Zombies Ever After: Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse, Book 6 (13 page)

“Victoria Hennessey, resident of Denver, Colorado. Denise
Rawlings, resident of Jacksonville, Florida. Haylee—”

“OK, I get it!” he said with mock anger. It scared him
that the computer had that much information about him, and it doubly
scared him that it could know he had made contact with the source of
the Patriot Snowball, but he had to know how such a thing was
possible. “How the hell can it know who I’ve met? I only
saw Denise for a few minutes yesterday. She killed herself when I was
trying to save her...” His exasperation masked his fear that
the strange device would list every contact he’d had earlier
that day. His mom, Haylee, Travis, Jason Hawkes. The list went on—all
enemies of the United States government, apparently.

Brandyweis motioned to the other Marine, giving permission to
reveal the secret, he hoped.

“We were given these DNA sniffers a few days ago, down in
Cairo. They wanted us to take read outs of the dead bodies on the
ground so we could start to account for all the infected. They were
perfect because we didn't have to touch them. They said special teams
were going out with tracking darts so we could then find and identify
the bodies.”

The colonel continued. “It was a long shot, but I put your
name into the database and it returned several hits this morning. It
says you’ve been tagged twenty-two times,” he laughed.
“What have you been doing to get yourself tagged over and
over?”

He gave the Marines his most serious look. “I don’t
think they’re tagging zombies. I think they’re putting
everyone down who’s still alive in that part of the city where
I escaped.”

Both men laughed. Brandyweis responded. “Son, I appreciate
your honesty, but—”

Liam held up his hand. “Wait! Where is the drone that you
had with you when you found me by that tree?”

He got blank stares.

He clearly enunciated his words, as if speaking clearly would make
them understand faster. “When you found me by the tree, I heard
a drone. I know what they sound like. It was hovering close by.
You
had a drone
.”

“Son, if we had a drone I’d have no reason not to tell
you. There was no drone in the air when we found you.”

Liam scanned the big yard, confident he was being watched. He
didn’t hear the whirl of copter blades, but his imagination
insisted it was out there.

“We should get inside,” he said with the first hint of
panic.

“OK, you wanna tell me why.”

“Sir, there was a drone. I’ve been running from them
all morning. These things aren’t just tagging zombies; they're
tagging everyone. And when they tag you, the next thing they do is
shoot you.”

They busted through the swing-away patio doors of the mansion—no
one had come out to chase them away—and made their way inside.
Liam was comforted to have a roof over his head, and thrilled to have
Marines surrounding him, but wary of the responsibility he was
putting on himself by aligning with them. Though the colonel didn’t
blame him for getting his men killed, he took it upon himself to give
them every ounce of information they’d need, going forward.

It took him fifteen minutes to explain his encounters with the
various drones. Then, another thirty of follow-up before they
believed him. As time passed he began to doubt his own memory. Maybe
there wasn't a drone, after all.

Still, he'd done what he could to prepare them. Just in case.
Whatever happened next would not be on him.

4

The little tank appeared at the far end of the yard. Liam, almost
glad to see it, pointed. “I told you!”

“Yeah, looks like you were right. Now let us do our jobs.
You keep your head down,” Brandyweis said emphatically.

“Can I have my shotgun back?”

“No, you’ll be fine. You have six of meanest hombres
in St. Louis guarding you.”

It was silly, he knew, but he pulled out the shotgun shells from
his pocket and noisily tossed them all to the floor. He had quite a
few, and he took his time. When it didn't have the effect he hoped,
he continued along another line of questioning.

“I thought you had ten men?”

“I do. Four are keeping the Osprey in flight. Just stay
down
.”

Liam couldn’t guess how the Marines were going to handle the
drones, but he knew they’d have a much easier job of it than he
did. He assumed as soon as it was clear the Marines had him in
custody they would depart.

“If they think you have me captured, won’t they go
away?”

“That’s an excellent question. But I’m not going
to risk it.”

