Zombies vs Polar Bears: Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse, Book 5 (15 page)

Next to him, also in bed, he saw the sleeping form of Victoria.
He'd started to think she was some kind of superhero by how well she
held up in the stresses of everything. She could outrun him, outshoot
him, she was super smart, and she was about a hundred times better
looking than he was. She was a thousand miles from her own family,
yet she never seemed to let it get her down. And now, finally, she
was down for the count, just like him.

A couple women huddled over a computer on a mobile metal stand.
Liam likened it to an audio/video cart from his high school. This one
was probably being used for medical records…

Or they're playing solitaire.

In a world where half the population are zombies, does anyone care
about keeping track of patient records? Does privacy exist anymore?
Was he listed in those computer records? Maybe there was a little
warning flag that said “If you find this boy, called
1-800-NIS-GETU.” He thought that sounded totally feasible.

“Liam,” his mom called to him from near the medical
cart. Not loud enough to wake the numerous sleeping forms nearby, but
loud enough he could hear her. When she made her way to his bedside,
she spoke softly.

“I shouldn't have shouted like that. I'm happy to see you
awake.”

“Where are we? What happened?”

“We had a long night is what happened. We spent hours
wandering those tunnels, looking for the way out, here in the park. A
few wrong turns and a few zombies made for a terrible trip. When we
finally made it out, and were led by some kindly guards to this tent,
you kids both plopped down and slept the sleep of the dead.”

“What about you?”

“Oh, I slept, trust me. But I got up with the sunrise to see
if I could help any of these nurses. It turns out this is a proper
medical facility, the staff at least, and they have both the manpower
and know-how to take care of things without my help.”

Thinking back to his dad's letter, and his family's home life
before the sirens, if his dad was the “gun guy” in their
clandestine preparations, his mom was the “medic” and
often carried a medical kit and treated minor injuries on their
family outings. Liam never thought to ask if it was a hobby or if she
had some formal training. Back then, he didn't care. It was just
something that was. She was adept at temporarily fixing his dad's
broken leg, even if it later killed him…

He wished his dad was in a bed here, too.

“Is Victoria OK?” He looked at his girlfriend as he
said it.

“I'm sure she's fine. Once we made it into the tunnels we
managed not to lose anyone.” She appeared to think that over.
“Actually, Jason said some of his people went down a wrong
tunnel right at the beginning. He stayed at the exit of the tunnels
to wait for them. I think he wanted to go back in, but he was as
exhausted as everyone else. Not in any shape to be a hero.”

He whispered his next words. “Do these people know who
we
are?”

Lana nodded. “I wanted to give them fake names, but they
took our pictures before we knew what was happening. They say it's
the only way they can keep track of their numbers in the park, but
they had my name and other medical information on their computers
before I shut my eyes to sleep. They called me by name when they did
rounds. Our identities are known. It's unclear whether they know
anything else.”

She didn't have to remind him there was a list of all his family
members—targets of the NIS. Douglas Hayes said he called off
the hit squads, but that was before he himself was targeted. There
was no way to know whether the order still existed to terminate
everyone related to him. Those left alive.

He put his feet on the trampled grass below the cot. Thankfully no
one had stripped him of his clothing, or shoes. He really did just
throw himself down so he could sleep.

“I'm dying of thirst.”

“Plenty of water here. Follow me.”

He rose to follow. The temptation was there to rouse Victoria, but
he knew the rule—never wake sleeping babies, or sleeping
girlfriends. She looked so peaceful when the muscles in her face
relaxed. He'd once thought she looked even more beautiful when she
slept. It was the carefree look she would have had if the zombies had
never arrived. But he also remembered she had her own problems back
in Colorado before everything went to crap. No matter. Whatever
stresses she carried, he was going to let her sleep without them for
a little while longer.

2

“Ah, look who it is, our hero,” Lana said as she
guided Liam to the table filled with water bottles. She was
indicating the Asian woman in clean teal hospital scrubs standing at
the same table.

