Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1): Since the Sirens (18 page)

“I should have asked them about Denver. Sorry. Would we have
heard about all the sick people on the East Coast? I don't know. I
don't watch the news, so I can't say whether there were clues about
what was really going on. Maybe they thought it was just the flu or
something? That wouldn't be big news, even if it was pretty bad.
Would it?” Victoria, for her part, had no better idea on what
had happened, but she did share one story she gleaned from her brief
time back at the medical school.

“This story didn't make sense when I heard it, but after
what you just told me I think I can see some truth to it. One of my
friends had a class about a week ago where a nurse practitioner told
a story she swore was true. She said another friend of hers in Boston
was working late one night when she had to go to the morgue to
deliver—well you can guess. Anyway, she got there only to find
several police officers cordoning off the door to the morgue, stating
that no one was allowed to go inside or
come
out
. When
pressed, the police officer said they got called in with a report of
mischief inside the morgue. They figured it was students pranking the
nurse on duty with the old “he ain't really dead bit” but
when they got there they found several corpses really were “alive”
and there were no interns pulling the strings. They pulled back the
sheets from over the deceased and found each of them thrashing around
in their restraints despite having the most grievous wounds you can
imagine. My friend said they ran out of the morgue, shut the door,
and gave the order to seal it. Everyone else was pushed off the floor
and nothing was ever heard about it again. The next day the morgue
was completely empty, but otherwise open for business.”

Victoria finished her story and the pair sat in the darkness of
the cavernous chamber in silence.

“Did your friend say how long ago that happened?”

“I didn't think to ask, but we talk almost every week and
she didn't mention it the previous week, so I have to assume it
happened anywhere from a week to two weeks ago.”

“So in that time period the plague must have exploded on the
East Coast and it was hidden from view. That doesn’t seem
possible to me.”

“Me either. But seeing dead people walking around has
changed my perspective on a lot of things.”

“Let's get some sleep and maybe tomorrow things will look a
little better.”

Both settled uncomfortably onto the concrete floor, leaning
against the hard wall. Liam offered his backpack to Victoria as a
makeshift pillow. She accepted his gift readily, but a minute later
she returned the favor by suggesting they lay near each other so they
could each share the cushion—on opposite sides. It still wasn't
much more comfortable, but it made Liam infinitely happier.

Thirty minutes later, nearly asleep, Liam heard and felt a “crump”
sound coming from outside. An explosion? Several cops had been
sleeping on the far side of the room, and they ran up to the exit
doors and went out into the main crowd under the Arch. Fussy babies
and coughing from the disturbed survivors sprawled on the floor amped
up in the commotion. Liam intended to stay awake and discover what
they found out there, but the day caught up with him and he fell
asleep. His final thought was of the CDC folks.

“Why do you think we are drinking?” Hayes had said. He
thought he understood his meaning, but it jumped out at him in his
half-sleep. Maybe they weren't drinking because they were afraid
their bosses had scrubbed the records. Maybe they were drinking
because they knew what was in the records which had been scrubbed?”

He couldn't decide which scenario was worse.

Liam, Victoria and Grandma were all shocked awake at first light
by the booming voice of one of the police officers on the other side
of the large space.

“ATTENTION PLEASE! ATTENTION!”

He yelled a few more times and waited until he was sure everyone
in the place was awake with eyes on him.

While everyone focused their attention on the loud officer, Liam
stole a glance back toward the candy store and wasn't surprised to
see it was pitch black inside and none of the CDC people were awake.
Liam wasn't entirely familiar with the concept of a hangover, but did
know that rough mornings followed late night partying.

Or they just up and ran.

He tried to laugh that off, but it had struck a chord of truth.

The officer began his announcement.

“Thank you everyone. Good morning. I'm captain Osborne of
the Missouri Highway Patrol. I'll get right to it. Last night we
almost lost the entire park. The cordon many of you saw on the
outskirts of the grassy area under the Arch has been pulled back
inside the park. We were able to stabilize the lines as we made them
shorter, and we were also assisted by several military units,
including one tank and several Marine Corps Amphibious Assault
Vehicles. As of this morning the lines are holding. That's the good
news.”

He paced a bit as he spoke.

“The bad news will take me much longer I'm afraid. First,
there are more infected than we ever imagined. Even as our lines
consolidated we could see the sick increasing in strength down many
of the roads surrounding this park. Since we still don't know how
this thing is spreading, or if these infected citizens are alive
anymore, we can't take chances letting anyone in. We have no choice
but to keep killing them. That said, it is entirely possible we'll
all run out of ammo before we can kill them all. Secondly, even
though a few military units showed up, they made it clear they were
both volunteers and probably classified as deserters from the main
force sitting over in Illinois. They may have saved our bacon last
night, but no one is coming to save theirs. Third, the military guys
said they had orders to prevent anyone from crossing the river. They
intend to keep the disease on this side and will use lethal force on
anyone trying to cross back to them—their own men included.”

He took a deep breath. “So. Where does that leave us?”

“You might not be aware that my fellow law enforcement
officers, my brothers and sisters you all passed as you came into the
park, have been trying to keep this place secure from the infected
victims so that we all have a chance of getting help by the Feds and
get the hell out of this mess. Our families are here. Same as yours,
and same as those people up top we are trying to protect. But now it
looks as though no help will be coming.”

The room was deflating.

“We lost many men and women last night. Even though we held
them off, and improved our lines, the endgame is that unless we fight
our way out of here we are going to be trapped.”

Osborne paused a little too long and the crowd in the room
exploded with questions, thinking he was done.

“HOLD UP!” He controlled the room again in an
impressively short time.

