Captain: “Not that I can see, sir. The two brothers appear to be identical twins. Maybe the living one is simply immune – although he be identical to his brother in all other respects. (And there have been some cases of that already observed.) If so, that could make for very interesting research. What are their genetic differences? Why would one brother succumb and not his identical twin? Maybe we could use the blood of the living brother to make a vaccine. (My friggin’ blood for a vaccine!) Commander: “That’s all very well, Captain, but we can’t hold the man against his will, can we? I mean, Geneva Convention, human rights and all that.” Captain: “When I caught these two, the living brother was not only masquerading as a non-commissioned officer of Her Majesty’s Armed forces but was actively protecting his zombie brother from capture.” Commander: “Well, yes. I suppose we could detain him for a while on those bases but they are hardly hanging offences, are they?” (The death penalty still existed in Victoria at the time and I had actually seen a man sentenced to death – in the very first case that I observed. (Reg. v. Bariska) And, under military law, I wasn’t sure what the situation might be.) Captain: “But, Commander, the zombie brother had just eaten Major Smythe. That’s certainly a hanging offence.” Commander: (incredulous) “Old Smitty? Decorated veteran of Korea, Malaya and ‘Nam?” I could hear poorly stifled guffaws, followed closely by unrestrained howls of laughter from both men – which went on for a considerable time. “Old Smitty”, it seemed, had been much loved! In any event, the Captain had overcome his Commander’s initial reluctance to accommodate a zombie and his brother. So, we became medical specimens to be exhibited and experimented on.
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