Zombies vs Polar Bears: Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse, Book 5 (27 page)

It went back far enough she could see herself just before she
tossed the book. She didn't want to relive that, so she rewound it
even further.

Soon it showed her and Liam early yesterday morning, near her bed.

Oh no. Please.

There they were…

She backed it up angrily. Whoever watched this tape was a pervert,
she knew that for absolutely certain. This was the only way something
so innocent could be ruined forever as part of someone's voyeuristic
recording. She would have deleted it right on the spot, but she
suspected there could be a clue as to the origin if she watched from
the beginning. Maybe whoever set it up would be sloppy at the outset.
It suddenly made sense why all her food had been taken...

It only took a few minutes to reach the end of the tape, which was
the beginning of the recording. At the starting point she hit play so
she could watch the moment the thing came online.

The scene showed her dorm room under the harsh light of electric
lighting. There was no timestamp, though she could tell by how fast
it rewound that it couldn't have been more than a few days. The date
blinked “1969” like it had never been set.

A person walked across the screen—in her dorm room. That
person was involved in setting all this up. She slumped in her chair,
sure she knew who it was. Someone she was praying she'd never see
again.

Behind her, the voice belonging to that person startled her onto
her feet.

“Hello, Vicky.”

No. No. NO!

Liam and his teammates approached the Tiger tanks with great
caution. He had hoped it would be as easy as walking up, hopping in,
and driving away, but he was pretty sure it wouldn't be that simple.
Nothing was, these days.

The tanks weren't sleek and modern-looking like the M1 Abrams
tanks which were the mainstay of popular American culture—both
from movies and news broadcasts from wars overseas. These were boxy
and angular, with flat sides and rectangular plates which covered the
treads on each side. Two big exhausts hugged the back side, and the
large turret on the top held the deadly gun toward the front. Liam
fought against the urge to run up and climb all over one of them like
playground equipment...

“Well, this is what we came to get,” Jason said as
they walked along the backside of the building.

“You think someone is guarding them?” Lana asked.

Liam said nothing, but kept his eyes on the windows near the
tanks. Someone was here in the last twelve hours, at a minimum. He
didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

“Maybe, but we called this in. They'll be expecting us if
they're up there, just as Liam said. We might as well act like we own
the place.”

Liam had discussed this pickup with Hans. The man seemed anxious
to help and said he was doing it because he
really
wanted what
was coming to him after he was left behind. The tanks were his, and
he'd get them. Thus, he needed Liam and the others to follow through
on their end by hoofing it to the tanks, and bringing them back to
him. He was very forthcoming overall, though he admitted he couldn't
predict who, if anyone, would be at the drop. Also, Hans gave no clue
how an elderly man would be able to operate the tanks, much less
climb into one...

“Lower your weapons,” a man called out from a second
floor window. Liam couldn't see him, but it sounded like it came from
right on top of the tanks. “We've got you. Just come in nice
and slow and no one gets hurt, right?”

A man in dark tactical gear walked out of the building, near the
far tank. He had the mannerisms and dress code of a professional
soldier. His swagger as he approached Jason was apparent.

“My men have you bracketed. Don't bother doing nuthin'
stupid, m'kay? We're just here as a precaution. Heard the gunshot
earlier and figured that's where you'd be coming from.”

Liam's blood pressure soared as he tried to be casual. Though they
didn't wear uniforms, he recognized the man's appearance as matching
the men Duchesne traveled with. Both back on that bridge over the
highway and when they were carrying his boat down at the riverfront.
Plus, he'd seen plenty of bodies in the Riverside Hotel with matching
equipment. Sort of a cross between ninja and infantryman. He figured
the NIS was involved in this, but seeing them in person again rattled
him.

Jason pushed his rifle on its sling back over his shoulder, then
extended an arm to shake the man's hand.

“Ah, no thanks. We don't take chances with the plague,”
he laughed quietly. “I appreciate the offer. My name is...Cliff
Hammerich. My team is on overwatch. Others are...about. We're the
lead team in this sector of the city, now.”

