He entered a morgue. A dozen bodies were in a messy pile, all with bullets to the head. They'd been murdered—as healthy people—because none of them were as bloody and messed up as the infected. He scanned the bodies, but didn't see his son—that was his only focus. The person on the floor with shoes like Liam's was...someone else. Memories of his childhood clouded his vision—he denied they were tears—before he completely shut it all off. He closed the door to the bedroom and took several deep breaths.
He'd taken a little too long. Lana was beside him.
"Everything okay?"
Their two flashlights reflected off the hardwood floor and the numerous picture frames on the wall. Liam's face caught his eye in one of the tendrils of light. His boy smiled at him from a fancy golden frame.
“Lana, that room's clear. We have to keep looking for Liam.” He pointed down the hallway, intending to distract her.
The stereotypical “phew” sound slipped out without him knowing it.
“Yeah, I'm glad it wasn't him, too.” She walked where he pointed. He was torn between sending her first into the darkness or running the risk of her trying that door handle. Falling in behind, his finger was once again well away from the trigger.
They went upstairs to Angie's apartment and found another dead guy inside a pile of bloody clothes in the middle of her apartment. It was hard to know how he died because he was in pieces. Only his black clothing tied him to the other man.
Still, no Liam.
They finally went into the basement. Liam had his room down there, but other than the dryer sitting in front of the rear basement door, the entire level seemed pretty much undisturbed. They both returned to the main floor, stopping at the body on the kitchen floor.
Jerry searched it but found no identification of any kind. He had numerous pockets in his tactical vest and pants filled with rifle magazines and various types of knives, batons, and handcuffs. He figured he was more policeman than soldier. But that didn't feel entirely right, either.
He did find one clue. At the bottom of a small pocket up near the shoulder, he found several sheets of paper stapled together and folded multiple times—beyond what any normal person would do. He unraveled them and spread them out on top of the dead man's chest. Using his light, both he and Lana were able to scan the names typed in three neat columns. A few were crossed out with a pencil.
“What the hell? This list has most of our family on it. Maybe all of it.” He scanned the names and found one with a line through it. “No. No. No. This is a list of people someone is trying to kill.” He scrunched up the paper with his hands and crushed it into a ball with primal grunts.
“Why? How do you know that?” she replied with skepticism.
He had anger in his eyes while pointing to the sealed room. “Because my brother's in there—dead. And his name's crossed off.”
He held it out to her. She unfolded the paper and spread it on the table where she could get a better look.
While she studied it, he felt that deep-seated fear once again. Something was going to reach out from the darkness and pull Lana away from him. He was powerless to stop it. The more he thought about it, the more he was sure something bad was going to get her. Again, his heart reminded him it was capricious—it pounded like a freight train as he got to his feet and stood next to her. His arm found her waist and sought the comfort of the contact.
He was supposed to be the strong one.
Lost in his emotions, he was well and truly startled by her voice. “There's my name. Yours! We aren't crossed out. Nice to know we're still alive.” She let out a nervous chuckle and leaned into him. She read the names under her breath—mostly family he recognized—from time to time she lamented this or that cousin or aunt with their names crossed off. “And here's Marty's name. She's alive, thank you, God! At least she hasn't been, what? Assassinated?”
He grunted an affirmation, though he had no idea. If this was an assassin's list, he didn't want to know who else was on it, and yet he had to know.
She turned the page. Then she turned once more. On the third page, she pointed with excitement.
“No line! Liam has no line over his name.” She set the flashlight on the table, exhaled deeply, and turned to hug him. “I'm so sorry about Craig.”
She sobbed deeply, as if she'd held it in until she knew whether to cry happy or sad. What came out was hard to read with so many dead, but he and she shared the happy knowledge Liam wasn't already dead by whatever hand had made such a horrible list.
He wanted to cry in relief, but they were hardly a step closer to finding Liam. He had to hold it together.
