The Bennet household was never quiet and on the particular morning after the ball, mixed opinions were ensured. "Well I say that the dance was as useless as a chopstick against a zombie," Augustus pronounced with energy at breakfast the following morning. He spread butter on his toast roughly. "Not one gentleman seemed remotely interested in Maxine's foal and even if they did, they refused to pay the full price!" He chomped down on the meal and spoke through the side of his mouth. "You wouldn't think that after two years away from the shire men would become so rude!"

"Maybe you're just used to dealing with the rather compliant un-dead," Elizabeth replied archly. Augustus rolled his eyes and made a gesture with his butter knife.

"Well I had a lovely time, though I didn't get to dance with Mr Bingley," Lydia said distinctly. Jane coloured. "Nor Mr Darcy." She sighed loudly.

"You should be glad, Mr Darcy is the most rude and prideful man I have had the misfortune to meet," Elizabeth snapped and snatched the salt from the table. "He hardly spoke to anyone outside of his own company!"

"I quite agree, Eliza," Mrs Bennet added. "A village dance demands the mingling of society but Mr Darcy was quite happy to dismiss most families. However, we all know now that he owns Derbyshire...." She let the thought hand suggestively in the air.

"Mother, you cannot suggest that someone as awful as-" Elizabeth started.

"Don't say awful, Elizabeth!" Mrs Bennet scolded sharply. "I shan't have my daughters using that sort of slang!"

Augustus pushed his plate forward. "All this talk is giving me awfully bad indigestion," he moaned and rose from his chair.

"What did I just say?" Mrs Bennet's hands curled in her lap. "Am I talking in gibberish?"

Augustus leaned on the back of his chair, smirking. "Well you said your daughters shall not say awful because it is awfully slang-like but last time I checked I looked awfully man-like; however, I must insist I look awfully fetching in a dress and bonnet." He had the audacity to wink before leaving.

"Do not test my poor nerves, Augustus!" Mrs Bennet shrieked. "For they shall give out one day!"

҉

Jane brought her hand down aggressively towards Augustus but he merely blocked the slice and responded with a kick to her stomach. Jane dodged and managed to smack him in the side with her heel. "I can't believe that worked!" Jane exclaimed in a puff. Her dark Chinese training uniform twirled as she dodged from a swift punch.

"What worked?" Augustus grunted as he took another blow.

"You made Mother so angry she forgot to ridicule Lizzy about slang," she replied and kicked at his chest.

Augustus sidestepped and managed to grab her calf and shove her into the low brick wall behind her. Jane gasped as her breath was knocked out of her chest. "Well I do have a reputation to uphold," he replied in a guttural tone and lunged at her again.

"Speak of the devil," Jane muttered as Elizabeth appeared from the shadows. The sisters bowed to each other traditionally before immediately attacking. "Admit you find him handsome," Jane said, taking an offensive stance.

"Handsome?" Elizabeth uttered.

"Yes, do delight me Lizzy," Augustus interrupted with a bow. Elizabeth bowed briefly to him and dodged his punch swiftly.

"Not you, silly," Jane remarked with breathless laughter. "Mr Darcy!"

"Oh, lord. I'm beginning to think that man is all you girls talk about." Jane landed a kick to his side, faltering his step.

Elizabeth aimed a kick at Jane's torso but ended up hitting the wall as her sister flitted out of view. She gasped and cradled her heel. "Never have I encountered a man so consumed in his own pride," she growled, staggering to her feet.

"One cannot wonder that a so very fine young man with family, fortune..." A mysterious voice echoed from the darkness of the training room. Lydia.

Another voice tailed onto Lydia's sentence. "Everything in his favour should think highly of himself. If I may so express."

"He has a right to be proud," another added.

"I could easily think of his pride, if he had not mortified mine!" Elizabeth said, taking another sharp slice from Jane.

Augustus yanked Mary – the last voice - from the shadows and they bowed briefly to each other. He twisted on the ground with an out stretched leg and immediately knocked her off her feet. "I'm never ready, Gus," she whined.

Lydia and Kitty emerged, bowing to their opponents, well, mainly Elizabeth. Fate bequeathed it her turn to be picked on. "Pride is a very common failing, I believe," Jane said.

"Vanity and Pride are different things so they're words are often used synonymously," Kitty informed her sister.

"How's it make me proud without being vain?" Elizabeth asked. She doubled over from a hard kick to the diaphragm.

"Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves. And vanity is what we would have others think of us," Kitty continued pompously. She grabbed Elizabeth's arm and flipped her in the air and onto her back. Elizabeth growled in pain.

