“Nothing,” Mildred reported succinctly. “It’s clear.”
Accepting the recce, Ryan continued downward, but kept a watchful eye on the high ceiling above them for any suspicious movements. Bats and rats were a constant danger in any preDark ruin and… Fireblast, these weren’t ruins! He had better remember that. This dead town was unique in his travels, and nothing Ryan had ever seen before had truly prepared him for this.
The stairs ended at the mezzanine level, but the door was locked. J.B. tricked the mechanism easily enough, but then the portal refused to open more than a few inches as something was blocking it on the other side. Holstering his weapons, Ryan put his shoulder to the door and shoved hard, digging in his heels until the portal finally moved enough to create a gap for them to squeeze past.
Stepping through, he found what had been in the way—more bodies. The carpeted floor was covered with corpses of every age and sex. Umbrellas and packages dotted the human morass, thin, dried arms with clawed fingers rising from the sprawled bodies like bare autumn trees, with jewelry and watches glittering in the candlelight.
Kicking the dead aside to make room, Ryan got the door fully open and the rest of the companions joined him in the hallway of death.
A soft glow could be seen from the end of the hallway, and Ryan proceeded with extra care. Some of the dead were so well preserved, he wouldn’t have been surprised if they rose and attacked. No wonder everybody was twitchy.
“They died waiting for the elevator,” Dean reasoned, feeling slightly rattled by the blank, eyeless, faces.
“Ghastly,” Krysty said, her animated hair strangely still about her features.
“This is Dantain, nay, surreal,” Doc rumbled, as he walked among the men, women and children. “It is like something from a nightmare!” Then he added in a small voice, “Or is this a nightmare, and I’m not really here?”
“Easy, Doc,” Krysty cautioned in a soothing tone, taking his arm and squeezing to reaffirm the man’s hold on reality. “Easy there. Everything is fine. They’re long gone and we’re alive.”
“Are they, madam?” he asked in a hoarse whisper. “Are they indeed? Or is it perhaps that they are alive, and we’re the ethereal ghosts?”
“Doc, watch that hallway!” Ryan barked, pointing at a random corridor. “Cover our flank!”
For a split second, it seemed as if the ploy wouldn’t work. But then the confusion left the scholar’s lined face, and he smoothly drew both the Webley he’d acquired at Rockpoint and the LeMat to stand guard.
“None shall pass here, old friend,” Doc stated firmly, every trace of madness gone from his voice and stance.
Surreptitiously glancing at the two people, Mildred nodded in approval. Ryan returned the gesture and proceeded along the crowded passageway, swiveling to avoid the outstretched hands of the gnarled dead. No matter how muddled he ever got, Doc always came back if there was real trouble. His brain may be somewhat damaged, but his spirit was still strong as steel.
Reaching the balcony, Ryan went to the ornate railing and studied the main floor illuminated by the sunlight streaming in through the smashed front windows. Bodies were everywhere, on the curved steps leading to the main floor, propped against the walls, sitting on a sofa near the reception desk. A delivery man was cradling a large bouquet of dried flowers with a satin banner proclaiming Happy Birthday. A mail carrier was crumpled on the floor before the open honeycomb of mail slots, undelivered envelopes piled at his shoes. Assorted others lay on the floor, limbs mixed, briefcases scattered, their loose clothing fluttering from the breeze.
Maneuvering down the carpeted stairs proved to be impossible, and the companions had no choice but to walk on the dead, the husks crushing into crumbling dust under their weight. Reaching the marble floor, Ryan and the others stomped their boots to get rid of the clinging dust, the vibrations causing several of the nearby bodies to fall apart.
Zigzagging through the corpses, Jak went to check the guard’s weapon in its holster. But the leather was stuck to the revolver, and the albino teen had to yank hard to get it loose. As the gun came free, the guard tumbled to the marble floor and broke apart into pieces, his head rolling along the floor to careen off other corpses until coming to a rest near the phone booths.