Victoria nodded.
Liam cut the last little bit of fabric off the back of the tent and it fell to the ground, giving him a perfect view of the woods.
Unfortunately, the view was blocked by the imposing presence of Jax. “Do you kids think I was born yesterday? I know five-year-old's with better plans than you.”
He had his weapon out, but pointed at the ground. “Get your stuff and let's go.”
Liam smiled innocently as he retreated back into the tent. “Well, that didn't go as planned.”
“You tried, Liam. Now it's my turn.”
She partially unzipped the front zipper, turned around at him with a big grin and a wink. She did something that quite literally shocked him. She screamed at the top of her lungs, finished opening the zipper, and spilled out the front.
Liam was left in stunned silence. He turned around and looked through the rough cut of the rear of the tent and saw Jax as he moved toward the front again. He looked all business.
“That soldier tried to pull off my shirt!” Victoria screamed while forcing herself to sob.
Oh, shit.
Liam came out of the tent to see a dozen armed men and women running up from the scores of tents in earshot. None looked too happy to have to deal with a Marine, though the screams of the girl could not be ignored.
Jax came around the tent with his weapon drawn.
“STAND DOWN” he yelled in his most commanding voice.
The arriving civilians stopped in their place, but not for long. More followed.
“I SAID STAND DOWN!”
Fewer people were affected.
The plan worked too well. Liam worried someone might get hurt. He stood up next to Victoria as if to comfort her. He made an exaggerated effort to speak so everyone could hear him. “Victoria, would you like me to talk to this Marine to get his side of the story?”
The crowd of men and women were twenty feet away, but spreading around him. He had to know his chances of surviving the flash mob was dwindling.
“Yes, please speak to him!”
Victoria was acting scared, but Liam thought he could detect real fear in her eyes.
“Everyone, give me a minute to talk to him. Please.”
No one seemed overly anxious to escalate beyond coming to a rescue.
Liam moved over to Jax, and directed him to the rear of the tent. He spoke quietly. “Do you have a pencil?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“A pencil? You know, to write with? I want to get you out of this alive. Victoria and I only want to be left alone, but if you give me a pencil I'll write down how to find my grandma. That should soften your return to your unit.”
He didn't look happy, but he pulled out a stub of a pencil and a scrap of paper. Liam noticed it had some words printed on the side, in tiny gold script. It said, “Trust in God.”
He looked at it for a long moment, then wrote something. “You were right. My plan was as sophisticated as a five-year-old's. Hers...” He made a swooshing sound with his mouth.
He handed the paper and pencil back.
“That's the phone number to my cell phone. Currently my grandma has it wherever she is. Maybe you guys can do some fancy tracking on it or something. You have a better chance of finding her with it than I do and I have to believe you are less hostile to her than Hayes.”
Jax seemed to consider this new information. “Then why are you running away?”
He had a point. Maybe going with the Marines would be the fastest way.
Trust no one.
His dad's maxim on life.
He looked into Jax's eyes and felt himself wanting to believe this man, this US Marine, was honorable.
“The government took my grandma. The government shot my girlfriend. The government bombed my house into scrap. I wish I could trust you and the colonel. I really do. But I have to go my own way, away from any agent of that government.”
With that, Liam spun around before he could be talked out of anything. The desire to trust the Marines was overwhelming.
He spoke to the crowd.
“I think there's been a slight misunderstanding. Victoria and I were merely wanting to go our own way, and this Marine accidentally tried to stop us. Would you good people make sure he gets back to his unit at the council's HQ? It's very important he not be harmed. Scout's Honor.”
Liam thought about whether he could really make this request of these people, but he was surprised to see several step up as if to provide escort.
For his part, Jax played along. He made no effort to talk the crowd down or reason with them. He simply fell in with them and led them back through the tents. No final words to Liam. No threats. Just business-like in his demeanor. He'd come to appreciate that in the real world there were seldom big speeches.
Once they were sure he was gone, they ran into the woods like cross country stars.
Chapter 7: Trajectories
“We have to find Mr. Lee. I just hope he's up in his watchtower where we left him.”
Victoria struggled to keep up with Liam as they ascended the steep wooded path. As she arrived, he asked, “You OK?”
“Yeah, just worn out. First running after you, then the excitement of the Marines, now more running. I think I'm exhausted because lying down in those bushes and calling it a day seems like a really good idea right now.”
She nodded and he followed her gaze.
“Well, you don't want to lay in those bushes. That's a tangle of poison ivy. My Boy Scout plant identification badge is still paying dividends.”
Victoria scrunched her face in a “thanks Mr. know-it-all” gesture, but they both laughed.
They resumed the trek the rest of the way up the hill and arrived at the watchtower they had left earlier in the day. It was a bustle of young Scouts running to and fro. Some worked on the fence. Others ran off into the woods. It was part of the communication system Mr. Lee had rigged up to talk to other checkpoints and keep the perimeter free of zombies and other intruders.
Liam saw Mr. Lee on the lowest level. He waved at them, though he looked very busy.
