Camping

Chapter 3: "How can we help?"

Thomas's POV

Once we got to my room, I decided we needed to get to know names. I didn't want to give everyone false names. "Everyone," I called. The attention turned to me, "What should learn each other's name. I'll go first, I'm Thomas. I'm here because of a business trip." I looked at the blonde man who I talked to in the elevator and motioned for him to go next. "I'm Wyatt, I live in the neighboring town." He stated, then turning to his friend. "I'm Jackson, I also live in the neighboring town."

"I'm Alexadra, Alex for short! Here on a business trip too." The woman who helped me in the lobby after I fell down the stairs exclaimed. Before anyone else went and introduced themselves, she explained, "Yes, I do have an Asian accent, but my parents immigrated to the USA, so I was born here." I nodded, then looked to the British man, "I'm Robert," he introduced, "I'm a tourist here with my wife," then glanced at the other woman. "I'm Daisie, I'm the wife Robert is touring with." The second woman I met told us in her British accent. She glanced at the girl who lost her friend, but she remained silent. She's still processing what happened... I thought. "Her name is Maisie," Wyatt informed us.

"I live about an hour north of here." She added.

"Okay, so we have our name. Now-"

"-I'm going to bed." Maisie finished what I  was saying in a monotone voice. I wasn't going to finish my sentence since it seemed to fit. "Alright," I said and she flopped onto one of the beds. Daisie was on her phone. "I'm searching 'Gloomo Hotel monster'. Nothing is popping up."

"That's lovely," I grumble. I sat on the other bed. Great! Just great! We're going to die here. For all, I know at least half of us don't even live nearby! Lovely! I thought sarcastically. What a great way to end a business trip or vacation. This would be a fun story to tell at parties if I make it out alive.

Then suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

Alexadra's POV

The knock at the door startled me, along with everyone else in the room, I looked at the group, who was looking at each other. "Should we open it?" Jackson asked. I headed to the door and checked the peep-hole. "It's a family of five people, I think! A woman, a man, two girls, and a boy!" I told the group.

"Open it!" Wyatt ordered, appearing beside me. I nodded and opened the door, "Hello? How can we help you?" I asked.

"Hello!" The man greeted. "My name is David, my family and I went to the lobby while the alarms were sounding. We didn't see anyone so we decided to head to our room. My son, Alan, then thought we should look for anyone, to see if anyone left or if it was a test. Is it a test?"

"No!" Wyatt exclaimed, "there's this monster roaming the hotel! We would leave but we'd freeze to death in the blizzard!"

"Impossible!" The dad scoffed, "there are no such things as monsters. Besides, I'm not looking for jokes. My family and I have an exhausting day of camping planned for tomorrow. We'll be heading back to our room." He turned and started walking away, followed by his family. His son, Alan, stayed behind. "Bye..." He muttered, before following his family.

"Well, tried to warm them!" I say, closing the door after the son of the family left. I leaned on the door. "What now?"

"Wait!" Robert exclaimed, pulling out his cellphone. "I can call the police!" He looked at his phone, "The emergency number is 911, correct?"

"Yep," Thomas responded.

"Okay, just fact-checking because the number is different here than England," Robert said, then called.

Or tried to, "Aw hell! I can't call them!" He yelled angrily. I pulled out my phone, thinking Robert's just broke. "Same for mine!" I exclaimed. Thomas tried his, and the same result. The redhead of the group suddenly shouted, "Someone must be using a cellphone jammer!"

"What the hell is that?" I asked.

"They block cellphones and that stuff," Jackson explained. "They're illegal but you can get them for thirty-five dollars. I remember that from a movie!"

"Well, gee, whiz," Maisie commented, "What can we do now?" We all pondered on what to do until Wyatt snapped his fingers. "I just remembered! There is a telephone in the lobby we can use! If we get there, we can call for help!"

"Okay then, let's go!" Maisie exclaimed, with a bit more emotion in her voice. She got up and started leading the rest of us to the lift. "Why the lift?" I asked.

"The stairs are damaged, remember?" She responded. Oh. I forgot. Maisie pressed the 'open door' button and we all huddled in the lift. Robert pushed the button for the lobby. We all were chattering to each other; Daisie and Thomas were giving high school advice to Jackson, Maisie, and Wyatt, while Robert and I were talking about our favorite things we do to pass the time.

...

Until the lift broke.

14 (20 including family and hotel receptionist) people arrived

7 people (13 including family and hotel receptionist) left