Since The Sirens Box Set | Books 1-7

by Isherwood, E. E.

  She stood with her legs slightly spread, a little ahead and behind her. The fighting stance indicated her willingness to engage the first zombie. He'd wriggled through the mud and was only a few feet from her now.

  His options were to either wrestle her for the spear, or get the hell out of there.

  “You better follow me.” He threw himself backward into the deeper mud, behind her. As he righted himself in the disturbed mud, his eyes were drawn to her muddy figure. He noted, with some innocence, that she wore the same black boxer briefs as him. It must have been all that was available at for refugees in Cairo.

  Victoria lifted her spear, then let it drop onto the head of the zombie. Liam couldn't see it, because she was between him and the infected, but he heard the sucking sound as the spear came out.

  She looked around for the other zombies. He saw them too, coalescing toward her from various angles. Reading the angles, she made a decision to run for it. She pulled a leg out with her own sucking sound, and soon faced Liam.

  “What are you gawking at? Git!”

  It was all the prodding required. He turned around, and he was confident he could hear her sloshing loudly behind him as they headed for open water.

  Victoria did stop once. He turned when he didn't hear her moving, and was impressed as he watched her again lift the spear over her head and slam it into one of the female zombies with the seaweed hair. Victoria caught her looking up from a prone position on the mud, and the spear drilled into her eye. He did not watch it come back out.

  The boat remained out on the water, doing the equivalent of a hover. The motor was holding it still against the current. He saw the shape of the captain inside his bubble, while Blue stood in the back with an anxious face. From time to time she would wave, as if beckoning him to hurry back to her.

  “Where else am I going to go,” he muttered to himself.

  When he reached what he judged was the absolute edge of the mud flat, he turned around again. Victoria was pushing herself hard through the mud, chased by a curious group of flailing mad pursuers. Everyone was coated with the mud over most of their bodies, including Victoria. She must have fallen when he was faced the other way. She was still spitting the stuff out as she slid up to him.

  Just before she arrived, he dove out into the water. He had a terrible deja vu though, which insisted he look over his shoulder—to be absolutely sure she followed him. Still gripping her spear, and moments ahead of the four remaining zombies, she jumped, or more properly, fell into the slow-moving waters.

  They drifted as they swam, and the boat began to drift backward as well. The zombies continued their pursuit as well, unaware they couldn't swim.

  “Or, maybe they can swim.” He wondered about that, then remembered the zombie under the water back in St. Louis. After a few more strokes, he did absorb the implications. Suddenly he imagined zombies littered the riverbed below him.

  He drifted and paddled water while he looked for Victoria. She was nowhere to be seen.

  “Victoria?”

  Panic swept through him. He'd drifted with the current fifty or more feet from where he'd fought his way ashore. The muddy bodies of the two dead zombies lay like small mounds of dirt over their graves.

  On the river side, he saw the girl as she boarded Lucy's Football.

  But no Victoria.

  Then he felt a bump against his upper leg. A grip. Then a poke.

  His skin crawled. He wanted to scream in fear, but didn't know how. He was too scared to remember.

  When Victoria popped out of the water with her eyes closed, he couldn't have been more shocked. He tried to yell at her, but still nothing would come out.

  “I'm so sorry. I wanted to get this mud off before we got back in the boat.”

  She floated next to him, with a bemused look. “What?”

  Should I tell her she almost made me scream like a schoolgirl?

  He liked to be honest with her, but that felt a little too honest.

  “I'm glad you made it, that's all. I didn't see you in the water until just now.”

  He figured that was a good explanation.

  The boat had drifted closer to them, so getting out of the filthy water would be much easier. Liam was glad; he'd nearly reached his limit of endurance after creeping through the glue-like mud.

  Blue had tossed a rope ladder over the side. Victoria made Liam go up the ladder first. He didn't know why until he was half way up and his rear was hanging in the wind.

