Another large explosion seemed to be directly under the Arch. Liam realized they were starting up north and probably working their way down south. Surely they knew any survivors would be down here, right? Were others up north?
His father's voice popped in his head, giving one of his “life lessons” on government. “Always keep in mind the only thing you can count on in government is that they make things worse.”
Confidence is low.
Liam loved the military because his dad loved the military. It was one of the incongruities of his father's otherwise total hatred of government. Together they were fond of playing military video games, reading books about military history, and they both celebrated their ancestors who had fought for the United States. However, on this day the military had made it clear they weren't going to let him or his family across the river to find safety from the vile shroud being draped over the city. That soured his opinion of them.
Still, he took pride in what the military was doing up the hill right now. As dad would say, “we paid for those bombs so they might as well be put to good use.”
The volume of sound continued to ebb and flow in the tunnel as he and Victoria pushed the wheelchair southward and out the back. He looked around for Hayes but didn't see him anywhere. He figured he was up in the spearhead moving away as fast as he could. The guy wasn't really his concern anymore and he had no regrets about that.
As Liam and Victoria pushed Grandma out onto the trestle, it gave him an unobstructed view across the river. He was stunned to a halt. Victoria didn't see him stop so she continued pushing the chair for a few paces before she could stop her momentum. The wheelchair stopped canted to the left, allowing Grandma to see the same thing as Liam. He imagined he was watching a movie about a global war. Dozens of aircraft swirled above, like an angry swarm of wasps.
Several huge planes were droning at very low altitude. They each had four propellers and were painted dark grey. Two of them were flying north, one behind the other, while a 'crump crump crump' sound was coming from the guns hanging out their left sides. Liam had read about the Spooky's, and he could see they had large guns pointing out their sides, throwing shell after shell into the horde back under the Arch.
Two similar planes were flying in the other direction just a bit higher. Above the jumbos were several formations of sleek fighter planes Liam couldn't identify. As he watched, a plane would split off and descend toward the Arch grounds and release its payload on the horde.
Every once in awhile a bunch of ugly planes—A10 Warthogs—would swoop in from over on the Illinois side and use their distinctive machine guns in their noses. Liam knew they were tearing the infected people apart by the hundreds every time they went by.
The scene was spectacular to observe. So many planes moving in such symmetry. The coordination required to keep them all from colliding was amazing. And they were all working together to kill the infected; that made Liam very happy despite the danger to his group.
He was about to turn and move when he saw the other side of the river. He could see a formation of M1A2 Abrams tanks at a high point near the riverbank—and was impressed to see them firing in unison over into the Arch grounds too. The smoke from their guns was the only indication they were adding to the destruction, as the explosions in the park were constant and deafening.
Several little coast guard boats were on the water, but they weren't armed as far as Liam could see. He had no doubt armed soldiers were on board however. There was no question they weren't going to be swimming to safety, even if he had a way to get Grandma across the water.
High up in the sky he saw the distinctive shape of several B-2 Stealth bombers moving in lazy circles. He knew nothing good would fall out of those things. That got him moving again.
“Since the zombies can't shoot back they can put all these planes out here for all to see. But nightmares are about to fall out of those dark shapes high up there,” he was finally able to talk at an almost normal level, though he still felt the urge to yell because his ears were ringing so much, “so we have to move fast!”
As he straightened Grandma's chair, he looked to his right—back into the city—and saw a massive new hotel a couple hundred yards away. It sat in the front row of buildings lining the western edge of the Gateway Arch grounds, and it caught his eye because it was circular rather than your typical rectangular skyscraper. He also noticed its base was thick with zombies too. The dead were coming from both the north and the south now, heading toward the survivors and their loud friends in the sky.
They are coming out of the woodwork!
He pushed Grandma with high enthusiasm.
They were several hundred feet further down the trestle when a massive bomb blew up directly over the last little tunnel in the park. Once again the shockwave hit them, warmer and with much more force than before. Liam turned around to see what had been hit.
“Oh crap. I hope everyone got out of there.”
There was too much smoke and debris to see much of anything in that direction. As curious as he was, Liam knew time was critical in getting as far away from the action as he could. How far south would they drop bombs?
He and Victoria did the only sensible thing they could. They ran like their lives depended on it.
Behind them, the nightmares kept falling.
4
The explosions never let up near the Arch, but after several more minutes of walking they could tell the military wasn't walking their barrage further to the south. Though safe was a strong word to use, Liam felt they were at least safe from those big bombs. Their group had become spread out, but all were moving on the tracks in the same direction.
Liam and his friends found themselves on a narrow railroad trestle, well above the street level below. The sick were thinning out the further south they walked, coinciding with the increasingly labyrinthine warehouse district below them.
While he walked, Liam saw—in real life—how the zombie infection was spread.
