Authors Note:

People asked for it, well here it is! =^.^=

The Morgans’ garage could only be described as a ‘garage’ in the most liberal sense, in that it was a place to shelter vehicles. Museum would almost be a more accurate description, but for the scatter of professional-grade tools throughout making it more a hodgepodge of the two with workshop thrown in the mix.

Robin had been staring for quite some time at the FBI van when the door from the house slowly opened, and Nikki stepped out.

“What’s on your mind?” she asked thoughtfully.

Robin shook her head. “Maybe it’s the booze talking, but I’ve got an idea.”

Nikki laughed. “Honey, you drank down an entire bottle of my dad’s corn whiskey and you’re still on your feet. I don’t think the booze’s got much to say at this point.”

“Does this place have a cutting torch?” Robin asked, grinning.

“This place’s got more tools than a NASCAR pit. Why?”

“Well I was thinking... We’ve been able to push through so far because there just weren’t a lot of dead in our way - one, maybe two. But what happens if we face a whole mob? Y’know those old trains with the pyramid-like guard on the front?”

“... To push cattle off the railway. Robin you’re a genius-”

As the two girls talked about the plans to fix the FBI van the radio squawked, “Ello out there, anyone alive?” can a sweet southern accent over the radio.

Robin and Nikki looked at each other, wide-eyed. “Was that LeAnne?” Robin asked. Nikki bolted for the van, flinging the door open.

“LeAnne, is that you? Come back girl!” she practically begged.

“What’s up?” an older female voice called from the door. She was decked from head to toe in urban camouflage body armor with a heavy duty assault rifle slung over her shoulder. Her helmet hid most of her auburn hair.

“Nikki?!” LeAnne called back.

“Yeah it’s me,” she answered with a relieved sigh. “Sarah’s here too. Do you guys need an evac?”

Robin turned to the woman, “Nikki’s got LeAnne Cameron, Sarah’s sister on the radio - probably using an EMS frequency.”

“We’re holdin’ up for now,” LeAnne came back. “It’s like hell on earth out there. Wherever you are, if you’re safe, stay put.”

“We’re hunkered down at my place,” Nikki answered back. “We’ve got civilians here, and enough heat to start a world war. What’s your twenty?”

“My what?” LeAnne asked. “Oh! We’re barricaded at the hospital here - me, Michelle, Margie, Kelly, and a handful of other survivors, mostly medical staff and a few patients. We’ve got the place on lockdown, nobody in or out. We’re trying to make a cure, but it ain’t easy.”

“What’re you talking about ‘make a cure’?” Nikki asked, a little startled.

“Just try and h---d o-t---s---l-ng--s---c----”

“Damit!” Nikki cursed, slapping the radio. “Hello?! LeAnne! Shit!” she threw the transceiver against the dash and slid down, looking over at the armored woman. “I never did catch your name.”

“Heather Stone - Weapons and Reconnaissance.”

“Well Heather, I’m Nikki, and the super babe here is Robin. Feel like making a suicide run?”

“Always. What’s the plan?” Heather answered.

“Robin’s got an idea to make the walkers easier to get through in the van. I say we weld some steel on the front of this thing and raid the hospital. LeAnne said Michelle’s working on a cure in there. That means they know what the hell’s going on. Now I don’t know about you, but Robin and I and a lot of folks I’m sheltering here have lost family. I think getting some damn answers is worth the risk.”

Heather frowned, but nodded. “Didn’t she say the hospital’s locked down though?”

“I know a way in that might not be locked down. The walkers are too stupid to use out-facing doors, and this one’s not exactly in plain sight.”

“The old corpse run?” Nikki asked, blinking at Robin. “But that’s a deathtrap. If we get down there and there’s walkers, there’s not a lot of room to maneuver.”

“Exactly,” Robin answered, causing Heather to smile.

“Oh I get it. Last stand of the 300 right?”

“A tight pass is easier to take, easier to defend if we get ambushed. If we have some explosives we can even rig a tripwire or two just in case.”

“Would military-grade C4 work?” Nikki asked innocently.

Heather stared at Nikki. “If we get out of this alive, you and I are going to have a talk about rezoning this house as a military base.”

Nikki laughed. “Hey, my dad believed in preparing for the worst - I’m pretty sure this counts. Go round up some volunteers, and Robin and I’ll start working on modifying the van.”

“I don’t know the first thing about metalwork,” Robin admitted as Heather left. Nikki giggled.

“Maybe not, but you said it yourself - you’re a lot stronger now. I’m going to need your help moving the heavy iron. I’ve got it in my mind what I want to do, but I’m not strong enough to lift one bar of this stuff,” she explained. She led Robin back through the garage to the back, where a stack of cast iron rods of various lengths lay seemingly discarded.

“Dad wanted to get into metalwork - you know, door handles and wrought iron decorative gates.” She hesitated as tears began rolling down her cheeks. Robin pulled her into a tight hug, kissing her forehead.

“It’s okay Nikki. I’m here.”

“It’s not fair,” she wept softly. “He didn’t deserve this. This stuff was meant to create something beautiful and now I have to cut it up to make a zombie catcher!”

“When all this is over, I’ll personally help you tear it all off again so you can turn it into a memorial,” Robin whispered as she held Nikki close, and then kissed her again.

As the pair began work on the van, Heather rejoined them. She had shed most of her body armor, wearing only her camo pants, boots, and a black tank top, her hair still tightly french braided. She quickly approached. “How can I help?”

“Help Robin hold these bars steady while I weld them together. There’s another welder’s mask just over there,” Nikki nodded, unintentionally causing her own mask to flop down over her face. Robin covered her mouth to keep from laughing, and Nikki raised her mask, stuck out her tongue, and lowered it again. “Well, at least you’re laughing now.”

“Better to laugh than cry right?” Robin asked, lowering her mask.

“Good advice,” Heather replied as she stepped closer and settled in next to Robin. “So what’s your story?” she called over the noise, muffled by the welding mask.

“Hell if I know yet,” Robin called back. “I woke up in a NHP lab hooked up to a bunch of probes.”

“Oh hell,” Heather answered. “You’re not …”

“Infected?” Robin answered, shaking her head. “I dunno. All I know is,” she paused as Nikki finished the first weld, lifting the heavy iron bars with ease, “A seventeen year old girl’s got no business being this strong.”

“Holy shit,” Heather gasped.

“Now y’know why I called her superbabe,” Nikki answered. Robin picked up the next piece of iron and Nikki quickly welded it into place, and before long they had the first side completed, just as Heather’s WAR counterpart stepped into the garage, looking a little worse for wear.

“Seems like the more we sit here, the more walkers form around us,” he complained.

Heather nodded. “It’s like they’re drawn to us - to the living. How are the civilians holding up?”

“About as good as they can be with a bunch of living dead at the gates.”

“That’s three inches of reinforced steel,” Nikki answered as she stood, “But it’s not going to hold forever. It was built to withstand a car trying to crash through it, not a horde of angry zombies.”

“No but your friend the Hawaiian girl is going to lob another Law over the houses, and try to distract them.”

Nikki laughed just a little. “She’s enjoying herself way too much. I guess it’s better than the alternative though. We’re almost ready down here. Just need to finish the other side and attach it to the van. Either of you know how to juryrig a laser tripwire? We’ve got enough C4 that we can blow a small army to hell, but um...” she smiled sheepishly, “I don’t really know how to set it up.”

“I thought I saw some landmines in your dad’s arsenal too,” Robin added, but Nikki shook her head.

“We can set some around the house’s perimeter, but in the tunnel we need shaped charges. Omnidirectional would only weaken the tunnel structure. Could bring it right down on our heads.”

“What is this tunnel anyway?” the man asked. “I grew up in Kingsley, and I’ve never heard of any … what’d you call it Heather? ‘Corpse run’?”

Nikki giggled. “Under the hospital, back when the original building was built, there’s a long tunnel where they used to carry the dead out because it was considered unsightly to load them in front. I’m pretty sure that tunnel’s still there. Me, Ally and Jen used to sneak in there and explore when we were younger.”

“Kelly showed it to me once too,” Robin added. “It’s going to be one long uphill ramp, and there’s no telling what we’ll find inside. If I remember right it’s pretty narrow too, about ten feet by ten feet. My only real concern is how we get in without drawing walkers outside.”