  “Oh, right.” He tried to hold his dignity as he climbed aboard. Blue's grasp as he cleared the edge was both welcome and a reminder he was nearly naked.

  I almost died, and all I can think about is girls.

  He wondered if his brain was programmed that way, or if there was something wrong with him.

  He sat down hard against the inner wall of the boat, where he'd been sleeping before he was interrupted from his slumber. In moments, a soaked Victoria slapped down on the deck across the boat from him. She looked a lot more winded than she let on in the water. Her chest heaved up and down. Sitting as she was, her toes touched his. For a moment, that was the most reassuring feeling in the world.

  That's when he noticed the girl he'd rescued. She was on the floor at the very back of the boat. He'd missed her coming in. But now…

  Her muddy clothes were only marginally cleaner after a dip in the water. Her hair was still a mangy, tangled mess of long black locks coated in the thick mud. Only her face was clean. Liam got his first good look at who he'd risked his life to save.

  The girl looked just like Blue. As in, exactly like her.

  4

  “Guys, this is my sister, Saffron.”

  “Pink,” the girl repeated.

  “Uh, I mean Pink.” She laughed, as if it was no big deal. “She came out of St. Louis and got stranded out here. Lucky we came along when we did, hey 'sis?”

  The girl huddled on the floor, but didn't say anything further.

  Liam had nothing but questions. About ten to be exact, but he started with the most basic.

  “Why do you call yourself colors?” He looked at Pink, but it was obviously addressed to both her and Blue. He thought both of the mixed-race girls were very attractive, though both were very short for teens.

  The girls shared a look, then Blue answered. “It's from a book we read last summer. Every year, our local library has a reading contest and me and my sister here have our own competition to see who can read the most books. We both got caught up in a series of books about magical Adepts. The main hero is the Blue Adept, so naturally I chose Blue. I think Saffron just likes the color Pink.” She smiled at the slouching figure on the floor. The other girl tilted her head up and gave a thumbs up, then tilted her head back to her chest.

  He didn't want to bother the new girl, but Blue was fair game.

  “But why now?”

  Liam heard her response, though he thought he was hearing himself talk.

  “Don't you get it? Everything is gone now. No more school. No more libraries. No more nuthin'. We can be whoever we want.”

  It made sense to him. He changed his age on the fly, for the same reason. But there was one troubling fact emerging from the cloud of his recent incident in the mud and water. One that made him feel chilled to the bone, even though the hot sun beat him from above. He wasn't ready to voice it to the group, though he would definitely be asking Victoria as soon as he could.

  Why, pray tell my dear Watson, have I rescued two colored twins from near-certain death? What are the odds?

  Grandma had recently said some things were improbable, though not impossible. This seemed to be one of those improbable coincidences.

  He was dying to ask Victoria, but she had also curled up in a ball and shut her eyes. He too felt the pull of sleep. It seemed the only safe thing to do these days in the long, hot afternoons. Especially when you are safe on the back of a boat, well away from the zombies lurking below...

  He felt himself tip sideways a
little as the boat accelerated.

  Blue excused herself to return the captain's side. She pulled open the door and stepped into the interior. Then the captain put the hammer down and they began to fly up the river. He shut his eyes, believing there was nothing else to do with most of his crewmates asleep.

  Before he knew it, Victoria tapped him on the shoulder. When he opened his eyes, she sat next to him. He had to look away, as she still wasn't dressed properly.

  “Oh, grow up, Liam,” she giggled. She spoke so only Liam could hear. “Listen, something isn't right here. What are the odds you pull Blue off the MRAP one day, and practically the next day you pull her sister—PINK—out of a random mud bank? This can't be a coincidence.”

  He followed his heart, and leaned in to kiss her.

  When he was done, she wore a big smile. “What was that for? Saving your life?”

