Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 2): Siren Songs (9 page)

While they were talking, Liam had found a hidden key near the
front door, and was walking in.

“It looks like Liam made it in. Let's start up there, if
that's OK?”

“Sure, Grandma.” And then, “Do you think God
would allow us to kill ourselves? Kill off the whole species
homo
sapiens
?”

They'd only been walking a few steps, but Marty stopped her at
that question. “Oh dear. God gave us free will. Free will
includes allowing us to do stupid things. Even stupid things that
kill off the entire race. But God gave good women and men like you
and Liam the ability to stop that from happening.” She pointed
to the cross on Victoria's necklace. “You have to stay strong
in your belief God is watching over you. He is helping you when you
need helping. Never lose faith no matter how dark the world gets.
Those bad people—whoever they are—must be stopped.”

Victoria gave a little laugh as they started walking again. “You
talk like Liam and I are going to save the world. We're just a couple
of random kids. We aren't important. We can't be.”

“That's where you're wrong. To some people you two are the
most important people in this world. They are counting on you—like
I'm counting on you—to take it upon yourselves to take action.
Stand with the light. Fight the dark. Save the world.”

“What makes you so sure we can?”

“Because if everyone waits for the perfect heroes to come
along, the world dies waiting.”

To underscore her point, Liam walked out the front door with a
monotone announcement. “Mom and Dad have gone to your house
Grandma. If you can believe it, they went to rescue me.”

Marty was looking at Victoria to see how she would handle the
news, and was pleased to see a new look on her face. Resolve.

Am I a bad person for manipulating her?

Deep in her subconscious, Al was smiling.

2

Liam, Victoria, Phil, and Marty were all sitting comfortably in
Liam's family room. The house itself was a modest ranch-style
dwelling with a small floor plan. Therefore the family room was quite
cozy with all four sitting together. Grandma had found the recliner
she favored. Liam and Victoria were sitting next to each other on a
small loveseat, though they remained separated by a few throw
pillows. Phil sat by himself on the large couch. They all shared a
visible weariness after their days of being on the move. The problem
of Liam's missing parents had been the subject of much discussion the
last several minutes.

Phil summed up the situation. “We know your parents left two
days ago in your mom's car and headed
into
the city. We have
no way of knowing whether they made it to Grandma's house and thus we
have no way of knowing if they are on their way back. The only
practical question is whether they would wait there for you to return
or if they would assume this is where you'd go. Did you leave a note
at her house saying where you were going?”

It seemed so obvious now, but he admitted he never thought of
leaving a note because he never dreamed anyone would go looking for
him. He was only thinking of Grandma and himself.

“Well, is there anywhere else they might look for you?”

Liam wondered about other members of his extended family, some of
whom lived near Grandma's neighborhood in the city. Were they still
alive? Did they also go looking for her? Maybe there were a dozen
family members in her house right now, all asking the same question
about where Liam would have taken her. Would it be obvious? Liam
admitted it never crossed his mind to take her to see other family
members—even those who lived relatively close to her.

“Any family member who knows me would probably agree the
only place I would go is back home. My friends might be under the
impression I would try to get to their houses—we kind of all
discussed how we'd band together if zombies came—but if they
knew I was with Grandma...they'd probably assume we died on the way.”

“OK, so for now we have to assume your parents are going to
come back here. Which means we have to decide what we're going to do
in the meantime.” The question hung on the air for a long time.

As they all sat together, the only sound to be heard was the soft
tick tock of the analogue wall clock hanging near the kitchen. It
reminded Liam of Grandma's clock hanging on her wall, and how it used
to make him nervous to sit in the same room with her and always be
aware of that clock ticking. Mocking his inability to interact with
his oldest living relative. Fighting zombies and running from gunmen
weren't nearly as hard as finding a common frame of reference with
the old woman, at least before the collapse. Now they had plenty to
talk about, and all of it was as important as life and death.

“Grandma, what do you think we should do?”

