- "They looked slightly bewildered, but Scapegrace didn't mind that. In his experience, zombie hordes always looked bewildered."
- — Scapegrace's narration, Skulduggery Pleasant: Death Bringer
| Zombie horde | |
 The first zombie horde. | |
| Group Information | |
| Location | Killed or eaten |
| Date Founded | September 2011 |
| Notable Members | Vaurien Scapegrace; Thrasher |
The zombie horde is a large group of zombies led by Vaurien Scapegrace, the self-proclaimed Zombie King. The first horde was created in 2011 to besiege the Midnight Hotel, and the second horde was created in 2012 to act as reinforcements for Vandameer Craven. Neither was especially successful.
History[]
Vaurien Scapegrace, the horde's leader.
After the Revengers' Club realise that Vaurien Scapegrace is not the Killer Supreme he claims to be, Billy-Ray Sanguine kills him, allowing Dreylan Scarab to resurrect him as a weak zombie. Scarab's magic is too weak to create a powerful zombie, but the weaker zombie has two properties that are perfect for his needs: it retains its intelligence until tasting human flesh, at which point it becomes savage and hungry, and the original zombie, Scapegrace, can convert others with a single bite. Scapegrace is tasked with raising an army and denying them human flesh.
Scapegrace originally intends to bite only attractive women, but quickly realises that this isn't feasible. His first victim is Gerald, who he renames 'Thrasher' and appoints his second-in-command, and he subsequently recruits and renames Slasher, Crasher, Dasher, Basher, Slicer, Dicer, Wrecker, and Boiler. Scapegrace converts at least eleven more zombies after this, likely much more, but simply refers to them by their number (Zombie One, Zombie Two, and so on), believing that he has "more on his mind than thinking up stupid names".
Although recruitment is a success, Thrasher's authority is not respected by the rest of the army, who do not appreciate his emulation of a drill sergeant. Scapegrace feels that demoting Thrasher would communicate to the other zombies that he had made a mistake in promoting him, making him look weak. Instead, he renames the 'zombie army' to 'zombie horde', hoping that this will fix Thrasher's behaviour, and believing that it sounds scarier.
The zombie horde is used to besiege the Midnight Hotel, which Sanguine hopes will distract its occupants, allowing him to steal a Remnant from room 24. However, all zombies but Scapegrace and Thrasher find and eat somebody, turning them into savages that cannot distinguish Sanguine from his enemies. Sanguine is forced to ally himself with Skulduggery Pleasant, Valkyrie Cain, and Anton Shudder to defeat the zombies, though the zombies succeed in killing Mr Jib and Miss Nuncio. Scapegrace himself is defeated by Valkyrie, and flees with Thrasher.
In 2012, Scapegrace and Thrasher are found in Roarhaven by Vandameer Craven, who enlists them to create a new zombie horde to serve as reinforcements for the Necromancers. They recruit twenty new zombies, including Keith and Reggie, and infiltrate the Caves of the Void beneath the Requiem Ball. Scapegrace believes that they are safe from the monsters there so long as they don't use magic, which the monsters are drawn to, until Keith points out that as zombies, they're sustained by magic, and thus will attract the zombies anyway. Due to Craven's poor directions, the horde is unable to find a way to escape, and only Scapegrace and Thrasher avoid being devoured.