Screeching to a halt, Alice froze in fear. Snapping out of her frozen state, she quickly stepped back as the zombie in front of her wickedly grinned and stalked forward toward her.

Alice didn't have a weapon with her. Always staying so close to her mate, Vorik, there was never any reason for her to keep one on her. Chastising herself for becoming lax, she wished she had kept one on her, anyway.

With each step back Alice took, the zombie made a step forward. His green-tinged eyes narrowed at her as he grinned manically. Dark green sludge-like saliva dripped from his green-tinted mouth. "Pretty girl is all alone," he cackled. He was like the sinister villain in a horror movie, only this was real.

Her fear caused the darkness around her to close in, making her feel claustrophobic. Alice screamed as loud as she could, hoping that someone in the hidden tunnel would hear her. The sound echoed down the tunnel and into the darkness, vanishing into nothing as if the darkness itself was stopping her plea for help.

The sinister, grinning zombie stepped forward again as she stepped back. Her back hit the wall of the tunnel behind her. Its cold surface made her shiver. There was nowhere else for her to go. She was trapped. Her fear rose.

With a desperate effort, she pushed down her fear; she kicked out as hard as she could. Her foot slammed into the zombie in the gut, her heel forcing him back. He hadn't fallen, only losing his balance for a split second.

Regaining her footing, Alice dodged to the side, then ran past the zombie and down the tunnel. With each step she took down the tunnel, it grew darker. She didn't know where the hidden entrance was in the dark, so she yelled for help. "Jamie! Help! Zombie!" she screamed. The sounds of her screams echoed through the darkness.

Alice looked behind her. The zombie had regained his own footing and was following her again. He was only inches away from her. She tried to run faster, but it was difficult in the dark. Many of the glowing yellow lights that dotted the walls were off in this part of the tunnel, making it hard to see.

The sound of footsteps echoed through the tunnel somewhere in front of her. It was more than one set. Alice hoped it wasn't more zombies. They were getting louder as the footfalls came toward her rapidly. "Jamie! Help! Zombie!" she screamed. Hoping like hell that those footfalls were him or one of the others and not more Zombies.

She rounded another corner, calling for help once again. "Jamie! Help! Zombie!!" The footfalls came closer as she screamed for Jamie to save her. As she ran, she could hear the footsteps somewhere in front of her. It was too dark in this area of the tunnels to see how far.

As she quickly glanced behind her to see where the zombie was that was following her, she tripped over a small pothole in the pathway and slid across the concrete floor, hitting the side of the tunnel. The zombie came after her, grabbing her arm to pull her toward him.

With everything she had, Alice screamed long and high-pitched. The zombie covered his ears from the assault on his eardrums. In sudden confusion, Alice looked at the zombie. For some reason, he had blood on his mouth, red blood. There was a lot of it.

Zombie blood was like sludge, a dark green color. She didn't remember seeing blood on his mouth before. The footfalls came from around the corner, then suddenly the zombie went flying against a wall. The sound of cracking bones followed. Muffled sounds of fighting echoed in through the tunnel before going silent.

Alice was carefully lifted. Strong arms held her close. When she opened her eyes, it was Jamie carrying her back to the tunnel. He wasn't alone. Shadick and Zack were with him.

"You sure can scream high-pitched," Zack chided. Shadick and Jamie chuckled.

Something about their laughter seemed forced. It sounded fake.

Alice wiggled, trying to get out of Jamie's grip, but he wouldn't let her go. "I can walk!" she complained. She was feeling a little lightheaded, but she felt fine. She knew she could walk if they let her.

"No, you can't," Zack told her. He didn't look at her but kept on walking. They walked quickly toward the hidden entrance like they were in a rush.

Shadick eyed her, not saying anything. He appeared to be watching for something. Waiting. "Why can't I walk?" she finally asked.

Jamie looked down at her. "You can't feel it?" he asked, giving a brief scan of the others. Something was going on that they were hiding from her.

"Feel what?" she asked, confused. They didn't answer her question. They just kept walking.

They carried her through the hidden doorway where all the others were, then closed and sealed it up tightly.

"Medic!" Jamie yelled. He was walking quickly toward the medical area of the large room. Alice looked at him like he was nuts. He looked panicked, but was trying to hide it.

Medic Kaul ran up to them, took one look at her, and paled. "What happened?"

Alice looked at Medic Kaul and Jamie. "What?" she snapped. She was getting scared. They were acting like she was dying, but she felt perfectly fine other than being a little lightheaded.

"She doesn't feel it," Jamie informed the medic.

Kaul nodded. "Take her to the med bay and set her on the table. Hurry, we don't have much time."

Jamie did what he was told. As he walked her past the others, they gasped in shock. Alice was confused about why they were acting like that. She felt fine.

Jamie set her down and backed away. "Don't try to move," he warned her.

Finally, Alice looked down. Her face turned white; the zombie had bitten her. It had done more than bite her. The zombie had taken part of one of her legs. A large chunk of flesh had been taken out, the muscle showing through the gaping hole.

The medic set up a strange device shaped like a cube. Pulling a bundle of long, thin tubes from a shelf, he placed one end of a tube into the cube-shaped machine, and the other end of the tube, he attached a long, thin needle. Once he was done, he shoved the needle into her leg. "This will take the toxins of the zombie out of your blood so you won't turn into one," he stated. "After that's done, then we need to fix your leg. The toxins are more important right now."

It was the same device he used on Carrie when she was given the truth serum. Giving her the serum was how they found out that the truth serum was deadly to humans. He barely got it out of her blood before she died, saving her life. Just one second longer, and Carrie wouldn't be alive right now.

"Once the toxins are out, you are going to feel the pain in your leg. It's the toxins in your blood that are numbing it. I can't give you painkillers until the toxins are gone," Medic Kaul explained as he worked quickly, trying to finish his work so she wouldn't turn, and they would have to kill her.

Julie, Kaul's human mate, ran up to him. "Do you need help?" she asked, trying not to look at Alice's injury.

"Yes, hand that small scanner and the device next to it," he ordered, his eyes not wavering from Alice and what he was trying to accomplish.

Julie quickly retrieved the scanner and the device, setting them next to Kaul. Seeing the sudden fear in Alice's eyes, he explained. "One of them is a scanner, the other is an injector filled with a painkiller. It has been used on humans already and has been deemed safe."

Alice nodded. Pain was starting to wash through her. It was a burning sensation, growing hotter by the second. Her leg began to throb. It felt like it was on fire. Medic Kaul didn't inject her yet. It wasn't time; there were still toxins in her blood. He was still watching the scanner, waiting for all the toxins to leave her system.

Each second felt like a lifetime. Her eyes watered from the burning pain. The machine beeped, then, without warning, Kaul suddenly took the injector and jabbed it into her injured leg. The fire started to cool, the pain disappeared and it felt like it was no longer injured.

Taking up the scanner, he scanned her body. His face was paling with each second. "We need to keep an eye on you. I need to scan you multiple times a day. Do you understand?" he asked her. His tone was strained.

Alice looked at the Medic, seeing how pale he was when he looked at the scanner. "What's wrong, Kaul?" she asked. "You need to tell me what's wrong."

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