Annaliese took a deep breath through her nose and noticed a cloying odour hanging in the air. She didn’t know how she had missed the smell to begin with, but it was unmistakable. It was the stench of death.
Shawcross was still irate. The others in the room kept their distance as he raged and gesticulated angrily. “We can’t leave,” he said. “Those things are out there. As soon as we step foot outside they’ll be on us like a pack of bloody hyenas.”
“But we can’t stay in here forever,” someone said.
“I’m leaving,” said somebody else.
Shawcross huffed. “You’d rather die a horrible death than stay here a while until help arrives?”
Annaliese thought about the call to emergency services that Shawcross had made hours ago, and how help was still yet to arrive. She didn’t like any plan that involved waiting around to be rescued because she wasn’t sure any help was coming. They needed a better plan.
“How about causing a distraction?” she said.
Shawcross glared at her irritably, but his silence suggested he was willing to listen to suggestions.
“Those things seem to operate on sight and sound more than anything else. Maybe if we could lead them away from this part of the house, we could all sneak out without them seeing us.”
Shawcross shrugged. “And go where? You said you were attacked in the gardens, so those things have obviously gotten outside, too.”
Annaliese shrugged. “I only saw one. I think the park and zoo would be a safe place to go. We could even make a break for our cars.”
“Well, none of that makes any sense without a plan to get us there. How on earth do we distract them?”
Annaliese stared down at Kimberly’s dead body. Then she looked at the frightened faces of the various strangers in the kitchen. “I’ll go out,” she said. “I’ll try and lead them away so the rest of you can escape.”
Shawcross frowned at her, but a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth suggested that he might actually be impressed by her suggestion. “That’s insane,” he said. “They’ll rip you apart.”
“Maybe. But these things have chased me once already. They’re fast, yes, but they’re also clumsy. If I know exactly where I’m going, I think I can stay ahead of them.”
“That’s all very well, but what do you do once you’ve led them away? You can’t run forever. Eventually you’ll have to shake them off.”
Annaliese thought for a moment before offering a suggestion. “Can’t I slip inside one of the bedrooms and lock the door behind me? I could climb through a window and re-join you all outside.”
“You’ll never make it,” Shawcross said. “Besides, I don’t have my keys. I was cashing-up the bar when the first attacks happened. My keys are still in the till.”
“I have my room card,” said a young guy over by the room’s industrial ovens. He had a bloody handprint on his light blue shirt but seemed in good shape otherwise. She put his age at about thirty by the style of his gelled black hair. “You can take it to get into my room.”
Annaliese took the card from the man and thanked him. “What number is your room?”
“Seven. It’s just up the stairs on the right. It’s not far.”
“Great. I’m sure I’ll be able to get there, no problems.
“You really want to do this?” Shawcross asked her.
She nodded. “A woman is dead because of me. Least I can do is try and get you people out of here.”
“Then, you should take a weapon.” He offered her the bloody meat tenderiser.
She waved it away. “It’ll just slow me down. Plus, I still think these people are just sick. I’m not about to bash somebody’s skull in unless there’s no other choice.”
“Sometimes there isn’t,” he said.
“Wait,” said the young man whose key card she had taken. “How will we know when the coast is clear?”
“You won’t,” she said. “Just come out five minutes after I leave and pray that they’ve all followed me.”