She grabbed his arm. “Wait, Liam. We have to discuss what we're going to do next. We need a plan so we don't look like a couple of kids just running away from our problems.”
“That sounds like an after-school special.” He was smiling, but she wasn't.
“OK, I guess now isn't the time for humor. I think we should all get in the MRAP and go follow the Marines and see where they go. I gave them Grandma's phone number and I bet they have access to the cellular network and can get a message to her so they can find out where she's being held.”
“What if she doesn't have the phone anymore? What if it was taken from her?”
Liam felt his face turn serious. “She still has it. I have to believe she does.”
“What about your parents? Are we going to leave them in the camp?”
Liam could feel his stomach turn over. “I should have tried to get them out. I didn't even think of it.”
“Do you want to go back?”
Liam took a long minute to think. “We can't. We'd never make it back under the nose of the Marines, and even if we did somehow manage to get dad out, his leg is busted. He would have to stay in the truck the whole time. My mom has to stay with him too. They'll be fine in camp, for now.”
Victoria nodded.
“So the next question is who do we get to go with us? You and I can't drive that thing on our own. We really need Melissa.”
Liam looked around, but didn't see Mel. “Yeah, and having Mr. Lee, Phil and Bo along wouldn't hurt either. We could assemble our A team again.”
Privately Liam worried he had asked too much of his new friends already. Going out on another excursion for “the young kid”—with a low probability of success to boot—was asking a lot. Especially when they were somewhere relatively safe already. Victoria was right. They had to come to this with a coherent plan.
My plan sounds childish; save my gr
andma.
Liam turned the pages of his mind, searching through the books he'd read about zombies to try to arrive at his own solution, but he had to admit most scenarios like this started with noble intentions and ended in death for at least some of the noble warriors. Asking people to risk their lives for him was not the trivial request he thought it was just a few short minutes ago. It made going off on their own seem more palatable, even if it meant it would be much more difficult. Still, he wanted to give it an honest shot to enlist the others.
With suitable embarrassment he managed to ask her how she would present his plan so it didn't sound juvenile.
“I think the answer is Hayes,” Victoria was deliberate in her response, “and his seeming inability to just leave you alone. We already know he has Grandma, so getting help to rescue her can't be ignored. But the bigger picture is the protection of this camp. We have a reasonable expectation that if Hayes knows we're here, he could attack the camp just like he did for your house and street. By leaving to rescue Grandma and stop Hayes, we are protecting the camp from further harm.”
Victoria snapped her fingers as if surprised. “That's it! We aren't going to rescue Grandma 'just because.' We're going to stop this once and for all so both the camp and Grandma can be safe. That sounds reasonable, doesn't it?”
“Actually, that sounds very reasonable.”
Except for the part where two kids take on a secretive military-biological Army unit.
They approached the Endor watchtower hand in hand.
2
“Guys, I wish I could go with you, but this camp needs me here. The Marines have really stirred things up in our happy valley. I think people saw their arrival as the end of their time out in the wilderness—the sheepdogs were back to protect them. But as word got out the Marines were just visiting, they...well they didn't take the news too good.”
“We saw that coming up.” Liam left out the part where they escaped from their Marine overseer.
“We also saw firsthand what the Marines are looking for. Rather, who they're looking for. You won't be surprised to know they're looking for Hayes, same as me—us.”
“That figures. How did they end up looking for him here?”
Liam looked at Victoria. She shrugged her shoulders in the universal “I have no idea” answer.
“He didn't say precisely, other than to tell us he got really lucky. Hayes put my name in a database, and he followed the bombs. That's how he put it.”
“Hmm, sounds like we could be in real danger now that the Marines know you're here. Hayes knows, too. You can take that to the bank.”
Victoria gave Liam a knowing look.
After a thoughtful pause, Mr. Lee continued, “I still can't come with you. As head of security this is when the camp needs me the most. As you can see, my runners are working hard to keep our ring of security positions in contact. Liam, people are trying to leave already. What's that saying? Rumors have traveled to the next county before truth has laced up its shoes.”
He must have understood the dejected looks on their faces, so he continued. “I do think Melissa and Phil will be back soon. They're doing some running for me, too. I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to go out and explore again. I don't think they like what I've got them doing.” He laughed, but had a distant look in his eyes. “If only we had some more radios.”
Mr. Lee excused himself so he could get back to managing his runners.
Victoria pulled Liam away and they sat up against a nearby tree while they waited.
Several hours later, he woke up to find Victoria sleeping next to him, still with her back up against the tree.
The sun was low and the shadows of the forest were long.
He stood up, unsteady as he rose.
Victoria was jostled awake. “How long was I out?”
“No idea. I'm just waking up, too. I guess we really needed a nap.”
Mr. Lee was still in the tower, as were Phil, Melissa, and Bo. They were sitting and standing on the first floor.
He pulled Victoria off the ground and together they made their way back to the structure.
