She was sitting in her chair near the door, unable to do much but listen to the gun battle.
“I think the shooting is getting closer.”
“I have to find something you can lay on so I can drag you through this tunnel.”
“Oh no, I can't possibly go in that tunnel. Just leave me Liam. Get yourself and Victoria to safety.”
Liam knew she would say something like that, which is why he was more intent to find just the right thing to get her to go with him. As he continued to search, someone banged on the outside door. Looking in the window was a younger man with glasses and a horrible tie; Liam recognized him as Mr. Hayes from the group of CDC people the other night.
“Do we let him in?” Grandma mused.
“Yes, he's going to alert the whole place to this room.”
Liam ran over to open the door. As the man entered, they all heard gunshots—and felt them rattle their bones. Very close! Liam slammed the door shut.
The man's run had cost him his breath for the moment. He merely stood hunched over his knees trying to gain control of his body.
“Shot...us...all.”
The small diversion kept anyone from noticing Victoria was nearly back at the entrance of the tunnel. It was her light which finally made everyone take notice. A few seconds later she came scurrying out of the small space to make her report.
“This tunnel leads out. It has another grate on the other end—we'll need the key here—but it should be a simple matter of getting everyone down this tunnel and we'll avoid the museum and most of the shooting up on top. I think the exit is in a railroad tunnel. I could see the tracks with my light.
Liam continued his survey of the gear in the room with new zest. He finally found the 'something' that would get Grandma safely down the tunnel. He grabbed it off the wall, adjusted it, and then slapped it down in front of her wheelchair.
“It's your lucky day. Just lay down on this mechanic's creeper and I'll pull you to safety.”
She looked at Liam, then at the creeper, and finally at the hole in the wall. Maybe she was calculating her odds, or maybe just deciding if she really wanted to die in the Gateway to the West. Liam didn't really care. He wasn't going to give her a choice in a few more seconds. The escalating gunfire preempted any unpleasantness. She stood up out of her chair, and with Liam and Victoria's help on each arm she was able to settle onto her back, laying on the creeper.
“Victoria check the window. Hayes, grab the keys for that other lock and hold Grandma here while I break down her chair.”
Hayes had recovered enough to take stock of this quirky group. His voice was raggedy as he got the keys.
“Thanks for letting me in. I never thought it would come to this. Why did those men start shooting us? Don't they know we're trying to help?”
No one had time to answer. Gunshots, seemingly outside the door, were very loud. Everyone made for the tunnel.
Liam seemed to take charge. He finished breaking down the chair, and ordered Hayes to go first with the keys and with the chair.
“Victoria do we need two flashlights down there?”
“It'll be fine, there are a few turns, but it is very flat and uniform all the way to the end. It isn't that far.”
Hayes shoved himself in with the keys and wheelchair, not waiting to be invited.
“OK, I guess you're going next Grandma, you ready to roll?”
“I'm not getting any younger!” She loved that one.
Liam began pushing her on the creeper, but not before he heard banging on the door again and saw a shadow at the window. Victoria was closest to the entry and made a move for it when the face exploded against the glass. Gunshots tore through the upper part of the door, a couple ricocheting off the metal of the machinery in the room.
“Turn off your light Victoria. Hurry! Let's go!”
He saw her make for the tunnel, so he began pushing Grandma with haste. He stopped though when he realized she wasn't getting in with them. He chanced sending light back to Victoria. He saw tears on her cheeks.
“It was nice meeting you, Marty. Take care of her Liam.”
Then she slammed the grate closed and dropped the lock into place and locked it again. She tossed the keys into tunnel so Liam could grab them. She didn't have time to pull the solid inner hatch closed. She only needed the outer one locked. It took him a few seconds to realize what she was doing.
She stood there momentarily before speaking in a broken voice, “I have to do this.”
Then she ran for the stairs.
“Victoria!” He blurted it out without thinking who might hear.
Liam had an urge to scream her name again, go back for her—but he knew it would be pointless now. She had locked herself out, and them in. Whatever she was going to do, she was on her own.
He sat in the confined space for several moments as he thought about his options. In the end he knew there was only one. He started to push the creeper again, to get as far down the tunnel as he could before anyone else came in the room—perhaps with intentions to shoot them.
“Dang it. I really liked her.” Only Grandma heard him, but she said nothing.
He hated himself for thinking it, but his immediate reflection was that he wished he had gotten to kiss her before she left him, like they do in the movies.
I'm a pathetic hero.
The last thing he saw was the glow of her flashlight moving up the steps toward the top of the Arch. In true heroic fashion, she was drawing the shooters away, at mortal risk to herself.
The shooting at the door continued for a couple minutes. Apparently the gunmen weren't very good shooting door handles or the steel was very strong. By the time they were through, Liam was near the end of the tunnel. He could hear men talking to themselves and then they began yelling about the light they saw going up the metal staircase.
All the escapees slithered quietly to the end of the tunnel, making good on Victoria's sacrifice.