  “Oh, man. I forgot all about that. I think it happens so often these days, I don't even notice.” He laughed, but there was an underlying sadness at the necessity of it. “But no, I kissed the smartest girl in the world. Or, at least the girl who thinks along the same weird lines as me. I had just made the same observation and I was sad to see you had gone to sleep. I really wanted to ask you that exact question.”

  “Well?”

  He hunched his shoulders. “Dunno.” So far he had nothing but flimsy speculation. Blue was almost left behind for dead. If she planned her escape up to that point, she did a terrible job closing the deal. She was smashed to the roof of the MRAP. She would have been dead if he hadn't noticed her.

  And Pink, or Saffron, was exposed on the mud flat well before the boat showed up. She couldn't have known anyone would rescue her. She was going to die, too.

  Except they didn't. Twice.

  As a postscript to their discussion, he continued. “One thing I know for sure, something doesn't smell right here. I don't just mean you,” he said with a teasing look at her. Quieter despite the drone of the motors, he went on. “I don't like whatever it is Blue is doing inside this cabin with the captain. I don't like whatever it is that brought her twin to this boat. And now, I'm beginning to wonder if we've gotten ourselves into something more than we can handle by going to that mine. I don't like any of it.”

  She turned toward him with mock exaggeration. “Liam Peters. Are you saying you aren't enjoying your time here in the Apocalypse? Is that it? …Cause I will stop this whole thing right now and take us back to the beginning if that's going to be your attitude.”

  Ah, back to the tree under the Arch. He wouldn't mind going back to when they met. It was as clumsy as it was exciting for him. One of the few bright spots from those early days.

  But time marches on. They rocked as the boat sped up the river, the air dried their bodies, and Liam and Victoria both managed to get their clean clothes back on before any more trouble found them. He didn't think he'd like fighting zombies in the open with just his drawers to protect him from bites.

  The afternoon wore on into tedium, and sleep.

  Nearly out, he sprang awake with an important piece of awareness from his recent dream. Something he missed the first time. He'd assumed the dream represented some subconscious, um, desire, for Blue. That's why he saw the blue bow on one of the three figures in the back of the bus. But something told him he also saw a pink bow.

  That's what I'm talking about. I don't like this one bit.

  He kept that piece of information to himself, for now. Having weird dreams was Grandma's specialty...

  5

  Victoria kicked him gently to wake him up.

  “Don't you ever sleep?”

  She looked down at him condescendingly, hands on her hips and head cocked. “And all you ever do is sleep. What am I going to do with you?” She straightened and smiled as she reached down to help him up.

  “You'll want to see this.”

  When he had his footing, she walked him across the deck to her side. There, across the river, was the bridge they'd seen two times now in their travels. The blown bridge over the Meramec River. The bridge was a couple hundred yards up that river, but they could easily see the downed span where the wrecking ball ruined it. That crane still towered over the ruin.

  Liam laughed. “I wonder how many times we're going to pass that thing?”

  He was happy to watch it from a distance. He had nothing but bad memories from their first encounter and didn't want to relive them now. Content he was safe and dry, he relished his time standing next to Victoria. The rocking motion of the boat ensured he rubbed up against her arm from time to time. It made him feel giddy.

  His peace was disturbed as the captain kicked open the door. Nothing was said to them, but he was talking in a loud voice to someone on the radio and wanted he and Victoria to hear.

  “No copy. Say again.” He angrily yelled it to whomever was on the other end of the connection.

  “You are entering a restricted waterway. The channel north of Interstate 255 is closed due to navigational hazards. Over.”

  The captain passed quiet words with Blue. Liam couldn't hear what was being said. He considered going inside the cabin to escape some of the noise of the motors, but he'd received no invite.

  “Understood. We have freight to deliver to the Koch Hospital Quarry. We will hold to the south of the interstate. Over.”

  The radio was quiet for a full minute. The captain made no effort to slow to wait for permission.

  Then the voice continued. “Negative, Lucy's Football. For your own safety, we require that you turn around. Do not proceed. How do you copy?”

