Zombies vs Polar Bears: Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse, Book 5 (9 page)

“Oh Liam. I loved him
because
he did all that stuff.
He was too stoic to tell you how much he loved you in that note, but
he would have done anything to protect you and I. He did do something
to protect us. He got all those guns together, all those camping
supplies, all that gear. He was prepared for anything. It was only
bad luck that took it all away, and bad luck that took him away,
before he could properly tell you why he did everything he did.”
She paused. “He did it for you. So you would be prepared and
could survive the hard times—
these
hard times. It's why
we both did what we did.”

She laughed.

“Do I love spending my nights with ten thousand other
campers, cleaning weapons, and sneaking through forests? Not really.
But I'm here because this is how I can best show my love for you—and
for you Victoria.” Lana teared up a little. Liam bit his tongue
to prevent his own sadness from leaking out. He worried that her tone
made it sound like she was going away. She was at the end of her
contribution…

“I love you, too.” Victoria made her way over to his
mom and crouched to give her a big hug.

Why does this feel like goodbye?

“Your father would have divorced me if he thought for a
second I would abandon you when things got really tough. Of course
that was never an issue with us, as we both knew I was committed to
his...cause. But we both knew what it could mean.”

Through her tears, Victoria responded. “It would mean giving
weapons to young boys so they could go around giving funny names to
zombies.”

“What?”

“Oh nothing, Mrs. Peters. Just something your son and I were
discussing.”

She was trying to perk Liam up.

Jason arrived as Victoria moved back to her sitting tree.

“Hey guys. Thanks for waiting. It's going to be busy for me.
I was away with the captain for too long.”

Liam was grateful he didn't place the blame where it belonged. On
him.

“I'm afraid I don't have much for you to do up here. There's
no food. Little shelter. And now, not even a decent boat.”

He squatted down so everyone was roughly in a semi-circle next to
him. “But the worst part is the convoy. Everyone's talking
about it from the East Coast to the Rocky Mountains. No one is sure
where it's going, but it looks to be heading this way.”

“We heard it was coming
here
,” Lana replied.

“St. Louis?”

“We heard it on NPR.”

“Not on other channels? You know NPR can't be trusted
anymore. They control the radio. CSPAN controls the remaining
television broadcasts. You know who controls them both.”

“Why would they lie about their destination?”

“If I was going to St. Louis, I would say I was going to
Texas or North Dakota. I wouldn't want people waiting for me along
the way. It would give plenty of time to set traps or other
blockages.”

Liam looked at Jason. “You sure you're a professor? You
sound like a military strategist.”

“Ha! Well thanks for that, but no. I studied history in
college, and I teach the same at Saint Louis University.” He
paused. “Taught.”

“OK, so if they aren't going to St. Louis, where are they
going?” his mom asked.

“Or...what if they are coming here and don't care if people
know it. What would that get them?” Liam wondered.

They all looked at each other, but no answers were forthcoming.

3

“The convoy isn't our real concern. I'm afraid we've reached
a limit here. People are about to start eating each other, and I'm
not even joking. My comrades have told me several people have gotten
into fights over the smallest scraps, and threats have been made to
kill and then eat victims for one reason or another.”

“Is there anything we can do to help,” Lana asked.

Jason looked at them all for a long time, and suddenly appeared as
an exhausted shell to Liam. It wasn't apparent when he was animatedly
talking about NPR or convoys, but now...he was talking about people
in his care.

“Guys, I'm glad you're here. Lana, I sure wish Jerry were
here, but I'm truly grateful you showed up when you did. I need some
fresh eyes on this.” He swept his arms around him. “I
need to know if what I'm planning to do is right.”

Lana replied, “I'll do my best. What's your plan?”

“My team is worried we're going to die in this forest. HQ
wants us to wait it out...but that's not going to work for me. A huge
convoy led by a corrupted military is coming this way and the only
surviving bridge on the river is right next to us. It doesn't take a
college professor to know this high ground is going to be the first
target to secure when they arrive. We have to move.”

