Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 2): Siren Songs by E.E. Isherwood

comfortably in
Liam's family room. The house itself was a modest ranch-style
dwelling with a small floor plan. Therefore the family room was quite
cozy with all four sitting together. Grandma had found the recliner
she favored. Liam and Victoria were sitting next to each other on a
small loveseat, though they remained separated by a few throw
pillows. Phil sat by himself on the large couch. They all shared a
visible weariness after their days of being on the move. The problem
of Liam's missing parents had been the subject of much discussion the
last several minutes.
    Phil summed up the situation. “We know your parents left two
days ago in your mom's car and headed into the city. We have
no way of knowing whether they made it to Grandma's house and thus we
have no way of knowing if they are on their way back. The only
practical question is whether they would wait there for you to return
or if they would assume this is where you'd go. Did you leave a note
at her house saying where you were going?”
    It seemed so obvious now, but he admitted he never thought of
leaving a note because he never dreamed anyone would go looking for
him. He was only thinking of Grandma and himself.
    “Well, is there anywhere else they might look for you?”
    Liam wondered about other members of his extended family, some of
whom lived near Grandma's neighborhood in the city. Were they still
alive? Did they also go looking for her? Maybe there were a dozen
family members in her house right now, all asking the same question
about where Liam would have taken her. Would it be obvious? Liam
admitted it never crossed his mind to take her to see other family
members—even those who lived relatively close to her.
    “Any family member who knows me would probably agree the
only place I would go is back home. My friends might be under the
impression I would try to get to their houses—we kind of all
discussed how we'd band together if zombies came—but if they
knew I was with Grandma...they'd probably assume we died on the way.”
    “OK, so for now we have to assume your parents are going to
come back here. Which means we have to decide what we're going to do
in the meantime.” The question hung on the air for a long time.
    As they all sat together, the only sound to be heard was the soft
tick tock of the analogue wall clock hanging near the kitchen. It
reminded Liam of Grandma's clock hanging on her wall, and how it used
to make him nervous to sit in the same room with her and always be
aware of that clock ticking. Mocking his inability to interact with
his oldest living relative. Fighting zombies and running from gunmen
weren't nearly as hard as finding a common frame of reference with
the old woman, at least before the collapse. Now they had plenty to
talk about, and all of it was as important as life and death.
    “Grandma, what do you think we should do?”
    She let out a quick puff of air, like she'd been holding her
breath waiting for his question. “Well, I think we have to
stick to the basics. Take things one day at a time. We need some
food. We need to rest. We need to get cleaned up. We're all covered
in filth—look at poor Victoria—and we're all exhausted.
The day is getting on. We should use the time to rest and look at
things anew tomorrow morning.”
    Phil was in agreement. “I'm going to bring our gear into the
house and pull the truck into the garage. No use making it known we
have goodies for people to take. After we get some grub I recommend
we discuss security of the house overnight, go over some safety
protocols, and have a basic plan of escape.”
    He did a double-take when he saw everyone was eying him like he
was nuts. “What? I'm a police officer. It's in my blood.”
He gave a little laugh at that, but then was serious, “Look, I
know it sounds crazy, but this is dangerous. If a bad guy comes
through that door you can't call the police anymore to take care of
it—OK, you folks can because I'm in your house—but
you get