Episode 9: Everyone Contributes
Episode 9
"Everyone Contributes"
(This Part of the Story is From Jeff's Point of View)
I was picked up and carried along the forest. It only took about a minute, and we were on the highway. Huh, it was that close. I had no idea it was right there. I was brought into a truck. The truck was navy blue, and had some kind of logo on the doors. It said "LW" on it, obviously standing for Lockwood. I was placed in the back of the truck, it was warm in it. I instantly felt better, but I didn't want this. I needed to find Kayla, these people can't hold me back. The only problem was that I was too weak to do anything about it. I laid in the back, as the soldiers got in the front, and some got in the back with me. The truck started moving down the highway and I knew I was probably never going to find Kayla now.
"You're probably very confused." said the soldier driving.
"We're not the military, just to clear that up," said another one, "We are part of a place called Lockwood. We have made our own army. The military was overthrown by the dead a long time ago. At least that's what we think, we've been trying to contact them but it's never worked."
I didn't care who they were, I wanted to tell them to pull over and let me find my daughter but I could barely speak, let alone even open my eyes.
"So we go out and try to help as many people as possible. Lockwood is a big place. It's in Kingston, that's where we're headed now. It's a hotel that we have cleared. A big hotel."
This place did sound promising, but Kayla was out there, but there was nothing I could do. This place almost sounds too good to be true, a bunch of soldiers that just go out and help people for the hell of it? There must be a catch. I wanted to argue with them, but my vision started getting darker and darker. Then everything went black.
I woke up, still inside the truck. I blinked my eyes a couple times. My body has definitely heated up. I had a little bit more strength, I sat up slowly and looked out the window. I woke up just in time, we were just getting to Lockwood. The place looked amazing. There was huge gates, they looked like they were made of steel. There were big steel walls around a huge hotel that was in the middle of all of it. It was a very tall hotel building. There were other smaller building inside the walls too. I wonder what was in them. There were flags hanging from the buildings. It was the same one on the truck. A big blue flag, with "LW" on them written in white. I guess this place's colours were blue and white. We parked beside the hotel building and the soldiers got out. One grabbed me and helped me out of the truck. A women came out of the front doors of the hotel and walked towards me. She had long brown hair, and had a white dress on. She was holding a clipboard.
"You found a survivor?" she asked.
"Yes ma'am." said the soldiers.
"Thank you, I'll take it from here. What is your name?" she asked me.
"Jeff." I mumbled with my head down.
The soldiers got into the truck and drove it into a small building, garage doors opened up and they drove inside. The doors shut behind them.
"Let me show you around, I know you must have many questions Jeff. By the way, my name is Lindsey," she shook my hand, "I am a manager here."
(This Part of the Story is From Kayla's Point of View)
I got up from the couch, a little scared of Bay. She glared at me in a way that made even me feel a little bit uncomfortable. I left the living room and ran into Stan in the kitchen. He was with Brandy who was sitting at the dinner table, and Stan was cooking something for him. Doug followed me in the kitchen.
"He fixed my arm up Kayla! I think I feel better!" Brandy said enthusiastically.
Brandy showed me his arm, which was stitched up nicely.
"Thank you," I said to Stan, "Brandy would have been dead by now if it weren't for you."
"No problem, that's why I helped Bay. I love helping people."
"About Bay," I whispered, "She's talking crazy. She thinks I'm a spy or something."
Stan sighed and stopped cooking, he closed his eyes. He walked over to the dinner table and sat in a chair.
"Yes, she is a very paranoid person." Stan said.
"What happened to her?" I asked.
"Well, when this all started, she must have been caught up in the wrong group. She was teamed up with these bandits. She doesn't tell me much, but from what she has told me, she was in this group which was led by this man named Ryder. He was mentally unstable and he killed a lot of people. She couldn't take it anymore, so she ran away from the group. That's when I found her, stealing from me just to get by. I don't know why Ryder did this stuff, and I don't know anything else. She is a very paranoid girl, don't be hard on her please."
I thought about it for a while. Hopefully she doesn't actually think I am a spy. The last thing I need is to be living in a house with a crazy person that hates me. Who knows what she could do?
"I won't hold it against her." I said.
"Thank you, now who wants grilled cheese sandwiches?" Stan asked.
There was no way I could resist that, it's been a while since I've had anything decent to eat. Granola bars don't really count.
(This Part of the Story is From Jeff's Point of View)
Lindsey opened the front door of the Lockwood hotel and we walked in. It was amazing. I got a blast of warm air, and there were tons of people walking around. Everyone was doing something, it was like everyone had a job. There was a giant chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The floor was marble, and there were giant marble pillars in the lobby. It was the most beautiful hotel you could ever visit. There were giant windows you could look out. There had to be at least a hundred people in the lobby alone. This place was huge. There was a big staircase that led up to the second level. There were also elevators if you wanted to take the easy way.
"I know, it's a lot to take in at once."
I noticed there was a big banner hanging from the ceiling that everyone could look at. It was blue, and there were big, white bold words on it. It read,
"Everyone Contributes."
"What does that mean?" I asked, pointing at the banner.
"Well you see Jeff, everyone here has a job. You earn your keep here by working. We give you shelter, and food all for free. So in return, you get to pick a job."
"Sounds fair." I said.