A pair of zombies had caught up to a man walking with a leg injury. He had a pistol but he unloaded the last few rounds killing the first. Liam paid special attention to how that played out because he was carrying a pistol too. Then the man tried to parry the second, which he was able to do pretty effectively for several minutes, but with his injury he could never get away cleanly.
The man appeared to be looking for some kind of weapon to use, but he was on a wide-open street. Other than paper and other floating debris, there were no weapons to be found.
The man finally ran out of energy. He was so close to a fence—he might have been able to jump it and get away. It looked like he just gave up. Death descended upon him and made short work of its victim. Unlike most zombie movies, it wasn't eating brains or pulling out intestines. Instead, blood was spraying profusely, and the man was screaming terribly as the thing seemed to chomp on his neck. Then, to Liam's shock, the zombie seemed to spend time preening itself, lapping up the fresh blood as best it could.
That was weird.
Liam was several minutes down the trestle when he looked back at the victim. He expected to see him reanimating, but the man still lay where he fell. His blood-soaked attacker had moved on.
A few more minutes of walking the trestle and he was barely able to see the man on the ground because of the surrounding buildings. Liam knew it was his last chance to observe any changes.
He asked Victoria to stop. He watched the dead man for several minutes while Victoria and Grandma were drinking some water. He was about to give up when the man sat up, then stood up, then walked away.
He explained what he'd just witnessed to Victoria and Grandma.
“So they drink the blood of their victims, but don't eat their brains?” Victoria had inadvertently stumbled into Liam's wheelhouse of knowledge about zombie lore.
“It would appear all the books and movies were just fiction, though some of them do seem to eat parts of the victim.” He was thinking about a certain foot sittin
g in a certain car. “No one had actually seen a zombie until this plague came along in real life. I think it helps people to think of these sick people as something less than human. ‘Zombie’ has become synonymous with brainless—somehow sick—humans. It was only natural they would also eat brains, as a subconscious way of reinforcing what they already lack. That is why I wanted to see what happened in sequence and how long it took. I think these things are more like vampires than zombies. They are clearly drinking blood while spreading the infection.”
Victoria was happy to engage him on the topic. “So they are more like Vombies or Zampires?”
“Hmm, I hadn't thought about it. Vampire-Zombies. VZ's? Like Veee-Zeee. Does that sound good?”
“Sounds kind of like the word for poop.”
“Yeah, let's forget that. VZ could stand for Venezuela. Maybe we call them...zuellas?”
Victoria said it, testing it out. “Zuellas. Yeah, I like it.”
Grandma, what do you think of calling these things zuellas?
“I think you two should have more respect for the dead.”
Properly chided, Liam resumed pushing and Victoria followed his lead. Eventually she added an addendum to their musings on what Liam had witnessed below. “Whatever you call it, you should have tried shooting the one you watched to try to save the man. It was the least you could do.”
“Believe me I would, but my little pop gun couldn't hit a barn at such a long range. My odds of hitting it and hurting it were basically zero. Remember I told you only a direct shot to the head at close range will kill a zombie?”
“Yeah.”
Grandma had an unexpected response.
“Besides, Liam has to protect you, my girl. You each must stay focused on what's important now. Don't get distracted by things you can't change. Know when to help your fellow man, but don't do anything that could endanger each other.”
She was essentially telling him not to be THAT GUY and do something they'd all regret. He knew it was good advice, even if he himself was prone to such regrettable actions. He held his tongue.
Victoria was similarly silent.
“Why are you two looking at me like that? I know I'm just the old lady along for the ride, but I'm also an observant old woman. I see the way you two are looking at each other, worrying about each other. It's OK. I get it, even if you don't.”
Grandma shifted in her chair, as if getting ready for a long speech.
“I've been watching things carefully since Liam and I left my house. Sure I've slept a lot, but I've also seen a lot. I listen more than you know even when my eyes are closed.” After a short chuckle at her own joke she resumed, “but you kids have to be aware of the new reality here. These police officers might be the last law and order you see for a long time. You are both too young to remember Hurricane Katrina back in oh-five. The storm raged through and the levees collapsed, letting water cover the city. I read all about it. The first thing washed away was 911. Looting was rampant. Rapes. Killing. Every manner of lawlessness. Even the police were killing people. Not many mind you, but there are always bad apples. And those criminals were all 100% sure society was still hunky-dory in the rest of the world.”
“What we have today is much worse than Katrina. This sickness is everywhere. Why the military won't let us across is a mystery because I'd bet my last dollar this plague is up in Chicago. If it isn't in East St. Louis it will be soon enough. There is no stopping it. Society is going to break down. It is breaking down. You've just seen it break down.”
“The only thing we can do—you, me, Victoria—is go on surviving day after day. We should try to stick with these good men and women, but that won't last unless we all get well outside the city. There are just too many infected people now.”
“You two have to care for each other. It won't be easy, but it's easier if you can tolerate being around each other. I think you do.”
