Janet came around the bed and stood in front of me. ‘I know the risk is big Eric. But so is going back outside. Plus, how do we know that the jeeps engine down there is going to turn over for us? Do you even know when the last time it was tested? What about that garage door? Is it automatic or manual? And who knows what could be on the other side of it waiting for us?’
The mechanic in me should have known those things. I hung my head and scolded myself. ‘You’re right Janet but it’s still dangerous. The dead have us outnumbered now, and there are so many blind spots and areas we still haven’t been to.’
‘I know Eric. But we’ve got the firepower, and some bait.’
‘Bait?’
‘Yeah, we’ve got Monty. We could use him to lure the dead to us and then pick them off. They won’t even see us coming.’
Janet’s cold breath tickled my face and sent shivers all through my body. She licked her lips and stared me down.
‘Ok,’ I said through a dry throat. ‘I just need to ask Monty one thing before we do anything with him.’
We returned to the dining room without encountering the dead, which oddly enough unsettled me. I wondered how many had crossed over and who may still be incubating. Bruce and Sarah yes. But was Ellen hiding out somewhere along with Christian and Elaine too? Then there were the poor children. The image of the little ones cowering in the shadows in order not to get eaten by their zombie parents broke my heart.
Monty was still in his chair passed out. But his position showed signs that he had been restless. We tied him to his chair at the feet and arms with curtain tie- backs that we took from the windows. Janet disappeared into the kitchen while I wheeled Monty towards the front door. An explosion of thunder shook the whole building as I looked through the peephole on the door. Behind me Monty moaned.
I turned around to see the old man bobbing his head up and down as he drooled onto his shirt. I was surprised that he was already coming around from the tablet and the booze. He was a lot more resilient than he looked. But he was still a lying snake. Janet came back into the room carrying a champagne bucket filled with ice water.
‘You might not need that,’ I said.
Monty opened his eyes and looked at us before closing them again and dropping his chin onto his chest. He mumbled something through bubbles of spit that neither myself nor Janet made out. Janet snorted and then poured the bucket over his head.
The water did the trick in bringing Monty around. He screamed and writhed against his restraints in the chair. He looked at the both of us, and then down on himself.
‘What… what on earth is going on here? Eric, is this some sort of joke? Untie me at once!’
I clamped my jaw shut and breathed through my nose. The sudden urge of rage building up inside me caused my head to pound. I watched Monty buck against his ties in vain.
‘What is the meaning of this? Untie me now before the both of you…’
‘Before what?’ I hissed. ‘You’re not in charge here anymore Monty. In fact, time is up.’ I looked at Janet. She pulled her gun and pressed the barrel against Monty’s temple. I pulled out Monty’s keys and dangled them in front of him.
‘I’ve been upstairs to your quarters. I found the journal. Quite the read I must say!’ I put the keys back inside my pocket and pulled a chair up in front of the pale and quivering old man.
‘You’ve got the following options Monty. You can tell the truth for the first time in god knows how long, and you will live. Or, you can keep up your bullshit and you will die. I know Janet’s itching to pull the trigger, but personally, I prefer our original idea of pushing you out into the hall and let the zombies that are roaming the building eat you all up. So what’s it going to be?’
‘I’ll talk. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. But please, the gun, can we do this without it?’
Janet lowered her gun slowly and then pulled up her own chair beside me.
‘Could I get a glass of water?’ Monty asked.
‘Not yet,’ I replied. ‘My girlfriend, the pregnant women, and the elderly, where were they taken?’
‘Spike Island’ Monty said trembling.
‘Why there?’
‘They had a centre set up there too. A bigger and better one than the one you would have dropped your partner off at. Safer. The first one was just a buffer for screening, inoculation, and – termination.
I gripped the armrests on my chair. ‘Termination?’
‘For the elderly,’ Monty replied blinking droplets of water from his eyes. ‘They were to be put to sleep by lethal injection. It was the most humane thing to do for them in return for services rendered to the country.’
