Zombies Ever After: Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse, Book 6 (24 page)

“Where is he?”

“No idea.”

“Do you know anything about this,” Victoria picked up
the nearby leaflet. The injured man held it while he read the names.

“Elsa,” he said with recognition. “He said this
name a couple of times. Didn't know what he meant. Still don't,”
he said with finality.

Victoria looked at Hayes, who seemed to wear an “I-told-you-so”
face. “Elsa did this. She's sweeping up messes.” He
looked at her. “Me. You. This Hans guy. Though I have no idea
what he did to cross them.”

“The tanks,” croaked the man.

“What?”

He turned to Hayes. “The old man told the kid about the
tanks. Sent him to go get them. He went on about how he shouldn't
have done that.”

“Military tanks? He sent him to get a
real
tank?”

The man nodded as best he could. “These people have hundreds
of 'em.”

Hayes pivoted toward her. It was her turn to look sheepish. “Is
this true? Liam went off to get
tanks
? You didn't think that
was worth telling me? And who is this guy?” he pointed, “and
why was he here in NIS-land with you and oh-so-innocent Liam?”

Victoria felt defensive but was unable to reconcile the need to
protect Liam with the need to tell Hayes about Liam's comings and
goings, even if her omission resulted in her ongoing disaster of a
morning with Hayes.

“I didn't tell you because it's none of your business.”

Hayes' eyes swept the room and seemed to make a realization. He
let out a deep breath. “I get it. You don't trust me. But
you've just walked us into the head of an important NIS family. Maybe
the most senior member in the Midwest. That man sent your boyfriend
on some kind of wild goose chase—I assure you whatever tanks he
thinks he was getting will not be given to him. He's going to get
himself killed. And now Elsa is trying to kill a senior member of the
organization... And you walked me right through his front door.”

He ripped the wedding invitation from the hands of the wounded
man. “And this! Elsa had this left so I would find it. It won't
mean anything to anyone else. She knew I'd show up. She wanted me to
find this.
She's playing with us
,” he said with
derision. “So thanks for that, Vicky.”

5

“Hans knew she'd come to get him,” the guy wheezed.
“And he was working on a bomb. The man talks to himself,”
he gurgled.

Victoria kneeled down to him. “Just rest. We'll figure this
out.”

Hayes looked around the room. “I don't see a bomb.”

“Help me up.”

“No. You're shot.”

“Sweetie, I'm dead already. No one is going to fix a wound
like this,” he nodded his head to a serious gash on the side of
his chest. “But I think I can help you.”

Together, they lifted him to his feet. After he got his bearings,
he spoke tiredly. “There. That's the box.”

Victoria and Hayes put him down in the clear part of the room
where an open-topped metallic box sat on the lap of one of the NIS
corpses. When he examined it, he smiled with satisfaction.

“How did you know this had explosives in it?”

“The long answer involves the military, a chicken, and a
million lines of code. The short answer is this box wasn't here
before. The old man was puttering around with something, and this has
to be it.”

“Will it go off?” she said with reverence. She pulled
off her long-sleeved shirt as the exertion of the morning had made it
expendable.

“Nah. It has to be wired up. I would have been surprised if
the old man could do it.”

“Can you?”

He chuckled. “I'm guessing neither of you can do this.”
When they didn't reply, he continued. “So yeah, I can. If that
Elsa lady comes through here, she'll get quite the surprise.”

“Well, get to it,” Hayes said with haste. He then
pulled Victoria down the hallway, toward the back door. They were
next to the porch filled with ammo before he spoke.

“He tried to get things going with this suitcase surprise,
but the old man isn't coming back. She'll be out for blood if he took
down her people. He's fleeing the scene of the crime.”

“So where will he go?”

“Hard to say. Depends on how much of a planner he was. Who
his friends are on the outside. But I don't think an old man has much
chance to get very far.”

“Hmm, kind of like Grandma Marty?” she said with a
touch of condescension.