Chapter 12: Heroes
Liam and Grandma slid out the end of the service duct and found themselves inside a long train tunnel with a double line of tracks running through it. Several people were already sitting inside and were surprised to see three people come out of the dark hole in the wall. Liam was surprised no one bothered to ask questions. They just went back to whatever they were doing.
That was fine with Liam. He wasn't in the mood to jaw-jack anyway. He got Grandma out of the tunnel, then he and Hayes helped her into her wheelchair. The packed rock under the railroad tracks made it difficult to roll her around, but they weren't going anywhere for now, so she was content to be parked and then given time to relax. The act of lying down on the creeper and getting back up had once again sapped her of her strength.
Liam slammed his backpack down on the dirty rocks and then took a seat next to it. He was getting more and more upset at the turn of events leading to the loss of his new friend. He recognized the muffled sounds of gunfire coming from outside the tunnel on the grounds surrounding the Arch but wasn't in the mood to think about what was going on out there. For now it was more important to rest and formulate some kind of plan. Maybe a plan to save Victoria.
He was just turning to thoughts of going back in when Hayes sat down and began rambling about his situation.
“I can't believe those hoodlums shot us. We tried to tell them we were with the CDC and we were there to help, but that seemed to enrage them even more. The hell of it is we aren't even really WITH the CDC, more like glorified roadies who move the gear for the pinheads with the lab coats.”
He seemed to consider what he was going to say next. Liam couldn't help but be interested.
“I did learn something from the pinheads though...”
He looked around like he was participating in a conspiracy. Seemingly satisfied he wasn't being overheard, he continued.
“The virus causing all this was made in a lab.”
Liam, having read many books on zombies had an immediate retort, “Isn't that kind
of obvious? A natural virus doesn't just explode across the world, kill people, and then bring them back to life, does it?”
Hayes looked at him with newfound respect. “You don't seem to be fazed by all this. I'm sorry you lost your friend by the way. She saved me too.”
“Well I'm not fazed anymore. Two days ago when I was attacked by a berserk Yoga lady I was pretty 'fazed.' After the next several zombies attacked me I started to get used to it. Now I guess I'm immune to the weirdness of it, even if I'm not used to all the blood yet. Not sure I'll ever get used to that.” He patted his stomach and closed with, “my stomach has issues with the sight of blood.”
“So you call them zombies too? I hear that more and more, but I don't really get it. Aren't zombies things that come out of caskets and walk around slowly moaning about brains?”
Liam had similar taxonomical reflections on this very topic, but he was convinced the things he'd seen would be classified as zombies by almost anyone.
“You are talking about old-school zombies. Originally I think that is what people thought zombies were—the dead who climb out of the ground and chomp brains of those too slow to run away.” He scratched his head, then watched as dust fell like rain from his mop. “I think there was an old movie that started people thinking like that. Later, the slow poke zombies were laughed away as not threatening enough. Today zombies can be almost any speed—” He went on to give his ideas on the various kinds of zombies.
Hayes seemed hard to convince. “But don't these people seem more like Vampires to you? The sick seem to go for a person's blood, not their brains.”
Liam's fear of blood was strong, but the more he thought about it the more it made some sense. Angie especially was a bloody mess, and her apartment was a nightmare of blood. The park ranger up in the Arch was covered in blood, as was the Arch observation deck. Unless he consumed an entire person up there—Liam thought about the impossibility of that—it meant whatever he attacked had bled profusely but was still able to get away. Was blood the key?
Still, Vampires? Liam wasn't ready to believe such supernatural nonsense.
“I think these people are dead, but some kind of infection is keeping them from turning off and staying dead. But I haven't seen anyone actually die and then come back to life...” He realized how little he knew about the infected people now causing so many problems for him.
“Last night you guys knew nothing useful about the sick people. Do you know anything about how the infection spreads?”
“Just what I've heard secondhand. Nothing from official channels. I've not actually seen any zombies yet so I can't confirm anything for myself. They say the plague infects the victim and makes them crave blood. They aren't sure why, but one consistent data point seems to be the biting by the infected, and their desire to consume as much blood as they can. The drained victim then gets up and looks for more blood. Possibly to replace their own.”
“Mmmm. That doesn't really tell me anything I don't already know. I've seen infected people attacking helpless victims since this all began. You don't know anything useful that could help us fight back, or stop the plague?”
Hayes gave a good laugh.
“Look at me kid. I'm just a driver. I know just about as much as you do.” He then looked away as if frustrated with his impotence.
Liam believed he knew more than he was letting on. He was clearly part of an organization that would know. Why wouldn't he know something? Every book on zombies he'd ever read would back up that claim.
I wish you'd had the balls to save us, instead of Victoria.
He wished he had the balls to say that out loud.
2
Liam and Hayes sat in silence for several more minutes. Grandma was nodding in the coolness of the tunnel but Liam was thinking about waking her up to move her further south, out of the area surrounding the Arch. With so many people fighting, it was no place for an aged grandmother to be hanging about. It wasn't a great place for a kid either.
