“I bet whoever is looking at those photos probably has us already figured out. Duchesne said he had bosses over in Illinois. Maybe they had agents down in Cairo watching us leave. Who knows? But even if we weren't on a watchlist before, we have to be now. We're accomplices to this,” she pointed into the cabin, “jerk.”
He grabbed her hand as he held onto the railing with his other hand. They watched ahead as the land got closer.
Chapter 8: Deepest Darkest
The captain ran the boat as near to shore as he dared, but continued northward despite the warnings he'd been given. Liam decided his life was in enough danger so he'd confront the surly man. He shuffled over the shifting deck to grasp the edge of the door and speak to him.
“Sir, uh, captain, I think we deserve to know what's going on. Who was on the radio?”
The man didn't look back. He stood in front of his controls. One large screen to his right showed a rolling script of colors and beeped loudly in the small cabin. He reached over and shut off the screen, and the warnings stopped.
“That is your new lord and master, the kings of St. Louis.”
When the man failed to laugh, Liam countered, “I've been downtown, there's nobody in charge.”
“Bingo! There is no one in charge. But there are groups taking charge. This side of the river,” he nodded to Missouri, “is controlled by a group of Marines. That side is controlled by some damned fool Army unit that got lost after the Battle of St. Louis. Up north of the city and into Illinois is in the reach of the official US Army fortress—and they've been taking what they want all the way to the Mississippi River from their base near Springfield.”
Liam was surprised at the depth of the man's knowledge. “What about the rest of the city?” He'd seen the Marines a few times now, and each time, he saw fewer of them. “The military can't control the whole thing.”
“You're smart kid. No, they can't. And they don't. A few parts are controlled by leftovers of local governments. Others are maintained by groups of neighborhoods protecting each other. Even the Catholic Church has organized defensive pockets for their flocks. They had the resources to try it, at least. But most of the city is controlled by the undead.”
“You mean the zombies?”
The captain turned around with crazy eyes. “You on drugs? Zombies? No, these are the walking dead. Spirits that come back from the dead.” As he turned around, he continued, “I saw barges of 'em tossed out like trash and sent to float the river until some dumb riverboat crew happened upon them.”
Liam knew exactly what the man was talking about. He'd been swimming inside just such a ship. But he held his tongue. In a few moments, the man continued on his own.
“Me and Pete ran this boat for twenty-five years. Well, not this boat, but boats like it. We ran the river together. When the Final Day arrived, we were on the river...”
He faded away for a few long seconds.
“After all that...stuff, he and I ended up in Cairo, needing to refuel. Credit cards stopped working, and with no other money, we started working for that town. Our job was to go out and find resources for the city government, until stuff got better. A few days ago, a few miles south of here, we see a large flotilla of loose barges bumpin' and grindin' down the waterway. We picked out one barge to dock with and evaluate its cargo. I had to stay with the boat, but Pete went up and boarded to check it out. He got up there OK, and walked out of my sight on the high deck. Five minutes later, he came back with a gunshot wound to his chest.”
Another long pause.
“Someone shot him. He kept repeating the word 'shore' which I took to mean someone on the shore did it. I got him to Cairo, they threw him in their third-rate medical clinic where he died not much later. There—”
“And that's where he found me.” It was Blue. She'd come up behind Liam. “I was in the hospital with Pete, and—”
The captain cut her off. “I need you guys to sit down and hold tight. We're going to beach right up here.”
Liam was full of questions, but he admitted he always had questions.
Back out on the rear deck, he took a seat next to Victoria. Blue and Pink sat across from them. They all huddled as close as they could to the cabin, toward the middle of the boat. Liam was once again reminded how much better he felt having Victoria by his side. She grabbed onto his arm. He smiled at her and was relieved to see she didn't have any fear on her face.
“We're having fun, right?” She smiled big, her missing top tooth a reminder of their prior adventures.
“Oh yeah, flying drones, muddy escapes, and boat crashes are my idea of a good time. I think all our dates should be this fun.” He laughed, felt her tighten her grip, and then lay her head on his shoulder.
“You two make a cute couple.” Blue smiled, then turned serious. “Thank you for helping my sister, really. But I'm sorry for whatever comes next. I didn't know St. Louis would be this messed up.”
That was the story of his life. Never knowing what was out the door, around the corner, or down the river. Well, that was mostly true. The one constant was death.
“I'm glad you found your sister. Is she OK?” Blue's twin had hardly said a word the last several hours, and slept most of the ride in. Liam guessed she was exhausted from her tough crawl through the mud, though he figured she'd be recovering by now. That made him concerned.
Pink wore dirty gray capris and a top that may have been white at one time, but was muddy brown today. He didn't see any bite marks. Just lots and lots of scratches.
“Hold on everybody!” the captain yelled from inside.
The front of the boat ran into the mud and several feet up onto the shore. The captain had found a tiny inlet of a creek that afforded a gentle approach and landing, which was good because much of the shore here was otherwise steep and rocky.
When he'd gotten it solidly on the bank, he shut off the motors and trimmed them up as far as they would go.
