He stood on the edge of the pool, soaked. The blood had stained his clothing and it made him uncomfortable as he stood dripping poolwater into the tiles beside the woman on the ground. He wasn't sure if he was slightly trembling due to the water, or what he had just witnessed and done. His hands went up to his buttons, as the urge to take off his bloody and stained shirt became overwhelming. Fumbling slightly with the buttons, the tried to ignore the sinking feeling he had that the woman he had just pooled out of the pool didn't have a pulse anymore as he dragged her along. The whirlwind that was his dance partner landed on her knees beside the woman, claiming she was a doctor. He blinked, thankful that there was a medical professional, but somewhere deep inside him, he wished she didn't have to do this. That she didn't have to try and resuscitate a woman that Rhys was increasingly sure was dead. His soggy shirt landed beside his feet and he treaded a slightly unsteady hand through his hair as he watched the scene unfold.

Watching Delaney's hair bob around in her quick bun, and watched as people around them distanced, shocked murmurs going around. The music had been cut off, and the silence from it was eery. Some people started filming on their phones, and a flare of anger rattled through Rhys his body, balling his fists. People had the fucking' audacity. But he kept watching, seeing the woman he sat next to earlier offer her help to Delaney. Maybe she was someone medical, too? His eyes softened at it, and his jaw unlocked. One of Delaney's kicked-off shoes rolled into the pool in the turmoil, and Rhys shook his head.

A tap on his shoulder made him look over it, and someone handed him his phone that he discarded earlier. "Thanks." He said to the woman, and looked back at the scene in front of him. He roamed over the woman's tattered clothes and unmoving chest. She had been dead before he pulled her out, he was sure of it. He wound on her shoulder... it looked like someone had bitten her. What the actual fuck could have happened? This night took a turn, and not the turn Rhys wished it to take.

Where were the employees? Lifeguards? Rhys tried to convince himself he was a fool. He knew nothing of saving people from drowning and thus when he presumed her dead, maybe Delaney could bring her back. People came back from drownings, right? Paired with some vomiting up of water, everything would be peachy. Rhys's lips pressed into a line as he recognised his own gaslighting attempt. Then the Asian woman spoke again, catching Rhys's attention. His eyes went over her briefly. He recognised it now, that had to be a Japanese accent. One of Willow's university friends had the same. His attention went to the woman on the ground, who jerked. Had Delaney's attempts worked? Though, his relief was quickly obliterated by the terror of the 3-seconds-ago-hella-dead woman who seemed to attack his dance partner. Attack, like a rabid dog. Rabies? He could practically hear the woman's molars crash together with a nasty bite.

"Delaney!" Surprised by his own fast acting, Rhys dashed forward, grabbing the woman by the arm and pulling her off the blonde. The act, and his slippery wet shoes, made him fall backwards on his ass and he let go of the woman's arm. At least she was off the doctor though, but two milky clouded eyes settled on him and she... snarled. What the fuck? Rhys started to scamper backwards, looking around for... what actually? Help? A weapon? He couldn't pommel a wounded woman, right?

"Jesus fuck!" A voice shouted from the crowd. "You just murdered that woman!"

Upon the doctor spiking the rabid woman in the head with her heel, pandemonium broke loose throughout the party. Everything quickly turned chaotic, and the once happy-go-lucky atmosphere of the party had all but evaporated by then. Guests began to scream in horror, while others quickly fled the premises to distance themselves from the scene. Various drinks were spilled and chairs had been tossed aside, creating a massive mess all on the pavilion ground as people bumped into each other.

Scrambling to get out of the way of the stampede, Rina had been completely in shock. Not only had Rina just seen someone mangled and bleeding out, but she also saw that very same woman attack other people like some rabid animal. But then... then the doctor had spiked the employee in the head with her heel, murdering her. It was enough that she could feel the contents of her stomach rumble, which Rina immediately tried to fight to avoid hurling at the thought that she had just watched someone be executed.

What were they supposed to do? Place the woman under arrest? Get out and call the police? The coast guard? Rina had no idea; her instincts trapped between fight or flight. Sure, the woman had attacked the doctor and others... but that was never an excuse to outright execute someone with a spike to the head!

