Synopsis: Zombie Walk (A Dribble & Maggot adventure)

It's July 1990. Sir Differel sits beside Lady Margaret (both 14) in front of a campfire, eating s'mores. Vlad, in his huge black hound form, lies on the other side of the fire, his chin on his paws. Behind them are two tents, one occupied by their adult chaperones, M's nanny and a female Caerleon Order agent. They have spent the last five days touring Dartmoor in the south of Devon. M is a member of the Girl Guides and she is working on a number of outdoor merit badges. She asked D to help her cheat; she refused, but offered to help her obtain the badges legitimately. They are camped in a small forest surrounding the ruins of Baskerville Hall. Tomorrow they plan to hike out to Grimpound and spend the day exploring the Bronze Age settlement, then the day after head into Grimpon and take the train to London, where Aelfraed will meet them and return D to Norfolk as M proceeds to York.

M announces that her father told her a week before the trip that she has a brother. While in his late teens he had an affair and got some barmaid pregnant. Through his uncle he arranged to give her an annual allowance and set her up in a more legitimate line of work, while creating a trust fund for the child. The boy had just graduated from Eaton and has been accepted to Oxford. Her father plans to officially recognize him as his son so that he can acquire the dukedom on his death. At first D thinks she is disappointed she won't become the Duchess, but M contradicts her, saying the Duchy of Anglin descends through heirs-male and so can only be inherited by the eldest surviving son or closest male relative. Daughters cannot inherit, though their sons can, but if there are no eligible male relatives, the title would into abeyance until a male heir surfaced. Besides, she never wanted the title; too much responsibility goes with it, and she'd prefer to live the life of a playgirl. Her father had set up a trust fund for her at birth, which is now worth some 400 million pounds sterling, more than enough for her to live on, especially if she invests it.

She explains rather that what bothered her, other than a concern over how this "brother" might try to usurp her fortune, was that she had been forced to acknowledge, for the first time, that her father was a human being, a man like any other, who could be rather randy when he wanted. She asks D if she can imagine her parents "doing it". D replies that, logically, they must have at least once, otherwise she wouldn't exist, but no, she can't picture it. She also mentions that sometimes she overhears the servants talking about their lovers. When she was younger, such conversations meant nothing to her and she dismissed them, but now she understands what they're saying, if only on a rudimentary level, and she finds it shocking. M states that she's overheard such conversations as well, but she expects servants to be horny, so it doesn't faze her. D gets upset and they exchange a couple of rounds of insults.

Vlad raises his head, his ears tilted forward, and he gazes around. While other people sometimes forget he is human when he is in that form, D knows that he isn't detecting a rabbit or a deer. Then five shapes stumble out of the woods. When they enter the firelight, she notices their shambling gate, pale gray skin, and thousand-yard stare, and they begin a loud monotonous keening moan: Zombies! She jumps up and summons Caliburn as Vlad launches himself at one of them. He knocks it down and tears off its head with his jaws. Two converge on him as the other two make for D and M. D orders M to wake the two women as she moves to intercept them. Vlad dispatches another but its companion savagely bites him. Despite the size of the greatsword, D is too short to try for a head strike, so she cuts one off at the knees and decapitates it when it falls to the ground. She turns on the other, but before she can strike a shot rings out and its head bursts. She sees the agent holding her Walther PPK, while behind her the nanny clings to M with a terrified look on her face.

Vlad dispatches the last Zombie. In the quiet they can hear far off the collective moan of many more Zombies. D realizes that they are zeroing in on their position. The agent spots Vlad's wound. As he changes to shadow to heal, D explains that his parasites and Dark Powers give him immunity to whichever disease is at work. Vlad casually mentions it is the fungal strain. The two women quickly get dressed, but before they can decide what to take with them, seven more Zombies come into the camp. The agent shoots one, but D orders her to save her ammunition. Vlad extinguishes the fire and they run off with him in the lead. They head east, and once out of the woods they can see a pack of Zombies following them. Despite the fact that they can easily outrun the Zombies they can't stop to rest for the night. The Zombies won't tire, and between their sense of smell and hearing they can still find them, but they can't just run aimlessly.

