Page 22 of Hollow Child

“What do you need from us to get it going?” Serg asked.

“Well, I’ll need at least two of you, I think.” Garrison’s gaze went to Serg and Boden, who werestronger and taller than the rest of us.

“While you two go with him, I should scope out the boat and make sure it’s safe,” I said. “If this thing does get going, I don’t want to end up trapped on it with a bunch of zombies or a grizzly bear.”

Boden nodded and looked over at me. “Be careful.”

“You, too,” I said, and turned back to the others. “Max, Stella, and Ripley can hang out here in the lounge. The rest of us should split up with one group going up to the second level and the other should stay down here and check out the main floor.”

“We’ll take the main floor,” Castor offered, motioning to between himself and his sister.

“I’ll go with them,” Samara volunteered.

I looked to Lillian. “It’s me and you versus forty guest rooms on the second floor.”

“Sounds lovely,” she said with a wry smile, and we started toward the grand staircase.

The hallway down the center of the second floor was wider than I’d expect for a boat of this size, and it was styled in the same fancy way as the lobby. There were surprisingly few signs that this had survived a zombie apocalypse: a blood stain on the elegant rug, a tear in the gilded wallpaper, a nautical painting broken on the floor.

The doors to the staterooms closest to the staircase were open, so Lillian and I peered inside with our weapons in hand – my crossbow, and her axe. The brocade curtains were torn, but the sliding glass doors that led onto the private balcony were still intact. The bed was even made in the plush linens, although they were rumpled and dusty, and the sitting chairs were tipped over.

“It’s small, but it’s a nice room,” Lillian commented and poked her head in the on-suite bathroom. “I would’ve paid to stay here.”

“It seems weirdly nice for a riverboat cruise in the middle of Canada,” I said.

“We’re not quite in themiddleof Canada,” Lillian corrected me. “And I see the appeal. The river is gorgeous, and a cruise into a bygone era is a nice escape from reality.”

“Well, I can always appreciate the appeal of escapism,” I admitted grudgingly.

The two of us continued down the hall, checking the rooms and finding more in similar states to the first few. Some were a bit worse for the wear. One had a decomposing arm in a bed, and several others had shattered balcony doors, which had let in enough harsh weather to render the rooms unusable.

As we made our way closer to the other end of the boat, the rooms got a bit nicer and bit larger with more high-end features. When we reached one that was nearly immaculate, aside from a little dust, Lillian let out a contended sigh.

“This one is mine, if Garrison does actually get the boat running,” she declared.

“We can call dibs already?” I asked. “Although all I really care about is a large comfy mattress and a door that locks.”

“I know what you mean.” Lillian ran her hand over the satiny comforter. “My back isn’t really cutout for bedrolls on a hard floor.”

I grimaced in agreement. “It did seem easier when I walked across the continent ten years ago.”

“Everything was so much easier and so much harder back then," Lillian reminisced. “In those early days, I thought civilization still had a chance to rebound. I held onto that hope for far too long, but I was also the last one in my grade school who still believed in Santa Claus. My mother used to call me pathologically optimistic.”

“There are worse things to be,” I said as I steppedout into the hallway, and there was a loud banging sound, followed by an all too familiar groaning.”

“Zombies,” Lillian said, and then I heard the screams coming fromdownstairs.

15

Stella

Ripley was sitting in the corner of the grand lobby of the riverboat, one of her back legs outstretched as she groomed herself. I leaned back on the circular sofa, not minding the few holes torn into the exquisite fabric, and Max sat with my feet on his lap. He’d taken off my boots for me and rubbed my swollen, aching appendages.

“This is a very ritzy place,” he said as he admired it. “Hopefully, this will be a nice little break for us.” He smiled down at me. “Like our first vacation.”

“I suppose a –” I started to say, but then Ripley’s sudden growling interrupted me.

The hair stood up on her back, and her eyes were fixed on the double doors that separated the lobby from the dining hall. Samara, Castor, and Polly had only gone through them ten minutes ago.

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