Human Extinction Level Loss (Book 1): Nicole's Odyssey Read Free

surprise she might have had.  Nicole froze in panic and waited several tense seconds for something now alert to her presence to come stumbling out of the shadows. 
     
    When nothing did, she poked her head in and sniffed the air.
    “No smell, that’s good,” she said and went inside. 
    Not being able to see, she ran her hands along the wall until she found the switch.  As her eyes adjusted to the light, the scene before her made her think the motel had perhaps not been abandoned, that maybe the proprietor just closed for the night or stepped out.  The office was neat and clean.  A check-in desk spanned half the room.  Behind it, a short hallway turned left into a back office.  To the right of the desk was the complimentary coffee, regular and decaffeinated.   On a serving tray was an assortment of Danishes.  By all appearances, it looked like the night clerk should pop out from around the corner and with a big homespun smile welcome her to Friendly's.  Nicole was almost ready to believe it, when she went over to the coffee makers. The pots were caked with burnt coffee.  She looked down at the pastries and saw they were covered in mold.  The growth extended beyond the serving tray and looked more like a small shag carpet than the sugary hospitality they once were.  Nicole stared at the pastries.  The sight of them filled her with a sense of sadness.  They were symbols of neglect to her.  Their condition only served to emphasize that there had not been anybody there to eat them.  There had not been anybody around to replace them when they went stale, and certainly nobody had been around to clean up the mess they had become.  The people here had left in a hurry; they took whatever they felt was important to them and abandoned the rest, abandoned the pastries and left the coffee maker on.  In her fatigue, she let her mind wander and she was reminded that the world had become much like those pastries, overrun with something that only viewed them as a food source and would keep growing long after they had been consumed.  Nicole awakened from her reverie, shaking off what she knew were useless thoughts. She refocused on the task at hand. 
     
    Although there had not been anyone to clean the coffee pots that did not guarantee there was no one around.  Before her head could meet her pillow, she had to be sure.  It did not matter to her if the rooms were locked from the outside, they did not lock from the inside.  She didn’t think the Dead could  turn a knob if some of them were in one of the rooms.  She also did not want to die being wrong about that either.  She went around the desk and looked for room keys. Shuffling through papers on the desk, she ignored what was written on them.  They were just more evidence that the world had changed and lamenting that fact was not going to get her to sleep tonight or miles down the road tomorrow.  She continued her search and in the top right drawer of the check-in desk found a key labeled MASTER.  Nicole grabbed the key and headed outside.
     
    Nicole looked at her car to make sure it was still running then started opening doors.  Working down the left side, she started checking rooms for signs of the Dead, locking the doors back behind her.  When she got to the third door on the right side, she paused.
    “What are you gonna do if you find one, Nicole?”
    She looked back at her idling Cavalier.  “Run like hell, I guess,” she said, answering her own question. 
    She took a deep breath and unlocked the door.  Nothing.  When she finished checking the rest of the rooms, she went to her car and turned off the ignition.  Snatching her bag from the back seat, she closed both of the car doors but did not lock them.  Nicole was about to turn when she paused and looked down at the driver side door.  Grabbing the handle and opening it as fast as she could, she dived inside, pulling the door closed behind her.  She gripped the wheel and stared out through