Zombies vs Polar Bears: Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse, Book 5 (37 page)

“If Liam can get us to those tanks, we might have a chance,”
Travis offered.

“Liam?” his mom asked, still holding his arm gently.
“Is that something you feel comfortable doing?”

No.

“I'll think about it. This is all a lot to absorb.”

“I know how you feel,” Haylee added, “I was
teaching high school and then leading a group of ex-military
jugheads—”

“Jarheads! But I prefer grunts, dear. We don't want those
dirty Marines,” but he smiled widely as he said it, like it was
their joke.

“OK, I herded these
cats
across the country. I had no
idea what I was doing. It took someone behind the scenes to get us
all where we needed to go. Kept us fed. Kept us on the right roads.
Watched out for roadblocks, hostile towns, and managed our social
media connections.”

As she spoke, she looked at Lana, who smiled in return.

“Mom?”

He knew it was true. His dad's letter said as much.

3

“I already know my mom was important. I've known since I
read my dad's letter.” Here, with these people, there could be
no secrets.

He thought back to the first time he read his father's words.

I'M SORRY.

SO. THE TRUTH. I PROMISED I WOULD GET TO THAT.

THE TRUTH IS OUR FAMILY HAS BEEN IN THE FIGHT FAR LONGER THAN THIS
SPRING. I SWEAR ON MY HONOR I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT ANY OF THIS BEFORE
YOUR GRANDMA ROSE CALLED ME, EARLIER THIS YEAR. BUT, YOUR MOTHER
KNEW…

WOW. WHERE DO I BEGIN?

YOUR GRANDFATHER ALOYSIUS SERVED AS AN INTELLIGENCE OFFICER IN
WW2. AFTER THE WAR HE FOUND EVIDENCE OF HORDING OF MILITARY EQUIPMENT
BY PROMINENT GERMAN FAMILIES, BUT HE WAS UNABLE TO DISCOVER ANYTHING
MORE THAN WHISPERS. HE TRACKED IT DOWN FOR SEVERAL YEARS ON HIS OWN
TIME, SCOURING GERMANY FOR WHAT HE WAS SURE WAS A CONSPIRACY BY THE
NAZIS TO STORM BACK OUT ON THE WORLD.

HE KEPT HIS NOTES HIDDEN, AND ONLY SHARED THEM WITH HIS SON, YOUR
GRANDFATHER CLYDE. CLYDE POKED AROUND AS PART OF HIS JOB IN THE OIL
INDUSTRY, AND HE DIED UNDER MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES IN THE ALPS.

THAT'S HOW YOUR GRANDMA ROSE CAME TO OWN THE NOTES FROM BOTH MEN.
SHE TOLD ME GRANDPA CLYDE FOUND A CACHE OF WEAPONS IN A REMOTE ALPINE
VILLAGE AND—THIS IS SOMETHING I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE—THAT
THE WEAPONS AND VEHICLES WERE PART OF A GLOBAL EFFORT TO SAVE THE
HUMAN RACE FROM THE APOCALYPSE. CAN YOU IMAGINE? THAT SOUNDS LIKE THE
PLOT OF ONE OF YOUR SCI-FI MOVIES. EXCEPT HERE WE ARE, RIGHT?

ANYWAY, ROSE SAW SOMETHING IN YOUR MOTHER AND PASSED THE NOTES AND
HER THOUGHTS WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE. YOUR MOM SAYS IT WAS BECAUSE SHE
DIDN'T WANT ME TO GO OUT AND GET MYSELF KILLED. IRONIC, HUH?

THEY WORKED TOGETHER FOR A FEW YEARS, AND FIGURED OUT THERE WERE
CACHES IN THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND AUSTRALIA, TOO. PROBABLY
RUSSIA. IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH NAZIS.

THIS ALL CAME TO A HEAD WHEN YOUR GRANDMA ROSE WAS ELECTED TO
OFFICE. SHE WAS PAID A VISIT BY A NASTY GROUP CALLED THE NATIONAL
INTERNAL SECURITY THAT THREATENED TO KILL HER AND HER ENTIRE FAMILY
IF SHE DIDN'T PLAY BY THEIR RULES. THAT, THEY SAID, WAS HOW THEY
CONTROLLED THE ENTIRE GOVERNMENT. BY FEAR.

YOUR GRANDMA ALREADY SUSPECTED SOMETHING LIKE THAT WOULD HAPPEN,
AND SHE WAS PREPARED. WITH YOUR MOM'S HELP SHE BEGAN TO ORGANIZE GOOD
PEOPLE TO THE CAUSE, AND EVENTUALLY ROSE BROUGHT ME IN. THE ENTIRE
PATRIOT SNOWBALL MOVEMENT WALKED BY OUR FRONT DOOR HERE IN ST. LOUIS
AND I NEVER KNEW IT WAS YOUR MOM GUIDING IT. SHE'S THAT GOOD. SHE
WANTED TO PROTECT YOU AND I IF SHE WAS FOUND OUT.

