Janet came and stood beside me. She leaned on my shoulder to take the weight from her ankle.
‘Are you not going to finish them off?’
I shook my head slowly and put my bat by my side.
‘Doesn’t seem like there’s anybody in their either,’ she said to me tilting her head towards the steel doors.
‘No’ I replied looking that way myself. ‘There doesn’t seem to be a way in either. I think we should move on. This place is way too open.’
‘Oh fuck,’ Janet croaked.
The dead were coming at us again. There were so many of them this time around. They were coming at us from both sides and now the rats had joined the party too.
‘Eric I can’t run. My axe is still stuck in that zombie’s neck. We’re fucked! Go without me try and…’
I grabbed Janet by her wrist and dragged her towards the main doors again. She looked at me with wide eyes. I rested my back against the steel and then threw the bat away. I looked at her and then I took her in my arms and hugged her tight. Our bodies trembled against each other. I rested my chin on the top of her head, and closed my eyes.
I wished for so many things. Most of them were about being reunited with Lauren and things working out for Janet and all being safe in the end. I wished that I hadn’t lost the rifle in the fog, and that I could have used it on the two of us before the dead had a chance to get us. I wished that when I turned I would have no memory of what I once was. The zombies had to be only a few feet away judging by the groans and the smell but I still kept my eyes closed. I waited to feel the rats crawl all over me.
Janet sobbed into my chest and dug her fingers into my back. I took a sharp intake of breath and waited for the pain.
Instead, we fell backwards into darkness.
Chapter 29
We were lying flat on our backs in a dimly lit corridor. There were two men in front of us locking the doors we had just fallen through with a large curb chain and padlock. When they were done with the lock they slid a two steel bars across the top and bottom of the door. The zombies banging on the other side didn’t seem to faze them one bit.
When they were happy the doors were secure they turned to us. They looked us up and down and then at each other. The taller of the two men stepped forward.
‘Are you two ok?’
I nodded without speaking. Janet did the same. I propped myself up on my elbows. ‘Where are we?’ I asked over the noise of the dead trying to bash their way inside.
The tall man smiled and then offered me his hand. ‘All will be explained soon. My name’s Bruce. The quiet guy behind me here is Alan.’
I stood up and took Bruce’s hand and introduced myself. I helped Janet to her feet and then she introduced herself. I shook Alan’s hand. His grip was sweaty and weak. He eyed the both of us up and down before shifting his gaze to the floor.
Bruce smiled and patted his friend on the back. ‘Alan here is a little shy until you get to know him. It’s nothing personal, he’s just a really quiet guy’
Alan’s face burned red and he shifted uneasily on his feet. Bruce looked at me and winked. ‘So you guys got any firearms on you? We have to ask for security reasons. It’s the boss’s orders and building policy.’
‘No, we don’t.’ I said to him while eyeing the gun that was holstered on his hip. ‘We’ve got nothing really, only a few supplies in Janet’s backpack. We lost our rifle out there in some messed up fog.’
‘Oh, ok’, Bruce answered frowning. ‘I didn’t think the day was all that foggy. Wet though. Really wet.’
Bruce ran his eyes all over me. I knew that he was studying me for any concealed weapons that I might have had on me. I was sure he was going to frisk me or even search the backpack. But instead, I asked him who the boss was.
‘He’s the guy in charge of this whole building Eric. I’m his number two, and I’m also head of security. Alan here is head of maintenance. He’s quite the engineer. But we’ll get to all of that very soon. We’ll head up stairs and let you two meet everybody and get briefed.’
Bruce nodded at Alan, and then we began walking. Alan led us down the long corridor to a lift that he opened with a key from his pocket. He let me and Janet step inside first before he and Bruce joined us. We travelled up five floors in silence while I wondered how the guys were able to keep such a big building running, and how they still looked so well groomed and healthy.
