The Dust: The Zombie Apocalypse in Ireland

by Jonathan Lynch

  The air was icy on the landing below the main entrance. The lights gave off just enough glow for me to see my own uneven breath floating into the air. Janet turned to me and whispered something that sounded like brace yourself. I wasn’t exactly sure if that was what she had said, but I did anyway. I brought my gun up to the side of my face and then I put my other hand over my bulging pocket that contained all of the keys, and pressed them against my leg. Then we resumed our descent.

  ‘Do you think Monty’s down here too?’ Janet murmured.

  ‘Not a chance,’ I whispered back. ‘He’s up above us in one of the rooms, cowering, and waiting for this to be all over.’

  Janet took a step forward and I pulled her back.

  ‘What’s wrong Eric?’

  ‘It’s just… I don’t know.’

  ‘Well do you want me to scream now then?’

  ‘No,’ I snapped.

  ‘Then what the fuck do you want Eric? This was your plan remember?’

  I opened my mouth to speak but a growl of thunder kept me silent.

  Janet kept her wide eyes on me. ‘Well?’

  I wanted all of this to be a very long bad dream. I wanted – I longed – to be at home in my bed, cuddled into Lauren all warm and cosy, happy. I wanted to be able to rest my head and not have to worry about waking up again. I wanted to feel safe, and right now, the closest I could get to that was carrying out my plan.

  ‘Let’s go,’ I said.

  I took the lead keeping one step ahead of Janet. We made it to the landing just above the basement floor right before the lights went out and plunged us into total darkness. Janet cursed out loud and I did the same in my head. She pressed her body against mine.

  ‘The storm,’ she said, her cold breath caressing my face. ‘It must have killed the power.’

  I shook my head before realising she couldn’t see me. ‘No, the generators run the building, not the mains. If the generator is down its one of two things. It’s out of diesel, or somebody has turned it off.’

  ‘We need a torch Eric. We can’t go in there without one.’

  ‘You’re right,’ I answered feeling a little relieved at not having to go any further, yet still tortured at prolonging the inevitable.

  ‘There’s a couple in our room upstairs. We can get them really quick. The darkness might even work in our favour too.’

  I nodded once again at Janet’s words and then added. ‘Yeah you could be right, let’s go.’

  ‘Eric look I’m sorry for snapping earlier I didn’t mean it. I guess it was just, nerves.’

  ‘It’s ok Janet. Forget about it; let’s just…’

  Below us somebody screamed

  ‘Oh fuck,’ Janet whined.

  ‘Go!’ I said into the dark space that her voice had come from. ‘As fast as you fucking can.’

  Janet didn’t hesitate. I heard her scurrying up the steps fast like one of the giant rats. I tucked my gun into my waistband, felt out for the rail in the pitch dark and began to climb the steps. I hadn’t made it too far before the tortured scream came again, followed by the sounds of approaching footsteps. I froze on the spot. The person coming behind me was ascending fast. I could hear their laboured breathing and nonsensical muttering. They sounded male, and still human. I clamped the bunches of keys in my pocket to my thigh once again with my free hand, and bolted.

  ‘Jesus oh fuck they’re coming. They’re nonstop. Oh god!’

  I didn’t recognise the voice but it was uncomfortably close. I hugged the handrail and picked up my pace, treading as light as I could on my toes. Whoever was behind me sounded like they had fallen on the stairs with a loud clap. They cursed and whined in a high pitched tone. I looked above me but I couldn’t see or hear anything

  The voice behind me was up again and climbing. I felt I hadn’t much further to go, and I knew that their fall had given me a slim lead, yet I still expected to feel their breath on the back of my neck, or their trembling hand clamp down on my shoulder. Instead, I felt something cold and heavy fall down the inside of my leg. When I put my foot down again I stood on my gun. I wind milled my arms to try and keep my balance, but I was already falling. I spun sideways and hit the wet floor landing on my back.

  Chapter 44

  ‘Hello? Is anybody there? I need some help! It’s me Christian.’

