On a rainy day, Litefoot, Ellie and several mourners have gathered in a graveyard to pay their last respects to their dear friend – Henry Gordon Jago. As the coffin is lowered into the grave and the dirt is shovelled in, Jago awakens inside the coffin…
Inside the coffin, Jago begs to be let out and begins to panickily bang on the lid. He eventually gives up and resigns to his fate, bemoaning how he is going to die suffocating inside a coffin. Before all hope is lost, Jago hears digging outside the coffin. He believes its Litefoot coming to rescue him, but he hears the voice of an unfamiliar woman who asks him to knock to confirm he’s alive. Jago does so ecstatically. Eventually, the woman manages to prise the coffin open and free Jago. Before Jago can gleefully revel in his freedom, the woman tells him to quieten down as they have found them. Jago looks around and sees several zombie-like figures shuffling around the area and everything is rather apocalyptic. The woman informs Jago that he has been asleep for 100 years. It is currently the year 2000 and history is broken…
In the past, Litefoot is approached by an old friend, Luke Betterman. Betterman had just returned from overseas. He offers his condolences for Litefoot’s loss. Overcome with memories of Jago, Litefoot decides to take a walk alone. Ellie arrives and introduces herself to Betterman. Ellie explains that Jago was gunned down by an unknown assailant, but they were unable to discover who did the foul deed as they’ve made plenty of enemies as Infernal Investigators. Litefoot returns and he and Ellie return to the Red Tavern with Betterman in tow for the wake. Despite Ellie assuring Litefoot it is an intimate wake for Jago’s closest friends; they discover a raucous party inside with a lot of people present. Much to Litefoot’s chagrin.
Litefoot is disgusted by the lack of decorum at the party. So, he and Betterman situate themselves in the corner of the pub away from prying eyes. Everywhere he looked he is reminded of his dear ally. As the party noise begins to overwhelm him, Litefoot angrily professes to Betterman at least Jago is not alive to witness the ceremony…which he states as the pub fell silent. Thankfully, a familiar cheerful voice cut the silence – Carruthers Summerton. He offers his condolences to Litefoot and asks him to recount some of the best memories he had of Jago for everyone to enjoy. Betterman tries to dissuade Summerton, but the eager journalist does not listen and urges Litefoot further. Unable to take anymore and disgusted by Summerton’s lack of tact, Litefoot angrily leaves the Tavern.
In the future, Jago and the woman are running from the zombies towards a church. They briefly take a breather behind some headstones in the churchyard. The woman introduces herself as Adella Lestrange. Jago notices the headstone they are hiding behind bears the years 1962-1992, which confirms that Jago is in the future. Before Lestrange can explain the apocalyptic events that transpired, a zombie emerges and grabs Jago. Lestrange grabs a tombstone and bludgeons the zombie in the head repeatedly, much to Jago’s horror. Lestrange reminds Jago that they must get to the church as they hear the undead groaning in the distance…
Litefoot is walking alone in the streets of London when he is approached by Inspector Quick. He calmly tells Quick that he is not in the mood for an infernal investigation, but Quick tells him that he desperately needs his help as there have been talks of a possible contagion in the city. Litefoot sighs and decides to help. But before anything else, Quick directs Litefoot to another case just around the corner.
Jago and Lestrange arrive at the church and find it locked and the zombies closing in. Jago remembers that he has a set of lockpicks in his suit and begins to pick the lock. Jago begins to feel queasy, so Lestrange takes over the lockpicking while Jago keeps an eye out for the Rathbones (or angry skeleton zombies as she calls them). Just before the zombies could surround them, Lestrange manages to open the door and the two survivors rush inside and seal the door shut again.
Quick shows Litefoot a dead body which has come down with a visible infectious disease. Litefoot instructs the officers to load the body into a carriage to be transported to the morgue. Quick informs Litefoot that more and more people are turning up infected every day. Litefoot decides to return to the wake to fetch an expert to assist him – Luke Betterman.
Betterman is leaving the wake when he encounters Litefoot outside the Red Tavern. Litefoot persuades Betterman to assist him in his investigation involving nervous disorders and infectious diseases, which are a specialty for Betterman. Betterman agrees to do so and they both head for the morgue.
Lestrange manages to bolt the church door shut and barricade it to keep the skeletal zombies out. Jago is startled to see the church in disarray, he notices how a flag has desecrated the crucifix. Lestrange identifies it as the Flag of the Church of Devolution – God was pronounced dead in 1914. Jago demands an explanation for the horrors he has encountered so far. Lestrange explains that the entire world has fallen into a hellish nightmare because of Jago!
