“Liam, wake up!”
He woke up, unsure what had just happened.
“Oh Liam. Really?” Victoria seemed pretty angry, but she made the “be quiet” sign repeatedly with her finger as if to make this situation go away.
Liam glanced over to where dream-Victoria was previously standing. No Victoria. Instead, to his utter horror was a similarly-shaped blood-drenched teenage girl. It appeared as if someone threw buckets of the stuff on her. She was wearing—
No, that can't be.
—a pink nightgown beneath all the blood. And she was moving in his direction. Lots of “them” on the far side of their train car were heading his way now.
“It's not possible.” Liam said it to himself, but he wanted Victoria at least to hear him say it. “I was dreaming.”Almost at the same time, Liam heard a train horn blowing loudly, not far away. An engine was spinning up. A few moments later, as Liam was trying desperately to decide how they were going to hide from the wandering pack of zombies, a repetitive “bang bang bang” sound got closer and closer to them. When the train car behind them banged, Liam knew what it was. The train was starting to move and the noise came from each car catching and pulling the car behind it. The final “bang” happened seconds later, and the whole train was in motion.
How long would it take for the wanderers to find their way around the end of the train currently concealing them? The moving train—the second row of cars from the perspective of the zombies—was clearly visible for ten or so cars to the rear of the shorter train. That gave them plenty of movement to draw their attention.
There was no question how it would go down. They would wander over to the moving train, then be deflected in the direction it was moving, and finally pushed into the humans standing there with dumb looks on their faces at the impossibility of it all.
Liam shook his head.
That is NOT going to happen.
He looked at the moving train, then formulated his plan.
He immediately hated it, but a good plan now was better than a perfect plan tomorrow. Thank you General Patton!
4
No sense being quiet.
“Jones, we need your help.”
The big man looked around. He didn't have family—what was that story?—with him so didn't have to run up the corridor to tend to his own.
“Sure, what you gonna do kid?”
He moved over to him and shared his plan in a hurried voice. When he had laid it all out Jones made a whistling sound as if impressed.
“Victoria. Help Grandma out of the chair please.”
Liam went and picked up his backpack and put it on his back. He then folded the chair down in several fluid motions—he was getting good at it.
Then they waited.
The moving train was about twenty cars long, with at least one engine pulling it as best Liam could tell from his position. Most of the cars were empty coal tenders—Liam recognized them because he saw coal carriers all the time along the rail line where he lived, which happened to be near a coal-fired power plant. There were also a few liquid-haulers and two flatbed cars, both with tractor-trailers on their backs. One of the flatbeds had already passed. The other was the very last car. That was their target. Grandma couldn't very well run and catch the first one. She wasn't going to be climbing ladders to get up on the coal cars either.
The rest of the group of police and gang members was jumping onto whatever cars were closest. Liam couldn't see the entire group in the black of the night, but he suspected they all had the same idea. He wanted to make sure.
“EVERYONE JUMP THE TRAIN!”
The zombies were rounding the corner and knew people were in the darkness. Liam saw the flatbed car was arriving at just the right moment. The train was still moving slowly, like it was taking its time feeling through the gloom ahead. Liam began to wonder if it would be too slow, and whether those dead people might also climb on board. That would ruin everything.
Grandma was being supported by Victoria while Liam grabbed the big wheelchair. He'd been handling it for a couple days now and he knew it had some heft to it, but he was surprised to find he could barely lift it. As Jones let loose with the first shell, he tried to heft the thing up onto the passing flatcar.
He did manage to get it into the air, but it was a horribly placed toss that careened off the side of the car, then fell into the rocks next to the tracks. He made a judgment based on the weight of the wheelchair and the speed of the train and decided to let it go. Instead, he jumped onto the small ladder near the front of the flatcar, and climbed up.
Liam watched as several zombies were closing in on Jones. He had already shot three or four times and knocked down the infected with each shot, but there were too many. Liam needed Jones more than anyone right now.
He looked at Victoria and Grandma and told them to walk with the train as fast as they could. They immediately began moving, not wanting to be any closer to the arriving plague than necessary.
Liam ran to the back of the flatcar, which was also the back of the train. Jones was backpedaling as fast as he could, firing a couple more shots, and then reaching into his pants pocket to grab more shells.
Liam decided to get out his own gun and see if he could help. He threw off the safety and kept the gun in a low ready position while he looked for easy targets. He knew he could hit just about any of the zombies in his immediate vicinity, but to be effective with the little gun he needed a clean shot to the head. That took a little more planning.
“Jones you have to run, Grandma is walking up the line!”
Jones was in the middle of a reload when one walker got too close to ignore. The big man took the butt of the shotgun and in one smooth motion used it to bash in the face of the infected woman.
He seemed pleased he was able to so easily dispatch her, but the arrival of a half a dozen others tempered his celebratory spirit. He finished putting in a last shell, racked it, but then used the sling to throw it over his shoulder, and started running back up the line.
