Since The Sirens Box Set | Books 1-7

by Isherwood, E. E.

  “I'm a big fan of George S. Patton. Studied his books. He always had his staff prepare three contingencies for every situation, the assumption being he would never be caught with his pants down. At the Battle of the Bulge, he was able to march his soldiers in the dead of winter to help repulse the Germans a hundred miles away. This was because of his excellent foresight. A detail man. I like to think I'm a worthy student of his ways.”

  He paused to watch Liam smack his lips. Liam smiled nervously after noisily inhaling the food.

  “Sorry.”

  “All right. Escape route number one was the stairwell you came up—and Dutch went down. I had all the doors of the south stairwell welded shut so the staff could descend without fear of zombies stumbling in during those early days. But that's ruined now.”

  Liam interrupted. “Why did you put city names on all those doors?”

  “Isn't it obvious? It's where we got all the zombies on each floor. Try to keep up.”

  Hayes walked back and forth in the kitchen area while he explained his thought process. “So, escape route number two is the one I'm giving to you, and escape route number three is one I'm saving for Jane and myself.”

  “Why do we get this one? It seems really dangerous.”

  “Because I'm afraid of heights.”

  Liam couldn't tell if he was serious, but he wasn't smiling which was unusual for the terminally jovial man.

  Victoria asked about the third route, but Hayes didn't think Patton would reveal his strategy in detail until it was absolutely necessary. He emulated the dead general.

  They hashed over some details while they stood in the kitchen and all of them jumped at the loud banging on the hotel stairwell door.

  “I think the infected have come up the stairs now that Dutch has gone back down. He probably wedged open all the interior doors if I know him. We couldn't go down the stairs if we wanted to.”

  He was resigned to Hayes' plan. He and Victoria let Hayes and Jane lead them through a door to an adjacent penthouse suite where the scope of Hayes' study of Patton was on full display. One of the windows had all its glass removed and was covered with heavy plastic sheeting. A large spool of metal cable was bolted to the concrete floor. Several pieces of rigging and safety harnesses were lying nearby.

  “How did you guys know to build this thing? This is amazing.”

  “You must not read as many zombie and global infection books as your boyfriend. Always assume things are going to go to hell. Always.”

  Liam wasn't going to agree, no matter how right he was.

  “OK then. So you unwind the spool of wire out the window, then Liam and me latch on and scoot ourselves down to the roof of the garage. Just like that?”

  Hayes responded in the affirmative, though he seemed to enjoy her obvious discomfort.

  “I should mention there may be zombies at the windows as you scale down the exterior. I don't think they'll give you any problems—the glass is pretty thick—but I wouldn't window shop on your descent if I were you.”

  Liam was still deeply disturbed. “Is there anything else you aren't telling us?”

  He brought back his normal joviality. “Oh, plenty. I don't have a week to tell you all my secrets. You'll just have to trust me on this one.”

  Trust you? Over my dead body. Wait—

  Minutes later, they were ready to go. Jane peeled back the heavy plastic with a flourish so the room was open to the outside. The effect was dizzying. Liam held on to the spool of wire with a death grip. Victoria, he noticed, clenched his arm with both her hands.

  Hayes pulled at the cable so it began to unspool. He attached a heavy piece of steel to the end of the wire and placed it just outside the window.

  “We'll let this thing go down to the bottom, then you guys can start your journey.” He threw a switch and the spool began to unwind automatically. A small motor hummed as the wire drained out the window. They all watched the wire go.

  Moments later, from somewhere in the building below, they heard a loud bang. It was chased by a slight vibration, and then the power went out. The spool ceased rotating.

  Hayes' only statement was, “Uh oh.” He wore real panic in his eyes.

  I wonder if we just lost plan number two?

  2

  “What happened?”

  “Well, my dear Liam, the power went out. He put the explosives on a timer. Dutch was true to his word.” He fiddled with the spool as he spoke. “This means we have to get this thing spinning manually. I don't think it will affect your journey, or mine, you'll be happy to know. However, if the power is out below us, the doors are all unlocked now. It won't take the infected very long to push them open and get up here in greater numbers.”

