Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1): Since the Sirens (11 page)

He finished up and looked out into the parking lot. The streets in
this area were pretty empty, but this parking lot did have one large
delivery truck parked smack in the middle of the tarmac, and there
were several cars gathered around the rear end of the container, as
if they were taking stuff out of it.

Liam decided he didn't want to know anything about what was going
on there. He admitted he was anti-social, but he was also feeling a
ticking in his brain telling him it was dangerous to walk into any
unknown situation out here. It was safer to drive away as fast as
possible.

His plan was simple. There was one highway that ran from downtown
to the south—Interstate 55. With a little effort you could find
highways going southeast or southwest, but there was only one that
went in the direction Liam needed to go. That made things easy for
someone new to driving.

It also made things simple for everyone else. As they drove near
the on ramp for the highway, they were greeted with a massive traffic
entanglement at the bridge interchange where the surface road went
under the highway. Cars on the highway were stopped, cars going up
the access ramp were stopped, and people everywhere were out of their
cars and standing around. Infected people were wandering around too,
though they were put down as soon as they showed up. Some cars were
exiting the highway from the north, and they headed into the network
of side streets. Everyone was pointed toward the south.

Liam pulled over to consider his options.

The first thing he did was turn on the radio. He slapped himself
for not doing it sooner.

Only one radio station on the AM dial was live as far as he could
tell. Every other station on the AM and FM bands was running the same
emergency response message along with the President's radio message.
Apparently the stations were ordered to play that nonsense rather
than something that could actually help people on the ground. Or
maybe the radio people were on the run too?

The one station on the air was headquartered in downtown St.
Louis, and they apparently had a reporter on a high-rise roof
somewhere because they were describing traffic in the downtown area.

“And we are looking at southbound 55 and we can tell you it
is snarled as bad as all the other highways we can see from our
vantage point. Southbound is completely stopped. Northbound is also a
mess coming into St. Louis, but everyone should be aware once you
reach downtown there is nowhere to go. The bridges to Illinois are
all blocked by the state police and what appears to be National Guard
units. They are turning people back to the Missouri side of the
bridges.”

“As we've said before, you should try to get out of St.
Louis while you still can. Just don't try to escape through
downtown.”

They began talking about the north side of the city so Liam tuned
out.

“I bet the entire interstate is parked from here all the way
out to mom and dads.”

Grandma didn't respond at all. Looking back he could see she was
alert but casually looking out the window.

The radio continued.

“We have reports from some people talking to our roving
reporter on the ground that there is a Red Cross station down by the
Arch. While we can't see anything from here, we can't see everything
down there because there are a lot of trees. There could be medical
help down there. If you can't make it out of the city, that might be
a good place to rest.”

Liam wasn't planning on going downtown so he really wasn't
listening to the details.

“...and we've heard a rumor there is a big FEMA camp over at
the Gateway speedway just over the river in Illinois. If you are in
the Illinois listening area you might find help there.”

The two announcers then began some banter between themselves about
their own homes, which Liam found annoying. He needed something that
would help him RIGHT NOW.

He was beginning to understand a little more of the big picture
however.

This chaos had spread everywhere in the bi-state area. He had
hoped—with the usual futility of the past couple days—that
once he reached mom and dad's he would be safe.

What if it's everywhere in the world?

2

Liam was drawing a mental map of the city. The most famous edge of
the metropolis was the Mississippi River as it passed downtown St.
Louis and its crown jewel the Gateway Arch. That was basically the
eastern border. To the north he was less clear of the geography, but
was pretty sure the Missouri River was up that way. The south was his
neighborhood. He knew that to get out of the urban and suburban
sprawl they'd have to cross the Meramec River—a relatively
small river compared to the giant Mississippi where it drained out.
Taken together, three sides of St. Louis were bordered by rivers.
They were aiming for the southern river.

Grandma's home was a couple miles south of downtown St. Louis, so
it was impressive that the highway was already choked to death going
outbound from the city's center. Was every car in the city already
out and parked on this stretch of highway? Was it the same going
north or west? If so, it meant almost no one had actually escaped
from the city. Everyone was on the road, but still within the gravity
well of the collapsing star.

What's keeping everyone bottled up?

The radio had no answers. He decided to push further south on some
of the comparatively empty side streets and see if Interstate 55 was
more accessible in that direction. He knew it was a long shot. The
further south he went, the more cars he found on the roads with him.
He had sat in enough traffic jams with mom and dad to know when a
highway was stopped, drivers would try just about anything to find
alternate routes. Now as he approached the highway at each exit and
entrance complex, he saw many more cars use the exit ramps and dive
into side streets. Always south.

Without working electricity and street lights, gridlock increased
with every major intersection as they went further south. Liam was
beginning to realize there were just too many cars on the roads. He
had to keep rolling over to smaller and smaller streets. He was
considering using one lane alleys if he had to.

While driving on a side street through one of the old
neighborhoods of south St. Louis, Liam noticed the flashing lights of
a police car behind him. He immediately panicked, as now was NOT the
time to get in trouble with the law. Not when he needed to get
Grandma out of the city.

“Oh no! Grandma I got pulled over by a cop!”

“Were you speeding?”

“I don't think so. I was just kind of driving around looking
for streets without a lot of traffic on them.”

“Mmmm huh.” She seemed to understand but she said
nothing further. She rolled down her window. Liam assumed it was so
she could talk to the officer herself.

Let her deal with it.

