Disintegration

there. Harte had noticed that too.
    “This couldn’t have been the most popular of hotels, judging by how many cars are over there.”
    “More than half the rooms were occupied when it happened,” Martin said. “There were more cars than this.”
    “So what have you done with them all?”
    “We used them to block the roads and entrances. They’ve been useful.”
    “How come everything’s so…” she began to ask before losing herself in her question.
    “Clear?” suggested Martin.
    “Empty?” added Amir.
    “Quiet?” said Gordon.
    “No, it’s more than that…”
    “What have you done with all the fucking bodies?” Webb grunted, successfully putting Lorna’s feelings into words with surprising perception and his trademark lack of tact. “You got rid of them all?”
    “Couldn’t do that,” Martin answered. “I don’t know what it’s like where you’ve come from, but there are far too many of them around here for that.”
    “So where are they?” Lorna asked.
    “The grounds of the hotel are enclosed,” he explained. “We blocked up the entrances like you saw back there, then tricked them into going elsewhere.”
    “Martin used to work here,” Amir added.
    “Believe me, I know every inch of these grounds. Before all this happened I was chief groundsman and—”
    “What do you mean, ‘tricked them’?” Hollis asked, cutting across him.
    “Well, they’re not the brightest of sparks, are they? It doesn’t take much to distract them.”
    “So what did you do?” he pressed, intrigued.
    “Did you see the fork in the road just now? The road runs right the way around the western edge of the grounds,” he explained, gesturing with his arm. “Over there and to the north is a golf course, a full eighteen holes’ worth of empty space. We’ve blocked the other end of the road to stop them getting through and made a few gaps in the fence around the golf course to let them onto the greens.”
    “And how’s that helped?” Gordon wondered.
    “You know what those golfers are like,” he explained.
    “Were like,” Gordon corrected.
    “More money than sense, half of them,” he continued. “They built themselves a lovely clubhouse. Beautiful place, it is. Huge. There’s a track leads from the road right around to the kitchens at the back of the building.”
    “Get to the fucking point,” Webb grumbled impatiently.
    “The point is we can get inside the building and they can’t.”
    “Still don’t understand how that makes any difference,” Lorna grumbled, obviously unimpressed.
    “It’s simple, really. I play music to them and they think we’re in the clubhouse.”
    “You play music?” Gordon said in disbelief. “Are you serious?”
    “I don’t stand there with a guitar serenading them, if that’s what you’re thinking. We set up a couple of portable generators and I leave CDs playing on repeat until the fuel runs out. They think we’re sitting in the clubhouse so they crowd around it and stay away from here. Because there are so many of them and so few ways onto the golf course, once they get through the holes in the fence, it’s almost impossible for them to get back. Might sound a little unusual, but it works.”
    “There’s no doubting that,” Jas muttered under his breath.
    “I have to go up there two or three times a day to change the music and refill the generators, but—”
    “Sorry, but can we get inside?” Caron asked nervously. “I don’t care if there aren’t any of them around, I don’t like standing out here.”
    Martin moved first, picking up his bike and leading the way to the front of the hotel complex. He took them inside, up a few low stone steps and through a wide glass door with arched windows on either side into a long, open-plan reception area. Lorna collapsed onto a dusty brown leather sofa and gazed at her surroundings, still unable to take it all in.
    “You okay?” Hollis asked, concerned. She looked at him and smiled.
    “Just trying to get my head around everything. I never thought we’d find anywhere like this.”
    “If you could all just check in at reception,” Martin laughed as he leaned his bike against the side of the ornate wooden desk, “I’ll get your keys and have someone take you up to your rooms!”
    Amir shook his head and sighed. “Silly bastard, he’s been waiting to say that to someone since we first got here!”
    Harte looked around anxiously. He could hear something. It was a clack-clack-clack ing