The tank trundled through the overgrown grass of the yard. It
wasn’t quite the same model he’d seen in the pet store,
but he couldn’t readily identify what made it so. It had the
same treads, was about the same size, and had a gun on top...but it
had some extra junk on the top surface. It seemed smaller in the
large grassy yard, but he figured it was about the size of a typical
riding lawnmower.

“Give it a warning shot, Max.”

A loud crack came from the floor above. He couldn’t see
outside, but there was no explosion, so he figured the sniper wasn’t
aiming for a hit.

The colonel got up to the hole in the glass. “We are United
States Marines. I order you to stand down,” he bellowed. He
casually ducked back like he didn’t expect a response, and the
other glass door shattered as the reports of gunshots rolled across
the yard.

Liam popped up, against orders, to see the scene. The little tank
in the yard was stopped, and looked like a lost child. No smoke from
a gunshot. The shots had to have come from elsewhere.

“There are more drones,” he yelled, though he thought
it was pretty obvious.

“Or ground pounders. We may not be alone.”

He hadn’t thought of that. If the NIS could track him, they
may have figured now was the time to eliminate him.

A powerful green laser came from the hedge at the back of the
yard. It pointed above Liam—to the second floor. Then a shot
followed.

“Take it out,” he ordered on his radio.

The Marines fired at will. He put his head down as a natural
reaction to gunfire.

The familiar crack of the sniper rifle rose over the din of all
the other guns, including the colonel’s battle rifle.
Brandyweis edged to a window, broke the glass, then waited for a
response. There were several windows on the back of the ground floor
of the house, and he broke each in turn. When he reached the last
window in the large living room, he turned back toward Liam with a
serious look.

“Get down!”

It reminded him of the frustration he’d often visited upon
his dad. In their arguments over the past six months, he reveled in
angering his old man so that he’d loose his cool. The colonel’s
frustration at something as simple as keeping his head down was the
same tone his father often had. He complied.

A couple of rounds came through the back window near Brandyweis.
They struck some wildlife heads that had been mounted to the wall. An
impressive deer with a massive pair of antlers fell from its mount
after it had been hit.

A large mirror on the wall followed suit.

The colonel fired through a broken window, then pulled back.

Liam chanced another look and saw the drone tank had moved about
half the distance to the house from where it was last.

He felt the air move near his head. A pop from the yard followed
the clink of more glass behind him where the bullet had struck.

“The drone is getting closer,” he offered.

The colonel looked at him with a scowl, perhaps seeing the same
futility as his father. Then he put a few more shots on target before
again pulling back from the lead flight path.

A green laser swept the room. When it struck the broken glass of
the windows or the remains of the mirrors on the rear wall, it broke
into multiple directions like a laser show he’d seen at the
Missouri Planetarium.

While he thought about that more pleasant memory, a small drone
came in through the open back windows. It was hovering above him
before he had a chance to move. It was different than the bigger
helicopter drones he’d seen earlier in the day. It was more
like the tiny drones he’d watched come out of the compartments
on the Tiger tanks. It hovered on four small fans but consisted
mainly of one central hull with a shiny black orb.

He searched for a tiny gun or even a tagging device, but it
appeared harmless. He did begin to crawl backward, hoping to find a
table or something solid he could put between him and the trespasser,
but it exploded over his head before he got anywhere. It slammed to
the ground and its fans shut off. The colonel had used his rifle to
good effect.

“Run upstairs, kid. They know exactly where you are.”

He stood up to run, but the green laser found him.

I know! Get down!

5

Liam didn’t wait to find out if he’d been hit. He’d
gotten good at fast-crawling over the past several weeks, and he
crawled for all he was worth. First into a nearby hallway, then he
searched for the stairs up.

Another Marine stood in the front foyer, peeking out a window next
to the front door. His back was to him, so he wasn’t noticed.

The stairs were nearby. He was surprised that two of the green
lasers blazed through two different windows and nearly touched when
they reached him. Rather than dip, he jumped a few steps and
continued upward. Too late, a bullet bit at the steps below him.

