Nova Sofala, Mozambique

Interview with: Alastair Klinsman

Due to the surroundings in which much of our little chat is conducted, it's not so much an interview as a shouting match. Alastair has taken me up in his little bubble-fronted helicopter, a vehicle that in times past was used to track the big game herds across the country of Mozambique. We sit in the cramped Perspex globe, the rotor buzzing noisily above our heads, our earplugs in place, and heads close together to facilitate conversation. Other than the swarm, there's not much else to see. As with much of the world following the Infection, there are few remaining wild species. Indeed, there are few animals left in Africa at all now, other than the domesticated few that survived in the various strongholds, or those that managed to survive at altitude or under the ground. Virtually every large mammal on the continent has disappeared, the only blessing perhaps that they were eaten rather than becoming Zombies themselves.

As is becoming more and more evident as we continue on, the only herds left now are the vast swarms of the Infected. Alastair talks me through the basics of his job as we hover over a swarm.

"I used to work as a Ranger for the government, tracking game, watching out for poachers, directing other Rangers and so on. Now, I think I'm one of only a couple of guys left on the whole continent with a helicopter license.

"Now, if you look out of the window there, you can see we're approaching the coast. You see now why we track them? This swarm is about to drop off the east coast of Africa and hence off the map. It'll probably head towards India, but that is by no means certain. We still don't know what, if anything, guides the swarms, how susceptible they are to ocean currents, deterioration due to the seawater, or anything else really. We do know they keep re-appearing though.

"Although the African military disposed of tens of thousands of them as they marched down through Africa, there aren't that many of the African people left to fight them, so all they could do was keep them moving, picking them off as they went through. It's a guerrilla tactic they use rather well. The military have a group of fast moving cars at the front of the swarm; these drive along in front of the swarm, occasionally racing back down the line to draw them on or change the direction, making a lot of noise and keeping the Zeds stumbling onwards. If they do it right, they can string out the swarm and give the snipers who are stationed along the route the chance to pick off the Zeds as they pass. Sometimes, they can separate off a smaller group too and lead them into a killing zone. They've even managed to dig some mass graves in preparation. With those, they lead the smaller groups of Zeds into them, killing them in-situ so they don't have to drag the corpse into the hole. Saves a bit of work, which in this heat is a blessing, and we haven't really got the facility to keep knocking them out at night as we haven't got many places back on the national grid yet.

"Once a swarm starts, they set up that God awful moaning and other Zeds start joining in, and before long you get a chain swarm, a continuously growing band of Zeds that just goes on and on as they attract their little friends to the party.

"It's a long, slow, dangerous, and tedious process. We lost a pilot the other day when his rotor failed; he'd not been paying attention and had drifted over the top of the swarm he was following. So, when he went down in the middle of them, he had no chance. I'd like to think he was dead on impact if you know what I mean.

"If you notice our position here, we're close enough to see what they're doing, but not so close that if we have to ditch we won't be able to get away. Well that's the idea anyway.

"If we get a bit closer to the edge of the coast here, you can see that the Zeds have found a low point in the cliffs. A bit further out, there's a boat there, just off the shore. That'll be playing a bit of Metallica or something through massive speakers, the boys like a bit of heavy metal, and Celine Dion just doesn't seem appropriate for some reason, not enough bass perhaps. It's there to lure them down into the water rather than entertain the troops though. I know it seems like we're passing the buck a little by letting them disappear into the waves, but we've tagged a huge number of them, so we'll be able to track them and see if any of them splinter off into smaller groups.

"The UN scientists have set up the World Tracking System, which utilises the operational parts of the old satellite network, GPS and various new aerials spread all over the world. We've been given an early warning system if you want to call it that. Before, all we had was lookouts along the coasts and the sweep teams who went out each day looking for the odd lone Zeds that were still holed up in the old neighbourhoods and slums. We still get them, but the biggest danger now are the remaining swarms wandering around in the depths of the ocean.

