He walked on, trying to make his footsteps as soft and quiet as he could, forgetting that although the undead might not be able to hear him, they’d definitely be able to see the light from his torch.
He reached the end of the row of shops. The walkway curved around, just like he’d said. An ellipse. If he continued walking in that direction, he’d end up back with Lauryn. There was a sign for the toilets just ahead. Then the light picked out a door with the words ‘STAFF ONLY’. That looked promising. It might lead to the control room.
He twisted the door knob. It wasn’t locked. He pushed it open and stepped into the darkened hallway, gently closing the door behind him. He crept forward, keeping low, his torch focused on the floor giving him just enough light to take his next step without bumping into the wall.
The corridor was cold and smelled of a mixture of damp and disinfectant. He’d gone about fifteen metres when he heard the muffled voices. It sounded like a boy and a man. Colm and The Ghost? He was about to move closer when it struck him that this might be a very bad idea. What could he do? He needed numbers on his side if he was going to take on The Ghost. I may be Superdude, he thought, but this Ghost fella is some kind of Smartevildude. No, he’d better go back and make sure Lauryn had released the others – he couldn’t believe his mother was actually here in a shopping centre in Dublin – and then they could storm the room. Between the lot of them they’d defeat The Ghost, right? Although Seanie’d probably be a rubbish fighter. And the Drake fella had two broken hands, so he was out. Lauryn’s mother? His mother? It wasn’t like having Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan on your side, now was it? Still, what other choice did he have? He sighed as silently as he could, turned around and snuck back down the corridor.
He opened the door and stepped back into the main shopping area. The coast was clear. He just had to … wait a second. He swung the torch around. Right at the creature’s eyes. The man who had once been Fintan Wickerly stared back at him. He didn’t blink once in the harsh light.
‘Uh-oh,’ The Brute said. He snapped his hand forward, catching Wickerly on the chest with the butt of his torch. It had no effect.
‘Uh-oh,’ The Brute said again.
Wickerly reached out and grabbed him by the neck. The Brute felt the creature’s thick fingers begin to tighten as it lifted him off the ground. He kicked out at Wickerly, catching him in an area that would have been considered vulnerable in most men. Not in Wickerly though.
The Brute’s eyes began to bulge. He dropped the torch to the floor. It rolled along the ground, revealing another set of slow, shuffling feet. Then another, and another, until it came to a stop when it hit the rubbish bin outside Jammy’s Newsagent.
Farther down the corridor he could hear a girl’s scream. Lauryn, his mind echoed feebly as he began to weaken.
‘Miiiiine,’ rasped a voice.
Paddy the Bullkiller shuffled forward and swiped a huge hand in Wickerly’s direction. He couldn’t think clearly any more, but somehow Paddy knew that if he wanted to drain the life from the boy, he couldn’t let this other creature have him. The hand connected with Wickerly’s ear. It was enough to stun him momentarily. He dropped The Brute and turned towards the Bullkiller, lashing out in his slow, undead fashion.
The Brute shook his head clear. There was no time to waste, no time to retrieve the torch. He scrambled to his feet and set off, back towards Lauryn. He tripped over something in the darkness and went sprawling. Something fleshy grabbed at his face.
‘Eeeeewwww, get off of me,’ he yelled. He slapped and kicked wildly until the flabby creature was knocked aside.
He was on his feet again, running. Running as fast as he could. He really was sick of running now. There was a light ahead. It was coming towards him.
‘Lauryn?’ he called out.
‘Mikey?’
‘Turn around. Zombies,’ they both shouted at the same time.
They crashed into each other, knocking the last bit of wind out of themselves as they collapsed in a heap of arms and legs.
‘There’s a load of those undead after me,’ The Brute said, leaping up.
Lauryn aimed the headlight over The Brute’s shoulder. He was right. They were spread across the hallway, moving towards them with the shambling gait she’d grown to hate.
‘It’s no better on my side,’ Lauryn said shining the lamp back in the direction she’d come from. More blank faces.
