We got back in the cars. Mercury drove following the others. Ours was last again.
The life layer split as we passed through it like a coat of blue air parting around the vehicle. Then closing behind us.
We were officially on the plain. Infected everywhere. Standing in the dark like furniture nobody had put away, paused in the specific stillness of something that had simply stopped. Level one and two. I knew the difference by how they held themselves.
My first thought was Harmione.
Zombies aren't real, she had said, with the easy confidence of someone who had grown up somewhere safe enough to doubt the things outside it.
Now you see them for yourself, I thought.
"Wow," May breathed from the front seat, pressing closer to the window. "These things aren't as dangerous as Bagins' practicals made them seem."
Sherry looked at me and let out a quiet laugh, the sound warm in the confined space.
"They're actually dangerous," I said. "Depends on the level and the time."
