Zombies Ever After: Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse, Book 6 Read Free

Grandma
Marty. If Victoria died while he was off pretending he was part of a
rebel army...it wouldn't be good.
    He got up again and walked down the steps with grim fortitude. He
only stopped once, to get out the little flashlight. He held that in
his left hand, while he held a Glock pistol in his right. He kept the
backpack and his AK-47 slung over his shoulders.
    When he hit the ground floor—where he and his mom came in—he
paused before opening the door. Such practice was common these days,
so he didn't pat himself on the back for taking the basic precaution
in the Zombie Apocalypse. But he was thankful of his caution because
the lobby was half-filled by wandering zombies.
    When they entered the building earlier, a good number of zombies
followed—he didn't stop to count them—but he judged there
were more of them inside the lobby than he'd seen on the streets
around the building. Once again he was reminded of bloodhounds.
Somehow the zombies he'd interacted with earlier in the day had found
him. That was the only logical explanation. The infected always
seemed to keep coming once they had victims in their sights.
    He stepped away from the tiny glass window in the fire door.
Pushing the door open and making a run for it was suicide. No amount
of bravery or “girl crazy” energy was going to change
that fact.
    Do I go back up and pretend this never happened? I could be
back by mom's side in twenty minutes. Play it off as a joke. Or, go
down into the basement and look for a way out?
    The calculus of his equation resulted in an answer of Victoria.
The only way to solve all the variables was to keep going forward.
    He snuck away from the door and flicked the light back on as he
descended to the next level.
    2
    He'd forgotten something important about his arrival in the
building. They came in through the glass on the ground floor lobby,
but they took an escalator up one level. That's where they'd gone
into the stairwell. From behind the window of the door, he looked out
on the marble entryway and could just see the broken window next to
the revolving door that opened up to the street outside. Pulling
back, he could see the big letter G for ground floor on the wall next
to the door. He'd been off by one.
    There were zombies outside the door, but only a few. Compared to
the floor above, it was a ghost town. Judging their position and
speed, he visualized himself dodging them and exiting to the street.
    “Don't open that door.”
    A male voice from behind made him jump.
    The small flashlight was enough to see the face in the darkness on
the landing below. The stairs continued downward to who-knows-what.
Fear and surprise had paralyzed him, so he was content to stand his
ground and respond. He spoke just loud enough to be heard inside the
empty stairwell, but, he hoped, not outside the door.
    “You scared the crap out of me.”
    “You can't let them in above. They already got in...below.”
    Looking closer, the man had evidently crawled up the steps. The
stairwell continued down on the left side of the landing, and the
man's legs were hidden down the next flight. He had blood stains on
his back.
    “You've been bitten, haven't you?”
    He laughed with a wet cough. “They're all dead, down there.
I'm the only one on this side of the garage. Others might have gotten
out through the main gate. And yeah, I'm done for.”
    He scraped himself across the concrete and managed to prop himself
up and sit against the wall. A smear followed him.
    “Don't suppose you have a smoke?”
    The man was middle-aged. He had scruff for a beard like he'd not
been able to shave in ages. He wore a bright Hawaiian shirt, and in
many ways looked very much like his dad.
    Liam hopped down a couple of risers, then sat so he could talk in
a quieter voice.
    “I don't smoke. Are you with the people upstairs?”
    He shook his head. “There are people up and down all these
buildings. Tryin' to stay alive as best we can. My group was in the
garage. We