A/N: Here it is! Chapter 2 - I'm sorry it took so long to write! Reviews, as always, would be much appreciated!

The two men stared in disbelief at Kate. She looked so different from the professional look she'd worn during their last meeting. Now her short brown hair was lank and greasy, her eyes were wide and fearful with dark circles underneath them. She didn't look like she recognised the men at all, despite her asking them for help only a few days earlier.

Face went to move towards her but she quickly recoiled from his advance, backing up against the adjacent wall.

"Kate…" He started gently, taking another step forwards. Murdock found the light switch and flicked it on but electricity didn't flood the room like they'd expected.

"Don't come near me," she whispered, violently shaking.

"What do you mean? Are you alright?" Murdock said, reaching out his hand towards her. Kate backed herself up against the wall even more.

"Please, don't come any closer."

The two men exchanged glances but didn't move any closer, the little light they had available from the front door showed them Kate's scared features, her shaking body and her sweat covered, pale skin. She didn't look well at all, and one of her hands was behind her back.

"Please, you have to leave." Her voice was laced with fear and it made Face and Murdock grow more and more concerned. There was something not right about all of this.

"Now, Kate, come on, let's not get silly about all of this." Whatever all of this was anyway. Face tried to lure her out with his charm and his words but she refused to budge, constantly telling them to leave. It was then that Murdock noticed her arm was behind her back.

"Kate why is your arm behind your back?" He asked slowly, watching as the woman's eyes darkened quickly. Suddenly, she didn't look so human.

It all happened before they knew what was going on. Murdock was on his back, wrestling the heavy figure on top of him. Kate was no longer backed up against the wall. The pilot was yelling in surprise, trying hard to get himself free from the person that was trying to bite him.

"Face! Do somethin'!" he yelled as the conman stood there in surprise, completely frozen stiff. This wasn't human at all.

"Face!" Murdock yelled again, his hand on Kate's throat to keep her mouth away from him. Blood was dripping from her mouth; her eyes were wild and wide with no indication of anything human left in her. What was going on!

Face moved quickly when Kate's teeth got too close for comfort by Murdock's arm, taking grip of her shoulders and yanking her away from the pilot. Murdock scrambled to his feet and darted out of the room, closely followed by Face who slammed the door shut. Kate didn't give up, throwing herself up against the door to try and get out but the two men held tightly onto the door, keeping it shut.

"What the hell is going on!?" Face exclaimed.

"What are you askin' me for?!" Murdock replied, feeling his grip on the doorknob slacking. Usually holding off against an angry woman would be easily for both of them (they'd done it enough times to know for a fact), but the way Kate was pulling at the door and slamming herself violently against the wood, Face guessed they had a few seconds.

With that in mind, he took a step backwards away from the door and pulled his gun out of his belt.

"Murdock when I say move… Move out of the way."

"What's your plan, Faceguy?"

"Just trust me."

Murdock nodded; he trusted Face more than anything so he prepared himself to run, waiting for the signal. Face took in a deep breath as he focused himself. There was no easy way to go about this, and it had to be done. It was what Hannibal would do.

"Okay, move!" Face yelled and Murdock darted to the side, stumbling backwards as the door came crashing down as Kate threw herself one more time against the wood. The conman swiftly emptied two bullets into her skull and both he and Murdock watched as she dropped to the ground lifeless.

It was silent; the only thing Murdock could hear was their heavy breathing as his ears rang from the gunshot noise. He dared to approach the body on the ground and joined Face's side.

"What just happened?" Face asked and Murdock shook his head.

"I don't know. Whatever it was, it wasn't normal… Even I know that wasn't normal."

"What the Hell's going on guys?" Hannibal's voice appeared behind them, B.A.'s van back in the parking spot. The Colonel eyed the boys and then looked at the body at their feet and raised an eyebrow, expecting an immediate answer. Upon closer inspection of the body, Hannibal frowned, his tone unimpressed, "why is our client lying dead on the floor looking like she's just gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson?"

"I didn't do anythin'. It wasn't me. It was Face's idea to shoot her." Murdock put his hands up in defeat as Face gave him an exasperated look before turning to face Hannibal.

"We found her in one of the rooms. It looked like she'd been in there for a while and she was scared of us. She kept telling us to back off and then she just… changed; jumped at Murdock and it looked like she was trying to bite him. The only thing I could think to do was shoot her because she was probably going to kill us." Face explained, folding his arms across his chest.

"Colonel, didn't the guy on the radio say there was an infection goin' around?" Murdock asked.

"You think the infection did this to her?"

"Maybe."

"Well, one thing's for sure; we can't leave her body lying around exposed. B.A. go with Murdock and bury the body. Keep close to each other just in case something else like this springs out. Face, you and I will figure out what's going on around here."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

They hadn't come across another incident for the rest of the day and decided that it was probably best if they all roomed together with two people on watch at the same time. Two people against a… well, whatever it was… was better than one, according to Hannibal.

"Face what do you think that was?" Murdock asked, breaking the silence that'd been lingering uncomfortably for some time.

"Oh I don't know, Murdock. Can we not talk about this?" The last thing Face wanted was to remember what had happened earlier. Shooting a woman straight through the head wasn't on his top ten favourite memories in his lifetime. Kate had been attractive and expressed interest in him during their last meeting. She certainly wasn't as attractive the second time they met each other.

"Do you think it was the infection? Zombies?" The pilot gave his friend a weak smile and Face just rolled his eyes, shifting a little in his position.

Zombies? That seemed a little far-fetched. Zombies didn't exist. They were just stories and they were too overrated in movies and in TV. The likelihood of them appearing in real life was second to none but it did make sense in a strange way. Mentions of an infection spreading on the radio, the frightened look on Kate's face, the way she changed suddenly – heck, it looked like she was going to eat Murdock. Yes, it did make sense from a fictional point of view.

"Zombies, Murdock?" Face questioned before sighing heavily.

"I didn't imagine what happened. You said it yourself to Hannibal. Kate changed and we don't know why."

The conman checked his watch and stood up, patting Murdock on the shoulder.

"Zombies is an interesting theory," he said before going back into the hotel room, time to switch with Hannibal and B.A.