Liam was left alone for the moment on the tail of the train. He could have easily started shooting, but held off. Instead, he started screaming at them.
“I'm right here you stupid somnambulistic sum' bee-otches! Come and get me!”
I read too much dark fiction.
He started to scream and whistle and make as much noise as he could. It had the intended effect. Most of the pursuit moved in his direction, rather than try to follow Jones up between the trains.
Soon he was a pied piper with fifteen or twenty infected in the wake of the train. He was able to turn around and watch the front of the flatcar.
He saw Victoria and Jones swap positions so he could help Grandma along. Victoria then climbed up the moving ladder. She went to sit down on the edge of the car, facing Jones. The big man picked up Grandma between both arms and fast-walked a few paces ahead of Victoria. He planted his feet and started swinging her backward, then forward, backward again, and then he swung her forward with enough force he was able to gingerly toss her up onto the car, right into Victoria's lap and a companion bear hug. She then rolled backward just enough to ensure Grandma wouldn't fall back off. She was safe. She even giggled at the spectacle of the whole thing.
Jones ran ahead again and jumped up on the ladder himself, easily gaining the flat surface. From there he was able to help a few stragglers who were unable to mount the coal car ahead of them. Several times he just leaned over and grabbed their arms and pulled them up.
As they solidified their position on the back of the train, they rolled by the body of one of the police officers who was injured earlier in the day. As far as Liam could tell, he was the only person from their group who didn't survive this hasty exit.
Looking back, he had a wave of inexplicable sadness for the sick people behind them. Each of them were normal, healthy humans only a few days ago. Each had a family and many stories to tell about who they were and what they wanted out of life. This disease, plague,
whatever it was called, had brought ruin to them and made it necessary for good people to engage in horrific acts of violence. He felt sorry to be a part of that violence, sorry they were dead, but if he was true to himself he was also very glad to have the tools and the friends to stay alive in this dark time.
He looked at his sports watch. The glow function allowed him to see the time was 4:15am.
We survived for one more night.
Or do I have to see sunrise for it to count?
Chapter 15: Slow Grind
They had only just cracked the surface of the yard when they arrived from the north. Now, sitting on the train rolling through the yard, he was able to get a sense of how big the place really was. He estimated there were hundreds of cars sitting on dozens of rail lines, in a confusing jumble of single cars, strings of cars, and scattered engines.
Many of the stationary train cars had frightened people hiding in them. As Liam's train moved by, the hidden people would spring out and try to jump on to the one train that appeared to be going somewhere. It was still moving slow enough that the jump wasn't excessively dangerous, but with zombies in the wake of the train you didn't want to blow your chances. Most people made it on, though a few people tried and failed on cars ahead of them and thus ended up on the final car with Liam. One man—possibly a little tipsy from drugs or alcohol—blew his chance on every ladder he encountered, and was only saved because Jones pulled him up at the very end of the last car while arms from the dark reached for him.
By the time they'd left the bulk of the yard, they had perhaps twenty new people with them.
Grandma was sitting with her back against a tire of one of the tractor-trailers parked on the bed surface. Victoria was sitting with her.
“You two look comfortable,” and then remembering his recent flub throw of the chair he said, “I'm sorry I lost your chair. It was a lot heavier than I thought it would be.”
“I'm just thankful you thought to get me up here with Jones' help. I'll do alright without my chair. Don't spend time worrying on me.”
Victoria was smiling at Liam, as best she could given the state of her facial injuries.
“Why are you so happy?”
“Well it isn't because of what you screamed back there.” But Liam thought he saw a hint of a smile on her face. Even if he imagined it, he felt better thinking it. “No, you got us out of another tough spot. By my count that makes ohhh, about 100 times you've saved my life in the past two days. Thank you.”
“Well I got us into the mess, so I had to get us out too.”
He tried to laugh it all off, but was ready to move on.
Victoria apparently wanted to move on as well. “So where do you think we're going?”
“There are tracks down this bank of the Mississippi River all the way through the suburbs of St. Louis. I think we can ride this out of the city. I think they even go close to my house. Wouldn't that make things simple?”
“But we aren't moving very fast.”
“True. It beats walking though!”
Liam looked toward the front of the train and noticed a couple disturbing things. First, something up there was throwing sparks in all directions on the train tracks. Second, whatever was causing those sparks was also causing a horrific grinding and screeching sound. Taken together, it appeared the train was pushing a rolling lightning and thunder show.
That should be wonderful at drawing zombies to us.
Still, they were moving. They were safe for the moment. Liam cautiously imagined things were finally looking up for them.
He moved over to Jones.
“Thank you for drawing those zombies off me. That was some quick thinking.”
“Call it even for your help getting my Grandma to safety. Where do you think this train will take us?”
“Dunno. I live and patrol north of here, so I'm not familiar with the part of town we're in now, or where we might go. I've always heard it was a safer beat down here south of St. Louis, but looking at it now, I'm not so sure.”
