Undead at Heart by Calum Kerr

interjected.
    “Good?” asked Tony. “What’s
good about them coming in and wiping out anyone who could stop them?”
    “Well, it means
they’re worried. They feel that the army, or the airforce, or whatever,
actually have the ability to harm them. They’re not coming in as an
overwhelming force unconcerned about what we might do to them in return.
They’re trying to take out any resistance before it can start because they know
it could stop them.”
    “Okay, that makes
sense. That’s a good thing.” Dan smiled at her, but Tony no longer cared. His
train of thought had taken a different route.
    “Yeah, that’s good. I
mean, then we just need to hole up, find somewhere
safe, and wait until our guys win. But, if they don’t, there’s something that
worries me.”
    “What?”
    “Why do they want all
the people? If they’re not here just to kill us all and take over the planet,
then what do they need us for? Slaves? Subjects?” He glanced back over at the cows staring over at
them. ”Or food?”

Twenty-two
     
     
    After that they walked
in silence. There didn’t seem to be anything they could say to Tony’s question.
They now seemed to have some idea what was going on, maybe even an answer to
why those walkers hadn’t stopped to kill them, but without understanding the
bigger purpose there was nothing they could do. In the end Tony’s earlier
comment had been right. All they could do was try and
find somewhere safe and hope that the good guys won.
    After Tony’s final
question, Dan had moved back to the front of the group, a sombre expression on
his face. She didn’t know if he would tell the others the conclusions they’d
come to, but Sam doubted it.
    She slipped her hand
back into Tony’s, unsure just when that had become uncoupled, and they
continued to walk in silence.
    The path twisted
between the fields, cutting south and then east as it followed the fields.
    The farm appeared on
the horizon sooner than Tony had expected. He started to seriously doubt that
it was far enough away to have escaped the electro-pulse thing. It was a
cluster of buildings around a courtyard. Sheep were cropping grass in a field
next to one of the barns and a tractor stood silent in the centre of the yard.
    As they grew closer,
Tony saw two dogs lying in the shade by the open door to what seemed to be the
farmhouse.
    They passed through
the gate at the end of the path, Dan holding it for the party and shutting it
with a clang behind Tony and Sam. They all stopped at the edge of the yard and
waited, but no-one came out to greet them. The whole place seemed deserted.
    Dan walked back
through to position himself at the front. “Hello?” he called.
    There was no response.
    The group walked
slowly into the courtyard, listening carefully but hearing nothing but silence.
Dan and Daz set off towards the house, the dogs rising to greet them, friendly
rather than threatening. The chef, the waitress – Tony thought he really should
learn their names – plus Debbie and her family, waited in the middle of the
yard, watching them. Tony decided not to just wait to be told what to do, but
to take some kind of action which wasn’t just running away.
    With his screwdriver
gripped in his hand he approached the nearest barn. The large door was ajar,
but he could see nothing in the inner darkness. He glanced back and saw Sam was
following him, a few steps behind. He nodded to her and then stepped in through
the open door.
    There was a smell of
rotting grass inside which made Tony wrinkle his nose and try to breathe
through his mouth. Some shafts of light were shooting through gaps in the roof and
walls, and Tony realised the barn was quite old and a little dilapidated. As
his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, he made out large shapes in the room.
He raised his screwdriver protectively, and nearly yelped when he felt Sam
press against his back, but then realised that the huge metal shapes in front
of him were another tractor and a