But it was too late. Rose slammed the front door shut.
“What the fuck?” Kelbrook rasped. “Get her, Twitchell. Move, you stupid fool.”
A heavy bolt thudded into place. At the same time, the rumble of metal panels reverberated from behind the thick curtains.
“What’s going on?” Twitchell said.
“She’s locking down the whole fucking hotel,” Kelbrook said. “It’s a death trap.”
The disembodied voice of a woman came from concealed speakers.
“Welcome to Survive the Hotel of Horror, the ultimate escape game experience. There are only two rules. Winners will live. Losers will die.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Owen and Sebastian were inmotion, taking advantage of the distraction to launch themselves at Kelbrook and Twitchell. Alice was amazed by the way they seemed to coordinate their attack. It was as if they had worked out a strategy. Each took the closest target.
Owen slammed into Kelbrook, sending him to the floor. The mag-rez roared but the shot struck a wall. Owen grabbed Kelbrook’s arm and wrenched it. Kelbrook screamed. The pistol fell to the floor.
Sebastian went for Twitchell’s throat. Twitchell panicked and dropped his own pistol in a frantic effort to fend off the dust bunny, who was now all teeth and claws—alotof claws, given Sebastian’s six paws.
There was a great deal of thrashing around, but Alice reminded herself she had no skills in hand-to-hand combat. She contented herself with scooping up the weapons and retreating out of range. She had no idea how to rez a mag-rez, so she set the powerful weapons on an end table and took the flamer out of her pocket.
“I’ve got all the guns,” she said to no one in particular. “Sebastian, it’s okay. I can shoot him if necessary. Please don’t rip open his throat. He’s not worth the time and effort required to rebalance my personal scales.”
Sebastian leaped free of Twitchell and dodged out of kicking range. But Twitchell was no longer trying to fight off his small attacker; he was struggling to crawl out of the way.
A sudden silence briefly descended. It was broken seconds later by the sound of Sebastian dashing across the floor to recover his sunglasses.
In the murky light of the glowing lamps, Alice watched Owen push himself to his feet. He used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe blood off his face. His eyes burned.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
“I’m fine.”
He glanced around, saw the two pistols on the end table, and picked up both. One disappeared into the pocket of his jacket. He kept the other in his hand.
Kelbrook groaned and struggled to a sitting position. He used his free hand to cradle his jaw. There was blood on him, too. Alice told herself she should not take any satisfaction in that. But she did.
Twitchell moaned. He looked up and saw Alice pointing the flamer at him.
“Don’t move,” she said. “My aim is improving.”
“Fuck,” he said.
“You can put the flamer away, Alice,” Owen said gently. “The last thing we want to do is start a fire in this old firetrap.”
“I wasn’t going to…Never mind,” she said. She tucked the weapon into a pocket. “Are you sure you’re not hurt? You look hurt.”
“Nothing that won’t heal, assuming we get out of here.”
An unnatural stillness gripped the interior of the hotel. Alice realized that she could not hear the wind. The constant rumble of the breakers onthe rocky beach below the cliffs was no longer audible, either. It was as if the structure had been whisked into another dimension.
Somewhere upstairs a door opened.
Twitchell flinched. Okay, Alice thought, in fairness they all flinched—even Sebastian was briefly startled, although he seemed to dismiss the sound almost immediately.
Footsteps echoed in an upstairs hall. Floorboards squeaked. A woman’s sobs floated down the stairs.