Her top was ripped at the shoulder, a little trickle of blood soaking into her black shirt.
‘Can we break into one of those shops?’ The Brute asked.
‘I won’t have time to pick the lock,’ Lauryn said. ‘What if we jump over the railing, down to the first floor?’
‘Are you mad? Even if we survived we’d have so many broken bones we wouldn’t be able to move. We’d just be lying there waiting for all those creatures to come along and finish us off,’ The Brute said.
‘Then it looks like we’re trapped.’
She was right. Slowly the creatures came towards them from either side, like a group of bloodthirsty predators closing in on their prey.
Twenty-Five
‘If you help me complete my task,’ The Ghost said, ‘then I will save them all. You will die. That will not change, but you can save them. You’re aware of how the creatures react to sunlight?’
Colm nodded, tears streaming down his face, his gaze still fixed on the monitors. His shoulders slumped in defeat. He was exhausted, drained, angry and terrified, but worst of all he was powerless to help his mother.
‘These creatures are different. When you know how to use the keys you can command armies and eliminate their weaknesses. Regular light does not affect them, but I have had the most powerful industrial UV lights installed in all of the hallways. All you have to do is turn on the lights and the creatures will die and your family will be saved.’
‘I don’t believe you. Why would you install lights? You want those ghouls to stay alive.’
‘Not when I am all-powerful. They’ll be a hindrance to me then and I’ll have to dispose of them quickly and simply.’
Without withdrawing his gaze from the scene unfolding before him, Colm replied, ‘Why should I trust you?’
‘You don’t have to trust me. Once Abbatage starts, I will be frozen for a number of seconds. You can walk over and switch them on yourself.’ The Ghost nodded towards the lighting control panel to his left. ‘All you have to do is press the green button. But time is passing by and every second you waste puts your family in more danger. Tick tock.’
But I don’t have to wait for the ritual, Colm thought. I can turn them on now. He rushed towards the lights, his fingers reaching for the switch. But before he knew what was happening he found himself lying on the ground, flat on his back, The Ghost’s boot pressing into his chest.
‘You didn’t really think it would be that easy, did you?’ The Ghost’s attention was drawn by a frantic movement on one of the screens. ‘Your mother looks terrified. The creature has almost broken through. In five minutes she’ll be dead.’
Colm tried to wriggle free, but it was no use. The man was far too strong for him. He was trapped and it looked like there was no one coming to help him this time.
‘All right, all right,’ he said, defeated. ‘I’ll do what you want.’
The Ghost took his foot off Colm’s chest and he scrambled to his feet.
The Ghost moved quickly. Time was running out for both of them. He grabbed Colm and dragged him to the centre of the room. It was more of an effort than it would have been in the past. His powers were weakening. His illness was beginning to consume him.
‘Stand there. Do not move,’ he said.
He opened a drawer in one of the desks and took out two iron manacles – rings with a length of chain attached. He fixed them to each of Colm’s ankles in turn, snapping them shut. They were tight and they dug into the boy’s skin. The Ghost drew out one of the lengths of chain and locked it onto a bolt on the door. Then he took the
other and attached it to a bolt on the opposite wall. Both chains were taut and Colm realised he couldn’t move his legs without falling over.
‘I can’t reach the light switch from here,’ Colm said.
The Ghost didn’t reply.
‘Did you hear me? I can’t reach the switch. How can I turn on the UV light?’
‘You should have thought about that before you tried to trick me,’ The Ghost said, as he emptied the keys into the palm of his hand. They emitted a bright light.
‘I didn’t trick you,’ Colm cried.
‘You tried to stop me from noticing that your friends had escaped.’
Lauryn and The Brute.
‘You liar,’ Colm shouted. ‘You said I could trust you.’ Even as he said the words he was aware of how stupid they were. What kind of person trusts an evil criminal?
One by one The Ghost placed the little diamonds into the slots in the shield.
