Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1): Since the Sirens

by E. E. Isherwood

  The tractor-trailer was parked so the legs holding it up were near the back of the rail car. That put about 80 feet, and fifty or so adults—only some with weapons—between them and the incoming wave.

  Liam looked at Grandma who was watching the whole thing unfold. She gave him a weak smile as she huddled with everyone else under the truck. Victoria gave him the look of someone who just had an idea explode in their head.

  “Liam can you call the engineer? We have to move this train or we're going to be swamped back here.”

  “I don't know if she has a police radio up there. But I'll try.”

  As shots rang out all around them, Liam tried repeatedly to raise someone up in the front of the train. No one answered.

  He tried to get a look over to Jones and his effort with the dump truck, but there were too many faces staring back at him—blocking his view.

  “Liam. We have to do it ourselves. We can jump on the car in front of us and keep going until we reach the engine.”

  Liam thought it sounded crazy, but he couldn't think of a better plan. He knew Grandma was in some serious trouble if they didn't make something happen. He could stay here and fire round after round from his gun, but there were more zombies surrounding the train than he could realistically dispatch, even if he used all 1000 rounds from his backpack.

  He trusted Victoria.

  “Grandma, Victoria and I—”

  “Yes dear. Please hurry!”

  Liam did something he had never done in his entire life. He gave his Grandma a kiss on the cheek.

  “I'll save you. I promise.”

  Liam and Victoria slithered through the mass of people and made their way to the front of the rear car so they could jump the small gap to the next car—an open-topped coal hopper. A couple of zombies were milling about in the gap but it was an easy jump for both. A quick climb and then over the lip of the car.

  There were several people in the coal car, but only a pair of men were looking over the edges to shoot at the zombies. The walls of the hopper were too high to effectively wield a weapon. It made the people inside very secure—unless there was an impossibly large pile of zombies outside—but it took them out of the fight as well.

  Liam and Victoria ran along the interior, and with a quick run up to the front wall, and a quick pull to the top Liam was straddling the wall. He put his foot on the ladder up the outside of the car and held his hand to help Victoria up and out. He could tell she wanted to do it on her own, but she was still wearing a black dress and flats with broken heels. Not exactly the best accoutrement for running, jumping, and climbing.

  The next car was a big enclosed freight car. The pair hurriedly clambered on top and began running forward among a few of the people who were sitting up there. They could see the engine about twenty cars ahead.

  Liam turned to his right, and was able to take in the action playing out by Jones as he reached the group of survivors on foot.

  Jones had forced his way through to the cheering men and women. The way had indeed been cleared of zombies, perhaps by as much as a half along the roadway. It might be enough.

  They had to keep moving though, and were unable to watch more. It looked like Jones was going to turn the truck around and then push more dead out of the way on his way back. Easy peasy.

  The pair worked their way up the train cars. Some were simple up-and-overs like the freight car. Many were challenging such as dropping into and climbing out of the coal cars. One special coal car was particularly difficult because it had sloped panels in the front and rear, making it slippery as grease to get out. Victoria's shoes were incredibly slick on the coal dust, and when she finally dragged herself high enough Liam could grab her, it looked like she had black stockings on her legs. Her arms and face weren't much better.

  They passed many of the remaining cops and gang members, both frantically firing into the core of the zombies swarming between them and the arriving survivors. He hoped they wouldn't accidentally hit anyone that wasn't already infected. He couldn't worry about every detail though.

  They were only a few cars from the front when they heard the desperate wailing. It was collectively coming from the group of survivors Jones had tried to rescue. When Liam looked over he didn't see the dump truck anywhere. There was nowhere it could have gone in that short of time. Except—

  “Oh no.” Liam could guess what had happened. Jones had driven off the edge of the pit mine. How far down was the next level? He couldn't see from his vantage point.

  Victoria was speechless. She gave him a slight nudge in the back, as if to say they had to keep moving.

  There was no time for mourning.

  The runners seemed enraged at the loss. They kept coming, killing zombies as they got in their way.

  A few minutes later and Liam and Victoria were boarding the walking platform surrounding the engine. They wasted no time getting inside.

  They found the engineer standing on the right side of the compartment, watching the action unfold out her window.

  “You have to move the train! Even a hundred feet will help.”

  She was startled when Liam spoke. The volume of gunfire had covered their approach.

  “Good god you scared me!”

  “Shouldn't we wait for those people to get here? They aren't far now. I stopped so we could save those poor people.”

  “They can still reach the train even if we move down the line. The rear car is piled high with infected. That pile will fall if we move the train. We have to do it now!”

  She looked at Liam, then at Victoria who was vigorously nodding.

  “OK, just give me a second and I'll push us a few feet down the line.”

  True to her word, the train started to move. Liam looked out the window and could see the panic in the eyes of those running toward him—even through the remaining throng of zombies. So he moved out onto the walkway of the engine and starting waving them in. He hoped it was encouraging to them. He noticed Hayes was already out on the platform, toward the back, watching the action. Not doing much else.