“Thanks. Me too.” Jerry gently separated himself and looked around. “Looks to me like these men were hiding in Marty's place, waiting for our family members to come collect her. When my brother arrived, they must have killed him and tossed him into that room—he pointed to the one he'd steered her from—with some others I didn't recognize. If they were targeting our family, maybe these other people just wondered in?”
“That's horrible. Were they Marty's neighbors?”
“Yeah, that would make sense. Everyone checks on Grandma.”
“I hate to say this, but I don't care about anyone else. I just can't. Not yet. I need my Liam. Where the hell is he, Jer?”
He took a moment to gather his thoughts. He'd been formulating a positive-thinking reply since they walked into the empty house. Originally he'd built his answer on a fiction that would convince her Liam was still alive, but the more he considered the facts, the more he felt maybe things weren't as bad as he feared. Not if Liam remembered half of what he'd tried to teach him over the past few years.
This is the same kid that lives inside those dumb video games.
He swallowed hard and tried to think of how Liam was pretty good at some real-life things. Shooting, for instance. A key point for what he was going to tell Lana.
“If I had to guess, I'd say Liam took Grandma and tried to escape the city.”
Lana raised her head. The question on her face was evident.
“Because her guns are gone. I noticed, when we searched downstairs, they'd been moved.” He pointed his light at the black box sitting on the stove top. “I left her two guns in that box, hidden in her rafters downstairs. Because they were so high, there's no way she got them herself. Since the house isn't otherwise looted, it means someone pulled them down who knew they were there and what was inside. That means she told Liam and he has them. I'd bet anything they're armed and attempting to escape this town.”
“Grandma and Liam, out in the city? I'm not sure if I should be jumping with joy or screaming in fear.”
“Me either, my love. Me either. But at least we know these creeps didn't get him. We just have to think where he'd go.”
He didn't want to appear pessimistic, though he certainly felt it. Whoever made the list was still out there. That suggested Liam wasn't safe at all. But that wasn't even the dangerous part. Liam had gone off into the urban decay of St. Louis with 104-year-old Marty. At best, he had a couple of little handguns to defend himself. The dead were walking, killing everyone left alive, and the police, fire, and other civilian infrastructure lay in ruins. If Liam could get out of the dying city, and if he avoided getting himself scratched off this list, and if he survived the other million dangers, where would he go with an old woman?
They only needed a few seconds to read the other's thoughts.
“We have to get back home.”
Thank You From EE Isherwood
My last thank you. The full version of book 1, Since the Sirens can be found in DARK HUMANITY.
About the Author
E.E. Isherwood is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse series. His long-time fascination with the end of the world blossomed decades ago after reading the 1949 classic Earth Abides. Zombies are just a handy vehicle which allows him to observe how society breaks down in the face of such withering calamity.
Isherwood lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his wife and family. He stays deep in a bunker with steepled fingers, always awaiting the arrival of the first wave of zombies.
Find him online at www.zombiebooks.net.
Books by E.E. Isherwood
E.E. Isherwood currently has six books in the Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse universe. He also has a series of high-octane post-apocalyptic stories called Revolutions Per Mile. In 2017 he is writing a trilogy of YA Dystopian novels. Visit his website at www.zombiebooks.net to be informed when future titles are launched.
The Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse series
Since the Sirens
Siren Songs
Stop the Sirens
Last Fight of the Valkyries
Zombies vs. Polar Bears
Zombies Ever After
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Book 1: Since the Sirens [BUY ON KINDLE]
When 15-year-old Liam goes to stay with his ancient great-grandmother for the summer, he immediately becomes bored around the frail and elderly woman. He spends most of his time at the library texting friends or reading dark novels. But one morning stroll changes everything as the Zombie Apocalypse unloads itself directly into his life. Now he and his 104-year-old guardian must survive the journey out of the collapsing city of St. Louis while zombies, plague, and desperate survivors swirl around them.
