Hey guys! So, I've decided to post this story after a few of you said you wanted to read it :) This story is a bit different from my other story Protector. This is going to be a bit more slow paced and I've decided to try out a new writing style. Since this is the first chapter as of now it's sort of subject to change if I post any more chapters.

If I get good feedback, I'll be posting more since I have quite a bit written up for this story, so if you're interested in reading more - feedback, feedback, feedback! Reviews are a surefire way of getting me to post another chapter ;)

I hope you enjoy it! I'd love for you guys to review and let me know what you think!

The dead were beginning to swarm around the building and if she did not act quickly, it would become nearly impossible for her to get close to it, let alone reach the entrance. Ammo was running low and if she kept up the way she has been, she'd be out in no time. With a deep sigh, she tucked her standard Grach into the waistband of her pants, replacing it with her bloodied hatchet which she aimed at the few stragglers that were in her way.

She would have felt sorry, hacking into the head of the American soldiers and civilians that were gathered around the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but their decaying faces and lunging forms left her with little sympathy. After clearing her path, she made a beeline to the massive building's shuttered doors. With a growl, she heaved her hatchet into the metal shutters, receiving nothing else, but a loud clang in response.

She swore, "дерьмо." She pounded on the door with her fists and she caught sight of the security camera above the door, the red light like a watchful eye, "I know you are in there!" She shouted, her English sounding broken and the thick Russian accent was a clue as to why, "Let me in!"

Anger rumbled in her throat as she whirled around, gun no longer in her waistband but in her hand as she unloaded a round into one of the creatures that stumbled a little too close to her, hitting it directly between the eyes with ease. Taking a quick survey of the others and how close they were, she spun around and hit the shuttered door once more.

"Let me in!" She yelled, "Please!"

The sound of a motor kicked on and she staggered back as the shutters began to open and when they clicked to a stop at the top, she locked eyes with the man standing behind the glass doors. There was a moment of hesitation as she looked at him and then she remembered the flesh eating reanimated corpses slowly making their way towards her and she was quick to enter the building despite the assault rifle the man held haphazardly in his hands.

Silence took over as neither of them spoke, both locked in a stare down with the other. They were analyzing each other; he was taking note of her rigid form and the exhaustion that creeped into her eyes and she saw the hopelessness behind his own. It had to be nearly a minute before the man uttered, "A blood test." It earned him a strange look from the woman across from him, "If you want to stay here, you'll need to submit to a blood test."

She wanted to sneer, "What makes you think I want to stay?" She asked.

"Why else would you be here?"

An icy look was sent his way, but it melted into a look of acceptance, "A blood test, then."

He swiped a keycard through a nearby keypad, "Vi, close the doors." He called out and she jumped slightly as the shuttered doors began to descend. Glancing behind her, she took one look outside at the dead walking around until the door shut and they were nothing but a memory. Even still, she didn't let her guard down, both of her weapons were firmly in hand and she had no intention of giving this man any sort of upper hand.

He cleared his throat, fidgeting with the gun he held. He appeared nervous now that the shutters were down. Her face strained as she tried to keep a neutral mask on. She was not scared of this man who was garbed in a white lab coat and who held his gun with such carelessness. Fear was something she had all but erased in her first few years in the military. There were sixteen year old cadets back home who stood with more confidence than this man, who treated their weapons as though they were extensions of themselves. No, she was not scared. She was cautious.

"Your name?" He asked once he finally gathered his nerves.

Steadying her gaze, she mused over his question and gave him an answer regardless of her internal protests, "Serafina Dauksza." She swallowed back the initial urge to follow up her name with her rank and number; with the world the way it is, rank meant nothing. She looked at him expectantly.

"You're Russian." He sounded surprised and even bewildered, but seemed to have realized his rudeness, "Edwin Jenner — Doctor!" He corrected, "Dr. Edwin Jenner..."

"You are..." She looked around scouring the lobby for anyone else, "... the only one here?"

He looked solemn as he answered, "Yes." She was quick to ask another question, "For how long?" He looked as though he wasn't going to answer, but he flashed a glance to the pistol in her right hand and thought better of it, "A while now." Another bout of silence took over, but Edwin was quick to break it, "Follow me." He told her.

He led her deeper into the CDC, down some odd number of floors and he watched her as they walked, observing the way she trained her eyes on the passing surroundings and how she kept her hand on the pistol which was tucked into the front of her waistband.

"Military?" He asked and she quirked a dark eyebrow as if to ask if it were obvious, "The way you carry yourself." He told her, "Very military-esque."

"Ground Forces." She said although she did not expect him to be familiar with the structure of the Russian military.

"Is that why you're here?" Came the next question as they arrived at a heavy looking metal door. He slid his keycard into the keypad next to the door and entered a few numbers on the keypad causing the door to slide open."

"Before this... outbreak... myself along with my fellow senior officers were in New York for a meeting." She explained, "New York is not a good place to be when the dead start eating the living." Edwin grimaced at the implication, "My colleagues did not make it out of the city." Serafina's face remained blank.

"You don't seem all that upset." Edwin commented.

Her face was passive as she said, "I'm Russian. We don't dwell."

He stared at her as though he didn't believe her. Her eyes, though tired and hardened, looked sad. He couldn't imagine his own eyes looked any different, "Why come here, then?" He asked.

"Washington D.C. was overrun, I could not even get close. I had to take to the backroads and thought the best place to go would be here, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention." She paused, "Although, it does not seem that you all have done much controlling or preventing."

He looked at her, annoyed, as he prepared for the blood test, "Some things are beyond our control." He murmured.

She pursed her lips as she held her arm out for the doctor, "Do you know what this is?"

Cleaning her arm off, he looked at her, unsure if he should trust the woman with such information, "It could be a number of things." He explained and she scoffed, "In short, you do not know." He shook his head, "I'm afraid not." She didn't flinch as he stuck her with the needle, "This meeting in New York; what was it about?" He wasn't surprised when his question was met with silence. An amused smirk appeared on his face, "Is that classified information?" He joked.

"Yes." She answered.

Neither spoke while Edwin finished taking blood from her, labeling the vial as she watched his every move.

"I'm going to run some tests." He told her, "There's a kitchen down the hall to the left if you're hungry."

Serafina nodded and grabbed her bag before heading out the heavy metal door, leaving Edwin to his own devices. The kitchen was not hard to find and it was full of nonperishable food, one sign that the man had been alone for a while now. She set out to make powdered eggs and grabbed a bottle of water to quench the thirst that seemed to have snuck up on her.

It was not an hour later that Edwin made a reappearance in the kitchen, not saying anything about the blood test until Serafina asked him, "Everything is clear." He told her.

"You do not look so sure." She commented.

"I can't be sure, yet." He mumbled as he got a pot of coffee ready, offering her a cup when it was finished which she accepted, drinking it without cream or sugar. She let that conversation end without any further questions knowing that she would find out what he meant eventually.

It was silence that filled the room as they both drank their coffee. Though neither would say anything about the subject, both were happy to not be alone anymore. Peace, however, would not last as most things did not these days.