  “Why didn't you secure them inside the rooms?”

  “Must you criticize everything I do?” He looked at Liam with no humor.

  “Is this a big deal for us? I mean we aren't going back down on the inside.” Victoria asked Hayes, but she looked at Liam.

  “Until a couple dozen types of zombies run outside and tear apart St. Louis...” He said it to be funny, but Hayes must have seen the looks on their faces. Instead, he said, “No, you'll be just fine. Let me worry about them. Get into those harnesses before something else goes wrong.”

  Liam had no intention of ignoring them, but at the moment he had no alternatives. He and Victoria suited up in the climbing gear.

  The spool spun freely as more wire fired out the window—pulled by gravity and the heavy weight on the end. It wasn't long before the spool locked up once all the wire was depleted.

  “There will be extra slack at the bottom. You have to go now. We need to be going our separate ways.”

  Not one to argue, Liam maneuvered himself so he was attached to the wire, and then worked his way to the edge. Victoria attached herself to the wire as well, then stood behind him.

  Liam couldn't shake the feeling he was about to be betrayed.

  “Hayes, if this is how you intend to kill us, can you just shoot us instead. I can't stand the suspense.” He was being smarmy as part of his bravado, but deep down he was being honest.

  Hayes laughed. “Come on, you said you were starting to like me. I prefer you alive. We've had our differences, and you drive me crazy with your persistence, but we want the same thing now. Plus, as I've said so many times, if I wanted you dead, I would have just killed you with my sentry gun or a hundred other ways and been done with you. I'm not going to murder you for sport.”

  That gives me absolutely no comfort.

  Liam had learned to mistrust anything Hayes said. It had served him well the past two weeks, and despite his apparent falling out with Duchesne, he was still part of the team that destroyed the entire world. That alone was enough to engender mistrust. But he was over a barrel, and was about to be outside at 300 feet...

  Liam fumbled his way out the window and steadied himself on the exterior glass as he got his bearings in the shifting perspectives and geometry. He released the control clasp and dropped several quick steps so Victoria could join him.

  “Come on out, the weather's beautiful.”

  “Oh Liam, I think I'm going to throw up.”

  “Then why didn't you go first?” He tried to laugh it off, but he worried she might be serious. He wanted to believe he'd be chivalrous about it, but knew he'd probably be so grossed out he'd toss his cookies as well.

  “If I throw up, I'm sorry in advance.”

  Liam went down a few more paces, willing some distance from her. She came out and gently released her grip enough to drop to the floor below the open window.

  Hayes stuck his head out the gap above them. “This is where we say goodbye, Liam. You've fallen into my trap!” He gave a maniacal laugh and retreated back into the room, out of sight.

  Oh no.

  “If this is the end, I love you, Victoria.”

  “I love you, Liam.”

  Liam closed his eyes, waiting.

  Twenty or thirty seconds went by
when Hayes returned to the window. Liam looked up when he heard the voice.

  “You guys are so sweet. I'm just messing with you. A small payback for all the trouble you've caused me. Oh, and watch floor twenty. Those are the ones with pheromones that can make you go love crazy. That could be awkward. Ciao!”

  He left with a curt wave.

  “I hate him again. Let's keep moving.”

  “I would, but there's a creepy zombie staring at me inside this room. I can't look away. He's the biggest person I've ever seen—a giant. And his face is—horrible. But his eyes...”

  Victoria was a floor above him, so he couldn't see what had her attention. “We don't have time to sight-see. We have to move down. Now!”

  She loosed the harness grip and slipped down the wire to meet him. “Oh my. This building is horrible. But at least my tummy feels better now that I know we aren't going to die out here.” The breeze picked up, as if daring him to agree.

  They continued down the wire. After several minutes, they had passed eight or nine floors. He paused to wait for her to catch up.