  I couldn’t see Christian, so I figured he couldn’t see me. I crawled backwards until my feet touched a wall. I rested my back against it and composed myself. I wanted to call out to Christian, but I couldn’t be sure whether he had been bitten or not. I listened to his heavy breathing, and for the sounds of the approaching dead in the thick darkness.

  ‘Is somebody there? Please help me. Monty? Is that you? The dead…’

  I shifted in my position and opened my mouth to call out to Christian but stopped when I heard the sound of footsteps overhead.

  ‘Who’s there?’ Christian squeaked. He got no reply. I’ve got a gun here and I’m not afraid to pull the trigger. Now who’s there?’

  A few seconds later I saw the dim glow of light bobbing down the stairs, then a form, and then the shape of a gun. It had to be Janet. If Christian had been bitten then he was fucked. But as the figure grew closer, and the light grew stronger, it revealed Monty’s form. The old man held a rifle across his chest that had a torch strapped to the top of it. He wore a headlamp around his forehead that shone a blinding light, and he had four glow sticks tucked into the belt around his trousers.

  He looked like a geriatric Rambo.

  When Christian called out to him again Monty pointed the rifle in the direction of his voice.

  ‘Who’s there? Identify yourself at once but don’t come any closer or I’ll blow you to hell!’

  ‘It’s Christian. I’m alive Monty .’

  ‘Have you been bitten?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Come to me very slowly with your hands up. If you try anything crazy you are dead.’

  Seconds later Christian came into view under Monty’s light. He held his trembling hands up beside his ears while tears ran down his cheeks. His jeans were spattered in blood and he was dripping with sweat. His face was as white as the hair on Monty’s head, but apart from that, he didn’t look injured, or like he had been attacked.

  ‘Turn all the way around slowly,’ Monty spat.

  Christian did as he was told.

  ‘Your t shirt, take it off and turn around once more.’

  Again Christian obeyed. His hairy back and front glistened with moisture, but nothing more.

  Monty nodded at the show in apparent satisfaction. ‘Your jeans, drop them to your ankles.’

  Christian looked nervously down the stairs before unbuttoning himself . Monty gave him a quick once over and licked his lips.

  ‘You look ok. Put your clothes back on quickly. What happened down there?’

  ‘Monty the d… they were chasing me. I barely made it out of the workshop. We should keep moving! It’s not safe to be standing still.’

  ‘If they were chasing you they would be here by now. They can’t see in the dark anyway. They are most likely shuffling around down there going nowhere!’

  Christian’s shoulders sagged. ‘Elaine is down there, well what used to be Elaine – my beautiful wife. So are Bruce and his kids. They’ve all turned.’

  ‘What about Sarah?’ Monty asked looking nervously around him.

  Christian shrugged ‘I haven’t seen her. Or Ellen for that matter. Are you all that’s left? Where are Eric and Janet?’

  Monty took a couple of steps closer to Christian. ‘They’ve gone crazy. They drugged me and tried to kill me. They are armed and on the loose somewhere in the building.’

  Monty lowered his rifle and put a hand on Christian’s shoulder. ‘We need to get out of here while we still can. I’d rather take on the dead than those two physcopaths.’

  ‘But I can’t just leave here Monty. Elaine… she’s…’

  ‘The Elaine you used to know is no mo
re Christian. You know that. If she had the chance she would tear you apart in seconds, as too would the rest of them. Even the little children would be too much for you on your own. But like I said, I’d rather take my chances with them than the other two.’

  Christian stared at Monty and began to sob.

  ‘I need you to be strong Christian. We will get through this. But we have to work together. We need to get out of here fast.’

  ‘Where are we going to go?’

  Monty told Christian about the getaway truck, its location, and how Janet and I had robbed him of the keys.

  ‘The two of them hatched quite the plan Christian, but, they forgot about this.’ Monty reached down the front of his shirt and pulled out a key that was attached to a chain hanging around his neck. ‘It’s the master key. It opens up every important door in this place. And I’ve got a spare for the truck hidden in a secret compartment on the dashboard. Monty dangled in front of Christian with smug pride. ‘We need to make it to the getaway truck, and to do that we need to go through the workshop.’

