Thrasher suddenly screamed and Scapegrace leaped up and whirled in circles until he was sure there was nothing creeping up behind him.

“There!” Thrasher gasped, pointing off into the darkness. Scapegrace looked into the gloom. “There what?”

“I saw it!” Thrasher said. “The thing that ate Reggie! I saw it! It was right there!”

Anxious mutterings spread through the horde like a bad smell. Scapegrace needed to take control of the situation, and fast.

“What did it look like?” he asked. “For God’s sake, calm the hell down and tell me what it looked like.”

Thrasher took a deep breath, even though zombies didn’t need to breathe. “It looked like, it looked like a cross between a monster and an alien.”

Scapegrace stared at him. “Yeah, OK, that is absolutely no help at all. Did it have arms?”

“Oh yes.”

“Two arms?”

“At least,” Thrasher nodded. “Maybe less.”

“What about legs?”

“It had a few of those.”

“What was its body like?”

Thrasher concentrated. “It was, it was either really hairy, with thick black hair all over it, or it didn’t have any hair, and it was just the way the light fell.”

“Its head, then. Did you get a good look at its head?”

“What, like, would I be able to pick it out in a line-up?”

“I’m just looking for basics here.”

“OK, well, let’s see. It had… I’m not too sure if it had any eyes, and I didn’t see a nose, as such. But it had a mouth. A very big mouth, with teeth, teeth as sharp as needles. But I may have imagined that bit.”

“The teeth bit?”

“No, I may have imagined the mouth. I’m not sure if it had a mouth. It probably did. Everything has a mouth, right?”

“Unfortunately,” Scapegrace muttered.

“It would need a mouth if it was going to eat Reggie. That only makes sense, doesn’t it? Yes. It had a mouth. I’m sure of it now.”

One of the zombies held up his hand.

“What?” said Scapegrace irritably.

“Hi,” the zombie said. “Uh, I’m Keith? From the…? You bit me?”

“I can’t remember every single person I bite,” Scapegrace said, even though he could, because it really wasn’t very many, all things considered. “What do you want, Keith? Why is your hand up?”

“I was just wondering,” Keith said, “if there really are monsters down here?”

“There are a few, yes,” Scapegrace said. “No one knows how many, or what they’re called. All anyone knows is that they’re pretty impervious to magic, so… so don’t use magic. Not that you could, because you’re mortal. Or, you used to be. Anyway, magic attracts them.”

“Um,” said Keith.

“What now?”

“When you… remember when you bit me? And I woke up, and I was all, oh, what’s happening? And your friend explained it?”

“He’s not my friend,” said Scapegrace.