I opened my mouth to reply but nothing came out. I turned to Janet but she was sitting lifeless and stone faced. Her eyes were burning into Monty.
‘So the pregnant women are still alive?’ I finally asked.
Monty nodded. ‘As far as I know, yes. The boat made it away before things got really bad. Everybody who was already on the island was vaccinated too. The last I heard before contact was lost was that everything was ok over there. No signs of outbreak. No fatalities, and that they had treble the amount of supplies that we had here.’
I sat back in my chair and felt a small piece of rage pass from me. I had known for a while that my grandmother was dead. I felt it in my heart and had tried to make peace with it. I had pushed it to the back of my mind as I fought to stay alive. My grandmother hadn’t got a whole lot of time left anyway, and in one way I took a little comfort that she didn’t have to suffer further as she deteriorated, provided what Monty was saying about the injection was true. But I knew he wasn’t lying this time. He knew that he couldn’t.
‘So what is this Monty?’ I asked. ‘What the fuck did you and your cronies do?’
‘It’s man made. It was dosed into the water supply in certain areas, blood packs for transfusion patients in other places, and also laced into the flu jab to make it look as random as possible. The rats were injected with the virus and planted onto the metro site to make it look like they were carrying a mutated diseased gene worse than swine flu. But, they multiplied so quickly and turned into overgrown freaks.’
‘What is it?’ I asked once again while feeling the rage build up inside me.
‘I don’t know exactly Eric. I had nothing to do with it whatsoever. It’s some sort of super aggressive virus that attacks the human immune system and congeals the blood. They said it would only have a 40% fatality rate though. What it actually became is a gross miscalculation. Something went horribly wrong.’
I stood up, pulled my gun, and put it against Monty’s forehead. ‘You’re lying you piece of shit! You think we are going to believe this crap about our public water being contaminated and poisonous blood packs? You better start telling the truth or else!’
‘I am telling the truth Eric. I swear.’
‘Who made the virus then?’
‘The various governments got together in secret and came up with a plan when things were really bad – globally speaking. The virus was decided after months of deliberation. Within weeks the scientists had it made. It was given a name which I can’t remember after its ingredients and chemical formulation, but it was nicknamed The Dust, because it couldn’t be seen in air or liquids.’
‘Why?’ Janet asked.
‘To save the world,’ Monty replied.
‘From what?’ I asked.
‘Collapse of course. The whole world was crumbling. Recession, war, all the natural disasters, overpopulated countries and prisons, under population in hospitals and law enforcement, and so much more I could talk about for hours. They wanted to wipe the slate clean and start over. But they fucked it up.’
‘You expect us to believe this shit Monty?’ I barked. ‘The whole world just got together and decided that Ireland was to die just like that? You’re crazy if you think we’re going to buy it! Keep this up much longer and you’re getting rolled out into the hall. Plus, the economy was start
ing to get better too. There’s no way the world leaders would say the way out was – genocide. Not in a million years! ’
‘Is the idea as crazy as a world leader giving the order for soldiers to invade a county and bomb thousands of innocent people to death; all with the view that what they are doing is really saving that country? That type of thing has been going on for hundreds, thousands of years Eric. The whole world was in a war, and we were losing. Despite what people thought the globe was still in tatters. It goes so deep, you really have no idea. None of you did. Ireland was the smallest country with one of the biggest debts, if not the biggest. So we were chosen as the catalysts. Then the others were to follow.’
Monty shifted in his chair and grimaced against his ties. ‘But as I said, they got it terribly wrong. The virus tortured people to death instead of just dropping them on the spot. But it affected everyone a little differently, and the incubation period varied from person to person even though it could be sexually transmitted too. I’m sure you noticed how some of the dead look worse than others? That’s due to their immune systems, genetic structure, and DNA. Well, that’s just my assumption on it anyway. There are the special ones then, like the both of you, who perhaps weren’t vaccinated, but still didn’t contract it. You either have superior immune systems or have just been incredibly lucky.’
