6 Chapter 6

"Look, it's only a bite, Gillian," Frank said to Gillian, in hope to calm her down, but instead Gillian got angrier.

"Yeah, it is just a bite, that can potentially kill you!?" Gillian raises her voice at Frank.

A few seconds of silence pass, Gillian crosses her arms, looking away from Frank, while he is looking at her.

"I am sorry, Frank, I did not mean to shout at you, I am just really worried," Gillian tells Frank as she unfolds her arms and turns back, at first looking at the ground, feeling sorry, before beginning to tilt her head upwards until her eyes met his.

She gazes into his eyes for a couple of seconds, and he gazes into hers.

"O-okay...no time for looking, we have to get going," said Frank as he got his gazes off her face.

They both begin to walk down the street filled with burning debris, and the cloud of smoke and dust dragging its way through.

"Would a hotel be of any use?" asks Frank, tilting his head slightly to his right until her face was in his sight.

It takes a second for Gillian to comprehend what Frank asked her, and then she tilts her head to see his face, only then did Frank see the confused look on Gillian's face,

"Why are you asking?" she asks Frank, as they walk down the road.

"Well, since we are probably looking for a place to crash for the night, and get out of these... 'mysterious' streets" Frank began speaking but gets interrupted by Gillians' laugh.

"Yeah, real mysterious" she adds, joking around, smiling at Frank.

"So yeah, why not my place? Huh, well technically my hotel room," Frank adds.

He looks at Gillian, waiting for an answer from her, who seems seemingly surprised by his offer.

"Isn't your room like... one person room or something?" she asks him.

"It's actually a two-person hotel room, funny story, they ran out of 1 person hotel rooms, since they were all reserved," Frank replies, facing Gillian. She gives him a smile back.

"I mean if you don't mind a female companion, then I am in!" Gillian accepts Frank's offer. At first Frank is surprised, but afterwards, she could not control the smile on his face.

"Okay, so tomorrow, should we go through the town to look for any clues or leads?" Gillian asks Frank, as they continue walking down the street, with their bodies only centimetres apart.

"Yeah, sure, although the very first place where I want to go is the police station," Frank tells Gillian, as he holds his head up high. Gillian gives Frank a confusing look but decides to keep quiet.

They walk a couple more meters before they reach the end of the cloud. As they walk out of the cloud, they can finally see the clear night sky, filled with glowing stars above them.

Gillian looks around her in awe, and when she turns round to the rising cloud that they just came out from, she cannot help but feel intimidated by the size of the cloud. She begins to walk backwards, staring at the rising cloud.

"Pretty big plume..." comments Frank beside her.

"Yup," she answers, and turns around, looking at the street in front if them. Everything looks so still and eerie.

They both continue their walk to 'Armull Town Park Hotel'.

"So..." Frank begins, placing his hands in his pockets of the jeans that he is wearing.

"Yes?" asks Gillian, moving a strand of hair away from her right eye and cheek.

"Where are you from Gillian?" asks Frank as he looks at her face.

Right before answering the question, she tilts her head again, giving him another gaze. "I am from Ireland, Dublin more precisely".

"And you live in Germany? How did that come about?" he asks her.

After a short pause, she answers.

"It's a long story, I lived here in Armull ever since I was a baby, up to like 5 years ago, it's my home, well, it was," Gillian begins answering, as she inhales and exhales deeply.

"The outbreak was what made my family and me emigrate from this town," said Gillian as she licked her lips and began to feel slightly sombre.

"Now you tell me, where are you from?" she asks Frank, trying to force a smile as she is facing him.

"Okay, lets see, believe it or not, I am actually also from Ireland, I am from Cork more specifically, but I moved to the States at a young age. I currently live in Los Angeles, but back when I was smaller, I lived with my mother in New York. We lived in New York since my mother's parents and relatives lived in New York. I guess that it was a logical move since we were not alone." Frank explained to Gillian as the came closer and closer to the gates of the hotel.

"Well... this is it" he says as they approach the gates.

They finally reach the open gates of the hotel.

"Ladies first" Frank adds, lowering his head and gestures his hands towards the open gate.

"Well thank you," says Gillian, trying to play along.

When they both go in through the gates, there were a few seconds of silence as they walked towards the entrance of the hotel.

"Sooo... would it be rude of me to ask about your father?" Gillian asks, trying to sound as nice and polite as she can possibly be.

"I don't mind" Frank answers, bleakly.

With every step, their bodies separated apart, before drifting back closer and closer.

"From my childhood memories, and stories that my mother told me about my father, he did not seem like the nicest person to come across. Although he did love my mother like mad, that was until he met Maria." Frank stopped talking for a second. Enough time for Gillian to ask him another question.

"Who is she? If you don't mind me asking," she asks him.

"Well..." he begins, "she is my father's... *swallows*... wife, that is current wife. My parents divorced when I was young, that is why I moved with my mother to the States." Frank answers as he looks at Gillian.

"Oh crap, I am sorry, I didn't know..." Gillian apologises as she comes closer to Frank, "I am so sorry I brought that up" she adds.

"Don't worry about it Gillian, it's fine, I'm over it" he tells her.

"How is your bite?" she asks him, as she tries to change the topic.

"It feels fine, better than it did before, although I can feel the dull pain lingering" Frank answers while looking at his left hand.

They reached the entrance door of the hotel, and below them is a pool of blood, Gillian looks at it before looking up at Frank with a very concerned look in her eyes. She takes a few steps back with Frank, they both left a bloody footprint or two.

"What happened here?" Gillian asks, looking at Frank.

"I don't know.... but there is only one way to find out..." he replies, looking back at her.

*To be continued*