Monster Island(67)

I nodded but he didn’t wait for my reply. He engaged the vehicle’s treads and headed north-toward the survivors.

David Wellington - Monster Island





Monster Island





Chapter Two


Two mummies awaited Gary when he returned to thebroch. They gestured for him to follow them-alone.

There would be trouble, of course. Mael already knew what had happened. As they entered the compound the workers on the walls of the big tower had turned to see the procession, their hands dropping to their sides, the bricks they carried put aside to watch as hundreds of living humans marched fearfully into the very midst of undead central. The dead on their own had no curiosity-for all the eyes turned on Gary and his raiding party there was only one intelligence looking through them.

Gary could understand Mael’s surprise. The dead army was under strict orders not to let a single living thing enter Central Park, much less a crowd of them. Gary was breaking a serious taboo.

He commanded his army to guard the prisoners and then stepped inside the shadowed spaces of the construction site. The walls were rising steadily: the dead never rested and Mael had a multitude of them to draw on. At the center of the building the Druid waited for him on his cairn-like throne. He did not look pleased.

Now, lad, I know you’re a smart one so you’ll have no trouble explaining this: why my best servant would disobey my instructions so completely. You didn’t forget what we’re at, did you? The killing and all?

“I didn’t forget.” Gary came closer until he was face to face with the bog mummy, staring directly into the dark hollows of his eye sockets. The Druid didn’t lift his head but thetaibhsearan hanging from the walls craned their necks around to follow Gary as he moved.

Then maybe you’ve gone soft again. Is that it? Did you go all pale when you were on the catbird seat? I don’t blame you feeling a little compassion, son, to be honest. If you want then I’ll send my own creatures to do the dirty deed.

Mael rose from his seat and hobbled toward the exit from the room. As he drew close to Gary he seemed to sense something. He stopped and raised his hand to pass it slowly over Gary’s face.

It wasn’t compassion, then, oh, no.Gary knew what the Druid felt-the energy that ran through Gary like waves on the ocean, massive and deep and strong. It buzzed and shook within him and he felt as if he might split open at any moment.You ate what, twenty of them? Thirty?

“I needed the strength. Otherwise I would have spared even them.” The men he’d slain had been old or unfit one way or another. They couldn’t help him achieve his desired end. “Mael. I’ve been thinking.”

Have you now? And what grand notion has you in its grasp?

“I need to know… I need to know what your plan is for me. For me and all the undead like me, the hungry ones. When the work is done and all the survivors are dead what will become of us?”

The Druid stroked his chin and paced back to his chair as thetaibhsearan followed Gary’s every fidget.You’ll be rewarded, of course. I’ll be giving you peace, peace and the satisfaction a man feels on completing a job of work.

“Peace? The only peace I know any more is a full stomach,” Gary tried.

Oh, lad, don’t be dense. I know what you’re driving at and it’s unnatural. No creature should have to live forever.It’s a curse.Take the peace I’m offering. I wish it could be otherwise but there’s only two sides in this thing: you’re either with me or against me.

Gary circled slowly around the throne, the seers on the walls craning their necks after him as he considered his next move. “You’re talking about the peace of the grave. When there aren’t any people left there’ll be no food for us to eat. You’ll let us starve until we wither away to dust. Or no-no, you would see that as heartless. When the work is done, when the last living man is dead, you’ll just cut us off. You’ll suck out our dark energy and let us just drop where we stand like so much meat.”

Do you see another option, then?

“Yes!” Gary crowed. “It starts with those people, those living people out there. We stop killing them, at least, we stop killing all of them. Some of them we cull out for food but the rest we keep alive and safe from the dead. It’s a renewable resource, Mael-they’ll keep making babies. It doesn’t matter how awful things get. Even in the middle of arma-f*cking-geddon they still make babies. I can keep this going for-for as long as I care to.”