The further we walked the more bodies we saw piled up in the toxic river. Some were zombies that had been killed again, others were humans that must have killed themselves before the dead had gotten a chance to get them. The smell of their decay was horrendous. When we came upon the Halfpenny Bridge we stopped in our tracks. A couple of feet beyond the bridge a thick fog hung in the air like a massive grey blanket. Even the rain didn’t seem to be able to disturb it.
‘How come it just… stops there?’ Janet asked me without taking her eyes from the strange sight.
‘I don’t know,’ I muttered. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life.’
‘Do you think it’s some sort of trap Eric?’
‘No Janet. It’s only fog. Fucked up fog, but even the dead can’t control that’
‘Well what should we do now then?’
I looked over the length of the bridge. The walkway was clear, but the other side wasn’t visible. I turned to Janet. ‘We’re going to have to go through. Just keep one hand on the bat,’ I told her. ‘Put your other hand on my shoulder. Grip it tight and don’t let go.’
I flicked the safety off on the rifle and stepped inside holding my breath. The fog was all consuming. It wrapped itself around me and, I couldn’t see anything. I felt Janet’s firm grip on my shoulder, but nothing else. Not even a droplet of rain. I moved through the odourless cloud in baby steps. With each one I took I envisioned it to be my last. I expected my foot to come down onto empty space and the two of us falling forever. If the dead could somehow see us we wouldn’t have had a chance. Even the rats could have been trotting beside us and we wouldn’t have had a clue.
Janet jerked my shoulder back. ‘What if this shit just goes on and on Eric?’
I came to a halt and stayed facing forward. I didn’t want to lose my sense of direction. I milled over her question and then spoke to her over my shoulder. ‘I’m hoping it doesn’t. Maybe it stops the way it did back there a little further up.’
‘And if it doesn’t?’
‘If it doesn’t , then we’ll head back the way we came in and think of something else. We just have to make sure we don’t lose our bearings.’
I began moving forward again. I waited for Janet to ask me if I had got a plan b, but she didn’t, and I was glad of it. I was quite literally leading us on the blind to a potential safe house that Janet had been told about from a guy that had tried to rape her. If Liberty Hall came to nothing then it was back to the plan of trying to gather supplies and returning to the garage where Janet would have to stop looking to me for answers.
The further we travelled the heavier my heart became. My clothes were stuck to my body and my head was beginning to ache so much that it was travelling into the backs of my eyes. I blamed the oppressive rain - blocking fog for making me feel so low. As chaotic as it was outside, it was still better than the absolute nothing surrounding us. I found myself missing the wind and the rain. At least the elements were a sign that the world still had the tiniest bit of normality left in it.
I came to a stop and clamped my hand on top of Janet’s. I opened my mouth to suggest we turn back, but I was halted by the sounds of inhuman groans coming from somewhere close by.
‘Oh shit’ Janet hissed into my ear.
I unslung the rifle strap from my shoulder and pulled Janet towards me until her chest touched mine.
‘Eric what are you doing?’
I didn’t reply. I ran my hands over the Ruger and pulled the strap from the hooks. I tucked the rifle between my legs and then wrapped one end of the strap around my hand. I felt around for Janet’s hand and then did the same to hers. I could feel her quick breaths on my face. She didn’t question what I was doing so I assumed she knew.
‘We’re going to have to move as fast as we can. They sound close but I don’t know what direction they’re coming from. Can your ankle manage it?’
‘I’ve got no other choice Eric.’
‘Ok, let’s go. Hold the strap tight ok?’
‘Ok.’
I took the gun from between my legs and moved forward. I broke into a light jog but soon Janet’s breathing became laboured and the tension on the strap grew tight. But I didn’t slow down, and every few feet I called out to her and asked whether she was alright. I knew she wasn’t, and that she had to be in agony, but each time she told me that she was alright and told me to keep on moving.