D realizes they need to devise a strategy; at least they need to find somewhere safe so Vlad can warn the Caerleon Order. When they get a fair distance in front of the pack, they stop to consider their options. The nanny asks why Vlad doesn't get them to safety. The agent replies that they cannot leave until they determine the extent of the danger. The nanny retorts that she and M are not Caerleon agents and she demands they be taken back to Yorkshire. The agent agrees and wants D to go with them. D refuses, stating that as Director and Pendragon she has an obligation, but she offers to have Vlad take the nanny and M to safety. M refuses to leave; despite the threat, she's actually excited and wants to help, and bemoans the fact that there is no Zombie merit badge. However, she wants Vlad to get her nanny to safety. She now refuses to go anywhere without her charge, despite her terror.

With that settled, the problem is where to go. If they head for Grimpen, or Coombe Tracey, the two closest villages, the Zombies will follow them, putting everyone there in danger, but heading deeper into Dartmoor isn't an option either. For one thing, they cannot run forever, not without rest, water, and food. For another, they could encounter other hikers and campers, not only putting them in danger, but risking the possibility that the pack will get lured off in another direction. Thirdly, Dartmoor is surrounded by towns and villages, so wherever they go they will reach a civilized area eventually. The best option is to find a place where they can hide and the Zombies can't reach them. The hall is tempting, but the ruins may not offer any refuge. Four buildings in the immediate vicinity—Lafter Hall, Merripit House and one other stately home, and the abandoned farm at High Tor—are equally or worse derelict. That leaves an abandoned longhouse called Foulmire. Though also long abandoned, it is being restored for use as a hostel. There's no way of knowing how intact it is, but they have little choice.

The Zombies catch up with them again and Vlad leads them to a nearby lane they can follow in safety. D asks Vlad for advice. He states that when faced with a powerful enemy whose numbers and disposition are not known, the first order of business is to reconnoiter. She orders him to scout out the Zombies. He turns into a bat and flies off. After a while he returns. He reports that there are about 25 individuals or so in the pack, a mix of farmers, hikers, and campers, but strangely no children. They all appear recently turned; perhaps no more than a month. D speculates that one or more hikers were infected first by some source they'll probably never find, then they infected some campers, and then some isolated farms were overrun, creating the current pack. The children, if any, probably either ran off or were devoured before they turned.

But that's not important. Vlad assures her that the pack is all the Zombies there are; he has detected no others in a 20 mile radius. This convinces D that they can eradicate this threat before it spreads. She orders him to locate Foulmire and return to guide them to it in the shortest possible time. He converts into a huge black hound and runs off, but after a short time reappears out of a burst of shadow. He then leads them across the moor with the Zombies in pursuit. When they reach the longhouse, they find it still standing and reasonably well preserved, though the roof has a number of holes in it. Like a typical longhouse, it is a single-story structure built on a slope. The upper section to the left, which D takes to be the family area, has a number of windows in it, half of which appear to be broken or missing entirely, but the lower section, which she assumes was for livestock, has no windows at all. They make a quick circuit around to make sure the building is sound. The two outer doors in the middle, front and back, though intact, look weathered; she doubts they would hold up even with reinforcements. Once inside, however, the two inner doors, leading into either section, appear to be very sturdy, and they open in, so it will be possible to brace them.

The Zombies catch up with them again, so D leads them into the livestock section. They slam the door in the face of one ghoul, and Vlad places two fallen roof beams against it. Except for the holes in the roof, which the Zombies can't reach, the only other way in is through a small opening in the back wall at ground level where waste water used to run out into the yard beyond. It's too small for a Zombie to crawl through, but they place a block of masonry in front of it to be sure.

Now that they are reasonably safe, they realize how tired, hungry, and thirsty they are. D decides to go back to their camp to collect supplies: water and portable food, the first aide kit, the water purifier, the flint and steel, and the extra guns and ammunition, along with sleeping bags. The agent offers to go in her place, but she orders her to remain; aside from Vlad, she has the only gun. M volunteers to come along, and she accepts her help. The nanny doesn't want M to go, but if Vlad is right there are no more Zombies. She orders Vlad to take them to the camp and then go back to the longhouse and await her summons.

