Chapter 33 Ana #2
“I’m going to the door. If it comes to it, I’ll fight him.
Okay?” Alex said, picking up the stick Ana had dropped.
He pulled her around to face him. “Ana, I’m out of ideas.
I need you to take over. You’re the smart one.
You’re our only hope. Out there, we lose.
” Alex was talking gently, but his words had a finality to them.
“Don’t look at the fire. Just don’t look at it.
This is different from last time. I promise. ”
Ana got it. No time for weakness. No time to remember. They both had their part to play. Their lives depended on it.
She nodded, shaking herself out of it, shaking it off.
“I’ve got this. Go,” she muttered, turning away and dropping to her knees to study the lock.
The minute was almost up. The smoke was getting thicker by the second.
A clue. A word. Four letters. Was it something in the anniversary card? Maybe the invitation? What was it? She closed her eyes and pictured the motel, the rooms, the pool… It had to be there somewhere, hiding in plain sight. Four letters… What wasn’t she getting? What?
Suddenly, she had it.
It was so obvious, it had been in front of them this whole time, flashing brightly, taunting them.
The road sign: four letters. It had clearly been recently repaired—and not very well, as two of the letters were out of sync.
Why had Bates gone to the effort to repair the sign at all?
He hadn’t bothered to fix anything else around the motel.
Just the four-letter sign, winking at them over and over.
The motel name was the clue. It had to be, right?
She heard Alex coughing. Her eyes were stinging. There were all kinds of noises, creaking metal, crackling fire. When she looked around, she could barely make out Alex’s outline through the smoke.
The keypad lit up. This was their last shot, their last three guesses. They couldn’t last much longer in this hellhole.
She focused on the name. They had already tried L O B A. No luck. That would have been too obvious. But Loba meant wolf in Spanish. Wolf. Why wolf? This wasn’t an area with wolves. That must mean something. Why else would Bates choose wolf?
Leaning over the keypad, she typed carefully, her eyes smarting from the smoke.
W O L F
Beep. Red light. Her heart was beating too hard, she felt sick. Only two chances left; she had to get it right. Something to do with the sign. Think!
Maybe she had it the wrong way around? Maybe it wasn’t what the motel name had been changed to; maybe it was the old name?
Quickly, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the coaster, turning it over to look at the image on the front.
She peered at it in the smoky dark, scanning the faded photo of the old motel.
The road sign was cut in half under the image of the rose in the corner.
Only the first two letters were visible—R and O.
Could it be? She looked back at the rose image.
There were pink roses all over the motel—on the curtains, the dodgy wall art, the cheap laminate countertops. Could it be The Rose Motel?
That must be it!
Her hand was shaking as she typed the letters:
R O S E
Beep. Red light. Wrong again.
A rush of panic hit her. They had one last chance. What could it be? They’d tried everything! She’d been so sure it was the motel’s name. It was the last thing to try, the last thing that made sense.
The smoke caught her, and she coughed hard. It was impossible to breathe. But she had to. She could hear Alex coughing at the door, and something else that sounded like shouting. Light was cutting through the smoke. Was the door open?
Ana pushed the thought away. She couldn’t screw this up. Alex was depending on her. There was only one way they both survived this. She stared at the glowing keys, her eyes watering, coughing hard.
Motel Loba, Wolf Motel, Rose Motel… What was she missing?
She pictured the road sign. That stupid, miserable light, looming over everything from the moment they had arrived.
Flashing over and over, the red and yellow lights out of sync.
MOTEL L B, MOTEL O A, MOTEL L B. Two of the letters newly replaced in a mismatched font.
Two of the old letters—something O, something A.
Ana gasped. Suddenly she had it—she knew the motel’s old name. She had been so close. Just one letter off. It must be the code. It had to be—it had to.
It was impossible not to cough. She pulled her shirt over her mouth and held it in place with her left hand. With her right hand she reached for the keypad.
This time her fingers didn’t shake.
She brushed the ash off the keys and carefully typed four letters.
Something O, something A.
R O S A
The Motel Rosa. The pink motel.
Click.
The lock released. She’d done it. She’d cracked the code.
Without hesitating, Ana pulled on the handle and lifted. The hatch lid was heavy steel, but it moved a crack. She heaved harder, coughing incessantly. Finally, the lid was open enough for her to flip it over. It fell back, revealing a black hole with a clang.
“Alex!” Ana shouted. But the words were barely audible. She broke into a spasm of coughing. “Alex!” What was wrong with her voice? It was croaky, weak.
She turned to find him. But the smoke had thickened into an impenetrable blanket. She tried to wave it away, scrabbling to her feet. Her legs felt strange, limp. There just wasn’t enough air.
She had to get Alex now.
“Al…” she gasped.
A figure was moving towards her, barely visible in the ashen air.
“Here!” She waved at him desperately. “Alex…over here…” Coughing violently, she dropped to her knees. Everything was starting to spin.
The figure was closer. Tall. Too tall. Its face masked with fabric wrapped around it. Something in its hand. Something metal.
It was Ellis.
He moved towards her, one arm reaching up, a metal crowbar raised high over his head. He wasn’t coming to talk. He was ending this.
Ana raised her hand to block him, but her arm didn’t move right. It fell limply as she slumped backwards. There was nothing she could do. She gasped desperately for air. Nothing left. Her vision was closing in on her, narrowing, pulling her towards blissful unconsciousness.
Ellis was just feet away and moving in for the kill. This was it. Game over.
Suddenly she felt something grab her from behind. Strong hands lifted her and dragged her backwards. She felt herself falling into the hatch.
A cool, welcome darkness overwhelmed her, closing in on her as she slipped away, her mind shutting down until there was nothing left but silence.