Scarlet Memories (Book 1) (5 page)

She needed to find someone else. Anyone else. And she wanted to know if the chaos had hit them yet.

‘Please be careful.’ He whispered. He looked down at his feet and sat down on the bed.

‘I’ll stay right here. I don’t want to go out there.’ Jaime pointed towards the door.

Samantha looked in the direction of his hand and felt her heart sink. She was terrified of what she might find. But, it was something that she felt she had to do.

‘I’m coming right back. So, how about you grab a book or Magazine and read it until I do.’ She told him, turning his body towards the bookcase in her room. Sam watched as he ran towards it, then walked to her front door and paused. She needed to muster up her courage for this one. She had no idea what to expect. Sam turned the knob and opened the door. The hall looked empty. Holding her breath, Sam pushed forward into the hall. The hotel doors automatically lock once you leave, so she didn’t have to bother with that.

Samantha walked slowly down the hallway. So far she saw nothing out of the ordinary. She walked to the elevator and pushed the down button. Within a few moments the elevator doors opened. Pressing the ground level button, Samantha stepped back and allowed herself to lean onto the wall of the elevator behind her. She watched as the numbers counted down representing the levels of the hotel. Finally, she had reached the ground floor.

Sam peered around the lobby. It was awfully quiet. She wondered if she would see someone soon. As she rounded the corner she finally noticed the bell hop Roger at the front desk. He was standing near someone’s luggage, probably about to take it to their room.

‘Hey Roger!’ She yelled across the room. He didn’t turn around.

‘Roger!’ She yelled once more.

Sometimes Roger couldn’t hear very well. He was an older gentleman after all. He only had a few more years until he would retire. The hotel had decided to allow him to stay, even though he couldn’t do very much.

Samantha watched as Roger dropped the luggage he had been holding and spun around. She noticed that his eyes looked different today. They were almost a different color. More yellow than his usual brown. Sam moved closer to him. Her hand outstretched towards him.

‘You alright?’ She asked him, concern in her voice.

Roger still didn’t respond. Instead, he sprinted after her. It was now apparent that he had streams of saliva coming from his agape mouth. It was thick and a foamy whitish yellow color. It hit the floor with a soft plop. Roger had his hands, which today looked more like claws, out in front of him ready to grab at her.

Sam screamed as he lunged for her. She turned to run but, instead tripped over one of the lobby chairs. She hit the floor with a loud crash. Roger seemed to have been waiting for this, because he swooped down quickly on top of her.

‘
Roger! No
!’ She pleaded with him. It was no use. He must be one of those monsters she had seen on the news.
I guess that answered my question.
She thought.
But, at what expense?
Sam wondered. He pressed down on her hard with all of his body weight, scratching and gnawing at her all the while. Barely able to move, Sam realized that she had to do something to defend herself.
God Roger! How did this happen to you?

She looked at her surroundings. There wasn’t much that she could see from the floor. But, she could still see. Finally, she spotted a large candle on the table closest to her. She grabbed it swiftly and smashed it over his head. To her demise it didn’t even seem to faze him. She started to panic. If she could only get him off of her.

Suddenly Sam hears the blast of a gun and Roger falls limply on top of her. She froze. Afraid to move. She had no idea what to do.

‘Are you alright?’ Says the woman. Sam brings her head up off of the floor and turns towards the women’s voice. A sense of relief began washing over her.

‘I’m fine. I just need help with him.’ Sam said, pointing to the dead body on top of her. She watched as the lady, jogged up to her and began pulling on Roger’s leg. He was quite heavy but, working together they managed it. As Sam stood, she found that the lady was actually an older woman, carrying a shotgun. She was a shorter plump woman with long gray/white hair. She was wearing a night gown with three little kittens on it; with the words, ‘Meow!’ written above them.

The lady looked very ragged, as though she hadn’t showered in days. And she was also smoking a cigarette indoors. This was highly illegal in certain parts of Texas. Sam figured that it really didn’t matter at the moment. This person had just saved her life. Maybe she should thank her.

