Glory (Book 4) (9 page)

Chapter 6

Marianne had her hand over her mouth and nose. She didn't know how much more of the smell she could take. She did her best to search around for any sign of food that they could take, but stench of death made that hard. Her eyes were squinted together. She could barely breathe.

She saw Scooter standing over on the other side of the restaurant. He was looking down at a small child. A girl. It reminded her of the one she had seen at the park, beside the playhouse, all those
…
months
?
…days ago.

Scooter looked up and marched away from where he was standing. Marianne did the same. Though she didn't make it very far.

She motioned to Scooter
.
This was too muc
h
. He agreed.

They both charged for the door.

Chapter 7

Outside the restaurant, they began panting, sucking in all of the somewhat fresher air.

"Shit," Scooter said in between gasps. "That was fuckin' horrible!"

Marianne looked at him. Instead of saying anything, she simply started to laugh.

It took Scooter by surprise
.
After all they had just seen, how could she laugh
?
He thought that maybe Marianne had lost it. Seeing all of that blood, smelling all of that decay
.
Had it pushed her over the edg
e
?

Finally, she spoke. "Yeah, tha
t
wa
s
fuckin' horrible!"

Scooter started laughing too. He couldn't help himself. The words had a strange sound coming out of the mouth of this middle-aged woman in her bright yellow shirt.

"So what do we do now?" he asked once he gathered himself.

Marianne laughed a little longer before she answered. "I don't know."

It wasn't much of an answer, but it was along the same lines that Scooter had been thinking. They had come so far. Yet they didn't know if they wanted to go any further.

"It really wa
s
fuckin
'
horrible," Marianne repeated.

"Should we forget about it? Head back to the room and tell them we couldn't find anything?" Scooter didn't like that idea, but he wasn't sure what else they could do.

Marianne didn't answer. She had her own question to ask first. "Did you see anything in there we could take?"

"No."

"Me neither." She looked back at the door. "But I think I saw where the kitchen was. Maybe we should try to check that out first."

"You mean go back in?"

Marianne's head bobbed up and down slightly. She didn't really want to go through all of that again. "The least we can do it try."

Scooter glanced from the door to the hallway that led to their rooms. People were relying on him to get this done. He had to try. "Okay," he said. "We'll give it a shot."

Fuck.

He grabbed the door knob again, then turned to Marianne. "Ready?"

"Ready."

"On the count of three."

He began to count. At 'three', they took a deep breath and he pulled the door back open.

They hurried inside.

Chapter 8

Julie opened the hotel room door to let them in. Scooter and Marianne both had their hands full with cans of food they had found in the kitchen.

"You found so much," Julie said.

They placed the food onto the table and sat down. Their adventure had taken a lot out of them.

"Was it bad?" John asked from his spot on the bed.

"Worse than bad," Scooter replied. He shot a quick look to Marianne
.
Fuckin' horrible
.
"But we found a few things."

It was then that Scooter noticed John had something of his own. A can of pop and a bag of something. Alice and Emily were sharing something too.

"Where did you get those?" Scooter asked.

John held up his hand. A bag of peanuts. "These?"

"Yeah, those."

"The mini-bar." John pointed to the small refrigerator underneath the television. "We thought about it after you left."

The mini-ba
r
. Scooter didn't know why he hadn't thought of that earlier. There wouldn't be the best food in it, but it would've helped. They might've even been able to avoid going to the restaurant and seeing what they had.

Nothing they could do about that now…

Scooter leaned over and opened the fridge. There were a few more things left in there. He pulled out an orange juice and offered another one to Marianne. They drank it quickly.

"Was it that bad?" Julie asked. She had made her way to the bed and was sitting on the edge of it. She wrung her hands together as she spoke.

"Yeah," Scooter said. "It was."

"You still think we should leave tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I do." Scooter didn't want to keep wandering around outside, but he knew that there was too much death in the hotel. They'd have to stay in their rooms. They couldn't have much of a life here. Besides, he still wanted to find more survivors. "I mean, we might be able to stay two or three days, but I don't know if that's a good idea."

John came to his defence once more. "No," he said. "It's not a good idea. We should keep moving on. Don't get me wrong, I like this bed we've found. But opening the window hasn't done much to air out the room. It still smells in here. And I might not know much about these types of things, but I don't think it can be good for our health."

"But…" This time it was his wife who spoke. From the look on her face, they all knew that she was worried about John being outside. It had been hard enough for him to get to the hotel. She didn't want to keep taking unnecessary risks
.
But was this unnecessary
?
"I guess you're right," she admitted.

"On the bright side," John continued, "by the looks of it, there's lots of food now."

"There is," Scooter said. He grabbed a can and turned it around in his hand. "Soup. Sauce. Some vegetables. Fruit salad."

Emily's eyes lit up at that. "Fruit salad? With cherries?"

Scooter smiled. The little girl really was beginning to talk more. "Yeah, with cherries. Anyone have a can opener?"

Marianne searched through her purse and pulled one out that she had taken from John's house. She gave it to him.

