Prey for a night by Kamen Lowell (bill gates best books txt) 📕

much as possible,but apparently I needed her help more than she mine.I was still pretty fucked up by the chemicals in the smoke and the image of the phantom figure still crept in my mind.Why would they take only two of us and not the whole group?I`m sure they figured that we would go to the car and contact other police cars and search through every corner of this hotel and find them eventually.And why Kirk and Ellie and not me and Kirk or Janine and Ellie?

The situation on the lower floor was completely normal in comparison to what we just saw.The corridor was clean and tidy as if nobody had ever been on it,the lights werent blinking as the others and it smelled of freshly washed towels.

-Come to think of it,this floor seems even safer than the car,maybe we should stay here and signal someone somehow?

-Yeah,probably.- I understood her joke,but I would be more eager to laugh when I know that everyone of the friends is safe.-Lets get down faster and get over with this -

We finally reached the lobby again and we rushed to the door when the grotesque picture infront halted us.The once shiny and welcoming lobby had now turned into a slaughterhouse.Numerous bodies were lying on the floor and on the furniture,most of them dismembered and with disjointed limbs all over the lobby.Everywhere I looked more were popping out,right above me where the chandelier was,was now a woman in a bloodsoaked white dress.She was hunged by the spine with a grappling hook and her eyes were piercing through me while dark drops of blood were falling slowly from her mouth and making a small pool of blood below her.I grabbed Janines hand and pulled her so to escape faster from this hellhole.Our car was right outside infront of the hotel,but when I tried to open the door my heart sunk.The door had been locked and now the car seemed more distant than ever.I kept pounding and slamming the door until I finally crumbled down on the floor.

-We were so close! - I yelled feeling the rising disgust rising in my throath making me feel helpless.I put my hands on my face and pretended I wasnt there,this wasnt happening,not now,not to me.-Now im going to open my eyes and I will wake up at home- i said to myself grinning.But no,the decrepit stench was still circling in the room and the lifeless bodies were still there.I caught Janine looking at me

-So,w-what do we do now ? - she had turned deathly pale and little round shadows had appeared under her eyes.I stood up and looked at the reception

-Now,we find a key and get the hell out of here - I said and headed for the reception.The TV was still on playing that horror movie that the receptionist was watching,but now only the dead man was in the picture and he had thrust his head in the plate infront of him in his own intestines.I grabbed the nearest remote and tried to get rid of that channel,but it wasnt doing a thing.The batteries were inside and it looked brand new,it should`ve been functional,unless this wasnt a TV channel at all.

I looked at the back of the TV to see if there is an antena or something like that can deliver cabel TV,but there was nothing.The TV was plugged in and that was it,which meant that,what I had watched,was a live footage.The rising disgust in the throat came back again rushing and I started coughing.I had stood still through the whole act while the poor man was being butchered infront of me and I just watched like it was a play at the theater.Now wasnt the moment for grieving though,we had to find the damn key and get as far from here as we could.I went through the things on the desk and i accidentally stumbled upon two sheets of paper with the headshots of Ellie and Kirk.As I skimmed through the inventory of the two documents I found out that it was their registration paper for the hotel.It said that they had booked a room today at 11:40 o’clock.That was when we arrived at the hotel.I called Janine over baffled from what I had seen.

-Hey,come over here for a sec - I showed her the documents and she checked them with distrust.-Do you remember them doing anything at the reception earlier? Why would they check in ? - Janine looked at them a little longer and then said

-This cant be right.They`re playing with us,its probably a fake ID - but it wasnt.I knew every detail about my two colleagues and even if I didnt want to admit it,they matched perfectly.Janine suddenly smashed the two pieces of paper and ripped them apart and threw them on the ground.She started furiously stamping down on them until she ran out of energy and started breathing heavily.Tears were running down her face and she dropped on the floor leaning on my foot and sobbing.

