Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, The beginning

Mister Bingleys Ball

Elizabeth and Georgiana moved to check the south side of the perimeter, both happily avoiding Miss Bingley and Mister Collins. "Has your regiment encounters much in the way of unmentionables?" asked Georgiana. "Not as many as we should be encountering, it makes me uneasy if I am completely honest." replied Elizabeth with a frown, they came around the corner and ran smack dab into Captain Denny. "Colonel Bennet!" he exclaimed in fright rushing to salute his superior. Elizabeth curtly nodded and noticed that Left Tenant Wickham was in the Captain's company . "Left Tenant, I wasn't aware of you being assigned to help with tonight's security detail. What are you doing here?" she asked narrowing her eyes at him in suspicion. Wickham didn't even acknowledge Georgiana who had taken cover behind Elizabeth and instead smoothly replied " Sergeant Matthews got food poisoning and Captain Denny brought me in as his replacement ma'am." Elizabeth frowned before turning to Captain Denny "From now on Captain... You will inform me when people take ill and seek my approval for their replacements." she stated firmly making Georgiana raise her brow impressed while Captain Denny sputtered offended to have to do such a thing. "You may carry on with your duties." she said dismissing them before the Captain could get a word of objection in.

Elizabeth and Georgiana made their way back inside the house and were instantly found by Darcy. "Georgie... Miss Elizabeth I trust you found the perimeter secure." he stated bowing before holding out his arms for them to take. He escorted them to the ball room and allowed Georgiana to have a dance with Mister Bingley, seeing as how she was not yet 'out' in society. This left Elizabeth to wonder the ball admiring the beauty around her, someone cleared their throat from behind her and she whipped around. "Cousin Elizabeth." greeted Mister Collins dipping into a bow. Elizabeth's face turned grim as she curtseyed and replied "Parson Collins, I did not think I would see you here. I understand from our aunt that you despise balls not held by her esteemed patroness Lady Catherine de Bourg." Collins stuttered not at all expecting such a turn on the start of their conversation "Well.. Well you see dear Cousin, I have made a remarkable... Nay excellent discovery. Mister Darcy is in fact the nephew of my esteemed patroness Lady Catherine de Bourg. Upon receiving the generous invitation from Mister Bingley, I graciously accepted upon hearing that Mister Darcy is a close friend of our host and would also be in attendance." he said making Elizabeth purse her lips at the thought of Colonel Darcy meeting her moron of a cousin.

"Well Cousin Collins, I must return to my sisters. Will you please ex-" she started trying to leave before her cousin could do something embarrassing but sadly she was cut off. "Actually I came to request your hand for this next dance Cousin Elizabeth." he said making her eyes widen in horror as she tried to come up with a reason not to dance with him, but nothing came to mind. "I er.... I would be honored mister Collins." A few seconds later the music began for the next set and Elizabeth reluctantly moved to stand opposite of Mister Collins. The merry jig began and Elizabeth did everything she could to keep from getting stepped on. About half way through the dance Collins began speaking louder in enjoyment "Ah! Now the party is in full swing!" Elizabeth's eyes widen in embarrassment and she quickly scolded "Mister Collins please keep your voice down!" she kept going when finally the music came to a close. The dancers bowed gracefully to each other and Elizabeth tried to take this chance to escape from her cousin. Sadly this was not to be as Mister Collins decided that he should be metaphorically "glued" to her side for the rest of the evening.

Elizabeth was at her wits end when someone cleared their throat from behind her "Might I have the next dance?" he asked. She took this as an escape and quickly replied "Of course!" and whipped around only now realizing that her next dance partner was none other than Mister Darcy. "Mister Darcy." she said curtsying. The two opened their mouths to speak when Mister Collins cleared his throat from behind Elizabeth. "Oh, my apologies. Mister Darcy this Mister- Parson Collins... My cousin." she said glumly stepping back and watching in mortification as Mister Collins began pestering Mister Darcy. "You see I have discovered that you are the nephew of my esteemed patroness Lady Catherine de Bourg." She mentally cringed as Mister Darcy smartly replied "I know." Both Darcy and Elizabeth had the same thought to escape and both simultaneously said "Excuse me." "Please do excuse me." and rushed away in opposite directions.

Elizabeth was relieved that Collins had pursued Mister Darcy in conversation and not herself and walked over to one of the tables in search of punch. A couple minutes later Darcy came to her side ready for their dance, Elizabeth smiled and allowed him to lead her onto the dance floor. As the song began Mister Darcy was all grace and precision, his dancing was far superior to any others in attendance. However, it takes two to dance and Elizabeth was anything but inferior in dancing. "We must have some conversation Mister Darcy, however little will suffice. I have talked about the ball now you will remark on the size of the room or number of couples." she said with a entertaining glint in her eyes. Darcy pursed his lips before replying " Please tell me, what would you like most to hear?" The two continued as they moved to and fro when halfway through the dance there was loud exclamation from the main entrance. The music died down when a bloodied man supported by Mister Bingley came into the room. "Darcy! Miss Bennet you must hear this." exclaimed Bingley seeing the two as he entered.

Darcy and Elizabeth rushed to their hosts side the two waving the orchestra to continue as they helped Bingley bring this man into a more isolated room. "What has happened?!?" asked Darcy wide eyed as Elizabeth helped the man into a empty seat. Elizabeth finally looked at the mans face and gasped "Mister Samuel" she said covering her mouth in shock. The man looked at her and managed a small weak smile as he said "Miss Elizabeth.... Sorry to hear about your family." Elizabeth waved away his condolences and asked "What has happened? Was the Post attacked?" Mister Bingley and Mister Darcy leaned in with anticipation "I have never seen anything like it miss, the post has been taken. Hundreds upon hundreds of thee undead snuck in." said Samuel looking utterly pained to be saying what he was saying. "Tis not possible! The security around the post and its entrances are heavily guarded, how could they have come in through deception?" stated Darcy looking completely vexed at such a prospect. Samuel gulped "We don't know who.,. But someone let them through the west gate. Once they were in we were overrun, Captain Leapolds men gave it all they got but they died. I barely escaped.... Took a brunt of the explosion the last of the soldiers set up." He said hissing as he touched the bleeding wound on his side.

Bingley looked conflicted as he stated "All the mail, announcements, telegrams come from the post. If we don't take it back... All connection to London and the surrounding provinces will surely be lost." Darcy and Elizabeth took a moment to process what he said before they both said "I will go." They turned to each other in surprise before Elizabeth cleared her throat and stated "The post is just past Hingham Bridge, I shall take the whole of the regiment and make for the bridge. From there I can speak with Colonel Fitzwilliam, together we can come up with a strategy to take back the post." Darcy nodded in agreement "I will go with you, spread the word to the men to make for the encampment and be ready at first light. We have some zombies to slay."

-Authors note- Sorry for being a couple days late! What do you think of the chapter? I hope you liked it! Thank you all for following, favoriting and commenting. You guys all inspire me to keep on going. Stay tuned for the next chapter.