"Okay guys," Bella spoke into the UHF, "Follow me through to the army base and we'll hole up there for the night, Over"

"Copy that, Didn't know there was a base out here, over" Jason replied,

"You wouldn't" Bella muttered under her breath to herself, however the two vampires in her company laughed. Bella smirked as she drove, the long trip had given the trio time to talk, and it had resulted in a much friendlier relationship. "Be alert coming in, we don't know what to expect in there. Over" Bella spoke into the radio again,

"Copy," Came from Jason,

"Affirmative" from Daniel.

The convoy slowly rolled into the base, above ground it just looked like a large barn, one you'd put hay and stock feed it, but Bella knew that below was a labyrinth filled with some of Uncle Sam's guiltiest secrets. Bella opened the pickup truck door and jumped out; she held her rifle in her hands, ready to act if necessary. The rest of her team got out of their vehicles also and slowly followed her. Bella went to a door that had a pin-pad electronic lock, not one to waste time she lifted her rifle and with a single shot to the door it swung open.

As the door opened there was a wurr as the lights turned on and unseen generators started. The ground floor was basically one big room, cubicles with desks filled most of the space on one side, on the other were large military vehicles, just by looking at them Bella could tell that they're were broken down; useless. Bella lifted her rifle and started to sweep the room, before heading to the stairs. The base was all white walls and white tiles, or at least it was. Now dried blood stained the floor and bloody hand prints marked the walls telling a story of horror that everyone in the room knew all too well.

"Split into two groups, Jason take the western side, I'll take the east. Meet back here. If you see any infected, kill on sight." Bella ordered.

"Got it," Jason said, and his group went off, Bella made sure the vampires stayed with her.

"Can you handle a gun, Carlisle?" Bella asked, producing a handgun from her waist,

"Yes," Carlisle nodded, taking it from her.

Bella started through the halls, clearing rooms, the place seemed empty. They continued to walk through the base, every wall had traces of blood or other bodily fluids, "Whatever happened here, it wasn't pretty." Bella murmured, and then stopped.

"You heard that too?" Emmett asked,

"Shush," Bella whispered, there was another knocking sound, louder this time. More sounds, groaning, and the rattling of chains against tiles. The sounds slowly got closer.

Two infected came barrelling around the corner; they had shackles on their hands connected to broken chains, and restraints around their necks. Blood dripped from their mouths and flesh still hung from their teeth. Bella lifted her rifle and with two precise shots the zombies were down. Bella and the group walked up to them, Bella crouched down and touched the chains, "The army was keeping these things," She concluded,

"Why?" Jasper asked,

"Maybe to learn about the infection," Carlisle suggested.

"Let's keep moving," Bella said, standing up. The finished the sweep of the first level and went to the second, they had found supplies such as re-hydrated foods, and fuel on the first floor- which they would come back for- but not much else. Bella descended the stair case and tried to open the door, the handle didn't budge, she tried again for good measure. Then, the small glass window of the door smashed as an unmentionable reached through with a mangled hand, working on instinct, Bella hit the zombie in the head with the butt of her rifle before firing through the window. There was a thud as it hit the floor. Another shot to the locked door and Bella pushed it open, gracefully stepping over the zombie corpse on her way through.

"You guys hear that, right?" Bella asked not trusting her ears as she cocked her head to the side. She could hear growling, not the normal zombie growling, this growling sounded like animals, like dogs.

"We hear it," Carlisle confirmed,

"Come on, I think it's coming from this way." Bella said, going around the corner. Bella rose her head in the air and inhaled deeply, the smell of blood and rotting flesh filled her nose. Then, from around the next corner a pack of 6 dogs emerged. They weren't normal dogs, not anymore. The infection had gotten to them, their eyes were blood shot and they skin was coming off in flakes. With a growl from the leader they charged, Bella froze standing her ground.

"Bella?" Edward asked uneasily, at that moment the leader launched itself into the air,

"Down!" Bella barked, everyone ducked as the dog flew over their heads, "Fire!" came her next command she said as she sent a bullet into the beast's brain. The others started firing, but the dogs were more agile than normal zombies. Bella drew a machete from her waist and cut off a dog's head as it attempted to take off hers.

There was a tortured groan and Bella looked over to see Edward on the ground, barely holding the dog inches from his face. "Edward!" Bella screamed, darting over the room and slicing off the animal's head. She looked up to see the rest had been dealt with by the others. Bella offered Edward a hand to get up, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Edward said, although Bella could see in his eyes that he was a little bit more than spooked.

"I didn't know the infection effected animals." Carlisle said while using a handkerchief to wipe blood off his face.

"It doesn't," Bella muttered angrily, "At least the one Novaris created," Bella replied, "This is a mutation, the army was experimenting."

"Why?" Edward asked, disgust evident in his voice.

"It doesn't matter now," Bella replied. "Come on, keep moving."

