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&039;I checked all the rooms for bodies and I took what I needed but&039;

&039;Did you take everything?&039;

&039;No Didn&039;t need to&039;

&039;So there&039;s your answer,&039; Jones said s down his nose at the others &039;We go back down as far as we need to and grab e can&039;

&039;Think that&039;s going to work?&039;

&039;Might do,to death for a few days longer,&039; he sneered cynically &039;Delay the inevitable for a while&039;

&039;That&039;s all you&039;re going to do,&039; Bushell re to happen anyway&039; &039;He&039;s right, isn&039;t he?&039; asked Doreen &039;It&039;s not going to change the fact that those bloody things will be up here with us in the next couple of days, is it? It&039;s not going to help us get away&039;

&039;No,&039; he agreed, &039;it won&039;t But it ht thirty-five Pitch black Jones, Wilcox and Elizabeth crept cautiously down the fire escape staircase towards the lower floors of the hotel Hunger, claustrophobia and fear had combined to deadly effect to kick the instinctively cowardly survivors into action Their hastily considered and half-ily risky with every step of descent Jones had suggested they head all the way down and work their way back up They had only made their way down as far as the seventeenth floor when he stopped and turned round to face the others

&039;What&039;s the matter?&039; Elizabeth asked, immediately concerned

&039;I want to have a look,&039; he replied

&039;What for?&039;

&039;What do you think?&039;

&039;But you said&039;

&039;I said nothing We know they&039;re on the stairs We don&039;t knohere else they are, do we?&039;

She shook her head Jones ently pushed it open a fraction He shone his torch out onto the landing

&039;Anything?&039;

&039;Can&039;t see any movement,&039; he replied, his voice littleto have a look around&039;

Without waiting for a response froh the door and onto the landing He switched off his torch, concerned that the light ht attract unwanted attention, and then cautiously moved further down the dark hallway to the first corner The layout, as far as he could see in the gloo, wide corridor with a right-angled right turn which ran towards the central part of the building where, he presu bodies would be Hehis breath for fear of ht tip the balance and alert the dead to his presence He couldn&039;t see anything It was too dark

Jones felt his way along the wall and paused at the door to one of the hotel&039;sa quick look around the roo on the fire escape staircase He wanted to see the layout of a typical roo with How quickly would they be able to thoroughly check a room for food? What were they likely to find? Would there be a ine if each room had its own supply of booze Surely soher floors would have

Jones reached down and tried the handle Da was locked No surprise really Bushell had a set of master keys which he&039;d taken from reception Elizabeth had the it would open It didn&039;t o back to the Wait What was that? He sensed ainst his arm and he froze He lifted his torch and turned it on Ahead of him the whole corridor was filled with bodies

&039;Fucking hell,&039; he ered back away froht fro torch, he saw that the corridor was packed full of corpses which had obviously spilled out froan to stumble towards him He turned and ran back to the fire escape and hammered on the door Elizabeth opened it slowly

&039;Move!&039; he yelled, forcing hi the door shut behind him

&039;Bodies?&039; she asked over her shoulder as she instinctively began to cli hundreds of thelanced around for Wilcox but he&039;d already gone and ay ahead of them both Cowardly bastard He made a mental note never to put himself in a position where needed to rely on Wilcox for anything

The survivors pounded breathlessly up the stairs, suddenly not bothered about the voluet back to the Presidential Suite As he cliress of the bodies he&039;d just seen

&039;Wait aElizabeth in her tracks Breathless, he shone his torch at a sn on the back of the nearest fire door Floor twenty-six It orth taking a chance to see if this floor was the same as the one ten floors below Elizabeth walked back down five steps to stand next to hi?&039;

&039;According to Proctor they haven&039;t reached this floor yet,&039; he said &039;We o back&039;

She agreed He was right on two counts Firstly, if the bodies hadn&039;t yet made it this far up the staircase, they wouldn&039;t have made it up to this floor at all Secondly, it looked likely that this was their last chance to get food before the dead reached the Presidential Suite

&039;Come on,&039; she h the fire door (leaving it propped open with a fire extinguisher) andthe corridor to the first corner Jones put his head around the corner and shone the torch down its length

&039;Clear,&039; he said, the relief in his voice obvious &039;Let&039;s stick to this end of the corridor and stay away from the stairs&039;

&039;Suits me,&039; Elizabeth replied

The layout of floor twenty-seven was different to floor seventeen This floor bore hth floor than any of the lower levels There were several large suites on this floor and Jones was immediately hopeful they&039;d find some food and drink at least

&039;Got a key for an executive suite?&039; he asked Elizabeth worked her way through the huge bunch of keys she carried The door was quickly opened and the two of the for?&039; Elizabeth asked &039;Anything,&039; Jones replied, &039;and make sure you split what you find into two piles Keep one for yourself and we&039;ll share the rest with the others&039;