Captain Summer's voice came over the radio. "What on God's green earth was that?"
"That Control is the sound of thousands of walkers protesting the removal of one of their colleagues."
As one, the swarm ceased, an eerie silence following. Then the swarm took a step forward, then another, and another and the deadheads shambled back into motion.
"They're moving!" Merryn was aware of the terror in her voice but made no effort to remain calm. "They're no faster than they were before, but they are moving in one direction, together. If they were an army, they would be marching at this point.
"Ed's rejoined me, we're going to pull back to the top of the next hill and continue to monitor. Then I'll send her out around the edges to gauge the size."
"Roger that Scout 2. Report back at the next hilltop, please. And be careful. Control out."
Merryn packed the radio, slung her pack over her shoulder, and looked over at Eddie who was already on her bike, hands shaking, breathing laboured from her run.
"Let's get the hell out of here," she cast a look over her shoulder at the advancing walkers and shuddered. "Time to go."
~
Merryn sat on the back of a pickup truck, swinging her legs and keeping a watch on the advancing horde below. As they'd hit the top of the hill, Eddie had veered off to the right following an access track that appeared to lead to higher ground to try and gain a clearer view of the extent of the swarm.
For twenty minutes Merryn had watched the inexorable advance, the walkers advancing in near silence, and all Merryn could hear was the distant shuffling of thousands of feet as they made their way along the carriageway towards her new position. Most of the walkers appeared to be confined within the embankmented sides of the road, but as her field of view had been limited to the immediate area of the road, it had made sense for Eddie to seek even higher ground to try and gauge their numbers and spread more accurately.
She reached for the radio to report in as requested.
"Control, this is Scout 2, are you there, over?"
"Scout 2, this is Control. Mal here, and the Captain is standing next to me."
"Well, I'm sitting on top of the next hill, and I'm looking down at the mob advancing toward me. They're making steady progress, but anyone could keep ahead of them at a normal walking pace. I'm going to..."
Merryn froze as the click of a handgun being armed came from her left. She glanced over and met Rimmer's insane gaze, his eyes dancing with malice, one finger raised to his lips.
"Scout 2. Merryn, do you read me?"
Merryn placed her radio on the flatbed of the pickup and raised her hands. Rimmer motioned her off the vehicle and pointed at the tarmac. As she positioned herself face down on the ground, he reached into the truck and pulled out a length of rope and in moments had her trussed up and unable to move, ignoring Mal's efforts to contact her.
Satisfied she would be unable to escape, the man sheathed his pistol, kicked her in the ribs, and lifted the radio.
"Hello Control, this is field agent Rimmer reporting in."
"Rimmer, this is Summers. You may want to consider your actions at this point."
"Ah, the dear Captain. Well sir, my actions, once I destroy this radio, will be as follows. I am going to strip the Scout here. Then I am going to use her as I see fit. Then I am going to flay her alive but gag her well so the neighbours can't hear her. And then I am going to take her electric bike and ride off into the sunset leaving what's left of her to the deadheads who I'm sure will enjoy her company."
Merryn writhed on the ground, screaming into her gag, and received another kick in the stomach that left her curled up in a foetal ball, tears running down her cheeks.
"You are scum Rimmer, and I will hunt you down."
"Oh Captain, dear Captain. I think I'll leave the microphone open so you can hear what's going on. You are not close enough to do anything. You cannot save your precious Scout."
"I can."
Rimmer turned in surprise and a crossbow bolt punched into his chest, toppling him to the ground.
Eddie ran forwards, slashed a knife through Merryn's bonds, and pulled her into a hug, stroking her hair as she sobbed. After a few moments, she glanced down the road and pulled her to her feet.
"We need to go. Can you walk?"
Merryn nodded and walked over to the radio.
"Control, this is Scout 2."
"Merryn! Oh dear god, I've never been so pleased to hear your voice." Mal sounded panicked but calmed down as she continued to talk to him.
"I'm okay Mal, Eddie turned up in the nick of time. Rimmer's dead."
"Good."
"We've not got time to talk right now. The walkers are getting closer and I need to shut up before they hear me. We'll retreat again and I'll call you back in a bit. We're both fine."
"Glad you're okay Merryn, although I doubt that's the whole truth. Get the hell out of there."
Merryn closed down the radio and put it back in her pack.
"Thank you, Ed."
"He's not dead."
"What?" Merryn turned.
"He's still breathing. We should tie him up and leave him here for the walkers."
Merryn pulled her knife from her belt and cut Rimmer's throat. She cleaned it on his jacket and re-sheathed it.
She looked Eddie in the eye. "Be careful Ed. That way lies madness. If we lower ourselves into the pit with scum like that, then we too will become less human. No one, not even him, deserves to be killed by the walkers."
