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The noise of the birds was maddening as I looked out over the short distance towards Howth Harbour. Above, the sky was filled with hundreds of guillemots, terns, gannets, razorbills and gulls and their collective shrieks of outrage at our presence here was enough to drown out the low moan of the dead on the mainland. Nearly. I still hadn’t figured out how dead things could make a noise like a low moan but then again I hadn’t figured out how the buggers could get up and walk around either so I guess I just have to accept that they do.
It was Tuesday today, three days after the dead had begun to rise. God it really did seem like a movie script. I mean you dream of this stuff happening so you can play the hero like Charlton Heston but the reality was just so terrifying. And don’t forget dangerous. These fuckers might be slow but there were so many. We had barely made it onto the boat.
And what now?
There were fifteen of us in total and I knew none of them. Just a normal mix of people you’d find in a supermarket on any given day, which is exactly where we all were when things went to hell. I still couldn’t remember all their names but two days here and already people were slipping into roles that suited them. Mrs Roberts, there was just no way I could call her Phylis; she looked too like my old school teacher, had taken to organising our meals. God I was so sick of eggs. She did her best but there was only so many ways to prepare them and none of them were on my list of favourite foods before this anyway. We still weren’t too sure about eating the wildlife yet. Can you eat wild birds or did they carry disease? We had no idea and so far had shied away from trying. Bulger’s argument was that if you could eat seagulls then surely they’d have been available in restaurants, it’s not like there’s a shortage of them. Anyway, I reckon I’m ready to take the chance, any more eggs and I’m going to puke. I keep thinking of Paul Newman in ‘Cool Hand Luke’ every time I look at a plate of eggs and my stomach heaves.
There are rabbits on the island, though I haven’t managed to actually catch one yet. I mean do you know how to catch something that small that can run three times faster than I can and can turn on a dime? Why can’t our group have had an
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