Zack awoke with a start in the early morning hours. He had been sleeping peacefully for hours, but scorned himself for making such a stupid mistake. Getting off the small cot, he yawned, stretching his arms and straightening his hair as best he could.

Then it caught his eye- the light on his small pocket communicator, roughly the size of a pager, was blinking a furious green. His gloved hand scooped it from his leather belt, and a feeling of horror washed over him as he read the pair of single-line messages-

12/07/03- Help! They're outside! - Daniel

12/07/03- Where are you, Z? - Daniel

What did Daniel mean, by 'they'? Something was awry, and the agent could not afford to allow anything to happen to his Tech Expert. After a quick weapons check Zack was in the alleyway, which he crossed in a flash.

The interior of Daniel's apartment smelled unusually sweet, like rotting fruit. Zack instinctively drew one of his Berretas as he entered, and ducked into the single main room his partner used to live in. Various instruments lined the shelves and tables, and a computer screen was glowing green at the other end of the room.

"Hello? Daniel, are you ok?" Heartling's voice was only met by more deafening silence, and then- a shuffling sound behind the computer desk, about ten feet away.

"Daniel? Is tha-"

His words were interrupted by a loud moan that filled the room, and a hideous sight that would haunt his sleep for months to come-

Daniel struggled to his feet, but his demeanor had changed- as had his appearance. His clothes were covered with blood, and a hole ran through his stomach. His right hand was missing, and blood was caked on a cracking visage- muscle and sinew pulled under cold, white skin, and his eyes rolled absently in their sockets, already starting to rot away.

In fact, it looked as if Daniel had been... eaten...

Another groan from the carcass and hot lead blazed from the muzzle of Zack's gun. He fired three shots as the Zombie raised his... its dirty fingers, grime caked under the blood-stained nails of the remaining hand.

The shots hit the Zombie's midsection, causing it to buckle over. Zack ran up, slamming the butt of his beretta into the back of the monster's head with a satisfying snap. The threat diminished, the agent quickly moved to the computer.

A chat was open with the Italian Secret Police, on one of the secure connections they possessed. The last message had been sent several hours before, not more than a load of garbage and spam. Yet still, there was a monitor from Headquarters in the room, obviously in case there was a further attempt at contact.

'Zack here. Daniel's dead. What the hell is going on?" The click of keys was the only sound in the room as Heartling started intently at the screen.

"Sorry to hear that. Did you receive word of the freighter crash?" came the reply, almost instantly.

"Yes"

"There was a virus onboard, in an unmarked container. It leaked into Madrid's water supply after infecting half of Spain. Daniel seems to of fallen victim to it."

This took a moment to sink in- the freighter had crashed only hours before, and now it was in the city's water reserve? Even if it could spread from the Gibraltar so fast, what sort of disease could do this?

"Get out of there, now. We'll brief you here. Just leave. NOW."

With that the informant logged off, leaving Zachary alone to his own ponderings for a moment. After a brief look around, he found a customized Automatic Shotgun and several shells for it. Shouldering the gun, he set off towards the door at a brisk jog, but then almost tripped.

Daniel grabbed onto his ankle, trying to bite through the hard leather with his rotting teeth. Zack fired a single more shell at the corpse, but regretted it afterwards-

More cries of death arose from outside, and plague-struck hands smashed through the ground floor windows while still more tripped in the front doorway.

There was only one other way out.