So did the girl.
2
“What. The. HELL!”
The girl yanked her hand from underneath the wheel and sat up to take stock of her attacker. Liam thought she looked like she had been sleeping a long time. Her long brown hair was a ratty mess, managed only by the grace of a black headband. Her face, as pretty as it might be, was covered on one side with dirt and grass. Her makeup had been displaced, making her eyes look dark and sunken. The green eyes were still striking—Liam had to look away immediately. The yelling reinforced his decision.
“That was my hand! Who the he—” she noticed Liam was pushing a little old lady in the wheelchair.
“Oh, sorry ma'am. I meant no disrespect. This wasn't how I expected to wake up.” Looking around, she continued, “Though seeing all these people now, I don't know WHAT I was expecting.”
Grandma was magnanimous, looking down on the young woman. “Please child, Liam just lost control of my chair—it was an accident. We've been on the road all morning and we're just looking for some shade.”
“I'm very sorry for running you over.” Liam pretended to attend to Grandma as he apologized.
As the woman stood up, Liam could see she was about his height, maybe a little less than his 5 foot 8 inches, and she had an athletic look about her. Her calves had real definition—not that he was looking at them! Her profile reminded Liam of any number of girls on his high school track team. Something about how they carried themselves gave it away. It was an intangible quality, but Liam had seen it many times in runners. Was she a runner too? He'd have to—
“Hey. Crash Cart. You finished?”
Bollocks.
Liam was caught checking her out.
“Yeah, I'm uh, just wondering why you are dressed up like that?”
Good save.
She gave Liam a disapproving scowl but asked a question rather than address his.
“Do you have any water or anything? I've got nothing but what you see here.” She held out her arms and then swished them down and in front of her, as if presenting her clothes as her only possession.
“Grandma has the only water, and we're saving that.”
“Nonsense. Here you go dear—please take a little.” She pulled a water bottle out of Liam's backpack, which she kept next to her on the ample seat of the wheelchair.
Liam wasn't surprised. Grandma would try to help anyone she met. She couldn't help the thousands of other people in this park, but she could help this girl.
“Thank you. My name is Victoria.”
“Victoria huh?” She paused, just for a couple extra seconds. “My name is Marty, but you can call me Grandma like everyone else seems to do. I'm 104 by the way. You were going to ask. This is my rescuer and great-grandson, Liam.”
Liam gave her a nod, trying to stay relaxed, but he was deathly afraid he'd say something stupid, or look at her minimal but sufficiently curvaceous chest accidentally—
Oh crap!
He found it impossible not to look. The dress wasn't even low cut, but it was a dress after all and it complimented her figure. She was adjusting a mobile phone inside her bra. It was too much. He decided to sit down on the pavement next to the wheelchair, keeping his eyes forward, looking at people walking the large path next to him.
“Thanks for the water. Hope neither of us have the plague.” She followed that with some nervous laughter. She used just a splash of water on her face, and made a desultory effort to untangle her hair, then took a seat opposite Liam on the far side of the wheelchair. It took everything Liam had to avoid looking at the legs now stretched on the pavement close by.
3
“You asked why I'm dressed like this.”
A long sigh.
“I'm from Colorado, but I came here a month ago. I just graduated from high school and got picked for a summer internship at a local medical school. I guess I’m pretty smart. As you know things have been getting bad for the past several weeks. Fuel shortages. Food shortages. Stuff like that. But in the hospitals it's been much worse. Medications became hard to find. Shipments were lost. Petty theft right out of the controlled medical closets. I'm no more medically qualified than you guys, but they put us pre-pre-med students to work with patients as the crisis became more acute. They had me doing as little as possible with truly sick people, but I've seen enough bad things in the past couple weeks to last a lifetime.”
She paused as if digesting an unsavory thought.
“Two nights ago some of my new friends were going out to one of the few night clubs still open here in the downtown area. They insisted I go with them and I was too tired to refuse. I'm not 21 but nobody was carding anymore.”
Liam noted she just graduated from high school, so she couldn't be MUCH older than he was.
“—and the place was full. I guess the stress was affecting everyone. It was wall-to-wall packed. We joined some colleagues from the program at one of the large tables and spent a couple hours dancing, talking, yelling—you know, stuff girls do out on the town. When trying to forget...”
Her voice was clear but distant.
“I looked down at my watch at one point and was shocked to see it was already two in the morning! The place seemed to have no intention of shutting down, and I don't think the crowd ever thinned out the whole time we were there. There were tons of drugs and alcohol right out in the open, but that wasn't for me—I don't drink.”
“I was ready to leave for the night and go back to my dorm. Mostly because I could barely stand after so much dancing, but also because of the stresses in my life continued to creep in, even there.”
Victoria stood up and stepped a few paces away from the tree, then turned around to face them both. She seemed to be bracing herself for the next part of her story.