Liam was quick to respond. “Camp Hope. The old Beaumont Boy
Scout Reservation. It's where we've been staying. It's in a valley,
and is very secure.”

“But do they have food?”

Liam admitted that was the missing puzzle piece almost everywhere
he'd been.

“Cairo?” He offered.

“They have food there?”

He couldn't say for absolute sure, though he thought that with all
the barges they'd secured, some food had to be in them.

“I think so.” It sounded more like a question than an
answer.

Jason sighed deeply, then spoke quietly. “There's a place
we've been hearing about on the shorts. It was mentioned once by
leadership. They supposedly have food stockpiled, lots of water, even
medical care. But it's very hard to get to.”

Liam could think of a lot of places that would be safe, but hard
to get to. Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado—the old home of NORAD.
Maybe an island in the tropics. A secret base on the polar ice cap
where one citizen could watch the Zombie Apocalypse in perfect
safety.

But Jason's refuge was much closer. “You guys know Forest
Park, right?”

Liam and his mom nodded, but Victoria wasn't sure.

“It's the huge park in what you might consider mid-town St.
Louis. It sits behind all those medical buildings. Barnes Hospital
and all that.”

Victoria lit up. “Yes! My internship was at Washington
University and I crossed a big park to get to the hospitals where
they had us, well, helping the infected. I just didn't know what it
was called. I never had time for a tour.”

“There you go. It's one of the biggest urban parks in
America. Bigger than New York Central Park. But apparently, and this
is hearsay remember, the government of St. Louis was able to hold
things together in that small part of the city, in and near the park
with the help of those medical facilities.”

Liam reflected on the other big refuge set up by the city—the
area underneath the Gateway Arch. It collapsed under its own weight,
and then it was blown to smithereens by the military. If there were
other camps in St. Louis they might also have been blown up.

But if there
was
a camp.

You can go there and destroy it.

He rolled his mind's eyes. He didn't truly believe he was
responsible for destroying all those places. The Arch. The quarry.
The bridge out of St. Louis. And on and on and on the list went.

No, not really. I don't believe it.

He had himself mostly convinced when he returned to what Jason and
the others were saying.

“Hey Liam, I might finally get back to my dorm room,”
Victoria said happily.

“I swore I would never go back into St. Louis. We lost so
much the last time—Mel, Phil. We almost lost Grandma Marty.
Now, going back in seems a waste of their lives. I don't know if I
can do it.”

“Liam, I hear you. But unless you know of somewhere that
definitely can feed my people, I think it's our best chance. My map
guy already has a route planned. Fifteen miles. Half a day. We can
walk it in.”

“Yeah, but those fifteen miles are crawling with zombies.
You didn't see how many were in downtown. They were moving outward.”

Jason looked at him for a long time. His face was serious, and he
spoke at an even lower tone. Victoria and Lana leaned in. “Look,
I appreciate your concern. You guys don't even have to come along.
But we have to do
something
. My team can barely walk. A few
more days they'll barely be able to crawl. I can't even send them out
to scavenge. The hungrier they get, the more desperate acts they'll
attempt. My recovery teams suffer loss after loss out there, and find
almost nothing.”

Liam was desperate to think of alternatives.

“Maybe you could wait until the convoy arrives. Then they'll
give you some food.” It sounded as stupid as he felt after he
said it.

“Yeah, I'm sure they'll feed us on the way to the ovens...”

That brought it all into focus. “But if you go to Forest
Park, aren't you getting in bed with the enemy. Aren't they part of
the government that's waiting on that convoy?”

“I don't know, Liam. I really don't. But if they'll feed us,
we'll at least have the strength to move somewhere else before the
real threat arrives. It's not like we have signs on us that say we're
enemies of the state. We'll appear like every other refugee with
growling stomachs.”

That won't be hard to fake.