When the groans and hisses came from the dead, Janet would grunt herself, and the strap would go slack. She was giving it everything she had to keep up with me and stay ahead of them. Judging by their sounds I figured that that they were behind us.
I gritted my teeth and fought my headache. My eyes stabbed me with sickening pain, and it made me think of how on earth the dead could see us in this shit. Was it some heightened sense of smell or sound? My thoughts were broken by a loud groan that sounded closest yet.
‘They’re almost on us!’ Janet screamed.
I took a deep breath and began to pump my legs. I was only a few strides in when my knees clattered into something hard and I was lifted into the air. The rifle flew from my hand and the strap pulled away from my other one. I walloped that ground breaking my fall with my hands and knees, before my back crashed into something hard.
Janet screamed out my name but I had no idea where she, or I was.
Chapter 27
I pulled myself up using the railings that my back had slammed in to. My head was swimming with pain and my ears rang. I called out to Janet but my voice sounded like a slow motion bass tone. If Janet called back to me I didn’t hear her. I shambled around in the fog like one of the dead. I swept my feet out in front of me hoping to kick the rifle. It would be useless in the smog, but I would have felt better having it in my hands again.
I felt that calling out to Janet again would only attract the dead to me. If they could see me I was easy pickings. I squeezed my eyes tight and rolled my head slowly trying to shake off the pain. If I really had gotten a concussion, then my tumble wouldn’t have helped me one bit.
‘Eric? Where are you?’
‘I…I don’t know’ I slurred back. ‘Are you ok?’
‘Yeah I’m ok. Those fuckers are in here with us somewhere. I hit one with the bat but there’s more.’
‘I hit my head again Janet. I… I don’t know where I am.’
‘Ok just try and follow my voice. I’ll start hitting the bat on the ground too. Try and come towards it as fast as you can.’
‘I lost the gun Janet I don’t…’
‘Fuck it Eric! Just keep moving. Follow the noise I didn’t get turned around so come towards me!’
Janet began tapping the bat on the ground. The hammering felt the same as what was going on inside my skull. I grabbed the side of my head and shuffled towards the sounds. I was close to throwing up and my legs were turning to straw, but I kept moving towards the growing noise.
‘I’m close Janet. Nearly there.’
‘Ok hurry up I can still here the dead, they’re close too.’
Janet’s urging had no effect on me. I was moving as quickly as I could, which wasn’t too fast at all. I just wanted to lie down and close my eyes for a while. I bent over and projectile vomited.
‘Eric I can hear you stay where you are ok?’
I nodded forgetting she couldn’t see me. But I couldn’t speak either, my mouth was full of bile. I vomited again and stumbled forwards. I would have fallen into my own puke were it not for Janet’s arms.
‘I got you Eric. I got you. Can you move?’
‘Y…yeah. I can, let’s go.’
Janet put her arm around my shoulder and I did the same to her. We shuffled our way forward together.
‘This thing is never ending Eric. I didn’t get turned around either this is still the way we were heading.’
‘I… yeah ok good’ I stuttered. I spat blood that had dripped into my mouth from my nose.
‘I’m just glad we’re still together.’ Janet said.
Her breath tickled my ear. She had to be looking at me.
I squeezed her shoulder. ‘Me too. Me too.’
‘Plus we still got your friend Mr A.’
I turned towards her head. Mr A?’
‘Yeah. Mr Aluminium. He’s been with us long enough now that we had to give him a name Eric. I mean come on.’
I choked out a laugh and then spat more blood. It was crazy that she was able to make me laugh through all of this. She seemed like a stronger person to the one that had broken down before we hit the quays.
‘That’s the weirdest threesome that I’ve ever heard of in my life Janet.’
‘Yeah you might be right. But it’s worked so far hasn’t it?’
I opened my mouth to agree with her but I was hit in the face by the pelting rain and a strong, cutting wind. We were back out into the late world. For the first time I was relieved to take in the stink of the wet rotting city.
