Marcia looked at the dog and frowned. "Alan, you've failed me."

The dog whined and looked at the floor, but Merryn rubbed his ears and looked over at the older woman. "This one's a little different Marcia, we shouldn't blame Alan for not spotting him. Stan's something other than a normal walker."

"Stan?"

"I thought he looked a bit like Stan Laurel," said Andrew.

Marcia looked out the window. "Laurel and Hardy never looked that bad, even when they were in black and white films. Is he carrying a club?"

"He certainly is." Merryn looked around at the group. "Anyone up for a first contact situation?"

"I'll do it," said Hope. "You and I should go Merryn, 'cos we're a little different too."

Merryn nodded. "Andrew, Eddie, keep a watch on Stan, please. I doubt he's going to be able to leap the fence or anything, but it's better to be safe than sorry."

Merryn and Hope walked to the door as Andrew and Eddie took up positions by the window, careful to keep their weapons out of sight.

As they walked towards the fence and Stan standing on the other side of the wire, Hope pulled up her sleeve exposing the bite mark in her flesh. She stopped a few metres from the fence and looked at Stan. Dark eyes looked back. Stan was gaunt, leathery flesh sticking to his bones, his hands gnarled and twisted, head tilted at an angle, and lank dark hair hanging in patches from his scalp. The tattered and rotting remains of clothing clung to his frame, and the smell of him hit them. Merryn coughed to cover her displeasure and Stan's gaze swung to her.

"My name is Merryn, this is Hope."

Stan raised a hand but said nothing.

"Do you understand me?"

Stan nodded.

"Can you speak?"

Stan shook his head.

"Ok, can I ask you some questions?"

Stan nodded, and piece by piece, question by question, she and Hope worked out his history and knowledge.

After half an hour or so Hope held up a hand. "We need a break Stan, is that ok?"

Stan nodded then pointed at the pile of zombies by the fence.

"You'd like to help us move them?"

He nodded again.

"Well, thank you, that would be helpful. There's a peat bog just over there, where the change in vegetation is. Could you move them there? But please be careful, we don't want you to slip into it."

Stan nodded and moved away. They watched in silence for a moment, then turned away as Stan came across a walker that was still twitching. The piece of timber moved in a short, brutal arc dispatching it, and Stan carried on.

Merryn and Hope moved back to the hut.

"Well at least he's tidying up," said Marcia. "Saves me a job."

"He's picked up two of them in one go," said Andrew. "Stan's pretty useful."

"He can't speak, but he can communicate if we ask simple questions." Merryn paused and sighed, and Marcia pressed a cup of tea into her hands prompting a wan smile. "Poor old Stan, I feel sorry for him. He doesn't fit in either world now: he got bitten, but woke up as he is now, sorta zombied but not quite. He's remained human enough that he knows what he is, knows he's not human anymore, but he doesn't remember anything of his past life. But he also knows he wants to help us, to be with humans."

"Does he mind being called Stan?" asked Marcia.

Hope nodded. "He seemed okay with it. We did ask."

"Well, if Alan likes him, that's good enough for me," said the old woman. "Alan may be a coward but he's a good judge of people."

Merryn looked at the dog. "We could do with a few more Alan's around the base."

"Why's he called Alan?" asked Andrew.

"Because my first husband was called Alan, and he was a whiny little toad too."

Eddie laughed. "How many times have you been married Mrs. P?"

"Four dear. I kept wearing them out, the poor sods." She grinned. "It's a tough life up here on the moor, but it's been a good one. Never thought I'd get to use a machine gun though."

Andrew looked out of the window. "I get the feeling Stan's going to be busy for a while."

"The best thing we can do is get some rest," said Merryn. "We'll take turns on watch, two-hour shifts 'til morning. Stan can stay out there tonight, but we'll need to work out what to do with him tomorrow.

"I'll watch him," said Hope. "We're not quite the same, but there's some common ground here."

"Okay Hope, that's fair enough."