Liam blushed. Victoria's face was bruised and swollen already, so it was difficult to read her, but Liam noticed a smile breaking through her distorted facial muscles.
“Just promise me one thing. When my time comes, don't either of you risk yourselves for me. Don't ever do that! Please promise me.”
Victoria seemed to acquiesce, but would only say “uh huh.” Liam also tried to remain vague. He would only commit to “I'll try.”
Would he really leave Grandma to such a horrible fate?
He was ready to tell himself he would never, ever leave her. But for the first time, his life or death equation was more complicated. What if he had to choose between Grandma and Victoria? Sure she was a girl he'd just met, but he liked her and liked being around her. He figured that was enough of a foundation for mutual survival, and—? He pictured himself having to choose. It hurt his head even thinking of it.
He resolved that he was going to ensure Victoria and Grandma got out of this together, and if possible, himself. He could not pick one life over another.
Yeah, I can live with that equation.
5
The group came back together when they were about a mile south of the tunnel. The trestle had gently brought them back to street level, but they were a good distance from any pursuit. Human stragglers were still coming down the trestle, but so far it seemed likely none of defenders were able to get out of the tunnel once the bomb went off above it. Repeated radio calls came up empty.
Liam was dismayed to learn the captain wasn't among the survivors. Officer Jones was here, as was CDC “driver” Hayes. Most of the families and children appeared to have made it, but the number of officers was much reduced. There were a few of the gang members still left, as well as a healthy grouping of regular citizens with firearms.
Left leaderless, the group was suddenly faced with competing interests. Many of the families of the lost officers were understandably distraught. The surviving police were sticking with their families.
The yuppie-looking guy with his wife and pre-teen daughter and her spastic border collie spoke up first.
“I live pretty close to here and have seen nothing but destruction since I left the house this morning. We should try to swim across to Illinois. There is no way we can escape the number of sickos we saw back at the Arch. They are going get through the warehouse district, then swarm this direction and eat us. Even if the Army kills every last one of them at the Arch, there is still a whole city of them to the west of us. We can't outrun them all.”
Liam could empathize. He'd thought about swimming many times.
“NO WAY! We should stay in a group and get our people to safety.” The gang member had a colorful dialect, but that was the gist of his statement. Liam noticed a couple young children were attached to him, as well as a woman who might have been his wife.
The big police officer, Jones, stated plainly the captain had intended they keep moving south—until they got clear of the city. He wanted to keep to that course of action. Then they'd figure out what to do from there.
Another guy, one of the hunters, seemed anxious to actually go into the city. If Liam didn't know better he'd say the guy had lost it—he actually wanted to hunt the zombies to help clean them out of the town. No one seemed anxious to link up with him.
The discussion went on, occasionally punctuated by a snap of a rifle. Infected were wandering everywhere now, though not in force. Victoria moved Liam off to the side.
“Well partner, what are you thinking?”
“I'd vote to stay with the largest group going south. It is where we need to go for one thing, and I trust the captain knew what he was talking about when he sent us in this direction. I can't imagine he'd have wanted us to swim to Illinois or head back into the depths of the city.” And then, to let her know he heard her greeting he finished with, “and what do you think partner?”
“I agree with you. Our best bet is to stick with a group and move south. As much as I want to go back to my dorm and grab my Bible and a fresh pair of clothes, there is no way I'm going back into that mess.”
Liam couldn't deny he was secretly happy she had decided to throw her fate in with his, but he also suffered some serious guilt about feeling anything good while the city itself was being consumed by a tenacious disease. He was unsure if that made him a good person for feeling bad or a bad person for having thought it in the first place.
“Sounds like we are on the same page. Let's go see who we're going with. Looks like a decision has been made.”
When they moved back into the main group, it became clear it was splintering apart. The bulk of the group consisted of the core unit of police officers and their families, along with a few of the pickup gang members. They were heading south.
A few men and women threw in with the local who wanted to swim to Illinois. A couple young families were going, but mostly it was single people, many without weapons. They decided they were going to give the river a shot in a couple hours when it turned dark. They said the only hope was to get out of the city as fast as possible, and the water was the quickest way to safety. None of them believed the Coast Guard would actually shoot them.
The last little group was with the crazy hunter. He actually recruited a young family and a second hunter to go with him. They were standing clear of the main group already, gathering their things. The husband was a bit on the heavy side, like exertion was foreign to him. The wife was very attractive and in much better shape. Their two young kids—one girl and one boy—looked to both be about kindergarten age. It seemed fishy they would want to go back into the city.
Liam couldn't help but get involved, even though he hated having to interact with the crazy man.
“Are you sure you guys want to go into the city? My girl-uh my friend here had come out of the city and she said she'd never go back because it is so incredibly dangerous. What are you hoping to do in that direction?”
The crazy hunter had his shotgun over his shoulder with his finger on the trigger, like safety was a dirty word to him.
Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1): Since the Sirens Page 19