  Christian went pale. ‘Monty I can’t go back down there I just can’t.’

  ‘You can with this.’ Monty said firmly and then handed Christian the rifle. ‘I’ve only ever fired this once. I’m not a great shot, and my reflexes aren’t what they used to be. But Whitney here packs one hell of a punch. The dead won’t have a chance.’

  ‘What about the other two?’ Christian asked. He already looked and sounded more confident as soon as he took the rifle in his hands.

  ‘Shoot to kill Christian; it’s them, or us. We should move now before we waste any more time and allow the other two time to catch up with us.’

  Then the two of them were gone downstairs out of sight. I was in the dark once again – but not for long. Janet came down the stairs armed and dimly illuminated just like Monty had. I moved towards her and called out to her so as not to take her by surprise. When I got to her she took me in her arms.

  ‘I heard everything those fuckers said Eric. I was listening up above. That’s how I knew you were ok. What happened to you?’

  ‘I fell over myself again. Lost my gun. God dam concussion has my brain and balance fried. I’m alright though.’

  Janet looked me over and then put her little finger gently inside my ear. When she pulled it back her fingertip was covered in blood.

  ‘Eric your ear… that’s not a good sign.’

  ‘I’ll be fine Janet. Just help me find my gun and we’ll get cracking.’

  ‘Ok. I’m guessing that we’re going to tail the other two, let them do the dirty work, and then do them before they get to the truck?’ She asked me sweeping her torch around the floor until it shone on my gun

  ‘You read my mind,’ I said picking up my gun. ‘It’s them or us.’

  Chapter 45

  We had just made it inside the door of the workshop before the first shots were fired. They came from the far end but they still exploded through my ears. My head felt as though it had been split in two. We took cover and hid behind a portable welding plant. I managed to get my fingers inside my ears just in time before the next rounds went off. The second time was longer barrage of bullets that caused the whole workshop to pulsate.

  I closed my eyes and waited for one of the bullets to hit a generator or a fuel tank. The gunfire was too wild for it not to happen. But when the shots stopped Janet elbowed me in the ribs.

  ‘He got them Eric every fucking one of them. Well, I don’t see Sarah or Ellen there though. But the rest of them are.

  When I looked for myself I saw Bruce first. He was sprawled out in the middle of the floor on top of the tarp I had covered Alan with. His body lay face down and his whole head had been blown off. A few feet away from him, Bruce’s children all lay in a similar pattern, dissected by bullets. Christian was standing beside one of the work benches sobbing and looking at what was once his wife. Elaine was sitting on top of the bench with her arms outstretched as though she had just been crucified. There was a bullet hole in her forehead, and the wall behind her looked like a can of red paint had been thrown onto it. The whole scene looked macabre under the glow of the backup floodlights. When I looked back to the dead children I wished for the darkness.

  I turned my attention to Monty who was busy running around one of the generators but he kept disappearing out of my view.

  ‘What’s he doing?’ I asked Janet.

  ‘He’s trying to get the generator back up and running.’ She replied keeping her eyes on him. ‘I imagine he needs the power back on to get the truck out of the garage. The doors must be electric.’

  ‘Maybe it’s battery backed up too,’ I said.

  ‘That’s not important right now Eric. Let’s move.’

  Janet rolled out from behind the machine and began to advance on Christian. I followed her – moving in the same crouched position as she was – while keeping inside the shadows. She then stopped suddenly, dropped to her knees, took aim at Christian and then shot him twice in the head. Monty spun around and watched Christian, and his rifle fall to the ground.

  ‘Don’t you fucking move you piece of shit.’ Janet ordered Monty as she emerged from the shadows pointing her gun at his head.