When the doors opened Janet took my hand as we stepped outside into a plush corridor. Alan locked the lift with his key and then ushered us down the finely decorated hallway in silence. Janet looked at me and frowned. She squeezed my hand tight and I squeezed it right back.
‘Just a little bit more’ Bruce said behind me.
We took a left and then a quick right which brought us down another long corridor which was populated with lots of doors on both sides. We stopped at the end of the hallway outside a door that said Conference Room A on its front. Alan opened the door and gestured for us to enter.
We stepped into a large, well lit space that looked as though it had once been used to conduct business meetings. There was a huge square table that dominated the centre of the room with dozens of leather chairs around it. I counted six people sitting at the table who were all eating from a large buffet of hot and cold food. The sight of the feast made me salivate. They were three young children watching a Disney DVD in the corner of the room on a large flat screen television but our arrival didn’t disrupt them.
I looked at Janet and puffed my cheeks. The people at the table had stopped eating and were looking us up and down. A couple of them nodded and tilted their heads in what I guessed to be sympathy for us. The others just stared, unsure. I opened my mouth to speak but a man sitting at the top of the table spoke before me
‘Ah you made it at last.’ The elderly man wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and then came to greet us. He approached us smiling and shook our hands with two solid pumps. He wore an immaculate three piece suit, and his white hair and beard were cut to precision. I took him to be the boss Bruce had mentioned downstairs.
‘My name is Senator Montgomery Kelly. It is truly wonderful to meet another two survivors.’ And you two are?’
‘I’m Eric and this is Janet.’
‘Well it is very nice to meet the both of you. You have already met Bruce and Alan of course. Please come and take a seat and I’ll introduce you to the rest of our family.’
The rest of the family at the table was made up of Bruce’s wife Sarah, her sister Ellen and her husband Marty, and lastly another husband and wife who were the cooks, Christian and Elaine. All of the children in the corner belonged to Bruce and Sarah. We all exchanged pleasantries. The kids gave us a forced wave under their father’s orders and then went back to their movie.
‘So what is this place exactly?’ I asked looking around the room before fixing my eyes on Montgomery.
Monty gestured for us to sit down at the table. Janet took off her backpack and sat down on one of the swivel chairs and sighed. Monty eyed me up and down.
‘I’d rather stand.’
He smiled. ‘Well I’m sure the two of you are familiar with Liberty Hall yes?’
‘I am indeed, it’s a wonderful place steeped in Irish rebellion history. But I wasn’t exactly looking for a history lesson. I meant how did you all come to get holed up in here?’
‘My apologies Eric. I didn’t mean to condescend.’ Monty straightened his jacket and cleared his throat before speaking again.
‘Back in the, normal days, I conducted a lot of business here. Bruce was my personal bodyguard, and driver for many years. I was working here late one night when the troubles began. Bruce, who was about to leave the country on holiday with his family, had left me with his replacement driver. But when he didn’t show up for duty I was concerned. So I gave Bruce a call because I had no other way of getting in touch with his driver.’
Sarah turned the volume down on the television that her children were watchin
g and then came and sat back down beside her husband. Monty thanked her and then continued.
‘Bruce was on his way to the airport with his family when I called him. He said the whole place was in chaos and that he was turning around. He told me to hold tight and stay where I was, and that he’d come here at once.’
‘We barely made it,’ Bruce added. ‘The way back to our own place was a no go. So I came here. I knew the building layout inside out, and I knew it was pretty secure once it was locked down. We’ve been here since.’ Bruce turned to his wife and smiled. Sarah took her husband’s hand over the table and squeezed it in return.
‘Alan here,’ Monty said taking over, ‘has been the buildings maintenance engineer ever since Jesus was a carpenter. So too have our two wonderful cooks to my left. Michelin star food without the attitude.’
Monty paused for the laughter. He knew how to work a room. A typical politician.
‘Now who have I forgotten? Oh yes, the beautiful Sarah and Ellen who are both excellent nurses. And last but certainly not least, Marty, our inventory and supplies regulator and sometimes security guard alongside Bruce and Alan. Were the two of you working back in the old world?’