She let out a quick puff of air, like she'd been holding her
breath waiting for his question. “Well, I think we have to
stick to the basics. Take things one day at a time. We need some
food. We need to rest. We need to get cleaned up. We're all covered
in filth—look at poor Victoria—and we're all exhausted.
The day is getting on. We should use the time to rest and look at
things anew tomorrow morning.”

Phil was in agreement. “I'm going to bring our gear into the
house and pull the truck into the garage. No use making it known we
have goodies for people to take. After we get some grub I recommend
we discuss security of the house overnight, go over some safety
protocols, and have a basic plan of escape.”

He did a double-take when he saw everyone was eying him like he
was nuts. “What? I'm a police officer. It's in my blood.”
He gave a little laugh at that, but then was serious, “Look, I
know it sounds crazy, but this is dangerous. If a bad guy comes
through that door you can't call the police anymore to take care of
it—OK,
you
folks can because I'm in your house—but
you get what I'm saying don't you? The only way to stay alive now is
to be prepared, all the time. I told you earlier the bonds of
civilization are coming off. Bad people are going to be coming out of
the woodwork looking to capitalize. Our only hope is to—”

He stopped to consider his next words. Liam figured he was going
to say something like “stick together” or “stay
positive” or some other platitude.

“—kill potential threats as they present themselves.”

Everyone remained silent for a few moments, the reality sinking
in.

Victoria said, “Are you saying we have to go around killing
people? I have no problem killing zombies, but people?”

“Imagine yourself captured by a registered sex offender who
lives down the street. He knows the police will never come around
again so he decides to have some fun. If you don't have a gun on you,
and you can't run or get away, you're probably in big trouble. But if
you have your gun on you, and you know how to use it, you can defend
yourself. But here's the problem now. If you point your gun at him
and tell him to get lost, what do you think he'll do next? Go home
and cry in his pillow? If he didn't have a gun the first time, you
can bet he will be armed the second time he goes out. I'm a sworn
officer of the law—well I was—but the way I see it we
have to accept the law is gone. The only thing that matters is
survival. You have to kill threats immediately once they are clearly
identified.”

Victoria got up and left the room. She wasn't crying, but Liam
knew why she was upset. “You couldn't have known, but looters
did
capture her in the Arch. She
was
unarmed. She ran
up all the steps, all the way to the top, to keep them from nabbing
Grandma and me. It was dumb luck she was rescued by the police. I
told them where she was so they could keep their eyes open for her.”

“Oh hell. I'm sorry. I need to go apologize.”

“No. I'll go. Thank you Phil. She won't hold it against you.
But I'll go talk to her.”

Phil leaned hard back into the sofa, looking even more tired.

As Liam got up to find Victoria he let the words tumble through
his mind.

Kill threats immediately.

This dilemma is addressed in many different ways in a plethora of
zombie books and movies, but there is no consensus. Letting bad
people escape to fight another day almost always results in a more
dangerous fight down the road. Killing bad guys without a trial never
sits well with people of good conscience, but it does eliminate the
short-term threats. One method keeps people safe. The other defers
the danger. Liam thought he knew which was which, but as he walked in
the hallway of his boyhood home he realized the choice wasn't so
simple.

There's no blueprint for the apocalypse.

3

He found Victoria in his room, poking around at all the little
tchotchke's he had on his desk and shelves. She even found his messy
nightstand, with a few personal effects littered about.

“You know I was just joking when I said I'd show you my
retainer!”

She looked back at him and smiled weakly.

She's exhausted.

“Phil feels terrible about his example. He said to say he
was sorry for causing you any pain.”

“It's OK. He's right of course. That's what's so troubling
to me. If I had a gun up in the Arch, I would have killed those guys
with it. I'd have had a choice. But I never dreamed I'd become a
murderer. Is that what we must become to survive? Murderers?”

“You wouldn't have been murdering those thugs. It would have
been self defense. That is NOT murder. Big difference.”