I collapsed back into my chair and rested the gun on my lap. I was never a water drinker; I only ever took it in my tea when I rarely did drink it. I was more of a soft drink kind of guy with most meals that I always told Lauren I would cut back on. I never went the doctors either, even when I really was sick. And the two of us hadn’t had sex since her bump became so big that it was physically impossible to. I assumed Janet’s story to be similar to mine, minus the sex, but I kept my wonderings to myself.
But I still couldn’t have been that lucky. Monty’s story had left me feeling numb, and speechless, as fantastical as it sounded. Despite my suspicions, I still wasn’t expecting what I had just heard despite it ringing true about how some of the zombies were in worse condition than the others, and how when cut their blood oozed instead of spraying. But these still could have been more lies he was concocting from his own assumptions. I had noticed all that myself, and Monty was more clever than I was. And a better liar. The three of us sat without speaking, the weather the only thing breaking the silence.
Janet was the first to speak again. ‘So what was going to happen when people came out of it? How was it all going to be explained?’
‘A deadly undiscovered virus! Those who created it were sworn to secrecy, but I know now that they were killed after enough of the vaccine was stockpiled. Random people were administered with it in hospitals, and doctors’ surgeries months in advance throughout the country. That was done so the survival rate looked unsystematic as possible. People got it with the non- contaminated flu jab or a B12 shot.’
‘It didn’t spread all that randomly though,’ I muttered. ‘The kids, the poor fucking kids. The lousy dirt bags.’
‘Dam right,’ Janet added. ‘But how come you got left behind in this place Monty? Why weren’t you taken to safety with the rest of the big wigs? Or how come you weren’t killed when you found all of this out?’
Monty hung his head. ‘I found this information out when I shouldn’t have, not long before it went live. One of the president’s aide's, who was also a lifelong friend of mine, told me all about it. He passed on the antidote to me the night before he shot himself. He said that if they knew that I knew, they would come after me. So then I met with Bruce and told him everything, but I made him swear to keep it between just the three of us. Sarah inoculated her family that night and twenty four hours later we fled here after my friend told me about this place. We got the whole group together as quick as we could so Sarah could inoculate them. Again under false pretences.’
‘And not one person was even a little curious about the shot?’ Janet asked.
‘No they trusted Sarah completely. It was as simple as that. But the inoculation only works for the ingestion of the virus and not against direct contact from a bite. Why I do not know.’
‘So Bruce and Sarah knew everything?’ I asked Monty feeling angry again.
‘Yes they did Eric, and I knew that I could trust them. This place was originally set up as a safe house for the soldiers’ way in advance of things in secret stages, hence all of the supplies, and protection, and how well the place is set up. Could I have a drink now please?’
I got Monty some water. I held the glass up to his mouth while he drank. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him about Alan knowing about the journal and that his long time protector had given him up, but it seemed irrelevant now that Alan was dead. When Monty was done he thanked me, and then asked me about the zombies roaming the building.
‘We think everybody has turned,’ I answered. ‘Bruce and his family, Christian and Elaine, and we assume Ellen has too. We suspect that they are holed up in the maintenance workshop.’
Monty’s eyes welled up with tears. ‘So what are we going to do now?’
‘We are going to kill them and stay here,’ Janet replied.
‘Oh, really, well that’s a little dangerous isn’t it?’
‘It is dangerous, but that’s where you come in Monty.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘We are going to use you to lure them towards us,’ Janet said grinning. ‘All you need to worry about is myself and Eric getting to them before they get to you.’
Chapter 42
Monty had tried to talk his way out of it. He even tried to buy his way out with promises of all sorts of bullshit once we got rescued. But Janet wouldn’t hear of it. She had taken the lead in taping his mouth shut and then going over the knots on his arms and legs once again. I almost felt sorry for Monty as I wheeled him towards the open door that Janet was guarding. The closer we got the more the old man twisted and bucked. He cocked his head back and looked at me with wide eyes. The veins in his neck bulged as he moaned.
