They both began the trek up to the front of the house. Liam felt like it took ten minutes. The entire time he could think of nothing else but someone walking along the street, seeing the open car door, and jumping in and driving off. He also imagined zombies seeing the open door, stumbling in, and hiding in the back seat like a bad movie. He did everything he could to push these thoughts away, but it only added to his anxiety. Then he wondered if he was on the verge of having another panic attack.
He hung on to Grandma's arm as they both moved slowly to their target. She was using her cane, so all things considered she was moving pretty quickly. Liam had to resist the urge to physically pull her.
Liam opened the front door and held it wide while he helped Grandma through the portal and onto her front stoop. He reached down to grab his backpack and slung it over one of his shoulders.
Liam took an opportunity to look around, but saw no one in the immediate vicinity. It was now or never.
They both inched down Grandma's ramp and then the walkway to the street curb. It wasn't long and they were both standing next to the car. Liam reached over to open the door to gain access to the back seat. He was careful not to push her in, though his brain was begging him to do just that so they could escape.
Once she was inside the car, he threw his backpack in the space next to her, slammed her door, and jumped into the driver's seat.
He dropped it into gear, smashed the gas pedal, and they were quickly accelerating up the street, away from Grandma's house. He suddenly knew exactly why every car that went through here seemed to be speeding. He eased up to allow himself to catch his breath.
“Liam, I left my cane on the curb.”
He slammed on the brakes and brought the car to a stop. He looked over his shoulder.
“Do we need to go back for it?”
Liam wasn't about to admit it, but he was scared to return. He wasn't sure why, given that home was the one place in the entire world he knew was safe at that moment.
“I think I'll be in a lot of trouble if I don't have something to help me walk. I don't think either of us wants me to have to hold onto you for the rest of my life.”
Liam couldn't argue with that. A better driver could probably have turned around in the narrow street, but Liam decided to proceed forward until he came to an intersection where he'd have plenty of room to reverse course. He needed every bit of that wide space.
Now, back on their way home, he kept the speed low enough to be safe. They arrived in front of her house without incident. Both could see the four-legged cane sitting innocently on the grass right next to the curb where she had boarded. Liam pulled up next to it, got out, ran around the car, grabbed the cane, then ran around the car again and hopped back inside. He tossed the cane into the front passenger seat, and saw it promptly tilt off the seat so its base was sitting on top of the bloody foot.
He had no time to consider that horrible scene. He pulled away from the curb heading in the wrong direction now. Up ahead he saw a lone figure standing in the street and he knew immediately who it was.
He slammed on the brakes.
“Grandma, Angie is up ahead. What should I do?”
He secretly hoped she would let him plow her over and just be done with it—essentially giving him the green light to do what he couldn't do when he drove by her the last time—but he knew that wasn't Grandma's style.
“Oh poor Angie.” She hesitated for a few moments, though Liam never doubted for a second what her recommendation would be.
“Let's carefully go around her and we can leave her forever.”
So that is what Liam did. He drove the car slowly in her direction, and she naturally gravitated to the side of the car to try to gain access to the people she could see inside. Once she moved away from the front of the car, Liam accelerated to quickly pass her.
As the nurse lumbered by, Liam and Grandma both saw the terrible condition of her face. Blood had poured from the wound to cover her eyes and cheeks, and totally drenched the front side of her already blood-stained nightgown. Where she was getting so much blood was beyond Liam's reckoning, but both of them gasped in awe when they saw her up close.
Grandma said a short prayer for her friend.
Liam couldn't even muster the requisite Amen when she was done.
Despite the relief of escaping the house and witnessing the horrific image of Grandma's most valued assistant, Liam couldn't help but feel their problems were only getting started.
His free-associating brain summoned a line from an old Rolling Stones song named, appropriately enough, Angie.
In his rearview mirror, Angie grew smaller and smaller.
Goodbye Angie.
Chapter 6: Coagulation
Liam and Marty had settled into driving the car fairly quickly. After avoiding Angie in the road they were dismayed to see several other sick people wandering the formerly peaceful neighborhoods in south St. Louis. Liam still wasn't ready to run anyone over, as long as he had a choice. He would use other means if he had to dispatch one of them.
And then he remembered.
“Oh crap!”
He looked in the mirror at Grandma, afraid she would chastise his language, but she said nothing.
“I need to pull over and load my gun. I pulled it out when Angie attacked me—did I mention that—on my way to her car, but of all the stupid things I forgot to put rounds into the magazine before I walked out the door. I'm such an idiot.”
He pulled over into a nearby parking lot for a large supermarket, letting the car run while he grabbed his backpack, pulled out a box of ammo, and loaded nine small rounds into the thin magazine. He then chambered a round, and after some consideration, put the safety on so he couldn't accidentally discharge a round while sticking it in his pants. That was one accident he was determined not to suffer.
