Disclaimer: Nope, don't own.

A/N- uh oh. Have recently developed an obsession with zombies...

Kensi holds her gun steady, palms sweaty and unloads a clip into the nearest target. Under normal circumstances it would have been with deadly accuracy.

"Aim for the head!" Eric shouts from the second floor.

Right.

She steps back behind one of the pillars, reloads and is back in the action before Eric can start shouting again. This time, when she shoots, she hits the target square in the middle of the forehead.

One bullet to the brain does what fifteen bullets to the heart, stomach and every other organ she could think of, could not.

"I told you something was wrong with that last guy we brought in." Callen's voice carries across the room but Kensi cannot see him through the mass of lumbering corpses.

"Yeah, he was sick." Sam shoots back and she can just make him out through the crowd. She doesn't need to see him to know that Callen is right next to Sam. "Not a member of the living dead."

She presses the trigger lightly and watches with grim satisfaction as another body hits the floor.

"On your right!"

Kensi has her gun up and is firing before Nate can finish the warning. She reminds herself to thank him later, if they make it out of this, before shoving him back down, behind the safety of the desks.

"I knew we should have stuck him in a separate cell." Callen continues above the sound of gunfire.

It looks like their entire morgue and some of their suspects are in the main room, all moaning and staggering towards them.

Kensi swallows around the sour taste in her mouth, doesn't wonder how or why, and just keeps firing.

The numbers are thinning out and it looks like they might be okay.

"I don't think we have security protocols for zombies, G."

In a middle of a fight for their lives (and possibly the rest of the world) Sam and Callen still manage to bicker like the married couple they totally are. It helps keep Kensi focused and from drastically freaking out.

"Oh please," Callen says, his voice rising higher to be heard above his gun. "Hetty probably has all kinds of measures in case of zombies."

Kensi hopes to god that she does, because she hasn't seen Hetty since the beginning of all of this and is trying not to be terrified.

She hears the click and feels panic wash over her as she realizes that she has used up all her bullets.

"I'm out guys!" She calls out, trying to keep her voice level as she backs up. She hits the desk that Nate is hiding behind, hand searching for something that can be used as a weapon as the crowd advances on her.

"Here!" Nate shoves something into her hand and Kensi lunges forwards, sticking the letter opener right between one of the corpses eyes. The void he leaves is quickly filled up by two more.

"Sam!" Callen's sudden yell jerks her attention away from the mass before her. She strains her eyes, tries to spot her teammates but she can no longer see Sam and she cannot see Callen.

She refuses to think about the clear panic in Callen's voice. Sam would be okay. They all would be.

Kensi slides over the hasty barricade that Nate had formed and crouches down next to the man. Then she starts throwing whatever she can; Dom's bobble head is a casualty in their hasty bid for survival. She tries not to think too hard about it.

It's beginning to look hopeless.

Nate stares at her with wide eyes and she knows that he's waiting for her to somehow save the day.

Sorry Nate, she thinks.

"Every body get down!" Eric yells and Kensi reacts without thinking.

She throws herself on the floor, covering Nate and holds her breath.

The moans and yells are suddenly silenced by the deafening roar of a machine gun.

Nate flinches under her but she holds on and keeps her head down because the cavalry has arrived.

The noise seems to go on forever, when it probably is only for a few moments.

The abrupt silence hurts her ears more than anything else and with it sends mixed feelings of dread and hope.

What if it didn't work?

Kensi cautiously lifts her head. Everything is still. Nothing is getting up.

She avoids looking at all of the gore, avoids looking for familiar faces lying on the ground and helps Nate to his feet.

His face blanches as he looks around and Kensi reaches out a steadying hand. She can't panic yet.

"When we put the extra security measures into place, I had hoped we'd never need them." Hetty says as she hefts an impressive looking gun over her shoulder. The gun itself is almost the same size as the woman.

Kensi promises herself that she will never turn in her paperwork late again- ever.

"Now," Hetty continues, picking her way through the wreckage. Eric comes cautiously down the stairs. "Where have Mr. Callen and Mr. Hanna gotten to?"

Oh no.

Kensi feels a fresh flash of fear, more so than when they were up against the zombies themselves.

"Sam! Callen!" She calls out with a hint of desperation.

As a team they make their way slowly through the corpses, turning over bodies, hoping and hating the hope that they see someone they recognize. Eric sits down heavily at one point and remains seated. Kensi doesn't blame him; all she wants to do is curl up and hope it all goes away.

She reaches down, grabs an arm and heaves, pulling one body off of a pile and freezes.

Callen peels his eyes open and blinks up at her, sluggishly. There's a small bump on his forehead but otherwise he looks okay.

Kensi yells, pulls him into a tight hug and doesn't let go until he tries to push her away.

"We thought you were dead." Nate says solemnly and claps him on the shoulder.

"It's going to take more than zombies to kill me." Callen grins, informing them. He looks around, counts the number of faces and the grin slips off his face. "Sam."

Kensi opens her mouth to say something, what, she is not sure, but Callen pulls himself up onto his knees and starts digging through the pile of corpses they had just found him in.

Nate looks sympathetic and Eric looks confused but Kensi steps in and starts helping and together they make it to the bottom of the pile. And Sam.

Sam isn't moving, he's covered in blood and Kensi isn't even sure if he's breathing.

"Sam." Callen leans forwards, hovers for a moment and then taps his partner's cheek. Nothing happens.

"Sam." He says again, more forcefully and desperately.

"Callen," Kensi places a gentle hand on his shoulder. "The blood. I don't think…"

"It's not his." Callen says firmly. Kensi isn't sure if he knows this for a fact or just wants it to be true. "Sam! Wake up!"

Eric jumps at the barked order. Hetty stands silently at his shoulder looking on, face a mask.

Something groans.

For a split second she panics, believing that they missed one. Nate lets out a sharp exhale.

"Welcome back." Callen says softly and Kensi looks down in time to see Sam's eyes flutter open. The partners grin at each other, fond and worried and something so much stronger that has always been there for them.

Kensi has to look away. She's happy; so happy that her team, her friends are okay- but she feels like an intruder watching this tender moment between them.

Eric stands on shaky legs and Nate goes to help him up the stairs, probably to establish communication with the outside. Hetty steps away, checking to make sure everything stays dead this time as she goes.

Kensi, well Kensi glances over just in time to see Callen press a quick kiss to Sam's lips. She looks away quickly, not wanting to interrupt their moment and stands, wandering off to give them some space.

She takes a deep breath in and then lets it out slowly. She tries to focus on the good, on the fact that they won but the thought of what if there are more, or what if they had lost, keeps creeping back in.

The phantom touch of cold, rotting flesh crawls over her skin.

She doesn't think she'll be sleeping tonight.