Title: An Unusual Occupation
Author: Dee
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 17940
Pairing: Gil/Nick
Characters: Gil Grissom and Nick Stokes
Warnings: Very AU and OOC
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Not mine; not now, not ever.
Unbeta-ed: All mistakes will be mine.
A/N 1: This is my annual Halloween fic! It's much longer than in previous years so the denouement will (should be...) posted on the 31st October!
A/N 2: I will post all of this fic on Lj, but if (recent) previous fics are anything to go by then it will be my last story in the journal.

***

Grissom was with Nick when it happened.

He just slipped and tripped over a low wall that he hadn't seen in the dark because the light beam from his touch was pointing up and his eyes were following that beam and not where he was walking.

Nick laughed but managed to sound quite concerned when he spoke.

"Man, you okay?

You went down like a ton of bricks."

"I'm not okay." Grissom sounded tense.

"Really?"

Nick sounded urgent now and walked over to him quickly.

Grissom was sitting on the ground on the other side of the wall...which Nick was careful to step over.

"What have you done?"

Nick crouched down by Grissom.

"Fucked up my ankle."

"Do you think it's broken?"

"I don't know, do I?"

Grissom was angry.

"No.

Sorry."

"No, I'm sorry.

No need to take it out on you.

Whatever I've done, it hurts.

And...fuck, my knee, shit, I've fucked up my knee, too."

Nearly seven hours later Nick pushed Grissom, in a wheelchair, out the ER at Desert Palm.  

His right knee cap was fractured...a simple vertical fracture, they said; it was immobilised in a cast.

Mid-thigh to mid-shin; slightly bent at the knee.

His left ankle was sprained.

Grade three, stay off it for a week, they said.

He had a surgical boot on that.

The crutches were laid across him for the journey, his pants were folded up on his lap with his shoes (with his socks tucked inside) on top of them and he clasped a prescription for Vicodin in his hand.

He had on his shirt, windcheater and his boxer shorts.

They'd already argued but Grissom was on the losing side.

"Man, you can't walk, you can't drive, you can't actually do anything...they had to give you a bottle to take a piss.

What are you going to do if I don't take you home and at least look after you for the day... it'll take time to arrange a nurse and a maid?"

Grissom, pissed beyond belief, had to acquiesce.

He was fucked and he knew it. "Thank you."

But it sounded less like an expression of gratitude and more like a curse on Nick's head.

Nick shook his head and actually chuckled to himself.

Grissom was certainly showing himself in his true colours.

Although he then thought that was a mean thought.

The guy was seriously incapacitated and probably in a lot of pain.

When they got to Nick's truck they faced another dilemma...how to get him in it.

They decided on the back seat and Nick helped him to stand, unsteadily and in pain, and then Grissom hauled himself up and along the back seat.

By the time he was settled, sweat was running down his face and he looked sick and pissed.

Nick kept quiet.

He started the journey and then stopped at a pharmacy.

Nick went in to get the script' filled.

Then he got back in and started to drive towards Grissom's townhouse.

"Where are you going?"

Grissom asked, about ten minutes into the journey.

"Your house?"

Nick looked at him through his driving mirror.

"I moved...I'm on Reno Drive now."

"Right.

I hadn't heard."

That was the end of the conversation as far as Grissom was concerned and Nick turned at the next junction and headed out to Reno Drive.

When he was on the drive he asked where Grissom's house was.

"At the end, on the right, right before the junction with Carson Drive."

"Got it."

Nick drove along the long drive and the houses were getting older and with much more bigger yards.

This was a quiet, well established residential neighbourhood.

The last house on the right, Casa Grissom, Nick thought, was an old single story dwelling.

It was a really old property for Vegas, maybe fifty, sixty, years old, thought Nick.

The brick and white wooded bungalow looked very well maintained and the front yard was established with trees, shrubs and cacti, hiding most of the building from the road.

The drive was loose gravel and crunched as Nick eased the truck along it; he parked as close as he could to the front door.

"Nice crib, man, how long you been here?"

"Six years.

You're going to have to open the door and disable the alarm."

"Sure."

Nick got out of the truck with Grissom's keys in his hand and repeating to himself the alarm's code that Grissom had just given him.

He opened the door and low level lighting came on automatically; he located the alarm panel and punched in the code.

He then looked around and whistled under his breath.

Grissom's place...was fantastic.

It was like a futuristic home...all the best features; TV and modern furniture in a minimalist setting...but still with lots of books around the coffee tables and on the floor by the couch; the place could have been tidier...but there was no comparison with his old town house.

He suddenly remembered that he had to get Grissom into the house.

Grissom was looking for him.

"You took your time."

He said, clearly impatient.

"I was admiring your new place, to be honest.  

Nice.

If you get out do you think you'll be able to manage with your crutches...perhaps put your booted foot to the ground...or it may be that you right leg hurts less since it's immobilised."

"I hadn't noticed."

"You've got to get in and then you can take a pill...or two..."

Nick stopped wittering at Grissom since the look he was receiving would probably kill him if he wasn't careful.

"Okay.

I'll hang around you; you try and do it the best you can."

It was trial and error.

Grissom tried his right foot to the ground and hissed and then tried his left foot and hissed again.

He stood still for a few moments and then moved again using his right foot...he then moved again using his left foot.

And that's how he got indoors...he got to his couch and threw himself down and then the crutches.

"Fucking useless.

I'm going to have to spend at least a week just sitting here."

"Rest up.

Do you want a drink?

Water?

Coffee?"

"Brandy."

"I don't think so...not with the Vicodin."

Nick nearly caved from yet another death glare, but he held his ground.