After a few more minutes of searching Bella's radio crackled to life, "Finished the sweep of this side, Over" came Jason's voice,

"Find anything? Over" Bella replied,

"Just some basic med supplies, a couple labs. Something was going on here B, something not so nice. Over" Jason radioed back,

"Yeah," Bella chuckled, looking at her group, "We ran into the not so nice things over here. Over"

"You alright" Jason asked

"Yeah, meet back up top, over" Bella returned her walkie-talkie to her shoulder and started back to the stairwell. They had reached the first floor and were walking through the halls heading for the second set of stairs when Bella spoke, "Okay, I've been thinking," She announced, "This thing tomorrow, this rescue mission, could get a bit sticky," She paused for a moment, "That being said, I don't want you lot holding out so you still appear human," She stopped walking so she could gauge their reactions,

"I totally agree with you Bella," Carlisle said.

"Also, I think we should tell the others about you now. So it doesn't freak them out when they haven't got time to be freaked out." Bella scanned their faces, "If you don't think it's a good idea, we won't. I mean it is your secret after all." Bella shrugged.

"No," Carlisle shook his head, "You're right, we should tell them now."

"Good," Bella said, and turned on her heels and headed towards the second set of stairs.

Once they had reached the ground floor of the base they could see the second group huddled in one of the larger cubicles. "Jay!" Bella called out as they approached the cubicle, he looked up instantly, "The Cullen's and I have some very important information to share with the rest of you." Bella and the Cullen's stood outside the cubicle,

"So. . . .?" Jason prompted.

"I'm not sure how to exactly put this," Bella stalled, she wasn't the type of person to fumble over words, or get nervous when addressing people. However this was different, if they took this news badly, well . . . things would go very badly. "Well, as some of you may have noticed, the Cullen's aren't really normal"

Travis and Jason laughed, "Yeah, what about it?" Travis chuckled.

"Well there's a reason for that . . ." Bella trailed off, with a frustrated sigh at herself she decided to just spit it out, "They're vampires."

The faces in front of Bella were stony, and Bella wasn't sure how they had taken the news until there was a chuckled from one of the soldiers, this made the others laugh, and soon everyone was laughing, "Real funny B," Jason chuckled,

"I'm serious!" Bella growled, she didn't like to be made a fool, "They are vampires, their fast, and strong, and drink blood, the whole nine yards!" She was almost yelling now.

"Yeah," Travis chuckled, "And I'm a werewolf,"

"Emmett, do me a favour, punch a hole in the wall." Bella said, still keeping her gaze on the laughing group,

"With pleasure" Emmett smirked and with vampire speed approached the concrete wall, he made a fist and put it through the wall, the muted sunlight from the setting sun streamed in through the hole. Everyone stopped laughing.

"You're serious." Jason said, starring wide eyed at Emmett,

"Deadly," Bella nodded, "I'm telling you all this so you don't get freaked out tomorrow, these guys are going to use every skill they have to help us tomorrow. Their speed, strength, and Jasper here can manipulate emotions slightly, so if you're feeling extra confident, that's why"

The soldiers chuckled and nodded, Jasper had been doing it since they arrived on the base.

"Why didn't you tell me this when they first arrived?" Jason asked,

"Firstly, it wasn't my secret to tell. Secondly, you didn't need to know." Bella replied,

"Didn't need to know?" Jason repeated exasperatedly.

"If I thought you did, I would have told you. End of story."

"So they drink blood?" Travis asked,

"Animal blood," Carlisle chimed in, "And we are just as venerable to the zombie virus as the rest of you."

"Right," Jason nodded, slowly absorbing the information.

"Comments? Questions?" Bella asked looking through the group, no one said anything so she continued, "There's supplies on the second floor, you lot go collect them and put them up here, on the way back through we will pick them up if we have room." She said nodding to a group of soldiers, they nodded and left, leaving the Cullens, Gwyn, Jason, Travis, and Bella alone in the room.

"I'm not going to lie, I'm not entirely sure what's going to happen tomorrow," Bella said, "We'll go in armed to the teeth, expecting the worse. Think . . ."Bella paused for a moment, thinking, "think Arkansas" She finally said.

Travis looked away and crossed his arms, Jason looked down and pinched the bride of his nose while sitting down, and Gwyn visibly shivered and ran a shaky hand threw her long hair. Everyone remembered Arkansas.

"What happened in Arkansas?" Carlisle asked,

"Before we made the base, we headed through there. . ." Bella took a deep breath, "Well it wasn't pretty, let's leave it at that."

"No, lets not leave it at that. If it's going to be like whatever you saw in Arkansas we need to know." Carlisle said, his voice getting deep and authoritative.

"Expect it to be bad, Carlisle." Bella scowled, "Expect many a hundred, maybe even two hundred of those damn things and we will be doing a lot more running than fighting."

"If it's so dangerous than why are we trying?" Edward asked,

"Because they're people," Bella said, "And they deserve a chance."

A/N: Thank you all for putting up with me and my erratic updating, between caring for my mum, trying to finish high school, and helping my partner run his business, I'm flat out. I'll try and write, I really like where this story is going, but if I don't for a while (which is likely) I'm sorry. Thanks for putting up with me. Love you all, my loyal followers.