Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 2): Siren Songs (12 page)

Liam couldn't hear what they were talking about as he walked up,
but he got an earful as he found Victoria's side. “Let me
guess. This is your
boy
friend? You both look like you're
thirteen. How are you in charge?”

“In charge? I'm not—”

Before Liam could get defensive, Victoria put her finger on her
lips, indicating he should be silent.

“This is my good friend Liam. He found me the day after the
sirens sleeping under a tree down by the Arch. I was wearing a
cocktail dress and he never touched me. He and his grandma helped me
get out of the city. I'd be dead without them, several times over.
Phil was the guy who talked to you earlier. He helped us get over a
bridge and out of the city. We went to his house to get some weapons
and ammo. He had plenty of opportunity to do us harm, but he never
did. In fact, he lost his house to arsonists as he helped rescue us.
These are good people.”

“As I told you. I don't trust anyone. Maybe you guys don't
realize it, but the world is full of bad people now. Maybe all of
them. I worked at a shoe store in Arnold. When the sirens went off
everyone raced for home, but I figured I'd stay at the store because
it was next to a large supermarket and I'd have the place to myself.
Much safer than my apartment complex with all those rednecks. I
purchased a lot of food and gear and tucked it away in my store,
content I could survive there a long time. My manager showed up the
next day and decided to hole up with me. I couldn't tell him to get
lost, but I should have realized right away where things would go. It
wasn't even a day before he was putting moves on me—eventually
overpowering me...”

She looked around for a few moments. “I think he had dreams
of being a big shot in the chaos. He thought I'd actually be grateful
to end up with him. It didn't work out like he hoped.”

The implication was clear to Liam. Victoria merely nodded.

“I pulled him out the back door and left him in the alley
like so much trash. He had this rifle and backpack, so I added them
to my stockpile. For about ten minutes I felt I was back on easy
street. It wasn't long before angry refugees started showing up at
the strip mall—further ruining it for me. They smashed my
windows and stormed the store, taking everything of value.
Fortunately I saw what was happening and grabbed the rifle and
backpack and blended in with the looters, even as I ransacked my own
store. There was no hope of stopping them.”

“I fell in with them as they moved through the town, and
eventually found my way onto the highway where an even larger group
was already walking. I can't tell you how many times horrible men
came up to me with a malicious look in their eyes. I ran ahead in the
crowd. A couple times I had to threaten them with my rifle—but
that's been less and less effective. Now I just have bloody blisters
in these piss-pour boots to show for my efforts. I'm unwilling to
risk ever putting myself into that situation again.”

Victoria stood looking at the woman for some time. “My name
is Victoria. The only one you haven't met is Liam's grandma. She's a
104-year-old ball of energy. What's your name?”

The woman was probably in her thirties or early forties. Fairly
tall for a woman, and shapely. By almost any definition she was
physically pretty. She had her long blonde hair in a tight pony tail.
In addition to her boots, she was wearing khaki shorts and a
too-large denim button-down short-sleeve shirt. Liam's first
impression was “soccer mom.” Liam could understand why
she'd be a target to unsavory characters.

The woman thought on it for a short while. She was looking back
and forth at Liam and Victoria, then the house and the people lying
on the grass. Her last look was up and down the street at the many
people wandering around.

“My name is Melissa, but you can call me Mel.
I still
don't trust you
,” then, with less hostility than anything
she'd said so far, “maybe I'll never trust anyone again—but
I'll accept your hospitality for the night. Thanks I guess.”

“You're welcome.” Victoria said that as she grabbed
Liam's arm to move him back to the house.

When they were well away from Mel she whispered to Liam. “I
couldn't let her walk away without trying to help. I'm not sure why,
but it just felt like the right thing to do. Like I was helping
myself.”

“You did great. Next time, just let me know what you are
doing before you run out alone. You scared the hell out of me.”

“Deal. That was pretty dumb of me.”

No harm done. This time.

3

The sun was nearly down. Liam and Victoria came inside the house
and made for the kitchen to round up some water. Grandma and Phil
were still in the front room.

“The new clothes look good on you. I take it those are my
mom's?”

“Yes, I hope she doesn't mind, but I needed to get out of
that filthy dress or I was going to die. I ran a brush through my
hair, but it didn't help much. After I woke up from my nap I was
nosing around in your parent's room, hoping I could find some of your
mom's clothes and praying they would fit me. When it looked like we
were in for more trouble tonight I decided to go ahead and change
clothes. The only thing left is to burn my dress. I never want to
touch that thing again!”

Liam would never forget that dress, as it was what attracted his
attention to her in the massive crowd at the Arch, but he had to
admit after days of hard wear, it had gotten quite the beating. He
also lamented there may never be an opportunity for women to wear
dresses like that again.

At least not voluntarily.

That shook him to his core. He thought of Melissa and how quickly
things had deteriorated for her. He took a fresh look at Victoria and
knew she would undoubtedly catch the same eyes that had been after
Mel. Many of the end-of-the-world books he'd read painted a hard life
for women, though he never truly appreciated why until now. Slavers.
Religious nuts. Men who want to rebuild the world with their babies.
He knew he would need to be vigilant in protecting his female
friends. They all would.

“I don't want to scare you, but Mel's story has me worried
about you. You know—because you are pretty and stuff.”
Liam tried not to sound like a shy schoolboy when he said it, but
knew he'd failed.

“Thank you, Liam. Her story scared me too. But I have
something she didn't have, which helps me sleep at night—friends.
She plays tough and all that, but she has to know how futile it is to
trust absolutely no one. We all need friends. People we can count on
to watch our back and stand by our side when things go to pot. That's
a lesson
you
taught me by the way.”