"I'll get some water so you can take a couple of the pills and then we can figure out what we've got to do."

"Okay. Okay."

Grissom sounded tired and defeated.

He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes and then his face.

Nick looked around and found the kitchen.

Extremely hi-tech...he went to the fridge and found a bottle of water.

He took it back to Grissom and opened the plastic bottle of pills that he had in his pocket.

He gave two to Grissom.

"No.

I'll just have one, I don't want to be knocked out there's too much to do."

He gave one pill back to Nick who dropped it back into the container.

"Taking two will help you sleep...maybe...when you get into bed.

I can arrange everything..."

"...arrange what?"

Grissom asked, sharply, and stared at Nick.

"Your insurance will pay for a nurse and a home carer for you..."

"...there is absolutely no way I can have a nurse...or a carer in here.

No way."

"Man, you going to have to...you can't manage on your own...not with two legs out of action."

Grissom thought for a moment or two.

"No, you're right. I can't manage alone."

He thought some more.

"I'll call the insurers..."

"...no.

Nick, I meant what I said; I cannot possibly have any...any strangers in here.

Impossible."

Nick looked at him as if he thought he'd gone slightly mad.

"Then how..."

He started and then realised that Grissom was staring at him; really staring at him.

"Oh, no, I can't do it.

I can't...I have work...no, I can't."

"Do you know what the date is today, Nick?"

"The twenty-ninth."

"Yes.

The twenty-ninth of October.

Can I trust you, Nick?

Really trust you with something very, very important?"

***

Nick was desperate to say, 'no, he couldn't be trusted', but he knew that that would be a lie, he was trustworthy.

"I guess."

He tried tentatively.

"I don't want you to guess.

I want to know.

Are you?"

Grissom demanded.

"Yes, I am."

Nick was quite forceful himself.

"Then I'm going to have to tell you a secret.

A secret so secret that you will never be able to as much breathe the details to anyone else.

Do you understand?"

Nick swallowed and had the distinct impression that he wasn't going to like what he was about to be told.

"You can trust me."

He said quite confidently, but really, all he wanted to do was go home.

"You must swear that you will never tell another living soul what I am about to reveal.

If it wasn't for my fucking...legs...I would never tell you.

Never.

Do you understand?"

He repeated the question he'd just asked.

"I understand, Grissom, I do, but I don't know whether I want to know, to be honest."

He wasn't a coward, Grissom knew that, but this sounded like some serious shit, given the look on Grissom's face.

"There is no one else.

No one else.

But I will tell you that I would not consider telling anyone else what I'm about to tell you.

That is the measure of the trust I already have in you."

"Thanks."

Nick responded and Grissom had indeed softened in his voice and manner as he'd finished his little statement.

"What I'm about to tell you will probably cause you some hilarity.

It did me when I first heard but it's not funny at all, it's deadly serious.

Deadly...serious."

Nick must have looked worried.

"Maybe you would like a brandy...or a drink?"

"I'm okay."

"Okay.

Sit back and listen."

So Nick did just that.

"You said yourself this is a nice place.

It is.

It has certain attributes that made it ideal for my purpose.

It's only a single storey as you can see, but it has a basement, Nick.

A big basement.

I couldn't afford a place like this on my salary from LVPD.

But I'm paid extra money by the government.  

For a special project I run in Las Vegas and the surrounding area for...the government."

He repeated the word government and it didn't go unnoticed by Nick.

But Nick was trying to keep his face straight.

He wasn't about to burst into laughter at these revelations but he was surprised, and there was no doubting the seriousness in Grissom's tone of voice.  

"Are you okay, so far?"

"Yeah, yeah, go on."

"I'll just tell you before I go on that I do have evidence, a great deal of evidence about what I'm going to tell you."

Nick nodded his understanding and his curiosity was now well and truly piqued.

More so because he knew that Grissom was a long time sceptic about central government.

And here he was...apparently...allegedly...on their payroll.

"Accidentally, fourteen years ago, I discovered a national secret.

I didn't believe...but I could not dismiss the evidence before my eyes.

Evidence you will see for yourself in two days' time.

"Out in the desert one starry night I was looking for an unidentified beetle. There are many species of Coleopteran that haven't been identified and I was trying to make my name in...in beetles...but I stumbled on something so terrifying and horrendous that I couldn't have even begun to imagine in my life, before."

He took a breath and then drank some of the bottled water Nick had given him; Nick sat and stared and waited.

"In the middle of an outcrop of rocks...in the middle of it...people suddenly started appearing...walking out of what looked like a liquid door.

I cannot describe it any differently.

But these people, Nick, these people, were...were decomposed...they had on ragged clothing, body parts were missing.

They were...were..."

"...zombies?"

Nick said.

He didn't actually feel like laughing because Grissom was being so serious and his voice was compelling.

"Yes!"

Grissom shouted.

"Yes.

Do you know, do you know the secret already?

Are you one of us?"

"One of...

No, but I've seen films...zombie films and they're just like you described.

Except about the portal..."

"You know, you know about the portals?"

Grissom appeared to be astounded at Nick's knowledge of zombies and portals.

"Well...no...but they're just like you described on the TV show, Stargate."

"Really?

Really?

I don't watch television.

But maybe one of us hunters has sold the idea to a TV company.

I don't know."

And that's when it hit Nick and he started to smile and then he was chuckling and then he was laughing, a side splitting belly laugh.

It was the idea that Grissom.

Gil Grissom, resident nerd of LVPD was a zombie hunter...  

He couldn't stop laughing and went on for some minutes.