“Got ya, Cliff. We had trouble with a strange zombie back
there. Thanks for shooting it for us.”

“That wasn't us. There are many holdouts in these
warehouses. Came here thinking they'd live large off metric tons of
food, but instead found this area is mostly dedicated to the
construction industry. Not too many left, I'd guess. But at least
one, huh?”

Jason nodded. “Well, I'm surprised they got you pulling duty
for a simple delivery like this. Old man Grubmeyer sent us down here
without many instructions, though, so we didn't really know what to
expect.”

“Understood. We've been informed by Control that since this
is the first deployment, and a bit earlier than expected, we needed
to have a strike team here to ensure there were no problems.”
He laughed, but it was still measured and low in volume. Like he
thought zombies were somewhere near. “We halfway expected him
to show up. You know they are kind of pissed the old codger didn't
make it to safety when he was told.”

“I think he hopes to ride it out until the convoy gets here,
you know?”

“Don't we all. Things can finally get going once we have all
our friends in town.”

He turned away when another soldier—a tall, beefy
blonde-haired woman who looked like she'd lived her life alternately
in the gym and in fistfights—stood in the doorway of the
building. That gave Jason a chance to face his team, as well.

“You all know what to do. Check out your tanks so we can get
out of here and leave these guys to do their job.” His eyes
fell on Liam with a knowing look.

Stay sharp.

Liam climbed up the front of the first Tiger. Since he was
technically not part of the Polar Bears operational unit, he wasn't
designated to operate the heavy machine. His “job” was to
sit in the turret and stay safe. Lana climbed up after him. Her job,
to his astonishment, was to drive.

“I thought you were going to be with me?” he
whispered.

“Change of plan. Me and Jason are the drivers. And—”

He looked up when she stopped herself. She was watching something
happening on the ground.

The man who was attacked by the Arizona was pushing and shoving
against the man trying to help him along. He'd been bloodied almost
as much as the red-head, but none of it looked life threatening or
even that painful. More like bumps and bruises from the initial jump
on top of him.

The man became even more agitated as Liam watched.

“Calm down, Dean, damn!” said the man trying to keep
him under control. But Dean continued to push and pull, eventually
breaking free. The commotion now had the attention of everyone who
could see it.

“I can't do this. I'm...” He hit himself in the head a
few times. A few steps and he was well clear of the other man. That
guy held his ground, maybe sensing that the time to grab him had
passed.

Dean screamed for a wild-eyed few seconds, then took off along the
wall of the building, away from them all.

Liam wondered if anyone would give chase, but everyone seemed too
stunned.

Cliff walked back to Jason, but spoke loud enough they could all
understand him. “Is anyone going to tell me what just
happened?”

Something new.

2

“He must have been bitten or scratched by that zombie that
fell on him.” Jason said it, but he slowly turned to the
red-head woman who was also part of the scrum. Though her face was
covered in smeared-off blood, she seemed the model of calm compared
to Dean.

“What?” she said when Jason faced her.

“You feeling OK, Annie?”

“If you mean do I feel like going for a jog in the zombie
railyard of death, the answer is no. I feel like staying right here.”
She pointed to the ground beneath her feet.

Jason strode next to her. “Did you get bitten? Where'd all
that blood come from?”

“This ain't my blood Jace, trust me. That thing splashed its
own juices on me when it pushed me over.”

She used her sleeves to wipe more of the drying blood from the
edges of her face where it still remained. Jason studied her up
close, then seemed satisfied. “Let me know if you get any, um,
urges, like Dean.”

With a quiet laugh they all went back to their tasks, though it
left Liam with many doubts since Annie was supposed to be in the
turret with him.

The plan was to have one driver in each tank, with the other two
people riding as passengers in the safety of the turret, keeping an
eye out for trouble. The turret was designed to have had three people
in it, so two would be roomy. But now they were a man down... Lana
and Jason moved to the second Tiger, discussing their manpower
shortage, while Liam sat on the front edge of his tank and was
vigilant in his search for zombies.

