“What do you mean?” he asked, already knowing the answer. That creature he had seen was larger than was physically possible, but it had been in the ocean. That had stopped him from panicking.

“We need to get stronger,” she repeated gently. “With everything we have.” She held up the core critically. It was now a lot cleaner. “The feral, mutated humans are not the only things out there. Earlier when I was looking out the window down at street level, I only got a glimpse, but it was as large as a bus.” She shook her head. “Who cares about outside? That is a problem for later. For now, have our own problems. Come on.” She led him into the second room. “Hopefully, the next minibar is full.”

Soon the trap was moved away, and he used the mirror to laboriously explore the room in case there were multiple zombies. Nothing was visible, so he threw another glass, but this time aimed for furniture to make sure it broke.

Nothing.

Daniel tried to think through the best way to do this. All he could do was charge in there. Stay light on his feet and be ready for anything.

“What are you waiting for?”

He jumped. Ivey was standing right next to him, looking over his shoulder at the mirror he had been manipulating to look around the room.

“I don’t believe there are any monsters in there to find. It has been ten minutes. If you are too scared, then I can go.”

“No,” Daniel responded while groaning internally. His parents would slap him silly if he let her go into the room first. “Just stay clear of the door in case I need to retreat.”

Daniel sucked in a deep breath; his heartbeat thundered in his ears.

Pushing it opening.

Waiting.

Listening.

He remembered that moment when the zombie had stuck its head to look in the gap he had created. It must have been waiting next to the door, waiting patiently for him to stick his own head prior to that.

Was there a second one?

Ivey coughed behind him.

He jumped despite himself. He would have words later; for now, he just focused on the room in front of him with his club ready to swing if something came at him.

So far, there was no noise.

Go in fast and hard. He leapt forward, running in the room, going so quickly that he had no choice but to jump on to the bed. Club up ready while his eyes swept the suite.

No monsters sprang out at him.

Breathing elevated, heart rate thumping, all of his muscles were tense and ready to react at a moment’s notice.

There was nothing obvious, but there were spots he couldn’t see, plus the space under the beds and the bathroom. Ivey had squeezed under the bed, but she was slight, and it had been a tight fit. He would check them last. Bouncing across the two beds, he searched the spaces that had been obscured from the outside vantage, before confirming that the bathrooms were empty. There were no monsters apart from maybe under the beds.

He stared at them and was not sure how to investigate them effectively, at least not while keeping him perfectly safe.

Ivey was at the door looking like she wanted to come in. He held up a hand to stop her. “I have not checked under the beds.”

She paused. “Can I help?”

He shook his head and stepped forward. There was no reason to let fear control him. Dropping on his stomach, he used his club to lift the fabric that hung from the bed to look under it.

Nothing and the second was the same. “Clear,” he called out finally.

When he stood up, Ivey was already at the minibar, and she grabbed a bottle of water and skoaled most of it. Then stopped herself before she finished it. She used a bit to clean the core.

“Water?” she asked, passing over the last quarter of her bottle along with the core. “It probably best to keep the second water for later.” She opened the minibar. “Score. Do you want Coke, lemonade, or Fanta?”

“Lemonade.”

Ivey handed the drink to him. “Have you consumed the core?”

He hesitated and looked down at the tiny pebble, and remembered the pain the first one had caused.

“The last one gave you a new ability, so it was more painful than usually. Just swallow it.” Then she smiled. “It is like I am back in the hospital, encouraging unwilling patients to take their drugs. Come on. Be a big boy.”

“Really?”

This time, a chuckle escaped her. “You are still taking it.”

Daniel swallowed it with a mouthful of water.

“Ahh,” she said. “Show me your mouth.”

He did as instructed, but she had already turned away. Not interested in physically checking.

“Not so hard, was it?”

His emotions around her were all out of control, and he was lucky that she was here. She was forthright, opinionated, but seemed to have a good head on her shoulders. Despite his first impression, a lot of which had been misplaced, she was doing her bit. Killing the bugs, getting the cores, helping to kill the zombies.

“When we get into the next room, you can have the water first,” she promised. “No more connecting rooms,” she said, pointing at the wall. “We have to clear the hallway.”

“We could wait.,” he suggested tentatively.

“They are not going away,” Ivey told him. “We might as well do it today.” She had walked over to an open suitcase. The dead woman’s clothes, Daniel realised. Unconcerned, Ivey flipped through them. She pulled out some jeans, held them, and nodded in satisfaction. “They should fit.” She then grabbed a T-shirt and a cardigan. “Let me get changed and then I can help you set up the traps.”

Daniel was not sure that he would be willing to wear the dead’s clothes, but then again, if he only had cocktail dress, then he would make exceptions too.

While Ivey went into the bathroom to change, Daniel considered what had to be done. The trap that they had used to kill the second zombie had worked perfectly and could provide a template around what else he needed to do. Before they did anything, he had to reinforce the door. Once they entered, there would not be an opportunity to actively seal the door, as he would be busy fighting the zombies in the room. Their plan relied on letting only a few through, and the door had to be strong enough. Lightly touching it, Daniel pushed his consciousness into its structure. Then he went to work to ensure it was secured.

Satisfied, he stepped back and glanced behind him to see Ivey fully dressed in jeans and jumper with a bored expression on her face. Something about her posture triggered him.

“How long was I?” he asked curiously.

“Ten, maybe fifteen,” Ivey answered. “Are you going to try the same tunnel trap?”

“Yeah.”

“I have had time to think, and maybe you can put a guillotine on the end.”

Daniel hesitated, remembering how fast the zombie had moved. There was no guarantee the blade would snap shut quickly enough. “I could try?”

“We have three interior doors left, so we can get more creative.” She jumped off the bed, talking excitedly. “What we want to do is to control their movement, but set up a trap that gets most of the pack. So we adjust your door and turn the entrance corridor into a forest of spikes that have multiple paths through, and then we do traps to kill them. Can you create springs?” She was spitting out the words like she was in a speed-talking contest.

“I don’t know.”

“Because if you can, then you just have spring loaded trigger traps. Zombies come in and they go bam, bam, bam. And they are all dead.” She stopped, excitement in her eyes. “Pretty good, yeah?”

Daniel was not sure what to say. There was no detail in what she had said. No consideration of materials. “We might not have enough wood,” he pointed out, doubt in his voice.

“Three doors, two beds, four desks, and two couches. Let’s do it.”

Then she hustled into the other room, presumably going to gather the materials that she had listed. He rushed after her.

“Leave the beds,” he told her when he got close enough so that his quiet voice would reach her. “They are mostly plastic.”

“Tables and doors should be enough,” she agreed, unperturbed. “Go build. We want a single entrance which can be shut and then split them into four different pathways ending in spring-loaded traps.”