pride And prejudice And zombies: dawn of the dreadfuls

Chapter 34

EVENTUALLY, ELIZABETH TIRED of chopping off limbs and wandered away from her post. Mary had relieved her an hour before, yet she'd lingered by the window with her anyway, shouting "Breach!" and hacking away every time a plank popped free. By the time a soldier rushed over to nail the board back in place, the pile of splotchy, tatter-fleshed arms under the sill would have grown taller by at least two.

"Interesting. That one looks like it came from a blackamoor," Mary said at one point. "Or do you think that's just the way he was decaying?"

"I'm done," Elizabeth mumbled, and she simply walked off.

Just getting out of the room and down the hall was a challenge, crowded as the lower floor was: Lord Lumpley had insisted that "the un-invited" stay downstairs while the upper floor remained reserved for him and his guests. (The ballroom had been abandoned straight off, for its long rows of broad, tall windows made it impossible to defend.)

Yet the villagers cleared a path for Elizabeth as best they could, and those who weren't huddled up weeping or asleep nodded tight-lipped encouragement. Some even thanked her. They'd seen what she and her sisters had done to help hold the dreadfuls back. No one looked at them as pariahs now. They were saviors.

It was the same when Elizabeth went up to the second floor (to escape the constant pounding and the choking smell of fear and death downstairs, she told herself). The very people who'd snubbed her hours before were offering her grim smiles and the occasional "Well done" or "Good show." They were currying her favor now, and it sickened her.

Her father would understand her weariness and disgust, but he was in conference with Capt. Cannon and Lt. Tindall, planning an "action" for the next morning (assuming they lasted out the night). She knew where Jane was-just down the hall, posted outside Lord Lumpley's bedchamber door. There was no use talking to her at such a time, however. Jane was too pure-hearted to appreciate bitterness.

And then there was Master Hawksworth. Once, she would have thought that he, a proud warrior, would understand. But he'd hobbled off to stand guard in some far corner of the house, and Elizabeth found she lacked the will to seek him out. She had many questions for the Master-and little stomach for the likely answers. Easier to simply escape.

She kept going up until there was no higher to climb.

Mr. Smith noticed her first.

"Buh ruhzzzzz!" he said. "Buh ruhzzzzz!"

"And good evening to you."

Dr. Keckilpenny was half-dozing on the floor, his head against his trunk. At the sound of Elizabeth's voice, though, he hopped up smiling, instantly alert.

"Miss Bennet! I was hoping you would return to my little aerie sooner or later!" He started toward her but stopped after just one stride, his smile taking on a stiff, frozen quality. "As you can see, I've made quite a bit of progress with our subject."

"You have?"

"Indeed!"

"Buh ruhzzzzzz," said Mr. Smith. "Buh ruhzzzzz!"

"Did you hear that, Miss Bennet? 'Buh ruhz' instead of just 'Buhruh.' And all it took was another three hours of intensive re-Anglification. Why, at this rate, I'll have him speaking complete sentences by . . . oh, the early twenty-first century, at the latest."

Mr. Smith was, as usual, pulling against his chains, his arms back, as he writhed and kicked and snapped his teeth at Elizabeth.

"Do you really think this can be of any help to us now?" she asked.

Dr. Keckilpenny shrugged. "I think it is what I can best contribute."

"I assume Dr. Thorne could still use some help with the wounded."