Everyone was deathly quiet. By some agreement, no one talked or otherwise made a sound. Liam could hear the birds chirping and the leaves rustling in the trees. Water gently splashed up against the hull.
It was idyllic until a new, mechanical sound drifted on the wind.
A drone.
2
The captain had opened the door to the front section of the boat. Liam went through to grab his stuff.
“OK, who here knows how to shoot a gun?” He looked at Liam first, then at the girls. Victoria was fast to raise her hand, but Pink and Blue just shook their heads. After sizing everyone up, he pulled a pistol out of a cubby hole near the passenger seat and tried to hand it to Liam.
“Sir, you'd be better off giving it to Victoria. She's got a steadier aim than me. I'll carry a spear.”
The captain seemed to think about it, then relented and handed the Glock to Victoria. “All right. We need everyone armed once we get off the boat.” He rooted around in some boxes stuffed under the consoles and came out with a large wrench and some kind of metal rod. He handed those to Pink and Blue.
“The first thing we have to do is run. We have to get up onto the bluff and into the woods so we can lose our tail.”
“Why don't you just shoot it?”
He looked at Liam with a serious face. “We can't waste the ammo.”
The captain grabbed his shotgun and slung it over his shoulder. He also grabbed a long metal pole with a hook on the end. When he saw Liam eying it, he seemed to sense the need to defend his choice. “It's aluminum, so it won't last, but I should be able to get a few good hits in with it.”
Liam had to give it to the captain, he seemed to understand the zombie threat. All except the part about them being possessed spirits. That was nuts.
As they all made landfall, the drone hovered high above them, unmoving.
“Just run, guys, they know we're here already.” Liam watched as the captain's big work boots carried him up the rocky bank into a tight row of trees next to the river. The two girls followed.
Victoria waved him forward while patting the Glock tucked into her pants on her hip. “I've got your six.” She smiled, as did he.
In less than a minute, they were all under the relative safety of the first line of trees along the riverbank, but the drone had dipped a little lower so it had a direct line of sight to them under the canopy. There was no way to hide from it. On the landward side of the trees, there was a large field of small shoots of corn. Beyond that, a steep cliff with large houses on top. He realized he knew exactly where he was.
“Hey, this is Cliff Cave Park. We have to get to that gap over there,” he pointed to a dip in the cliffs to their right, about a mile away, “because that's where the road comes in.” He knew that for a fact, because on his earlier trip on the train escape from St. Louis, the engineer stopped at that road to pick up her husband. Somehow he felt much better knowing where he was.
“All right, ladies, run for them hills!”
Liam wondered if he intentionally lumped him in with the ladies. Did he lose his man card when he refused the gun?
He thought about it the whole run over the bumpy field. Everyone held together until they reached the railroad tracks that ran along the base of the cliff. Liam looked left, hoping to see the train engine called Valkyrie parked somewhere in that direction, but the tracks bent out of sight around the base of the cliff. In the other direction, he could see the railroad crossing for the road they sought. The captain and the two girls were already walking in that direction. He hung back as Victoria clambered up the rocky slope of the railroad grade.
“What's wrong?”
“How did you know what I'm thinking?”
She laughed. “Because you're always thinking. But sometimes you think more than others, like now.”
He was aware one half of their guns was getting away; he didn't want them to get too far ahead. “I just want to get to the mine and see what's there. Suddenly we're hitched to two strange girls and a boat captain without a boat. I just have a bad feeling we're heading into more trouble than we need right now.”
He started walking, indicating she should walk next to him.
“Well, where's the mine? Isn't it up these tracks? Maybe we could just keep going. Leave them to go their own way.”
“Hmm.” He chewed on the idea, but was reminded they had no weapons of their own beside the spear. If they kept going, they'd have to surrender the pistol. Two people with one spear would not do very well in a giant hole potentially filled with zombies. Of course, the closer he got to the quarry, the more he admitted how silly the whole plan had been. He just didn't know how to express his feelings to Victoria without sounding scared.
You are scared, dummy.
They all regrouped at the intersection. A large parking lot and a huge wooden pavilion were the only indicators of the park nearby. A sad looking red pickup truck was the lone vehicle parked there. To their left, the access road snaked up the wooded valley between the two hills that backed up to the cliffs along the tracks. The captain made as if he was getting his bearings, and then tore into the woods, climbing the hill on the north side of the road.
To Victoria, Liam whispered, “He's already heading toward the quarry. It's just on the other side of this hill. We can at least see what's up there. Maybe get a good look into the pit before we go any further.”
“Sounds like a plan. Maybe when we're in the woods you can make me a new spear.”
Louder now, he spoke as he started up the hill after the others, “Yeah, about dropping that spear. I'm going to need you to pay for that. I put a lot of good time and effort into that one.”
“Seriously? Why don't you bill me.” She then made a raspberry sound with her tongue.
He paused on the rocky slope, and looked back at her. “Oh, that's how it's going to be? Maybe I will bill you. You told Duchesne I blew up that railroad bridge. That's really going to cut into my inheritance.”
As he started scrambling up the rocky hillside, he was still laughing as he heard her pass along a sheepish, “Oops!”