“Ah, you're awake! I have good news for you. Melissa has agreed to drive for you, and Phil and Bo are joining you too.” He paused and looked at Melissa before continuing, “We discussed how useful the truck could be in defense of the camp, but I understand why you want to find your grandma and stop Hayes from doing whatever he's going to do to her, and to us. I think that mission is more important than killing any random zombie. Just promise me you'll bring the truck back?”
Liam didn't know what to say.
“We promise.” Victoria responded for him.
“I do have one request. Can you tell my parents I went out looking for my grandma? I don't want them to think I fell off the planet.”
Mr. Lee assured him he would send a runner immediately.
They descended the back side of the hill to the wooded hollow where they hid the MRAP. They clambered in, sealed the doors, and Mel fired up the diesel.
“We got word from our runners the Marines spent a little time looking for you, but bugged out about an hour ago. There was some ugliness as they left, but nobody got hurt, thank the Lord. They haven't gone far however; the convoy is parked not far from the entrance to the valley, though we don't know why they haven't moved from there.” She turned in her seat to face everyone in the back of the vehicle. “So we have to decide how we're going to track these guys.”
No one was quick to offer suggestions. Liam literally had no ideas.
She continued after a suitable pause for feedback, “OK, I vote we head north out of the woods and find a position overlooking the highway so we can observe the convoy as it passes. There's an old water slide on a bluff I know. We can probably follow them using the path they have to cut through all the detritus on the highway. We can't get close, but we should have no problem tracking them wherever they go. Right to your grandma, Liam.”
It was a plan. Better than anything he would have thought up.
Nice to have friends.
3
The little dirt track through the woods was not much wider than the military truck. The dwindling light of the day made it seem narrower than it was as he looked out the front window. He heard the branches drag across the side plates as they passed clumps of trees. Sometimes branches would make a loud snap as they got caught on the apparatus of the chain gun up on top. They'd been through here before, so had confidence they'd come out where they needed.
It was only a fifteen minute trek to the edge of the property, even at such slow speeds. They emerged from the woods on the back side of a dusty open space adjoining a small neighborhood. Melissa stopped the MRAP as they were in the last of the trees.
“You guys want to look at this.”
They gathered as best they could near the cramped space of the driver's compartment. Liam looked out on a whole subdivision of smoldering homes. It was hard to tell how many houses were once there. Maybe thirty or forty. He shuddered as it reminded him of his own ruined neighborhood.
Victoria asked,“Did Hayes do this?”
“No, this is something different. Not a bombing anyway. Each house was torched. There are no craters and—” Melissa hesitated as she looked out, “there's one house still standing smack in the middle.”
Liam noticed it, too.
Phil, in the navigator's seat, asked the question they were all thinking. “Do we proceed?”
Liam sensed they were asking him. “The gamer's dilemma?” He smiled trying to make light of the situation, but he felt they had no idea what he was talking about. “I guess we have to go on,” he finished more seriously.
Melissa cautiously rolled the MRAP across the field and toward the remaining house. It looked lonely among the dozens of ruined frame houses on the empty streets. Liam didn't know why she would head for it. After all, they could just as easily skirt the whole subdivision by driving through the backyards of a few houses to reach the access ro
ad.
“Wait,” he shouted.
The truck slammed to a stop. Liam almost fell over.
“Uh, sorry. How do we know that house isn't some kind of trap?” After he said it he felt guilty for thinking himself important enough to warrant a trap, but in his defense he did have his home bombed.
Melissa and Phil studied the house carefully.
“They really made sure you'd see this, Liam.”
Liam looked at Bo. “Well I see it. I vote we just get out of here.”
Melissa offered her suggestion. “Let's at least drive around to the front of the house and evaluate from there. The road looks intact and unless they have a rocket propelled grenade there's nothing that can harm us.” She looked back at them with a wry smile.
They all agreed to at least get close and check it out.
Melissa sped up as they approached. She turned the last corner so they could all see the front facade of the last house still standing.
Liam heard a few gasps. He merely put his hand on his forehead.
I told them we should have just left.
A word had been spray-painted in big block letters on the white double garage door.
“LIAM.”
4
For the second time in the last several minutes Victoria asked if this was Hayes' handiwork. This time no one offered an answer. He felt the eyes of his friends on him.
“I don't know anymore. Before I met those Marines I thought only Hayes knew my relationship to Grandma. Certainly he was the only one who could possibly know Grandma had my cell phone. But I told Jax about it before we left camp, so I guess the Marines could have written this, too, if they were fast about it. Maybe they announced it on an open frequency so all levels of government know who I am. I just can't say.”
“We can't just sit in here talking about it. This ain't just Liam's problem. We can see for a mile around us. No people. No Z's. Let's check it out.” Bo shuffled to the back doors. When no one made an effort to stop him, he opened them.
“I'll go with you.” Liam really wanted to stay in the truck, but he couldn't let Bo take all the risk while he was safe and snug.
When Liam jumped out Victoria came out after him. He gave her a look.
Stop the Sirens: Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse, Book 3 Page 12