I'm finally here, Life After: The Line of Duty is the final novella in the second trilogy of side stories that take place in and around the mainline Life After novels. Thankfully author Bryan Way had saved the best for last, as this one was not only the best of the six short stories released, but I reckon is the second best story set in the Life After universe as a whole.
This forty seven page story is set during the events of Life After: The Arising and takes place entirely in and around the Broomall Police Station which has found itself on the wrong side of a quarantine zone due to a localised zombie outbreak. It is here that Lt. Arthur Gilchrist does his best to retain control over the local area, despite a large number of his officers either AWOL, MIA, or just plain dead. He is in good hands though, the remaining officers may be worn out and occasionally grumpy, but they are all dedicated to performing their duties, to protect and to serve until the end.
I really enjoyed this novella, the police station has such a sense of reality to it, helped that the story takes place over the one day, picking up in late afternoon time and then heading into the night. It even manages to start in a great fashion, with Gilchrist going over the list of his officers, it being clear that he has lost contact with a large number of the remaining ones. There has been lots of bad press about the police in recent years, both in America (where this is set), and here in my home country of the U.K. Thankfully, these police officers are more noble, with them trying their best to do their jobs. Even knowing that anyone bitten is destined to become a zombie, they don't just kill the infected, instead putting them in jail cells. Also, despite being low on numbers, they don't turn away any survivors looking for a place of refuge, despite not really wanting them there.
One thing I have always enjoyed about the Life After series is the author's attempts to keep this all grounded and realistic in feel. It was interesting to read him stating this story took a long time to come to fruition due to him wanting to get everything right about how the police might act in a situation such as a zombie outbreak.
With all the characters here it was easy to get slightly lost with who was who, even if this was made slightly easier by the majority of the officers having easier to remember nicknames, such as Magic, Reds, and Cutie. There was a tense feeling throughout, with it increasingly clear that the undead aren't the only problem they have to deal with, especially when it seems people with far less noble intentions who see the increasing weakness with the police's dwindling members. Way stated his story became almost like a Western, I can see that, there were also elements of Assault on Precinct 13 to be found here.
With Life After: The Line of Duty both beginning and ending in the middle of a larger plot, this was a really cool slice of life that worked so perfectly as a short story. Adding flavour to the larger Life After world, this also worked really well as a stand alone tale, well worth a read for any fan of zombie fiction.
SCORE:
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