  Blue came out of the shaded cabin with several bottles of water. She seemed calm and refreshed as she handed them out. A great contrast to Liam and Victoria, who spent the day covered in residue from the river and the sweat of a hot day. Her sister looked even worse, and she hadn't woken up since the rescue. She somehow slept just in front of the two motors, occasionally sliding side to side as the boat made course corrections in the choppy current.

  “Hey Pink,” she shouted. “Wake up. There's trouble.”

  The girl stirred while Blue turned to Liam. “You guys sure you want to do this? The captain said he would try to get you close, but it doesn't look like he can get you all the way to the docking platform in front of the mine.”

  Liam looked at Victoria, but he knew her mind already. “Just have him get us close and we can walk the rest of the way. We can't be more than a few miles now.”

  He didn't want to tempt fate. That was always bad these days.

  As he turned to Victoria, he noticed a drone hovering about a hundred feet over their heads. It looked like it was attached to the boat because it moved at exactly the same speed.

  The girls noticed it, too, as they scanned the sky to see what he was watching.

  “Everyone smile for the camera,” Victoria joked. Liam laughed, despite himself. The last time she'd gotten her picture taken, it had been by Duchesne—the man who tried to kill Liam's whole family.

  Note to self: take her picture!

  He waved like he was on a luxury yacht putting on a show for the paparazzi. He was startled when he leveled his head back toward the front and saw the captain. He was in the doorway.

  “What's wrong with you, kid? Don't you know they're taking your picture?” He looked at the three girls in turn. “All of you. You shouldn't take this lightly. Never let them see your face if you can help it.”

  Liam's mouth was open, but Victoria beat him. “Who do you think is taking our picture?”

  The grizzled man gave a look of disgust and turned to go back to the controls. As an apparent afterthought, he stopped and looked out of the shaded cabin. His voice was calmer.

  “Well, at least you stupid kids make me look more like a party boat than a serious threat.” Then he shook his head and turned away for good. The door was still open; it swayed with the turbulence below the boat.

  Liam had to practically bite his tongue not to reply. His first instinct was to expl
ain how wrong the captain was about the crew he was carrying, though he felt he learned his lesson over the last few weeks about bragging to strangers. But the real reason he didn't reply was because he was a stupid kid in this instance, and it made him realize how fast he reverted back to his old care-free self on this trip.

  He looked at Victoria, wondering what she was thinking. Surely she could make the same case to the captain. Did she also understand how right the man was? Her countenance told him nothing. She was playing it cool, like him.

  Blue helped Pink in the back. The drone above them had come down almost to eye level. It was black with four fans, one on each corner. The enclosure above the fans was circular, about the size of a small car tire. On instinct he moved to the door and pulled it shut. He slammed it with as much force as he could muster. He hoped the captain would notice why.

  Soon they all watched helplessly as the thing lazily hovered next to the boat as they continued up the river. The captain yelled obscenities at someone, probably on the radio.

  Liam couldn't eliminate the possibility he was yelling at him.

  The boat lurched to the left, into the path of the drone. It easily maneuvered out of the way, and sped ahead of them so it could hover in front of the bow, as if telling the captain to stop. He responded by accelerating.

  The four of them standing on the back had to hang on to the sides.

  Liam watched ahead as the captain opened the door on the front of his cabin. He brought something up he'd been holding. A gun.

  Through the glass he watched as the captain lined up a shot with his shotgun, then pumped off a quick couple of shots. The sounds were loud in the open air.

  He missed the drone, and it dipped low to the water's surface and then sped away from them. The captain didn't waste any more shots.

  Liam used the opportunity to voice his concerns to Victoria. “I didn't say this at the time, but do you think the people taking those pictures know who we are? Like, specifically who we are and what we've done?”

  Victoria looked at the two girls at the back of the boat. Pink was on the ground again, crying. Blue remained on her feet, but was studiously watching the drone as it flew toward the Illinois shore. She then turned back to him.