The old world.
Monty made it sound so ancient. But part of me guessed that he was right.
‘I was a mechanic,’ I said.
‘Ah excellent’ Monty replied with over enthusiasm. ‘A partner for Alan to lighten the work load. And how about you Janet?’
‘I was an accountant, and an amateur shooter.’
Janet’s reply had roused Bruce’s interests. I bit my lip to conceal my smile. I knew she had added the shooting part in to let them know that we weren’t just a couple of pushovers to be messed with.
‘Well that is most excellent,’ Monty said clapping his hands together. ‘Another two highly skilled people to add to our crew. Well, the two of you must be exhausted and starving. Please help yourselves to the buffet. The food is all fresh and delicious if I do say so myself.’
Monty got up from his chair and made himself a drink from a nearby trolley. He dropped two ice cubes into his glass and then he spoke to Christian and Elaine.
‘I think we will have a fine feast tonight for dinner, and some nice wine to mark the arrival of our newest friends. Is that ok with you two?’
Both cooks acknowledged their boss with speaking.
Monty went back to his seat at the top of the table. He looked at me for a long time before talking again. ‘When you are finished eating, Bruce will show you to your quarters where you can wash, change, and rest up. One of the girls will take a look at the leg of yours too Janet. The sooner the better by my reckoning. At dinner then, we can all get better acquainted.’
Janet turned to me and raised her eyebrows. I shrugged my shoulders and finally sat down at the table. My stomach growled at me for food, and I couldn’t wait to get out of my wet clothes and lie down. I also wanted to see if the nurses had something for my head as well. I was sure Janet felt the same too. I began to tuck into the food before me while trying to keep the same table manners as those sitting around me. I ate thick slices of smoked ham sandwiched between some warm crusty bread and chewed with delight.
Terrance had been right about the politician in his ivory tower. But I would never have expected it to be this good. Nobody could have. Minutes earlier, in the street on the other side of those steel doors, I had given up, and so too had Janet. Now, we were back in safe surroundings with what appeared to be normal people living in an abnormal situation. I still had so many things I wanted to ask Monty.
I planned to get some answers at dinner.
Chapter 30
The last room of the tour was the one that really stunned me. The moment I stepped inside it my jaw dropped. It was like a supermarket had been airlifted and dropped inside the massive auditorium. I looked at Bruce but I couldn’t speak. He laughed at my reaction and clapped me on the shoulder.
‘Everything you need is here Eric.’
I ran my eyes over the makeshift aisles that were stacked high and neat. There were boxes and boxes of cereals, tea, coffee, sweets, condiments, minerals, alcohol, pastas, soups, personal hygiene products, batteries, cleaning supplies, tubs of protein and weight gain formulas, vitamins, clothing, and a ton of other essentials.
‘I keep the key for this room on me at all times, Marty has the other. It’s basically just to safeguard the booze, even though theft isn’t an issue, but bosses orders. If you need something then just ask Marty or myself, and we’ll be more than happy to let you get it.
‘H…how did you get all this stuff here?’ I asked Bruce still awestruck.
‘Well we, eh, we made trips to the old supermarket around the corner at night risky business but we got a good haul.’
‘It is amazing. How did you get the stuff back? I mean there’s just so much of everything.’
Bruce rested his hand between my shoulders and cleared his throat. ‘I’m guessing you’re a large in a shirt and a size, 9 in a shoe Eric yeah?’
‘You guess right,’ I replied while still roving my eyes over the stockpiles.
We walked around the aisles and I picked up some toiletries and a few other things that I needed until we came upon the clothing aisle. Bruce dug around the rails and found me a plain white polo shirt and a pair of jeans, identical to the ones he was wearing. A little further up, he handed me a pair of plain black trainers, a multipack of socks, and underwear, and two pairs of tracksuit bottoms. He eyed the clothes in his hands and then the stuff I was carrying.
