Summary: The virus breaks out in Las Vegas and the team are forced to believe in what is being said in the news. It's not long before Grissom starts his own experiment to see if he can cure the virus once and for all but not before all hell breaks loose.

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI or the 28 days later series, I never will and it makes me sad to keep saying it D: I don't have a beta so all mistakes are mine.

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It was no lie that some of the less rested team didn't sleep well. More likely just Sara, she was shaking in Grissom's arms but he hadn't moved an inch except when his grip tightened around her into a comfy embrace. She had nodded off for what she thought was an hour, it wasn't too long before a nightmare clouded her already disturbed thoughts.

Dreams hardly ever surfaced in her mind, not unless she was wide awake and everything around her had somehow disappeared. Sara preferred these thoughts because she could control them. Once she had relived her childhood, there was no torment to it she saw everything as she wanted to see it. There were loving parents, a brother who didn't try his hardest to stay away from the household and friends at school that didn't like her for her brain.

Grissom began to stir as he felt her move against his chest and a slow growing wet patch that formed on his shirt. A whimper broke him from the drowsiness that followed after sleep and he tried to manoeuvre her to get a look at her face. It was still fairly dark but a glimmer of light reflected from her cheeks where he could visible see the salty tear tracks that followed down towards her chin.

"Sara? Honey, what's the matter?" He whispered, it was low but directed straight towards her ear.

"I can't sleep." Her reply came so faint and he could hear the quiver in her voice from crying.

"Nightmares?"

"Uhuh. I can't just believe this is happening."

"It's unreal I know but dwelling on it won't help, once this is over we can sort out our lives, get everything back on track."

"Hank's body is lying a few feet away, we're stuck in your office with Ecklie and the only option to kill these 'zombies' is using bullets made from lemon juice and Liquid Nitrogen. I can't sleep and it's because a sick and twisted asshat has made his greatest nightmare come true. You're speaking like it's an everyday occurrence."

"We can't help that and I'm sure whoever created it didn't intend for the virus to breakout. I'm going to try my hardest to get us all out of here. Please stay strong until we can get back to our lives."

"What lives?" The Sara sarcasm reared its ugly head again.

"The one that lets me and you be together."

"We could have been together in this life, you just never pulled your finger out of your ass." He clearly had aroused her emotions mostly presenting slight ire, soon needing to calm her before she lost further control of her temper.

"That's a bit harsh. Please don't get yourself worked up, we can talk this through later."

"Whatever."

Grissom tried to cradle her back to sleep and soon she had drifted off. What Sara had said got to him, she was right they could have been together but he just didn't let the walls surrounding his heart down quick enough. He sat there wallowing over his mistake, time had passed and the team needed to get a move on.

He'd wandered around the room waking everyone up, gathering a few things including a number of grunts along the way. Ecklie was still bitching about why his lab was such a mess while the others continued to throw insults at him. Like the ignorant human being he was, he never had acknowledged the real hydra.

"When and where are we going?" Nick asked hoping to get some sort of answer from Grissom who had been ignoring everyone for the past half an hour.

"We'll leave in a bit, where to I'm still unsure. Do the phones work?"

"Nah we checked them when we got locked in the lab yesterday, most of our cells are running on low batteries."

"I guess finding a phone might be helpful, depends where the virus has hit, as far as I know, we're the only city." He closed his lids over the cyanic orbs in an attempt to piece together a plan.

"I heard something about an outbreak in Reno but that's it. Can we just get going?"

"Yeah is everyone ready with this? Be careful we only have ten bullets each, don't get carried away."

They all stood and made sure everything they might need was taken, all things that were unnecessary were left behind. Nerves were rattled between each of them and no one really quite had the words to say. Ever since the virus hit, emotions were stretched and some, more than others, were on the brink of breaking down. It was pure chaos.

Warrick spoke to Catherine the night before, believing that they weren't all going to make it. He had confided in her with his feelings, the feelings among friends but most of all the feelings he had for her. By the time they were close to sleep Warrick had told her he was so scared and every member in the room was like family to him, it would be so hard to lose any of them, well all apart from Ecklie. Catherine returned the favour and they both agreed that if they made it out alive they could something out between the two.

Nick on the other hand remained calm and almost unaffected by the whole ordeal. For some reason being buried alive was more traumatic than the thought of being eaten alive then turning into a monster, killing everything in his way. When he had put it like that, it did sound a lot more frightening. Blubbering like a little kid wasn't going to help them, Nick needed to stay strong.

Greg and Brass weren't the best of friends but they had a small conversation whilst waiting for Grissom and Sara to return with their master plan. Jim had said how much he wished he had done more with Ellie and that he wanted her to be okay, whether or not they stayed in touch. Greg didn't really know what to think, his love for horror films didn't surpass what they were going through. His parents would be worried sick if this had spread on the news, that's if they were still alright.

Grissom lead the group out of his office and down the hall, they needed to make their way back to the parking lot. It was closest to his townhouse where they could possibly make contact with anyone living outside of the state. It was dusk, a sweet smell of the morning air lingered as they wandered out on the strip. Cars lay abandoned and unevenly parked against the curb. The doors were left open and most windshields were smashed. Shock struck the team, they had seen horrific views in their life time and seeing Las Vegas in a state of desertion was unnerving.

Every now and then, they would come across poker chips that were spread across the blood spattered path. No doubt from gamblers who were attacked without notice. Everyone following Grissom knew what that felt like and would probably be of only a few who could tell the story. There were fewer bodies lying around the street compared to the lab, any of which were pretty much mutilated from bites and dismemberment. The air was cool like any other day in the neon plastered city. It brushed passed the moving group leaving a gently chill down their spine, usually they would welcome the weather but today it didn't feel like it should.

Cases that hit individual team members hard were always the worst and initially empathising with the victim was probative but getting too close meant being too emotionally involved. Something Grissom always picked up on with his team members, no one ever called him on it though, and if they did he would deny it.

Apprehension hit them all at the same time, knowing that once this was over, it was going to be the hardest thing to separate from, ever.

TBC

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A/n: I apologise for the rate at which each chapter is now coming up but it's slowly getting a little harder to determine where the story will go. I'm getting there though and I hope it's still readable. Let me know by Reviewing :D