“Get away!” she screamed at them. “Get away from me!”

A shot cracked through the fog. The head of the zombie woman exploded like a ripe melon. An awful smell washed over Alice as the body dropped to the sidewalk. Alice gaped. A horse rode up—two horses, no, four—their iron shoes clattering on the cobblestones. One of the riders rushed at Alice, stomping over the zombie woman’s corpse.

“Up you come,” the rider said, hauling Alice up behind the saddle. Alice barely had time to register the fact that her rescuer was a woman in leather trousers before the horse wheeled around and cantered back the way it had come.

“Who are you?” Alice demanded. “What’s going on?”

“We’re here to help,” the woman said.