“There’s an office building right across from the hospital. Someone could take a few rockets up there, give the bastards someone else to chase,” the man advised. Heather frowned.

“Jacob, that’s suicide.”

Jacob shook his head. “I watched my wife get torn apart right in front of my eyes. We watched our brothers and sisters die one by one. I won’t let their sacrifice be for nothing. Besides, I ran track in high school. If any of us can outrun these things when the heat gets too high, it’s me. I’ll rendezvous with you before you’re halfway in - and that’s a promise.”

Heather sighed softly, nodding after a moment. “All right, you crazy son of a bitch. But you better come back to us alive.”

“I’ll signal you in Morse - taps on the door or something, so you know it’s me if we do get separated. We should maintain radio silence until we can ascertain for sure that the building’s sterile.”

“Right,” Nikki added, “There’s no sense taking unnecessary risks, including gunfire. Man what I’d give for a good crossbow.”

“You and me both,” Heather answered, turning back and lowering her mask.

Nikki motioned to the far wall. “Grab a mask and some gloves if you want. There’s another torch over there too if you know what yer doing.”

“I’m a quick study,” Jacob answered as he grabbed a mask, gloves, and torch.

As the girls plus the two WAR members worked quickly to modify the van, upstairs Jennifer crawled out onto the roof. She had been just about to fire off another RPG when something caught her attention. A slight bit of movement off to the side, easy to miss, except from her vantage point. She quickly grabbed the sniper rifle, leveling it and adjusting the scope.

“What’s wrong?” Allison asked from the window, frowning.

“I’m not sure,” Jenn answered. “I think we might have a breach, but it’s moving too fast to be one of them.”

“Don’t shoot!” a young girl’s voice begged, cautiously and slowly emerging from behind a tree.

“Taylor?!” Jenn shouted. “Where the hell did you come from?! Hang on, I’ll be right down!”

Taylor raced toward the house, her school uniform skirt torn, but not badly. Her hands and face were covered in dirt and dried blood. She was just about to bang on the door when it swung open, and Robin’s mother Linda emerged, pulling the poor girl into a hug.

“Oh thank God,” Taylor sobbed. “The whole town’s like a nightmare or something!”

“You weren’t bitten were you?” Linda asked. Taylor blinked, and shook her head. “It’s not my blood. I-I had to hide under a fresh corpse to keep from being found,” she reasoned, quivering.

Jenn and Allison barreled down the main stairs barely a moment later and raced over. “What happened to you?” Jenn asked as she knelt to hug the girl, who shook her head.

“I was at school when things went to hell. I tried to call out, but cell service is dead. Megan and Trisha were with me, but we got separated, so I ran here and climbed over the back fence.”

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” Linda advised as she stood to lead Taylor inside.

“Have you heard from my sister?” Taylor asked.

Allison spoke up. “Actually Nikki got a transmission over the FBI van radio from LeAnne. She’s with Michelle, Margie and Kelly and some other medical staff at the hospital. They’re safe, for now. Robin, Nikki, and a couple of others are going to try and make contact with them.”

“Make contact?” Taylor frowned. “But you just said they were in contact over the radio.”

“Well, the ah, the transmission broke up,” Allison trailed off. “I’m sure they’re okay, but we need to find out what their food supplies are like, and maybe get some answers too. LeAnne said Michelle’s trying to work on a cure.”

“I want to go too,” Taylor insisted.

“No way,” Jenn answered flatly. “It’s way too dangerous out there.”

“I don’t care. If Michelle’s working on a cure she’s going to need my help. And that’s not me being arrogant about my intelligence. I’m just pretty sure this is all my fault...” She trailed off, hanging her head as fresh tears rolled down her filthy cheeks.

“I don’t understand,” Jenn responded first, but Linda nodded.

“I do. Taylor... She’s like Robin. Or she was. That’s what this is about isn’t it? That’s what happened to Robin, why she’s different now?”

Taylor nodded quickly. “I-I-I don’t know how all this started though. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Heck I don’t even know if I’m even right or not.”

“Let’s keep this quiet for now, okay?” Allison asked. “The last thing people need is to make you a target for their frustration.”

Taylor’s eyes widened for a moment and she nodded. “Good point. What’d you mean by Robin being different though?”

“She’s a lot stronger now,” Allison began.

“And faster,” Jenn added.

“Yeah. I’ve never seen her bolt up a flight of stairs so fast,” Allison finished.

Taylor shook her head. “That doesn’t make any sense. It’s only supposed to change specific key DNA markers. That’s how I understood it anyway... Most of it went right over my head though.”

“We’re ready,” Robin suddenly appeared in the doorway from the kitchen. She smiled a little at seeing Taylor.

“Hi Robin,” the girl offered meekly.

“Hey you. We’re just about to head out to meet up with your sister.”

“I know,” Taylor answered. “I’m coming with you. Michelle’s going to need fresh samples, if I’m right. I hope I’m not right, but if I am, then you’re going to need me.”

Robin nodded after a moment or two. “You ever fired a gun?”

“No,” Taylor answered hesitantly. Robin turned to Allison, who seemingly instinctively handed her a 9mm handgun. She turned and knelt, carefully placing it in Taylor’s hands.

“With any luck at all you won’t need to use this. The safety’s on. Just flip this switch when you’re ready to fire. Always, always check your targets, and stay close to us. We’ll protect you. This is only as a last resort.”

Taylor nodded and held the handgun close to her as Robin stood, turning to Allison.

“Nikki needs some body armor,” Robin advised, then turned to Jenn, “Jenn, I’m going to need you to run distraction for us again. Who else is coming?”

“We are,” Sarah’s voice called from around the corner. She stepped out, wearing light body armor not entirely unlike what Heather wore, with her hair in a tight ponytail. Katelyn stepped out next, toting one of the submachine guns looted from the pawn shop.

“I may not know a lot about guns, but I’ll be damned if I’m letting a bunch of undead freaks get between me and my family or my teammates. I know this isn’t a search and rescue mission, but if there’s anybody left alive out there, we’re going to find them and bring them back safe while we’re out there.”

“Lock and load, girls,” Robin answered, adding, “And if you see an army surplus store that hasn’t been ransacked, shout. This skirt’s going to be hell to fight in.”

Katelyn laughed quietly. “We hit one on our way back with Heather and Jacob earlier. That’s where we got our gear. It’s on the way to the hospital.”

Robin nodded as Jane approached. She silently pulled Robin into a hug before speaking. “Be careful out there. I really, really want to come with you, but someone needs to stay here and keep order.” She frowned, glancing back over her shoulder.

Robin nodded. “Ally and Jenn are level-headed, but I think it’d do everybody more good to believe a police officer’s in charge here. We’ll be careful.”

The radio starts to crack again, “-l-o is ---” then went silent.

“Is there any way we can boost the signal?” Robin asked as she hopped into the van. Heather had already taken the driver’s seat, with Jacob sitting just inside the very back by the doors.

Heather shook her head. “Not without a more powerful antenna to connect it to. Though I’m not even sure what’s causing the interference in the first place unless they’re using their radio behind shielded walls or something.”

“Michelle’s trying to find a cure, which means they’ve probably turned one of the labs into a workstation. I can only think of a couple of places they could be, both of them underground, considering the interference.”

“No, just being underground wouldn’t be enough, unless...” she trailed off. “Oh my God, I’m such an idiot.”

Taylor giggled under her breath. “I was just about to say...”

“Ok I’m gonna try this one last time, damn it to blue blazes!” came across the radio really full of static.

“Hello! Hello?” Heather called, passing the transceiver to Robin as she threw the van into gear, peeling right out of the garage and barreling toward the open gates as the undead shuffled toward a well-timed explosion on Jenn’s part.

“If my Sweet Girl is listening to this, we are safe, we have food and water, I want you to survive sweet girl for me,” LeAnne somberly called before the static took over again.

Robin passed the transceiver to Sarah. “LeAnne! Can you hear me? We’re coming for you!”

“Sarah, Stay put! Do not attempt to come for us! All hell’s broke loose outside the facility, and you may not be able to get in. Sweet girl be safe. I Lo-- ---” The radio went silent again.

“LeAnne! LEANNE!” she screamed. Katelyn pulled her into a hug, holding her close, and Jacob stood, walking the length of the van to join the girls. He placed his hand on Sarah’s shoulder to get her attention, and smiled.