‘I really appreciate the help!’ Sam reached out and grabbed the hand that was free of the shotgun and shook it vigorously.

‘Thank you very much; I would be dead right now if it weren’t for you.’ The woman merely stared right through Sam as though she were a translucent piece of paper. Sam dropped her hand slowly and took a step back from the woman. She seemed to be in some sort of odd trance. Her body sat there rigid as a board. And then, suddenly, the woman opened her mouth to speak. She looked as though she had snapped back into reality.

‘Hello, my name is Ruby Shapiro.’ The old woman said, grasping at Sam’s hand. The woman shook violently from head to toe.

‘Sam Thorne…’ Sam told her. Shaking her hand back. All the while stepping backwards. The woman looked as though she might have a tick. Like an involuntary muscle movement or something similar to that.

‘I saw you were in some trouble and thought I would help. Those damn things are like vicious dogs! They won’t listen and will kill you on the spot.’

The old woman let the gun rest at her side from its arm harness.

Sam didn’t know what to say to the old woman. She was very grateful she’d saved her life but,, she was afraid that the woman was mentally ill. Something was very obviously wrong with her. And Sam wasn’t sure how to approach the situation. She felt sorry for her. This woman was lucky to still be alive. And Sam felt responsible for her.

‘Listen, Mrs. Shapiro…where are you staying? We have to get out of the lobby. There could be more of those things. I have a little boy from my floor waiting upstairs for me. I need to get back. Did you want to come with me?’ Sam asked her politely.

It was the only thing she could think of to do. Being that she was a respectable person, she knew she would have to do the right thing.

The old lady stared at Sam again with those cold brown eyes. This time she kept her gaze strictly onto Sam’s face. She even turned her head slightly this way and that. She never stopped staring. This only made Sam even more horrified by the lady.

‘I am staying in a room on this floor. Right down there to be precise…’ The old woman pointed down the corridor down the hall.

It wasn’t very far from the front lobby. And Sam knew that if she stayed down here, she would be dead meat.

‘Why don’t you come upstairs with us. ‘Sam asked. She paused for a moment and then added,’ that is if you want. We would be happy to have you. We can wait for help up there.’

Sam wiped her mouth. She was gulping down the extra saliva that had accumulated from her nervousness. She watched as the woman very animatedly thought about what Sam had asked her. It wasn’t long before she had an answer.

‘Yeah ok. I can do that.’ She told Sam. The old lady smiled crookedly and placed a hand onto her shotgun.

‘But!’ The lady piped up loudly, pointing her finger at Sam. ‘I need tograb something first’.

‘You go on ahead up there. What is the room number you are staying in? It won’t take me long to get, I’ll be right up.’ The lady emphasized the last portion greatly.

‘Ok, that’s fine.’ Sam smiled. ‘I’m in room 359. It’s on the right hand side of the elevators.’ Sam told Ruth.

She almost regretted telling her immediately. The woman didn’t wait to long for goodbyes; she quickly stalked off to her hotel room down the hall. She limped slightly as she did so. Sam thought she could see what looked like blood spackled on the side of her sock. But, she was too far away by the time she had noticed it to be sure.

‘I’ll be waiting!’ Sam said.

She rushed to the elevator doors. She knew that she needed to hurry and get back to Jaime. He must be so worried. She pressed the ‘up’ button and waited for the elevator doors to open. When they did, she quickly jumped in and smashed the ‘close doors’ button. She watched as the doors closed to the lobby. She was very happy to leave that room behind. If she never had to go down there again, she would be fine.

Sam made it to her hotel door. She grabbed her keycard and swiped it on the doors card reader. The light turned green and she twisted the door knob and stepped inside as fast as she could. A sense of relief washed over her to see that Jaime was still in her room reading a book. If one thing could go right today she would be happy. She dropped her key card on the kitchen table and walked into her room.

