The hallway was teeming with the undead; at least fifteen or twenty filled the small area. Only five or six were between her and the stairs so she started that way, clubbing the first in the head. Another, the remains of a doctor, grabbed her and tried to bite her arm. She yanked her arm free and punched it, running to the doors. She reached them only to be pulled back by one of the ghouls. She cried out as the vials fell to the floor. She went down under the grasp of the creature and fought to get free. The others were arriving and she was outnumbered.

She crawled over to the wall, pushing them off with her feet. "Get the fuck off me!" she yelled at them. It only made them get wilder. They tore at her heavy bulletproof jacket, succeeding in tearing it off her, exposing her naked shoulders and arms, "You ripped my jacket, you bitch!" she yelled at a woman-ghoul. Angela got her rifle free from its sling and fired. She fired the whole magazine into the group, dropping three. It was enough to give her room to get out of the hallway.

She bounded down the stairs two at a time, jumping a whole landing to hit the stairs leading to where Hodds and Stacy were waiting. Her ankle went out as she landed. "Great, just what I don’t need right now." She pushed open the door and stopped, shocked beyond words at what she saw.

The Juggernaut was free, and looking right at her.

Hodds drifted in and out of consciousness, his reality skewed and very surreal. He could hear a loud beating that he knew was his heart. It would slow down and speed up seemingly at random. He was close to death and knew it.

Never before had he been this close to death. He was surprised that he felt no fear of death. He almost welcomed it. All this nightmare would be over. Then he remembered Stacy and Angela. He would come around, sweating, puking, and sit up.

This time when he sat up, he could almost stand. The first thing he noticed was that the lights were out. The next, he noticed Stacy lying on the floor, staring at the mirror. When the lights went out, the mirrored window had returned to regular glass and he could see outside.

The entire hallway was crawling with zombies and one very pissed looking monster. The thing had to be nine-feet-tall! Another ghoul fell against it and the thing smashed it against the wall, without looking like it even noticed. The power flickered back on and the lights came on, the mirror finish returning to the window. "We’re in trouble," he croaked. He held out his hand to Stacy, "Come next to me."

"Are we going to be OK?" Stacy asked. As soon as she finished, there was gunfire in the corridor. Hodds didn’t get a chance to answer. More gunfire came as some of the things fell. The Juggernaut stomped toward the stairwell, striking all of the things out of its way.

Hodds got, shakily, to his feet. "Stay here." He stumbled to the door, drawing the huge .50 Desert Eagle. They had no armor-piercing weapons except that. Hopefully it would do the trick.

Angela started shooting the Juggernaut as soon as she walked in, letting the door close behind her. "You don’t want to die, huh?" She changed clips, her last one, and started to fire again.

"Angela!" a voice called from behind the monster. "Hold your fire."

She stepped back, holding her fire as the huge beast lumbered forward. "Hurry up, it’s coming right at me!"

Commander Hodds walked into the hallway, huge, sleek, hand-cannon raised. His first shot nearly deafened Angela. The creature stumbled forward; its metallic leg-guards unable to keep stable. It turned slowly, revealing an enormous crater in the back of its head. It took one great stride toward him and he fired again, this shot tearing the front of its head clean off. It stopped where it was, its shoulders slumped. "Hurry up and get in here!" Commander Hodds yelled to her.

Inside, she consulted Dr. Hodge-Beck’s work again.

"I’ve gotta mix these two together. Then stick it in a syringe and jab you with it." She looked back at the handwritten work, "That should work."

"It’s been over three hours, though, Angela. It might not." He rolled up his sleeve as Angela took one last look.

"No offense, sir, but shut the fuck up and let me concentrate." Angela slapped his arm looking for the vein. His right arm was almost totally black by now and numb. Finding the vein she injected him. "OK, now we wait."

The door thumped open and another ghoul was crawling in. She walked over and stomped its head.

"We have to leave here. This place is crawling," Hodds told her. He was looking worse than ever; shaking and sweating uncontrollably.

"Come on, get up," she helped him to his feet. Stacy, let’s go, we’re outta here." Just like usual. The fit hits the shan and the men comes crying to the woman for help, she smiled to herself. She started to lead her Commander past the Juggernaut when something stopped her. Something jammed into her leg, making her fall to the ground. The Juggernaut was straightening up, now, one long knife blade covered in her blood.

"Angela!" Hodds yelled. He tried to turn around and help her but Angela was up, lurching toward them.

"GO! Hurry, out the door!" She hobbled past them and up the stairs. All of the things she had passed on the way down were waiting again. They grabbed at her, now almost berserk with the blood coming out of her leg. Hodds was a little help as he fired his Glock into the heads of the nearest ones. At the ground floor, Angela pushed the doors open and pulled Hodds and Stacy out. "Run! I’ll hold it off," she said, as the Juggernaut destroyed its way upstairs.

"Angela, that thing’ll kill you!" Hodds yelled.

"Well then you don’t have long do you?" She threw her assault rifle, now empty, to the ground and drew her side-arms. "I always wanted to be a hero. Here’s my chance."

The Juggernaut had reached the door and was battering it to come through. "Nothing I say will change your mind, will it?" Hodds asked her.

She shook her head, "Just get her to safety, sir."

Hodds gave her one last look as he took Stacy out the door and toward the waiting car. "Come on, you son of a bitch," she growled. "You want to stab me? I got something for you." With a final crash the Juggernaut broke through.

Angela backed up, shooting at the creature’s head, doing nothing at all. It backed her into a corner, rearing back its knife-hand. She ducked under its legs and out behind it, her size finally coming to advantage. She shot it point-blank in the back of the head to no avail. The creature turned, backhanding her and sending her flailing down the hall, senseless.