Badass

Chapter 1

The sound of people rushing past my quarantine room is becoming concerningly

frequent. What i gathered from past experiences is that while a staying in this military and research facility, it means that someone has flat lined and they are rushing to use the crash cart. As someone comes rushing down the hall I try grab their attention "Excuse me!" I wave my arms a young guy that is probably a lab tech with the frail, lanky structure and blond and blue eyed nerd with the glasses, which as I have studied as a archaeologies, I've met my fair share of nerds in my day but this one has an air of arrogance that instantly gives me a sour taste "What can I help you with Dr. Amelia Adams" says this guy who is younger than me but thinks I am wasting his time, like I am beneath him, I glare at him. "What the hell is happening around here? Nobody is telling me anything, I am not a prisoner, I demand answers" he glares at me and replies "Sorry Dr. Adams but the crew you brought back have been dropping like flies and we are a bit concerned at the rate everyone is dying, we cannot find a reason for their demise, so excuse me while I go do my job and figure

what the hell is going on" he quickly walks away. I sigh and go lay down on my bed again,

the centre was nice enough to get me a few books to help relieve the boredom, with a room that is small white and has a small separation to a bathroom there is a lot of boredom, don't get me started on the glass instead of iron bars that secures this quarantine room/Cell.

Eventually the activity stops but at a sudden noise I get up to go use the facilities, thankful once again that they added a wall to separate the room. I was pulling up my scrubs bottoms that is standard for this place, thank goodness I get clean ones every second day, I hear a gunshot. Everything freezes and I try convince my mind that i was hearing things because I really don't want to have the stress of thinking what shooting would mean and I have almost convinced myself, when a hear a session of gun fire, I run to the door and try looking side to side but the hallway seems to be empty. I turn back to my room and look where I could hide because I know I can't get out of here and this latest activity isn't anything good.

I'm just looking to hide behind the wall that separates the toilet from the rest of the room when I hear someone running down the hall. Embracing my one and probably only chance, "Excuse me! Please let me out" I cry out hoping to get the attention of whoever is running past, I rather take my chances on whoever is shooting then risk being stuck here and starving, at least a gunshot is quick. A man that looks like death warmed up but at least he is unarmed, staggers into view, he is breathing funny and is leering at me through the glass like I'm a warm meal for a starving man "Please get me out of here, there's a button on the wall next to the room please hit it" he moans like he's in pain then staggers to the button and hits it, the relief that hits me almost takes me to my knees. Suddenly the man drops to the floor and doesn't move, he seems to be a soldier, he's wearing a uniform but has no weapons that is in view. I hesitantly move slowly towards him and kneel next to him, I notice a knife on his hip that I missed but ignore it while I reach for his wrist to look for a pulse. I'm in a very personal position while I'm trying to locate a slight thump in his wrist, I look towards his head and he opens his eyes like it's same time I notice there is no pulse. My heart gives a massive thump at the same time as he lunges at me and I let out blood curling scream while my hand goes for that knife I noticed earlier, I fall onto my butt but miss his bite to my shoulder by mere millimetres I'm still reeling from that close encounter, my brain becomes aware of the knife in my hand. The freight instincts kick in as I crab walk backwards and quickly stand up with the knife in my hands. I stand in a defensive stance the action drilled into my brain by the self-defence class my brother insisted I take. The creepy dude gets up and staggers at me, I remember my training and aim a well-timed stab into his mouth that gets lodged into his upper pallet as he tries to bite me again, a blood gush lands on me and I squeak as I push him off me. He falls backwards and the knife falls to the ground I collapse against the wall and whisper "what the hell is going on?"

Once the shaking slows down and I can hear around me instead of my own heartbeat, I get up, pick up the knife from where it fell and clean the blood on the dead guy which is silly since I have a massive blood gush down my front. I need to find a way out of this centre before the gun men find me or, I shiver, if there are any more of that dudes staggering around, I know what they resemble but I just can't accept that diagnosis. I turn towards the left side of the hall where I know the staircase is located, I know there is a military unit located on the first two floors of the building so that's where I need to go. I run towards the staircase trying to not let my panic take over, I feel it raising but I won't allow it out just yet.

I make my way slowly down the stairs to the next floors entrance, I am curious about what's behind this door so I open it, yes I know it's not the smartest move but I made a career of finding out about things. My heart drops when I realize that there is about 20 people moaning and staggering around the hallway and as my luck would have it, the door gives off a loud, long squeak. The time seems to pause then they all turn to face me and it's like someone shouted, "Go!" They all rush towards me in a human-like wave I gasp and quickly as I can pull the door shut but I'm too late, it won't close. My panic starts rising again as their hands are coming through the door trying to grab me, I can feel my grip on the door handle slipping and I'm trying to think of a plan to get the hell out of dodge when four hands grab the door handle from behind me to shut and lock it as I sink to the floor feeling my relief

overwhelm me.

I'm breathing hard with my arms and head laying against my knees, a guy in a military uniform crunches down and forces me to look up and looks into my eyes "Have you been bitten, miss?" he asks, I shake my head, I take one long deep breathe, let it out and straighten up against the wall the others I haven't noted before take a step back when they notice the blood down my front, I ignore them and ask the guy who's still in my face "What the hell is going on around here? I had to kill a guy upstairs who tried to bite me and now those things in there, what exactly are they?" I gesture towards the door, I have a suspicion but would like the words, "Well, to say it bluntly, they are zombies, like the living dead kind" a female soldier says from the back, I knew it was coming but it still comes, my jaw drops "You're shitting me!" the guy who is eye level with me grins "Nope, listen, you can take my word for it or you can go ask those guys, they are zombies' he gestures towards the rattling door. I stand up and place my hands on my hips, "I hardly survived the first introduction, thanks" I walk past him to walk down the stairs.

I'm finally showered and dressed in fatigues with kickass soldier boots, I'm feeling a little bit more in control and ready to face those... things, I'm not ready to use the word zombies, yet. I've been put in another room but this one atleast has a door and bunk beds and is apparently the female quarters. The female soldier walks in and grins at me "Hey you look like one of us now, I'm Corporal Lopez and you are?" I grin at her as I grab her outstretched hand give it a hard handshake "I feel much more badass in these then the scrubs, I'm Dr. Amelia Adam's, not a medical doctor but I have a doctorate in archeology" I felt I had to make this clear "Do you know how it all started?" I ask as she changes her shirt and replies "All I heard was that group from Libya brought the whatever it is back with them, hey what were you doing in scrubs in the upper levels?" she asks, sounding a little suspicious, I sigh as I've realized that I can't keep it a secret "I was part of the group from Libya but I swear I'm fine, I was still in quarantine and one of those things let me out then tried to eat me" she jumps up and starts pacing "s**t, s**t, s**t how did you manage to not get bitten?" she stops pacing and faces me, I smile and reply "I've had some

training, as I knew that I would be going to not so safe places after I received my doctorate so during my studying I trained in karate, I am now a double black belt and I've had fire arms training as well" thinking as she's a soldier she'll appreciate that, she processes what I told her then asks me to follow her to the HQ for further orders.