When he stopped, eventually, he was worn out and had to fish around in his pocket for a handkerchief to wipe his tears.

Grissom sat watching straight faced but then started speaking again.

"Of course, I had seen the evidence first hand before I knew what I was witnessing but when I was told, I too, laughed until I cried."

"It's you...you...a zombie hunter."

And off Nick went again.

When he'd finished, Grissom was somewhat put out given the look on his face.

"So you think it's perfectly feasible to have portals emitting zombies but the fact that I'm a zombie hunter causes you to become...hysterical?"

Nick was going to laugh again especially at Grissom's matter of fact description.

He bit his bottom lip and couldn't do anything but nod.

"It might make my job a little easier if you accept the concept that they do exist."

"I don't know about that..."

"...they do.

I saw them that night...but what happened next was equally incredible. They were coming out in their dozens...there must have been getting on for a hundred of them.

Then all hell let loose...lights lit up the area and the zombies stopped and then there were huge explosions as something...someone was firing at them.

They zombies were decimated in a few moments really.

Blown to smithereens...

"The portal had closed and they were all lying around shot to pieces. Decomposed body parts all over the place.

Then someone appeared with a flame thrower and started to burn the remains.

In moments they were all on fire.

In minutes they were gone, reduced to ashes, dust.

The dust was then hoovered up with an industrial type...vacuum machine.

It was all over in ten, fifteen minutes.

I had watched from this little vantage point...and then I was arrested."

Nick, despite his better judgement was enthralled.

Grissom was an excellent story teller, he was sure.

But did he believe him?

He wasn't a deceitful man.

He said he had evidence.

But, man.

Zombies?

Portals?

Grissom a zombie hunter?  

There was this house and it was decked out very expensively and Grissom had said he wouldn't be able to afford it on his money from LVPD.

But he said he had evidence.

What exactly was in the basement?

So, did he stay and listen to the rest?

Or leave now and never dare whisper a word to anyone for fear of them thinking he was nuts.

Totally bat shit crazy...like Gil Grissom was...apparently.

***

"So what happened next?"

Nick asked.

"The Agency took me in for interrogation.

They must have checked out my identity because a couple of hours later a leader arrived and he told me all about the zombies and ended up asking me to be a hunter...with them."

"Who are the Agency?"

"I don't really know, to be honest.

They are government; they wield power and have limitless money, it would appear.

It's not just our government; they're all over the world and interconnected.

Their sole aim, as far as I know, it so seek and destroy the zombies.

Or at least find the portals."

"But you trust them?"

"A good question.

I don't exactly mistrust them but they work in such a...a closeted environment that I know very little about them.

But they have provided for me.

This crib, as you put it, is filled with the best of everything.

My old place just wasn't big enough, as the equipment expanded and become more sophisticated, or even secure enough, for the operation.  

They found this place and I didn't pay for a thing and the deeds are in my name so I do own it.

I pay for my own utilities of course.

But they also pay me a large, a very large sum of money each year....for my services.

"Nick, I must say you're taking this very well.

Despite your laughter."

"I'm kind of going along with the fact that you don't lie or fantasise.

I don't think you do, anyway."

"Thank you.

I don't.  

Look Nick, I'm really hungry, could you get me a sandwich of something...help yourself as well of course."

"Yeah, okay."

Nick went back into the kitchen and looked in the fridge.

Cheese and tomato would do him.

"You okay with a cheese and tomato sandwich?"

He called to Grissom.

"That would be good."

Grissom spoke from just behind Nick and he jumped at hearing his voice so close.

"What the..."

Grissom was sitting on his backside in the kitchen doorway facing away from him but looking over his shoulder at Nick.

"I can't walk but there's nothing wrong with my ass and my arms...so I just shuffled along.

Good job I have wooden floors.

I can get everywhere in my house like this...even down to the basement going done the stairs.

"Well it works, you got here quick enough...watch yourself though, you don't want strained wrists."

"Good point; I'll try different ways until I get used to it.

I need to take a piss as well.

There's a bucket under the sink in the utility room, could you get it for me please?"

"You're going to do a piss in a bucket...do I..."

"...I thought I can get to my bathroom like this, use the bucket for a piss and pour it down the toilet bowl myself.

Save me having to stand because that will require more effort...of course for a dump I will have to hoist myself up.

What's wrong with that?"

Nick was frowning.

"I don't think you'll get the angle right sitting on the floor with a bucket...I mean with the piss bottle at the hospital, you could put your dick in it...and it bends down away from you."

"That may be a good point.

Mmmm..."

Grissom frowned himself now.

"They sell urine bottles at the pharmacy; I could get one for you."

"Would you?

That would be ideal."

"I wonder if we could rent a wheelchair from somewhere...it would be easier than ass walking."

"It would.

I'll get my laptop and see if there's anywhere..."

"...I'll get your laptop; hold on, let's do one thing at a time. Do you want a piss now?"

"Yes."

"Come on then...let's go to the bathroom...I can prop you up and you can do the biz...I am not going to hold your dick for you!"

"Shame."

Grissom said and smirked.

Nick actually blushed.

Half an hour later, they were fed and watered and Nick had found a shop that rented

wheelchairs and sold other aids.

"Do you get to finish your story before I go?"

"Not much more to tell...but there is a lot for you to see."

"In the basement."

"In the basement.

Nick, I'm going to have to ask you to take three days off work...tonight, tomorrow night and crucially the thirty-first."

"There's no way they'll let me take time off...you're out sick.

No way."

"Go sick...you don't take any sick days...they can't expect you to work if you're sick."

"I'm not sick."

"You might be when I tell you what you've got to do on the thirty-first."

