The transmission continued with warnings to stay inside and to put wet towels under the doors. That the radiation would shortly envelope Ireland. The broadcast continued for a further hour before it abruptly stopped without warning.
A pang went through his body, as if he had stabbed. He now felt truly alone. He peered through the curtain. Windows were being smashed by a gang of yobs, the day was still bright. The fools, they were wasting valuable preparation time. Sean went and rested on his couch and slowly drifted off from the days exertions,
He woke to the sound of screams coming from the street outside. Leaping from the couch, he went to peer through the curtains. What had been a beautiful, sunny day was now a twilight, caused by a thick, opaque mist which had descended. The screams continued and his heart began to pound.
Running to his bed, he lied down and tried to cover his ears. The cries were coming from the apartment beside him now where a couple lived with their young child. There were roars of alarm that it was seeping in under the door, that there was nowhere for them to go. Colin knew that any attempt to save them and it was his death too.
So, he listened as their roars of anguish became whimpers to be replaced by an awful silence as tear gently rolled on to his pillow. Then an age seemed to pass, an unrelenting darkness. From him occasionally eating to satisfy his hunger, he guessed two days must have passed before he woke to the sound of heavy rain beating against his window. Finally, there was some light. Then he heard some cheers of joy coming from outside. He felt a sudden urge to go join them, but he knew it was too soon. The radiation level would still be too high.
All too quickly, the rain stopped and it began to darken once more. A few hours later, the temperate began to plummet. He wrapped himself up in his bed to try and stay warm, trying to dream of better times before all this happened.
Days passed. It remained dark and cold. It was time for him to venture outside and make what was once a short trip from Castle Street to Beechgrove in the suburbs. It had snowed, if you could call the putrid yellow stuff that. There were no words his new world. On getting to the street he barely recognized the place. Among the rotten corpses that strewn the street, there were those clinging to life with large boils oozing a yellow substance covering their flesh. All the leaves were gone from the trees, their barks black. Even the building with their smashed windows and radiated walls looked alien in the dim sky.
Step by step, he began to make his way through the sludge trying not to think of what awaited him. Each milestone made him feel that bit happier. First, there was the McDonalds, what had a bright, yellow building now grey and lifeless, then the Dublin Bridge over a frozen and poisoned canal. Onwards, he trudged before finally reaching Beechgrove. It looked as void of life as anywhere but he had to hope, believe even. Otherwise, it would be impossible to put one foot in front of the other.
Mark's Writing Corner 