~

Stan was standing at the fence as the sun came up, dark eyes watching as the sky changed from red to orange to blue, his gangly form thrown into sharp relief against the morning sky. He'd not moved once he had finished disposing of the inanimate zombies piled up against the fence, but turned to face Merryn as she approached.

"We're going to be moving today. Rejoining the rest of our group. Do you want to come with us?"

Stan nodded.

"Okay. You'll walk with Hope. When you see us going to the main gate, please join us there."

Stan nodded again and turned back to face the sunrise. Merryn shrugged and moved back into the barracks.

"Ready everyone? Right, let's get moving then."

"I'd like to stay here."

Merryn turned to face Tom and smiled. The lad had spent a lot of his time talking with Marcia over cups of tea and card games. Of all of them, he seemed to have enjoyed her company the most.

"Are you sure?"

Tom nodded. "Marcia could do with a hand, and I like it here. It's peaceful, kinda wild, but it feels like home." He turned to face Marcia. "If of course you'll have me. I don't want to tread on your toes."

The old lady walked over to Tom and gave him a hug, her head resting on his chest. "I can live with that young man, I might even promote you to deputy commander if you behave yourself."

Tom hugged her back and turned to the rest of the group. "Look after yourselves eh?"

They each hugged him in turn and Merryn paused before she left the barracks. "I'll get word to your father, and we'll get a radio out here as soon as we can. In the meantime, the morse code signal is being monitored so you do have some means of communication for now. Good luck Tom."

He nodded and the rest of them slipped out through the gate onto the moor. Merryn hugged Marcia. "Be careful."

"Don't you worry about me love, we'll be fine up here. You be careful as you go around the edge of the moors. Plenty of hideyholes, shotguns, and dark little corners around here. Follow the trail there, it'll bring you to the top side of Okehampton and onto the railway line. They reopened it a few years ago. Follow that for a bit and then drop onto the old dual carriageway. That'll lead you straight into Exeter, but the west corner, so you'll need to change direction and follow the river there south to your barracks, not continue on the rails."

Merryn nodded. "Thanks, Marcia. I'm hoping we can get a pickup once we get to the river, or find a boat or something."

Marcia pointed at Stan who was standing motionless some fifty metres away. "Are you taking him with you?"

Merryn nodded. "Hope seems to have a good connection with him so we'll see what information we can get from him on the way. Look after yourself Marcia, we'll be back this way when we can."

"The kettle will be on dear, don't you worry."

Merryn turned to the group. "Stan, you and Hope upfront, please. Eddie, Andrew, flanks. I'll bring up the rear. Let's move out."

~

"What can you see?" Merryn had passed her binoculars to Andrew. They were inside the tree line, looking down on the train station at Okehampton.

"Couple of deadheads in the station waiting room wandering around, some skeletons on the platform. Other than that, no sign of anyone or anything else. Looks pretty dead."

"Good, that's what I thought too." She turned to the rest of the troupe. "Silent weapons only, we go through and try not to set off the zombies in the room with the red door. Stay to the right on Platform 1, then head up the rails. We follow the tracks for a couple of miles, then we'll find a bridge. We need to get up onto that, as that's the dual carriageway. It'll be a bit open, but it's the quickest way back. There's a village about halfway back, Drewton Down. I'm aiming for that tonight. We'll stay there overnight as it's not far off the main road, then get to the river tomorrow."

Hope caught the wistful tone in Merryn's voice and glanced over at her, but didn't pursue the comment further, nodding her assent with the others.

~

A few hours later when they scrambled up the embankment from the railway onto the carriageway, it was like walking into a scene from hell. Cars were strewn across the road, abandoned with belongings piled high in them, a stark reminder of the Outbreak where people had fled the cities in the hope of some sort of salvation in the country, and escape from the virus. Instead, the motorways had turned into ravaged zones of staggering undead as deadheads infected more and more of those trapped in their cars.

"All of you, be careful. There will be a few walkers still trapped in cars here and there, but I suspect most of them have wandered off in search of something else to bite."

The group walked in single file along the edge of the road. Here and there they had to detour into the middle of the carriageway where a car had blocked the narrow verge, and at one point a lorry had pulled across the road trying to edge its way along the grass but had bogged down and got stuck after a few yards.