"Who's hungry?" Scooter asked.

Emily raised her hand.

He poured some of the fruit salad into a cup and passed it to her. "Here you go."

"Thanks." She dug her fingers into it straight away.

"Anyone else?"

They were all hungry and wanted to eat. He opened up a few more cans and handed it all out. The could talk about leaving later. For now, they were happy with their food and decided to leave it at that.

Chapter 9

Something startled Scooter awake. He was alone in his room and had no idea what had made the noise. He looked around and tried to see what it was. The moon shone enough to dimly light his room.

When that failed, he listen for the sound again.

Nothing.

He was sure that he had heard something.

He reached over and made sure that his axe was beside him. It was.

He waited a moment. Then the sound came again.

Knock, knock, knoc
k
. Someone was at his door.

He knew it wasn't one of thos
e
thing
s
, but he also couldn't see any reason why anyone would come calling at this hour. He grabbed his axe, got out of bed and quietly walked to the front door.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Who's there?" he asked. His voice wasn't more than a whisper.

He waited for an answer. When it didn't come, he started to question whether or not anyone was even there. The knocking had stopped. It could have been his imagination
.
A dream
.
He didn't really think so, but he wasn't sure what to make of it.

"Hello? he raised his voice this time.

Nothing.

He thought about opening the door. Though he wasn't quite ready
.
Had it been in his head?

Knock, knock, knock.

He jumped at the sound and readied his axe. "Who's out there?" he called even louder.

A reply never came.

He stared at the door, knowing he'd have to make a decision. He could either go back to bed and hope that whoever was out there would stop knocking on the door. Or he could open it. Calling out wasn't working.

He turned to look at his bed. There was no way that he was going to be able to sleep without knowing who was outside.

"Hello?"

Still nothing.

He grabbed the door knob and turned it slowly. The door clicked open. He pulled it toward him. Though it was dark, he could easily make out the bright yellow shirt.

"Marianne," he said. "What are you doing?"

"Can I come in?" she asked.

"Is everything okay? Is everyone all right?"

"Everyone's all right. Can I come in?"

Scooter looked up and down the hallway. There was no one else out there. Everything seemed fine.

"Sure," he said, moving back for her to step past him. He closed the door as soon as she was inside. "Why didn't you answer me?"

She walked further into his room, her back to him. "
I
di
d
answer you. I told you that everyone was all right."

"No, not that. When you were outside just now. I called to you. You didn't say anything."

"I guess didn't hear you." She turned to face him.

He could see her better now that they were closer to the moonlight coming in through his window. She had a slight smile on her face, though a sadness in her eyes.

"Marianne," he said again. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"Really?"

She sat on the bed. "I don't know. Not really, I guess."

He placed his axe against the bedside table and sat down on the bed beside her. "You okay?"

She took a moment before answering. "I was just thinking," she said.

"About what?"

"About the past few days. And about today
.
The restauran
t
. It was pretty bad in there."

"Yeah," Scooter said. "It was." He thought about the little girl with the bottle in her neck
.
Fuckin' horrible.

Marianne wrung her fingers together. "I was also thinking abou
t
yo
u
."

"Me?" Scooter didn't know where this was going, but something about it felt strange. "Why?"

"Oh, I don't know." Her fingers continued to press together. "I guess I was thinking about you…and Julie."

"Me and Julie? What do you mean?"

Marianne's fingers stopped moving. Her eyes focused on his. "You'll never be happy with her." The words came out of her mouth bluntly, as though they had been friends for years and she needed to tell him something that he couldn't see for himself.

"What?"

"You'll never love her."

"Never love her?"

"Not the way that you want. Not the way that you deserve." Marianne reached out and placed her hand on his knee. She squeezed it gently. "I see the way you look at her. I know what you want. And I know that you won't get it from her
.
Yo
u
know that too."

Did he?

He moved his knee from under her grasp. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Marianne laughed. Well, actually, it was more of a chuckle. A sweet, girlish one, at that. "You know that I mean," she said. "Deep down, I know that you do."

Deep down? Was it true?

"I…I…" He didn't want to be having this conversation. Not with Marianne. Not at this hour. "I think you should leave."

Marianne's expression dropped. "I didn't come here to upset you. It's just that I knew that you were having some trouble with her. I could see it in your eyes. The way you look at her."

In his eyes? The way he looks at her?

"I don't want to talk about it anymore," he said.

"I know you don't," Marianne continued. She reached out and touched his face. She ran her fingers down his cheek and underneath his chin. "But, remember, I just wanted to help. You're a good young man and you deserve someone strong. Someone you can rely on. Like me."

She pulled at his face to bring it closer to her own. Then they kissed.

Scooter was just as surprised by this as with everything else she had done and said, but he didn't pull away. He felt the softness of her lips. The warmth.

It was only when she stopped that he was able to ask, "Why did you do that?"

"I wanted to."

Marianne placed her hand back on his leg. This time it was higher up on his thigh. He still didn't understand what was happening.