Nick stared at Grissom.

"What I've got to do?"

"Well I can't, can I?"

He pointed to his legs.

"What have I got to do..."

"The zombies are extremely predictable which helps our cause enormously.

They come out of their portals...which remain in the same place...that outcrop in the desert where I first saw them...and they always come out on the same nights...always and every time.

The twelfth of every month...always..."

"...so, it's the twenty ninth."

"They have seven more dates on their calendar...the thirty-first of the months that have thirty-one days.

So we have to be at the portal and be ready..."

"We."

"It's not hard work, not really, for nineteen days a year.

The preparation is more demanding...and over the years the equipment has become far more sophisticated, even futuristic..."

He chuckled.

"...as you will see."

"Will see."

Nick just sat and stared at Grissom.

"Oh, come on Nick, you were coping very well with the new information.

What's wrong?"

"It might have just sunk in...you are a zombie hunter and you want me to take your place on...Wednesday."

"That's it in a nutshell."

Nick just sat for a few moments thinking about all of this.

Maybe Grissom was crazy.

Just maybe and then he thought about something.

"Hold on...you can e-mail, text, whatever, this Agency and tell them about your accident..."

"..I've done that.

While I was waiting in the ER.

They haven't one spare member to send out to me...they've discovered a spate of new portals...in the Adirondack Mountains and every available operative is fully committed.

They said I must get there somehow...and I asked if I could recruit a new man to the team.

They had no choice.

But I gave them my word that you were trustworthy...don't let me down Nick. Me...and Las Vegas...why do you think they keep coming?"

"I don't know, do I?"

Nick looked at Grissom as if he was stark raving mad.

"To take over?

Convert us all to zombies?

Like in the movies.

Shit.

I'm stuck aren't I?"

"I don't want you to see it that way....it can be very rewarding work...you will be helping to preserve humanity and it certainly pays well.

You just can't take any vacation days on the nineteen days a year when we are invaded...and you'll need to take them off work."

"It's an invasion?"

"Oh yes, make no mistake about that, if they were to be successful they are completely unstoppable by any means other than by our weaponry.

That is what I've been told...and really, I cannot refute it so I accept it."

"Weaponry."

Nick felt a bit stupid repeating the words Grissom was using.

But this was science fiction shit...and once more he thought that maybe Grissom was crazy like a fox. Then he thought of another question.

"So...where do there zombies come from...what's on the other side of the portal."

He was even using the terminology himself now.

"Ah, good question."

***

Grissom was quiet.

"Well?"

"I have no idea.

None whatsoever; all I know it that they predictably emerge on the dates I've told you about.

What they are?

Where they're from?

Why they keep coming?

If someone knows the answer to those questions they haven't told me."

"In movies...zombies are...the undead...humans."

"They are humanoid without a shadow of a doubt.

They're dressed in rags and in an advanced state of decomposition.

They don't appear to stink as you would imagine, although I've never been that close.

They don't make any noise at all...even when I fire on them.

I have come to the conclusion that they feel no pain.

"In the absence of any information about them I have my own hypotheses about what has happened."

"And?"

"Look; times getting on.

Nick, can I ask you to go and get the things I need; the piss pot and the wheelchair and then go home and pack clothing, whatever, you will need for the three days.

The spare bedroom is very comfortable.

When you get back I will explain more and...crucially...show you."

Nick digested this.

He really wanted to know now.

But then leaving and going about his tasks would enable him to think about what he'd been told.

"I know you're thinking that I could be crazy and the best thing would be for you to get me committed to a psychiatric facility.

I understand, Nick.

Before you go we'll have a quick look in the basement.

It may convince you that I'm not totally off my rocker."

He smirked.

Grissom had been sitting on the floor with his back against his couch.

He started his journey across the floor by propelling himself along with his hands, on his ass.

Nick shook his head at the spectacle and stood up and followed him.

He went into a passage way, Nick guessed it was to the bedrooms, it was lined with floor to ceiling bookcases with books of all types and sizes and they all look well-thumbed.

Grissom stopped.  

"You'll have to reach up for me and remove Roget's thesaurus, there, look."

He pointed to the book.

"Behind it is a key pad and the code is zero, two, two, one, one, nine, five, three...my parents' wedding day."

He smiled.

Nick input the numbers and the one bookcase slid silently back and then swung open.

There was a small metal platform and a staircase running down along the side of the wall.

There was low level lighting on already and he could tell that it was a large room with a lot of shiny equipment all around.

"The light switches are on your right."

Grissom said behind him, so Nick flicked the switches and the place lit up like the Strip.

His mouth fell open as he surveyed the room from the top of the stairs.

"I don't fucking believe it."

He whispered in awe of what he could see.

He was well used to seeing and using laboratory equipment, and he could tell even without close inspection that this was...whatever it was...all high specification and expensive.

"Holy crap.

Is that a nuclear sign..."

He could see the international hazard sign.

"Yes.

There's an item that relies on nuclear power.

The guns we'll be using.

It's all very safe and I have a monitor to check I'm not over exposed...I never have been.

We moved into the nuclear phase eight years ago and it has made the job much, much, easier.

I'll show you all of this later...but first go do your chores.

Switch off the lights please, and use the same code to close the door.

Thank you."

Nick did as he was told and was thinking about what he'd seen.

Nuclear.

Grissom had fucking nuclear equipment in his basement.

"I'm not convinced.

I think you're a mad scientist."

"I am a scientist but I don't think I'm mad.

If it was just me on my own where would I get the money...or the equipment from?

I couldn't order up nuclear components on the web.

I probably could but the FBI would be on my ass in a flash."