Before Rina could figure out what to do next, however, the chaos took another turn for the worse. As the stampede began to break way from the pavilion, the screams of terror suddenly increased in frequency. Some sounded pained, as if they were being attacked. Others began to shout in similar anguish, with the word "zombie" being thrown around every now and then.

As she stumbled into a table to avoid being ran over by a group of panicked guests fleeing towards the hotel, it was then when Rina had realized the full grasp of the event-turned-mayhem. A few bloodied men, much like the resort employee before, had pinned someone to the ground and began to disembowel them alive. Her heart raced unsteadily in shock, unable to do anything else but watch with wide, terrified eyes as the men feasted on the guest's organs and flesh like some kind of wild predator.

Everyone needed to run. She needed to run. But the prior courage she had just found was once again overtaken by fear, her muscles tense and frozen in place as more and more zombies began to flood into event pavilion. She and everyone else were all going to die, Rina believed. Retribution had truly come for her on this night.

Rhys's resolvement to not kick this woman in the face was wavering by the second. Would it be a dick move to slam his wet sneakers into a wounded employee? Yes. And it would most likely get him escorted of the premises if not arrested by the police. Would it ruin his chances with the woman who tried to save that very employee if he kicked her back into the pool? Very likely. His position, on his ass an leaning back on his two arms had his bad shoulder screaming in agony, causing Rhys to falter and ruin his attempt in getting up. Something just... wasn't right with this woman. Her eyes were cloudy white, she was snarling and biting at him. Thick saliva escaped her mouth and dripped on the tiles around the pool as she made her way to Rhys in a matter of seconds. The bystander effect was real, and no one came to help either him or the woman in front of him.

Then the woman grabbed his foot, and Rhys suddenly couldn't give a rat's ass about spending time in a jail cell tonight. He wasn't chancing it. It was almost as if his leg was a delicious piece of prime meat, and she wanted to take a nice juicy bite out of him. It reminded him so much about those zombie movies. But that couldn't be real right? That couldn't possibly be something that could happen? He pulled his bare leg back and attempted to get up once more, but not before a whirlwind in a red dress drove the high heel he had admired on her before into the woman's head. He watched as he could see up close how the woman's face fell, followed by her body, in between Rhys's legs. It was like the world stood still as he stared at the heel protruding from the woman's skull. His gaze shifted to Delaney as she approached him and held out his hand. He took it, just in case he slipped but didn't put any weight behind it as he got himself upright. Stunned, and slightly in awe by his saviour, he nodded. "Yeah, I'm fucking peachy. Are you? What the actual fu-" He was interrupted by a shout behind him, calling his saviour a murderer. Rhys' brows dipped in worry as he looked over his shoulder, subconsciously planting his feet more firmly to the ground as he placed his hands on Delaney's bare shoulders.

No, she wasn't a murderer. The person yelling, they hadn't fucking witnessed what she and he had. His eyes went to the Japanese woman that had stood by the doctor earlier. Surely she must've seen the same and can back them up, right? Though, he didn't get time to ask as he got bumped in his bad shoulder, eliciting a grunt of pain from him, etching his face in agony. People around them were scampering to get away, and it quickly became a surge that was becoming dangerous. It didn't take long for the first person to fall, and the second person to walk over that first one like she was a goddamn welcome mat. There was chaos, but the chaos became madness when the mood suddenly shifted. Shouts of people to get out of here turned into screams of terror.

In the sides of his vision, he saw a man jump another one and take... take a motherfucking bite. Like a zombie. Was this real? Were they on a prank show or some kind of sick science experiment where scientists wanted to find out the real and true reactions of people coming face to face with certain situations like a damn zombie apocalypse? His head snapped back to Delaney. "We have to get out of here." Without thinking, he took her hand in his and firmly laced their fingers together. She would be incredibly easy to lose in the crowd, and this woman saved his life so he needed to find some way to repay her. He started a small jog, tugging Delaney along. He went past the Japanese woman from earlier. Who had ordered a Mai Tai and seemed so nervous at the bar, yet was the only one to offer her services to the doc while everything was going on. She looked like she was in a trance, pure shock on her face. "Fuck." Rhys muttered to himself, knowing that he just couldn't leave her behind like that.

