Several men stood in the middle of the bridge, near the wrecking ball, guns in hand. The message was clear: this was the end of the line.
The engineer spoke up. “These guys again! The City of Arnold is on the other side of that river. They closed all the road bridges into their jurisdiction, including Interstate 55, which is where we tried to cross two days ago. That's when I called Tatia 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.”
A few handfuls of people huddled in the bushes and trees on the approach to the bridge. Other survivors emerged from near the big pile of coal. No one came out to greet the train. He figured they were watching this new development at the blockade. If those people weren't being allowed to cross, what hope did the passengers on the train have?
The engineer paced around a bit, then spoke to his wife. “Is there any way we can back up the train and cross downtown? Is it still open?”
She shook her head no.
“We came from downtown,” Liam interjected. “The military bombed it to a pulp.”
The engineer continued. “There are some routes through the city we might be able to use, but I bet they all end just like this one. No one wants to let any of us city folk come into their turf.”
Minutes went by as the engineers deliberated other routes through St. Louis. They found an ancient railroad map tucked under a seat, but none of the routes offered a path to safety. Nothing was as sure as the safety one river away from them.
He looked at Victoria, sensing he needed to do something to help. “While you guys think about other routes, Victoria and I will go talk to the people guarding the bridge. We'll see if they're letting anyone across. Maybe they just don't want the train to go through, but the people are fine?”
It was a lame excuse, but he wasn't running on much sleep. He very much wanted to talk to the authorities on the bridge, so he could figure out what he should do next to protect Grandma and Victoria. He thought of finding a boat or swimming across. Maybe he could find something floaty to put Grandma on. Maybe the little river was shallow enough to wade across at some point. There had to be a solution.
Hayes, who had been in the background during most of the recent action and discussions, jumped in. “As a CDC employee, maybe they'll talk to me.” Without waiting for approval, he stepped out of the cab and started down.
Liam and Victoria ran out to follow him.
The engineers and their family were content to wait in the safety of the engine. He suspected they were delaying a decision on backing out until they saw what would happen next.
A couple of the St. Louis police officers dismounted from the train and wanted to meet on the bridge as well, but Hayes was very persuasive, arguing he was their most senior government official and could get them across. Too many in the group approaching the bridge would constitute a threat to those on the far side of the river. Better to take it slow ...
Liam said nothing to that. It could very well be true.
The trio walked out onto the bridge, careful to not put a foot through the open railroad ties.
“We meet again,” Hayes said. “I guess you two never leave each other's sides, huh?”
“So what. What's it to you?” Victoria snapped, as she raised her hands high in the face of the police ahead.
“No need to get defensive. Just making small talk.” His bemused tone suggested he knew he pushed her buttons.
“That's far enough!” an officer in a black uniform shouted from ahead. “By order of the Mayor of Arnold, Missouri, you are ordered to turn around and return to the safety of your homes.”
“Safety of our homes?” Victoria muttered.
Liam softly spoke to Hayes. “I'm from Imperial. It's just south of Arnold. They might let a local through.”
“It's OK, kid. I got this.”
“I'm Doctor Hayes, and I work for the CDC. I'm under the direct command of the President of the United States. He orders you to allow me to proceed on foot to complete my duties relating to this pandemic!”
The officers laughed.
“Congratulations! You just won me fifty bucks. I bet Billy here one of you would pull that 'I'm with the government' bull.”
“I can prove it. I have ID!” Hayes pulled out his wallet and waved it in the air.
“No, thanks. We aren't taking any chances with that Ebola-crap flying around.”
“Don't you idiots know the plague is everywhere?” Hayes shouted. “It's already on your side of the river. I guarantee it.”
Liam gave him a nudge. “Be nice!”
“Our orders are to stop everyone. We have family here and aren't taking any chances.”
Hayes thought for a moment. “What about locals? My friend here lives in Imperious, to the south of here.”
“Imperial!” Liam shouted to correct him.
“Ha, ha, nice try! Look, I don't care who you are. I had to send a sweet little group of nuns packing, so my sympathy meter is in the crapper. You people aren't getting across this bridge.”
“Just allow me to come over. I'm perfectly healthy. These others aren't important. I'll make sure you're rewarded by the Federal Government.” Hayes took a step to be away from Liam and Victoria.
The lead officer also stepped forward. He was in the black uniform of the local constabulary. Liam respected his AR-style tactical rifle. The big scope was impressive. He seemed to take it personally. “Are you bribing us?” His rifle pointed to the rail ties below, though there was a warning, too.
Hayes huffed as if he wasn't used to being turned away from anywhere he wanted to go. He spun around and started walking back.
Maybe he is a nobody. That's the second time today he's been turned back on a bridge.
Inwardly, he snickered at how Hayes talked himself up but wondered if he was laughing at his own misfortune. If the guy was the important dude he claimed, they might all be getting to safety right now.
Victoria asked the lead cop, “Is there any hope? We have a whole train of families, kids, old seniors. Can you at least give us an idea how to survive? Their homes aren't safe. Nothing back that way is,” she said while pointing over her shoulder.
