Andy muttered through his teeth.
“Andy,” Goran said. “How many times have I told you that you shouldn’t have hired an ex-cop!”
Andy frowned and went on. “I have to warn you that whoever’s outside the walls of this building,” he pointed at the windows, “are not human beings anymore. You can’t talk to them. You can’t beg them or please them. You can’t cooperate with them. Obviously, all they need is to feed. On whatever comes in their way. I know it’s not logical, but let’s face the bitter truth.”
People were absorbing each word Andy was saying.
“For how long are you going to keep us here?” A red-faced man with a big belly asked him. He held a beer can in his hand. There was a towel around his neck.
“No one’s keeping you here, brother,” Goran said. “You can hit the road any time you want. I can open any window for you to jump the hell out!”
“Hey, shut your trap!” The man’s face got redder. He leaned forward. “Who do you think you are?”
“No, you shut up!” Goran said.
The man got angry and stood up. He was about to attack Goran like a ferocious pit bull. Andy gave a silent sign to his guards, and they rose threateningly from their seats.
Diana held her hand up. “That’s enough, everybody! We’re going to stay here as long as deemed necessary. It’s not our choice. The hotel just happens to be the safest place around here so far. Mr. Pavic is right. We’re not forcing you to stay. But please do not try to leave this building. You’ll put everybody here at risk.”
The man slumped into his chair and seemed to calm down. He slurped his beer, clenching his jaws in anger. He crumpled the empty can and tossed it on the floor.
Andy’s eyes turned into slits but he did not say anything.
We’ll have to close the bar and withdraw all the liquor from rooms, he thought.
Goran got upon the stage. “We’ll check all the possible holes, through which these schizos could get into the hotel. We have to check the food supply as well. As far as I remember, it’s going to be enough for two weeks. If we ration the food, we’ll be able to not worry about it for over three weeks. I just need the exact number of people staying at the hotel. The data at the reception desk are messed up. We’re going to check every room in this building. Door-to-door. Each of the fifteen stories. I guess, the government is not going to help, so we have to keep up somehow until the air is clear. But, people, I’m telling you, the situation is crappy.”
Just as he said those words, the lights in the room went suddenly out.
“See?” Goran said.
“As if we haven’t had enough,” grumbled one of the hotel guests.
Goran turned to Andy. “Shit just keeps piling up.”
Andy cringed at the swear words. He looked wearily at others. “Goran, would you be so kind as to not swear? Save our ears, please.”
“Okay, no problem,” Goran said. “Pardon my French, ladies and gentlemen. I’ll swear in my native tongue, then.”
The conference room had been designed so that it was in the northern wing of the hotel and it wouldn’t be so stifling hot here during summer meetings without air conditioning. The sun was up, and the light was sufficient in the room. But Andy did not want to think about the time when the sun would go down.
“Let’s hope the power outage is temporary,” Andy said.
A dark-complexioned man in his forties raised his hand, “Sir? Do you have a power generator in this facility?” He spoke in English with a heavy Turkish accent.
“Yes, right,” Andy said. “Actually, we do but we haven’t got it installed yet. They delivered it to us two weeks ago.”
“Well,” the man said. “I’m a trained civil engineer. I could be of some help here.”
“Thank you, sir,” Andy said. “What’s your name, please?”
“Erkan Zorlu.”
“It’s a stroke of luck that we have you here, Mr. Zorlu.”
The man nodded and smiled. “Call me Erkan. Glad to be of service.”
“Fuck!” Goran exclaimed and slapped his forehead with his hand. “I mean, sranje! The fridges! Of course!”
Andy looked at Goran. He didn’t frown this time. He started getting used to Goran’s cussing. “What about them?”
“The perishable food supplies will go rot soon without the power if the outage is permanent. We have to do something about it.”
Andy nodded. “Yes, you’re right.”
“And also water,” Goran said. “Back in my teenage years, I was in the siege of our city during the Yugoslav Wars, and we suffered from lack of water.”
“Yes,” Marcel said worriedly.
“Yeah,” Goran said. “We gotta fill all the bathtubs and all the receptacles we can find with water.”
“Besides, there is the water in the pools,” Andy remarked.
“We also have to keep the drinking water and non-drinking water separate,” added Erkan.
“So, water won’t be a problem,” Andy said.
“But we have to do it fast,” Goran said. “Who knows what will happen next? Water supply cutoff?”
“I’m afraid to even to think about it,” Diana said. “And also about the heating cutoff.”
People got agitated about the current problems, and it was getting noisy in the audience. It took Andy five minutes to call everybody to order.
A young man raised his hand. “Can you give me a gun so I could protect myself and my family?”
The red-faced troublemaker snorted. “A gun! One gun won’t help you much if you come across a crowd of those bloodsuckers. You’re walking meat for them.”
“Now this is really a big problem,” Andy said. “We have only five firearms in the hotel. They’re with the security guards.”
The family man looked disappointed.
It’s six, actually, but they don’t need to know about my shoulder holster, Andy thought. Besides, it’s still a drop in the ocean.
“We never needed so many weapons,” Andy said.
“Nine firearms,” said Marcel’s partner, a tall guy, wearing a black sports cap. He showed his Kalashnikov and a handgun and pointed to Marcel’s same set of arms. “Count us in.”
“And what shall we do then?” said the family man. “I got a wife