“Doctor Yu.”

The woman turned. Liam guessed she was Japanese, though he
couldn't be sure.

“Yes? Is everything OK?”

“Oh, there's not an emergency.”

Liam listened but was focused on the water bottles. The closer he
got to his drink, the less he cared about anything else happening in
the tent. He spun off the top and planted the bottle on his lips.

For the next thirty seconds a nuclear bomb couldn't divert him
from his bottle.

“Liam?”

His mom said something.

She's calling you!

“Yes?”

“Liam. This is Doctor Yu. Did you hear me? She helped us all
last night. She whipped up a recovery drink concoction that we all
drank before we went to sleep.”

He had no recollection of drinking anything last night.

The doctor smiled. She was young—he expected a gray-haired
and wise doctor, but she was probably in her thirties. Her black hair
peeked out of a medical head covering, though he didn't see any
surgical suites where such a thing would be necessary.

“Hi, Liam. I was telling your mother I'm surprised you're up
and around, but I'm happy to have helped. Too many of us aren't
getting proper nutrition, and it sounded like you had an amazing run
to safety.”

That was statement was filled with nuance. The journey from the
cliff down south saw him do stupid things and heroic things. Unsure
if that made him an idiot or a hero, he could only nod his head in
thanks.

His mom, filling in for him, explained how he drew off the
infected in the drainage system and further noted the speed of the
pursuit. That got the doctor's attention.

“Wait, you say the infected can run? We haven't seen that
here. Or, I haven't. I haven't been outside the perimeter since the
beginning.”

He wondered what her story was, but right now he didn't care.
“There are lots of different kinds of zombies, ma'am, uh,
Doctor. There are runners. Climbers. Sleepwalkers. A few others. And
there's one I call an Arizona—alpha zombie—because it can
do all of the above.”

The look on her face made him rewind his words.

Oh yeah, I said the magic “Z” word.

He couldn't imagine how anyone could deny the obvious. These
weren't just infected humans. They were out-and-out zombies. He was
tired of people denying the truth.

“Zombies, Doctor. They're zombies.” He nodded his head
vigorously as he grabbed another water bottle. They were just sitting
there for the taking, he wasn't going to be shy.

She gave him a dubious look. “The CDC is here. Their
guidance has been that these people are stricken with a virulent
version of Ebola—”

“And two flu viruses, yes, I know.” Liam had listened
to Douglas Hayes explain all of it to him.

The doctor appeared even more taken aback. She looked around. “How
do you know that? They said that was some kind of national secret.
The hospital administration only told a few of us doctors, in
strictest confidence.”

Liam wasn't interested in playing games. He was too tired. He'd
seen too much of the secretive world of Zombie Apocalypse medicine.

“Secret? Doesn't anyone share medical breakthroughs? There
are three viruses fighting each other—or working together, they
weren't clear on that. My grandma was infected by a researcher, but
here's the funny thing, she's still alive. And kicking. It didn't
affect her. It's because she's 104. Too old to get infected,”
he laughed sarcastically. “It all makes sense, am I right?”

Both women were looking at him like he'd just detached his own
head, though he guessed his mom's look was because he sounded like a
teenaged jerk, again.

“How do you know all that?
I
don't even know all
that,” the doctor said in a quiet, if incredulous, voice.

“The CDC didn't tell you?”

“The CDC is up in the hospital.” She pointed out of
the tent, as if he could see it. “I've been down here in
containment.”

Uh oh.

“Containment? We're in some kind of quarantine?”

The doctor seemed to make a decision. “You can see the place
on our way to the tower. You have to share your information with the
lead medical team. This might be the breakthrough they've been
searching for.”

“You aren't part of the team looking for a cure?”

“No, but isn't everyone searching for it? If you have even
the slightest chance of telling them something new, I'm going to get
you up there. Follow me.”

She pulled off her head covering and began to unravel herself from
her outer layer of scrubs. Much to his surprise she wore simple cargo
shorts and a light-blue t-shirt with the St. Louis Blues hockey team
logo on it.