Ha! Liam had read enough stories to know the only way to survive
the Zombie Apocalypse was to stick together in strong groups. It took
him a while to realize he had done exactly that over the past several
days, though he felt his core group consisting of himself and his
104-year-old guardian would be laughed out of any of the great zombie
stories. Somehow they did though, and they picked up Victoria,
several St. Louis city police officers, and even a few “gang
bangers” as they all joined Liam's group while escaping the
city. Or he joined theirs. It didn't really matter which.

Maybe I'm passing on the lessons of those stories without
realizing it?

Victoria had joked about leading a group of survivors, but his age
precluded that reality no matter how many books he'd read on the
subject. He was content to let others lead because it took the burden
of making mistakes and or causing deaths and made them someone else's
problems. He'd almost lost Victoria in the Arch and that made him
panic. He saw Jones die at the quarry—and that made him
depressed just thinking about it again. He thought Grandma died on
the bridge, and they were all going to follow her, until a
last-minute rescue. Those were just in the past three days! How much
stress would he have to endure leading a group in this cruel new
world for years into the future? No, he'd resolved to contribute as
best he could to any group he, Grandma, and Victoria might find, but
leading just wasn't something he wanted to do.

“Thank you. I wish I could say I was doing it on purpose,
but I wasn't. I just think what characters in the books I'd read had
done and tried to learn their lessons—both good and bad. But
I'm learning reality is much different than anything in a book.”

“Well, you did pretty good in
my
book.”

She gave him a broad smile—even though she'd cleaned herself
up pretty well, she still carried the nasty bruises and black eyes
from her fight with the looters—as she walked away with water
for the people on the lawn. “You might consider freshening up.
Have you looked at yourself in a mirror?”

“Hey!”

But she was already out the door. Looking down at himself he saw
he was covered in the same coal dust and road grime he'd seen on
Victoria. His own jeans and t-shirt were pretty much ruined, just
like her dress. Out on the road he'd not noticed the dirt, but in the
spotless kitchen his condition was amplified.

Suddenly overwhelmed with exhaustion, he took a moment at the
kitchen counter. He put both hands on the counter top, as if
steadying himself. What would his parents say to this motley foursome
now occupying their house? He hadn't exactly recruited people to his
group, more like they wandered in, but he felt in his heart they were
good people—and he believed that would please his parents more
than bringing home a random squad of soldiers.

And what of Victoria?

Other than a few awkward chaperoned trips to the mall with girls
set up by his mom and her friends, Liam had never brought home a real
girlfriend to be vetted. His time was spent with his guy-friends
playing
World of Undead Soldiers
for the most part. The
World
of Girls
just wasn't on his radar. The thought of how his parents
would react to a new girlfriend had never crossed his mind.
Conceptually he assumed they'd approve, but it still scared the crap
out of him to even consider it.

But Grandma likes her. That has to count for something.

He picked up the water bottles and began to follow Victoria out
onto the lawn. He resolved to keep building his little group with
people of the highest quality. Men who would help defend the women,
and women who could defend themselves. Doubt was plaguing him though.
Could it be as simple as his video game missions? Men and women
adventurers, each with strengths and weaknesses, all working and
fighting together. Could he find a group of people all rowing in the
same direction?

Could anyone?

4

The group of people on the lawn had grown. After Victoria and Liam
provided some water, they retreated to the living room of the house
to provide overwatch for those outside. Phil and Grandma were still
there. Phil was keeping watch out the big front window, using the
curtains to shield his presence as best he could. This meant they
were at the ready should any trouble flare up, but no one expected
the people to keep flooding in.

Phil broached the topic. “There are too many people out
there. If they decide they want in this house, I don't think we can
stop them.”

“Should we let some of them inside?”

Phil looked at Victoria as he considered. “I don't know.
Once they're inside we may never get them to leave. But if we don't
invite them in, they may force their way inside anyway and push us
out. I couldn't see what happened exactly because there are no lights
out there, but a group of some kind did go into your neighbor's house
across the street. Poole's house.”

“He said he was going to let some of them in.”

“They're in, all right. The question is whether he is a
willing host or a captive to the whims of the crowd.”

They discussed the problem, unable to come to a definitive
conclusion. They noticed people were going into Liam's backyard and
the woods beyond—sneaking around to do their business. But more
than a few faces appeared in the rear windows of his house before
going back to the front. It helped solidify the need for a plan.

Marty summarized the issue. “We need more friends. Right now
we're too small of a group to resist the will of the mass of people
outside. We need allies.”

Phil responded. “I hate to admit it, but she's right. Not
because I don't want to listen to her,” he tipped his head
toward her, “but because I didn't foresee this earlier. I had
no idea there would be this many people. I still hate the idea of
opening our doors to strangers, but I guess we have to take chances
to avoid potential disasters.”

“So how do we get the people we want to come inside, and
leave the rest outside? And if we have a house full of people, will
it still be enough to resist all those still outside?”

Victoria's questions got Liam thinking. They had made the effort
to befriend the people outside by giving them something to drink, but
he had to admit they were approaching this crowd in the same way Mark
said he approached the crowd on the highway when he first saw them.
Anything to keep them moving down the line. But what if this
was
the end of the line? Were these locusts waiting to destroy everything
in front of them, or were they human beings to be cared for? Maybe a
mixture of both?

Victoria answered her own question.

“I have an idea. I'm going to talk to Mel again.”

Phil gave an audible groan but otherwise said nothing.

“OK then. Liam will you come with me? I need to go out
through the garage.”

Together they were able to lift the double garage door. His mom's
minivan was gone, but there was a small four-door sedan in one space.
Phil's SUV was in the other. When the door was open Victoria softly
called for Melissa. She was conspicuous in the middle of the lawn
where she'd sat down earlier. She got up and moved purposefully to
Victoria standing at the garage threshold.