D and M collect everything they need and assemble it between the tents. M insists on bringing her merit badge stuff. D relents only because the alternative is to argue until hell freezes over. D calls Vlad; he appears and takes everything back. As they wait for his return, a girl wearing torn clothes enters the camp. At first D and M assume she is a survivor of a Zombie attack, but as they talk D realizes something is off: she is much too calm. Vlad returns, and he confirms she is infected with the fungal disease, but she isn't a Zombie. Four more children of various ages then enter the camp; they are also infected but not Zombies.

Vlad explains that the fungal Zombie plague has one characteristic the viral, prion, and worm forms do not: it can mutate so that the fungal mass that infiltrates the brain becomes intelligent, thereby creating an independent self-aware being rather than a Zombie. The girl states that she was the first to be infected. She doesn't remember how; Vlad figures her memories were wiped out when the fungal mass digested her cerebrum. However, the other children were her host's playmates, and she was able to infect them easily. Ordinarily the fungal spores are passed on through saliva when a Zombie bites. The mutated fungus, however, produces a special fruiting body in the mouth that creates spores to perpetuate itself, separate from the Zombie spores. If they bite anyone, that victim will become a Zombie, but if instead they kiss, he or she will become like them, carriers, infiltrators, and guides.

Vlad pulls out two of his pistols, but D commands him to stand down. She then demands to know what their intentions are. The girl states that they want what any organism wants: to thrive and propagate. However, she has a memory of Vlad, from the time when he destroyed her. She remembers that he was the servant of the family Van Helsing. If he is associated with D and M, one or both of them must be of that family. To gain entry into that family would greatly increase the chances of their ultimate success. The other children start to close in on them. D summons Caliburn and kills one child, then she orders Vlad to take her and M back to the longhouse. When they arrive, she tells the two women the complexion of the crisis has changed drastically.

She recaps her encounter then they discuss options, as they eat and drink. D had intended at this point to have Vlad alert the Order. Holt would then send in a combined extraction/eradication force to rescue them and wipe out the pack. The children, however, complicate matters. She knows of five, one of which she killed, but she doesn't know if there are any others, and if any get away they could start this mess all over again, like in a city. As such, she is now reluctant to send Vlad off to alert the Order. For one thing, with the children controlling them, the Zombies could find a way to break in, in which case they will need Vlad to get them out. For another, the Order will almost certainly alert Whitehall, which will want to send in the military to hunt down and eradicate the children. The armed forces know how to kill Zombies, but they tend to go in for overkill, preferring to use a tactical nuke, or saturation bombing with incendiaries, or a whole brigade with heavy weapons, and while these can be effective, they are wasteful and inefficient. But she isn't sure the Order can exterminate the children with a surgical strike either. They don't look or act like Zombies, and a moment's hesitation could be fatal for any of her troops.

Fortunately the children want to infect her and M, and she killed one of them to make this more urgent. Unless there are any others hiding in reserve, they should converge on the longhouse in an attempt to take them. That means they have a chance to destroy the lot of them, but it has to be in a manner they would not anticipate. The children may not have their original memories, but they seem to have memories acquired from previous incarnations of this intelligent fungus, including at least one previous extermination. She asks Vlad to explain the fungus girl's claim. He tells them that during the tenure of her great-grandfather George, a larger and more serious Zombie incursion occurred in the northern part of Dartmoor. It took the combined efforts of himself, her great-grandaunt Lucille, great-granduncle Reginald, the then-Pendragon great-grandmother Viviane and her mother, great-great-grandmother Dindrane, and what few agents and volunteer armed forces personnel they could muster, to exterminate a horde of nearly a hundred strong. It was lead by a teenage girl, who at first tried to pass herself off as a survivor who managed to 'fool' the Zombies into sparing her, but he ended up destroying her when she tried to infect Lucy. The Zombie bodies, plus her own, were buried in the Aune Mire as the safest place to dispose of them.