None showed up, for which he was glad, but Cliff came over and
leaned against the industrial gray tank.

“Hell of a thing, this tank.” His eyes bore into
Liam's. He went almost all the way to panic mode, sure the man knew
who he was. What he did.

Cool, Liam. Play it cool. He's only an NIS baddy, not a
mind-reader.

He decided to stick to the truth. “I wish I was old enough
to drive one of these.”

“Didn't the old man tell you all how to drive? That's the
hardest part. But back when this girl was new, it was crewed by boys
not any older than you. What are you, seventeen? Eighteen?”

“Seventeen.” The lie came out easily because he'd
declared to Victoria he was skipping sixteen.

“Yeah, see. Young soldiers back then fought and died for
years in the war. This tank would have been safer than most, mind
you, at least until later in the war. Here, in the Final War, you'd
have similar safety. The dead can't exactly shoot guns, can they?”

They both looked to the right, following a noise that had come
from that way. He saw nothing, though Dean had gone that direction.

“And let me tell you, these old tanks aren't what they used
to be. This thing couldn't hold off an M1 Abrams for five seconds,
but it can hold its own against most everything else that you'll get
from the ground here in the city. We've added some upgrades.”
He laughed dryly. “And made it easier for kids like you to
drive them around. The wizards added modern electronics to this
antique.”

He thought about how he could broach an important topic. Something
someone “in the know” would naturally assume was coming
from a fellow NIS traveler.

“So did the old man keep his tanks down in the Koch Hospital
Quarry?”

The mine had to be crawling with zombies. Liam really wanted to
know how anyone could get back in there, clear them out, and then
load tanks on railroad cars. But the answer he sought didn't come.

“No, these two were parked somewhere else.”

His chat was interrupted by his mom. She passed in front of them,
then jumped up on the tank with impressive athleticism.

“OK, we've got this figured out. Liam, you'll still be in
the turret. Annie will join you. I'll drive.”

On the other tank, Jason climbed into the circular hatch on the
middle deck, near the front. His mom opened the driver's hatch for
her tank, allowing him to look down at a confusing array of dials,
levers, and a funny-looking steering wheel.

“Gonna be tight,” Lana said. Liam's hackles got worked
up when Cliff's eyes watched his mother shimmy herself into the
hatch.

Lana craned her neck and looked up at him. A pistol was in her
hand, and she held it up. “Keep this by you.”

He grabbed it and stuffed it into the front pocket of his jeans.
Lana wagged her finger at him, motioning him to come down to her
level. He leaned in, near her face.

“Keep your eye on Annie,” she whispered.

“You think there's gonna be a problem?”

“Your father rubbed off on me, I guess. Always be prepared,
right?”

“I wish he were here. He would love driving a tank,”
Liam smiled weakly into the dark compartment.

“Liam, you have no idea. We're going to make him proud. Now
go. Put on your headphones. Someone was nice enough to set these up
so we could talk inside the tank without shouting.” She held up
a pair of big headphones with a boom microphone.

“OK. Will do.” He gave her a thumbs up, then noticed
Cliff was still hanging around. His mom was inside the hull and was
out of his sight, which pleased him. On a whim he gave that man the
thumbs up, too. He hoped it stated the plain fact they were getting
ready to leave.

Liam climbed up onto the turret. It was roughly circular with a
flat roof. The main gun pointed out from the turret and extended to a
point somewhere above his mom in the front. Though the tanks back in
the mine had markings suggesting they had once been weapons used in
past wars, this one had no markings of any kind, except for the
random dabs of gray camouflage. He couldn't see the sides of his own
tank, but he looked across to Jason's, searching for anything that
would give a clue to who's army it belonged to. Nothing.

Except—

He thought he saw something faint on the side of the other turret.
To confirm, he looked at the side of his own and saw the same animal.
It was just an outline of a lizard. About the size of his hand.