Eddie held her gaze for a moment, then nodded, lowering her eyes.
"You're a good lady Eddie, don't lose that because others are not good. Rimmer's actions have now cost him his life, but his actions are on him. We need to choose a different path." She glanced over her shoulder. "And at this point in time, that path needs to be straight up the hill. Are you good to go?"
"Yeah. Let's get out of here."
Wincing at the pain in her ribs, Merryn got onto her bike. "Bloody glad this thing is charged," she muttered and let the bike whirr its way forwards, following Eddie up the hill.
~
Merryn and Eddie stayed ahead of the swarm for hours, monitoring its progress, reporting back to the base at Calstone every hour, and looking for changes in behaviour. The swarm had lengthened and narrowed during the day as the more whole walkers made their way to the front of the horde. It had confined itself to the line of the dual carriageway with the zombies marching forwards, meandering around discarded and rotting cars where necessary as they continued to shamble on.
Merryn halted her bike and looked back along the road at the distant swarm, then ahead of her to where the carriageway broadened out, farmland appearing alongside the road and the distant parapets of the river bridge appearing ahead. Once more she reached into her pack.
"Control, this is Scout 2 reporting in."
"Scout 2, this is Control, Mal here as usual."
"I'm sure you're a vampire Mal, do you ever sleep?"
"Not at the moment. One of our scavenger crews came in with some nice coffee the other day, it's proving useful. How're the ribs?"
"Bruised, but nothing appears to be broken despite them creaking a bit. I may have cracked a couple, but it could've been worse. What's the plan, Mal? We're in sight of the river bridge."
"Well, the Captain is here, so I'll let him explain."
There was a moment's silence and then Summers' voice came over the speaker.
"We've had an order in from the prime minister on the Isle. Given the size of the swarm they're pretty sure we can't stop it, so the idea is that we take out as many as we can, then try and slip 'em into the sea."
"That sounds simple," noted Merryn. "And I suspect damn near impossible to do. The walkers aren't going to pay much attention to us standing there saying 'take a left here please, yes, that's right, straight into the sea there. Not got your costume, ah well, nevermind, you're already dead'."
Eddie chuckled. "You're funny when you're grumpy," she said grinning.
"Shut up Ed," she muttered, prompting an additional snort of laughter and Eddie moving out of fist range.
"Well, strangely enough, we've not been sitting here growing our arses Scout 2, there has been some planning going on here."
"Right, sorry sir. So what's the plan?"
"The plan is we lead them down the west side of the river valley towards our fortified castle and tear chunks out of them as we go. At the castle, we'll take out as many as we can but before we get overwhelmed we'll lead them around the perimeter of the fortifications into the estuary, try and get lots of them stuck in the mud where we can use them as target practice, then wash the rest of them out into the English Channel."
"How're we going to do that sir?"
"Well, something the castle here did in the past in the summer months was open-air concerts. While you've been gone, the road south of your position to the castle has been cleared and we've managed to retrofit one of the electric vans here with some dirty great speakers. That vehicle will be driving along ahead of the horde. Think of it as a pace car if you like for the world's first zombie marathon.
"All along the route to the castle, our marksmen will be using silent weapons to take out as many walkers as we can. While the deadheads are following the mobile disco we'll keep taking them down. Then, when we hit the castle we'll start hitting them with the big stuff. If we happen to manage to destroy them, which is unlikely, then that's good, but if we don't then it's likely the castle will get overwhelmed. It has a way out around the back our troops can escape from. Then, posted down the coast to the sea we'll have people stationed with fireworks. They'll light them in turn, enticing the walkers along the coast to the south, and away from the barracks on the other side of the river. Each firework starter will light up, then jump in a canoe and paddle away to safety.
"We're hoping a lot of walkers will wander into the mud and get stuck. We can then use boats and take them out from the safety of the water. Any concerns?"
"Lots," said Merryn. "But I suspect it's going to be a case of 'the PM says', so we'll have to get on with it and see how it goes."
"Pretty much," replied Summers.
"Where do you want Eddie and I?"
"You may want to get in front of the disco van. You don't want to be standing behind it. You can either stay out in the field and observe or get inside the Castle and hold up there. Your call."
"We'll stay outside the walls if that's okay, Captain. I don't like the idea of being cooped up in there with the walkers outside trying to get in. Besides, if we do stay outside then we can report to you if anything seems to be going sideways."
"Sounds good to me Scout 2. Let us know when you've reached the music van, they also have a radio, call sign Mobile 1. Control out."
"Should've been Mobile Dicso," said Eddie . "I wonder what the playlist is."
"Well if Mal's got anything to do with it, it'll be heavy on the Eurovision songs, that man loves his pop."
"Sounds like a treat." Eddie glanced down the road. "It's time we moved on, the party people are getting close to us again."