Chapter 28
We came out just past the ruined O’ Connell Bridge. We put as much distance as we could between us and the fog before we took shelter outside what was once an insurance broker’s. We studied our surroundings carefully before we both took our backpacks off and sat down. The ground beneath me was cold but dry ‘Good to see you again,’ Janet said looking me up and down. ‘Even if you do look like shit.’
‘You too,’ I said. ‘How’s the ankle?’
‘Throbbing like a mother. But I’ll live.’
I reached into my backpack and got some gauze from the first aid kit and a bottle of water. I put the gauze under my nose and squeezed it tight. I offered the water to Janet. She took it licking her lips and took long drink, then passed it back it me. I used the last of it to rinse my mouth out. I spat the water over my shoulder and sighed.
‘How’s the brain?’ Janet asked rubbing my shoulder.
I pulled the gauze from my nose and checked to see if the bleeding had stopped before replying. ‘Throbs like a mother but I might live.’
I tossed the gauze away and smiled at Janet. She was eyeing me with concern. I must have looked as bad as I was feeling. I broke eye contact with her and studied our surroundings. Everywhere I looked I saw more of the same destruction and the tell-tale signs of the butchery. I then looked towards Liberty Hall. From what I could see the building looked to be in good shape. The middle floor windows all looked intact and there didn’t appear to be any other signs of damage. I would have had to stand up to see what the lower floors were like but I hadn’t got the energy.
I turned back to Janet. She was rubbing her ankle and looking back up at the fog. ‘I don’t understand it at all Eric. I mean how can it just hang there like that? How come the rain couldn’t get through it? It’s just impossible.’
‘As impossible as people coming back from the dead and walking around eating people?’
She looked me up and down but didn’t have an answer. I looked at the fog myself. The sight of it made me shiver. I cursed to myself for losing the rifle inside it. It had become just another thing, a pretty valuable thing, which would never be seen again. There was nothing I could do but accept it just like I had to with everything else that was falling down around me. I gathered my back pack together and helped Janet to her feet.
When I stood, I could see piles of more bodies built up inside the Liffey. I even saw a lot of dead infants on top of one particular mound. They looked like overgrown porcelain dolls with their lifeless eyes and white skin that had been ravaged by the water and maggots. I swallowed a lump down my throat and held back the tears welling up in my eyes. I tried to focus on Liberty Hall again. From what I could see from across the river the main entrance appeared to be covered with large sheets of steel, as too were all of the windows on the first three floors.
I turned to Janet and shrugged. ‘It could be a sign?’
Janet pursed her lips together. Her eyes darted all around us. I saw her looking back to the fog and then to the water. If she had seen the pile of dead children she was keeping quiet about it.
Butt Bridge had been wrecked just like the other ones we had seen, so crossing it was out of the question. The Talbot Memorial Bridge a little further down from where we were standing looked to be still intact. We would have to cross it and then go back on ourselves to get to Liberty Hall. We moved out from under the shelter and pressed on as the rain began to batter us once again.
We didn’t see the bodies hanging from the bridge until we came up to the walkway. The corpses looked human, from what we could make out. There was half a dozen of them hanging low down just above the water, and swaying like lifeless pendulums. Every one of them was wearing tailored suits.
‘Holy shit,’ Janet muttered, ‘what a way to go.’
‘Terrible,’ I said. I ran my hand through my hair and slicked it back. I looked back up the street towards the fog. I held my breath as I watched, I half expected some of the dead to come bursting out of it with the Ruger. But they didn’t. It just hung in the air, undisturbed against the world around it. I looked at Janet and then past her. There were no zombies in sight. We both nodded at each other and then crossed the bridge.
The wind had a wicked bite on the other side of the water. It cut into my skin and made my eyes run. The ever present smell of the dead was still with us but it didn’t seem to be as bad for whatever reason I didn’t know. From the corner of my eye I saw Janet reaching for her axe and I froze.
‘What is it?’ I asked her while holding the bat out in front of me.