Liam got a better look at the young woman, and was almost afraid to let himself gaze in her direction. He had next to no experience around girls in a social setting. He steered clear of them in school. There weren't many girl gamers who enjoyed the types of games he played, and none of his friends had girlfriends either. He just had too many other things to keep himself occupied.
With Victoria, he found it hard to talk or listen to her without actually looking at her. He willed himself to play it cool and actively listen and nod, wondering if he would again find it too distracting. However, this time he was struck by her silver chain with a small religious cross hanging around her bare neck. Liam couldn't define the reaction to it, but he found himself less intimidated now, and could actually look at her without most of the usual awkwardness. He was trying to understand where the feeling had come from as she continued on with her story.
“Soooo, several of us were preparing to leave when we heard a 'pop pop pop' over the headache-inducing music. I didn't know what they were at the time but someone screamed “gun!” and panic ripped through the place like wildfire. We weren't at the door, but we were walking in that direction when this all went down, so we saw the security guy come running our way—his gun still in his hand. He was being chased by...some really sick people. Then things got out of control.”
Victoria was visibly shaken relaying her story, but it was already familiar to Liam after his morning. The plague victims had gone insane—become zombies if you fancy that term—and had found a nice cache of fresh meat. Somehow a small group of the sick stumbled into the front of the club and started with the bouncer—his arm had several bite marks as he ran by Victoria and her friends. They then entered the club and made it impossible for anyone to escape through the front door. They got busy attacking the unarmed and, in many cases, immodestly-clothed patrons of the hot and sweaty place.
Victoria explained she had two key advantages over most of the people in the room: She saw where the infected came in and she knew they weren't just sick, they were “bat-stuff” crazy sick with that double-Ebola stuff. While the first instinct of some of the revelers was to help the injured, she knew the only sensible course of action was to get the hell out of there.
So she ran.
She ran through the swirling crowd, directly into the back hallway—where she had been passing the EXIT sign all night on her way to the restroom. Several people had already punched out the back, but none were her friends. She joined the lucky few in the alley.
There she saw more plague victims—were they just wandering around downtown? A couple of the club patrons had fallen under the teeth of those loiterers before the rest of the escapees understood what was going on. The threat wasn't just in the club – it was outside as well.
“So I ran some more. First out of that alley, and then out into the main streets. I had to keep myself clear of the buildings so they couldn't grab me from the deeper shadows. None of the sick are fast, but they aren't slow either. I broke the kitten heel off these shoes so I could run even faster.” She pointed down to her black shoes, now covered in road grime from her escape.
“I didn't realize nearly all the lights were off downtown at two in the morning. It was eerie to say the least. But the lights of the Arch were still on...so a small group of us started to make our way down here. Along the way, plague victims continually seeped out of the darkness to attack us anew. Guys tried to fight them—trying to protect us girls I suppose—but they always ended up getting brought down. Since we had no weapons, all we could do was run. So that's what I did.”
“God help me I ran. I left all my friends behind. I left everyone whom I had shared the dance floor. Some weren't as fast as me. Some were kind of overweight—they didn't get far at all. Others tried to get into buildings to hold them off. Maybe they survived. But I just kept running. I betrayed everything I believed about being a good Christian. A good person. I didn't try to save anyone but myself! How selfish am I?”
Liam didn't know how to respond. He wasn't a religious person, but could respect the devout of any faith. She had taken her desperate running as a sign of weakness in her faith, while most people—including him—would see her actions as just the opposite. It wasn't like she could carry the slower people on her shoulders.
Liam looked up at his grandma, suddenly aware of the implications of Victoria's story. Would he be forced to run and leave her behind? Could he leave her behind? The thought had crossed his mind a few times in the last day, though Victoria's plight made it all the more real.
“I'm not sure how long I kept going. It was a bad dream. Sometimes I ran toward the Arch. Sometimes away. It always depended on where the sick were moving, and who they captured. And then, finally, I had a clear shot and reached the last street before this park. In the dim light I saw several police officers on horses, armed to the teeth. They watched me run by but said nothing—maintaining some kind of silent vigil at the edge of civilization. I was so tired at that point I didn't even think to tell them what I'd seen or where I'd come from. There were a few other people running behind me, but I just dashed into the park—oblivious to anything but what was ahead of me. I ran all the way to the river before I stopped. Now I really wish I would have made even a token effort to save someone else.”
She shook her head, as if tossing out the bad thoughts.
“I was so amped up that first night I was scared to be alone. I just walked around aimlessly in the small crowds under the Arch until dawn. Eventually I found myself staying close to the police officers near the edge of the city. At least I knew they had guns and could protect me. Several times they did.”
“In the late morning tornado sirens across the whole city began to wail. The panic it caused down here was amazing. People started running in all directions. I watched as some jumped in the river only to get washed away. Many people left the park as others came in. I was one of those who left.”