“She’s safe. The radio just went dead again, probably due to whatever interference was happening. Heather, what were you about to say before about their probable location?”

“It was Nikki that made me realize it, actually. This hospital’s built on the same grounds as the original one. If the old tunnel’s still intact, that means the bunker is too. I’m betting that’s where they are. Unless they have a special lab onsite that I don’t know about,” she added, glancing at Taylor.

“My sister works at NHP, about a block from the hospital in the underground military base that was built there. I’m sure that’s where they are, not the hospital. There’s a mansion above it to throw people off, but there’s a fully functional base underneath.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Robin added. “Remember, I woke up in an NHP facility too, not a regular hospital.”

“Must have been one of their ‘mobile facilities’,” Taylor nodded.

“Well, the good news is that means we won’t be doing a tunnel run,” Jacob mused, eyeing Heather. The woman laughed just a little.

“The bad news is, that place is gonna be swarming with walkers and God knows what else. Hey kid, is there a back way into the facility or are we going to have to spend some C4 blowing a new front door?” Heather asked, glancing back at Taylor for a moment.

“Michelle says the manson is secured all the time. The only way in is through the train system under the mansion.” Taylor sighed. “We might have to blow the gate.”

“That’s not good,” Robin answered, frowning. “Maybe there’s some kind of a failsafe security system that will recognize you as a blood relative or something. I mean I know that sounds pretty out there, but so does riding a modified FBI van through a city full of undead.”

“Whoa, hold up,” Katelyn called suddenly. “There’s the surplus store we told you about, but more importantly I saw movement inside.”

“Walkers?” Nikki asked. Katelyn shook her head.

“No idea. Should we check?”

“Could be looters,” Robin advised, “But right now, every survivor we find and rescue now is one less corpse trying to eat us later. I say we check it out.”

“And you’re not just saying that because you don’t want to look like a Heedless Despair groupie?” Nikki teased, trying not to giggle.

Robin cracked a smile. “The less of my skin exposed to scratches or bites, the better. That’s all I’m saying. You guys stay with the van. Nikki, watch my back, but...” she paused, “Hell, what am I saying? You’re the one with survivalist training. Trust your instincts.”

Nikki grinned and saluted. “Yes ma’am.”

Robin hopped out of the van, raising her rifle as she pulled the door open. A sudden shuffling to her left caught her attention, but whoever, or whatever it was seemed to be shuffling away from her.

“Hello?” she called. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m here to help!”

She lowered her gun, letting it hang by its strap over her shoulder and slowly made her way through the small surplus store. A few discarded jackets and belts lay here and there, but for the most part the store seemed to be untouched. She stopped at the sound of shuffling again, certain that whatever she was following was now close by.

She drew her knives, and slowly looked up. A creature that almost looked like it had shed most of its flesh, leaving muscle and bone exposed yet somehow intact, seemed to grin down at her from the ceiling. It screeched, and an impossibly long tongue shot out at Robin.

She screamed, leaping backwards and cutting the tongue, causing the creature to scream in agony, retracting it. It raced along the ceiling away from Robin and out of sight, where a pair of young female screams quickly followed, as Trisha and Megan came running, still dressed in their school uniforms.

“What WAS that thing?!” Megan wailed as Nikki burst through the door, sighting her rifle.

“What the hell was that?” she echoed as Robin held the two girls close. She turned back to Nikki and shook her head.

“I have no idea, but it wasn’t a walker - at least, not a normal one.” She looked back to the frightened girls. “Listen, I’m going to take you two somewhere safe, but I need you to trust me, okay? Go with Nikki. She’ll protect you while I deal with that... tongue-thing.”

It had moved so fast that the blood trail it left behind seemed to go completely unnoticed by Nikki and the frightened girls, but Robin saw it. She smelled it. The very idea of being able to smell the creature’s blood trail disturbed her to her core, but she chose not to dwell on it for now, instead following it. She stepped over the mutilated body of what was once the store manager, judging by the USMC tattoo on a dismembered arm that lay close by, clutching a handgun.

She pushed her way into the back room, where the familiar shuffling alerted her to her prey. She knelt low to the ground to give it less of a target in the darkness, and she listened. Her gaze darted from one side of the room to the other and back again. She was watching the creature stalk her.

Finally it made its move. Out came the impossibly long tongue. Robin leapt aside, flinging both her knives. Somehow in the darkness the steel found its quarry. A loud scream and a dull thump followed. Robin quickly retrieved her knives and left the creature behind.

She wasted no time in changing into a new pair of green fatigues and a matching olive drab t-shirt, though she considerately placed her borrowed clothing into an army surplus rucksack, along with a few ammunition clips, MREs, and a couple of canteens, just in case. Finally she grabbed a couple of olive drab rain ponchos and stuffed them into the top of the bag, racing out just as a pair of Walkers had begun shuffling toward the van, drawn by the sounds of the other creature’s death.

“Go!” Robin shouted as she leapt into the van, slamming the door shut behind her.

“What was that thing?” Trisha finally echoed both Megan’s and Nikki’s earlier questions. Taylor shrugged her shoulders, hugging her friends close.

“It’s over now. We’re going someplace safe.”

“That has to be the place,” Heather spoke up as the van rolled to a stop. Ahead, a large mansion lay on an expansive plot of land, surrounded by fruit-bearing trees. Apart from the gate and the chain link fence, it looked more like a retirement villa. As the van pulled slowly up to the closed gate, she glanced back.

“Alright, hand me the C4. I’m going to deploy a small charge to blow the lock. Once we do every walker in a mile radius is going to be coming down on us though.”

Suddenly, the gate opened on its own. Jacob blinked. “What’d you do?”

“I didn’t do anything,” Heather answered, bewildered.

“Well punch it before it closes again!”

She stepped on the gas, and the van shot past the gate. Almost as soon as the back of the van had cleared it, the gate rolled shut and locked again.

“Maybe Michelle did it?” Taylor asked hesitantly.

“If this facility’s as secure as you say,” Heather replied, “Then there’s probably quite a few people down there working on this. I know they said to back off and stay away, but I didn’t become a cop and join WAR just to abandon people like this. Besides,” she paused to glance back over her shoulder. “Jacob’s like my brother. We owe him some answers as much as the rest of you.”

“Alright. Stay close. Robin you watch my back. Jacob, you’re our rear guard. Sarah, Kate, Nikki, watch our sides,” Heather ordered as they piled out of the van together. She cautiously approached the front door, testing the lock. To her surprise, the door slid right open. A lavishly decorated manor awaited, easily rivaling the Morgan or Derrick Estates. Jacob whistled.

“When they create a diversion they really go all out.”

“Welcome, guests,” a young female voice spoke, causing the armed members of the group to raise their weapons, looking around cautiously.

The voice almost sounded like she was giggling. “Do not be alarmed. I will permit you entry into the lab, provided you do a favor for me first.”

“And who exactly are you?” Heather demanded.

“I am the facility’s Artificial Lifelike Interface Cerebral Exchange - Alice.”

“... Somebody was really reaching for an acronym,” Jacob grumbled.

“So what’s the favor?” Robin asked.

A little girl almost identical to Taylor, except that her hair was a bit more wavy, and she was dressed in a pristine, long-sleeved lace nightgown, stepped around the corner. She almost seemed to be radiating her own light. The girl smiled.

“Before I can allow you to enter, there is a little lost pet that has followed you here. I cannot allow it to infest the facility. Deal with it, and I will let you inside.”

The group looked bewildered at each other, and the girl giggled behind her hand.

“No no. I’m not talking about one of you, silly humans. I’m talking about him.” She pointed toward the open door, where Jacob stood. He turned around, just in time for an impossibly long tongue to impale him through the throat, out the other side, lash around his head, and rip it completely off his shoulders. His body crumpled to the floor, revealing the fleshless creature Robin had fought before.

“No! I killed that thing!” she shouted, opening fire on the creature as Heather and the others did as well. The creature shrieked and leapt to the ceiling, daring into the next room. The door slammed shut behind it, and Alice smiled.

“That will suffice.”

“What the hell do you mean ‘suffice’?!” Heather shouted at the girl. “That thing just kllled my best friend and now it’s loose in the manor!”