He raised his hand in front of her face and snapped his fingers. "C'mon, snap out of it! We have to go." His grip on Delaney firmed as more people bumped into them, and he knew he couldn't linger for long. Instead, he grabbed the wrist of the woman and tugged her along as well, heading toward the bar. There, he found the Japenese woman's Mai Tai bestie in a slightly less shocked state. The bartender was no more, and Rhys had to swallow down the bile that threatened to come up at the sight of it. Where the fuck could they even go? To the woman at the bar he half-shouted "Does that bartender have any keys or whatever?!" to get over the chaos behind them, hoping the woman would spring into action. He looked over his shoulder to look out for oncoming danger. The keys may help them get into staff area's, where other they could possibly lock themselves in and find help.

As Rina watched the carnage with pure shock on her face, a hand suddenly shot in front of her, snapping its fingers in an attempt to bring her back into reality. The voice it belonged to declared they needed to get going, and grabbed Rina's wrist to pull her along with him and the doctor woman from before. Forcing her body to move despite the fear in her eyes and heart, Rina quickly realized that the man was right. If she—no, they—wanted to live, then they needed to get out of here and to safety while they still had a chance.

While her newfound saviors had focused on the way out, Rina's thoughts went to defense, having been motivated by a sudden sense of self-preservation. People were eating each other, and they were going to need something to defend themselves with if they didn't wish to become an all-you-can-eat buffet along with them. Looking around the pavilion, Rina noticed a couple long, unlit tiki torches nearby, and proceeded to pull one out of the ground.

Twirling the torch around in her hands, Rina took a deep breath and readied herself for anyone coming their way. She didn't know if she had it in herself to kill anyone in self-defense, and her only experience with any kind of weapon was with props, but Rina was confident the tiki torch would be enough to keep them at bay long enough for them to make their get-away. It had to be if they wanted to live.

Once the others had found a set of staff keys, Rina then turned her attention to the hotel. She had no idea where the staff rooms were, and Rina could only figure the others had no idea either, evident by them asking the question in the first place.

"Maybe the basement?!" Rina responded, throwing a random guess out and hoping she had been correct.

Rhys's attention became divided. The woman at the bar held onto the leg of a chair, and Rhys was half grateful she didn't pommel him with it when he approached. He must look like a mess, without his shirt, his pants and shoes wet and his eyes somewhat in a frenzy. She was looking to Rhys's right, and he angled his head to find the woman he was dragging along had slipped from his grip and pulled a tiki torch from the ground and actually twirled it. The corners of his mouth pulled down in an impressed look as he tore his eyes off her and back toward the bar, where Delaney searched the bartender as if his entrails weren't decorating the bar like Christmas lights. A doctor, right, it wouldn't even phase her. But it phased him and his face contorted up in slight disgust at the smell that was already filling the air.

She got back up and waved the keys in the air, and the man had a brief sigh of relief before he realised he didn't even know what to use the damn keys on. Still, it was one step forward as his eyes went back to the Japanese woman who joined them once more. The other woman decided to stick by them, too. Suddenly, they were a group of four and Rhys intended to keep it that way. He didn't know what the hell was happening, but he strengthened his resolve to not let anything happen to these three. However, two of them held weapons and would probably prove more useful than him and his saviour complex. Who was he to underestimate a woman? He looked at Delaney when she spoke, then at the woman with the tiki pole as she answered. Behind them, carnage continued happening and the anxiety of it skittered along his spine, like running up the stairs at night when you've turned off the light. Wherever the rooms were, they needed to move, and his gaze went to the hotel. Maybe behind the reception was a good place to start?

