Liam knew Hayes had a plan. Could he know for sure they were in the camp? Was he using a drone? A tracking device of some sort? He had visions of tiny homing beacons being placed on their clothing, or in a pocket, but when could they have done it? It seemed very unlikely. Unless...
Liam ran upstairs to find Grandma lying prone on the hard wooden planks, in tears.
“Grandma, what happened, are you OK?”
He had to be quiet as he didn't want to alert the zombies.
“I'm fine, Liam. My back was in such pain while I was sitting. I just had to roll over and take the weight off. I didn't want to call down for fear of bringing more of those things here. I could hear what you did down there though. Good work getting your friends through the worst of it. I'm very proud of you.”
Here she was lying in pain, and she was thinking of him. He was humbled by her perseverance. He helped her sit up again while he continued. “Thanks, Grandma. I have to ask you a question. Back at the camp when they took your blood. Did they give you anything? Something to hold maybe. Or put in your pocket?”
Liam saw it. How did he miss it before? A thin clear elastic band was around her ankle, and on that band was something that appeared as a flattish-round metallic object. About the size of a dime, but a little thicker.
The oldest trick in the book. The Trojan Horse.
“I don't remember them giving me anything, Liam. I was already lying down and they drew my blood right there on the spot.”
Liam got out his pocket knife, quickly cut the band and pocketed the beacon. She didn't seem to notice. “Will you be OK for a couple minutes? We're going to leave soon. I'm going to get you somewhere more comfortable.”
“I'll survive.”
Liam ran downstairs and showed the tiny object to Mr. Lee. “We have to get rid of this thing, but where do we put it? They could be using this right now to surround us.”
How long had it been since Hayes left the camp? Half an hour? Plenty of time to get men up on this hill.
“We could do like the cartoons and put the homing device on a rabbit or something.”
“Or on a zombie.”
“We could put it on a snake so he'll take it underground.”
“What about a bird?”
All the kids seemed to want to offer better and better suggestions.
Mr. Lee considered, and came up with the only rock-solid course of action.
“We'll break into two groups. Liam, you and Drew and your brave team can take Grandma back down the hill to your campsite. It's getting late in the day and you two need to get some rest. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to bring some hard challenges for us all.
“As for the second group, I'll carry this thing with my team to a point bordering our forest and try to put it on a zombie or something so it continues to move. That will keep Hayes busy tonight.”
“Tomorrow we have to get you two out of this area—at least for a while—so Hayes no longer can claim this camp is harboring a fugitive. Even if he tears the place up looking for you we'll be safe. If the committee spills the beans they won't be able to give you away, either.”
Liam looked around at Mr. Lee and the dozen or so boys trying to help him. He was suddenly caught up in an emotional moment. He had to look down when he said it. “Why are you guys helping us like this? We're just a couple of nobodies passing through your turf.”
Mr. Lee didn't miss a beat, “Everybody is somebody when the big D—Death—is chomping at all our heels. I'd help anyone who stumbled out of this forest like you did, although it helps that you're a Scout yourself and that your grandmother is such a sweet lady.”
The other boys piled on, explaining in a dozen different ways why they found helping people to be its own reward. But one of the new, older, boys had a response which stuck with Liam for a long time.
“Because doing good things for living people beats killing the dead again and again.”
Liam was overcome. He refused to tear up, but he nearly drew his own blood biting his tongue to keep from doing so. After accepting he and Grandma had to leave, he knew this was exactly the type of place he wanted to end up.
If anything good and decent could survive the new type of world skulking around its borders.
That was very much up in the air.
2
Grandma perked up after was off the floor and they started back down the hill.
Two boys led the procession, toting their little spears. Liam was carrying Grandma with Drew; He was on the high side, closest to her head. Two more boys were behind him, protecting the back.
“Liam, you can leave me here with these good people and you can go back home to find your mom and dad. I hate slowing you down so much. Promise me you'll think about it.”
“I told you, it's you and me the whole way.” As it came out of his mouth he knew the time was coming when that couldn't hold true. He couldn't take her everywhere with him. Eventually she'd need a home. A place where she could be comfortable. Reasonably safe.
“Now Liam, you know Hayes is going to find us. There are fewer people and more zombies every day. It won't take him long since we can't get very far on foot.”
She was right. But he wasn't ready to leave her. If Hayes did come back she'd be a sitting duck. No, he needed a way to get her home where Mom and Dad could help him make the right decisions for her. His mind was searching for the elusive the solution as they descended the hill.
As they rounded a corner of the trail the two boys in the lead practically skidded to a halt. One of them had enough time to raise his spear, but the other did not. That boy was knocked over by a zombie who had been standing in a particularly dense section of trees. Two more zombies poured out after their leader.
Fight or flight? His Biology teacher would be proud he remembered that.
“Grandma, Drew and I are going to set you down here on the path. We need the poles again to use as spears.”
They didn't wait for an answer. Grandma was on the ground and they were sliding out the poles.