Victoria's plea, and Hayes' retreat, seemed to temper the lead man. He slung his rifle back over his shoulder and took several steps in their direction. Still a good distance away.
“Look. There's nothing we can do. Our orders are very clear to hold this bridge and prevent the plague from reaching our neighborhoods. Reach our families. I feel for you. I really do. But if I let you across, and the plague kills my best friend's baby girl, I'd never forgive myself.”
He took another couple of steps.
“You guys can hole up in that power plant. It has strong doors. Lots of room. Good for defending yourselves. It has a chance. We might even be able to get some food to you.”
It sounded like the most reasonable thing he'd heard all day.
Not ten seconds later, shots echoed from the back of the train. Fate always seemed to catch up to him.
“Thank you for your offer,” Liam said. “But that noise means the walking plague has caught up with us. My Grandma is on the train and we’re going back to fight. We have to do something.”
He took Victoria’s hand and together they jogged off the bridge.
4
After they got off the railroad ties of the bridge, he let go of her hand and sprinted ahead of Victoria.
“I’m going ahead to get her ready!” he said as he let go.
She may have been a runner, but her shoes slowed her down. He ran full speed to rescue Grandma and wasn't stopping or slowing for anything.
“I’ll be right behind you,” she replied.
He ran past Hayes, who looked lost near the front of the dead train.
Liam ran past the two engineers and their family, standing at the door of the Valkyrie's engine room. One of the little ones waved down and he gave a sideways
wave while on the run.
He yelled to the other passengers as he went by, “Zombies are here! The train is blocked ahead.”
As he ran by all the cars of the train, he repeated his message. He saw the confusion of those left alive. Stay on the train and fight until overwhelmed or get off the train and hope to escape. He didn't look back to learn which choices they made, nor did he offer his teenaged gamer advice, which would have been to fight it out. His only concern was Grandma.
The tracks were bullet-straight here, so he could already see the last car. The zombies were widely spread out behind the train, but they were coming in great numbers a bit further down the right-of-way. Some of them were faster than the others. Those advance zombies were picked off by the remaining shooters, but guns would be useless in a matter of minutes.
This is it.
He had never really appreciated the concept of death. Not even in any of the many situations he'd survived the past several days. He knew he'd been in a bad spot with that robber, but he didn't have time to think about death until after it happened. Now he was staring at Death as it walked toward him. It felt like walking along the edge of a high cliff over a bottomless pit. The anxiety tried to blossom in his midsection and he sensed his arms were in danger of getting the shakes again. Would it force him to cower in a clump of flowers like he did on that first day?
Man up, Liam! Think and plan.
His father's voice was stern, and he tried to think ahead, but Grandma was his only concern at that moment.
He scrambled up onto the flatcar in one fluid jump. Unlike his fiasco hopping the fence in Grandma's yard, he wasn't doing it to look cool. He was doing it to save lives. He pulled her out from under the trailer and apologized profusely for being rough. She didn’t complain at all; he was glad of that.
She was the only living person left on the trailing car. She'd been aware of that, too, because she held her rosary, and she had a speech of sorts worked up.
“I've been very proud of you, Liam. You've certainly grown into a man the last few days. Now you have to let me go. We can't both survive this. You need to protect Victoria. I told her you two would look out for each other when the time came.”
She pointed behind them. “This is that time.”
Liam didn't even acknowledge the statement. He slid off the side and pulled her over the deck and into his arms. He was surprised how light she was. Light, yes, but still too heavy to carry her all the way back to the bridge as the hero part of his mind suggested.
He set her down, put his arm around her waist, and walked her away from the encroaching horde. Something in him solidified. He was adamant he was not going to abandon her and run. He couldn't explain the sentiment. It certainly wasn't logical, but it wasn't baseless emotionalism either. He was compelled to save her. Like everything would be OK if he could get her to safety.
In seconds, Victoria arrived. She grabbed Grandma on the other side, and they made even better time. Not quite a jog, but a decent-paced walk.
Don't look back.
As they passed each car, he realized some people chose to stay and fight. Others ran like mad to all points on the map. Some headed to the nearby Mississippi river—perhaps hoping to swim to safety. The fastest ran the open ground over to the coal plant. Some scrambled up the steep wooded slope nearest the back of the train. Trying to outclimb the pursuit. None of those was realistic for Grandma. Her only option was the bridge ahead.
The surviving shooters made short work of the isolated lead zombies, but the rest of the tide started enveloping the train.
As Liam, Grandma, and Victoria walk-ran along the tracks, so did the noise. Screams of people who got caught. Curses of men and women. The frantic cries of children. The excited drone of a surging pack of angry, feral, zombies. The shooting also intensified, staying very close behind them.
Some who jumped off the train to escape jumped right back on as they realized what headed their way, but many people who had abandoned the train had the same idea as Liam. They gambled their lives on being able to cross the smaller river to their front. They were all much faster than he was with Grandma, even the children.
Don't look back.
He was shocked to realize there were fewer and fewer shooters behind them. They finally ran out of ammo. They'd been in a shooting gallery all morning.