Colm had never felt such hatred for anyone in his life. Suddenly his troubles with people like Ziggy and Buzzer seemed ridiculous. The hatred drove out his fear and he was filled with a sudden anger. He longed to take the shield and smash it over The Ghost’s head again and again and again until he’d used up every last drop of energy, but he knew that he wasn’t fast enough or strong enough. And he still had to save his family.
‘I’ve changed my mind. I won’t help you,’ Colm said.
‘Then they will all die.’
‘If I can’t move, I can’t save them anyway.’
‘If you don’t help me, I will kill you now. If you do, then you still have time to find a way,’ The Ghost said.
Find a way? How can I find a way? I’ve been so stupid, Colm thought. I’ve let him control everything and all I’ve done is sit around for the last eighteen months, waiting to be captured. There had to be something he could do, some way to save them … even if it meant he had to die. For a moment his knees threatened to buckle. Die. The word echoed around his mind. He tried to block it out. Worry about that in a minute. Save them first, then worry about trying to save yourself.
‘It’s time,’ The Ghost said.
Cedric and Kate had tried their best to break out of the shop, but no matter what they threw at the front door – a chair, a till, a counter – the glass wouldn’t smash. It had cracked, even wobbled slightly, but it wouldn’t break. Kate had been disappointed to find that, for a detective, Cedric’s lock-picking skills were almost nonexistent.
‘You know, if we get out of here, I’m going to get that glass installed in my office. No burglar could get through that,’ Cedric had said.
Kate hadn’t been listening to him. She was hopping mad.
‘Ced, I just want to get out there, find those kidnapping zombies and give them a huge bear hug. I’m going to squeeze them so tight their heads are going to pop off.’
‘If we’re going to get out of here, we’re going to have to find another way. I’ve got an idea.’
That light bulb-over-the-head moment was the reason they were now crawling on their hands and knees through the air duct system which wound its way across the top of the shopping centre, hidden from the public below by flimsy white ceiling tiles. It was a tight squeeze. Cedric led the way, slowly moving forward, desperately hoping that he wouldn’t encounter one of the creatures. There was no way he was going to be able to turn around and crawl away – his head and shoulders were brushing the roof of the duct as it was – and with Kate behind him, well, best not to think about what might happen until it actually did.
Kate was growing increasingly claustrophobic. After the time she’d spent in her wooden prison, the last thing she needed was to feel trapped again.
‘Can’t you move any faster, Cedric Murphy?’
‘I’m doing the best I can,’ Cedric huffed as he wriggled his way forward.
‘Well, do better. My nose is practically up your bum.’
‘I …’ His words caught in his throat.
‘What is it?’ Kate whispered, her apprehension growing.
‘It’s OK. I thought it was one of those creatures, but it’s not.’
‘That’s a relief,’ Kate said.
‘Yeah, it’s just a couple of rats.’
Kate began to shriek. So did Cedric.
The Brute and Lauryn weren’t going to go down without a fight. Luckily for them, the undead weren’t organised enough to converge on the teenagers all at once. If they had done, then they would have been overpowered in seconds. As it was, fighting them off one by one was taking its toll. Every kick Lauryn executed, every punch The Brute threw was effective, but it was tiring them out rapidly. They were drenched in sweat, their arms and legs aching with the effort, but they fought on. The teenagers kept knocking the creatures down, but they kept getting to their feet again.
‘Back to back,’ Lauryn said.
The Brute understood what she meant. If they stood that way, they could see the creatures approaching from all sides. They moved in unison, ducking beneath the creatures’ hands, sweeping their legs from under them. Fists crunched as they connected with cartilage and bone. Bodies thudded to the ground. Some of the creatures went down silently, others with a sound like cattle lowing. But they never stopped coming.
Above the noise, The Brute heard the rasping deathly voices of Paddy the Bullkiller and Wickerly as they moved ever nearer. They were the strongest of them all. He didn’t know if he had it in him to defeat them, but he wasn’t going to let Lauryn know that.
‘I think we’re winning,’ he spluttered as he drew some air into his gasping lungs.
‘If this is us winning, I’d hate to see what losing’s like,’ Lauryn said as she smashed one of the undead in the knee.