Victoria moved to sit on his bed. “Love the superheroes bed
spread.”

“Uggg. I'm so glad I put away all my dolls. Oops! Did I say
that out loud?” He noticed his books near his bed and had an
idea to change the subject. “You know, I'm sure we have a Bible
somewhere around here. I could probably get you one that has the Old
Testament, as well as the New if you'd like?”

Her reply surprised him. “No, I think I prefer the one you
gave me. It's just perfect Liam.”

Liam sat down next to her. He still wasn't bold enough to put his
hands on her, even though they'd briefly kissed earlier that day. It
warmed his heart she wanted to keep the Bible he had found for her,
but he felt compelled to revisit the murder question because it was
so important for both of them.

“Seriously Victoria, murder is completely different than
self defense. You can't hesitate if someone is truly intent to do you
harm. Please don't ever hesitate to save yourself if you can.”

Liam thought back to the early days of this crisis, when he froze
several times, unable to adjust to the threats right in front of him.
It almost cost him his life more than once.

“But if all we do is go around killing bad people, doesn't
that make us bad people too?”

That was the ethical dilemma. If you kill out of necessity to
prevent evil from doing harm to you and your loved ones, does it
eventually catch up to you—make you evil? Does it depend on how
many people you kill? For what reasons? Does it become easier the
more you kill? That was his real fear. That killing would become
routine and expected. That's why he preferred to think of zombies as
a distinct species—no longer human. Deep down he knew that
wasn't true though. And if what Grandma said about a cure was true,
it meant maybe even the zombies could be brought back. That could
present some moral problems.

“I think we have to watch each other and support each other
to make sure that doesn't happen. You and I have both looked deep
into the gaping maw of the zombie world. I think we both know we are
going to have to do more killing. We have to be ready for it. I'd
kill anyone without hesitation who tried to do harm to you.”

He didn't say it to impress Victoria with his bravado, so he was
surprised she took his hand in hers and said “thank you.”

As they sat there, Liam tried to think of something to change the
subject to something a little less heavy. Victoria beat him to it.
“Phil seems like a nice guy. Kind of intense, but I guess
that's the kind of attitude we need to survive this mess. He seems to
have a connection with Grandma now, which is also good. I hope he
stays with us.”

“Me too. He's definitely better than teaming up with a
juggler or a writer. Someone who can't protect us.”

They laughed a little at the thought.

“If the world really is going to hell, as Phil says, the
next few weeks are going to be really important to our long-term
survival. Phil would be a great addition to our team, but we're going
to need many more Phil's on our side to survive. When I wasn't
playing computer games I was reading books on zombies, and most of
those had good information on how the world would be changed forever
if zombies swarmed the Earth. Single people and small groups had the
most trouble surviving. Evil people are using the chaos to build
their own teams of bad guys. Like finds like. It's the same in nearly
every book I've ever read on the subject. No one survives on their
own for very long. We have to stick with larger groups of people
who—and this is the key to the whole thing—know what the
hell they're doing.”

“You should lead our group, Liam.”

“Uh, no. In case you didn't notice I'm only sixteen. And I—”

“Wait a minute! Grandma said you were fifteen!” She
was smiling broadly as she said it.

“Well, my birthday is in a couple weeks...” He
realized again that without records to back him up, he could say
anything about his own past, including his age. But he wasn't a
chronic liar. Intentionally deceiving Victoria wasn't something he
wanted to do with any regularity.

Apparently, she was just enjoying a little good-natured ribbing at
his expense.

“OK, let me re-phrase that. In case you didn't notice I'm
only
fifteen.
”

“Then you are
much
too young to be a leader.”
She turned on him and pushed him backward on his bed, then she threw
her arm across his chest and pulled herself near his face. She gave
him a quick kiss on the lips, a big smile, and then laid her head
down on top of his chest. She held him tight as she asked another
question. “Liam, do you think the world will ever get back to
normal? Will we always be fighting zombies and each other? Was there
anything true about that agent's speech?”