3
The access to the cliffs overlooking the river became very steep near the top, but the group made it with only minor delays. Pink needed the most help because she still seemed exhausted from her earlier escape. When they made it to the top, they had a majestic view up and down the big river. To their left, north, they saw the big arched red span of the Jefferson Barracks Bridge. If the interstate was open, cars would be zipping over it from Missouri into Illinois. Now, there was no movement. To their right, the river was visible for several miles before it meandered around a bend, out of sight. It was easy to see why they were spotted in their boat.
With that thought, Liam looked around, wondering if the drone operators were nearby. He only saw trees.
“Is that Illinois?” Pink asked. “Up where we live, Illinois is a dirty place with a bunch of factories chugging pollution in the air. Down here, it looks beautiful.”
He looked again, seeing the land as a first-time observer rather than a jaded local. Beyond the river was a line of woodland. A large floodplain sprawled a couple miles further, until it met an escarpment much like the one on which he now stood. It was pretty amazing.
And dead.
Ugh. He ruined it for himself as he looked again and saw only miles and miles of farmland that would never be plowed again. If there was no fuel for the tractors, and no one to drive them, and no one to sell seed, and no one with money at all…
He turned away, continuing the last few feet to the long crest of the hill. He heard the rest of the group gathering themselves to follow. Even the captain lingered.
While lost in his thoughts, he walked by a group of people sitting in the brush to his left. When he heard them, he turned around with the spear pointed at them. A little boy, about ten, put up his hands. Several of his compatriots did the same. Liam dipped the spear.
It wasn't one boy, or one group of people. All around him, deep into the woods, people sat and stood in small groups. They were amazingly quiet.
His own people came up slowly, and fell in line next to him.
“Who are you with?” the captain inquired of the nearest men. They were dressed in dirty khaki shorts or jeans and were either bare-chested or sported sweat-soaked dirty shirts, as if they were at a backyard barbeque that had been going on for a week.
They said nothing, but they pointed further up the hill.
With a huff, the captain spun and walked on. Liam was quick to follow, though Victoria passed a gentle “thank you” to the pointer.
She caught up to him and whispered, “What are we getting into here?”
They walked with the vista on their right and the sad-looking people on their left until they reached a large flat area along the edge. The cliffs continued for a hundred yards or more, but this looked like the summit.
“Get out of the open, you kids,” a man commanded from inside the canopy.
For the second time today he found himself making a juicy target to an imaginary sniper. And he was seen as a kid...
When they were all into the trees, they approached a command center of sorts. A dozen men and women dressed in camouflage lazily watched as they came up the path. Many held binoculars as they looked out of the trees, down toward the river. A couple sat near a small wooden table with a radio. Weapons stood against the base of trees all over the place.
“Did our guards let you through? We saw your boat come up the river, and we saw you run across the fields, but we didn't know where you were headed.” The blonde man was a hunter, not military. Or at least dressed as a hunter. He had long pants imprinted with a confusing woodland pattern. He wore a short-sleeved t-shirt, but it was the same pattern. He was middle aged, but looked younger because he had little facial hair growth. He had serious blue eyes and a furrowed brow.
Liam opened his mouth, but the captain replied, “We didn't see anyone. We just climbed up from the railroad tracks below.”
The man leaned hard against a large blac
k oak. “My God, anyone could have walked into our camp.” He remained there, looking at Liam and the others in turn.
He stood up straight again. “My name's Jason.” He wiped his forehead. Liam recognized the burden of command under which the man suffered. He was responsible for all these people in the woods. “We have guards watching the flats around this area. The dead don't climb the steep rocks, like you did. But we should know better.”
Liam knew there were zombies that could climb. He said nothing to further spook the man. Surely he'd learned his lesson.
“We'll have to put someone over there.”
The men and women reminded him of the survivalist group that attacked Camp Hope. It inspired him to be clever, and cautious.
“Hi, I'm Sam and this is Becky.” He pointed to Victoria. She caught on immediately and introduced herself as such. He was ready to high five her, and start talking about chickens and guns as they had done back at Riverside, but—
“I thought you said your names were Liam and Victoria?”
Liam turned to the captain, ready to soak him with lava-hot anger, but the man's face held no malice or sarcasm for once. He seemed genuinely surprised.
With a slow turn back to Jason, he was ready to fall on his sword and admit the truth. Jason didn't wait.
“I don't care who you are. If you have food you can call yourself Santa Claus, for all I care.”
The captain, to Liam's surprise, pulled out a small bag and handed it to the man.
“Some dried fish. It's all I got, right now.”
Liam looked again at the group of people spread in the woods around them. The sallow looks and longing eyes were clues to their status. But something else caught his eyes. Something more troubling. The kids weren't lounging or playing. They were digging. Worse, there were several white splotches on the sides of tree trunks throughout the area. Someone had cut into the bark.
These people were starving.
4
Once proper introductions were made—using Liam's real name—they were given an overview of the camp, confirming Liam's own observations. But the reason the camp was here on this hilltop built upon something the captain said earlier about control of the region.
Since The Sirens Box Set | Books 1-7 Page 101