“Let me finish. Our plan is to start organizing civilians
for a breakout. We know there are plenty of men and women with
weapons out there, and we think our only chance of escape with some
sort of organization is to make those citizens aware of the impending
collapse. To that end I need some healthy volunteers for some tasks
we need done. We are woefully short on manpower. You'd really be
critical to helping the police units up top, but you are ultimately
helping yourself from the infected assailants out there.”

Liam and Victoria looked at each other, then at Grandma. She shook
her head in the affirmative.

They took off without looking back, wanting to make a difference.

2

The pair waited in a line of eight or nine other people. There
were a couple youngsters besides themselves, but most volunteers were
quite a bit older and few looked overly athletic. Everyone could
carry and use a radio however, which was the only condition for
volunteering. Some more people dropped in behind them as the line
shrunk.

Liam noticed the people ahead of him in line were given radios and
then moved off individually with other officers waiting in the wings.

When it was their turn Liam and Victoria stood together, making it
clear they were a team.

“Ah, finally someone who looks like they can handle some
touristy stuff. I take it you two are together?”

They both stumbled on that answer.

“We aren't together together, but we are together,”
was spoken at the same time as “Oh its not like that.”
Liam and Victoria both looked at each other in a bemused fashion, to
which the no-nonsense captain said, “fair enough. I think it
would be best to have you both go together for this task though.
Would that be OK?”

They both gave a too-quick affirmation which forced a laugh from
the captain.

“Step over to officer Jenkins to my left and she'll get you
squared away. And thanks in advance for doing a tough job.”

Liam had no chance to think about what just happened because
Jenkins grabbed them and took them deeper into the area dedicated to
the police force and their families. She began talking at an insane
clip, as if she were on caffeine or speed or something.

“Thank you both for doing this. Here is a radio you'll need
that to report back. I see you don't have the most comfortable shoes
on. We'll try to find you a pair of sneakers. And...”

She babbled on for a full minute and Liam didn't understand nine
words out of ten she said. He caught some points about guns and
tactical deployments and one or two lines about the failed power
situation. He wanted to stop her for clarification, but one look at
her eyes told him she probably didn't remember what she had just
said. They just walked along next to her as she lead them down a long
hallway, then down a short stairway, and then to a metal door that
was propped open. She handed Victoria a radio, which she said was on
the proper frequency. She gave her a quick lesson on how to use it,
and then tossed a spare flashlight to Liam, saying they would
definitely need it. She then said goodbye and started running back up
the hallway.

Victoria yelled at her backside.

“But what are we supposed to be doing?”

Jenkins stopped in her tracks but didn't come back. She paused and
took a deep breath as if trying to steady herself in a whirlwind.

“Oh yeah. Sorry I thought I already told you. You have to
climb the stairs of the Arch, get to the top, then look down into the
park and report what you see. You two are our secret weapons. Go
quick! Good luck.”

She was off and running again.

They cautiously entered the space behind the metal door, which was
some kind of maintenance area. There was an obvious stairwell leading
up, which was the unmistakable path up to the top. Liam with the
flashlight went first. Victoria said she was able to see well enough
bringing up the rear.

The long climb up the dark stairwell gave Liam plenty of time to
wonder if the girl behind him was thinking about their mutually
confusing interaction with the police captain. He knew his mind
should be focused on survival and getting Grandma to safety and being
smart about reporting from the top of the Arch—but he couldn't
stop thinking of the big distraction behind him. They had both
disavowed anything more serious between them. He didn't even realize
something
could
be serious with her until he was saying there
wasn't.

Why does she mean that much to me?

Behind him, the distraction gave no clues.

3

There are 1076 stairs leading to the top of the Arch. A
world-record holder could climb to the top in less than seven
minutes. Liam saw this information on a metal plaque commemorating
the event at the base of the stairs.

“I think we can beat seven minutes, don't you Vicky?”

“Oh don't call me Vicky. I hate that name. And yes, let's go
for the record. I need a real challenge these days.” She
sounded very tired, as if heading up the dark tower had brought her
demeanor down too.

Liam wasn't sure how to interpret her tone or what she had said.

What am I doing wrong?

He clammed up.

To pass the time, Liam tried to visualize the arch-shaped building
they were now climbing. He'd been up in the Arch many times, but had
never gone up or down the metal-framed maintenance stairs. They were
off limits to the public. Instead, the monument was designed to allow
patrons to reach the apex of the Arch using small trams—a sort
of sideways subway with egg-shaped cars so small only 5 people could
squeeze into each one. The builders installed a set of metal steps up
each leg which could serve as an escape route if the trams broke
down. It was closed to the public because it wasn't easy to climb all
the steps, nor was it particularly safe—with steep ascents and
harrowing descents going the other way. Today there was no power to
run the trams, so the only way up was the lung-busting stairs.

As they neared the top they found themselves stopping frequently
to catch their breath. It became obvious why the captain chose the
two most athletic youngsters to even try this assignment. After
minutes of silence, Liam needed to respond to her.

“I'm sorry I called you Vicky. It seemed to upset you.”

“No, I'm sorry. I had no right to get snarky with you. My
life has been,” she paused here while she took a few steps,
seemingly thinking it over, “sucky lately. You can call me
anything you want, really, as long as you don't call me by that
particular name. Fair?”

“Totally. I'll just stick with Victoria. I really like your
name.”

Try not to sound like an apple polisher!

At long last they came to a door with a small window centered
about two-thirds of the way to the top. A low light was coming
through the window, indicating daylight was ahead. He turned off his
light as he peered through. He was looking out into the tram
unloading zone near the topmost observation area. He used the time to
recover his breath and rest his muscles.