Based on that, D figures the children will be ready for troops, but they may not anticipate something more subtle. She takes a detailed topographical map of the area out of M's pack, which they used as part of their merit badge work. She points out their location, and a number of landmarks: Cleft Tor, Black Tor, the Whiteworks tin mine, Belliver Tor, Vixen Tor — she stops and then jabs her finger at a spot in the middle of the area: the Great Grimpon Mire, perhaps the most dangerous spot in all of Dartmoor. If they can lead the pack into the worst part of the mire, the bogs will suck all the Zombies down, and they could probably lure the children into the open out of desperation. She asks Vlad if he can lead them safely through, and he affirms that he can. Considering how dangerous that tactic will be, she once more offers M and nanny a chance to be taken to safety, but they both refuse again.

With the plan settled, they find places to sleep for the night. One far corner down slope is designated the latrine. Vlad states that he will watch all night, allowing the agent to sleep as well. M asks D if she can bed down beside her, and she assents. Once they get inside their sleeping bags, they remain up as the two adults fall asleep. M asks D why that fungus girl would freely tell them all those things. D states that all monsters are egomaniacs; at least, those intelligent enough to be arrogant. However, it struck her that the girl was not arrogant out of hubris, but out of genuine ignorance. Depending upon how old the fungal organism inhabiting her is, despite its most recent setback it might actually believe it was superior to Humans, not because it believes itself to be superior through some a priori ideology, but because it has no experience to the contrary. M remarks that she can't sure it isn't right before she settles in to get some sleep.

D sleeps fitfully all night. Though she can hear the Zombies moaning and beating on the door and walls, Vlad is muffling most of it, so the constant noise isn't at fault. She figures she's just nervous about the next day. Though she has sometimes had to act on her own since she became Director, this would be the first time she would execute a dangerous plan she devised herself, without Order input or assistance. Then she realizes that she isn't nervous about that so much as the fact that she is putting others in danger. Even though they volunteered, she doesn't believe they fully understand what they have volunteered for.

Movement catches her eye, and she sees the block in front of the small opening pushed aside. One of the children, a boy, crawls in; she realizes she had not considered that. She warns Vlad but makes no sound or move, hoping to draw him close enough to take his head off with Caliburn before he attacks anyone else. As he starts to crawl towards her, however, the nanny wakens, spots him, and starts screaming. D throws off the cover of her sleeping bag as Vlad turns and fires, but he misses as the boy throws himself onto the nanny and bites her on the shoulder. D throws herself onto her stomach to get the right angle and shoots. The slug travels up and hits the boy in the chest, throwing him off and to the side. Vlad fires again, and the boy's head vanishes.

They examine the nanny as Vlad seals up the opening. The wound is bad, but fortunately the carotid artery and jugular vein are intact. However, the wound is almost certainly infected with fungal spoors, dooming her. Additionally, its severity and location suggest that she will be dead in only a few hours, after which she will reanimate and attack them. The progress of the disease is both debilitating and excruciating, and nothing can be done to save her except put her out of her misery. D wants to do that now, but M will not countenance it. After a heated exchange, D realizes she's thinking of her mother. It may be subconscious, but she doesn't want to lose someone else she cares about deeply. She wants to save her even if there's no hope, so D relents and agrees to let her live. Both the agent and Vlad are against this: at the very least she will slow them down, but she's now a threat. D tells them both to shut up, that she will take full responsibility for whatever happens. They make her as comfortable as possible but already she has a slight fever, and the pain from the wound is spreading. Vlad states he will watch over her, and do what is needed if she turns, but M tells him she will do it and he is to wake her. D makes it an order. They go back to bed, but neither she nor M can get settled, and they do little more than nap.