  Liam had no intention of doing nothing. He started carefully aiming at the zombies down below. Each hit making a little more room for those who were so close to sanctuary. He ran though his nine rounds and was left with an empty gun in his hands. He hoped he helped. There seemed to be large gaps in the crowd of dead closest to the side of the train. Enough space for the runners to make it through.

  Thank you Jones. I won't forget you. They won't either.

  Soon the panting survivors were scrambling up to whatever car they happened to reach first. Several children were being dragged on the ground by older siblings, as they had become exhausted in the long pursuit. Their parents were nowhere to be seen in many cases. Liam was sad to see there were many fewer survivors than when he first saw them on the far rim of the mine. They had suffered horrible casualties.

  Once safely on board, the train began to roll. The survivors at the bottom of the mine were left to their own version of Dante's Inferno. But then so were hundreds of thousands of others behind them, back in the city. Each a potential vector for the deadly plague.

  A new day indeed.

  Chapter 17: Valkyrie

  Liam had only a few minutes to think about what just happened. They had saved a lot of people—maybe forty or fifty by his estimate. But he had lost his new friend and he was unsure of the status of Grandma, or how many had died defending the rear car. He knew they had to put some room between themselves and the frenzy of zombies behind them, but he wanted to get back and check on his guardian.

  “I need to check on my Grandma, she is on the last car.”

  “No sweat. We have one more stop just ahead. There is road and a little park around the corner where I'm meeting my family. You can run back when I pick them up.”

  Victoria, always looking ahead, noted the problem.

  “Won't that give the zombies a chance to catch us again? They seem to be able to follow us pretty well.”

>   “Well I'm not just going to drive the train right by my people. We're stopping for as long as it takes to pick them up. Be ready in five minutes.”

  Liam and Victoria moved out onto the platform around the engine. Liam gave her a devilish smile.

  “You know, we could just run back along all the cars while we're moving.”

  “Uh no thanks. One fall and you'd be dead. The zombies would catch you before you could climb back on. Assuming you don't get yourself cut in half by the wheels.”

  “Well it works in the movies. But I guess you're right. We'll wait until the train stops and then run back on the ground.”

  “'Bout time you listened to me.” Victoria was smiling at him.

  The pair had a few moments to wait while the train ground it's way through the beginnings of the wooded park. A steep cliff was on the right side of the train, but they were currently looking off the left side, out over the river. Things had happened so fast today Liam was unable to process it.

  Speaking loudly over the dragging created by the front engine, Liam asked “Do you think Jones made it? Maybe it wasn't that far down?” He didn't know what answer he wanted to hear. That he was still alive but surrounded by endless zombies. Or that he died quickly and heroically.

  Victoria was unusually dour in her response.

  “I don't know. But I think we're all gonna die out here. Maybe not on this train, but out in this new horrible world we've entered. I know I shouldn't say it. I don't want to say it. But it's how I feel after everything we've seen. Even my prayers feel hopeless.”

  She took a deep breath before continuing. “A few days ago, before the plague, before we met, I almost wanted to die. Now I've found I want to live, but we may all die anyway. You know?”

  Liam didn't know how to answer. The exhaustion was returning as they stood there doing nothing.

  “Well I think we're going to make it. And I'll tell you something else, Grandma is going to make it too. You and I will make sure of that!”

  He turned to her and became serious. “I want you to stay here because I'm coming right back as soon as I get Grandma squared away. We have to stay up here so we know what's going on. She'll be fine now that we are away from that big crowd of zombies.”

  He didn't mention part of his request was so that he wouldn't have to worry about her and Grandma in the back. He wanted her up in the engine where she'd at least have some protection. In a perfect world he'd get Grandma up into the engine as well, but without her wheelchair or walker to move her, he didn't want to risk having her on the ground if the train started moving again.

  As the train decelerated, Liam was ready. When it had nearly stopped he was off and running.

  “I'll be right back!”

  Victoria, fading behind him, shouted, “GOOD LUCK!”

  2

  Liam approached the rear car to the sound of gun shots. He saw there were some live—dead—infected still doing their work up on the car. Only a few shooters were alive on the flat car and they were cleaning up as best they could. Many of the survivors had poured off as soon as the train slowed down. They were climbing other cars near the back.

  Grandma was there. Still under the truck axle. Still alive among a gaggle of frazzled survivors.

  “Hi Liam. Lovely day we're having. Looks like rain.”

  Grandma had a dry sense of humor. The sky was perfectly clear, but the whole world was in a storm right now.

  “Yeah sure. Glad you are in such good spirits. I was worried sick!”

  “You left me in good hands. Though we lost a lot of good people back here.”

  Liam climbed up, then under the trailer so he could be next to her. He gave her a hug.

  While they chatted about the weather Liam grabbed some water from his backpack and shared it with her. He did the same with some small grain bars. He also reloaded his gun and dumped a ton of the small shells into his pockets so he'd never run out of ammo again while in an emergency.