“All afternoon yesterday I tried to walk back through downtown to get back to my dorm, but always there were people running from the sick. “Don't go that way” they'd yell. “Follow us to the Arch” others would call. I was probably on every street within ten blocks of here, looking for safe passage. Never found one. As more people took to the streets, it cut down on the number of infected initially—since people were killing them on sight—but toward evening there were more and more sick people lurking in the shadows and fewer and fewer healthy people fighting them. I'd been on my feet for almost 24 hours straight; I was reaching my limit.”
“It took a few close encounters to realize I'd have to wait under the protection of the police down here or I'd end up dead. By the time it got dark I was safely inside the park, trying to find someone in charge so I could ask what to do next—but that person doesn't exist apparently.”
“The last thing I remember was collapsing next to this tree, right here. I sat down to lean myself against the trunk, and fell asleep instantly. I woke up when you ran me over.” She was pointing to Liam, but without much hostility this time. Maybe even a wisp of a smile.
Victoria was looking around as if she was seeing the place for the first time.
“How did all these people get here? Where are they going? Is anyone helping the sick? Is anyone rescuing those still trapped in the buildings downtown? Where is the medical tent?”
It was Grandma with the answer, “Sweetie, I think you know more than we do.”
Victoria crossed herself and said softly, “Then God help us all.”
Grandma responded with a similarly solemn, “Amen.”
4
The trio settled in after Victoria gave them a little more back story. Liam also told her of their adventures, up to the point where they reached the Arch. She seemed impressed he was able to get the aged woman safely to this point, which made Liam feel proud despite all the doubts he'd had along the way.
Grandma fell asleep as they traded details of their stories, and the afternoon crept on. Liam and Victoria were sitting in the grass, a bit away from Grandma so she could rest and recover in relative peace. The crowd was thick everywhere now, but was very subdued given the situation. From time to time they heard gunshots on the periphery of the grounds. Liam assumed it was the police cordon being tested by the infected. He couldn't see anything nearby to suggest zombies were in the park yet.
“So what are you guys going to do next? Are you going to try to get over to Illinois?”
Liam looked out through a line of trees and could barely see the two bridges that bracketed the Gateway Arch grounds. He didn't see traffic moving in either direction. He observed the bridges when he walked in from where he parked his car and never saw any traffic moving across, so he was pretty sure the bridges were closed. He didn't mention that to Grandma as he didn't want to worry her with all the other problems they were wrangling.
“I don't think the bridges are open right now. That could make getting to Illinois difficult, especially for her. I don't think she's ready to swim across.” He laughed a bit at his own joke, but the truth was he did wonder how they could sneak across. He didn't want to admit he may have come downtown for nothing.
Victoria gave a wan smile and shared her own plans.
“I had hoped to get back to my dorm room to at least get a change of clothes, but then I want to try to get to the airport and get a flight to Colorado.”
Liam hadn't even thought about airplanes since this whole disaster started, but he had a feeling getting a flight wouldn't be that easy. One recent news event did break through his gaming-fueled social isolation; the Ebola crisis. He remembered how they stopped all flights from the affected countries to prevent the disease from spreading to the United States. It worked, or so they were told. The disease never broke out in America, despite a few isolated cases. No cordon is ever 100% effective.
But was there some parallel with this new disease? It had been described as both the flu and “Ebola-like” by people over the last couple days. Did it simmer somewhere overseas only to explode at some point because the proper protocols weren't in place? The CDC guys said it surprised even them. Something to chew on, though Liam knew it was unlikely he'd ever get the truth.
The talk of Colorado jogged a memory of another
family member; his dad's mom. Liam's minor claim to fame—actually he was more embarrassed than anything—was being related to a politician. Grandma Rose ran for, and won, a seat in the US House of Representatives the year before. She wasn't around much—she lived in Colorado—so Liam knew very little about her other than she had sent $100 bills for birthdays for as long as he could remember. His dad mentioned her once recently, while talking to Grandma Marty on the phone. Liam didn't ask what his dad had said, but he could hear Grandma talking with him about Rose and Colorado.
I wonder if she will survive in the Rocky Mountains?
He imagined Colorado would be safer than most places, with its remote mountain ranges and sparse population. Liam doubted Grandma Rose would be out in a tent in the mountains staying safe, but if Victoria ever made it home, he might at least ask her to look her up.
Although he had his doubts about her chances of making it back home anytime soon, he opted to say nothing to dampen her spirits. He even found a pang of jealousy sneaking about, because he didn't want her to find refuge while he labored in the chaos of this city.
The ill-feeling passed quickly. He knew he would be happy for anyone who escaped, especially this pretty girl conversing with him.
She continued to talk about the details of her life, but Liam wasn't really listening anymore. His mind was in overdrive to answer the only question of consequence.
What are we going to do next?
5
Liam snapped back to the present when a Catholic priest began hovering over Grandma, saying a prayer and putting ointment of some kind on the backs of her hands. Her head was slumped over as she slept. Clearly there was some kind of mistake here. Liam stood up; Victoria did as well.
Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1): Since the Sirens Page 11