The next morning the nanny is worse, but M won't leave her. D agrees to bring her along and instructs the agent to help her. When she refuses, D has to threaten her with court martial to get her to comply. They decide to leave the sleeping bags behind, but pack the other items in M's backpack. D gives M a pistol and tells her to take point. Vlad removes the braces, and as the Zombies push the door open, he turns to shadow and smashes into them, pushing them back. He expands to fill the transverse corridor and then flows out the back exit. D orders the rest to go; M dashes out after Vlad; D follows, but stops to block the way out the front, shooting down Zombies as the agent helps the hobbling nanny out the back. M shouts everyone's clear, and D starts to back up when one of the children leaps out of the other half of the longhouse. D summons Caliburn and impales her, then shoots her in the head. A Zombie grabs her, but M rushes up and shoots it, then grabs D by the jacket and pulls her back while raging at her to mover her scrawny arse.

They run out the back and spot the agent and nanny moving away as Vlad covers them. D and M dodge around shambling Zombies and race up to him. Together they catch up with the agent and nanny. D orders Vlad to carry the nanny and he and the agent run off ahead as D and M shout and gesture, trying to attract the pack's attention. Among them are two children, a boy and girl, who isn't the girl that spoke with them at their campsite. Once they're sure the pack is after them, they catch up with the others, who have stopped for a rest. D orders Vlad to scout the pack, to make sure they're all together, and warns him there is at least one other child unaccounted for. He changes into a raven and flies off. She orders the agent to scout ahead, and with M's help they determine the bearing they need to follow to reach the mire. Vlad returns to inform her there are no stragglers, though he had to dispatch a few Zombies she and M had not killed. D orders him to head out to the mire and scout it for the best place to trap the pack. He changes into a gigantic black hound and runs off.

The pack is getting closer, but they need to wait for the agent to get back, so M uses the time to rearrange the contents if the back so it sits easier on her shoulders. It's an overcast day, and D notes there is mist over the mire, obscuring the landscape. She asks M for a bottle of water. She takes it to the nanny, who appears to have fallen asleep. She crouches down to wake her, but as soon as she touches her, the nanny rears up, grabs her, throws her back, and pins her to the ground. She bends down to bite her when a shot rings out and her head explodes sideways. She falls to the side and D scrambles away in sheer panic, but when she looks at the shooter, expecting to see the agent, she sees M instead, with the agent running up behind her with her pistol drawn. M throws the gun down and covers her face, but when D approaches her she sees that she isn't crying, though she is shuddering. She asks if she's okay, and after a moment she drops her hands and states she is fine, a grim determined expression on her face.

The pack is almost on top of them, so they take off after D retrieves the pistol, staying just out of reach to keep the Zombies following them. The children are no longer with them, which bothers D. When they finally reach the mire they see Vlad waiting for them ahead. They sprint to catch up. He has found a likely bog: deeper than the others, with steep sides so the Zombies won't be able to climb out again. There is a rock outcrop in the middle where they can safely stand to lure them in. The way in is tricky; one misstep and they would get sucked down into a bog. D offers M one last chance to go home; M refuses, saying she has a score to settle now.

Vlad changes into his barghest form and they head into the mire. At first D can't see any difference between the mire and the surrounding moor, but as they penetrate further, the trail disappears, the vegetation changes, and then they cross bright green patches where the ground begins to shift and undulate beneath their feet. She realizes they must passing over an area of blanket bog covered with sphagnum moss, as rushes, cotton grasses, and bog heather replace drier ground plants. The patches increase in frequency and size, as the ground becomes less stable. A few times the agent sinks in to her knees as the surface breaks under weight. Surprisingly, despite the size and mass of Vlad's barghest form, he glides across the ground barely making a mark. At their slow pace, the Zombies have no trouble catching up to them, and several times the agent has to urge them forward as the pack comes within a couple fathoms.

Finally they reach an area that has what look likes shallow open pools of water. Vlad makes his way carefully around the larger ones, but the ground turns into a thick, peaty soup and even D and M sink up to their ankles, then shines, knees, and finally thighs. She realizes they've entered a valley mire. D watches as one Zombie strays into a pool; it sinks to his waist, and as it struggles to extract itself it sinks deeper, rapidly disappearing into the bog. However, the others that follow are slowed by the mire as well.