Their task completed, they looked ahead again. Both boys were dead. Just like that.
I should have just shot them.
He remembered he didn't have to be silent anymore.
“Drew, hold up.” He pulled out his pistol and made short work of two zombies, but the third was lucky. He did get a shot off, but it glanced the side of the zombie's skull rather than pierce it. Drew was off balance from complying with Liam's commands. The zombie was able to take him down, sending them both tumbling off the trail and into the brush. Liam looked at Grandma and ordered the other two boys to look after her while he jumped into the bushes to help his friend.
“Liammmmm!”
Drew and the zombie had rolled together for ten or fifteen yards. They landed up against a large pine tree. The zombie was on top, but in a weird angle. He was sideways, but was regaining his bearings and moving for the head.
Liam was running full speed down the hill and he found himself looking down on the two fighters. He realized he couldn't shoot the zombie in the head because it was right over the top of Drew. He used precious seconds to get a better angle.
“Hold him off for just a second, Drew!”
The zombie was an average-sized man, though larger than its prey. Drew was fighting, trying to keep the man's head away from his. He was able to lock his elbow on his own chest and hold his opponent's neck, but he cried out in pain as the man's weight started to bear down.
Liam was right there. He only needed a few more seconds.
Drew let out a painful scream just as Liam loosed his first shot. He hit the zombie square in the temple. For once, there was very little blood. The zombie just stopped moving.
Together they were able to push the dead—deader—zombie off to the side, and it careened a few more yards down the leaf-covered hillside. It came to rest in some dense bushes.
Drew showed he was all right and un-bitten, but he seemed to have strained something in his arm and he co
uld no longer bend it properly. They both reacted to more screams from up the hill, where they'd left Grandma.
Liam pulled Drew to his feet, put his gun back in his waistband, and together they began struggling back up the slope.
I wonder if any of this is poison ivy?
He was deathly allergic to the stuff. His mind was doing its own thing again. It liked to go on walkabout when Liam's body was under a lot of stress.
“Bobby!”
The child's scream was a panicked one.
They were nearly back up to the trail when the young boy Bobby went running full speed by them, further down the hill. He had dropped his spear and never looked at Liam or Drew as he went by. He tumbled but got back up and continued until he was out of sight into more dense foliage.
“Grandma!”
As Liam arrived back on the scene, he was shocked to see Preston locked in a struggle with a zombie girl—about the same age and size as Preston—who seemed particularly angry and bloody.
“Hang on, Preston!”
Liam covered the distance to his young friend in just a few seconds and gave the girl a powerful kick to her side. The momentum of the kick broke a few ribs in the zombie, that much was plain to hear, and the girl rolled off her victim. Liam noticed his shoe was slopped with the girl's blood. It evoked anger for reasons he couldn't explain.
He knelt on one knee over Preston, pulled out his pistol, and put two shots directly into the face of the menacing threat. She had regained her feet and thus fell backward and down the hill when Liam's shots ended her attack.
Preston, now lying motionless below him, started to quietly cry.
His anger for Bobby was boiling over. He shouted, “Bobby! You left Preston to die!” He followed up with some expletives, which weren't normally in his vocabulary.
Liam wasn't blessed with a loud voice, but his anger amplified what he had. They probably heard him in the camp.
Good for them.
“If I ever see Bobby...”
He felt a hand on his arm. “Liam. Its OK. I'm OK. He's just a little boy.”
His anger went from boil to a medium simmer.
“Are there more zombies up here?”
He scanned the wooded hillside, but none were visible.
Drew and Preston checked each other for bruises and broken bones while Liam and Grandma continued their conversation. “Liam, things are going to continue to get dangerous no matter where we are. You should leave me here in camp so I'm not a liability weighing down every decision you have to make to get home.”
“I can't give up on you that easily. We've come so far. What would I do if I left you here today and the camp was overrun and destroyed tomorrow? I'd never forgive myself for leaving you.”
She chuckled at his statement. “Oh, Liam. There isn't any place on Earth you could put me where there isn't a chance of zombies overrunning it. It's just the gamble we all have to take now. At least until we see who comes out the other side of this thing and can begin to pick up the pieces. Then maybe we can rest a little easier.”
“No! I'm not leaving you.” And then to leave himself some wiggle room for the day he knew would arrive eventually, “At least not here. Not today.”
Grandma seemed to relent.
The older boys put the spears back into the stretcher and resumed carrying Grandma off the hill. Preston wouldn't walk in the front, so Drew took the lead while holding the stretcher. It seemed to be the only workable solution.
They all passed the two dead boys off to the side of the trail, but no one seemed to have the energy or desire to look at them. Two more souls claimed by the zombies.
3
The journey down the hill was slow. Several times Drew and Liam nearly lost their grip of Grandma's stretcher as they slipped on dirt and gravel on the steep trail. A few times they had to stop for breaks to rest their hands.
At long last, they could see the colorful tents in the valley through the trees.