He went ahead and reloaded the other pistol as well. If he ended up needing it, he was fairly certain he wouldn't have time to load it at that point. Then, to be complete, he loaded the two spare magazines. Be prepared! That is what years of Boy Scouts taught him. He returned the backpack to the back seat next to Grandma so she could grab water or snacks.
He finished up and looked out into the parking lot. The streets in this area were pretty empty, but this parking lot did have one large delivery truck parked smack in the middle of the tarmac, and there were several cars gathered around the rear end of the container, as if they were taking stuff out of it.
Liam decided he didn't want to know anything about what was going on there. He admitted he was anti-social, but he was also feeling a ticking in his brain telling him it was dangerous to walk into any unknown situation out here. It was safer to drive away as fast as possible.
His plan was simple. There was one highway that ran from downtown to the south—Interstate 55. With a little effort you could find highways going southeast or southwest, but there was only one that went in the direction Liam needed to go. That made things easy for someone new to driving.
It also made things simple for everyone else. As they drove near the on ramp for the highway, they were greeted with a massive traffic entanglement at the bridge interchange where the surface road went under the highway. Cars on the highway were stopped, cars going up the access ramp were stopped, and people everywhere were out of their cars and standing around. Infected people were wandering around too, though they were put down as soon as they showed up. Some cars were exiting the highway from the north, and they headed into the network of side streets. Everyone was pointed toward the south.
Liam pulled over to consider his options.
The first thing he did was turn on the radio. He slapped himself for not doing it sooner.
Only one radio station on the AM dial was live as far as he could tell. Every other station on the AM and FM bands was running the same emergency response message along with the President's radio message. Apparently the stations were ordered to play that nonsense rather than something that could actually help peop
le on the ground. Or maybe the radio people were on the run too?
The one station on the air was headquartered in downtown St. Louis, and they apparently had a reporter on a high-rise roof somewhere because they were describing traffic in the downtown area.
“And we are looking at southbound 55 and we can tell you it is snarled as bad as all the other highways we can see from our vantage point. Southbound is completely stopped. Northbound is also a mess coming into St. Louis, but everyone should be aware once you reach downtown there is nowhere to go. The bridges to Illinois are all blocked by the state police and what appears to be National Guard units. They are turning people back to the Missouri side of the bridges.”
“As we've said before, you should try to get out of St. Louis while you still can. Just don't try to escape through downtown.”
They began talking about the north side of the city so Liam tuned out.
“I bet the entire interstate is parked from here all the way out to mom and dads.”
Grandma didn't respond at all. Looking back he could see she was alert but casually looking out the window.
The radio continued.
“We have reports from some people talking to our roving reporter on the ground that there is a Red Cross station down by the Arch. While we can't see anything from here, we can't see everything down there because there are a lot of trees. There could be medical help down there. If you can't make it out of the city, that might be a good place to rest.”
Liam wasn't planning on going downtown so he really wasn't listening to the details.
“...and we've heard a rumor there is a big FEMA camp over at the Gateway speedway just over the river in Illinois. If you are in the Illinois listening area you might find help there.”
The two announcers then began some banter between themselves about their own homes, which Liam found annoying. He needed something that would help him RIGHT NOW.
He was beginning to understand a little more of the big picture however.
This chaos had spread everywhere in the bi-state area. He had hoped—with the usual futility of the past couple days—that once he reached mom and dad's he would be safe.
What if it's everywhere in the world?
2
Liam was drawing a mental map of the city. The most famous edge of the metropolis was the Mississippi River as it passed downtown St. Louis and its crown jewel the Gateway Arch. That was basically the eastern border. To the north he was less clear of the geography, but was pretty sure the Missouri River was up that way. The south was his neighborhood. He knew that to get out of the urban and suburban sprawl they'd have to cross the Meramec River—a relatively small river compared to the giant Mississippi where it drained out. Taken together, three sides of St. Louis were bordered by rivers. They were aiming for the southern river.
Grandma's home was a couple miles south of downtown St. Louis, so it was impressive that the highway was already choked to death going outbound from the city's center. Was every car in the city already out and parked on this stretch of highway? Was it the same going north or west? If so, it meant almost no one had actually escaped from the city. Everyone was on the road, but still within the gravity well of the collapsing star.
What's keeping everyone bottled up?
The radio had no answers. He decided to push further south on some of the comparatively empty side streets and see if Interstate 55 was more accessible in that direction. He knew it was a long shot. The further south he went, the more cars he found on the roads with him. He had sat in enough traffic jams with mom and dad to know when a highway was stopped, drivers would try just about anything to find alternate routes. Now as he approached the highway at each exit and entrance complex, he saw many more cars use the exit ramps and dive into side streets. Always south.
Without working electricity and street lights, gridlock increased with every major intersection as they went further south. Liam was beginning to realize there were just too many cars on the roads. He had to keep rolling over to smaller and smaller streets. He was considering using one lane alleys if he had to.
While driving on a side street through one of the old neighborhoods of south St. Louis, Liam noticed the flashing lights of a police car behind him. He immediately panicked, as now was NOT the time to get in trouble with the law. Not when he needed to get Grandma out of the city.