-Why us,Frank?What do they want from us?We`re nobodies,we aint rich nor famous.What could they want from us? - she sat on the ground like a little kid that had just lost his toy and the world had ended for him.I kneeled down and put my arms on her shoulders and pulled her to me.I had asked myself the same questions,but I guess we were about to find out their answers.We stood on the floor nestled together for a while before Janine finally calmed down and we decided that we should look for another place where the keys could be or another way out.Behind the reception was the room where the receptionist had his break and at the back of it was a door.With big black letters on it said ‘’ PERSONNEL ONLY’’ and that was where we were going.I opened the door to find myself in another coridor,the same as the ones we saw on the upper floors,but this one had strange red trails on it.We decided to follow the trails and see where they lead.The trails were continuing behind a black door.It had no sign on it whatsover and we looked at it eachother as if we had another option.I gripped the handle and opened the door gently.There were no lights in the room which didnt allow us to see anything aside from the glass walls infront of us.The room was devided into two smaller rooms,the dark one that we were in and the other lighter one that was infront of us.The bright lights from the other room were blinding us until we got close enough to witness what was inside.It was a type of surgery room,but the floor and walls were covered in dirt.At the one end I recognised the table with the dishes and the dead man at the end of it and then i heard his voice.

-So,the mice finally found the cheese - the man infront of us was just inserting some chemical in an injection and checking if the injection was functional.On the table next to him was a man tied up with only his pants on.The already familiar black goo was coming out of his mouth,even though he seemed unconcious.

-I wondered when you would honor me with your attention - said the man.He looked like a middle aged man in his late 50s with short white hair and a hoarse voice.The man had a long white doctors coat that had several big red stains on the front side.

-I was eager to congratulate your friends on what good patients they were - he waved with a hand over the man next to him and something in the other part of the room,but there were no lights there so we couldnt see what he was waving at.

-Oh,excuse me how silly of me - he put the injection down on a table and quickly ran to the wall infront of him where he pulled a switch and the lights went on.The completely naked body of Ellie appeared infront of us and we both awed at the same time.Ellies body had been hung from the ceiling with several chains,two of which were going through her arms right below her wrists,two going through the part above her heels and two more that were piercing her shoulders.She looked like a human sized puppet on strings with a dirty bag over her head.Janine rushed to the window wall separating us from the other room and slammed the window.

-You sick fuck!What have you done to them?I`ll make you rot in prison for that! - i pulled her quickly and tried to calm her down while she was swinging her arms and legs and yelling curses at the man.He didnt seem to acknowledge her behaviour nor what she said to him and after she finally cooled down he continued with his speech.

-As i was saying your friends are two ideal speciments for my grand experiment.- he starred at us as if waiting for a response and then continued

-You see it has been a while since man has feared another being except when at war,but even then the majority of the people nowadays dont know the real meaning of fear.We live in a world where everything is within the reach of our hands.We are at the top of the food chain and there is nothing taking us down from there except ourselves.Thousands of years ago we too had to go out in the wilderness and search for food,make weapons,think of tactics and most importantly kill - he stopped again and stuck the needle in Kirks neck.His body started shaking and struggling with the injected chemical until he finally stopped moving and relaxed on the table.

-I like to think of myself as an innovative man.The liquid i injected in your friend is something i`ve been working on for quite some time and I`ve finally perfected it.Sadly it had a few downfalls,but now its ready to be unleashed.You see,the smoke from the can was actually an antidote for what is already circulating in the air in and around the hotel.Everything that you saw in the lobby was there even when you first arrived,just that the chemical didnt let you see it until I let you see it. - the man grinned creepily and looked at Kirk.He was waking up from the injection and started making incomprehensible sounds and waving his hands in the air trying to grab something above him.

-You are mad!So this hotel is just a big hunting ground for you,huh? - the pathetic thing in that he had turned my friend enraged me and I yelled at the demented doctor.He was still enjoying Kirks attempts to grab the invisible thing until he finally fell off the table.

-In a matter of speech,yes.Why do you think I brought back this place from the grave?It was the perfect spot for such an experiment.- Kirk was now lying on the floor trying to get up shaking his head as if he was coming out of a heavy hangover.He started coughing and the familiar black goo started flowing down his chin and neck.

-Yes,he is ready.I’d suggest you get as far as you can,because the game has begun and there will be only one winner.Most likely me.- by the time I thought through the maniacs words I saw him throwing a fire axe at us.I grabbed Janine as fast as I could and pulled her down covering her hoping the axe would hit neither of us.The glass wall went down with a crash and the axe fell a few meters behind us sticking in the floor.We didnt need anymore signs that we had to leave this place and as soon as the axe hit the ground we raced to the door.The last thing I saw before i closed the door was Kirk sprinting towards me screaming and behind him the doctor staring with a joyful smile on his face.We had no time to get Kirk into his senses,if it was even possible,so we continued running until we reached the