The End Of Life

The girl grits her teeth and tried to persuade him harder, "Take me with you and my whole body and soul is yours." 

Seeing all this, David looked at Mark, confused. Mark was not the type to accept anything without benefit. In this situation, he knew Mark was clearly playing with her. The girl was trying to sell her body to him and Mark appeared to be interested. But that is not who he is. He was never interested in that kind of thing from his observations. 

He also knew that the girl could not offer him any more than her body. She has nothing. So why is Mark toying with her? Mark smirked and turned towards him and asked, "What do you think, David?" 

He could only shrug and say, "Depends on you. I don't see any benefit." Mark turned back towards her and said, "Well, off we go now. Try your best and survive." his tone became cold at the end as he went towards the door, not intending to stop. David and Suzie followed him from behind. 

But Mark stopped once again and asked the man who opened the door, "When was the last time you guys had to go outside? And who went?" 

Confused, he replied, "It was this morning. It was me and these two kids." Mark grinned hearing him and went outside without saying another word.

The girl became desperate as she watched them go, but his last words rooted her, and couldn't move. She turned around quietly and went back to her room. Mark and the gang were already in the lobby, going towards the stairs in the other hallway. 

David looked at Mark, not understanding why he did that. Personally, he wanted to save them after seeing their malnourished states. It was highly possible that each one of them did not have a proper amount of food for the past couple of days. He could only sigh and continue walking. 

He couldn't ask Mark to save them once again. It was precisely because of this feeling inside him that they delayed their journey to the city by a day. David was not strong enough yet, he had already decided to follow Mark, but if he is strong, he could expect Mark to hear him out more than present. There would be some value in his words. 

They made their way down the stairs the same way they came up, slowly and quietly. They reached the ground floor easily and made their way back outside through the kitchen once again. David went for the car as Mark stood with Suzie near the steel door. 

"Are you fine?" 

Suzie nodded and said, "I am feeling fine." 

Mark nodded and said nothing further. He wanted to know how she was feeling after seeing the zombies and them killing. She did not have such a close look till now. He didn't want her mental state to deteriorate further than it already is. 

David drove the jeep out of the alleyway he parked and stopped right in front of them. Mark and Suzie got inside the car. David did not step on the accelerator but instead turned towards Mark. He had to ask him why he did that. Mark turned towards him when the car did not go further with a questioning gaze. 

"What is it, David? Let's get going." 

"Mark, I need to ask you something." Mark looked at him more confused and nodded. 

"Why did you react like that, when you were talking with the girl back then? You never care about others and only ask something in return when you know you can get it from them. But back there, the girl had nothing to give you. But you still asked. Why?" 

Hearing David's question amused Mark. He did not think David would not notice what was wrong with the people there and why Mark played with the girl like that. He smiled and said, "Did you not notice anything back there."

Mark's reply shook David. He thought about what he meant, 'Did I miss anything? They all were normal and except for the university student's attitude, nothing was out of place. The girl seemed too pushy.' But nothing came to mind. 

She shook his head and answered, "No, I didn't. So what was it?" 

Mark smiled once more and replied slowly, "The girl is bitten." David's eyes shot wide when he heard that. 

He looked into Mark's eyes to see if he was lying, but Mark only had a huge smile on his face. He asked, "How? How did you know that? Nothing seemed out of place at all. The girl looked perfectly normal." 

"She only looked normal. She tried her very best to hide it and not make it spread throughout her entire body. But the virus didn't stop spreading; she only slowed the process down. You would have noticed if you saw her left hand." 

'Her right arm? But-' and as he thought, his eyes showed his surprise. The girl was clutching her right arm and covered it with a long sleeve. She had a pained expression and was pale. 

"Her right arm should be in a lot of pain. She must have tied her right arm tightly, trying to stop the process. Of course, the other people clearly did not know about her condition, including her friend. She was really careful about hiding it."

"But the black veins on her hand gave it away. The zombies also have black veins near the area they are bitten. So it was easy to find out. Now, do you expect me to bring in a zombie into our group?" smirking at David. 

David ignored the last statement and asked, "Then, was she not a zombie yet?" 

"That is what I am trying to say. She slowed the process down. According to the hotel waiter, they went out this morning, probably for supplies. So she must have been bitten then. The girl was smart enough as she quickly tied her right arm and slowed the process. She will probably be turning into one at this any moment." and looked out of the window towards the hotel. 

"Then why did you not try to tell them?" even though he knew the answer. 

Mark raised an eyebrow, expecting this question. He smiled and answered, "Do you think they will believe me? Don't be too silly. We are outsiders and they have no reason to believe when I suddenly say one of their members is a zombie. So, I didn't bother wasting our time any longer." shrugging. 

David nodded and drove the car. 'Mark is right. Why would they believe what we have to say?" thinking about Mark's words. He could only hope that the people in the room would notice it quicker and kill her before she kills them. 

Just like Mark expected, the girl had turned into a zombie not long after they left. She first bit her friend, who followed her into the inner room. He turned into a zombie and both of them went outside. Before the people in the outer room could notice, three of them were already bitten. 

The sudden zombie plunged the group into instant chaos. The rest tried to kill them but could not kill and instead only got bitten. The waiter swung the chair towards the girl and as she fell down from the hit; the guy came towards him. He blocked him with the chair and pushed him back. 

He looked at the others who were normal and noticed they were also bitten. Their group was now no more because they were careless about things. A member was bitten, and they could not find it. 

He quickly tried to run for the door and as he opened it, he ran down the hallway. But as he did, he saw zombies in the lobby coming from the other side. The zombies on the 6th floor came onto the 5th. He was now trapped and couldn't go anywhere. There were zombies in the front and back. 

He found a lampstand on a coffee table and grabbed it as a weapon. The zombies were now nearer than before and did not stop. The first zombie came, and he swung the lamp towards it. It hit the zombie hard and stumbled to the side. Before he could look at the next one he saw the zombies from the hallway were near and jumped back. 

But he felt a hand on his shoulders as he did. His body shivered and looked to the side and saw a zombie lunging for his neck. The zombie bit his neck and he swung the lamp, throwing it away. He could not feel his arm anymore. He was clutching the shoulder and blood was gushing out. 

He felt his body go weak and stumbled down. With a hand on his shoulder, he looked up and saw the zombies were nearer than before. He crawled back, trying to getaway. But it was only a futile attempt as a zombie jumped on him and bit his chest. 

He had no energy after this. He stopped resisting as all the zombies swarmed around him. After a few minutes, the zombies dispersed and the dead body twitched as the waiter stood up as a zombie.