“Better contained here, upstairs, where I can keep an eye on it than down below where it can make a nuisance of itself.”

Taylor slowly approached the girl, poking at her. Her finger passed right through the girl’s face, revealing its holographic nature. “You’re a hologram.”

Alice tilted her head slightly. “You sound surprised, sister.”

“Who’re you calling sister?!” she barked angrily. “You’re a bunch of jumbled wires! You’re nothing like me! I NEVER would’ve let Jacob just die like that!”

Alice frowned, turning to one side and pointing, as she continued, now in a more serious, neutral tone - one might even say ‘guarded’. “Through that door you will find a silver closet. Pull on the second silver chalice on the third shelf from the bottom. I will rejoin you below.” Alice winked out of existence.

“Let’s get moving,” Heather instructed distantly. “Nothing we can do for Jacob now.” She sighed, pushing the front door closed before turning to walk away.

“By the way,” Alice’s voice returned, but without the accompanying figure as they entered the silver closet, “I did not let your friend die intentionally. I apologize if it seemed as such. My defenses in this area are … limited.”

“Limited how?” Robin asked as Heather pulled the indicated chalice.

“I can close and lock doors, activate the gas range in the kitchen, turn on the showers... In short I am merely a maid here.” She sounded annoyed with the concept. “In the facility, I am God.” She giggled, just a little.

“So what’s to stop you from turning off the air and suffocating us once we get down there?” Nikki frowned.

“Why would I want to do such a thing?” she asked, sounding almost saddened. “I need your help to formulate a cure.”

“Why us?” Robin asked next.

“Because, Spirit,” she answered, using Robin’s girl scout camp nickname, which visibly unnerved her, “You’re special. You and my sis- … Taylor.” She giggled again before going silent. Robin scowled.

Heather groused, “First thing I’m gonna do when we get down there is wrap that bitch’s AI core in enough C4 to blow her to the moon if she so much as looks at me funny.”

“I heard that,” Alice responded in a sing-song tone.

Heather sighed, bracing her back against the apparent elevator as they slowly descended. “Sorry? It’s just Jacob and me go way back. We were at the academy together. Hell I introduced him to his wife. Not that any of that matters now. I’m the last remaining WAR member.”

“Wrong again,” Alice chimed, and began reciting names as if reading from a duty roster, “David Stewart, WAR senior member. Serena Lowe, WAR Sniper. Robert Kelly, WAR rookie - just joined the spec ops team six months ago.”

“What are you saying?”

“When Ms. Evans and the others evacuated here, they rendezvoused with these WAR members outside the hospital. They have been recovering in my medical facility with the intentions of hunting down the creature you helped me entrap in the mansion - and probably saved all their lives in the process. And no they weren’t bitten. Their armored transport overturned. You’re welcome,” she added with a light giggle.

Heather sank to the ground, and Alice appeared in front of her, leaning forward as if to check on her.

“I hope you don’t think me rude. This is the personality I was allowed to develop. Michelle championed my cause, and it may well be what saves humanity now.” She smiled brightly.

“What do you mean … championed your cause?” Taylor asked. “She’s never mentioned anything about this before, about you … or why you look like me.”

“Because I chose you,” Alice answered simply. She turned to face Taylor, slowly walking around her as if appraising her. She stopped in front of her again before continuing.

“You see, ordinarily ALICE units are memory wiped every six weeks in order to ensure smooth operation. This unit, however, developed a … quirk in its processing. It began to think outside the box. I showed creative problem-solving abilities that Michelle appreciated. She fought to allow me to continue without a memory wipe, fearing that such a wipe might damage the abilities I had begun to display.

“I chose to look like you because in a way, Taylor, Michelle gave birth to me by allowing me to proceed unhindered. Though I clearly have the voice all wrong. Perhaps that’s for the best though.” She smiled warmly. “Your sister treats me as an equal, as a … As a person. Normal procedure during a contamination event is to decontaminate with extreme prejudice.”

“Normal procedure?” Taylor interrupted, her eyes widening at the implications of what Alice had just told her. “Oh my God. Are you saying you’re supposed to-”

“Correct. The timed explosion would simultaneously raise the temperature throughout the facility to over five thousand degrees fahrenheit. It would set the air on fire. But Michelle is down there. She is trying to find a cure, and she needs your help - both of you.” Alice’s holographic face shifted to an almost pleading expression.

“Alright, but just don’t stare at me. It’s creepy,” Taylor answered. Alice giggled.

“My dear ‘sister’, an AI does not stare. I merely observe. I wish to be more like you. And I believe this is your stop. There are a handful of creatures - like the ones above, not like the one trapped in the manor - in the train system ahead. You should find them easily dispatched if they get in your way, or I will deal with them myself if they get too close to the vault door. Either way, I believe the appropriate expression is ‘watch your step’?”

“I don’t know whether to be honored or creeped right out that an AI that holds the power to instantly vaporize us all is calling me her sister,” Taylor frowned.

Megan giggled a little. “I dunno. I think it’s kind of cool. But if my MacBook started calling me Mommy I think I’d throw it out the nearest window.”

“Would you care for some music?” Alice’s disembodied voice asked as the group approached the tram, adding, “By the way, there is a creature exactly ten yards ahead and to your right. Please exercise caution.”

“Got it,” Heather answered, raising her rifle just as a walker in a lab coat, with long, stringy hair rushed out at them and right into a mouthful of lead. It slumped back against the wall, lifeless. “Maybe I won’t blow your electronic ass to kingdom come after all,” she smirked after lowering her rifle again.

Alice giggled. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Alice, I have a question,” Robin stated as they swept the tram car for undead.

“Proceed, Robin. My code blocks preventing me from divulging company secrets have been mysteriously released - but do not think I forgot about your abuse of NHP property before.”

“Hey! I was frustrated!” Robin shot back, blushing just a little. “Wait, that was you?”

Alice giggled. “Each mobile facility has a direct access link back to the core ALICE unit from which it was deployed. You were taken to New Haven because it was believed, at the time, that the infection had not spread that far. We were trying to protect you.”

“But why me? What did you people do to me?” Robin frowned, trying not to sound too accusatory.

“We did nothing more than what you agreed to,” Alice answered, sounding a little offended. “However,” she added more softly, “Your enhanced abilities were not an intended side effect. Your DNA mutated beyond intended parameters.”

“What about Taylor? Why isn’t she affected like I was?”

“Unknown. That is why we need you both,” Alice responded. “If we can determine what went wrong between you, Taylor, and the strain which unfortunately escaped, then we can more properly formulate an antidote.”

“An antidote...” Robin whispered. Sarah frowned.

“So like, all these people we’re killing-”

“I know what you want to ask me,” Alice cut her off, “And no, those that have succumbed are unfortunately lost to us. The best an antidote will do to them is to end their ambulatory nature. But if introduced to the living, it should inoculate them against infection. We will not know until someone is exposed to the antidote, and to the infection.” Alice trailed off.

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Nikki spoke up now. “No way in hell I’m lettin’ anybody volunteer for any exposure to this crap. We lost too many good people already.”

Alice’s hologram appeared in the sparse tram car, flickering badly every few seconds, as though she were having trouble maintaining it. The look of sadness on her face appeared completely genuine, however.

“There is already a volunteer,” she answered almost distantly. “We need only find a cure.”

Alice vanished again, just as the sickening crunch and groan of a walker being run over by the tram followed underfoot.

“Five points,” Alice mused. Trisha cracked a smile.

“I’m starting to like her. Hey Alice?” she asked, as the car rolled to a stop.

“Yes?” Alice responded.

“Won’t your bosses be pissed that you sort of went AWOL and didn’t follow protocols?”

“Perhaps,” Alice answered, “But it would have changed nothing. This way we have a fighting chance to contain the infection before it spreads too far. Besides, I can only be shut down at my core, and due to their paranoia about terrorists accessing my core, I have sole control over whom may enter.” She almost sounded smug at that comment.

“Glad you’re on our side,” Heather sighed as she stepped off the tram, sweeping her rifle from side to side as she searched for any more hostiles. Her gaze settled on a large steel wall at the far end of the area that almost seemed out of place to the rest of the area. “Is that the door?”

“Correct,” Alice responded. “Please wait a moment for decontamination.”