‘Hey!’ She spoke to Jaime. She watched as his head popped up from inside the book he was reading.

‘Hey.’ He said back to her. He closed the book in his hands and set it into his lap.

‘Did you get your mail?’ He asked her. He was walking back to the bookshelf to return his book.

‘Yeah…Yeah, I did.’ She lied.

‘Listen, we are going to have a visitor come up here. It’s an old woman that I found downstairs. She needs to come up here for a little while.  I think she might need help like you do’ Sam smiled at him. She noticed that he didn’t seem to be too worried. It looked as though he only got upset when it came to his mother.

‘Ok, I don’t mind. She will be safe with us up here. ‘

Sam kept on thinking about what a sweet boy Jaime was. She really hoped that they could find his mother. She didn’t mind keeping an eye on him until she got back. But, she wasn’t ready to take on a kid all by herself. Especially one that she didn’t even really know. Still, something about him compelled her to help him. She knew that whatever she did, she could not abandon him. He deserved better than that. And she would do all that she could to find his mother. Even if she had to leave this place.

Sam realized she was spending too much time thinking and less time coming up with a plan. She was about to have a very unwanted guest. And she needed to keep Ruth away from the boy. Something was very off about her. Of that, Sam was sure of. She would just keep Jaime watching DVD’s and Ruth entertained with chatting. Something needed to keep her from snapping in and out of reality. Or wherever she went when she fell into those deep trances. Hopefully this wouldn’t last long. Maybe this whole thing could be isolated soon. She would avoid leaving the Hotel until Marshall Law was lifted. Or until help arrived. Whichever came first. 

Suddenly, Sam heard a loud thud outside her hotel room door. It sounded far away. Sam jumped to her door. As she did so, she turned to Jaime and motioned for him to be quiet. She pressed a finger to her mouth and pleaded with him. She watched as he quickly hid behind her bed. His head barely visible was popping up from the edge of the bed. Sam turned her head to her door. She pressed her face up to it and peered out into the hallway. She couldn’t see much. Her eyes were adjusting to the lighting out there. Once it did, she saw someone coming up the hall from the elevators. It was a little bit dark in the hall at the moment. The attendant had not yet made his rounds turning the lights on. Something that you would think would be automatic.

Sam tried to focus on the person walking towards her door. It wasn’t easy. She was still reeling from what had happened earlier with the Roger the bell hop. Sam slowly realized that it was Ruth coming up. She noticed that her limp was getting worse. And that she seemed to be dredging slowly down the hall. It was taking her much more time than it did when she was downstairs. She couldn’t wait to get to her hotel room. She even ran.
So, what is taking her so long?
Sam thought. Sam wished she had a better view of Ruth. This woman already worried her. This feeling was only getting worse.

Ruth finally reached Sam’s door. Sam watched as she walked up and rested in front of the eye hole in the door. Ruth’s face soon came into view. At first, Sam thought she looked extremely tired. Her face was sagging even more than before. She actually looked older somehow. And from what Sam could see, Ruth’s skin had a more greyish tint to it now.

Ruth raised her hand and knocked on Sam’s door. When she did, it startled Sam so much that she shuddered.

‘One second.’ Sam called. She really wished she hadn’t even opened her mouth. What if she never said anything and the lady thought she had remembered the wrong room number? Sometimes Sam just acted on impulse and regretted it later. She would have to work on that. Sam took a deep breath and slowly unlocked her door. She pulled the knob towards her and allowed Ruth to step inside. A profound smell gave off of Ruth’s body as she passed Sam.

‘Um, ahem!’ Sam cleared her throat.

‘Why don’t you stay right there on the couch while I grab some tea.’ She asked.

Showing her to the living room area. Sam smiled at her and watched as she sat down onto the couch and stared at the TV. She seemed much calmer than before. But, somehow seemed much more distant. And overly  sweaty. That would explain the smell giving off of her body. Sam’s nose cringed as the smell hit her.