Though, these zombies had to have come from somewhere, and he hoped they weren't going into the thick of it, instead of away from it. He was thankful Delaney returned to him instead of being behind that bar, before letting his attention slide to the woman who claimed she knew where the staff rooms were. Who was he to doubt that? He nodded. "By all means." he said, a grateful glint in his eyes as the group began to move. As he angled the bar, he spotted a knife used for slicing lemons and didn't waste time in palming the hilt and following the woman, taking Delaney along with him. He glanced over his shoulder, and noticed the Japanese woman was still following them. Looking forward once more, he prayed to God where they were headed would give them some form of shelter to figure this shit out. He wished he could say he still thought this was a prank, but he had held into that dead woman, had seen her advancing on him and snapping at him. There was no way in hell that wasn't real. And it chilled him to the bone.

They removed themselves from the pool pavilion, but more people had the same idea as people yelled and ran and pushed them. He pulled Delaney closer and kept letting his eyes slide between the two other women as they picked up the pace. "So where?" He asked, as curiosity got the best of him. He was more than content following the woman, but the reality was that if she got knocked out, he wouldn't know where to go.

It had seemed her assumptions as to where the staff rooms had been were wrong.

Corrected by her bar acquaintance, the woman quickly explained to their motley group that the hotel's staff rooms were in fact not in the basement, but rather just a few levels above the main floor. Though they had the keys to access it, however, there was still the issue of getting to the elevator that could bring them to safety. There were a number of elevators in the main hotel lobby, Rina had remembered seeing, but with how everyone had been swarming towards the hotel, they were most likely going to have to fight their way to safety from undead and perhaps guest alike.

"I'll..." A split hesitation came from Rina before she quickly cast away any doubts she might've had. "I'll take the lead."

Tightly clutching the tiki polearm within her hands, Rina began to follow the crowd further into the hotel. She had hoped the others were still following her as she pushed through the bloodied mass of people, but there wasn't much time to look back. Judging from the screams, the pandemonium outside was only getting worse, and with everyone flooding towards the hotel building, the chaos was following them inside, too. But Rina couldn't worry about that. Not if she and the others wanted to get out of here while there still was a chance for them to do so.

Thankfully, it wasn't that far of a walk for the group to reach one of the many elevators that were scattered throughout the hotel. But as Rina approached the elevator, she was greeted with a gruesome sight. A bloody hand stained the metal on the wall, evidently left by the half-devoured body in front of the elevator that was currently being feasted on by a group of zombies. Zombies that would suddenly stop focusing on the corpse and turn their gaze to Rina, clearly eager for a chunk of some more fresh food.

"A little help here?!" Rina asked, pointing one end of the torch towards the undead. The torch's length meant that she could probably hold them off for a little, but it didn't change the fact that she was still outnumbered in this fight.

This was a prank, right? Surely there were cameras here. Rhys was gaslighting himself as he walked, his eyes on the woman in front of him wielding a tiki pole like that wasn't hilarious in literally any other situation. He wished he was a better man, then. He should take the lead, not hide behind a small Asian lady like a coward. But then again, who was he to underestimate anyone? She could probably kick his ass. They got bumped into various times, mostly by people who were still actually alive, and it made Rhys shudder. Not because he wasn't wearing a shirt, though that didn't help the situation. But because he wished the next bump wouldn't be a zombie. He felt oddly vulnerable, despite the evidence of the employee's tattered shirt telling them that even if he was still wearing his shirt it wouldn't save him. But fake safety was still safety, right? The hairs on the back of his neck were upright, his eyes wide and laser-focused.

They were slowly headed toward the elevators, but that would get chaotic really fast. Because in a place you don't know, what is the first place you go to? Right. Your own hotel room with your own stuff and a door you can lock. Rhys's room wasn't far from here, but somehow the staff area seemed like a safer bet. They could call for help from there, probably. As they walked, Rhys felt his heart beating out of his chest so hard it almost hurt. His fist was curled around the knife so tight he would find the pattern of the hilt in his palm later. But the small tinge of pain kept him alert and walking, his shoes slightly sloshing with the leftover water from the pool. In his other hand was the soft and warm hand of his dance partner, a contrast to the hard and cold metal in his other. He glanced back at her and the other woman to ensure they were okay.