  “Hey, I like the view from down here.”

  “Seriously, Liam? That's what you're thinking about?” She laughed, but it was forced.

  He laughed, too, but when he took his eyes from her he saw inside the window next to him. He nearly jumped out of his harness when a zombie dressed in desert camo army fatigues threw himself at the glass. The pane rattled, and small spidery cracks formed, but it didn't break open. The zombie continued banging on the glass with his head and arms, but it made no further progress besides smearing blood where it impacted.

  “Victoria, there's a zombie in this window. Don't let him scare you.”

  “Don't worry about me. Zombies are nothing when I'm hanging desperately to the side of tall buildings.”

  He continued but she stopped at the window.

  “Oh Liam. You didn't tell me he was cute.” She giggled.

  Cute?

  Hayes' warning echoed in his head.

  Are we on floor twenty?

  He tried to estimate, but from the outside it was impossible. The soldier zombie continued to throw himself at the window, inches from Victoria. She seemed unconcerned, and dangerously so.

  “Just keep moving!”

  There was no obvious way to use the clasp to go up the wire. Pulling her might be required...

  “Oh. Boo.” She sounded pouty, but did move after a long pause.

  Liam only let out his breath when she was a floor below the strange man in the window.

  Victoria seemed to sense the change too. “That was weird. I got all dizzy and...giddy.” She laughed it off.

  He laughed too, but only said, “I know the feeling.” He wasn't going to bring up his own experience with one of the odd zombies. Back near the beginning, he had expressed his love for a zombie girl, in front of his grandma.

  On the way down, they peeked in all the windows; they saw many odd zombie behaviors. In some rooms, the zombies merely watched them go by, as if they were drugged. Some ignored them entirely, which was strange for a lot of reasons. Some ran in and out the open room doors into the interior of the hotel. Some rooms were full of zombies fighting among themselves. The blood in those rooms covered the walls and much of the windows too. One large suite was stuffed with children zombies. One room had either dogs or wolves. It was hard to tell as they had shredded the beds and used the materials to fashion hidey-holes. Lots of zombies threw themselves at the glass, but always in a random fashion and to no effect. They were three or four floors above the roof of the garage when he looked in a window and screamed.

  “Nooo!”

  A group of zombie men in green biohazard suits hit the glass at the same time. The glass cracked audibly. He knew he should just keep dropping, but the horror in front of him was unbelievable. His hands wouldn't move him down.

  After the first strike, two of the three fell to the floor at the base of the large pane. The third went to the back of the room. He guessed the man had a chance to break through if he hit it where the spidering was the worst.

  “Victoria, move it. Now!”

  He dropped down the wire, hoping she would follow. However, she was slow to move.

  The glass above exploded outward and the running man fell out the window. His trajectory took him too far above Liam, and Victoria was still too high. He glanced off the wire, and pushed it away from the building. Liam bounced out, then banged hard against the glass of the floor below. The zombie's protective hood flew in a different direction as he flailed at the air on his way down.

  “You have to come down fast. That window's open!”

  He didn't know if he needed to tell her the obvious, but he wasn't taking any chances. Even so, she was still several seconds delayed before she started to move.

  “My harness is grabbing on the wire. I'm coming.”

  Liam looked up to make sure she got by the open window without incident. He was surprised when a hand reached out and pulled her entirely out of his sight. The strength of the zombie was incredible. It managed to pull him up several feet as it pulled Victoria—and the cable—inside the room above.

  Oh God, no. This is it.

  One of the green plastic-covered feet near the base of the window popped out the window, then went back inside as if in pursuit of prey. Victoria struggled in the room. She grunted in counterpoint to the moaning gurgles of her zombie captors. She screamed loudly, then shot a gun several times. He recognized the small-caliber pistol.

  Victoria “sprang” back out of the window above. She was pulled through the window by the tension on the wire. He also dropped several feet as the slack returned. She dangled about, then steadied herself.