Litefoot and Betterman arrive at the mortuary. Litefoot explains that the past week, a mysterious contagion has been sweeping the city. Despite being out of the country, Betterman had no idea, despite only returning to London because of Jago’s funeral being reported in the papers. Litefoot shows Betterman several infected corpses on the slabs, but the strange thing is that they are still moving slowly and groaning, even though they have been medically classed as dead as they don’t have pulses. Betterman is baffled by the state of the corpses and can only suggest that they are like voodoo zombies, which cannot be possible! There is no such thing as the undead! But Litefoot begs to differ as he mentions that a man called Sebastian Crow experimented with the undead a while back during one of Jago and Litefoot’s infernal investigations. During this time, Crow experimented on Ellie after she was killed by Gabriel Sanders, and Litefoot had managed to restore her using Crow’s reprehensible methods. In doing so, Litefoot became known as an expert on the undead. Litefoot is certain of one thing: someone is responsible for this outbreak. But he cannot help but think that the same individual may be responsible for the death of Jago…
Lestrange explains that Jago is responsible for the zombies outside and it all started the day Jago was shot. She explains that Jago was shot with a dart laced with a deadly virus created in a laboratory. Once it infected Jago, it began to spread as an airborne contagion with the victims becoming trapped between the state of alive and dead. Jago was the patient zero! When Lestrange rescued Jago from his coffin, she injected him with an antivirus that counteracted the zombie virus. But so far Jago is the only successful patient as the Rathbone zombies outside are too far gone to be treated. Jago questions who could have done such a thing, but Lestrange is uncertain as the origins of the virus are unknown.
Litefoot and Betterman ponder their next move. Unbeknownst to Betterman, Litefoot quietly unstraps one of the patients on the slab and it suddenly grabs Betterman. Rather than rescue his friend, Litefoot watches with unsettling curiosity before deciding to rummage through Betterman’s bag before discovering a ticket from a week ago. How could Betterman have a ticket for London dated one week ago when he has only just returned today? More peculiarly, the day before Jago was killed and the virus outbreak? Betterman is indignant to the discovery and begs to be freed from the zombie. Litefoot cheerfully complies and injects the zombie with an opiate to sedate it, freeing Betterman. Betterman demands to know if Litefoot freed the creature to attack him as he believed him to be the perpetrator, but Litefoot is dismissive and more interested in the contents of Betterman’s luggage. Litefoot retrieves several samples from Betterman’s overseas expeditions and demands to know who he is really working for…
Lestrange explains a theory that the Victorian government released the virus into the atmosphere to make the underclasses more susceptible to manipulation to keep them in line, while the upper-classes and the elites would be immune to the effects. Except it turned its victims into zombies. A few survivors of the apocalypse were immune to the virus and managed to devise a cure to counteract it. Lestrange sadly reveals however that she is the last of her society, a society dubbed ‘The Jago and Litefoot Society’.
Litefoot demands to know about the samples in Betterman’s luggage. Betterman relents and explains that he has been looking into possible cures to fight a disease known as the Black Formosa Corruption, a rare brain disease. The corpses in the mortuary begin to groan and break free from their restraints. The corpses advance on the two gentlemen. Litefoot grabs a chair to keep the zombies at bay while he instructs Betterman to escape. Litefoot throws a flask of formaldehyde on the floor and sets it alight to create a barrier of fire between him and the zombies, allowing him to escape.
Outside the mortuary, Litefoot and Betterman fear the zombies are not fazed by the fire and are still pursuing them, albeit on fire. Despite the terrible danger, Litefoot feels rather in his element…
In the church, the zombies are breaking through into the church. Lestrange tells Jago that they must get to the cellar. One zombie manages to get inside and Jago is forced to kill it with a candelabra, much to his shock. Jago begins to feel rather ill and fears that the drug Lestrange administered him has some rather unforeseen side effects. The two hurry to the cellar as the zombies begin to clamber into the church.
Ellie receives several loud knocks on the door of the Red Tavern from Litefoot and Betterman. Ellie is rather irritable after Jago’s wake and tells them to leave. She sees Inspector Quick running down the street blowing his police whistle trying to evacuate the area as the burning undead march down after him. Ellie invites the three men inside to hide from the zombies, while Betterman looks on in amazement at the monstrosities before entering. Ellie asks Litefoot if he can help to stop the zombie invasion, but he is unsure if he can. But he is certain who is behind the attack…Luke Betterman!