As they continue on the mire comes up to their waists. D wonders if it will get much deeper before they reach their destination, but then she sees the outcrop emerge from the mist a short distance away. As they pass a large clump of heather and grass, a girl rears up and grabs M, pulling her backwards into the clump. D sights on her to shoot her when a boy leaps out at her. The agent shouts a warning and intercepts him. They grapple each other as Vlad rips the girl's head off and pulls M away from her. The boy struggles so hard that the agent loses her balance and slips backwards into a nearby pool. As they sink, the boy bites her in the neck as she places her pistol against his head. She blows his brains out, but as D orders Vlad to save her she turns the gun on herself. D watches dumbstruck as her lifeless body disappears from sight.

The Zombie pack catches up with them and they retreat as fast as they can while Vlad dispatches two that get too close. In short order they reach the edge of a large bog. The outcrop is not exactly in the center, but close enough; there is at least ten feet all around it. Vlad picks D and M up and sprints over the surface to the rock. It only juts about a foot above the tea-colored liquid, but is fairly flat on top. M takes off her pack and they start shouting, gesturing, jumping up and down, and firing into the bog to attract the pack. The Zombies head straight for them; the ones in front walk right into the bog while the ones behind them spread out, some falling into adjoining bogs. As they enter the bog they sink to their waists, and as they struggle forward they sink more. Most disappear before they get four feet; a few get further while the rest sink sooner, but none get even close to the outcrop. It isn't long before the last Zombie disappears beneath the surface. Vlad tells her the bog averages 30 feet deep, forty in some places, and the peat is thick enough at the bottom to trap them. Eventually they will suffocate and the fungus will die some time after that.

With the crisis passed, D and M collapse, exhausted. D orders Vlad to Caerleon Hall to alert the Order. She then suggests M break out the water and the food. As M opens the pack and reaches in for an item, the girl they had spoken with at their old camp appears behind her and grabs her. D gets to her knees and points the pistol at her, but she demands she drop it or she will bite M. D is confident she can take the girl out, but isn't sure she can do so before she bites M, so she obeys. She asks the girl how she got to them. She explains that she figured out her plan and got there ahead of them with four Zombies, whom she sacrificed to carry her out the rock. Then she hid behind them, submerged except for her face. Once the Vampire had been sent away, she knew it was safe to take action. D asks what she wants. The girl states that she commands the Vampire, so she must be the leader of the Order. She wants to infect D, so she can take it over. She demands that D surrender herself, or she will bite her friend.

D is on the verge of agreeing when M states that if D is infected, the Vampire will know and will destroy her. She suggests herself as a substitute. She is the daughter of the Duke of Anglin, the third most powerful person in the government, and when he dies, she will become Duchess and inherit his power. That would put her in a position to infect other members of the government, including the Sovereign, thereby taking control of the country. As for now, she is a student at the most prestigious school in Britain, where the children of the social, political, and commercial elite go, so she could infect them as well, making the takeover easier because a power base would be already established. The girl is intrigued by her idea, but asks what about D. M states that once she's turned, the two of them can kill her. That will release the Vampire from control of the Van Helsing's, which in turn will weaken the Order. Assuming it isn't disbanded, it can then be safely infiltrated.

The girl agrees. She releases M and moves around in front of her to kiss her. M maneuvers so they are profile to D. As the girl leans towards M, D pulls the spare gun out of her jacket and fires at the girl. The bullet passes through her neck, severing arteries and veins, but misses the spinal cord. While she'll bleed out in a few minutes, the body will remain active for considerably longer. The girl pushes M off the rock into the bog. D shifts her aim from the girl's head and shoots at either leg sequentially, shattering both knees. As the girl collapses, D runs past her and steps off into the bog. She grabs a hold of the rock, digging in with her toes, to keep from sinking, then grips it with one hand as she stretches out to M. She's already up to her shoulders and going down fast. She reaches back, but they can only touch fingertips. They both strain as far as they can, as M sinks down until just her upturned face is visible, but they still cannot grasp each other. D steps off the rock and lets go to grip lower down. She sinks to her chin, but she gains another inch. She and M hook fingers, and she pulls her close enough they can grab each other's wrists. D pulls M close enough for her to grab hold of her, and then she turns, grips the rock with both hands, and pulls them both up to its side.