When she saw him looking at it, she remarked, “I'm down to
the last of my clean clothes.” Then she moved toward the exit.

He thought back to that first encounter with the mock CDC group
under the Arch. They pretended to be completely in the dark about
everything related to the cure. Even claimed the CDC itself was
hacked to remove any references to the plague, or how it might be
cured. Now this doctor wanted to take him to meet more researchers
looking for that same thing. Was it another trap?

His imagination was shifting into high gear. He had to ground
himself…

They walked right by Victoria and he knew what he'd have to do.

“I want to take my...” He wanted to say girlfriend,
but he had no idea where he was, or what these people were all about.
His information was in the medical system, the NIS undoubtedly has
access to those records, and if they wanted him he would be easy to
find. There might not be a tomorrow and a simple girlfriend might be
refused as non-essential to a CDC meet-n-greet.

“I want to take my wife with me.” He pointed to
Victoria. She was still soundly sleeping under a light blanket.

The doctor and his mom both seemed surprised, but his mom didn't
voice the question that was evidently on her lips.

“Sure. She is more than welcome to go with you.”

Damn right she is.

3

He'd been given privacy to wake Victoria. He sat on the edge of
her cot, and drank her in for as long as he dared.

An older gentleman was in the next cot reading a book. He looked
fine, except for the straps peeking out from underneath his blanket.
His arms were free, and he could sit up, but he couldn't get out of
bed. His eyes went back to Victoria before he caught the man's
attention. Time to bring her back to this reality.

“Victoria. Wake up,” he cooed softly.

As he watched, sleeping and beautiful Victoria transformed into
waking “zombie mode” Victoria. Still pretty, despite
vestiges of the violence that had visited her face the past few
weeks. She turned serious as she sat up on her elbows.

“What's wrong?”

“You're not going to believe this...”

He helped her out of bed—she had also left her yellow
running shoes on. He grabbed his backpack, stuffed it with waters,
then they hefted their rifles over their shoulders. He walked her to
the exit in a hurry. When he left the tent he was taken aback at the
size of the refugee camp sprawled around him.

“Holy Cow.” Victoria stopped to adjust to the morning
sunshine while they both surveyed the scene.

It went on as far as the eye could see in the once-pristine urban
parkland. The tent sat on a hilltop near the middle of the park
grounds, surrounded by a razor wire. To his left he could see ball
fields. Ahead of him, the municipal golf course. To his right, more
ball fields. All filled with people. Some had brought tents or tarps,
but many milled around on their feet or sat in groups. Cooking fires
smouldered, and half-cut trees dotted the scene.

Beyond the golf course and the park boundary, he saw a wall of low
skyscrapers. The red medical cross on the tallest gave him his first
clue where they were heading. The doctor had mentioned a tower.

“Those! Those are the buildings where I worked. All those
are hospitals.” She pointed to a line of six or seven buildings
on the edge of the park.

“Come on.” He grabbed her hand as they walked through
an open razor wire gate, toward his mom and the doctor. The main road
had been kept clear for foot traffic, and they'd made it twenty or
thirty yards in the direction of the buildings already.

“Uh, I should mention...I told the doctor you were my...”
He suddenly felt very guilty, and maybe a little childish.

“What? You tell her I was your bodyguard?” she
giggled.

“No, something else,” he said sheepishly.

“I was your...sister?”

They looked nothing alike, but maybe that wasn't too far off the
mark. It was probably smarter than what he did tell her.

“Nope. I said you were my wife.”

She was quiet for several seconds, obviously thinking of the
implications.

“They have our information, Victoria. They took our pictures
and have our names and all I could think of was whether the NIS was
going to come in and kill us, and I just thought—”

Victoria stopped. “It's OK. Really.” She smiled a big
smile, though Liam always noticed the missing upper tooth she'd lost
at the bombing of his house. “That was pretty smart. It might
throw them off the trail a little bit.”