Book 2: Siren Songs [BUY ON KINDLE]
After escaping the chaos of the collapsing city, teens Liam and Victoria are faced with a difficult choice. Do they try to find Liam's parents or defend their suburban home from refugees and the infected? They find new allies to hold things together, even as the government appears increasingly impotent in the face of a mutating virus. And why is a representative of the CDC trying to enlist Liam's 104-year-old grandma to his cause?
Book 3: Stop the Sirens [BUY ON KINDLE]
No spoilers here! Book 3 continues the adventure.
Book 4: Last Fight of the Valkyries [BUY ON KINDLE]
No spoilers here! Book 4 continues the adventure.
Book 5: Zombies vs. Polar Bears [BUY ON KINDLE]
No spoilers here! Book 5 continues the adventure.
Book 6: Zombies Ever After [BUY ON KINDLE]
No spoilers here! Book 6 continues the adventure.
OTHER TITLES
The Revolutions Per Mile series
A new series of driving adventures from post-apocalyptic author E.E. Isherwood.
Book 1: Post Apocalyptic Ponies [BUY ON KINDLE]
When the world ended, Perth Hopkins was one of the lucky few. She jumped in her father's sports car and drove like a girl possessed to escape the nuclear fires. Today, years later, she drives as a high-speed courier between the small farming towns in the breadbasket of a new nation. She's learning the rules of the road in the safe interior—the pony pastures—but she craves the speed and danger of the interstate. Those routes are run by the older girls... When one of those girls shows up in her life, she's forced to consider whether she really wants to see what's over the distant horizon.
Book 2: Post Apocalyptic Mustangs [BUY ON KINDLE]
Perth is tossed into the high-speed world of "The 70." Interstate 70 was once a major artery across the United States, but what's left of it in Kansas has become a dangerous route traversed by brave couriers carrying pieces of the Old World between the surviving towns. Perth's driver, Jo, claims she is the best of the best of the couriers remaining on the highway and she wants to introduce Perth to how things work by doing a simple run from Hays to Salina. But Perth quickly suspects she's been seduced into being her co-pilot for an entirely different destination.
ANTHOLOGIES
The Expanding Universe: An Exploration of the Science Fiction Genre [BUY ON KINDLE]
Worlds collide as nineteen talented authors contribute their best short fiction to expand and explore the Science Fiction genre. Travel dystopian worlds and discover the possibilities that lie within the unknown. Experience the touch of metaphysical occurrences and enjoy the rush that comes from love deep enough to rattle the stars.
Inanna's Circle: Flight of Imagination - Thru the Darkness (Inanna's Circle Game Book 5) [BUY ON KINDLE]
The smell of hot metal, a ring of ash, bartending brothers… What can a group of writers create when they are presented with a mystery box of characters, snippets, and scenes? Pick at least one from each column and let your imagination soar! That is the challenge of Inanna’s Circle Game. Here are five of the fifteen authors that accepted the challenge, writing in varied genres, some with many books to their credit, others with very few. The authors in this volume explore the darker side of life. Taking you to the depths and flinging you up into the clouds, these stories will make you cry and sing. Let your imagination take flight!
The Tide: The Multiverse Wave [BUY ON KINDLE]
Sometimes regret can burn brighter than the stars…
After watching as her world crumbled beneath her, Kearyn could only guess at what might come next. And she’s not alone. With an undetectable virus, one that spread across the planet’s surface, now making its way aboard the spacecraft meant to carry her into the unknown depths of space, Kearyn finds that the key to the knowledge of her uncertain future lies in the hands of an old acquaintance.
Join the fun as twenty-one Sci-fi authors take on the Chapter Relay Challenge. With each author contributing a single chapter, they take the dare to work together to create an intriguing, full-fledged novel with masterful precision.
Grab your copy and let them know how they did!
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Connect with E. E. Isherwood
Thank you for being a reader of my work. I value your support more than I can say. I also love interacting with fans. To contact me, yell at me, become a beta reader, or find more stories about the end of everything, look for me online:
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/eeisherwood
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