"You can have a couple days with no job to adjust. I know it's a ton to take in all at once. Let's continue the tour shall we?"
I started walking, but she stopped me.
"First, hand over your things. We can't have you walking around armed here."
I sighed, and handed her my backpack, and my weapons.
She started walking down into the lobby and I followed her, she headed up the giant staircase and I followed up it behind her. There were two ways you could go down the hallway. There was a sign that read,
"Resident."
"Yes," Lindsey said, "This level is strictly only for residential rooms. This is where you stay. The second and third floor is also all residential. Lockwood has a total of around five hundred people. All contributing and making Lockwood stronger."
"There are twelve floors in Lockwood altogether. Since floors one to three are all residential, let's head up to the fourth floor shall we?"
She called an elevator, and it came down pretty quickly. We got in, and she pressed the four on the elevator. There was a picture of a man framed in the elevator. The man was wearing a blue suit with a white tie. He had black, curly hair and was looking smug.
"Who is this?" I pointed to the picture.
"That, is Charlie Lockwood. The leader of this place."
"I thought you said you were the manager." I said.
"Yes, one of them. I am only a manager though. There is one more manager here. Charlie is the head of all if it though. He started this whole place. He is in charge of everything, we just get it done for him."
"Is he living here?" I asked.
"Yes, on the twelfth floor. The very top one. He stays in his suite and makes all the calls for Lockwood. He wants something done, he tells us, then we tell it to the soldiers. It is very unlikely you will see him though. He likes to stay safe up in his suite. He also really has no reason to leave."
"I don't blame him, it's a living hell out there." I cringed, holding my shoulder.
"You're shot!" Lindsey exclaimed, "You've been shot haven't you?"
"Just in the shoulder." I said.
"Good thing the fourth floor is the medical area." said Lindsey as the elevator dinged.
The doors opened and we walked out. I wasn't expecting what I saw. All of the walls have been knocked down. It was just one giant room.
"This was originally a hotel obviously," Lindsey started, "So all the floors were full of rooms, so we knocked down all of them for special floors. This is one big hospital room."
There were beds everywhere, some people were lying in them. Some wounded soldiers. There were a bunch of nurses running around the place helping people out.
"Let's get this bullet out and we can do the tour later." Lindsey said.
"That's okay," I said, "We can go on with the tour, this shouldn't be too bad."
"Alright, if you say so." Lindsey called a nurse over.
"Yes Lindsey?" a nurse asked, coming over.
"This man has been shot in the shoulder, mind getting the bullet out?"
"Yeah no problem, is he a new survivor?" the nurse asked Lindsey
"Yes, I'll wait here." Lindsey sat down in a waiting room chair.
The nurse brought me along and sat me down in a bed. A couple more nurses came over to help her out. They got some tools to pull the bullet out. One of them handed me a towel.
"Bite on that, this may hurt." she said.
I looked at the towel, and put it down on the bed. I didn't need that, I'll be fine. The nurse counted to three, and dug something into my shoulder. I closed my eyes and let out a little yelp. I gritted my teeth as she dug around in my shoulder. She grabbed something and brought it out. She pulled out the bullet, the one Jess shot at me. It was covered in blood and flesh. A nurse then poured some kind of alcohol on it. It stung like hell. I squeezed my fists to hold in the pain.
Shortly after, the nurse's had stitched me up an bandaged the wound. After fifteen minutes, it had been all done. I walked over and met Lindsey.
"Let's continue the tour." I said.
"Now to make this tour short, let me just explain the rest of the floors to you," she began, "Floor five above us is the science lab, where people are constantly trying to find a way to end this virus. Floor six is the cafeteria, floor seven is the gym, floor eight is the armoury, floor nine is the lounge, and floor ten is the greenhouse, and floor eleven is the freezer where we store all of our food."
"All of floor twelve is Charlie's room?" I asked.
"Yes. Take this, it will help you around here." Lindsey handed me a piece of paper that had all of the floors on it so I wouldn't forget.
"Now follow me, I still have more to show you."
(This Part of the Story is From Kayla's Point of View)
Later that night, Stan showed us to our rooms. He brought us up the stairs and down the hall. First room on the right was my room. Second room on the left was Brandy's room. Our rooms were pretty close. My room was amazing. It was big. It had a walk in closet, double bed, window to look out, and a dresser with a mirror. It had everything I needed.
"Thank you Stan." I said, looking at my room with a big grin on my face.
"Now let's show Brandy to his room." Stan said, walking down the hallway.
I followed them, I wanted to see this. Stan opened the next door and there was Brandy's room. It looked similar to mine, but his had a television in his room.
"Aw lucky!" I yelled.
"How do you get television in here?" Brandy asked.
"We have a generator in the basement. We only watch movies though. Since there is no satellite anymore. I have a ton of movies though. It will keep you occupied for a while."
"Thank you Stan." Brandy said.
"No problem, night." he said, leaving the room.
"Now, who is Doug going to stay with?" I asked.
I looked for Doug, and realized he was gone. Where did he go? I panicked for a second, but then Brandy found him. He was lying right on Brandy's bed, looking at the television.
"I think he likes the T.V." Brandy said.
"Whatever." I mumbled as I walked out of his room.
Brandy gave a little laugh and closed the door.