the ceiling and was left speechless.Half of the ceiling was covered in a huge red sign and it looked like it was painted with a hand.The case had just got a lot more confusing than it already was,when I read the sign.It said : THE DISEASE HAS BEEN UNLEASHED AND SO HAS HE

I stood petrified staring at the sign and couldnt move a muscle and so were the others,because nobody said a word for a while.

-I dont think that this a job for our department - said Kirk who started backing slowly.I turned around to see what the receptionist has to say about this,but he had vanished again,so I ran to the door.It was closed.After bumping on the door several times it was clear that we had been trapped and the only connection with the rest of the world was outside in our car.

-So now what?Cant we take the door down or maybe go out of the window? - asked Janine.She was going in circles hectically and murmuring something to herself.I looked at the window and crossed the room to open it.We werent that high up,but there was no way anyone could walk on such a narrow surface without falling to his death.Also the wind was a lot stronger here so the whole window idea had to be scratched out.

-Nah,its not gonna work,sadly - I told janine who ignored me completely,because she was still talking to herself and galloping around us.

-hey,help me out.Maybe the two of us can bring that door down,it cant be that impenetrable - i told Kirk and the both of us went infront of door and took a pushing stance

-One,two,three! - we counted and slammed the door,but nothing seemed to happen.We tried doing the same thing,but Kirk only ended up almost spraining his shoulder,so that wasnt going to work.The girls on the other hand were sitting silently on the couch,on the part that wasnt covered in blood and intestines.

-The door is being blocked from the other side probably,otherwise i cant explain this to myself.So what do we do now ? - I asked the rest hoping they might come up with something.

-Maybe we could tie together some sheets and get into the room on the lower floor and escape from there ? - proposed Ellie.That could`ve been a good idea,but we lacked sheets and I doubt that the sheets would withstand all of us.At the same moment the vents door fell on the floor and we all turned around to see what caused the ruckus.A long rattling sound was coming out of the vent and we all had our eyes peeled to see what would come out.I pulled out my gun,just in case and removed the safety and stood waiting while the noise was getting louder and closer.Finally a small can fell from the vent and rolled almost to us.By the time we had a look at it it burst a dark yellow cloud that quickly started filling the room.I ran to open the window,but i then realised that the handle had been removed.It was already too late,the entire room was filled with the dark yellow smoke and i felt getting dizzy.My colleagues started falling down on the floor and finally it was my turn.My body met the ground with full force,it was completely limp and before I full blacked out I heard the doorlock click.

 

The sound of something being dragged woke me up and I tried to open my eyes.Everything was still blurry,but I noticed some dark figures moving where the door was.

-H-h-ey,w-wait - I uttered still heavily under the effect of the smoke and one of the figures stopped for a moment.It locked its gaze on me and quickly dragged the object out of the room and didnt return.Everything in the room was spinning and my head was on the brink of ripping open and shooting out grey matter like a fountain.Before I knew it I had blacked out again until I heard a voice and felt something pushing me.It was Janine.

-Frank!Frank,please get up,the others are gone.Please! - she sounded desperate and completely terrified.Somehow that gave me the little will power I needed to get up.After my first failed attempt,Janine pulled me and I was left sitting next to her and started rubbing my eyes.After everything came back to normal I looked around to see if anything had changed,but it hadnt.Everything was on its place,except our friends

-Did you see anything when you woke up ? - I asked Janine

-Uhm,no...I..it took me a while to recover and then I noticed that you were the only one left from us beside me so I tried to wake you up before they took anyone else.- she was as confused as I was and no wonder,it all happened so fast.I reached for the couch and tried getting up on my own,whatever that smoke was,it had fucked us up really hard.The womans body was still lying on the floor,but this time with her eyes closed,apparently whatever sick bastard did this,had a little respect for her.I helped Janine get up and we headed slowly for the open door.We had to watch for eachother not to fall down while walking,because the smoke had partially immobilized us.As we stepped out of the room the view of the corridor,that was a completely normal corridor a few minutes ago,now baffled me.All over the corridor parts of the wallpapers and the moquet were torn out,the walls covered in scribbles,the same as the one on the ceiling,but these had no message.We started moving along the corridor,scanning through what had happened.Some of the rooms were now open and I tried peeking inside in most of them,but I found the same image in all of them.They were all trashed,with dirty sheets on the floor and pieces of glass.Some of the sheets and mattress were drenched in the same black goo that we found on the womans matress.

-Did you find out what that black goo is actually ? - I asked Janine,who was limping next to me

-No,I only took a sample of it,but it seemed strange.It was sticky and dense,almost like blood - she said.

We were almost at the elevator when I remembered my encounter with the man from the room next to the stairs.I asked Janine to hold on for a longer until we reach the mans room.Even when in grave danger she still followed orders without complaining,thats what I really liked in her,she was really conscientious.The mans room wasnt opened so I tried knocking and after the second knock the door cracked open slightly.The crack didnt reveal much so I tried pushing it.There was something blocking it so I pushed it with full force.Unfortunately I didnt think through how hard I was pushing so I flew in the room and fell on the ground.It was dark so i couldnt see what I had fallen on,but it was soft and cold.Janine started touching around for the lightswitch while i was still trying to guess what i had stumbled on.She finally found it and turned the lights on

-Oh,there it is ! - the lights revealed something I hadnt even imagined.I found myself sitting on the mans legs who had long passed away.He was lying on the floor and every seemed in intact aside from his head,that was nowhere to be seen.His head had been smashed from the once dysfunctional TV and hunderds of litle parts were splattered around his corpse.The place where I had landed was soaking wet with blood and i swiftly backed away to the door with Janine.My heart was racing and the only thought in my head was how to escape this madhouse

-W-we have to go Frank,theres something seriously wrong with this hotel.We have to contact others to come and help us. - said Janine

She was right,but we couldnt just leave our friends here,not after seeing what they had done to this man.I tried thinking of a solution,but the heavy pulsation in my head felt like someone hammering a nail in my brain and left me useless.

-We can go to the car and contact the rest to send more cars over,but we cant leave Kirk and Ellie.I cant allow that. - i told finally Janine and stood up.I couldnt stand watching the mans decapitated body and I closed the door after us.

-Ok,lets just go out and contact the others and stay in the car until they come.We will have a better chance finding Kirk and Ellie with the rest. - Janine proposed looking me in the eyes.I could read the fear in them and was completely understanding her,she hadnt had a high rank case yet and now this happened.Even I was extremely overwhelmed by the turn of events so I can only imagine what shes was going through.

-Ok,I guess thats a thoughtful proposition,i hope they`re alright - i said and we started going down.

The stairs had gone through a horrific change too,most of them had iron pipes sticking out of them and parts of the concrete were fractured and were extremely hard to get down on.Janine and I kept eachother from tumbling down as