"Letter for Ms. Jane Bennet," a voice called, ringing the doorbell of their underground sparring area. Jane peeked out the triangular hole in the door before opening it.

"He saved you from a zombie," Mary chided, coming in to lunge at Elizabeth.

"Mrs. Featherstone was quite civilized!" Elizabeth argued. She glared round the corner as Augustus let out a husky laugh.

Elizabeth caught her in a headlock and pinned one arm out at a painful angle. "Yield!" she grunted.

"Never!" Mary screamed.

Lydia broke away from her sparring with Augustus to launch a kick at Elizabeth's hand. Elizabeth dropped her hold on her sister and toppled to the ground. "She was a zombie Lizzy!"

"Thank goodness he was there," Mary whispered.

Elizabeth rose up, breathing heavily. She glared at the devilish young women. With a snarl she lunged after them. They flew away, giggling and screaming with malicious glee. The three stumbled outside, onto the grass.

"The Bingley's have invited me to tea," Jane sighed from her seat in the sunshine outside the fighting den.

"Of course they have!" Elizabeth told her breathlessly. Unbeknownst to Elizabeth, Mary had got down on all fours just behind her knees. Lydia came round in front, smiling. "What?"

With a cheer, Lydia pushed her by the shoulders so Elizabeth toppled over Mary and onto the grass. They looked to find Augustus laughing loudly from the doorway.

҉

"Truly, I'd much rather go by coach," Jane pleaded. Augustus's horse, the chestnut one, moved worrisomely beneath the saddle.

Mrs Bennet clasped Jane's gloved hands. "You had much better go on horseback, for it seems likely to rain!" Mrs Bennet smiled at the line of her daughters behind her. "Then you must stay all night!"

"That would be a good scheme. If you were sure they would not send her home," Elizabeth interjected dryly.

Jane's gaze softened as she looked down at her mother. "Mother, I really would prefer the carriage."

"At least take Cress," Augustus interrupted, stroking the chestnut mane. His grey eyes shadowed in concern. "She will get you there safely. Scarlett hasn't been in the woods yet."

"Gus, I trust your horses, don't worry!"

"Jane, Mr Bingley undoubtedly likes you, but in nine cases out of ten a woman had far better show more affection than she feels," Mrs Bennet concluded breathlessly. Jane felt her heart flutter.

"Enough," Elizabeth said, stepping forward. "Go quickly now. The zombies spring easily from the wet earth."

Jane clasped the reins and prodded the horse into motion. It was hard to believe she had been asked to tea. Jane knew Mr Bingley's sisters well enough and enjoyed their company to a certain extent. Jane felt a blush bloom across her neck and cheeks. Mr Bingley. He was everything a young man ought to be; Good humoured, lively, handsome and (as Elizabeth had added) quite rich. When he took her hand so delicately and led her to the dance, he hardly looked at anyone else in the room. Kind hilarity ensured whenever they spoke but also kindness and generosity.

And two dances! Jane reminded herself to be humble; her mother had been rubbing off on her. No. Mr Bingley was a kind man and it was probably his sisters' idea to invite her to tea. Her mother's mind had jumped to matrimony too quickly. The damp air was making Jane's nose drip, but she ploughed on anyway.

Suddenly, the cicadas stopped singing and the frogs grew quiet. Jane watched the bushes around her cautiously. Silence surrounded her like a veil of deception. She yanked her pistol from its holster. Her heart pounded but this time it wasn't because of any fine young gentleman. The horse shifted uneasily beneath her. It snorted loudly and threw its head up. Jane tried to hang on, but the animal threw her off onto the wet grass. She yelped when she landed with a thud.

Jane scrambled up, holding her pistol. There it was, one of the undead. It was drenched in rain, the blood streaking its grey shirt. The once masculine face was made of decaying flesh and squirming maggots. Jane sucked in a breath and fired. She fought the urge to scream. Her musket backfired, singeing her palm. The weapon was thrown from her hand.

The zombie brought two arms up and swung both at her head. Jane ducked swiftly and twirled, yanking a knife from her thick holster and striking the undead across the stomach. It turned round and let out a ghastly gurgle of pain. Jane stabbed it in the shoulder and severed a hand off. With a swipe of her blade to its kneecaps, Jane disabled the disgusting creature. She stomped on its head, the fermented flesh squelching beneath her boots. Jane crossed her heart, sending a silent prayer.

Another, high pitched wail made her turn slowly towards the deeper parts of the woods. The figure of a balding undead woman started stalking towards her. It clutched a crying undead baby against its ragged skin. "Merciful god," Jane whispered. "This cannot be..." She clutched her blade tightly, knowing the task that lay before her.