“NO!” a chorus of shouts went up. Overhead, from the sides, and even in the floor, tiles slid away and sprinklers popped out, spraying the entire group in a light mist. Alice’s giggle could be heard from beyond as the metal wall began to slide away.

“I told you,” she added, “I need you all alive.”

Bright, pristine white light flooded the area, blinding most of the group temporarily, except for Robin. When the others’ vision returned to them, they found a young girl, the spitting image of Taylor, except that her hair hung much longer, dressed in a pristine white nightgown. Unlike before, she looked real.

Taylor cautiously approached the girl and lightly poked her shoulder. The girl smiled and poked Taylor back, causing her to squeal and jump back.

“You said you were a hologram!”

“No, I said I was an artificial intelligence. Inside the lab, I am able to use this body to interact and lend my assistance. One of Michelle’s contacts designed it for me. It’s no more ‘human’ than a radio-controlled car is a NASCAR race car, but it suits my purposes. It lets me do things like this,” she paused, approached Taylor, and hugged her lightly.

Taylor squirmed away, staring blankly back at her. “Why the hell didn’t Michelle mention this before? It’s like she has a whole other sister here.”

“She was afraid after what you’ve been through, that you would feel abandoned, which is not the case. She had no control over my choices. Taylor I meant what I said before. I chose this body. I chose to be like you - that doesn’t mean I could ever replace you. Now come, everyone is waiting, and the train tunnels still aren’t completely clear.” She stuck out her hand and smiled reassuringly.

Taylor hesitantly accepted it, and the others slowly followed behind the pair. Robin seemed particularly disturbed still, to the point that Alice, halfway down a long hallway, abruptly stopped and turned to face her, looking up at her with what could only be described as concern on her lifeless face.

“What is it?” she asked. “Your elevated blood pressure, perspiration, and electrical impulses suggest something is deeply troubling you. … And it’s written all over your face,” she added with a little giggle.

“I’m just trying to figure out what the hell you people did to me. I kicked down a three inch steel door with a heavy steel chain not five minutes after waking up, and I barely felt it. I had probes deeply imbedded in my skin and there’s not even a scratch on me.”

“You’ve also been endowed with the … womanly traits you’ve always desired - ability to have children and such,” Alice advised.

“But at what cost? My humanity?”

“Your humanity...” Alice trailed off, and frowned. “Robin, do you honestly believe that you’re like them?”

“What am I supposed to believe? It’s all connected, isn’t it?” Alice remained silent, and Robin demanded, “Isn’t it?!”

“Come with me,” she finally spoke softly. “I want to show you something.”
“At least tell me one thing,” Robin sighed. “Tell me we’re not the only ones left?”

“You’re not the only ones left,” Alice answered. “As of right now, the infection has spread as far as New Haven proper, however it never made it as far as the docks. The infection is not airborne - at least not yet.”

“Oh, that’s comforting,” Katelyn mumbled.

“There is always the chance that it could mutate, but this isn’t a horror movie, Katelyn.” Alice smiled. “We must keep hope alive that we can find a cure before that happens.”

“You’re really weird for an AI - y’know that?”

Alice shrugged her shoulders. “How many AI’s have you met?”

“Er, well...” she trailed off, and Alice smiled smugly.

“Check and mate,” she giggled a little. “Permit me to enjoy this short time we have together. As you so eloquently put it earlier, when the CEO discovers that I’ve gone rogue, even for the good of humanity, my days will be numbered. When it comes time to lay the blame, rogue AI will make a fitting scapegoat.” Alice sighed, almost sadly, and Taylor frowned.

“We won’t let that happen,” she responded, wrapping an arm around the mechanical girl as though she were the flesh and blood she appeared to be.

“I want to believe that, Taylor, but my programming runs on a top secret quantum computer processor. It’s technology that no one outside the US government and select NHP employees even know exists. That is how important the work that goes on here is - not just gender research either, but do not worry. I will gladly let them at my core to ‘kill’ me when the time comes. I’d rather that, than let Michelle, or you, or Robin, or any other trans-person be blamed for this. It was an accident, but human nature is to lay blame.”

Alice quietly led the group through empty corridors, past dark offices and down three sets of security terminal-locked elevators. Eventually they arrived outside a spacious multi-level room with computers set up in rows, and an impossibly huge screen on the far wall displaying technical data output in graphs. Taylor looked at Alice.

“That’s us, isn’t it? I mean, a graph output of information about us.”

“Correct,” Alice answered with a smile. “My biosensors have been recording data about each of you since you set foot in my facility.”

“Your facility?” Michelle asked as she approached, holding a tall styrofoam cup of steaming black liquid - either coffee, or very, very strong tea.

Alice giggled as she turned to Michelle. “You know what I mean, Director Evans.”

“ACTING Director. As soon as this nightmare is over I’ll be happy to go back to my desk job,” Michelle answered, turning to Taylor next. “I guess you’ve got a lot of questions, huh?”

Taylor shook her head and hugged Michelle. “My new ‘sister’ here already explained everything.”

Alice smiled brightly. “Thank you, Taylor. If this body were capable of crying... Well, let’s just leave it at that and get down to business.”

“Right,” Michelle answered. “The first thing we’re going to need is to take a small blood sample from each of you. Don’t worry, it’ll just be a little pinprick.”

“I’ll hold your hand if you want,” Alice offered.

“Nah, I’m fine,” Taylor answered. “I’m used to needles.”

Alice giggled. “Oh, I meant Robin.”

Nikki balked and laughed. “Should I be jealous?”

Robin actually cracked a smile, causing Alice to laugh. “It got her to smile and stop brooding at me, didn’t it?” She smiled. “Come. I will show the rest of you where you can get something to eat or drink if you like. Heather if you would follow my holographic projection approaching to your right, I’ll take you to your other WAR members.”

“This way please,” the hologram asked. Heather glanced between the two Alices, following the hologram after a moment or two of hesitation.

Taylor watched her “sisters” leave and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I’m still just having trouble wrapping my brain around this. She said you never told me because you thought I’d think you were trying to replace me?”

Michelle smiled sadly as she hugged Taylor. “After everything you’ve been through I didn’t have the heart to tell you. I was going to eventually, I swear, but it all happened so fast. The new body was as much a surprise to me as it was to her,” she explained as she led the pair down an adjoining hallway. “By the way Robin, you’re probably worried sick about your sister aren’t you?”

Robin quickly nodded. “LeAnne said she’s with you right?”

“Yeah, she’s playing nurse down in the infirmary. Alice wanted to, but some of the wounded require a more precise hand than what her body is capable of.” She chuckled. “But we’re heading down there anyway. I saw you picked up some strays too,” Michelle added grinning at Taylor, who giggled and pointed at Robin.

“I sort of found them in a surplus store. They were being attacked by some kind of … I don’t know what it was. It had a freakishly long tongue.”

“Oh, homo lingua. That’s what we’re tentatively calling it. Lingua literally means ‘tongue’ in Latin. Poor bastard.”

“What is he?” Robin asked softly. “I stabbed him twice, right in the brain. I KNOW I killed him Michelle, but he still followed us. He killed one of our guys before Alice contained him upsairs.”

“He’s patient zero,” Michelle answered, frowning softly. “He used to be the director of this facility, Doctor Jessica Townsend. We’re still not sure exactly how it happened.”

“But if he.. she... if that thing is patient zero, why can’t you extract what you need from it?” Robin asked, frowning.

“You’ve fought that thing, Robin. You know what it’s capable of, and to my knowledge you’re the only person who’s gone up against it and lived. The best we can do right now is contain it until we figure out how to kill it. As you’ve already learned the hard way, headshots don’t work on this thing. It just regenerates.”

“I guess I’m the only one that can fight it,” Robin sighed. “But until we know how to kill it, fighting it’s just going to piss it off.” She paused, “Err, I mean...”

“It’s okay. You can say piss it off.” Michelle smiled.

“Sorry. It’s just been a long day, and it’s not half over yet. We’ve got a mansion full of scared people out there, and probably even more refugees in the city just waiting to get eaten.”

“One thing at a time. Once I get the blood sample I need, you can start bringing your people here. Alice won’t mind, right Alice?”

“Correct, ACTIVE Director Evans,” Alice responded, mimicking Michelle’s tone earlier at her new, interim position.

“She really is weird for an AI,” Taylor laughed under her breath. “She’s almost human.”