He noticed a police officer was standing about 100 feet down the tunnel, at the southern exit. The northern exit was a tiny point of light in the opposite direction. There was no way to know who was up there, though Liam could see lots of people in the tunnel between himself and that pin point. The tunnel made a great shelter against the gunfire of the larger battle. That much was certain.
He decided the first course of action was to move Grandma further toward the southern exit, as that was the direction they wanted to go.
It wasn't easy to push the chair on the rocks, but he got help from Hayes and they actually made pretty good time. Grandma woke up, but seemed to nod back off fairly quickly with the rocking action of her ride.
When he was close to the exit, he noticed the officer had a shotgun and a radio.
Liam parked the wheelchair about thirty feet from the exit and let Hayes know he'd be right back. Then he approached the officer.
“Excuse me. I'm Liam. My friend and I were the lookouts who went up into the Arch to watch for the gangs.”
“Nice to meet you. I guess we both missed the action down on the ground.”
“What do you mean?”
“The captain put me down here to guard this tunnel exit, but nothing has happened. I could do more good up where the action is. What did you see from up top?”
Liam traded some basic information with the officer.
His name was Jones. He was a large black man with maybe too much gut poking out of his belt. Still, he was quite impressive. Liam didn't say anything to offend him, but he suspected he was put down here because he would make such a large target. Not the best attribute to have in a gun battle.
His radio gave him an idea.
“Can you call the captain inside the Arch?”
“Sure, but my orders are to hold here. I don't have anything to report.”
“Actually you do. My friends and I just came from inside the Arch museum. There is a service entrance that comes out inside this railroad tunnel. When we left the captain, he and his cohorts were trapped by a group of looters who took control of the north entrance. I think we can help get them out of there.”
The officer gave him “the look.” Liam had seen it many times over the years. It was the look an adult gave him to decide whether a kid could know what he was talking about when it came to something important.
“Dad, there is a car flipped over on our street.” The look.
“Mom, your phone needs a critical software update.” The look.
“Officer, I know how we can save your leader and all those family members.” The look.
To his credit, officer Jones got on the radio.
“Yeah, this kid—what's your name?—this Liam kid said the captain sent him up to the top of the Arch and now he says he can help our guys get out of the Arch museum.”
The officer went over some details with the man on the other end. Liam was grateful to be helping the officers in their sticky situation, but his motives were anything but pure. He was hoping somehow he could save Victoria. He was worried his last memory of her would be as a bouncing light going up to the sky.
I'm not going to leave her to die.
3
Officer Jones was going back and forth with the person on the other end for many minutes. When he was done he shared what he knew with Liam.
“Things are pretty bad up top. There are gang members and looters at both main entrances to the Arch underground area now, as well as at a third entrance on the city-side. Our boys are trapped in the museum. For your plan to work they would have to cross the waiting area in full view of both groups of armed criminals.”
He churned on that for a few seconds before continuing.
“But that isn't even the worst part. There is a big group of infected really chopping up the remaining citizens on the north side of the park. Our intel says they will be at the Arch sooner rather than later. The gang members aren't very good at killing zombies apparently. They don't die as easily as our guys and gal
s in blue.”
He was visibly angry making that realization, but went on with the facts.
“So our plan is to get any officers still available on this side of the park, go up the tunnel you found, and attempt to rescue the remaining officers and families inside the museum.”
“But the metal grate is now locked. How are we going to get into the maintenance room?”
Officer Jones smiled. “Leave that to me.”
Liam wasn't content to leave anything to chance. He'd seen everything fall apart the past couple days and trusted nothing to work as it should. But he couldn't exactly tell the police how to do their jobs, so all he could realistically do was tag along and hope they got the job done. And, if he was really lucky, he would emerge from the dark hallway just in time to save Victoria.
It took about fifteen minutes to gather four police officers, including officer Jones. Liam was disappointed that was the best they could do, and they seemed to sense his feeling.
“Don't worry kid, this is more than enough firepower to fend off the garbage shooting at our boys in there. See these?” He was holding out his weapon. “These are AR-15's. Since the rules of war have been turned off, we are using silencers today. We should make short work of those bastards. At least well enough to help our friends get out of there. We also have some other toys we're bringing to the party. It also helps that we'll have the drop on them. Thanks to you and your secret entrance.”
One of the new guys gave him a chuck on the shoulder. He was carrying a massive shotgun with a drum magazine of some kind. The man handed a battering ram to his larger compatriot.
Officer Jones slung the ram over his shoulder. Apparently they were going to use that to bash in the grate. Liam didn't doubt they could do it, especially given the bulk of officer Jones. He might be able to punch the thing apart.
As they were readying the plan amongst themselves Liam was standing off to the side, not sure if he should listen in or look busy doing something else. He decided there was one item he definitely wanted to pass on to these guys.
Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1): Since the Sirens Page 16