‘I think you’re all set now Eric unless there’s anything else you need?’
‘Well I got a knock on the head a couple of days ago. A pretty bad one. I think it might be concussion, well I was told it was, but I can’t exactly be sure. But if you’ve got some pain killers that would be great.’
‘My wife looks after all that stuff Eric. She’s probably still up in your room looking at your girl’s ankle. You should get her to give you the once over too, just to be on the safe side before you think of taking anything.’
‘Yeah I’ll do that,’ I replied while not bothering to call him on referring to Janet as my girl. I had planned to ask Monty all about the whole pregnant women and elderly situation at dinner. So until then nobody needed to know about myself and Janet’s situation.
We left the room and rode the lift one floor up to my new living quarters.
‘We all sleep on the same floor Eric. Well, except for Monty. He sleeps another two floors up. He likes his privacy.’
We stepped out of the lift and I followed Bruce down the hallway. All of the doors on our sides were closed, and as we passed each one Bruce told me who it belonged to, or what was behind it until we came upon mine. The door was open just a crack and I could hear Janet’s soft voice on the other side of it. Bruce rapped on the door. ‘Everybody decent?’
‘Yeah come on in,’ Sarah called back.
Janet was sitting up in the double bed with a pillow propped under her ankle which had been dressed in a new bandage. She had a towel wrapped around her head and she wore a fresh white robe. The smell of fruity shower gel wafted throughout the room. Bruce set my clothes down on a chair by the door, and then sat beside his wife at the end of the bed.
‘Eric got a knock to the head a couple of days back Sarah. He wants you to give him the once over. He thinks it might be concussion.’
Oh no, let’s hope it’s nothing too bad. Come sit here Eric and I’ll take a look at you.’
I sat down beside Bruce as Sarah gave me more than a once over. When she was done she concurred that I had a mild concussion, but nothing a bit of rest and relaxation wouldn’t sort out. She gave me a half card of painkillers from her case and told me to take one right away for the pain. The husband and wife chit chatted to us for a little while and then excused themselves to allow us to get some rest.
‘We’ll call you when it’s time for dinner,’ Bruce said before leaving. ‘Oh, there’s one mor
e thing that I forgot to mention Eric. There’s a library down the very end of the hallway; it’s the last door on the left. It’s stocked pretty well with books, magazines and some DVDS. We’ve removed anything referencing to zombies for the obvious reasons.’
Bruce frowned and left the room with his wife in tow. When they were gone I went to the door and locked it. I leaned against it and looked at Janet. She looked relaxed and peaceful. I thought she looked beautiful too, and right away I felt awful for thinking such things.
‘Everything ok Eric?’
‘Yeah, I’m ok. I’m just tired, well, worn out to be totally honest. I’m still taken aback by all of this too. I can’t really believe we’re here I guess.’ I rubbed my eyes and took one of the painkillers from the blister pack and swallowed it dry.
‘You don’t look ok; what’s on your mind?’
‘Too much Janet. And I think that’s the problem. I’m just overthinking things. How’s the water?’
‘It’s the best thing in the world Eric I’m not even joking.’
I pushed myself off the door and got my stuff together from the chair. ‘I’ll be back in a few.’
‘Eric, are you sure that you’re ok?’
‘Yeah, I am. I’ll be better after I clean up and the tablet kicks in. Honestly.’
‘Ok, well you need to get some sleep before dinner. We both do.’
I nodded and ran my eyes up and down the bed. The fact that I would have to sleep beside Janet made my stomach flutter. But there was always the floor, and I was so drained that I could have slept on a clothesline.
Janet was right about the water; it was amazing. I stood under the warm spray for a long time enjoying the way the droplets ran all over me. I washed my skin and hair over and over using a half bottle of shower gel. When I was done I brushed my teeth in the same way I had cleansed my skin. I dried myself off, changed into my fresh new clothes, and then sat down on the toilet.
The Dust: The Zombie Apocalypse in Ireland Page 11