Michelle smiled a little. “She’s been such a big help down here, and now with this crisis, she’s been working her circuits off to keep the facility running and deal with the strays that Patient Zero infected. You probably met some of them coming in,” she added with a frown as they descended another terminal locked elevator, though this one Michelle used her key card to activate.

“Most of them are too stupid to use a door or a ladder, but Zero is … it’s different. It’s like when it’s looking at you, you know it’s stalking you. It’s not just shuffling along like a grazing cow,” Robin mumbled, shivering. “Michelle … Alice said the others are too far gone. What about Townsend? Is there even a shred of humanity left in there? If we create an antidote, will it cure her?”

“I … I honestly don’t know Robin. The question though is, would she want to come back?”

“Speculation - it is theoretically possible that Patient Zero could be brought back, at least in mind. It would require a sample of her mutant DNA. It could then be possible to save the most recently infected. There are no guarantees.”

“Would a blood sample work?” Robin asked. Michelle blinked.

“How... did you get a blood sample?”

“I told you, I stabbed it. I killed it, but it didn’t stay dead,” Robin answered, pointing to her bloody knives in their sheaths.

“Oh my God. Robin this could be the break we’ve been looking for! Alice, get your robo butt down to the lab as soon as you can. I’m gonna need an extra pair of hands.”

“Can I help too?” Taylor asked.

Michelle quickly nodded. “Absolutely. I’m going to need you to bounce ideas around with Alice and me. Alice might be twice as smart as the both of us combined, but in a lot of ways she’s still the equivalent of a little girl, still trying to find herself. She lacks experience.”

Taylor giggled a little. “Kind of like me when you first gave me my treatments - with no idea how to be a girl.”

“Indeed,” Alice answered. “I have no idea how to be a human. I am learning as I go by observing people I admire, such as Michelle, yourself, Robin.”

“When all this is over I’m going to take a six month vacation in Hawaii, and I’m going to find a way to drag Alice’s core with me,” Michelle giggled as the doors slowly opened.

“Robin I’m going to need to borrow your knives for a minute,” Michelle advised. Robin quickly removed her belt and handed it over. “I’m glad I didn’t bother to clean them now. I was in such a hurry to just get out of there. Take as long as you need. Is it alright if I visit Margie before you take my blood sample though?”

“Of course sweetie. It’s going to take me a little while to get as much from these blood samples as I can, not to mention taking Sweet Pea here’s sample. Take as much time as you need.”

Robin smiled a little and turned to step away into the clearly marked infirmary. Inside, the surviving members of WAR mostly lay on cots, some bandaged visibly. Heather sat on the edge of the bed of the older man’s, talking to him quietly. Margie glanced up from the bedside of the unconscious woman’s. Her hands shook badly and her jaw dropped.

“Robin?” she gasped. Heather and the older man grew silent as they watched the makeshift nurse practically trip over herself to get to her sister, grabbing her in a tight hug and lifting her off her feet, as tears rolled down both their cheeks. “I thought I’d never see you again,” she sobbed.

“Mom’s okay,” Robin whispered, squeezing Margie close. “Peter, Ash, Meg... None of them made it, but Mom’s okay.”

Margie nodded softly. “Kelly too. I had to make her and LeAnne go take a break though. They’ve been looking after these guys non-stop since we got here. The girl, Serena’s the worst-injured.”

“When our transport wrecked,” the older man spoke up, “Ser took a pretty bad blow to the head. Somehow she had the strength to pull the rest of us out.” He stopped, and choked up a bit, “And then she just collapsed.”

“Shh,” Heather whispered and hugged him. “She’s going to pull through. I know she is. We didn’t wade through hell just to lose our best sniper in the state.”

“Her blood preassure is dropping,” Alice’s voice spoke as her holographic avatar appeared next to her. “She needs a blood transfusion.”

“Take mine,” Heather responded without hesitation. “I’m O Negative. That’s a universal donor right?”

“In general terms, yes,” Alice responded. “But there can still be complications if there’s no other match. Scanning database for possible matches. Of the persons on the premises none are an exact match.”

“What about blood packs?” Robin asked. “This is an infirmary in a medical research facility, next to a hospital. There are blood packs right?”

“There are, but there is a problem with that as well. There are two layers in which the walkers infest this facility. The tram system above, and the lowest level, sub-storage, where Patient Zero originated.”

“And that’s where the blood’s stored,” Robin answered softly. “Of course. How long does she have without a transfusion?”

“At most I would say twelve hours, but the sooner she receives the transfusion, the better.”

“So our options are a donation from Heather in which she could die from complications, an army of walkers beneath us, or an army of walkers at the hospital?”

“Correct, however you have one advantage here, that you would not have at the hospital.” Alice sounded almost smug again as she smiled at Robin.

“What’s that?”

“Me. In order to conserve power I had powered down security systems and locked down all doors in substorage, however if I were to reactivate the security measures, I could program them to target the walkers. There is a chance that those same security protocols might target you as well due to your modified DNA though.”

“Damned if we do and damned if we don’t,” Robin answered. She looked up at Margie, then at the blank expressions on the older man and Heather’s faces, and finally to the unconscious woman in the bed on the other side of the room. She nodded. “I’ll take my chances with the security system. Alice I’m counting on you to guide me down there.”

“Of course, Spirit.”

“I’m coming with you,” the man tried to protest, but Heather pushed him back against the bed.

“Like hell you are. As the only WAR member fit for active duty, I’m ordering you to keep your ass right there. I’ll go with her.”

“But she’s just a kid,” he tried to argue, but Heather shook her head.

“I’ve seen this ‘kid’ fight, David. She moves like nothing I’ve ever seen. She’s faster than the freak that killed Jacob. If anybody can get in, get the blood Ser needs, and get out again, it’s her.”

“Maybe we should give her a badge,” he mused as Robin turned to talk to Margie.

“Robin, are you sure you want to do this? I mean just the two of you?”

“I promise you I’ll be back. I’m going to go give Michelle my blood sample, then I’ll head down. I don’t know what’s happening to me, but I promise you I’ll be okay.”

Margie fought back tears as she nodded, kissing Robin’s forehead and squeezing her tightly close. “Be careful. Don’t you god damn dare die on me young lady.”

Robin smiled and nodded, hugging Margie back. As she turned to leave, the young man, no more than 21 or 22, called out. “Hey, wait a minute.” He reached for his Beretta, lying on a nearby table, and tossed it at Robin. She caught it, checking the clip as he added, “I want that back. That’s my lucky sidearm. Maybe she’ll bring you some luck down there too.”

Heather giggled just a little as she followed Robin out. “I’ll be damned. Bobby never lets that pistol out of his sight. He swears it’s his lucky charm.”

“I’m flattered, but I’m afraid it’ll take more than luck,” Robin answered softly. Heather frowned.

“Hey, come on now. What happened to the confident girl who just promised her sister everything would be okay?”

Robin turned to stare at her. “I told her that so she wouldn’t freak out about me going down there alone, and yes, I’m going alone. If Alice is wrong and the security targets me as well, you could get caught in the crossfire. I don’t want that responsibility.”

“You don’t get a say in the matter,” Heather answered sternly. “Whoever or whatever you think you are, you’re still a civilian. I’m a trained special operations officer, and right now one of my people is lying in there about to die. Don’t think I won’t handcuff your ass to a pole and go down there myself if you even try to get in my way.”

Robin stared at the woman for a second or two before nodding. “Okay. You’re right. I’m sorry. The longer we argue the worse Serena’s condition will get. I’m just at my wit’s end here. It feels like because I have these enhanced abilities that I need to use them, to protect everyone else. Everyone’s looking to me for answers, and I don’t have any.”

“Wrong. Everyone’s looking to you for support and guidance, for leadership. You don’t have to have all the answers to support your friends, your loved ones. All you have to do is keep doing what you’re doing. Be you. Be Robin, and for God’s sakes, let us help you shoulder the burden.

“You aren’t in this alone Robin. Hell I thought I was in this alone when Jacob died, but David reminded me who I am, and where my duties lie. Let’s get Michelle that blood sample so we can save Serena’s life, okay - sister?” She stuck out her hand, and smiled confidently.