  Monty dropped the canister of diesel that he had been topping up the generator with. It splashed his trousers and formed a puddle around his feet, but he didn’t notice. He looked at the two of us in disbelief. As we got closer to him the smell of the exposed fuel wafted right up my nose. I breathed through my mouth and wiped my weeping ear. I was glad that Janet took the lead and did the talking.

  ‘So what was the plan Monty? Leave us here in the shit and go build another utopia? Then brainwash anyone that crossed your path with your bullshit?’

  ‘Please just let me go. Or you go and I’ll stay here. Whatever you wish. I beg you.’

  Janet looked at me and I shook my head slowly. I was beginning to get angry at myself for getting weak at critical times.

  I was asking to be killed!

  Maybe it was the knock to my head combined with the intermittent surges of adrenaline, and fear that were frying my brain. I took a step back and tried to steady myself while keeping my eyes on Monty.

  The old man altered his gaze between the both of us. I figured he was looking for the one who looked weaker. He fixed his stare on me and mouthed something I didn’t hear. I began to see two of him in a room that was starting to spin.

  ‘What did you say?’ I mumbled.

  ‘I said let me live Eric. Please. If you want me to go I will. Or if yourself and Janet want to leave that’s ok too.’

  ‘We’re staying,’ I said rubbing my temple with the palm of my hand. I could see my answer had pleased Janet. I took a step closer to the both of them. My head was beginning to settle down again.

  Monty looked at the both of us. ‘Ok Eric, so be it. All I ask is that you let me take the truck out of here?’

  Janet shook her head. Her face was expressionless but I knew what she was thinking. I saw her tighten her grip on the gun she was still pointing at Monty’s head. She wanted to keep the truck where it was and pump Monty full of lead.

  ‘How can we trust you to just walk out of here? Where will you go?’ Janet asked, unflinching in her stance.

  ‘I have somewhere to go. You can escort me down to the door yourselves. I’ll use my master key to let myself out, and when I’m gone I’ll leave it behind for you so that you’ll know I can’t come back.’

  Monty pointed to his front pocket and reached into it. I thought he was going to produce his key, but instead he pulled out a zippo lighter and struck it up before we had a chance to react. Janet planted her feet wide and refreshed her aim

  ‘Don’t!’ I screamed.

  Monty bent down and picked up the can of diesel. He outstretched his arm that was holding the lighter and then poured the small amount of fluid that had been trapped inside the can down his front.

  ‘Shoot me and we all die,’ he said and then smiled
a sick grin. ‘The gun Janet, give it to me.’

  ‘Fuck you!’

  Monty licked his lips. ‘I wanted to Janet. But you were against that idea remember? Now, drop the gun or I drop this lighter.’

  ‘No,’ Janet snapped. ‘You’ll just kill us anyway you lying piece of shit.’

  ‘I’m not like you Janet. I cannot just kill in cold blood. As much as I’d like to end the both of you, I just can’t. But, if you give me the gun, I’ll walk the both of you to the truck and let you leave this place. Hopefully the dead can finish you off somewhere down the line.’

  ‘Not going to happen Monty. I don’t make deals with vermin.’

  Monty laughed. ‘This lighter is getting ever so hot Janet. You’ve got mere seconds before it becomes too much for my withered old fingers.’

  Janet looked at me and widened her eyes.

  ‘Do it,’ I said.

  ‘Eric we can’t just give him..’

  ‘Just give him the fucking gun now Janet or we’re all dead!’

  Janet sagged her body and lowered her gun.

  ‘Now slide it over to me nice and slow Janet. No funny business.’

  Janet did as she was told. Monty picked up the gun and then closed the lighter and put it back inside his pocket. If it burned his leg he didn’t show it. Janet looked at me with disgust. She had obviously forgotten about my gun that was still tucked into my waistband. Or if she hadn’t, she was playing a terrific role. If Monty didn’t kill us right away, and I was sure he wouldn’t, I was bound to get at least one chance to pull it and end him.

  ‘I have decided to spare the both of you. But you must leave my building.’

  I looked towards the far end of the workshop that led to the getaway car.