GRANDMA ROSE REVEALED HERSELF AT THE END, WHEN SHE THOUGHT WE'D
WON. THE PRESIDENT MET WITH THE LEADERS, BUT WE ALL KNOW HOW THAT
TURNED OUT. THAT'S HOW WE ENDED UP ON THAT HIT LIST OF NAMES.

ONLY NOW, ON MY DEATHBED, DID SHE TELL ME THE TRUTH OF HER ROLE.
SHE MAY CUT OUT THIS PART OF THE LETTER IF I'M NOT ALIVE TO HAND IT
TO YOU. SHE'LL DO WHAT'S BEST FOR US BOTH. SHE LOVES YOU VERY MUCH
AND ALL HER SPY STUFF (SHE HATES THAT TERM) IS BECAUSE SHE WANTS YOU
TO HAVE A FREE COUNTRY AGAIN SO YOUR CHILDREN DON'T HAVE TO LIVE IN
FEAR OF THEIR OWN LEADERS.

IT'S REALLY THAT SIMPLE.

MY LEG IS HURTING SOMETHING FIERCE. I HAVE TO END THIS HERE. I'LL
TRY TO WRITE ANOTHER LETTER TOMORROW IF I FEEL UP TO IT. TAKE CARE OF
YOURSELF. YOUR MOM AND I REALLY LIKE VICTORIA. I HOPE YOU TWO
SURVIVE, TOGETHER.

PLEASE DESTROY THIS LETTER, LIAM. IF THIS WAS FOUND BY OUR
ENEMIES, IT WOULD INCRIMINATE YOU IN A DANGEROUS WAY. RIGHT NOW, THEY
DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU AT ALL, THOUGH YOU ARE A POTENTIAL THREAT. IF
YOU SHOW UP ON THEIR RADAR YOU MIGHT BECOME A LARGER THREAT TO THEM.

GOOD LUCK,

DAD

Sorry dad, I think they already know all about me.

He felt the crumpled paper in his pocket once more. He read it
every free chance he got. It was getting soft from how many times he
folded and abused it. To destroy it was to destroy the last remaining
piece of his father's life. To save it was to save a piece of him,
even though it put his own life in danger.

Lana put hers arm around him, and in front of the vaunted leaders
of the Patriot Snowball movement, he silently cried. He couldn't even
explain why. Was it because his dad was gone? Maybe, but he'd loosely
come to terms over the last few days. Was he crying because he felt
the subdued grief in his mom? Was it because the radio guy said
Grandma was dead? Could he feel the deep sadness of Haylee and
Travis—him with his ever-present dog—after losing so many
of their own friends and fellow marchers? Was it the ultimate failure
of their movement? Was it the zombies scouring the streets below for
human flesh? Was it the military struggling to build the bridge over
the river? A bridge that would probably lead to his family's final
destruction?

In the end he cried because he only had one bright point of light
in his life. A rare spark of goodness and hope in a world spinning
wildly out of control. And at that moment, it was a hole his mom, the
Polar Bears, and even the revelations of the day couldn't fill.

I need Victoria. I need her in my arms.

Yes, he decided, even the thought made him feel much better. He
sucked it up, pulled back from his mom, wiped his tears, and said,
“What's the plan?”

4

Haylee and Travis left Liam and Lana to their own devices. Over
the next couple hours the building became a hive of activity. At
times he thought it was because they'd found Jason or his tank, but
that report never came in. The radio operators found no evidence he'd
been killed, nor had they heard him on any of their monitored
frequencies. It was like he disappeared.

Eventually the Bears returned their weapons—Liam's was
unjammed and cleaned—and provided food and water. He was aching
to sit in close to one of the windows overlooking the Arch grounds,
but Travis explained that it was dangerous to stay in view of the
Illinois shore for very long. The other directions were fine, but not
the east. “The shores have eyes,” he advised.

He and Lana rested in the sofa room. Liam spoke quietly. “What
do we do now? Are you some kind of leader here?”

She smiled faintly. “No, I don't think so. You saw how
little I know about anything military. I tried to pay attention when
your dad talked about guns, survival craft, and all that, but
anything beyond camping out the back of a car was more than I could
handle.”

“Then how did you become the leader Dad said you were? He
said you guided the entire march?”

She looked around, then leaned in. “You may not want to hear
how I did it.”

“Oh yes I do.”

“Well, you know that game you always played?”

“
World of Undead Soldiers
?”

