Those who died, rose and preyed upon the living, spreading the contagion with every bite. However, ignorance was the greatest enemy... 
- — Mycroft Holmes
Victorian Undead #3 is an issue of the series Victorian Undead (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 2010. It was published on January 27, 2010.
Synopsis for "Part Three: Written in Blood"
That morning at the Diogenes Club, Sherlock and Dr. Watson wants answers from Mycroft during breakfast over the revenants under the city and of the government's involvement. Mycroft admits that the deaths of the underground workers alerted the government which was beyond his control when the Secret Service warned Sherlock and Watson at Scotland Yard. He then asks Watson if he is familiar with Doctor John Snow and Reverend Henry Whitehead.
Watson, being a physician, knows very well about Dr. Snow and Reverend Whitehead: Snow was known for his pioneer in the field of epidemiology and germ theory, in which he was critical of the miasma theory--that disease was spread by foul air. He disproved it during the 1854 cholera outbreak when he traced its origins to the Broad Street pump in Soho from being supplied with sewage water from the Thames. Reverend Whitehead was important for his local knowledge in pinpointing the outbreaks and ultimately their source. After Watson summarized that the outbreak caused the deaths of six-hundred, Mycroft then corrects Watson that it was actually closer to fifteen-hundred. Mycroft explains what exactly happened in 1854.
In reality there was never a cholera outbreak. But instead it is an outbreak of unknown origin which has caused the reanimation of the dead to prey on the living, spreading the undead outbreak exponentially. The government and law enforcement were ignorant of what was happening, wrongly seeing it as a riot caused by a drunken mob until undead policemen filled the undead ranks. Fortunately, Doctor Snow, who had encountered the undead firsthand, aided the government by creating a more practical and effective tactic. The area of the infected was sealed off from the public under the guise of a public health matter, thus contained, and everything within was scoured and cleansed by more effective soldiers, who were even equipped in suits of armour and using medieval melee weaponry. In the aftermath, all knowledge of the outbreak was covered up. Doctor Snow kept his silence with the assurance of a more extensive public works that was undertaken in improving public sanitation, and soon early died from a stroke, no doubt brought by the stress and burden of all he had seen. Reverend Whitehead on the other hand kept a strong faith to his ripe age, having witnessed manifested evil being triumphed over by the force of good.
Mycroft had heard rumours about the 1854 undead outbreak in his time, but was only made fully aware of past events after the underground incident, when files on the undead were made available to him. So far no further incidents of an undead outbreak ever happened in the last forty years until now.
Dr. Watson then speaks about the letter he had found underground which contradicts the last supposed outbreak, and wonders of the number of missing people and the source of the infection. Holmes theorizes that someone is purposely creating and corralling a legion of the undead. Now the more pressing question remains is whether the zombies that were discovered underground are the sole cache, or there are maybe more.
Holmes' deductions are proven correct. At Whitechapel, Professor Moriarty has been creating an undead army in several secret locations throughout London. Moriarty unleashed the undead from their corrals.
Meanwhile, Holmes and Watson are walking back to 221B Baker Street. Holmes shares his thoughts to Watson of what they have learned from Mycroft in which he is concerned that their government is not telling everything to his brother about the situation and that their own rigidness and paranoia is not making anything better at all. The two then witness a pedestrian being almost attacked by a zombie, which is then crushed under a wagon. Suddenly more zombies appear on the scene. Holmes and Watson rush back to Baker Street and find fresh blood on the doorway. The two are almost shot by a pistol-wielding Mrs. Hudson before hurrying inside as the undead appears on the street. Mrs. Hudson tearfully explains that she had seen the local baker boy being attacked and devoured by the undead on the front doorstep, hence why she is armed.
Holmes then heads to his study and begins searching for a book about 1854. Watson enters and finds him what he was looking for. Holmes reads a book about a peculiar comet that happened six months before the Broad Street pump outbreak and connects the relationship between these events. Holmes then pulls out a book called The Dynamics of an Asteroid and read out its author's theory of comets and meteors carrying microscopic lifeforms that were responsible for seeding planets with life, suggesting that the comet in 1854 carried an extraterrestrial virus that was responsible for causing the first undead outbreak. Watson, however, is skeptical of the theory and dismisses it as "speculative fiction." But Holmes reveals to him that the theory was highly regarded by one of "the most renowned figures in his field" to be none other than written by Professor James Moriarty, concluding that his nemesis is behind the outbreak. Watson is left stunned as he tells Holmes that Moriarty is dead. But Holmes believes otherwise as he points out that he himself was thought to be dead.
Appearing in "Part Three: Written in Blood"
Featured Characters:
- Sherlock Holmes
- Dr. John Watson
Supporting Characters:
- Mycroft Holmes
- Mrs. Hudson
Antagonists:
- Professor James Moriarty
- Sebastian Moran
- Zombies
Other Characters:
- Dr. John Snow (Flashback only)
Locations:
Items:
- The Dynamics of an Asteroid
Notes
- The death of Professor Moriarty occurred in his first appearance in The Adventure of the Final Problem, in which it sets in 1891 and seven years before the events of Victorian Undead. The Adventure of the Final Problem was meant to be the final Holmes story by ending with the title character's death. However, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was persuaded to revive Holmes and explaining his survival in The Adventure of the Empty House. Holmes' confrontation with Moriarty that ends with the latter's death is depicted in the next issue.
Trivia
- Watson states to Mycroft of having "endured my share of blood and horror, both in service to this country and in your brother's company." This is a reference to his military service as an assistant surgeon during the Second Anglo-Afghan War depicted in A Study in Scarlet.
- The Dynamics of an Asteroid's description of comets and meteors carrying microorganisms and seeding planets with life is a reference to panspermia, which is generally treated as a fringe theory with little support amongst mainstream scientists.
See Also