INTERLUDE - London 11:30

Home Secretary Amanda Helmson was seated at her desk in her London office. She was currently halfway through reading a 28 page proposal for banning the use of encrypted internet communication between individuals. It seemed like common sense to her, but she knew that there would be an outcry from the civil rights lobby. Governments of both parties had tried to get support for the necessary measures, both had failed. So they had to proceed by small steps. A regulation here, a 'think of the children' there. Brief the press regularly about the horrors of the Dark Net and the public would see sense. Eventually.

When she'd taken the job of Home Secretary, Amanda had thought that she'd be able to make a difference. It was time someone with a backbone took the actions that everyone – at least, all sensible people – knew were necessary to protect the country. But politics was politics and even in one of the great offices of state she was still unable to achieve what she wanted. Despite her best efforts, society continued to collapse – all in the name of freedom and democracy. She ran her hands through her tightly cropped, blonde hair and shook her head.

"Excuse me, Ma'am."

Amanda looked up at the secretary hovering in the doorway. "Yes? I thought I said I didn't want to be disturbed?" In reality, the interruption was a welcome one. But she liked to remind people that she was in charge.

"Sorry, Ma'am. But the Chief Constable of Marrenforth is on the phone, says it's urgent."

"Marrenforth? Where the devil is that?"

"It's a small town up north, Ma'am. About fifty miles from..."

"Oh yes, that shithole. So what's going on up there?"

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"He didn't say, Ma'am. Just said he needed to speak with you urgently."

"His name?"

"Geoffrey Shanwell."

"That prick. OK, put him through."

She picked up the phone.

"Geoffrey! Good to hear from you. How's life in lovely Marrenforth?"

She paused to listen to his response. Her eyes widened in shock at the news of an attack in a police station. She pressed for more details, but it seemed that the idiot of a Chief Constable didn't actually know what was going on in his own back yard. What he did know was that one of his officers and a civilian woman were dead.

There had also been other serious but - so far - non-fatal incidents in the town. Those could just be the usual early Friday drunks, but could be a sign of gang violence or civil unrest. Just the sort of problems she was always warning about.

This was potentially very bad, especially if things spiralled out of control. It could lead to lots of negative press coverage and bring up questions of police resourcing. God knows, she'd tried to get more money for them, but somehow it was always Health and Education that won out. But who would get the blame for not protecting the public? Her, of course.

"OK, Geoffrey," she said, making a mental note to get the local Commissioner to fire the clearly incompetent Chief Constable. "You were right to bring this to my attention. I'll monitor the situation from here, let me know if there's anything you need. For now, the most important thing is to avoid any panic. Just issue denials until things blow over, don't let the press make this out to be worse than it is. Make sure all your people are visible on the streets. Keep up the good work, I've got total faith in you."

She hung up and turned to her computer. She opened up the government's secure news monitor and typed in 'Marrenforth'. There was nothing on the traditional news websites yet, but plenty of nonsense and speculation on social media.

There were also a few unpleasant photos that had been uploaded, showing people with grey eyes and bloody chins. The Internet Idiots were ranting about zombies and the end of the world. All because of a few pictures that had probably been made using some new filter. It was all childish rubbish that didn't help anyone, just destabilised the situation. Panic would just make things worse.

She wondered again why the PM insisted on allowing that sort of thing and kept overriding her proposals for more government control over social media. He hadn't even allowed her to create a national CCTV network, so she couldn't get a direct view of whatever was happening.

Without knowing all the details, she couldn't go on the media circuit to reassure people that she had everything under control. And thanks to the social liberals and their free speech nonsense, she couldn't clamp down on the ridiculous internet rumours.

A zombie apocalypse?

Ridiculous.

In England?

Unthinkable.