“Uh huh. That's the one. I saw you playing that day after
day and it got me interested in how many other players were out
there. You know, a mom likes to know her son's friends.” She
smiled, then winked, like Grandma Marty would do. “And I found
a news article about how someone inside the State Department used
characters inside the game to pass sensitive information back and
forth from embassies overseas. I did some digging and found out the
people who make that game take data encryption and player security
very seriously. So seriously, in fact, there was a push to get them
to loosen the security so police and intelligence agencies weren't
blocked out. They told them they'd think about it...which was the
politically sensitive way for them to drag their feet.”

“So you used my game to lead a revolution?”

“Not exactly. I talked to others inside the game—mom's,
grandma's, and others—who were on the routes taken by the
marchers, and I shared that information with the march leaders so
they could plan accordingly. You'd be surprised how many times
protesters were sent somewhere to cause trouble and we caught them
before they could set up their blockades. Of course we didn't get
them all...”

It meant nothing to Liam. He didn't follow the march at all.

I was playing a game full of moms?

“What a minute. Are you saying you were in my game, the same
time I was?”

“That's the best part. When you were online, it shielded
what I was doing. When you were in the game I could blend in with
your data—just on the off chance someone was sniffing around
outside our house. It was an elegant solution.”

“So it was you that contacted me inside the mine? Told me
about—”

“No. I haven't been online since the infection spread.”

“Well, then it must have been another mom. Someone knew I
was there. Someone sent me a text message to get me to go there.”
He paused, thinking. “Where is Grandma Rose? Was it her?”

“I'm afraid even I don't know where she is. She went into
hiding after she and Haylee met with the President. That was just
before the end, when the planes dusted the marchers. She may have
been captured, or she's on the run somewhere. You know she's on that
list, too.”

He had to find her, eventually. It was well down his list of
mission critical objectives. To write his book he'd need her
perspective—assuming she was alive—in all this. His
priorities were much closer to home.

“So what do we do here?”

“We have to go down in that mine and get those tanks. You
can make the difference in saving the entire country.”

“You want to go to war?”

“No, Liam. I want to stop a war. Those people coming here,”
she pointed out the window, though they weren't facing east toward
the convoy, “aren't going to be happy to see us. Anyone they
think was responsible for ending our entire way of life is going to
be a target for their anger.”

“But we didn't end everything. They did.”

“
Some
of them did. That's what makes this so
difficult. Only some of them did, but we have no way of separating
the good from the bad. Our only hope is to convince all of them we
are strong enough to defend ourselves and that we want to live in
peace.”

He was the veteran of years of zombie books, books about the end
of the world, and movies and video games with similar themes. He
could tell a lost cause when he saw one.

“Um, Mom. The entire eastern part of the country is coming
here. We are one little city in their way. Not even a military
organization. Fighting is impossible. We can barely fight the zombies
walking the streets outside.”

“We have to try. They said the march on the nation's capitol
was impossible, too. Don't underestimate yourself.” She
laughed, speaking more freely now that they weren't state secrets.

“What about the cure? What about Grandma Marty? What about—”

His voice skipped, just a little.

“—Victoria?”

“One thing at a time. It should be easy for you to get our
boys into that mine. Once we have the tanks we can take care of those
other things. There are lots of military men and women defecting to
our cause every day. Some of them bring equipment with them. We might
have a helicopter or two we can use.”

“If it doesn't get shot out of the sky.”

“We're not at war.”

“Yet.” But a thought popped in his head. “Or are
we? Do they know it was you that shot the crane? We drove the tank
right into that building for crying out loud. How are they not
swarming this place?”

He became agitated. It had been hours and they'd done nothing to
prepare.

“They have lookouts here. They monitor the radio. The bad
guys aren't coming for us.” She kept her voice low, which Liam
suspected was to keep his panic from affecting the other people
lounging nearby.

“Oh, all right. I guess I can see where all this is
going...”

“It will be OK. I promise.”

He wanted to believe her. Her voice was soothing and calmed him
outwardly, but the deeper turmoil boiling inside was something he
fought hard to conceal.

Mom. Do you know you just lied to me?

5

Thirty minutes after their discussion, Lana was asleep on one of
the plush sofas. The afternoon sun poked through the windows. He'd
seen exhaustion the past few weeks and knew he could have slept
inside a gunfight a couple times, but he was wide awake with the
prospects of his mission at that moment. A secret mission.

He moved out of the rest area with his cleaned rifle slung over
his shoulder. The great hall was subdued, though the radio room took
up the slack. As best he could tell, it was where most people had
gone.

That was fine by him. He used the opportunity to move toward the
EXIT sign over the stairwell door. His was almost there when he heard
a man's voice.

“Liam! Hold up.”

Chief ran up to him, like he'd been ordered to attack with licks
and affection.

Travis followed. He was holding a small backpack and a light tan
t-shirt. “I got these ready for you.” He handed both to
Liam. His own pack was still in the tank.

“What are you talking about?”