When I got to the doorway Janet took over and pushed Monty out into the middle of the empty hallway with her foot. She looked him up and down and then snorted. ‘I guess you won’t be getting around to that fornication with me after all you dirty old bastard.’
She waved him goodbye and then screamed at the top of her voice. I put my fingers in my ears but her shrieking had already pierced my brain and sent fresh waves of pain all through my skull.
She slammed the door behind her and locked it, leaving the key inside the lock. She then came and hugged me. She held me tight for a long time, resting her elbows on my shoulders, and the barrel of her gun on the back of my head. Her heavy breaths tickled my ear and neck. Outside in the hallway, the wheels on Monty’s chair squeaked, and his rapid breathing sounded like somebody working a bicycle pump at a furious speed. Janet went back to the door and pressed her ear against it. She brought her gun up to her chest and braced herself. I sat down on the chair and rubbed the back of my neck. I felt sick and weak. The muffled sound of Monty’s agonised writhing chilled my blood.
I wanted to go out to the corridor and pull him back in, but my legs felt numb. I shouldn’t have cared about Monty after all the messed shit he had done, but I couldn’t help it. But we had all done things that we weren’t proud of. We had all become killers, mercenaries’, and liars. I had justified all the killings that I had done by the reasoning that they were hybrids – zombies – ex undead humans – killers worse than we could ever be. But what we had done to Monty was calculated. We were using him as a bait. It was evil and cold. I got up and went to Janet.
‘Open the door. Pull him back in.’
Janet scrunched her face. ‘What are you on about?’
‘I said open the door Janet. This isn’t right! Get him back in. He doesn’t deserve this. We’ll think of something else.’
‘Fuck him Eric! Of course he deserves it. Look at all the shit he has done. The lies and the cover ups! He lied to you about Lauren!�
�
‘I know that Janet, but it still doesn’t make what we are doing right. It’s pure evil.’
I went to open the door and Janet blocked me. She put her backside to the door and shook her head at me.
‘Eric, we went over this. This plan is our best chance of survival. He’s a lying scumbag politician. Nobody is ever going to miss him. He’ll just be another number in the millions.’
I put my hand over her shoulder and rested it on the door. The action was meant to make me look assertive, but it was really to support my trembling legs and to stop me from falling over.
‘If we ever make it out of this Janet, I will always know what we did here tonight. I’ve got enough horrible memories already, and I don’t want Monty’s death to be another one. We’ll pull him back in and think of what to do with him when we get settled ok? Please Janet. It looks like they didn’t take the bait anyway.’
I put my hand on her shoulder to move her aside. I expected to meet resistance, but there was none. She stepped aside slowly and sat down at the table. I put my ear to the door and listened, but all I heard was the reverberating throbbing of my ear drums against the timber panel. I gripped the handle and turned the key. I opened the door slowly, leaning my shoulder into it, anticipating the battering ram of the dead on the other side. But when I peered out into the hall I didn’t see the dead, instead all I saw was an empty chair.
Monty was gone.
Chapter 43
The new plan was that the both of us would just have to face the dead head on. If they were still down below in the workshop, we were going to lure them back up into the corridor at the main entrance. The last thing I wanted was to get into a shootout inside the brain of the building that was full of the fuel tanks, and other explosive materials.
When we got to the end of the corridor we had left Monty in, we checked to make sure we weren’t being followed by a scorned politician or a zombie. When we saw that we were alone we began our descent downstairs. We took each step slowly, and with every step that Janet took she would look over the railings and down into the darkness that we were approaching. The lights looked dimmer below us, and the further we went the tighter my chest became. More thunder ripped through the sky outside that shook the building. We both paused on the steps and gripped our guns. When it passed we continued on.
The Dust: The Zombie Apocalypse in Ireland Page 16
