“They could just wait us out then.” Bette said, sighing. “They could just stay out there and wait for us to starve on this roof.”

“But they don’t want that either.” Helena replied thoughtfully. “They want us to join them for some damned reason. I mean really why do they care? I’ve never understood this sort of thing: ’join us’—but why does it matter if a few more join or don’t join? Honestly, its pretty ridiculous.”

Bette fought back laughter after Helena had finished. Her girlfriend’s exasperation was hilarious, given the difficult situation they were in.  Nonetheless, it showed that no matter what, they were not defeated. Even with their chopper(s) destroyed, they were still going to fight and get out of this somehow.

“So we’re in a standoff.” Dylan and Catherine had crawled toward the others, and Dylan was now stating what they had all realized. “I say we take our chances and go back down into the hotel.”

“No.” Catherine said. “I say we jump off the roof and take over the airplane.”

“I say we just stay here.” Alice said.

“Well…” Helena sighed. “I don’t suppose we have to decide right away…”

But they did have to decide, as the infected had forced them to show their cards.

“oh shit…what is that?” Bette asked calmly. A small metal canister had just been tossed onto the roof at them.

“GO GO GO! MOVE IT!” Helena screamed at the others. They fought with their own barricade for a few seconds longer than they should have, but managed to wrench open the door to the roof and run down two flights of stairs, nearly stumbling into one another, before the canister exploded. “Fucksters!” Helena shouted. Down below, the infected were streaming into the lobby of the hotel. “all right, split up! Bette, come with me! The rest of you, take the baby into the back of the hotel.”

Their backup plan, hatched one day over breakfast, involved splitting Helena and Bette from their daughter, in the event of an attack. They had argued for hours, but finally agreed as a group, that Helena was most effective if she could fight in the front lines without a baby strapped to her. A room at the back of the hotel, probably meant to act as a kind of staff guest house, was then reinforced with extra boards over the windows. Water and food were then kept there, and a wall of guns and ammo was created. The room looked out over flat sandy terrain, and then ocean.  They had all fought over the need for a backup plan at all, but now Helena’s paranoia and random dream sequences, were making a bit of sense.