  “Go! Go!” She descended below the dangerous gaping maw, and kept moving. She caught up to Liam in a few seconds but grabbed herself just before her feet hit the top of his head.

  “There are more!”

  Liam looked up and saw them. Two more faces hung outside the window. Not the green-covered guys. One of them was a bloodied woman in a business suit. She jumped out the window. Another took her place. He watched in horror as the woman was only a foot or two from him as she sped by.

  The next one yelled from above. More faces found the opening too.

  He allowed his clasp to drop him many feet at a time, willing it to get him to the bottom. Several more zombies had either jumped or were pushed out as the number of faces in the window continued to grow. One managed to lay a hand on Victoria as she dipped below them, eliciting a scream. She made better time as they neared the bottom.

  Thirty seconds later, a zombie wearing a blue football jersey managed to get his arms around the wire as he fell out. His momentum flung him around the wire as he fell. He spun in circles as he came down, causing the wire itself to vibrate and move. Liam watched the man fall toward Victoria at a high rate of speed for twenty or thirty feet, and at the last moment, his bloodied arms released as if to grab her. He slammed into the glass of the tower and then deflected away from them both. His body rattled on the pavement of the garage.

  Victoria had been looking down the whole time.

  He looked up with a wan smile and shouted, “Only a few more feet. You're doing great.”

  3

  Liam touched down on the top level of the garage, surrounded by the accumulating bodies of the zombies that continued to fall out the window above. He stepped away from Victoria's path as he undid his harness. When she arrived, they made short work of hers.

  “Thank you, Lord, for watching over us.”

  The roof of the garage was more or less empty of zombies, though the rest of the hotel grounds swarmed with them. They jogged a short distance to get out of the path of the jumpers. One fell every couple seconds now, and they made sickly crunches as they impacted.

  “And please help these poor souls,” Victoria added.

  “OK, we go in with our rifles,” he said as he unslung his. “Check to make sure the safety is off. Make sure
you can grab extra magazines. Try to keep calm...” Deep breath. “...and kill them.”

  They checked their supplies; each of them had 30-round magazines in their AK's, with two extra mags each. Liam put his in the large front pockets of his jeans, while Victoria—with her women's jeans and their simulated pockets—had to put hers into her waistband.

  He knew this part of Hayes' plan would require lots of gun handling. It wasn't his strong suit, but he hoped he would be good enough. Either that, or he'd soon be a zombie.

  Stay positive.

  On the grounds surrounding the garage, the roar of the crowd of infected was constant and unsettling. They moved toward the stairwell opening they needed off to one side of the parking area. He took a knee and aimed at the two wandering zombies making their way over the pavement in their direction. He dropped the first with his first shot, but it took two for the second.

  “I need to be closer to hit them in the head like that.” Victoria claimed to be the poorer shot of the two, but Liam wasn't so sure.

  “We'll be plenty close soon enough.”

  They dropped into the stairwell, Liam in the lead. The concrete stairs were held together by an open framework of metal in the open-air parking garage. One or two cars were on the fourth floor, but little else. As they hit the landing, he observed only a few zombies on the entire level. Rather than engage, he continued downward. “Hurry!”

  It was dangerous to allow zombies to get behind them as they descended, but if they kept moving fast enough it shouldn't matter. They couldn't kill them all.

  On the third floor, they both had to shoot a pair of zombies who were too close to ignore. As if trying to prove herself right, Victoria missed several shots before bringing one of them down.

  “Maybe I need them even closer.”

  Just wait.

  On the second floor, he took a knee and started shooting while he yelled at Victoria to keep moving down. He dropped four or five in just a few seconds. Many more were moving in their direction. Instead of shooting at the rising tide, he followed her down to the ground level.

  Zombies swarmed the level. Victoria had shot her way through a clump of them hovering on the bottom steps, but she had trouble with the zombies in the stairwell to the basement level. The rest of the crowd took a few seconds to notice them coming into their view.