Liam was respectful of law and order so he pulled over as quickly
as he could. He had his seatbelt on so he felt confident he had
covered all his bases. He looked in the back seat to see if anything
was out of the ordinary. He knew he might get in trouble for his guns
so he took his out of his waistband and stuffed it next to the seat
by the middle console. The other was safely in his backpack next to
Grandma.

He felt like he was missing something—that seemed to always
be in his head—but this was his first time getting pulled over
so he didn't know what to expect.

He did not expect having a gun placed in his face, followed by a
calm voice asking him for his money.

“I'll take your wallet, thank you very much.”

The dark man wasn't a police officer, but for once Liam held his
tongue and didn't point that out to the prospective thief. The gold
chains and multiple watches were the big clues, if the gun in the
face wasn't hint enough.

Liam held his hands up to signify compliance. He said his wallet
was in his right front pocket.

“Well GET IT, I don't have all day.” The man gave a
little giggle at his statement.

He then noticed the blood on the passenger seat, and the foot
sitting prominently in the floorboard.

Why did I leave that there?

“Looks like you had a passenger. What happened to him?”

“I don't know sir. It was there before we jumped in the
car.”

“We?” It was then the man noticed the small woman
sitting quietly in the back seat. He moved a step closer to the back
so he could see directly into the interior.

“Well it looks like you two make quite the couple. I'll take
that fancy necklace around your neck. And that backpack looks quite
juicy.” It was lying open at that moment, and the snacks and
drinks were clearly visible to the marauder. Liam silently cursed
himself for being so dumb.

“No, Grandma needs her meds. Please don't take it.”

“When I need your opinion I'll ask for it, BOY.”

He slapped Liam's head by reaching inside the back window and
hitting him to make his point.

Liam knew it was stupid to think it, but he didn't want to be
taken advantage of like this. Instead of being scared, it made him
angry.

Grandma meanwhile was gathering the pack by forcing in all the
contents which had spilled out.

“Sir, please leave her medications. You can have the rest.”
He thought he was being smart. She didn’t take any
irreplaceable prescription meds, but maybe the guy would feel
sympathy.

The man moved back to the front, directly outside Liam's window.

“You don't get it. I'm taking it
all
! If you say
another word I'll kill you both.”

Grandma piped up, “I'm getting it all together for you.”

Liam sat there stewing in his impotence. Could he start the car
and speed off without getting shot? He doubted it. But maybe if he
pushed him back...

On impulse he tried opening the door to push the guy backward.
Thinking about it later he wasn’t sure what he was intending,
but he was shocked to see he didn't surprise the guy at all. In fact
the man was so agile he hastened the door as it opened. Then he
side-stepped it, gave Liam a stiff punch to knock him dizzy, and then
he reached in and undid his seatbelt—dragging him out of the
car and onto the street.

Liam's last memory of the incident was the soft murmur of his
grandma's voice.

“I have your backpack ready sir.”

And then he blacked out.

3

When Liam woke up he was still lying on the pavement. Face down on
the warm asphalt surface. The side of his face was awash in pain, but
he could move his jaw and didn't feel anything crunchy in his mouth,
so he assumed he was going to live.

For the second time in the day, he sat up to take stock of his
surroundings.

He looked around and noticed the police car was still behind him.
He looked at his own car and saw the malicious criminal lying on his
back near the rear tire. Did they get in a fight? He couldn't
remember any details of their encounter.

Did I win?

He stood up and was relieved to see Grandma sitting in the back
seat. He ran over to her thinking she was dead, but no, she
apparently had fallen asleep. Her head scarf had come undone and slid down to her neck. The backpack was still sitting right
there with her.

With another bad headache making his life miserable, Liam moved
back to check the condition of the thief. As he lay there it was
obvious he was dead. His eye was a bloody mess, but otherwise his
face and the rest of his body looked quite normal. He wasn't infected
or anything.

I must have blacked out after the fight.

Liam looked around and saw cars moving on distant streets, but no
one seemed interested in him. He thought about saying a prayer of
thanks for his good fortune, but like so many false starts in his
recent past, he didn't know if he believed his prayer would be heard
by anyone. But he secretly hoped there was someone listening. Perhaps
even the same God Grandma believed in.

For now he said a quick thank you to anyone who would listen, and
then jumped back into his car and started it up.

He thought about going back to check out the cop car, but didn't
like the idea of stealing from anyone. If he was caught ransacking a
police car...

Instead, he put the car in gear and drove quickly away from the
scene. It all happened so fast he didn't have time to be afraid. He
looked at himself in the rearview mirror as he drove, and realized he
was looking at a survivor. He just survived an encounter with a
hardened criminal. He survived multiple encounters with Angie the
plague victim. He even survived falling down a flight of stairs.

But it all seemed so random. He knew any of those incidents could
have ended his life, making this whole survival
schtick
the
mockery he knew it to be. He saw the survivors of this thing as big
hulking men carrying heavy weapons, hefty swords, and wearing full
police riot gear. How else could one truly survive such crazy times?

He was wearing jeans and a Mountain Dew t-shirt, and his partner
was a dressed in a light blue pantsuit pushing a cane. Hardly the
stuff of legend.

Whoop de do. We've survived for 24 hours since the sirens.

He found the highway again, and was disappointed to see the
traffic was still stopped cold. Cars continued to pour off the exit
ramp, pumping themselves into the arterial streets of this part of
the city. But even those streets were nearly clogged now. It wouldn't
be long before everything was in total gridlock.

Liam became very wary of getting caught in the terminal flow of
traffic. He turned around to give himself some room. He needed a
chance to think through his next move. It was obvious they weren't
going to make it going south on the highway or any of the side roads.
He pulled over when things thinned out.