The windows of the hotel room reflected the weak light of dawn as Luke woke up to the unmistakable smell of coffee. For a split second he was a kid in Canada, getting a whiff of his mom's first pot of coffee for the day.

That usually meant she was on her way up the stairs to drag him out of bed for school. He lingered in that dreamy state for another half second, until he heard a loud banging at the door. He grabbed his shotgun and headed toward the noise.

"Hey, you guys. Oi! You lot! In there! Heeeeeyyyyy! There are raiders downstairs and they're nicking your gear!!"


Andrea peeked around the corner of the kitchen door, with a mug of coffee visibly shaking in both hands.

Luke pushed Andrea back into the kitchen, "How long has that been going on?" He hissed into her ear.

"Just a minute or so - I was making coffee," she answered in a squeaky frightened voice.

"Why didn't you come get me?" He angrily grabbed her elbow, spilling the coffee on her wrist.

"Ow! Leave me alone! I was going to get you, but you came out first."

The banging continued, along with more yelling. Luke let go of Andrea, and ran along the wall beside the door. He stayed out of range of the door, just in case a spray of bullets should come whizzing through it.

"Oi !! There are raiders downstairs. It won't be long before they're up here, so best get ready to defend yourselves!"

When Luke got to the corner of the door, he banged on it with the barrel of his weapon


"Shut up you idiot! You'll wake the half dead out there, we don't need that right now!"

The noise stopped, and a sudden and eerie silence prevailed. Only the soft wicker of feet on plush carpet could be heard, as Ian and Juan joined Luke beside the door with as much stealth as they could muster. There was a distinct crash downstairs, probably in the lobby.

The noise startled Luke into action."Who are you, and what do you want?" Luke called out, just loud enough to be heard on the other side.

"My name is Jeremy Morgan, and I've been following you for a few days, checking you out.
I was asleep in one of the rooms downstairs, when I heard a lot of yelling and crashing by the front doors. It's a gang of raiders, and they've got into that cleaning closet where you hid your trash carts."

"Back away from the door, Morgan." Luke called out.

There was silence for a minute, and Luke ran to the door and peeked out the peephole. What he saw was a very tall man standing on the other side of the hallway. Just then he saw Paul shoot past Jeremy without even seeing him, he was so focused on getting to the suite door. He banged on it with both fists.

" Let me in, Please! There's a bunch of guys downstairs. I think they're trashing the place. I can hear your carts being banged around, so I think they must be taking your stuff."

Luke open the door just enough to grab Paul by the arm, and pull him through it.

"You idiot! How do you know that guy wasn't going to slit your throat? He coulda grabbed you if he wanted."

A puzzled look went over Paul's face. "What guy?"

Luke pushed Paul's face up to the peephole. "That guy!

Paul's body started to tremble in fear as he leaned heavily against the door. Ian pulled him further into the room, as Andrea came out of the kitchen to see what was going on. Ian pushed Paul right into Andrea, who almost staggered from his sudden weight.

"You two stay back, for now. When we go out, you stay here. You'd just be in the way. Don't lock the door. We might have to get in fast, and bunker in. Keep an eye out through the peephole. If it looks like things are going badly for us, use whatever you can find in here to back us up," Ian ordered Paul and Andrea. He went back to join Luke and Juan at the door.


While all this was happening, Luke had opened the door a crack, and called across the hall.


"How do we know you aren't one of them, who came up here to lure us out to be murdered?"

"I've had you in my rifle sites for two days, mate. I could have shot any one of you if I wanted to. I don't mean you any harm. I just want to join you. There are some bad asses roaming all over the city, raiding stores, killing, raping, and burning. I've seen them, and I've been trying to stay out of their way. They aren't Toggles ... "

"They aren't what?" Luke interrupted.

"Toggles - toggle like a light switch, how the infected go from comatose to awake so fast." Jeremy explained. "I can take care of myself usually, but not up against that lot. I need allies, and one more ally wouldn't hurt you, either."


"I know the type you're talking about. Before the sickness, street gangs were rampant in the big cities, in Canada and the United States. They were basically young thugs, involved in all kinds of illegal behaviour, including murder. It's inevitable that some of the local criminal element survived. There's no authorities to stop them from going on a rampage, now."

Luke had the door half open now. The noise from downstairs was getting decidedly louder - and closer.

"What do you think, guys?" Luke whispered to the other two men.

"Would you hurry the @&$$ up? I can hear them in the stairwell!" Jeremy was getting irritable with the increase of sound effects downstairs.

Juan shrugged, Ian grimaced in an indecisive gesture.

"One more couldn't hurt against the raiders, I guess." Luke remarked. He motioned for the two men to stand against the wall as he opened the door fully.

"Keep me covered, guys." Luke walked boldly out into the hall, his own weapon at the ready.

"You got a weapon?" He asked Jeremy, who stood silently at the opposite wall, his open hands by his side. A weapon in his hands when Luke opened the door, would have been a death sentence for sure.

" I have a 22 rifle, a hunting knife, and a crossbow." Jeremy glanced over his shoulder, where the butt of a rifle peeked out of a sling on his back.

" What are you doing here? " Luke shot the question back at him fast, not giving him enough time to think of a lie. As he spoke, he inched closer to the tall lanky Aussie.

" There is safety in numbers. I've been looking for a group of healthy people to join. I've been keeping watch for you from a distance. I saved you from ambush once. I got to two raiders before they got to you, just outside the mall. They were waiting for you to come out." This was said in a strong Australian accent.

Luke had seen the two bodies stashed behind a bunch of bushes that he had checked before coming in. The bodies hadn't been there then. He hadn't mentioned it to anyone, because he didn't want to make the group more paranoid than they already were. He'd been scouting out the area all around them as they moved back toward the hotel, looking for any more ambushes, and whoever might be following them. It was a point in Jeremy's favour that Luke hadn't been able to catch him.


" Did you see anybody else following us?" As Luke spoke, he gestured to Ian and Juan to come out. They were standing in the doorway, keeping an eye on Jeremy the whole time.

"Nah, I ...

BANG!!!

A shotgun blast blew the knob section of the stairwell door downstairs inward. The debris could be heard hitting the cement steps. In a fluid smooth move, Jeremy reached behind his back and pulled his rifle out. He ran down the hallway toward the stairwell door, with Luke, Juan and Ian right behind him.

Jeremy went to one side of the locked stairwell door, and Luke joined him, shotgun at the ready. Juan and Ian stood on the other side waiting, as they heard the loud cursing of the raiders as they clambered up the stairs

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Author guidance for This story

In the face of an unfathomable cataclysm, a group of survivors eke out a barren existence in a tormented landscape. Faced with disease, hunger, exposure and the constant threat of attack, they wander in search of a new home....

This collaboration is the work of the Pockets Full of Posey team:

Sly (Founder)
moonwalker
Lachness-Monster
ShyaByah

While the chapters ostensibly will have a principal author, the whole team is responsible for every chapter, paragraph and sentence. We work closely together to make this story as seamless and excellent as possible. We hope you appreciate the effort.

Please rate and comment.

updated Dec 2 '10 by Lachness-Monster