Liam didn't know the big man well enough to judge if he was joshing him.
“I do wish we could communicate with the engineer. We could just ask.”
That seemed to jog his memory because he pulled out his radio and made a call.
“Jones here. Anyone have any idea where this engine is pulling us? Over.”
They waited for a few minutes and only heard one curt response of “No idea.”
“Not very talkative tonight.”
“No, we got beat up pretty bad. Losing the captain like that. Losing all the others. Rough day.”
Liam had nothing to add.
He took a seat well away from the car's edge and watched the world go by. In the dark it was difficult to see landmarks or guess where they were, but they were moving so slow he had no illusions they had gone very far. In fact, they were going so slow many of the zombies were following behind them now, or coming out of the darkness from the city-side of the tracks. Those would often try to grab for the train only to find themselves bounced along until the train went by. A few found themselves falling between the train cars, and a couple were even halved when they were run over.
But always more came.
Liam could see the faintest hint of the approaching dawn, but it could also be his mind playing tricks on him; he wanted the night to end so badly. The train ride was nice, but being surrounded by moaning terrors was enough to drive a person mad. Not knowing where he was going was similarly stressful. He imagined it was safer to the south, but what did he really know? Maybe it was way worse.
For a few more minutes Liam was lost in thought, wondering how much longer he could stay awake under such conditions. He felt himself nodding and wasn't going to fight it. He vaguely wondered if he'd have another vision of Victoria, but he quickly shut that out. The adrenaline of the jump up to the train had all but worn off.
Then the train suddenly lurched to a complete stop. The adrenaline was coming back. It started to overflow as the train reversed—into the horde emerging from the blackness behind the train.
It's just not fair.
2
Liam was awake now.
The rear car was backing into the main mass of zombies, though not fast enough to do any real damage. A few might have been pushed down and gotten caught under the car, but most bounced harmlessly to one side or the other. They weren't tall enough to grab anyone up on the flat car—the men and women all moved to the middle, underneath the two trailers.
The backward movement didn't go on for too long. Soon the train actually stopped. Then the shooting started.
It was coming from the front section of the train. From their position under the trailers and behind the taller freight cars they couldn't see much of anything up there. They did see flashes of light off the glass of industrial buildings in the area so they knew trouble was coming from the area of the engine.
Many of the undead started heading for the commotion, although the bulk of those surrounding the last car remained at their post. Food was right there.
Jones' radio crackled.
“The train started up a siding, so the engineer had to back up so we can change the track switch by hand. We are also pushing and pulling another engine with its brakes locked. We need time up here. Out.”
Zombies had been stacking up behind the train, and the noise had been attracting the infected who were already near the tracks in this part of town. There were plenty to keep everyone who had a gun quite busy.
Jones looked at Liam, then at the rest of the people on the last car.
“Everyone with a gun start shooting at these guys. Especially the ones moving forward toward the engine!”
He looked at Liam and said he only had a few more rounds for his shotgun, so he was going to save those. He pulled out his service pistol, a Glock 22, and checked the mag. There was no safety on that model, so he got right to it.
Liam got out his Mark I, threw off the safety, and then took careful aim
of the nearest target.
Bang!
He hit it right in the center of the side of the zombie's head. It dropped right down.
Yippee Kai Yay! You're dead!
Victoria was soon at his side with her gun. Together they took aim at the next nearest pair of zombies and shot.
“Yes!” Liam was quite proud of his shooting. It had been a while since he'd last been at the range to practice, but the little pistol was very stable and easy to shoot.
Victoria's didn't go off as planned—she had forgotten the safety. She quickly disengaged it and got in on the second shot with Liam.
They both missed.
From there they both began to fire at will. Always at the closest zombies who were moving forward. To do this they had to avoid shooting some of the others who were still hounding them at the side of the rail car. It was a bit disconcerting to leave them alive.
Why not kill them?
He took aim at one of the zombies standing in the front row and put a bullet through his eye. Then he did that for four others in quick succession. Then he reloaded.
Victoria was hitting some, but missing many of those moving around.
She was soon out and had to reload too.
Liam got his box of 1000 rounds out of the backpack, and together they huddled over it.
Liam was done first and banged out all nine rounds on the zombies level with him as he sat on the deck of the car. He was nearly finished when Victoria got busy with her next nine rounds. She was again aiming for those who were walking.
Liam reloaded.
Nine hammers slammed.
Liam reloaded.
Nine hammers slammed.
It was the first time he got to use his gun the entire trip. He found himself in some kind of a bloodlust. He was mad as hell at the zombies for ruining—everything. He couldn't even enjoy a proper time with this girl because they had sullied that too.
A couple of the other men with guns had taken the massive bloodletting as an invitation to shoot any of the bloody targets they wanted. They aimed at the easy pickins' right in front of them too, which added to the pile of undead below. Several zombies were struggling onto the pile and could almost shimmy their way onto the deck.
Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1): Since the Sirens Page 21