Hayes studied her face. “Look. Things are a lot different
than even a few weeks ago. The people outside are weaker, and the
zombies are stronger. Anyone with the means to avoid the zombies—like
the NIS—can prey on the survivors with impunity. She could drop
on the roof of this mansion, kill us, and be back to her camp before
dinner. She has that kind of reach. It all depends on how much
immediate risk the old man poses to her.”

Victoria had a light go on. “Could he pose more risk than a
scientific researcher close to finding a cure? Research, you say, she
is doing everything she can to destroy?”

“This isn't a flight of fancy. She wants the disease to
spread. It has to kill everyone.”

“But then she'd die.” It sounded empty as she spoke
it.

“No, I'm sure they have a team working on the cure, too.
They control the best scientists in the world. I know that for a fact
from my time...uh...”

“Designing the plague in the first place.”

He rubbed the back of his head, signaling what passed for
embarrassment for him. As always, he regained his composure in record
time.

“It doesn't matter who's at the top of the Elsa Pyramid of
Hate. At least two of her men are dead in this house,” he
laughed. “She's coming back.
Here
. If we set this bomb,
it may be our only chance to take her out.”

“While he sets up the bomb, can we continue our search for
Liam?” She was going to check with Doctor Yu, but if that
didn't yield anything she was going right to the administrator.
Someone had to be able to find him.

What if he's back in the dorm room?

Hayes responded while she was lost in thought.

“...you know? That's why we have to get out of here.”

“Leave? No! I have to find him.”

If Liam had gone back to her dorm room to wait for her, it would
be the ultimate insult to all her running and searching. But she
believed what Hayes was saying about Elsa and her team. She could
search new places, but going back would be impossible for the time
being.

“There are a hundred thousand people out there.” His
face signaled a new thought. “I bet you didn't know the food's
running out?”

“What? When?”

“A couple of days. They're already cutting back. Do you know
what that means?”

“People can survive for a long time without food. I saw it
out at Camp Hope.”

“That was a quaint little valley of Kumbaya Boy Scouts. This
is a
whole
city.” He spoke quietly but forcefully. “And
that assumes the NIS doesn't airlift a bunch of zombies here to wipe
everyone out.”

Her face went slack.

“Oh, it's true. Or, it could happen. These people will stop
at nothing to ensure their plans go off without a hitch.”

“They want to survive at our expense?”

“Yes. You are either with them or against them. They
entertain no middle ground.”

“We have to warn someone,” she said tiredly.

Hayes laughed. “Yeah, excuse us. There is a super duper
secret organization planning to drop zombies on you, or release them
from a lab, or put rabid infected dogs into your camp.” He
looked at her with a deadly serious expression. “Who would
believe us?”

“But you were inside. You know.”

“Victoria, even you don't believe me.”

For once, he spoke the truth.

6

“The old goat has everything. He was prepared for World War
III.” They'd learned the man's name was Nick. He lifted a fancy
box that fit snugly in both arms. “Including this.”

“What is it?” Hayes asked.

“It's just a box,” he giggled wetly.

Victoria and Hayes shared a look.

“But. But this box will serve nicely to spring our trap.”

He lifted the lid and made a “boom” sound.

Hayes' eyes lit up with understanding. He moved like a dervish as
he planned his revenge. For once Victoria could marvel at his
efficiency and craftiness without worrying for her own safety.

It took a long thirty minutes to set up the room. They'd found
rolls of chicken wire out back, which Hayes explained would be his
insurance policy that Elsa couldn't toss the box out the front
windows. They strung the wire over the windows, then boarded the
front door shut. His goal was to get Elsa in the room, then make it
so she would find the box, read the note he was going to leave her,
and have a few seconds to appreciate the fact she'd been beaten.

“I wish I could leave a camera here so I could watch her
face.”

“You put one in my dorm room, can I get it for you?”
she laughed, but only on the outside. She wasn't ever going to
forgive him for that intrusion.

“No,” he said without addressing her sarcasm, “When
we hear the boom, we'll know we got her.”

“And what if Liam shows up first?”

“I got ya covered,” Hayes said smoothly. He held up a
sheet of paper.