‘Nothing – yet. I’m just preparing myself that’s all.’
When we took shelter again under Liberty Hall I dropped my backpack on the ground. Its weight had made my shoulders ache, which in turn was adding to the pains in my head. But getting out of the rain again felt good. I crept up to the entrance of the building while Janet tailed me.
The thick steel doors were spattered with blood and murky handprints. They were locked from the inside. I would have pressed my ear against the doors if they hadn’t been covered in all of the gunk. Instead, I rapped my bat against the steel three times, and then leaned in as close as I could to listen for any signs of movement on the other side. After a few moments of nothing I turned to Janet and shrugged. I knocked again, louder, and longer. Not long after the last knock I did hear some sounds.
Groaning.
They came from behind us.
We turned around at the same time to face six zombies. Two of them stood in front of us while the other four cut off both of our sides. They had us boxed in, but they weren’t rushing us. The fuckers knew what they were doing.
The six of them, which all looked as though they were once women, snarled at us with infected dripping mouths.
‘What do we do?’ Janet asked shifting her weight onto her good leg.
‘I don’t know’ I replied shaking my head. I kicked the steel door behind me as hard as I could. I thought it would be our last chance at alerting anyone who might be inside to our presence, or even have roused the zombies to rush us. But they didn’t move.
‘They’re not coming at us Eric It’s as if they’re playing with us.’
‘They’re not playing by any means. They are stalking us. They know we’re trapped. I’ll rush them – as many as I can – but you’re going have to help me. How’s the ankle?’
‘Bad. But I’m not going down without a fight Eric.’
The conversation I had with Janet about us using the rifle on ourselves in this type of situation rang through my head again. We were in a really bad spot but the rifle was gone. But Janet was right, we had to try and fight. I looked over all six of the dead in front of us and took a long breath.
‘On the count of three we crack some heads.’ I said from the side of my mouth.
I gritted my teeth, gripped my bat, counted down, and then charged forward. At the last second I changed direction and went for the two zombies to my left. I bent down low and swung at their legs. They hit the ground on their backs. I stood over them and then smashed thei
r knees in. The other four had advanced on Janet. She had taken one of them out right away with her axe, but the remaining three were moving in on her fast, and pinning her against a dead end she wasn’t aware she was hobbling into.
I ran towards them with my bat over my head while repressing the urge to vomit.
‘Duck!’ I yelled at her.
I jumped high in the air and caught the first zombie right on the top of its head. Its skull cracked in two like an eggshell and it fell face first onto the concrete. The other two came at me together, both of them leading with their mouths, and they would have gotten to me were it not for Janet’s axe swinging over my shoulder and catching one of them in the neck. The blade buried deep into the dead skin right above its collar bone. I smashed the butt end of the bat into the other zombie’s face, before I swung again and caved the side of its head in.
The zombie Janet had struck with the axe was flailing around in circles trying to stay on its feet. I went behind it and took it down from its ankles. I took a step backwards and levelled the bat over the back of its head. I squinted my eyes and turned my head as I brought the bat down. I opened my eyes again and then went to Janet. We examined each other for signs of blood. I knew we hadn’t gotten sprayed, but I wasn’t taking any chances either. I held out my bat in front of me in the now familiar way to wash it.
I walked slowly over to the first two zombies I had felled. They were trying to pick themselves up, but they hadn’t a chance with their ruined legs. I kept a safe distance back, but it didn’t stop them swiping and snarling at me.
I thought about finishing them off , but I couldn’t. Looking down on the two of them made my heart heavy. I suddenly felt guilty for what I had done to others even though I knew that they would have dismembered me. I had referred to them as all sorts. Janet had too. But they had once been women. They were somebody’s daughters, wives, and mothers. This disease that had spread so fast had turned them into something different. They knew nothing else now only the abnormal lust for blood and flesh. The same way Janet and I knew nothing else but the will to survive.
The Dust: The Zombie Apocalypse in Ireland Page 10