The lab bods have managed to come up with a type of bullet that can be shot at a Zed. It's a low-speed bullet, a bit like the old rubber bullets they used to shoot at protestors. This lodges in the body cavity of the Zombie and then sends out a signal that can be tracked. We use the old hunting Landrovers. They're reliable and already geared up for shooting on the move, with the chairs strapped to the sides. Specially trained marksmen risk their lives every day to tag the swarms, driving in close, tagging a few and then driving like hell up the line to tag a few more. They only start tagging them once it's apparent the swarm is moving towards the sea. Prior to that, it's all about taking out as many as we can before they disappear under the waves again.

"The Indian government have reputedly almost cleared their country of Zeds, and so are far more geared up to take on the swarm once it appears from the surf. Their army performed well during the war and have maintained their coastal defences, adding to them in the last few years. They've battled a huge amount of Zeds over the years, mainly swarms coming down through China or across from Europe, and it makes you realise just how resilient the human race is really.

"We will continue to monitor the swarm as it enters the sea and then we'll turn over all the tracking data to the UN, who will monitor it using their forces until it hits Indian soil. Mind you, there is also the possibility that the swarm could turn around or even head off somewhere else. That's where the subs come in. The Brits had a few that were used for power generation during the war, but since they've got their infrastructure sorted out, they've been using them to track some of the swarms, along with some of the other remaining nuclear subs from other countries that support the UN. They've also been using some submersibles which are utilised closer to land generally. The big subs do the main monitoring, and then the submersibles get in close to confirm a visual once the swarms get closer in to shore. This methodology gives a better estimate of the numbers and hopefully prepares the country that's about to be hit. It's getting more and more useful all the time, and the better we keep track of them, the easier we'll be able to wipe the things out. We don't want another Brisbane.

"You'd not heard about that one? Well, the Australians got caught out about five years ago, before we had all this tracking technology fully in place. A massive swarm left Japan, initially headed west towards China, but for some reason changed direction and headed south and east once it was under the water. I'm not sure whether it was the currents or just chance, but the swarm all but ignored all the islands and possible landing points down along The Philippines and Papua New Guinea, then suddenly wandered up out of the surf on the eastern shore of Australia. It really caught the poor beggars on the hop. They'd been doing really well up until that point, but the sheer size of the coast compared to the population meant they stood no chance really. Thankfully most of them managed to withdraw and lock themselves back up into whatever fortifications they'd been using before and sit tight. They had thought ahead and had re-stocked the forts, but they still lost a lot of people in the battles that followed.

"The remnants of that swarm are still wandering around the outback causing chaos and refusing to leave. The Kiwis have sent over some help though, as they've managed to clear the North and South islands now. The Aussies are tough though, they'll sort them out eventually.

"This is the last major swarm to leave Africa now. Most of the people here didn't really stand a chance during the outbreak. Only the South Africans really managed to form any sort of coherent defence, pulling back up onto Table Mountain. They'd had a plan in place oddly enough, a bit like you Brits. Only those governments who did have a plan really seemed to stand a chance. Their plan involved sacrificing most of the population though, and although they survived, the cost was incredible and meant the African swarms were virtually the whole population of the continent, well, those that weren't eaten at any rate. I survived in a floating community on Lake Tanganyika, but that's a story for another day.

"Now this swarm is leaving, we finally stand a chance of clearing out the remaining Zeds and putting up some coastal defences that actually work. We've had to leave gaps in most of them to let the Zeds get out before we can close the doors behind them. We've still got tens of thousands of the Infected wandering around, but we'll tackle them one by one until they've finally been eradicated. The mercenary forces the government have employed seem to be proving useful; although it always surprises me how many people enjoy fighting.

"If I never have to crack another head, I'll be a happy man. In the meantime, I'll just keep flying around. I'm quite happy to be able to watch the things without hearing the moaning."