Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #19 October 2015 | Page 68

called his junior officers for reports.

“Neither would I lieutenant, neither would I.”
Summerby looked around. “Ambrose, let’s get ammunition up here for every man. Have the Ironsides reloaded; I want the company ready for action soonest.”

The remaining walking corpses were still beating on the hull of Greyhound but the platoons could
not see to fire on them so they were formed up around
the square, in a ring, all aiming at the mouth of the
street. A soldier was sent to bang on the rear of Greyhound to pass an order for Lieutenant Digby to back
up. Greyhound clanked backwards, the score or so
corpses that were left shambled forward after the Land
Frigate then they found themselves the target of eighty
Martin Henri rifles. Thirty seconds of firing and every
last one of them was dead. Again!

#
Twenty tense minutes later and the town was
in the hands of the British. Squads were still kicking
open doors to ensure that no more of the walking
corpses remained locked away inside a building but
otherwise all was quiet.
An impromptu officers meeting was held in
one of the less damaged buildings off the market
square. A pair of lancers had been sent to ride north
to the edge of the hills and find Lieutenant Digby, to
summon him and his unit of the levy to the town.

General Summerby looked at the street choked
with the remains and tried to guess how many there
had been.
“Lieutenant Fowler, how many of those things
were there?”

Sharpshooters were spread out onto flat roofs
with good lines of sight on the fort walls and gate. The
six pounders were tucked behind a half ruined house;
they were ready to fire on the fort walls at the first sign
of the rebels.

“Bit hard to tell sir, I would say somewhat
around a hundred, mayhap a few less.”
The general then turned toward Captain Greyling who was climbing over the rubble of the ruined
house with half of his lancers afoot.

Greyhound was still sitting in the middle of
the market square, the main gate of the town had been
opened and the medical and quartermaster wagons
had arrived and set up behind the steel hull of the land
frigate.

“Captain Greyling, your estimate of the population of this town from intelligence reports and your
scouti