Free Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1): Since the Sirens by E.E. Isherwood

it fall into his
waiting hands.
    The box was very heavy. Surprisingly so. But Liam held tight.
    As he walked it up the steps he had a pretty good idea what it
was. For years his father had taken him to the local shooting range
to practice with a variety of weapons. First it was BB guns, then
airsoft guns, and finally the ubiquitous .22 caliber rifle. In fact
it was his late great-grandpa who had insisted on giving it to him
when he was still a toddler. It was auspicious timing, as he passed
away not long after...
    Liam knew the size and shape of firearm cases, and this was
clearly a container for handguns. Roughly sixteen by sixteen inches
when viewed from the top, it was about eight inches deep, and he knew
it would be packed with gray insulating foam inserts to keep the
contents from shifting inside.
    He set it up on the coffee table in Grandma's living room. Using a
small light, Grandma produced a key which unlocked the safety gun
lock which was securing the container. It popped open and just as
Liam suspected there was a handgun inside. Two in fact.
    Picking up the first gun with both hands, Grandma placed it on the
table.
    “You probably didn't think your old grandma knew anything
about guns, eh?” She was smiling as she said it. Liam wore a
blank look on his face.
    “This is heavier than I remember. This is a Ruger Mark I
Target .22. The other one is identical. Your great-grandpa bought
both of these way back before you were born. There had been a
break-in on our block and Al told me he wanted me to be ready in case
something like that ever happened again.”
    Grandma sat back in her chair as she continued.
    “Oh those were the days. Simple times. We took these guns
out to the country a few times, and I even shot them. Can you believe
that? Got pretty good too. But like so many things in life, it just
became too much trouble to practice, to maintain them, to think about
them. Someday I'll tell you about my lasso rope that fell into
similar disuse.” She chuckled a little at her own joke.
    “Anyway, a few months ago your dad was here telling me I
needed to be prepared for anything that might happen in the city—you
probably don't remember all that rioting business last year? I told
him I was fine and that I even had two handguns. Well he was not
impressed. He had me show him where they were, and then he took them
and said he was going to clean, service, and make sure they were
working properly for me. The next week he had them both back to me in
this case, with this small box of 1000 rounds to go with it. I'm sure
he knew I would not be able to use these anymore, but he told me
where he was going to put the box and he said it would be there 'in
case of emergency.' I guess he was pretty smart about that!”
    Liam sat looking at the shiny black objects sitting there. In the
darkness he could only see the harsh lines of the Mark I, but he knew
it well. In fact, he was beginning to believe his father was smarter
than he ever let on. How else could one explain that Liam had spent
considerable time training on a Mark I with his dad? He never thought
to ask him where it came from, but it sure seems likely he got it
from Great-Grandpa too. And now at this critical moment, he would be
carrying the same model he had trained on. Did this make him the
gardener with the deadly spade?
    Everyone has a skill.
    Dad always said the .22 was the best training round because it was
so cheap and had very little recoil. He said eventually Liam would
graduate to more powerful rounds, but if you could master the .22 all
the others would fall in line. It was all about stance, awareness,
and a steady arm. Plus the danger of breaking any of the cardinal
rules of gun handling was minimized during the learning period with
the tiny round. He assured Liam it was still quite deadly of course,
and assassins had used the small and quiet caliber to good effect for
many years.
    Liam never pushed for bigger guns because he absolutely loved
going out and