Andrew walked up alongside Merryn. "We need some food, we're pretty much out of travel rations from the outdoor shop. Looks like it's back to tins and packets again."

Merryn nodded. "We have a couple of choices. We can go car to car and see if we can find anything. We can wait until we get to our stop tonight, or we can detour off when we see a shop. There aren't many of those along this stretch and I would imagine that most of the shops have already been pillaged as this is a main route to the far southwest."

"So car to car is our best option then?"

"It's a risk, Andrew. We'll have to tap on the window of each car first to see if we wake anything up. Take out any walkers who might reanimate before they can make too much noise and hope we don't start some sort of chain reaction of moaning from any other trapped zombies in other cars. That said, we've not seen any yet and we've done a couple of miles, so I don't know."

Hope had overheard the quiet conversation and drifted back to join them leaving Stan at the front. "Stan's not sensed any yet. He reckons he can tell if any are close even if he's not exactly sure where."

Merryn called a halt. "We need food. We've not seen any walkers trapped in any of these cars, Stan hasn't sensed anything either. The best way to do this is we work down the line, together, in an organised manner. Tap on a window. If there's no response, try a door. Check with your eyes and ears first, do not go ferreting around. If you need to move stuff, call for help so someone can stand guard. As you pop the boot, stand back. Close each one when you're done. Let's not leave a trace if we can help it. Andrew, keep a lookout ahead of us please. Stan, could you watch our backs please."

Merryn, Eddie and Hope worked along the line of cars. They took their time, tapping windows, opening doors and looking for useful items.

"Bag of shopping!" called Hope on her third car. She opened up her rucksack and dropped a few tins into it."

Eddie called over a few moments later. "Jackpot! I guess this guy was a wannabe survivalist of some sort." She'd opened the back end of a pickup truck, and the covered flatbed was full of equipment, food, clothing, and hand tools. On the top was a large rucksack and Hope picked it up with a thoughtful expression as she looked over at Stan.

Twenty minutes later the team sealed up the pickup, having taken as much as they could carry, and took note of its location in case other scouts might need it in the future. Hope helped Stan into his new rucksack which was bulging with food and equipment.

"Crikey," muttered Andrew. "Is Stan going to be okay with that? That would kill me."

"Stan said he's comfortable," said Hope shrugging. "I get the feeling he could carry twice that and not notice it. He seems happy enough."

"Fair enough. Thanks Stan," said Andrew and gave him a thumbs up. Stan nodded in turn, his face expressionless as always.

"Stan's the man," said Eddie. "Hope, does Stan need any new clothes or anything. The ones he's wearing are, um, a little worn out."

Hope smiled at her. "I have some in my backpack. I thought we'd perhaps try and get him a little more comfortable tonight once we've stopped."

Merryn shouldered her pack which now sported a machete strapped to one side. "Good idea. Let's move."

"Merryn!" Andrew was up ahead and was peering into a large people carrier that had veered across the carriageway into a tree on the side of the road, the front of the car badly dented and folded around the damaged oak. "There's something a bit odd looking here."

As Merryn joined him, he tapped the window. "Like what?" she asked.

"The car doesn't have any bodies in it, but there's some funny looking grey sludge pooled on the seats."

Merryn peered in through the window, moving her face closer, but recoiled and staggered back as a portion of the grey material splattered onto the inside of the window then slid back down into the car.

"What the hell was that?" she said, moving away from the car, as did Andrew who was as pale as a ghost.

"I have no idea, but I don't want to stand here and find out." Andrew tugged at her arm. "Just for once, can we not investigate? We have food, and I don't want to be food for something else. We'll call it in and they can bring out people in hazmat suits if they want to know what it is, but I've read too much science fiction to want to open the door and become part of some ravenous blob. Can we run away? Please?"

Merryn nodded, her hands shaking. "Yes, I agree. Discretion is the better part of valour. Right everyone, give that car a wide berth, let's get the hell out of here."