"Did you rob a bank?"

"No."

"Okay.

I'll go run the errands and think about this..."

"...it's too late to think about it, Nick.

The moment I told you all about this you were committed to helping."

"Yeah?

That so?"

For the first time Nick was beginning to feel angry.

He didn't ask to know any of this...how did he know that Grissom wasn't a crazy madman?  

He answered his own question.

He didn't.

"I'm sorry, Nick.

I am...really.

But I need help because if the accident...and you, and not by default, but by my choice are going to be a zombie hunter.

I would have called someone else up to help if I thought you were not the man for the job.

I entered the fracas by accident but you are being chosen.

It is an honour, Nick, an honour."

To Nick, Grissom had been more earnest in that little speech than he'd ever heard him before.

He supposed he would have to follow this through.

Of course, it still could be a load of hocus-pocus.

With the added attraction of some nuclear apparatus.

He sighed and nodded.

"I'll be back as soon as I can."

He collected the supplies from a store catering for the disabled and then went to his home.

He showered and put on some casual clothes and packed for three days.

Just as he was about to leave his bedroom he looked in his mirror.

What the fuck was he getting himself into...either he was about to become a zombie hunter or expose his boss as a fully-fledged lunatic...

***

It took Nick about two hours before he arrived back at Grissom's bungalow.

It looked so neat and tidy...too innocuous, he thought, to be harbouring such secrets.

He looked around at the houses close by, although Grissom's place was so well snuggled in its own yard that it was difficult to see them...a reason he supposed, why it was a good place to hide...in full view, but not quite.

He went to the door and he was going to ring the bell, but he wondered if the door was open, he'd left it open, and it was, so he opened it and then got the wheelchair, the supplies and his duffel bag from his truck.

When he'd unloaded and taken the paraphernalia into Grissom's home he locked the door behind him.

"Grissom?

I'm back."

He called but then added under his breath.

"God knows why."

"I'm in my bedroom."

Grissom called back.

Nick made his way past the bookcases including that particular bookcase and discovered Grissom's bedroom.

It was as tastefully decorated as everywhere else.

Grissom was sitting on the floor leaning on the side of the bed reading a book...he'd pulled a pillow off the bed to sit on.

His hair looked damp and he'd changed into a clean t-shirt and boxers.

"You've had a shower?"

"Yes, well, half a one.

I sat on the floor under the shower with my legs hanging out in the dry.

It's a wet room anyway.

Washed the relevant bits and wiped my legs down with a wash cloth...the bits I could reach.

I feel a little more presentable.

Are you okay?

You came back."

He actually smiled at Nick.

"You weren't expecting me to?

I didn't have much choice did I?"

He answered his own question

"No.

Do you want to see around the workshop...the basement?

Or have something a little more substantial to eat, go to bed and wake up fresh for the tasks ahead?"

"I guess I could eat something.

And I'm tired.

So yes, I'd be better prepared if I've had some sleep...not that I think I will sleep."

"I'm sure you will.

You'll have to call in sick...I've thought about that.

Tell them you have a stomach upset...can't leave the john.

You can't be expected to drive to work with diarrhoea.

"For three days?"

"You can develop a full blown virus of some sort...you think you caught it in the hospital when you were waiting for me."

"Huh."

Nick snorted.

"What if someone wants to visit with me?"

"You'll just have to put them off."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"People visiting you.

Sara wouldn't miss an opportunity like this to play nurse...it was her night off last night or she would have been at the ER."

He spoke and then he laughed.

"What's funny?"

"Sara as a nurse.

Not an image I can really conjure up."

"No one knows where I live.

I never changed my address at work.

If anyone finds out...I can plead the fifth."

"They can just call you."

"I can turn off my cell...for God's sake Nick, stop being so damned negative."

"Me?"

He exclaimed.

"You're the one who's obviously spun a web of deceit around you and you're asking me to believe you're a zombie hunter and you want me to become your sidekick...like Batman and fucking Robin."

For some reason Grissom started laughing.

"That's good Nick, Batman and Robin.

Zombieman and Nick."

Grissom was really laughing now and Nick couldn't help but join in.

He dropped down to the floor and sat alongside Grissom.

"You better not be shitting with me."

Nick said, but he was still laughing.

"I'm not, Nick.

I'm not.

In fact if I'm truthful, I'm happier than I've been for a long time...despite these."

He pointed to his legs.

"It's been a burden carrying this secret around with me all these years and now I can share it with you and we can talk about it and experience the adventure together.

It is an adventure you know.

You will feel exhilarated when it's over.

An adrenalin rush.

But it's a long way down afterwards...when you're alone."

Nick didn't know what it was but Grissom had sounded so sad about being alone that Nick felt a rush of warmth for the man.

If it was all true, it was one helluva fucking secret to keep.

"What do you think about zombies...I mean where did they come from and that..."

Grissom stared into space for a minute, maybe more.

"I have given more thought to that question than anything else in my entire life.

Are they aliens?

From another planet.

Are they dead, but still half alive disgruntled humans as a result of experiments or some kind of apocalyptic accident?  

In that TV show you said had portals...where did that go to, or come from?"

"Other worlds...it's kind of like a gateway to other worlds created by humans millions of years ago."

"If they're aliens I cannot see how it could have been kept a secret for so long...portals are always in remote areas.

Why not in the middle of towns?

I'm assured that if left to their own devises these zombies will kill us all, eat our flesh and then we would become zombies. I think...I really think that the Agency does know why and where they're from.

I just have a sneaking suspicion that they may have been responsible in the first place and now all they can do is fight to contain it...

