Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1): Since the Sirens (12 page)

Could they walk out of the city? Indeed he had seen many people
walking along the highway, but how far could Grandma go on foot? She
could walk pretty well for her age, and he had seen her walking for
short distances without any cane at all. But those were rare
instances when she was at 100% health and rest. Now, she could barely
stay awake while sitting in his back seat.

How far could we both get on foot?

Not far.

As he sat there, his hands began shaking. His mind was reliving
the incident with the thief.

How close to death did I come?

He felt himself being pulled out of the car and tossed to the
ground. He imagined himself being shot. He imagined Grandma getting
pulled out of the car. He imagined...

NO! I will not imagine that!

He silently began weeping. He couldn't help himself. He was
slightly embarrassed that Grandma would hear him, but once it started
he was unable to check it. His head collapsed on the steering wheel
as he let the emotions of the past day consume him.

In the back, Grandma slept on.

For the first time in his life, Liam actually envied her.

Liam sat exhausted in the front seat of the car. His tears had
dried and he found himself staring out the front window. He knew it
hadn't been long since he'd pulled over—glancing back he could
see Grandma was still asleep. But now he needed a plan.

Time for the “big guy pants” as his dad would say.

Once again he turned on the radio to see if he could glean any
useful information. Earlier the radio mentioned the Red Cross might
be downtown near the Arch, which he took as enough of a good sign to
seriously consider heading that way.

Going south didn't seem possible given the traffic situation.
Going west might be possible in a pinch, but that would take him into
the bulk of the population of the city—enough reason to avoid
that way. North would take him directly away from his goal, so that
made no sense at all. Finally, he figured his best bet was to drive
east into Illinois, where the population was low, then turn south and
try to come back over a bridge back into Missouri near his home. It
would require going through downtown, which made him anxious just
thinking about it, but then they would be in open territory over in
Illinois—a fact which suited him just fine after his encounter
with the thief.

All the stations on the radio were filled with emergency broadcast
loops. The AM station previously broadcast freely had returned to the
standard government messaging. They advised listeners to evacuate the
city, but never gave any clues about how to do it, or where to go. A
week ago he wouldn't have listened to a government broadcast to save
his life. Now his life
did
depend on a government
announcement, and he was dismayed to discover they had no answers for
him.

Totally useless!

With no help from the radio, he knew he would have to make a
choice soon. He gently woke up Grandma to see what she would think of
his downtown plan.

She looked around, including out her window, and into Liam's
backpack.

“He's gone Grandma. He didn't get our stuff either, but I'm
not sure what happened. I was laying on the ground and when I got up
the crook was dead. Then I jumped in the car and got us out of
there.”

“Someone shot him Liam. I must have passed out from all the
excitement. I'm so glad you're OK. I'm not doing a very good job
taking care of you, am I?”

“We're both alive. That's all that matters now. Someone shot
the Yoga woman for me too. I think I have a guardian angel. I've
learned an important lesson; the rules are changing. I'm going to be
smarter from now on, so I can protect you and me both.”

Grandma leaned forward just enough to touch Liam's shoulder with
reassurance.

“We make a good team.”

“Well teammate, we need a new plan now. The highway to the
south is completely stopped. All the main roads going south next to
the highway are also filled with people trying to escape. It didn't
look like any of those people were going to be moving anytime soon.
The radio also has nothing useful on where to go. I figured we'd try
to get across a bridge downtown and then drive south on the Illinois
side of the river.”

“Sounds like a good plan Liam.”

“Will you help me navigate downtown? I'm afraid I don't know
where to go.”

The extent of his driver's education with dad ended at Grandma's
house. The rest of the city was a blank space as far as roads went.

“I'll do what I can.”

Liam pulled back onto the road, guided by Grandma to find a route
downtown. Unlike the stream of cars going south, the road in front of
him was mostly devoid of traffic. He wasn't willing to use the term
“good luck” just yet. He knew just how fast luck could go
down the toilet.

Liam felt a hint of a smile on his face as he sped through the
dying city. Heading for freedom.

Looking in the rearview, Grandma's face was much more stern.

2

The street was a major thoroughfare in this part of the city. It
had two lanes of traffic in each direction, with a breakdown lane in
the middle. There were very few cars going in either direction, but
there were a few. The massive backup of south-bound traffic hadn't
reached this far north yet.

Ahead, Liam saw several cars on fire, sitting in various parts of
the roadway in front of a row of apartments. Strangely, other cars
were moving among the burned out hulks, seemingly unconcerned with
the incongruity.

Liam was gaining his sea legs on this terrible ocean. He
immediately stopped the car, and began looking for alternate routes
where he could turn down a side street and avoid even being near the
scene of such destruction. Grandma was in the back seat, watching
ahead as well.

“Grandma I'm turning on a side street. I don't think we
should go anywhere near those burning cars.”

“I'm with you.”

Liam drove forward a hundred or so feet before making a left turn,
then a quick right turn to run parallel to the main road he had just
left. This took him into a more residential area. There were a few
cars parked along both sides of the street, but there were also a lot
of trash cans rolling around, along with lots of trash and debris—as
if many of the houses had simply thrown their contents right out
their doors.

More ominously he saw odd characters walking aimlessly around the
area. Sick? Infected? Lost?

Liam wasn't stopping to find out. He hit the gas a little harder.
He looked at the speedometer and saw he was pushing fifty mph down
the narrow lane. Not bad for a 15-year-old with a learner's permit!

Time slowed down again.

Liam reacted to the broken front passenger window by dropping his
head as low as he could. It was instinct. As they sped along, several
gun shots exploded from the right side of the street—from up in
the houses lining that side.