The girls appears above them. She grimaces and shrieks, but as she reaches for them, Vlad explodes out of shadow behind her, seizes her, and throws both of them into the bog. D tells M to grab the rock and hang on. When she does, D pulls herself out and stands up. She sees the girl frantically struggling to get free as Vlad holds her while they sink. D summons Caliburn, holds it in an overhand grip like a javelin, and orders Vlad to disengage. He turns into a raven and flaps off, and she throws the sword. It impales the girl in the torso, the cross guard slamming into her chest, and the blow plus the weight of the weapon drag her down like an anchor.

D kneels down to help M climb out of the bog as Vlad reappears behind them. He tells them he has been instructed to take them to Caerleon Hall. M takes a moment to retrieve her pack, but before they let Vlad transport them, M remarks that D saved her life. D replies that she owed her, and M retorts that that's as it should be. D tells her to sod off, but they both smile.

Old Doc LeClerc checks them out, and pronounces healthy as young bullocks, but prescribes a hot bath, a hot meal, and bed rest. Later, after they get cleaned up and eat, D sits up in bed reading reports as M sleeps. Vlad tells her she has a visitor. She gets out of bed, puts on a robe, and goes into the boudoir next door, to find the Duke of Anglin waiting for her. He states that he came to see his daughter, but first he wanted to thank D for saving her life. He expresses regret that it came at a tragic sacrifice, but D states that M's was greater, and she expresses regret she could not save the nanny. His Grace admits that M was very close to her nanny, ever since…then he breaks off. When D mentions his wife's death, he asks her how she knows about that, and she replies M told her. That takes him by surprise because as far as he knew M would not discuss it with anyone, not even him. That surprises D, but His Grace explains that he loved her mother very much, and when she died it hurt too much for him to talk to M about it. He threw himself into his duties to cope, but when the pain finally lessened a wall had grown up between him and M, and it was just easier to leave it alone than make the effort to tear it down. He admits that he's partially to blame. While he never blamed her for her mother's death, she reminded him of her too much to get close to her, because it brought back the pain. He decided to recognize his son, not to punish her, but so he could have a child he could relate to, but when he learned that she had nearly been killed, he realized he loved her more than he ever could his son, and finally understood just how much pain he had caused her by shutting her off from him.

D is uncomfortable throughout his speech, though she realizes it is sincere, that he needed to get it off his chest, and she was a safe neutral party he could open up to. When he pauses, she reminds him that she's only 14, and she doesn't pretend to know how he feels, but she knows something of how M feels. She tells him that she envies M, because she still has a father. She tells him she would give anything to have her father back, short of her immortal soul, but it's too late for her and him. It isn't too late for him and M, if he really wants it. She knows M does. He doesn't reply, but D tells her she'll leave him alone with her. He nods and enters the children's bedroom, but doesn't close the door all the way. D peers in, and watches as he kneels beside the bed. He awakens her, and after a quiet exchange they embrace. D is about to leave when she sees M looking at her. M smiles and waves, and D quietly closes the door.

A month later, D attends a meeting of M's Girl Guide group, when awards will be given out. M expresses surprise that she's there, as well as the fact that she's wearing a dress! D replies that since she helped her win her new merit badges, she felt it was only appropriate to cheer her on. She then takes her aside. She explains that she had petitioned the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts to create a special one-time Zombie merit badge, but the Association refused, stating it wouldn't be fair to allow only her to receive it. M looks disappointed, but then D grins and tells her that instead, they deemed her actions worthy of the Bronze Cross, the highest award in scouting for gallantry, given to scouts who save a life or perform some other heroic act beyond the degree of maturity and training to be expected for their age while risking their own lives. As well, they also decided to give her the Medal of Meritorious Conduct, awarded for actions of an exceptionally high standard. And they allowed her to present them to her herself. M is speechless, but she hugs D in gratitude.

Later at the ceremony, as D pins the medals to M's sash, she notices that M wears her usual arrogant smile, but her eyes are moist with emotion.