Some accident or experiment...some virus?"

He turned and looked at Nick.

"The real answer is, I haven't got a fucking clue."

Nick nodded.

He seemed to be doing a lot of that recently.

But there was nothing else he could do...  

They sat there for some minutes and then Nick spoke.

"What's to eat?"

"Please yourself, I have a freezer full of ready meals.

But there's a chili I made myself and froze.

Rice, garlic bread?"

"Sounds good.

I'll go and get the wheelchair and you can see how you get on with it."

"Of course...wheels!"

He sounded quite excited at the prospect and Nick chuckled.

"Are you in pain?"

"Nothing I can't manage.

My knee is aching and my ankle feels as if it's on fire.

I'll take a Vicodin when I get into bed."

"Okay."

Nick jumped up and few minutes later wheeled in the wheelchair.

It was modern and lightweight.

He helped Grissom up from the floor and he settled in the chair and within seconds was moving himself along.

He bumped the leg in plaster a couple of times and winced at the pain but otherwise he was mobile and grinned at Nick as he swivelled it around to face him as he arrived in the kitchen.

"I like this."

Nick was directed to the rice in the cupboard and the chili and garlic bread in the freezer and half an hour later they were sitting at the kitchen table eating.

Both men had a beer.

They actually chatted about work and didn't mention the elephant in the room...or the nuclear equipment in the basement.

Grissom showed Nick to the spare bedroom and he was as impressed with it as much as everything else.

The room was painted a very pale blue but with multi-coloured bedding.

A wet room in charcoal coloured slate and tiles...a big fancy TV that came out of a cupboard at the end of the bed.

It was a pretty cool bedroom, Nick had to admit.

"If you need anything just hunt around, I'm sure you'll find it."

"Yeah, thanks.

See you later."

"Yes.

I'll set my alarm."

"I don't think I'll be getting that much sleep."

"I always find that masturbating helps me sleep."

Nick stared at Grissom opened mouthed.

"What?

It's what men do...especially single men.

You are single aren't you?"

Nick gulped.

"Yes."

He'd certainly learned a lot about Gil Grissom today and that was no lie.

***

It took him some time to drop off to sleep.

His didn't masturbate...he was far too nervous about the whole situation to summon up a hard-on.

He was still undecided about Grissom's status.

Zombie hunter or complete lunatic?  

But he did sleep and in the end Grissom woke him up.

"Come on sleepy head...I've let you sleep in and the coffee's on.

Have a shower and then you're on breakfast duty...it's too far for me reach the cupboards and stove."

Grissom called from the door and Nick stretched himself awake and peered at him over the covers.

He looked happy and relaxed...despite his legs.

"Hey."

"Here's a problem for you to think about in the shower.

My right leg...or more specifically my right hip...is hurting having to hold my leg up from the ground.

So what can we do about it?

Nick laughed.

"I know exactly what to do about it...I'll see you in a few."

He lay on his back and stared at the ceiling; he was amazed...not only that he'd actually managed to sleep at all...but that he'd slept so well and for longer than normal and, he had to admit, he felt good.

Her positively leapt from his bed and fourteen minutes later he was going out of the front door.

He heard Grissom shout.

"Nick?  

Where are you going?"

Nick grinned to himself because there was definitely more than a trace of panic in the voice...but he didn't reply.

About a minute later he went back into the house and Grissom was sitting in the doorway of the kitchen with an anxious look on his face.

Nick held up a contraption.

"Sorry, I rented this as well...thought it would be useful and then left it in the trunk.

It's a wheelchair extension for your leg.

If you get out of the chair I'll fix it.

I saw it and thought you'd need it."

"You thought of me?

What a masterstroke.

Thank you Nick, I appreciate that."

"Sorry I forgot it."

"You were tired and suffering from shock, I bet, but it's here now.

Thank you."

Grissom seemed genuinely pleased with Nick and Nick basked for a few moments in the feeling.

Grissom didn't praise him often.

He fixed the chair and then made eggs for breakfast.

He then had to call work and plead imaginary sickness.

He was worried; he didn't lie and he felt guilty before he even pressed Catherine's number on his cell.

"Pretend you're acting, Nick.

You must have done some plays at school."

"That was acting.

This is lying."

"Technically I'm your boss and I'm sanctioning it, so get on with it."

Grissom didn't sound sympathetic but he smirked when he's said his piece.

"Don't watch.

I'll go in the bedroom."

He came out a few minutes later.

"Jeez...I feel bad..."

"...then it's a good job you're not going into work..."

"...you know what I mean.

Grissom...if you're shitting with me..."

"...I promise you, Nick.

I'm not."

Nick nodded.

Once.

It conveyed a great deal to Grissom.

Trust.

He'd made the right decision because he could trust Nick...more than anyone else on the team.

"To work then.

I can go down the stairs on my ass if you'd bring the wheelchair down for me.

Please?"

"I can push you down the steps...it'll be a bit bumpy but..."

"...I'm being stupid."

"Sorry?"

Nick looked at Grissom askance; he had no idea what he was talking about.

"I have a hoist in the garage.

An electric hoist...some of the equipment is heavy...I can go down and up on it.

Come on."

Grissom wheeled himself along and through the kitchen into the utility room and then out of a side door straight into the garage.

Nick followed.

It was a large garage easily big enough for one of their trucks.

It had some tools and boxes strewn around but nothing unusual.

The hoist was at the side by the wall and a big heavy steel door.

Grissom wheeled himself onto it and turned around to face Nick.

Nick was thinking just how quickly he'd become adept at manoeuvring the chair.

Like a pro.