“Oh no! Grandma I got pulled over by a cop!”
“Were you speeding?”
“I don't think so. I was just kind of driving around looking for streets without a lot of traffic on them.”
“Mmmm huh.” She seemed to understand but she said nothing further. She rolled down her window. Liam assumed it was so she could talk to the officer herself.
Let her deal with it.
Liam was respectful of law and order so he pulled over as quickly as he could. He had his seatbelt on so he felt confident he had covered all his bases. He looked in the back seat to see if anything was out of the ordinary. He knew he might get in trouble for his guns so he took his out of his waistband and stuffed it next to the seat by the middle console. The other was safely in his backpack next to Grandma.
He felt like he was missing something—that seemed to always be in his head—but this was his first time getting pulled over so he didn't know what to expect.
He did not expect having a gun placed in his face, followed by a calm voice asking him for his money.
“I'll take your wallet, thank you very much.”
The dark man wasn't a police officer, but for once Liam held his tongue and didn't point that out to the prospective thief. The gold chains and multiple watches were the big clues, if the gun in the face wasn't hint enough.
Liam held his hands up to signify compliance. He said his wallet was in his right front pocket.
“Well GET IT, I don't have all day.” The man gave a little giggle at his statement.
He then noticed the blood on the passenger seat, and the foot sitting prominently in the floorboard.
Why did I leave that there?
“Looks like you had a passenger. What happened to him?”
“I don't know sir. It was there before we jumped in the car.”
“We?” It was then the man noticed the small woman sitting quietly in the back seat. He moved a step closer to the back so he could see directly into the interior.
“Well it looks like you two make quite the couple. I'll take that fancy necklace around your neck. And that backpack looks quite juicy.” It was lying open at that moment, and the snacks and drinks were clearly visible to the marauder. Liam silently cursed himself for being so dumb.
“No, Grandma needs her meds. Please don't take it.”
“When I need your opinion I'll ask for it, BOY.”
He slapped Liam's head by reaching inside the back window and hitting him to make his point.
Liam knew it was stupid to think it, but he didn't want to be taken advantage of like this. Instead of being scared, it made him angry.
Grandma meanwhile was gathering the pack by forcing in all the contents which had spilled out.
“Sir, please leave her medications. You can have the rest.” He thought he was being smart. She didn’t take any irreplaceable prescription meds, but maybe the guy would feel sympathy.
The man moved back to the front, directly outside Liam's window.
“You don't get it. I'm taking it all! If you say another word I'll kill you both.”
Grandma piped up, “I'm getting it all together for you.”
Liam sat there stewing in his impotence. Could he start the car and speed off without getting shot? He doubted it. But maybe if he pushed him back...
On impulse he tried opening the door to push the guy backward. Thinking about it later he wasn’t sure what he was intending, but he was shocked to see he didn't surprise the guy at all. In fact the man was so agile he hastened the door as it opened. Then he side-stepped it, gave Liam a stiff punch to knock him dizzy, and then he reached in an
d undid his seatbelt—dragging him out of the car and onto the street.
Liam's last memory of the incident was the soft murmur of his grandma's voice.
“I have your backpack ready sir.”
And then he blacked out.
3
When Liam woke up he was still lying on the pavement. Face down on the warm asphalt surface. The side of his face was awash in pain, but he could move his jaw and didn't feel anything crunchy in his mouth, so he assumed he was going to live.
For the second time in the day, he sat up to take stock of his surroundings.
He looked around and noticed the police car was still behind him. He looked at his own car and saw the malicious criminal lying on his back near the rear tire. Did they get in a fight? He couldn't remember any details of their encounter.
Did I win?
He stood up and was relieved to see Grandma sitting in the back seat. He ran over to her thinking she was dead, but no, she apparently had fallen asleep. Her head scarf had come undone and slid down to her neck. The backpack was still sitting right there with her.
With another bad headache making his life miserable, Liam moved back to check the condition of the thief. As he lay there it was obvious he was dead. His eye was a bloody mess, but otherwise his face and the rest of his body looked quite normal. He wasn't infected or anything.
I must have blacked out after the fight.
Liam looked around and saw cars moving on distant streets, but no one seemed interested in him. He thought about saying a prayer of thanks for his good fortune, but like so many false starts in his recent past, he didn't know if he believed his prayer would be heard by anyone. But he secretly hoped there was someone listening. Perhaps even the same God Grandma believed in.
For now he said a quick thank you to anyone who would listen, and then jumped back into his car and started it up.
He thought about going back to check out the cop car, but didn't like the idea of stealing from anyone. If he was caught ransacking a police car...
Instead, he put the car in gear and drove quickly away from the scene. It all happened so fast he didn't have time to be afraid. He looked at himself in the rearview mirror as he drove, and realized he was looking at a survivor. He just survived an encounter with a hardened criminal. He survived multiple encounters with Angie the plague victim. He even survived falling down a flight of stairs.
Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1): Since the Sirens Page 8
