The Shattered Earth (Surviving the Fall 3)

“Spread out and check the doors. We’re getting in there one way or another.”

“Why don’t we just shoot the doors in with the turrets?”

“Because we’ve barely got any ammo left. Besides, that only works in the movies, you idiot.”

“I have a question. Why are we chasing after these guys, anyway?”

“Because if they happen to run across the Army then they’ll tell them where they saw us. Then we’ll have to go somewhere else in the city. If you want to go do that and try to deal with the Sureños, then by all means be my guest.”

The rest of the conversation grew muffled as the group of men moved down the length of the building and out of earshot. Rick stepped down from the pile of debris and rubbed his chin. “They’re still trying to find a way in. Doesn’t look like they’re going to give up anytime soon.”

“Why not?”

“They think we’re going to tell the Army about them and ruin their looting.” Rick sighed and closed his eyes. “All right. We need to move with a purpose at this point. No more stopping or walking. We have to run. Can you manage that?”

Jane nodded. “It’s not hot in here at all. I’ll be fine.”

“Good. We’ll head for the far back of the building and exit through whatever we find. If we hurry then we can beat them there and get out before they realize we’re gone.”

“Sounds good.”

Rick nodded and held the lantern up, searching the hotel lobby for which way to go next. A wide hallway proceeded toward the back of the building from the lobby, passing by elevators and large staircases leading upward into the hotel. While the hall didn’t extend for very far, Rick figured that there would be maintenance and staff-only rooms in the back that they could enter to get to the back of the building and continue onward.

After proceeding down the hall, Rick found what he was looking for. A wide door with an opaque window and a “Staff Only” sign on it sat in a small recess in the wall at the end of the hall on the left side. Rick turned the handle and was surprised to find the door unlocked. He pushed it open, holding the lantern in front o

f him with his left hand while keeping his right hand resting on the pistol on his hip.

What Rick had thought would be a small room turned out to be one of the many entrances to the hotel and casino’s maintenance, housekeeping and other facilities. Set into the perimeter of the building around the back half, multiple entrances allowed cleaning and other staff to quickly move about behind the scenes. A portion of the floor off to the side turned into a metal catwalk and Rick could make out the shape of industrial-grade washing machines a floor below, in the basement. Rows of metal racks filled with toilet paper, gallons of cleaners, spare mop heads, buckets and a myriad of other supplies were bolted to the floor and walls of the room for as far as he could see.

“Wow.” Jane whispered behind Rick as she looked around. “This is amazing.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool seeing how it looks behind the scenes. I bet it would have been even more amazing while this place was running.” Rick stepped forward slowly, forgetting for a moment their commitment to moving quickly through the rest of the building. “It looks like a veritable maze up ahead. Let’s stick close together. Let me know if you spot a door leading out or anything else worth checking out.”

Jane nodded and took a step closer to Rick as he started heading down through the large utility room. The room expanded and contracted as they went along, taking on the shape of the rooms outside of it. They passed by a new door leading back into the building often enough that they stopped opening them and looking out to see where they were. Some of the doors led to kitchens, others led to offices and some opened into hallways in the hotel.

Each footstep the pair took echoed into the black abyss below them, though Rick’s lantern wasn’t powerful enough to get a clear view of much that was in the basement. It took the pair another twenty minutes of creeping through the utility area before they entered the true maintenance area of the building. Massive amounts of ductwork, cables and pipes entered through the room and each was labeled with a code that corresponded to its purpose, origination point and exit point from the room. The air smelled intensely of copper, though it was a welcome relief from the chemical scents that pervaded the utility areas.

Rick started getting concerned that they would get lost in the maze of machinery in the maintenance area when Jane tugged on his sleeve and pointed off to the side. “Couple of doors there. Should we check and see where we are?”

“Nice. Good find.” Rick headed for the door, opened it and looked out only to immediately turn off the lantern and close the door nearly shut again. He pushed Jane back with his right hand before reaching for his pistol and drawing it.

“What is it?” Jane whispered, her eyes wide with fear. The maintenance room was pitch-black, but outside through the double doors she could see bits of light coming through as they weaved back and forth.

“It’s them.”

Chapter 7

Las Vegas, Nevada

Rick pulled the door closed slowly, keeping the handle turned until it was sealed, then slowly releasing it. He winced as the latch clicked into place, then he checked the flimsy-looking lock to make sure it was engaged.

“How many were there?” Jane whispered again. Rick switched on the lantern and double-checked the lock, then turned to Jane and used his body to shield the lantern so that none of the light would leak out through the cracks around the double doors.

“Three at least. All of them with flashlights and rifles.” Rick slid his pistol back into its holster and looked up and around at the room. “We need to find a way out of here. Come on, let’s keep going this way. Maybe there’s an exit down here somewhere.”

Rick and Jane jogged through the maintenance area for a few more minutes until the machinery began to thin out and be replaced by more storage shelves and cleaning supplies again. Upon seeing this, Rick realized that they were at the end of the maintenance area and were now entering another utility area. Instead of having neatly labeled and organized supplies like the previous utility area, though, the new one consisted mostly of unopened boxes with large barcodes and QR codes on them. The extra-wide walkways and strips of yellow tape running down the floor made sense when he saw a pair of small forklifts parked in a corner of the room.

“This must be an unloading area.” Rick suddenly grew excited. “We must be near the back of the building. I bet there’s an exit around here!” As Rick and Jane rounded a corner, the room grew warmer and brighter and they both increased their speed until they finally arrived at exactly what Rick was hoping they would find.