Jago and Lestrange rush to the cellars, where Lestrange shows Jago into a room with a huge armoury of weapons. She arms herself and open fires on the zombies killing them all. Jago notices how the room is remarkably familiar to the New Regency Theatre’s dressing rooms, even down to the smell of cigars and velvet furnishings. Lestrange explains that this used to be the Jago and Litefoot Society HQ and further explains that the society was dedicated to the memories of the two brave Infernal Investigators. They hear thumping and banging from above as more zombies encroach the church. Lestrange mentions their one chance of saving the world should be ready in 1 hour and if Jago is prepared. Before they do anything however, Lestrange asks Jago to help fill in the blanks of the history of Jago and Litefoot, even the moments that the great biographer Carruthers Summerton missed out…
The zombies begin to break into the Red Tavern as Ellie and Quick fiercely fight them off. Betterman is incredulous at the accusations thrown at him by Litefoot. Which include being a disciple of Sebastian Crow, murdering Jago and his overseas specimens being behind the contagion. He further stacks the evidence against Betterman by presenting his ticket dated one week ago when he states that he had only just arrived home today. Betterman is adamant in his innocence and states that the ticket could have been planted on him to frame him. Eventually, the zombies manage to break into the tavern and begin to overwhelm the group…
Jago recounts his adventures to Lestrange. The thought of Litefoot and Ellie makes Jago sullen momentarily, before slowly realising the possibly that Ellie could still be alive thanks to her immortality. Before he could ponder the thought further, Lestrange states that its time they were leaving and opens a door behind a curtain. She reveals they were biding their time while the zombies surrounded the front of the church, leaving the backdoor unguarded for them to escape through. The next step of their plan is to save humanity…
The zombies surround the group in the Red Tavern. Betterman decides to prove once and for all that he is not behind the zombies and approaches one asking if it recognises him as it’s master. The creature groans the word ‘master’ over and over. Betterman then orders the zombies to leave the tavern. The zombies respond by knocking Betterman to the ground, they clearly do not take orders from him. Litefoot realises this now and he and Quick cover Betterman from the zombies so he can escape with Ellie. Unfortunately, the backdoor is blocked. With no other options, Betterman grabs a bunch of darts from the dartboard and dips the tips in Sumatran poison from his specimens. The group throw the darts into the zombies, paralysing them. With the carnage over, Litefoot apologises to Betterman for accusing him. Betterman explains his gambit involved something that Litefoot had mentioned while they were in the mortuary, about how the undead were afflicted with a virus like the Black Formosa Corruption. His poison was a remedy for the corruption, but a large dose can paralyse the victim. Betterman explains that he is an expert in neurology and why someone would frame him for a voodoo contagion is beyond him. Litefoot ponders the use of poisonous darts, voodoo trickery and neurology for a moment and comes to a horrible conclusion…Jago was buried alive using those very techniques…
Lestrange and Jago rush through the apocalyptic landscape and venture into a tent. Inside, Lestrange shows him a machine that she built using the blueprints acquired from Professor Darke (The Sixth Doctor) – a one-way time door back to the 1890s. Lestrange hands several vials of the antidote and instructs Jago to give them to Litefoot and he can administer it to the victims. Jago is reluctant to leave Lestrange behind, but the zombies are surrounding the tent. With little time left, she orders Jago to go while she covers him.
Jago rushes through the time-door and…emerges inside his coffin! Jago panics as he bangs frantically on the coffin lid. Outside, Lestrange laughs as she bids farewell to Jago. Her laughter is short lived when the cold steel of a pistol is pressed against her. Litefoot holds her at gunpoint and demands she dig up Jago. Quick arrives with his officers and proceed to shoot down the zombies in the area with the poison darts. Litefoot informs Lestrange that her plans are finished. But Lestrange is defiant and tells Litefoot he has not got a clue about what is going on. The grave is opened and Litefoot lifts the coffin up with a pulley. Litefoot prises open the coffin to reveal his infernal investigative partner, Jago, alive and well. Both men are glad to see each other once more. Jago is surprised to see Lestrange, but she quickly runs off with the police in pursuit. Jago is incredibly confused as to what is going on…
Later, Jago is feasting on a meal prepared by Ellie when Litefoot returned. He cannot seem to find Betterman, who seemingly vanished after the ordeal in the graveyard. Litefoot explains to Jago that he was the victim of a cruel hoax conjured by Lestrange. He did not time travel to the year 2000, the world did not suffer an apocalyptic event and the monsters in the graveyard were the victims of the contagion plaguing London. When Jago was shot and seemingly killed, he was in fact poisoned and placed in a death-like state to keep up the pretence. Litefoot was only able to deduce the truth when Betterman noted the similarity between the undead roaming the streets and voodoo witchcraft he had witnessed on his travels as they use heavy drugs to simulate death. When Betterman defeated the zombies with his paralysis poison, Litefoot theorised the same could have been done to Jago. The drug that Lestrange gave Jago when he came out of his coffin was a hallucinogenic drug that made the world look like the apocalypse. Jago is embarrassed that he fell for such a trick but is curious as to what the point of the entire ordeal was. Litefoot theorises that if the Jago and Litefoot Society and the questions posed by Lestrange is anything to go by, the entire ordeal was orchestrated by someone who wants to know everything about the Infernal Investigators. Whatever the truth may be, Litefoot believes they will soon find out…