"There's enough room for you, come on, hang on and we'll go down."

Nick got on the platform and held onto the chair.

Grissom reached for the switch on a flexible wire and pressed a green button and the hoist whirred gently and the steel door swung open and the hoist slid into a kind of elevator shaft and then it took them down, quite smoothly, to the basement.

There was another huge steel door into the basement and to open it Nick had to input the code again.

"Security.

Though the place has a very sophisticated alarm system.

All around the house, garage, and the yard."

"You have nuclear...equipment.

It's what I would expect."

Grissom chuckled.

"Your injuries don't seem to be causing you any problems pain-wise?"

"No.

I took another Vicodin when I went to bed so I slept well and my legs were rested...but I wanted a clear head today so I just had a couple of tylenol this evening.

I don't feel too bad at all.  

Pissed at the inconvenience...but that's about it.

Okay.

Here we go.

"I use a nuclear powered weapon to decimate and burn the zombies.

That's the nuclear aspect...I have these batteries that charge here..."

He pointed to the machine with all the nuclear hazard signs over it.

"...it's the only thing that gives sufficient power to use them.

Highly top secret, of course.

That's the main change since the first time I saw the zombie's being...disposed of.

They had weapons and then flame throwers.

These contraptions... "  

He paused in front of a rack with two large science fiction type guns.

"...fire small titanium shells that fragment on impact and...for want of a better word...cut the critters to pieces and then ignite little charges of plastic explosives to further ensure they are...neutralised and then they burn..."

"...like cluster bombs?"

"Exactly that."

"They're banned."                                                                                                                      

"They are for normal military use...if any military use of any bombs can be considered normal.

But these, Nick, are not normal circumstances by any stretch of the imagination.

Not military either.

I've not seen that many people involved in these...operations.

But none of them have worn any uniforms.

It's all very casual.

Jeans, t-shirts...I think the developers are probably what you would term geeks...rather than military personnel.

I don't know...but that's my impression.

Probably doesn't mean anything...they could still be military."

"And operating them?"

"Simple.

Point them at the zombies and press the trigger.

The actual field part of the operation is the easiest.

It's preparing, loading the truck, unloading it in the desert, reloading and then when you get back the unloading and cleaning that takes the time.

Like cooking...takes hours to prepare and cook a meal and you can eat it in ten minutes."

"You said that when you saw them do it...the first time...they hoovered up the remains..."

"...I do that.

Well you'll have to do it.

Special equipment there..."

He pointed to what looked like an old fashioned, but much larger, cylindrical vacuum cleaner in gleaming stainless steel...or it could be aluminium, thought Nick.

"...it sucks up the dust and shell fragments, and the surrounding sand, obviously...but it's a very intelligent little machine.

It keeps spitting out any uncontaminated sand so that all I bring back it what's left of the zombies and the ammunition.

Their dust and fragments of titanium."

"What do you do with that?"

"I transfer it to storage containers."

He pointed to a stack of stainless steel bins in a corner of the basement.

"Every eight weeks they come and collect the full bins and leave me a batch of empty ones."

"And what do they do with it?"

"I have no idea.

My guess is that they sift out the titanium for re-cycling and then some dust is kept for laboratory tests and investigation and the rest is either stored very, very securely or further disposed of in some way."

"It seems odd to me that as a forensic scientist you want to know everything, absolutely everything and yet with all this there are a lot of gaps and you don't seem to be bothered."

Grissom laughed.

"When I first started I was a pain in their asses trying to find out everything and anything I could...they wouldn't tell me anything; they said it was a, need to know basis only.

I've never found out more than just my end of the operation in fourteen years and I've had to learn to live with that.

I'm still not happy with it...but I have to accept it.

It's a simple operation, Nick.

The only thing that is crucial is the timing.

Before I show you how it all actually works, any questions?"

"No.

Do I get to practise?"

"Unfortunately not.

There is nothing you can use this equipment for except the zombies.

We are forbidden to leave any evidence of anything anywhere.

"And no one's ever seen you...like you saw them?"

"Not that I know.

We activate sensors when we go out and they pick up any movement in the vicinity...but it's strange that in quite a large area around the portal there doesn't appear to be any life...whatsoever."

"You wouldn't have found your unidentified beetle then?"

"No.

And I haven't been out looking since."

He said that with a good dose of irony, thought Nick.

"Okay...before we start.

Two things.

There's a coffee machine over there, so we need that fired up.

And a bathroom...that door."

Grissom spent the next couple of hours showing Nick how everything worked and what he would have do.

All except the nuclear batteries; Grissom explained the procedure, which seemed quite straightforward, but the batteries could only be accessed when they were ready to go and then they'd load the weapon in the desert.

Nick got up from a work seat and stretched.

"You want another coffee?"

"Let's take a break shall we?

Have something to eat...watch a game I have a large collection of old games...good games.

Relax.

I could do with some Tylenol.

"Okay.

Sounds good."

Nick helped Grissom back onto the hoist and they left the hi-tech world of zombie hunting for a couple of hours.

"Ready for the real work?"

Grissom wanted to know after they'd watched an old re-run of a Dallas Cowboys game.

"Real work?"

"I've shown you around and you've seen how it all works.

For the rest of tonight and tomorrow night you have to learn how to use everything...dismantle, reassemble.

Load the truck and be ready..."

"Hold on.

You are coming with me aren't you?

You're not expecting me do this alone are you..."

***

"Of course I'm coming with you.

I had an operative with me four or five times before I was let out on my own...the same will apply to you...and then I suppose we'll have to decide what the Agency will do with us both.

As far as I know there is the only portal in Nevada...or at least near Vegas."