Several officers and a few of the remaining gang members and their families stayed in a tight group and ran for the bridge. The engineers and their family also ran forward. Everyone left alive from the train made for the only direction suitable for the very young, the very old, or the slow.
Most of the train cars were empty, save the scattered few who chose to stay put. For the most part, those people ducked out of sight when he saw them as if they were unwilling to call attention to themselves.
They walked as fast as Grandma could go with two people to help her along. A half-carry, half-drag arrangement. Even so, as he approached the Valkyrie, Liam dropped Grandma's weight onto Victoria and told them to continue without him for a minute, and he climbed the side of the diesel. He was happy neither asked questions. Victoria kept the pace, moving Grandma toward the bridge.
He rushed to where the engineers and crew stowed their gear. The item he spotted earlier was still there, so he grabbed it, tucked it into his waistband, and ran back outside and along the railing. He ran forward to the nose of the Valkyrie, then hopped to the dead train engine at the very front. He ran the railing again until he reached the absolute front of the entire train. He barely slowed as he flew over the handrail, hanging on just long enough so he could deftly drop the last few feet to the ground. He willed himself to ignore the noise of the infected wave approaching.
He pumped hard as he ran to catch up to the two women. Victoria and Grandma entered the group standing on the near side of the bridge. He knew what he did was reckless, but it felt right and necessary. It helped that it didn’t endanger anyone but himself.
Liam closed the final distance. A good number of the surviving police officers and gang members from the train fanned out with guns at the ready. One man stood out from the whole group: a shirtless guy with a pair of bandoliers filled with vibrant red shotgun shells slung over both his shoulders, forming a distinctive “X” on his chest. He cradled the shotgun against his shoulder, and he waved Liam in while puffing on a fat cigar.
Never look back!
He sped across the last fifty feet of track leading up to the bridge.
When he entered the group, a thunderous boom almost made him lose his bowels because it was so shockingly loud. As if on cue, the group unleashed an explosion of gunfire into whatever was right behind him. Some of the zombies were much closer than he thought possible, given his speed.
The fusillade bought some breathing room, but the end was already written unless they could all get over to the other side. He wasn't about to suggest both sides start shooting each other, but that would be one scenario for sure if they were in a video game.
He caught up with Victoria and Grandma and they dragged her over the bridge, passing by all the survivors left from the train. There were several he recognized as the “new people” from the pit mine. Kids saved from the Arch grounds and elsewhere along the way were now universally in tears. A few older people had made it, but no one was even close to Grandma's age. A group of nuns was also mixed in. Where did they come from?
The trio neared the midpoint before the Arnold Police screamed over the noise and waved their guns in warning. He and Victoria had started carrying Grandma without realizing it. They set her on her feet, but her body had gone slack, so he eased her down to lie on the wooden bridge.
“Grandma … ” he began. Her eyes were closed. A light seemed to have gone out of her face.
“Grandma! Wake up!” He flopped down next to her, completely at a loss what to do.
Victoria knelt on her other side, reaching for her wrist and neck—searching for a pulse.
“I can't tell if she's breathin
g,” she announced in a steady voice.
Liam sat useless as she tried CPR under the press of the nearby battle. He held Grandma's hand, willing her to come back. Time seemed to fizzle as his vision clouded with tears.
Finally, when he found his focus, Victoria sat next to him covered in sweat from exertion and tears from crying. She gave him a sad, stunned look. “I'm so sorry. I think she's gone.”
“What? No! No! No!” He didn't know who to blame. The police blocking them? The zombies? Himself? He was a fool to take her into the Zombie Apocalypse ...
Victoria's demeanor changed like the Missouri weather. She wiped the tears, cleared her forehead of sweat and grime, and got a serious look in her eyes. Her sadness turned to anger, and unlike him, she had a target already picked out.
“They. Are going. To pay!” she said tersely to him as she got to her feet.
She shouted above all the other noise, surprising and encouraging him at the same time.
“You stupid bastards! She's dead because of you! You could have saved her! Can't you see that? We're all going to die for your worthless rules. The plague can't be stopped. Look!” She swept her arm back toward the train and the advancing undead. “It's here right now, and you're standing there with your hands in your pockets! D—” She paused for an awkward moment as if thinking if she should say something more.
“Damn you all!” she finally blurted out.
Tears rolled down her cheeks and she collapsed beside Grandma. Obviously spent.
He had tears in his eyes, too, but inside Liam felt … empty. Much like after his first encounter with Angie. At that moment all he could do was hold Grandma's hand one last time and appreciate everything she’d done for him. The screams of men, the concussion of guns, and the deathly buzz of the zombie horde were all distant background noises.
“Liam, don't fuss over me. Save Victoria,” is what Grandma would say to him.
He looked up and saw the lead police officer walking a few steps closer toward where he and Victoria comforted Grandma. His men called out to him, warning him not to get too close. Liam found that ironic. Grandma would have laughed at that too.
Since The Sirens Box Set | Books 1-7 Page 26