Most of the people were still behind them, but that didn't mean people didn't start pushing themselves into elevators like sardines, putting one elevator over capacity, an angry ring from within the elevator signalling that it wouldn't leave like this. Rhys frowned at the sight. Would they even be able to get into an elevator? They needed an empty one. He came to a full stop when the woman in front of him wielding the tiki pole did, and he looked down at her for a second before following her gaze. His wish for an elevator got granted, but in a sick monkey paw kind of way. It was empty of alive people, that's for sure, but three zombies reared their heads toward the woman in front of him. Christ. That body in the middle of the elevator was fucking terrible.

Rhys never wanted to see someone entrailes, and here he was exposed to them for the second time in a span of five minutes. Swallowing away the bile, he noticed the woman shifting her weapon and asking for help just as one of the dead stalked toward her. What was he supposed to do? Two of them advanced at the same time, leaving the third in their dust after a brief struggle to all come through the elevator door together. Good, they needed to come out. "Back up, back up." He said, letting go of the woman in his other hand and making a quick decision that barely registered for him. He raised his leg and kicked the left-most zombie square in the chest, making him fall backwards halfway into the elevator.

It only served to agitate the other two, but one still advanced towards the Japanese woman while one snarled at him. Divide and conquer then. There was no way they'd be able to get into one of the other elevators, they needed to clear this one. Rhys wasn't a brave man, not really. But he did have a lot of fighting training, even if it was just performative. More like a dance, really. Editing would make it look real. He rarely ever got actually punched during his job. And he prayed to God this stupid idea would work as he backed up more to the left, making one follow him while the other went toward the women. "Fuck!" Without thinking, he raised the knife and stabbed the zombie through the temple. It crumpled to the ground right away, almost taking the knife with it had Rhys not wiggled it out. His face scrunched up in disgust as he walked forward toward the elevator, where the zombie he kicked was trying to get up. Rhys wouldn't let him, though. His heel connected with its face, and he stomped several times until he stopped moving.

The sound was sickening, and all of this happened in a matter of seconds without any real thought. He was running on pure adrenaline. Quickly, he turned towards the women to see if they needed help with the last one, the elevator now clear for them to step in.

Amelia's heart pounded in her chest as they reached the elevator. A brief moment of relief washed over her, knowing they were close to escaping the horrifying chaos below. However, that relief was cut short by Rina's panicked cry, which pulled her attention back to the grim scene before them.

The sight of the bloody handprint on the metal wall sent shivers down Amelia's spine, a chilling reminder of the gruesome events that had occurred in the hotel. The zombies, previously absorbed in their grisly feast, abruptly shifted their attention to Rina as she approached the elevator.

Amelia followed Rhys's command to step back, positioning herself behind him with the broken chair leg in hand, ready to defend herself if necessary. Her heart raced as the two advancing zombies closed in, their grotesque forms and snarling faces a disturbing mockery of humanity.

When Rhys kicked one of the zombies, sending it tumbling into the elevator, a flicker of hope briefly lit up within Amelia. It was a short-lived respite, a brief moment of reprieve amidst the chaos. Nevertheless, she remained vigilant, keeping her eyes on the zombie advancing toward Rina and the one menacing Rhys.

As Rhys grappled with the zombie in front of him, Amelia steeled herself for action. Her instincts urged her to intervene, and when the opportunity arose, she swung the broken chair leg with all her might at the approaching zombie near Rina. The impact struck true, sending the creature staggering and buying precious time for Rina to regroup.

But as the battle with the undead continued, a heavy sense of dread settled in Amelia's chest. Delaney's anguished cry only deepened her apprehension. The chaos in the elevator and the loss of the keys felt like cruel blows of fate, leaving them vulnerable and uncertain.

Amelia hurried to Delaney's side, guided by her innate instinct to help those in need. She knelt beside the fallen woman, concern evident in her features, and offered reassurance in a voice that trembled slightly with anxiety. "Take a moment, catch your breath," she urged Delaney, her voice a source of calm amidst the turmoil. "We'll recover those keys together. Our survival depends on it."