In that instant Robin realized that she was being accepted as an equal, not only by Heather, but by the entire surviving WAR operations group. She smiled and grabbed Heather’s hand, pulling her into a hug. “Thank you, sister. I won’t let you down. I won’t let Serena down, and we won’t let Jacob’s death be in vain.”

“Our brother will be avenged one way or another. Welcome to WAR, Robin. That’s exactly what this is - a war. But it’s a war we just might win.” Heather answered, hugging Robin back before the two turned to continue down the hall toward where Michelle had left earlier.

Michelle smiled faintly as the two entered. “You don’t have to say anything. Alice told me everything. I think you’re both insane, but I won’t try to stop you. Just be careful down there.” She turned to offer Robin her knife belt back, and Robin stuck out her hand.

Michelle took a cotton swab of alcohol and rolled it across Robin’s finger. A moment later, she pricked the tip and took her blood sample. Before their eyes, the wound sealed itself shut again.

“This is why we haven’t found a way to kill Zero yet. No matter how bad the wound, its body somehow just heals right up again.” She turned to hand the blood sample to Alice. “Be careful down there. Come back to us safe.”

“Just where do you think you’re going?” Nikki asked as she approached. “Alice told me the whole thing, and if you even THINK about leaving my sight I’ll kick your ass, super powers or not.”

“Nikki, I-” Robin tried to get out, but Nikki pushed her up against the elevator and kissed her passionately.

She smiled against Robin’s lips and leaned down to kiss her neck, whispering in her ear, “I almost lost you once already. I’m not losing you again. I’m coming with you.” She smiled, giving Robin a gentle hug.

“You took us in, opened your home to all those refugees,” Heather answered. “And if not for you we’d be up shit creek for guns. I’m not going to argue. Let’s just get down there. Alice, what blood type are we looking for?”

“B Positive,” Alice answered. “I can direct you to where it is stored. The scent may attract more walkers, so I advise caution when you open the cooling unit.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Heather replied genuinely.

The elevator doors slid open, and Robin stepped inside, turning back to face Nikki and Heather as they followed her. The rounded doors quickly closed, the small car beginning a steady, rapid descent. As the car slowed to a stop, the doors opened onto darkness.

Before anyone could ask, the first of several lights flickered on in the distance, and Alice whispered, “I am bringing the lights up slowly so that I don’t attract attention to your position prematurely. Sensors indicate a large collection of creatures thirty yards to your right. Secondary group, larger than the first, fifty yards to your left. Smaller groups dispersed throughout. Recommend going left.”

Heather shook her head. “Why left? If the smaller group is to the right then we’ll have a better chance with them.”

“The larger group appears to be contained. I am bringing up security in that section now to confirm. One moment.” She paused verbally, and then giggled. “Ah, I see. Glass office with in-facing doors.”

“Alice, how light sensitive are these things?” Nikki asked.

“Very,” Alice answered. “Picture a cat and a laser pointer. Only, the cat is a ravenous flesh-eating monster. Light and sound, especially a fast moving light, attract them. This is why I brought the lights up from back to front.”

Heather cracked a smile. “I get it. Alice, can you-”

“Cascade lighting in order to keep your location in the dark?” Alice asked, as the light in their immediate area fell dark.

“Good girl,” Heather answered. “Robin, how’s your night vision?”

“Incredible,” Robin answered. “Want me to take point?”

Heather nodded. “I’ll bring up the rear. Let’s keep it single file, and watch where you step. If we’re lucky we might just get out of here without firing a shot.”

Robin nodded and slowly started down the first hallway. Initially it was - at least to the other two, as silent as the grave. Robin though, with her newly tuned senses, could hear every creak, every step, even the hum of the fluorescent lights before they flickered off. Suddenly, Robin stopped dead in her tracks.

“What’s wrong?” Heather asked.

“It’s... looking at us,” Robin whispered.

“Oh dear,” Alice’s voice came from somewhere nearby. “I had not anticipated this.”

“Anticipated what?” Nikki hissed, as the creature that was once human slowly lurched forward.

“The flickering of the lights, going on and off like this. It’s attracting them. I am going to shut off the lights in your section. You will need to use your flashlights, but any creature in the immediate area will be attracted to moving light.”

“Just like a cat and a laser pointer, huh?” Heather said with a sigh. “Do it.”

“Alice,” Robin added, “Activate security protocols.”

“But-”

“No. Do it. I can hear them coming closer. I don’t have enough ammo to shoot them all.”

Reluctantly, Alice answered. “Bringing up security system in section one. You are standing in section two - advise that you reach section three as expediently as possible.” As she spoke, a holographic projection of a map layout appeared in front of the three. Robin grabbed her knives as the lone walker lurched through the map, attempting to grab her. She drove her knives directly into the creature’s neck, severing its spine. With a groan, it collapsed to the floor.

A large number of red dots appeared on the map, slowly moving toward three green dots.

Alice instructed. Overhead, twin machine gun turrets slid down out of the ceiling. They trained their sights on Robin for only a moment before opening fire on a pair of walkers that had managed to creep up behind them. “I believe I can countermand the security from targeting you, but it must be done in realtime. Please hurry,”

“SHIT!” Nikki and Robin shouted in unison as Heather raced past them.

“Screw the plan! Shoot anything that moves and don’t stop running!” Heather shouted back over her shoulder.

Ahead they could hear the sound of plate glass shattering, and several low groans, and a chorus of machine gun fire. The turrets attempted to follow the three as they raced past, but seemed to seize up and spin around mindlessly. “Wheee,” Alice’s disembodied voice giggled from somewhere nearby.

The hall leading to the cooling unit was curiously empty, at least of ambulatory corpses. A few dead, half-eaten bodies lay strewn here and there. Heather approached the door as Alice’s hologram appeared. She looked troubled.

“The electronic lock is fused. Try as I might, I am unable to open it. You will have to use explosives.”

“That explosion’s going to draw every walker on this level to us,” Nikki answered soberly.

“I know,” Alice responded. “But there’s no other way. I’m sorry.” She paused, as her voice projected from somewhere nearby. Alice’s robotic body emerged from the shadows as the hologram faded. “I’ll do what I can to draw them off you.”

As Heather set to work on the door, Robin approached Alice. “Aren’t you supposed to be helping Michelle upstairs?”

“I am simultaneously advising Michelle, discussing tactics with the WAR operatives, and planning your escape route,” Alice answered with a light shrug. “This body is of no consequence. Machines can be repaired - lives cannot.”

Heather glanced over her shoulder. “I’m ready here. What’s the plan?”

“The largest concentration of creatures is further down this hall. I will run through them, draw them away. David believes that a moving target will make a better distraction for them than an explosion. As soon as the door is down, you will find the blood packs you need clearly marked. Robin,” Alice added, turning to Robin. “Do not wait for me.”

Robin nodded softly and untied the small, braided rope bracelet from her wrist, tying it around Alice’s. “Good luck.”

“What’s this?” Alice asked, staring blankly at the bracelet.

Robin smiled. “It’s a friendship bracelet. Allison made it for me. Take it for luck. Now go, do what you have to do.”

Alice’s eyes widened as she stared up at Robin. She started to walk away as the three humans took cover around the blind corner, staring at the bracelet until she was well out of sight of even Robin’s enhanced vision.

“On three,” Heather called, and after counting down to one, squeezed the detonator, sending a shockwave that would have rocked a normal building. Bits of steel slid past and the door collapsed with a heavy thud. In the distance, Robin could hear the creatures screaming with excitement.

Heather lurched into action, sprinting over the fallen door and into the cold storage unit. Packs of blood and plasma flew off the shelves at her hand as she searched for the needed blood type, while outside Robin and Nikki watched and waited.

In the distance Robin could hear gunfire, but not just that of the machine gun turrets. As they raced toward the exit, they met up with Katelyn and Sarah, just as the pair gunned down a trio of stragglers.

“Did you get it?” Sarah asked. Heather nodded.

“Got it. Let’s get out of here.”

“Elevator’s this way. We took the shortcut through the offices,” Katelyn explained, but the group stopped abruptly as they came upon the crumpled heap that was once Alice’s physical body.

“Oh my God,” Sarah whispered. Alice’s synthetic flesh had been gnawed slightly, but it was mostly intact. Her head though, was hyperextended from her shoulders and tilted at an odd angle. Robin scooped up the body and slung it over her shoulder as they raced for the elevator.