  While they watched, the last of the zombies were cleared from their rail car by the few remaining gun handlers. Liam shouted his thanks. Everyone that hadn’t moved to other cars was sitting or standing in a small area near the front of the flatcar. The back half was now tainted with lots of blood.

  “They are picking someone up and then the train will be moving again very quickly.”

  Liam looked over his shoulder to see if they were being followed. Of course they were. The front of the zombie wave from the nearby quarry was slowly coming around the corner. Still several minutes behind them. Inexorably moving their way.

  Liam grabbed his radio from his backpack.

  “This is Liam. We have to move the train. The horde will be here in minutes. Over.”

  Silence on the radio.

  Is this thing on?

  He tried a few more times and still got no response. The train hadn't moved either. He thought angrily of every movie he'd ever seen where the radio goes out at the most inopportune time. He couldn't fathom how his own radio would similarly fail at his most desperate hour.

  “Grandma, will you be OK back here? I have to run up front and tell them to move this thing.”

  “I'm not going anywhere. I'm comfortable under here.”

  Liam grabbed his backpack this time, and slid out from under the trailer, then off the flat deck. He gave Grandma one quick look, waved to her, then dashed away.

  More zombies were coming into view.

  He absently wondered how far he'd run today. He was sprinting once again. He spotted Victoria as he rounded the halfway point of the train. There was a slight curve in the track, turning to the right.

  She was a mess. Bruised face. Hair was as wild as a cave girl. Dress was torn in several places. Legs and arms were coal-covered and sweat-covered from exertion. Liam thought she looked like an obsidian angel. Dark and beautiful.

  “Get your buns up here!”

  With a foul mouth.

  He climbed aboard and she gave him a warm hug.

  “I thought you'd been taken.”

  “I've only been gone a couple minutes.”

  “Seemed like you were gone for a half hour. I'm sorry I have a horrible sense of time. I have no watch.”

  “Let's get inside. We have to get the train moving again.”

  They moved in to find the engineer.

  She wasn't there.

  On the other side of the train they saw here below, unloading an SUV near the front of the broken engine. There were several kids, a man who must have been her husband, and an older woman who may have been a relative of some kind. They were all carrying flats of bottled water, pillows and sundries for the kids, and several guns. They were piling everything on the end of the platform where Liam was standing. He moved to help put the gear inside the engine where it would be protected. Victoria did the same.

  While hurrying the move along, Liam stated “We have to move! There are zombies almost at the back of the train again.”

  He didn't hear gunshots yet, which would be the telltale sign trouble had arrived.

  To his relief, the man clambered onto the engine, and ran past him into the compartment. To no one in particular he yelled out, “I snapped the brake lines on the dead engine. It has a broken gearbox. We can open her up now.”

  Once inside the compartment he went to work spinning up the engine. The horn rang out multiple times, each time a long three-second blast. No mistaking it was time to leave.

  The kids came up next. Two young boys, about nine or ten years old, both dressed in jeans and sweatshirts—like they were trying to wear some protection from the biters. Liam thought it might backfire given the heat of the days of June, but said nothing.

  Last up was the woman engineer and her older friend. Once aboard the she ran into the compartment and shouted “ABOARD!”

  Shots rang out in the back just as they lurched forward.

  As promised, the man was the actual engineer of this train. The engine was humming at fever pitch as he tried to get
them up to a fast cruising speed. After many hours of running along at near-to-walking pace, it felt like they were on a bullet train. They were still pushing the dead engine, but it was no longer sparking and thundering. They were free of that problem and the powerful engine hit its stride quickly, pulling nothing but empty cars behind.

  “This is amazing!” Liam shouted.

  Liam had just enough time to celebrate feeling the wind in his hair with Victoria as they hung on to the side rails—when the train hit the brakes hard and began a screeching deceleration.

  What now?

  3

  As they slowed down Liam saw the problem ahead. There was a railway bridge over the Meramec River very near to where that river meets the much larger Mississippi River. Directly on the other side, right where they needed to go, was a roadblock of several emergency services vehicles along with the real showstopper—a large construction crane dangling a massive wrecking ball right in the middle of the tracks.

  The superhero part of Liam's brain tried to run the numbers on whether the train could plow through all that stuff and survive, but it came up with bad news. The engineer likely ran the same numbers and came up with the same answer as well. They had to stop.

  The dead engine slid to a stop just short of the beginning of the span. To their immediate right was a large facility with three huge smoke stacks. The huge piles of coal told Liam it was a power plant. This was the place he could see from near his own house. From where they sat now, they could see lots of police and fire units on the other side of the bridge. There were also several men standing in the middle, shotguns in hand—the message was clear: this was the end of the line.

  “Well what do we do now?” Liam was always looking for the answers.

  The male engineer spoke up.

  “These guys again! The City of Arnold is on the other side of that river. They have closed all the bridges into their jurisdiction, including Interstate 55, which is where we tried to cross two days ago. That is when I called Tatia here and told her to try to reach my train and bring it south so I could meet her. I was hopeful they hadn't blocked this route, though I should have known better.”