“Liam. Meet me in Bosley Deveraux's office. Love, Victoria,”
she read aloud.

“We'll nail that to the front door. If Elsa sees it first,
it won't matter. She'll still come in. If Liam sees it first, he'll
run like a lovesick puppy to Bosley's.”

“I'll nail this to the door,” she said as she grabbed
it. “I'll go through the back door.”

She had a bounce in her step as she walked through the fresh
morning grass. She stopped under a plum tree and took a deep breath.
The air was humid and already warm, but she was out of the view of
the refugees in the park and away from Hayes for a short time. It
gave her a chance to enjoy the beauty of nature, just for a minute.

Ahead, on the ground, the bright orange plumage of a Robin bounded
to and fro as it searched for worms. Life for the bird went on as if
nothing of any consequence was happening in the world around it.

“God, if it's your will, please help the people in the park
escape the fate of having zombies put in their midst. Protect them
from such evil.”

It was an impossible prayer. More of a wish. Could anyone, God
included, protect all those people? It wasn't very likely.

Not impossible. Just improbable.

Those were Grandma Marty's words.

“Come back to me, Liam. Hurry.”

The bird flew away as she walked to the front of the house. In
moments she had the paper secured to the front door with a couple of
nails she'd taken from Hans' supplies.

Looking at her work, and the words Hayes had written, she felt
guilty for not writing them herself. Almost as if it were a crime for
Hayes to speak for her.

She shook it off as unreasonable. Hayes ran up to her, keeping her
thoughts on the moment.

“We have to go. All is set inside.”

“What about Nick?”

After a pause, Hayes shook his head.

“He died?”

“He was bleeding all over the place. There was nothing we
could do for him. You saw that.”

She didn't know what she saw. Though the wound was serious…

“I should have tried to help him,” she said with
sudden regret. “I was too worried about your revenge plot.”

“Revenge? No, this isn't about revenge. This is about
self-preservation. That's the only thing that matters.”

“Spoken like a true NIS adherent,” she said with
venom.

“I was NIS, no doubt about it. I did bad things. I don't
deny it. But when I saw what the NIS wanted to do after the virus
mutated...”

He stepped closer to her.

“Victoria, if you believe just one thing about me, you have
to believe I truly want to find the cure. Not for the NIS. Not even
for myself—though I hope there's enough for me—but for
those people over there,” he pointed to the refugees in the
huge park. “My self-preservation is theirs as well.”

Her emotion rushed out like a deflating balloon. It was hard to
maintain constant anger and doubt at someone she had to work with.
“Let's just go. I want to find Liam.”

What if I infect him?

Already emotionally spent, it went to the back burner.

“We'll try Bosley's office, just like the note says,”
he pointed to the door.

“You think that's where he'd be?” She was sure Liam
wouldn't go there.

“No, not at all. We're going there to let them know the
threats they're facing, and we'll tell them Liam is going to be
instrumental in helping stave off the attacks from the outside.”

“We're going to lie?”

He looked taken aback. “Lie? Heavens no! We're going to save
your boyfriend's life.”

She looked at him with troubled eyes but allowed his words to
sooth her.

It's a very small lie. And, with Liam here, we really can save
more lives.

She said nothing on the walk along the mile-long empty avenue. The
mature trees lining each side provided shade and a pleasant
atmosphere. She could almost ignore the edges of the large crowd in
the park on her right.

When they entered the hospital, she still wasn't sure she was
doing the right thing.

What if I infect everyone?

They reached Bosley Deveraux's office at the top of the hospital
tower without incident. The two guards at the elevator patted them
down, even though Victoria left her rifle at the gun check on the
main floor. The patting was something new. Last time she'd been on
the floor, they weren't bothered. Of course, that time she was with
Doctor Yu, instead of Douglas Hayes.

Unless they just want to touch me.

Worried that was true, she suffered the indignity in silence, then
moved away as soon as they gave the OK. She never made eye contact
with them but sensed the stares as she walked away. She was glad to
make it to the camp administrator's office.