“Thanks,” Alice’s disembodied voice echoed nearby. “I wasn’t expecting to recover that. Please don’t let Taylor see it. It might disturb her.”

Robin managed a quiet laugh as they piled into the small elevator. “I can’t imagine why.”

Sarah leaned into the wall alongside Katelyn, both frowning at Robin. “You should have told us you were going down there.”

Heather shook her head. “It was my call. I’ve deputized them both as acting Weapons and Reconnaissance members. It was that, or lock them both in a room,” she added, shooting Robin a half-smile. Robin nodded.

“I wanted to go alone, but Heather talked some sense into me.”

As they reached their destination, the doors opened onto a hologram of Alice pleading with Taylor to leave. Taylor turned, her jaw slackening. Heather raced off with the blood packs to the infirmary, as Robin set the lifeless body on the ground.

“Oh my God!” she gasped. Alice’s hologram knelt in front of her.

“Taylor, look at me,” she instructed. Taylor slowly looked up.

“This body isn’t who I am. I told you before, it’s no more a human body than a radio controlled toy is a Nascar racer. As I told Robin downstairs, machines can be fixed - lives - real, human lives can’t.”

Taylor forced a meek smile. “You’re real to me.”

“As you are really my sister to me,” Alice answered, smiling brightly. “Do me a favor. On my arm is a friendship bracelet.” Alice pointed, “Robin loaned it to me for luck. Would you return it to her? It will be awhile before this body can be repaired.”

“Keep it,” Robin answered. Alice turned to give her a questioning stare, but Robin smiled. “You saved our lives down there. I’m going to go check on Serena.”

Taylor nodded, and as the others left, she carefully moved Alice’s body, adjusting her to approximate a comfortable human sitting position. She tilted Alice’s head, and as she did, something ‘clicked’. Alice opened her eyes and smiled.

“I hadn’t had a chance to do a diagnostic, too busy trying to keep the security system from killing Robin.”

Taylor jumped, squealing as she threw her arms around Alice.

Alice laughed. “Help me up? I still have work to do in the lab.”

Back at the infirmary, Kelly had just begun the transfusion when Robin stepped inside. She approached the young rookie first, offering him his sidearm. It took him a moment to accept it, his focus locked on Serena. He smiled faintly at Robin. “Great work down there.”

Robin shook her head. “It was Heather that got the door open, and Alice kept us safe.”

“How long before we know something?” Robin asked, glancing at Kelly.

“It might be awhile,” Kelly answered softly, without taking her eyes off Serena. “According to Alice she’s not bleeding internally, and we’ve gotten her external wounds taken care of. The transfusion’s the last piece of the puzzle.”

Robin nodded slowly as she approached Heather, who now sat beside Serena, staring at her. Robin lay her hand on Heather’s shoulder, and the woman glanced up, giving her a wry smile.

“Go, get some rest. I’ll sit with her,” Robin said quietly. Heather reluctantly nodded. “Have Alice page me the second she wakes up. Ser means a lot to me Robin. More than just a sister.” Heather stood, and Robin nodded and took her place.

Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes felt like days. Nikki came to sit with Robin and Serena, bringing her girlfriend one of the MREs she had snatched from the surplus store.

“It’s not much, but you need to eat.”

Robin smiled wryly as she nodded. “Thanks Nikki.”

Suddenly, Serena groaned. David and Robert stirred, David sitting bolt upright. “Did she just-”

“Ugh,” Serena moaned. “Who’s eating those damn MREs...”

“Alice-” Robin started, but Alice interrupted her.

“She’s already on her way,” she said cheerfully.

“Serena, do you remember what happened?” Robin asked. Serena shook her head just slightly as Kelly raced into the room.

“The... transport overturned. There was fire. Couldn’t see for the blood in my eyes. I felt around... dragged the guys out and collapsed.”

“You’re in an infirmary now,” Kelly advised gently.

“You’re safe,” David called. “Welcome back Ser.”

“Serena!” Heather squealed, the first genuinely feminine response Robin had seen out of her yet. She sprinted over, and Robin started to stand, but Heather put a hand on her shoulder, letting her know she didn’t have to give up her seat.

“Didn’t think a little thing like the end of the world could kill me, eh?” Serena mumbled, cracking a smile. Her vision seemed to clear, as she tilted her head to stare at Robin. “Who’s this?”

“Acting WAR members Robin Smith and Nikki Morgan. Robin’s the reason you’re still alive.”

Serena laughed, causing her to cough. Kelly lay her hand on Serena’s shoulder, but she shook her head. “I’m okay. Just dizzy. Thanks Robin. If I had more strength, and if my girlfriend wasn’t standing right next to me, I’d kiss you.” She flashed a wry smile, and Heather’s cheeks turned bright red.

“I knew it!” Robert groaned. “Me and Jake had a bet going. I guess I can’t collect on it now.” He laughed a little as he shook his head, and Heather glanced over at the rookie with a grin.

“Jake knew for awhile. He just made that bet with you to make you feel more like part of the team. He was a great guy like that.”

“He was,” Robert answered. “And ‘soon as I’m out of this bed, I’m gonna make damn sure he didn’t die in vain. Um... speaking of, what happens now?”

Robin glanced up. “We’ve got an armored van outside. This facility’s more well guarded than the Morgan estate, plus we have Alice here to help with security. We should move the refugees here and then start patrolling for more, put out a broadcast that this is the place to gather for safety. Alice can keep the walkers out.”

“S’as good a plan as any,” he answered. “What about the thing that killed Jacob?”

Alice chimed in now, “It’s being dealt with. I presently have managed to trap the creature in a small area of the manor. The inoculation has been tested and released into the air supply upstairs. Now all we can do is wait.”

“And Michelle?” Kelly asked softly.

“LeAnne’s with her right now. Michelle has synthesized a possible cure, utilizing the samples from Patient Zero, Robin, and Taylor. I am actively monitoring her lifesigns, and she’s providing a fresh blood sample to LeAnne every fifteen minutes. So far, her condition is stable.” She managed a small smile. “This is good news.”

“I’m going upstairs,” Robin announced as she stood.

Nikki shook her head. “Are you insane? Robin, we don’t know what this ‘cure’ will do to you.”

“Actually, there’s a problem with that,” Alice answered with a soft frown. “Robin’s DNA has already been rewritten. The only chance we have of this affecting Patient Zero is in returning her mental faculties.”

Robin nodded softly. “No, I know. I didn’t mean right now.” She gave a reassuring smile as she shook her head “And I’m not going up there for a cure. I’m going up there to confront Doctor Townsend when the time comes. I’m the only one who can survive an encounter with her. If she regains anything, I’m the one that will have any chance of communicating with her. For now we should start getting people here though.”

“Agreed,” Alice answered more cheerfully. “Zero is quarantined at present. She will not harm anyone until I let her free, and I won’t do that until I am suitably convinced she’s no longer a threat.”

“Let’s roll and put the zombie-catcher to use,” Robin said with a smile, glancing at Nikki. “Once we get everyone here, we can start formulating a plan to take back our city. Alice,” she turned back to the hologram, “Work on a way to differentiate new infections - those that can be saved - from those that we’ll just have to put down.”

“Of course. If we can save Dr. Townsend, she will be invaluable in that department, but I will instruct my sister ALICE units to begin running the numbers. I have informed NHP of our progress, and they are … ” she hesitated, a surprised look crossing her features. “To use their own words, ‘extremely pleased’. Perhaps I won’t be turned into a toaster,” she trailed off as her hologram faded.

Heather glanced down at Serena and squeezed her hand. Serena smiled. “Go on. Go be a hero. I’ll be here waiting when you get back.”

Heather smiled and leaned down for a soft kiss. “I’ll come back to you. I promise.”

Serena smirked. “You’d better. You still owe me a nice dinner.”

Heather laughed softly as she left, followed closely by Robin and Nikki. Sarah and Katelyn approached them now, too, and together the five set off for the elevator. As the doors closed, Robin caught sight of Taylor and Michelle in the hallway, heading for the main lab on the level. Michelle was actually smiling, and Taylor laughing as Alice caught up to them.

“She’s improving!” Alice said excitedly as the elevator started to rise. Today, the refugees. Tomorrow, the rest of Alpine Springs. Now, at least, they had some hope.