He hesitated at the top step. Daylight shone in the open hallway
on the second floor, meaning a drone could probably see him once he
made himself visible.

A few seconds into his deliberations, an explosion rocked the
home. Smoke wafted up the stairs, and he could tell the explosion
happened at the front door. The body of the Marine guard was on the
floor.

Crap. Crap. Crap!

“Kid, over here!” Another Marine stood across the
hallway, toward the far end. He waved from inside the door frame of a
room.

Liam looked back down. The engine of a drone tank spun up, and it
was moments before he saw the treads appear through the smoke. He
threw himself into the upstairs hallway, righted himself, then
fast-crawled again toward the open door.

“There’s a drone tank coming up those stairs. They
killed your man at the front door.”

“Roger. Get in. Get low,” the man said with a gruff
voice.

He slid into a huge tiled bathroom, then backed up against a
clawfoot bathtub. The Marine continued to guard the door, his weapon
drawn. Liam couldn’t help but notice he had a knife belted to
his leg and carried a sidearm in a holster on his hip.

“No, kid. Get in the tub,” he said with force. He
pulled a grenade from his chest rigging but waited until Liam was in
the tub before he pulled the pin.

“Grenade in the front stairwell,” he said calmly. Liam
expected him to yell, but the Marines seemed to be communicating via
the comm links in their ears.

A few moments later, his tub rocked.

The Marine shut the door and ran over to him. The look on his face
was a grim determination. “Kid, you won’t believe this. A
flying drone caught my grenade and carried it down the hall before it
exploded.”

It didn’t phase Liam. Nothing would anymore. “Can you
try another?”

“All out. Been using them a lot, lately.”

“So what do we do now?” He climbed out of the tub,
eyeing the window, and the trees of the backyard.

“What is this thing coming after you? Does it have a
weakness?”

“I used a shotgun to mess up a flying drone from the back,
but the colonel took my gun. I saw a drone tank before, but I ran
instead of fighting it.”

As he talked quietly, he walked to the back window. The Marine
yanked him back a split second before the green laser appeared.

“No going that way.”

“Sir, we’re trapped up here. Bathroom. North end of
house,” he reported to the team. Then, facing him, he
continued, “All right, kid. You get back in the tub. We’ll
see where this goes.”

“I can fight. Give me a gun.” He eyed the sidearm.

“Well, it can’t hurt.” He pulled the gun out of
his holster and handed it to him, barrel facing down. “Just
don’t shoot me,” he said with a nervous laugh.

He jumped in the tub again, disappointed at how heavy the gun
felt.

“The safety’s off, kid.”

There was nowhere to hide, so the Marine stood behind where the
door would open. The large shower area was glass, so that wasn’t
an option for anyone.

It was sixty seconds before he heard the engine of the tank drone
in the hallway. It struggled to get up the steps, as the other had
back at the pet store, but it sounded smooth as it trundled down the
hall to his door. He jumped at the first bang on the wood.

Two green lasers appeared in the air above him.

“Sir, the kid is in a big tub. Safe for a few.”

The concussive force of the Marine’s rifle startled him
again. He’d expected the drone to be shooting, but if there
were lasers on the second floor, it meant the floaters were directly
outside. They were engaging the only target they could see.

A spent shell fell into the tub, into his shirt sleeve.

“Ouch!”

He squirmed to get it out, and in the process stuck his head above
the lip of the tub. He saw at least one drone outside, though there
were two beams. The crack of wood followed.

“Get down!” his companion yelled between deafening
blasts.

Many shots ensued, including the sound of the drone tank’s
gun. He recognized it for what it was.

The Marine hit the floor screaming in pain, but he continued to
fire.

I can’t let him die for me.

He stuck up his head, intending to fire his gun. The battle rifle
was pointed right at him. Again, he ducked. After the Marine shot out
through the window, the whine of an engine was punctuated by a
violent crash against the window frame.