4

“You don't want to go into the city again, do you?”
Victoria asked.

Victoria and Liam stood off to the side as Jason and his helpers
went around to all the campers and explained what they were doing.
Jason explained there was only a small cadre of “card carrying
Patriots” in his group. Most really were civilians trying to
get to other places. They couldn't care less who was guiding them, as
long as food was the reward.

“Who does? I'll go, but only because we—and believe me
this sounds crazy to say—appear to be the strongest and
healthiest of these people. I think we can actually make a
difference. I'd much rather walk away. Maybe find some driftwood and
sail down to Cairo and wait it all out in a bunker with Grandma. But
then I wouldn't be able to write much of a book, and I certainly
wouldn't be any closer to finding the cure.” He pulled her
closer, and for a moment forgot all his other troubles…

“What?” she said with a wry smile.

“Oh, sorry...you distracted me.”

It was unexpected, but she pulled him in for a kiss. He imagined
his mom somewhere nearby scowling at him, but he knew that was
unreasonable. By all accounts she really liked Victoria. She even
said she loved her.

He was lost in the moment.

A cough interrupted them. “I'm sorry, you two. We're moving
out.” His mom continued on, helping others get to their feet.

Victoria continued as if they'd been talking all along. “I
think if we go to the city, it's our opportunity to find someone who
can help us. Someone who knows the right people working on the cure.
If hospitals are still open like Jason said, they would be the best
places to start. You'll see.”

He let her go and felt the loss when he lost the contact.

She bent over to grab her rifle. He stood by watching.

“Eyes forward, mister,” she said without looking back.

How the hell did she know?

Girls always know, you dope.

He was still laughing when they'd both gotten their gear and were
on the way.

“What's so funny?” Victoria asked.

“Oh, you. You make me do stupid things, like checking you
out when you bend over to get your military rifle during the Zombie
Apocalypse. This whole thing—I mean dating—isn't how I
imagined it.”

“I'll tell you a secret, my young apprentice...” she
nudged his side as she walked. “I wanted you to notice.”
She smiled widely. “We're both still alive, Liam. I'm sorry all
this happened around us, but I love you dang it, and I'm going to
enjoy it until the day we—”

They both knew what word came next.

“We both find a final refuge.”

“Exactly,” she confirmed. With that, she sped up. He
realized she was doing it again. She turned around with another
devious smile before truly double timing it along the dirt trail.

His mind was tempered by the sick and weak people dropping into
the outgoing line, though none of them looked infirm or elderly. They
looked exactly as you might imagine friends and neighbors after
they'd been camping for two weeks with lots of water, but little
food.

None of them were very talkative, which suited Liam fine. His mom
volunteered to stay near the front with Jason. She wasn't a soldier
but she wasn't wasting away like everyone else. That gave her a great
value simply for being alert. For the same reason Victoria offered to
stay in the middle of the group. Liam, always a glutton for
punishment, offered to be at the back.

He came across a few people who weren't coming. They'd assembled
in the central area vacated by the radio operators. One of the older
women was tossing her sleeping bag near the others when Liam walked
up. Her hair was gray and her clothes were the color of dirt from so
much time in the forest.

“What you lookin' at, kid?” said the filth-covered
woman.

“You aren't going with us?”

She laughed briefly. “Why should we go with
them
? We
all heard the rumors. Help is coming to us. All we gotta do is wait
here and it will roll right over that bridge.”

Others nodded.

“The guys you're following are going to get you killed.
We've been safe in these woods because the river and the cliff are on
our front, and we have that big pit mine on our north side. It
deflects all the zombies in other directions. If we leave, the
zombies are going to be all over us.”

That's exactly what Liam feared was going to happen.

“But you'll starve. You don't know when the convoy is going
to get here.”

The woman gave him a new look. A darkness in her eyes. Liam
couldn't explain the feeling he drew from it.

“Kid, we got plenty of food. Don't you worry about us.”