“We should put Grandma in her tent and let her get some sleep. You and I should go see the council so we can figure out what she and I will do next. We need to leave the camp. Maybe they'll have advice on the best way to do it. Preston you can go to your parents if you want.”
The younger boy said nothing. Liam didn't know if that was good or bad, but after what he'd just gone through he was inclined to cut him some slack.
They were almost at the clearing of the valley when they heard movement in the woods to their right. Liam judged they should keep moving no matter what came out of the trees. Preston started to run ahead of them, and was quickly into the tents. The two litter carriers made the safety of the valley just in time to see the tall weeds separate right behind them.
A small female deer squeezed through.
Liam nearly fainted. Drew never looked back.
“It's OK. Just a deer!”
But just as he said it, he heard more rustling.
This time Liam looked behind him in time to see—another doe pop out.
“Hold up!”
He nearly pulled the stretcher out of Drew's hands he slowed down.
“Sorry about that. Look behind us.”
As they paused on the edge of the tent city, several more deer popped out, heading toward the campers. He noticed a few more deer further down the line had also come out of the woods. One savvy hunter must have had a bow at the ready. He downed one of the females; it would be a nice meal for someone.
He actually scanned the ground for mice and rats. Those were what he expected to see fleeing a sinking ship.
“OK, let's get moving again. I've got a bad feeling here.”
They returned to the loaner tent without incident. Marty was more than happy to have a place to lay down in relative comfort, even though the late afternoon heat was pretty intense. More so for those who were fighting and carrying burdens. Not that anyone was complaining.
After explaining to Grandma where he was going, and after shaking off a dozen questions from other Scouts in nearby tents, Liam and Drew headed to the administration building at a slow jog.
“How do you think you guys will get home from here? How far do you have to go?”
Liam had to think about it. He'd been in a car several times on the windy county roads between here and his home, but he never had to be concerned about mileage. Surely not more than twenty or twenty-five miles as the crow flies. In better times that would be a long day's hike, or a couple hours on a bike.
On a bike.
That would work, wouldn't it? He recalled something from one of his favorite zombie books—the hero used a bike and trailer to pull his infant son to safety. If he could find a bike and a kid's trailer, he thought he'd be able to get Grandma into the small seat so he could pull her along behind him. A book might just save their lives. With any luck they'd be home in just a few hours...assuming the streets in the county weren't as bad as those in the city.
“I live due east of here, near the Mississippi River. Say thirty minutes by car, however far that is.”
“If things work out, I'd like to volunteer to come with you guys. We make a good team.”
“No doubt!”
Liam was pleased to have someone volunteer, but he had to wonder what would drive a boy to leave his mom and dad here to go back out into the world. Risk it all for someone you didn't really know. Was that good or bad on balance? Was he suicidal? On a vendetta? Mad at mom and dad? He realized how complicated relationships had become now that every decision was colored by the lens of the end of the world.
He had an inspiration. He paused from his run to speak with drew. “Will you do me a favor? While I'm at the admin building, go make sure your parents are OK with you leaving the camp with me. I'm not sure when we'd return, though I'd like to come back. You might be out for a long time.”
“Cool, Liam. I'm on it!” He took off into the maze of tents, lost immediately from view.
Liam resumed the short run to see the council, and he let himself in and wa
lked right up to the crowded table. The line of people waiting was shorter in the late afternoon than it was in the morning, but there were enough people to intimidate him on any normal day. Today was not a normal day.
“I need to talk to the council. Now!”
He took the steps to the second floor two at a time.
Near-death battles give me courage.
He had a few moments to himself to look out upon the tent city from the second floor. He was looking south down the valley, the shadows of the late afternoon were well formed by the surrounding hills, and he was amazed again how many people were there. They had plenty of water, but food—
“Hello young man. You and your grandma have caused quite a commotion.”
Liam watched as the council made its way up the steps. The oldest gentleman had to be helped up by one of his younger comrades. The sight made him think of Grandma, and his bravado drained away.
“Hello. I'm sorry for barging in, but it's really important I see you.”
“Of course.”
“We sent Lee up to find you. I assume he arrived in good order? Did he tell you what happened down here?”
Oh my. Where do I begin?
“Well, yes. Mr. Lee found us and told me Mr. Hayes said he'd be back tomorrow.”
Liam kept the part about the tracking device to himself. He had a vision pop into his head, and he saw his dad doing one of his silly skits where he pretended to be a conspiracy theorist—tinfoil hat and all. It was his subconscious informing him of the need for OPSEC. Operational Security. Only tell them the bare minimum of facts to get what you need.
“Mr. Lee is still out in the woods. We found a large group of zombies in the next valley and he said he wanted to try to lead them in a different direction to protect the camp. His team went with him. You all should know that we saw some zombies on our way into camp, not far up the hill. We killed three of them, but they killed two youngsters before we could get them.”
The council woman looked like she was going to say something, but Liam pushed on.
Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 2): Siren Songs Page 23