"I don't know about this," he said. "Maybe we should…"

She broke off his speaking with another kiss. She opened her mouth and stuck her tongue into his own. He felt it twist around inside. He kissed her back.

As her hand moved up his leg, he could feel himself get hard. It wasn't that he found her attractive. If anything, he thought she was too old for him. But he couldn't deny that her touch felt nice.

He let her undo his zipper. Then she pulled out his cock and began stroking it.

Scooter could barely breathe. He had been with a few other women before, though nothing like this. Marianne knew what she was doing.

"Lay back," she said, pressing her other hand against his chest.

There was a quick moment that he thought he should stop this
.
Nothing good could come from this
.
Yet as he laid down and she took him in her mouth, any arguments he might have made left him.

He felt the wet heat of her mouth slide up and down his cock
.
This older woman
.
He looked down and could see the back of her head bobbing up and down. He could see the bright yellow shirt glowing in the darkness.

Then she began to take off his pants.

She pulled at each side until the sipped down from under him. She took off his underwear as well. And his socks. The whole time she kept her mouth on him. She stared to make purring noises.

She took off her pants next. Scooter helped.

When they were off, he noticed her panties. Cream coloured. Large. Unattractive. But he didn't pay them much more attention than that.

Marianne grabbed hold of the band and pulled them down. She straddled him after.

Scooter felt his penis press up against her pubic hair. He felt her warmth.

Now, if only she'd take off that bright yellow shirt.

As if on command, she started to undo it. One button after the other.

It was a slow process and Scooter didn't want to wait for it. He reached up and pulled the blouse open. He didn't bother with the buttons. They popped off. He could find her a new blouse in the morning. He tore at her bra (cream coloured, large, unattractive) as well.

Naked, he could see her age in the flesh of her stomach and of her breasts. He could see where her skin had stretched from the weight she gained over the years. Her nipples pointed more downward than straight ahead.

Though, at the moment, none of that mattered. He wanted to fuck her.

Marianne reached down and grabbed his cock again. She placed it against her vagina and moved it around. Scooter could feel the juices building down there. Then she slipped him into her.

Scooter bit his lower lip, stopping himself from screaming out.

She felt so good.

She began to move back and forth on top of him.

"Like it?" she asked.

"Mm-hmm."

She continued to fuck him. Heavy breathing. Moaning.

"You're amazing," she said. "Fuck me."

Scooter pressed himself deeper into her.

And that was when he heard a sound come from the door. It wasn't a knock. It was a rattle. Someone was trying to get in.

"Stop," he whispered. "Someone's out there."

She looked at him and smiled, but kept moving.

Scooter heard the door once more. The rattling this time was a lot louder. More forceful.

He turned to face it
.
What if it was Julie? What if she was listening to the whole thing? How would he explain that to her?

"You'll never love her" Marianne had said. "You deserve someone strong…like me."

"Stop," Scooter said again. "Someone's outside!"

Marianne continued to ignore him. She began to pick up speed.

Scooter thought about pushing the woman off of him. He was sure that he could explain things to Julie. But before he had a chance, the knob turned and the door opened.

He couldn't see who was there. It was too dark for that
.
Though who else could it be? John? Alice?

He heard a gurgling sound. Like someone was choking. Then he saw someone move.

The figure came closer. Marianne kept on fucking him. Scooter didn't know what to do.

He waited until he had a better view.

A young girl.

Emily.

Scooter placed his hands on Marianne's stomach and started to push. The layer of fat that had built there felt soft in between his fingers.

"Get off me," he said. "Emily is here!"

But it wasn't Emily. As she came closer into view, he saw that it was the little girl from the restaurant. The one with the bottle stuck in her neck. Fresh blood was flowing out of it. When she opened her mouth to speak, that gurgling sound was all that came out.

"What the fuck?" Scooter shouted.

Marianne pressed harder against him. Faster.

He tried pushing her off again, but she wouldn't stop.

The little girl came closer.

Marianne's panting picked up. Her moaning got louder.

What the fuck was happening
?
Scooter wondered.

Marianne started to come.

Scooter screamed.

With one more try, he finally pushed Marianne off of him. She fell onto the other side of the bed and started to laugh.

"Are you fuckin' crazy?" he asked. He pointed at the little girl. "Can't you see her? Didn't you hear me?"

Marianne's laughter didn't stop.

He turned from her and went to reach for his axe at the bedside table. It wasn't there.

He quickly searched around the room. Nothing.

"Where is it?" he asked. "My axe!"

Marianne ignored him. The little girl got closer.

He felt the urge to run out of the room. But he didn't know if he'd make it past the little girl. He had seen those creatures attack before. They were ruthless.

That's what this little girl was, right? One o
f
the
m
?

He needed his axe.

He bent down and looked under the bed
.
It may have fallen down while he and Marianne had been having sex
.
He reached his hand under it and began feeling around.

Nothing.

"Where the fuck is my axe!?"

Scooter raised his head and looked over the edge of the mattress. Marianne was no longer lying down. She was kneeling. And in her hands was his axe. She held it up above her.