Both windows on the passenger side blew out.

Then the rear window blew out.

The headrest on his seat crumpled from another shot which came in
from the side.

That was close!

Grandma fell over sideways in the back seat, covered with tiny
pieces of safety glass.

Liam chanced a sideways glance but didn't see the shooters. He was
going much too fast. Instead he refocused on the path ahead to ensure
they didn't have an accident. Shots continued to ring out behind
them, and he could see in the side mirror a couple of men had run
into the street behind him to try to shoot them, even as he drove
away.

Only a few seconds more...

He hit a right turn borderline too fast, just able to maintain
control of the car as it righted itself into the new street. He
scraped a car on his side as he couldn't quite make the turn cleanly.
The four-door sedan had never been put through such stress-testing.

Rather than being scared, Liam was mad as hell again. It was
unheard of to be shot at by brigands right out in the open like that.
Bad people were using this disaster as an excuse to—do what
exactly? Were these bad people showing their true colors, or good
people gone bad due to the chaos? It had scarcely been 24 hours since
law and order ceased to exist. Things were going downhill fast if
this was how it was going to be. He had a few moments to ponder
things before the wheel needed his full attention.

He focused on the upcoming left turn back onto the main street and
he was pleased to see they had gone far enough to travel past the
burned out wrecks. Were the men on the previous street the same ones
who burned the cars on this one? Why would anyone randomly destroy
cars and shoot at people they didn't know? Liam absently wondered why
they didn't just shoot out his tires and force him to stop. Were they
really that focused on killing him, to the point they were no longer
rational? He had no explanation that fit the circumstances. He wasn't
going back to interview them.

Pardon me. Could I ask you a few questions?

They quickly overtook another vehicle—a blue two door
sedan—with a family inside. They looked at Liam as he matched
speed for a second, and then he resumed accelerating past them.

The open road was just as dangerous as everywhere else. Even a
friendly-looking family couldn't be trusted as far as he was
concerned. He could trust no one but himself and Grandma.

In the distance, he got his first glimpse of the Gateway Arch as
it twinkled in the mid-day sun. He had many memories seeing it as a
kid—how many times had his parents excitedly pointed it out as
they were driving? It was a source of fascination and pride for
locals like him. As he admired the national landmark, a snarl of
traffic came into view on the street ahead.

Will anything be easy ever again?

3

The traffic wasn't as bad as it appeared at first glance. A major
intersection in this part of the city was catching traffic from the
nearby highway, as well as the growing traffic heading downtown.
Several other drivers must have gotten the same idea to head downtown
once they realized the highway out of town was toast.

Once through the busy intersection they made good time for a few
minutes before once again coming upon a jammed intersection. This
time it was worse.

They were only a couple miles from downtown. They could see the
big Anheuser-Busch brewery that was a cultural icon in this city. As
they came over a small rise they could see the traffic ahead was
completely stopped. As cars came up on the end of the traffic jam
they stopped and passengers got out and joined the people ahead of
them on foot. Liam could already see a few cars wander in from behind
him, about to make sure he never left this entanglement.

His survival instinct kicked in. He turned the car hard to his
right to avoid the cars in front of him. Angie's severely damaged car
jumped the curb and came to a stop in a tiny parking lot for a fast
food joint. He heard a loud pop. He backed his car sloppily into a
spot up against the building, allowing himself a clear shot to drive
in any direction he chose—except into the traffic jam
itself—should he change his mind about joining the sea of
walkers going downtown.

Several other cars took his lead. Soon the little parking lot was
full, as were several other open spaces on this side of the road. He
was silently impressed with himself for thinking of something that
was so useful to his fellow travelers. It felt good to lead, even if
it was just a bit of luck on his part for thinking of it.

His pleasure faded once he exited the vehicle and saw the
condition of the car. Angie had some pride in her vehicle and took
care to keep it washed and waxed at a local hands-on car wash. If she
saw her car now she would fall over dead.

Not funny Liam!

Three windows were totally blown out. Several bullet holes
peppered the passenger side, including a couple up near the engine.
It was a miracle nothing was permanently damaged under the hood. He
walked around and inspected as much as he dared. One bullet had
mangled the locking assembly of the passenger-side rear door, making
it impossible to open it. He reached in through the broken glass and
grabbed his backpack. As he pulled back he noticed the front tire had
gone totally flat. Liam imagined it made the car look sad.

“So much for getting to Illinois.” He said it out
loud, but mostly to himself. They were now committed to the only
place anywhere which seemed to offer some help. The area down by the
Gateway Arch.

Grandma exited on the far side. She shook herself free of the
glass. She reached back in to grab her cane and then casually leaned
against the exterior of the car to wait for Liam to gather his stuff.

Louder, he joked, “I guess we don't have to worry about
locking the door.”

“Or worrying about the rain,” Grandma quipped. She
gave herself a little giggle.

One of the people in a nearby car had wandered over and gave a
little whistle when he took in Liam's damaged ride.

“Whoah! You guys must have hit some turbulence!”

Liam wasn't really in the mood to deal with strangers, but just
couldn't resist bragging about it.

“Yeah, a couple of dip-wads a few miles back were shooting
up cars. I just put the hammer down and blew through their trap.”

He looked at Grandma to see if she would scold him, but she was
looking the other way.

The man gave another whistle. “Yeah, we had to drive through
someone's lawn to get around some fellas holding up cars about three
miles south of here. I guess we are all lucky to make it here.”
He then told Liam “good luck out there” and started
walking away.

So much for basking in the glory.

With pack on his back he walked around to Grandma. She was
silently looking at the crush of abandoned cars and beyond toward the
Arch.