‘Still trying to be positive,’ The Brute said. He swung wildly and hit fresh air. His timing was going.
There was a loud cracking noise above them. The ceiling tiles began to shake.
‘What was that?’ Lauryn asked.
‘Dunno, just keep fighting.’
‘Turn around, Kate.’
‘I hate rats!’
‘I hate them more.’
Kate managed to partially turn, but then found herself tightly wedged in the duct. She frantically twisted her body left and right. She had to get away. But it was no good. She was just wedging herself in tighter.
‘Where are they?’
‘I can’t see them any more,’ Cedric called out. ‘Aaargghh. One of them just ran up my leg.’
‘Eeeeeewwwww,’ Kate shrieked. ‘He’s touching me. He’s on my leg. Get off, get off, get off.’
‘Aaaarggh. Stop pinching so hard. That’s not a rat, that’s my hand.’
The duct began to swing to and fro, gently at first, but gaining momentum every time Kate and Cedric moved. There was a huge creak.
‘Ced?’
‘Brace yourself, Kate, I think we’re going to fall.’
The rivets holding the metal together popped one by one in a matter of seconds. There was a brief moment when Cedric thought it was OK, that by some miracle they were going to remain suspended in the air, but it was only a brief moment. Then they came crashing down.
Lauryn thought the world was falling in when the ceiling tiles exploded and the two large dark shapes plummeted towards the ground. Kate and Cedric’s falls were broken by four of the unfortunate creatures.
‘What the–’ The Brute began.
‘Hey, it’s that guy from the house and Kate Whatshername,’ Lauryn said as the detecting duo slowly got to their feet. ‘Look out,’ she called, as Wickerly lumbered towards Kate.
Kate had seen him. ‘Come to Momma,’ she yelled. She grabbed the creature around the waist and lifted him into the air. Wickerly failed to understand what was happening; he just knew something wasn’t right. He snapped his jaws at her, but she easily evaded his bite. She just squeezed and squeezed until all the fight began to leave Wickerly. She flung him against the railing and he slithered to the ground in a jelly-like heap.
‘Did that
really just happen?’ The Brute asked, looking at Kate in awe.
‘Come on, kids. Let’s kick some zombie ass,’ Cedric shouted, flat-palming a creature in the face.
‘Told you, Mikey – we ain’t beaten yet,’ Lauryn said as she threw herself at one of the undead.
The Ghost took off his coat and dropped it to the ground. He rolled up the sleeves of his shirt revealing tattoos of the Sign of Lazarus – the little diamond with the skull at its centre. There was one on the inside of each arm, just above the wrist. He removed his hat. Colm gasped when he saw the crudely inked tattoo in the middle of the man’s forehead. It had jagged edges and wept tiny drops of blood, as if the job had been done only recently, and very hurriedly.
‘If you don’t follow my instructions closely, I will use an override switch to automatically unlock all the doors in this building, allowing the undead to roam free and kill at will. Whatever chance your friends and family still have will be extinguished immediately. Do you understand?’
Colm nodded.
‘Pick up the shield,’ The Ghost commanded.
Colm did as he was told. The shield trembled in his hands.
The Ghost took two paces backwards. He stood less than three metres away from Colm, directly facing him.
‘Raise the shield until its face is pointing towards me.’
Colm’s fingers gripped the edge of the wooden shield and he lifted it into the air. His mind was racing. He knew he had to act now, but he had no idea what to do. What could he do? Hydrochloric acid had half-destroyed the last key, but he couldn’t just pry one out of the shield and swallow it. The man would be too fast for him. Anyway, how stupid would that be? He didn’t know what damage that would do to him and he wasn’t going to be able to help anyone if he was in a withered heap on the ground.
Maybe he could just spit on the keys? If there was acid was in his stomach and his stomach was connected to his mouth then it must be in his saliva too. It sort of made sense, but … if the acid was in his saliva then there’d be no teeth or tongue left in his mouth – they’d have worn away years ago.
Colm & the Ghost's Revenge Page 16