He stopped and thought for a few moments.

"To be honest...there could be dozens of portals around here...but I know of only mine.

I've never knowingly met another hunter...other than when I've had to attend the training sessions we had for the new equipment.

There were only three of us and I've no idea where they were from...we were not allowed to meet outside the classroom."

"Don't you think it's...odd?  

Zombies?

Portals?

All of it?"

"Odd?

Nick, I've never encountered anything more bizarre, more secret, more crazy...more anything...in my whole life.

Sometimes when I look at myself in the mirror I cannot believe it.

I then have to take a look at the basement to remind me it's not some dream, nightmare, hallucination.

It's weird.

When I grow my beard?

That's usually when I going through some kind of denial phase...I can't bear to look at myself in the mirror for too long...

"That's why it's been so lonely.

Why I've sometimes hit the bottle...the times I've been to work with a hangover so bad I could hardly stand, let alone collect evidence and solve crimes.

It's been a lonely business.

But now, Nick.

Now.

I have you; I can talk about it and share.

You know my legs haven't hurt so much and I think it's because my burden...my burden has been shared.

I feel better that I have done for years."

Nick stared at Grissom and shook his head.

"I've never noticed you've been hung over.

Never smelled the liquor.

I've never heard any gossip about you..."

"...I've just been lucky.

Just lucky."

He thought for a few moments and then chuckled.

"That's perverse isn't it?

I've just told you how lonely it's been with the secret and what I've had to do nineteen times a year for fourteen years...and then in the same breath I've said I'm lucky.

A double edged sword.

I have this house...is it too clinical to be called a home?

I have a very sizeable amount of savings...my future is secure, financially, materialistically.

But what point is that if I'm lonely and cannot share my life.

Well, I couldn't until I fell over that fucking wall.

Maybe that was a lucky break."

They both chuckled.

"Pun intended."

"Shall we get back to work then?

I've got some hard studying ahead of me."

"Yes, we should and yes, you have."

"Do they have any set time for when they appear on the thirty-first?"

"Eleven at night...well, six minutes past eleven, precisely...just fifty-four minutes before the first of the next month. Why the precise time?

I have no idea, but they are.

We have to be there and ready at ten-thirty.

Obviously you could be ready at ten fifty-nine...but I like to be prepared just a little bit early to make sure."

Nick nodded his agreement.

"I know what you mean and I'm with you...God, if you were late...the consequences."

"Exactly.

I'm glad you're taking this seriously, Nick.

I knew you would.

You were the only choice you know."

"I don't know whether to thank you or not.

It is that double edged sword, isn't it?

I'm proud to be have been chosen; but the task...you said it yourself...is a lonely one."

"We have each other now.

Each other."

Grissom looked deadly serious and to Nick, at the same time, almost vulnerable.

"Yeah, I guess we have."

Grissom laughed.

"There you go with the guessing again.

It's not a guess, it's a fact."

He paused and he was clearly thinking of something before he continued.

"I hope you don't do too much guess work at the lab."

Nick didn't know if he was joking or not and the old feeling of inadequacy in the face of Grissom reared its ugly head.

"If you think that then I can leave now."

"Nick, I was joking.

Really.

I know you don't guess...I know."

"Okay."

But Nick was feeling stupid...like he'd felt a million times when Grissom had praised everyone around the lab and ignored him.

It hurt then, every time, and it hurt now.

"What's wrong?

What have I done?"

Grissom had clearly picked up on Nick's feelings.

Nick thought that in itself was very unusual.

"Nothing."

"It's not nothing...I've touched a nerve, a raw nerve by the look of it."

"I said, it's nothing."

Nick was not going to enter into any kind of discussion about work and Grissom's attitude towards him or he would be in serious danger of telling him a few home truths...and that was the last thing he wanted to do.

It was manageable now that Nick was older and more experienced.

But it hadn't changed.

He just coped.

Grissom said nothing but looked at Nick and then nodded.

Nick had the distinct impression that the subject might have been put on hold but it wasn't going to be forgotten and was going to be re-visited.  

Shit...was all he could think.

"Come on let's get back to the lab...my lab, that is...and I want to see you dismantle and reassemble the gun.

That's the most complicated part of it all, to be honest; and I want you to get used to the batteries...at least once before we go out."

Grissom was back in work mode.

"The batteries?

The nuclear batteries?"

"They're the only batteries we'll use for the gun.

It's quite simple and poses no risk...I wear a sensor like I said, and it's never registered anything other than normal.

Not sufficient exposure.

Actually you need one...I think I have a spare.

Come on, let's go."

Four and a half hours later Nick had the gun mastered.

He'd accessed the batteries but it was simple...they were in a lead sealed container and they slipped out of the nuclear charger and into the gun...and it was only when you activated the gun that the nuclear energy was released into the firing device.

Nick was a quick study and Grissom didn't have to repeat himself.

When they'd finished for the day they went back to the kitchen and Nick cooked a meal for them and this time they discussed the intricacies of what would happen the next day.

That day Nick slept well...though he did succumb to masturbating in the shower before bed.

He felt confident he knew what he had to do and would be able to pull it off...there was just one problem...

***

Nick lay in bed and although it all seemed plausible and Grissom did have this space age equipment he still couldn't quite believe it.

He wasn't one hundred percent positive that this was all kosher and that Grissom wasn't a mad scientist but equally he couldn't bring himself to dismiss it out of hand.

He guessed he was about...ninety...ninety-five percent sure...and he couldn't help but think what a complete asshole he'd look if it was some kind of hoax.

But surely it couldn't be.

Could it?

That was his last thought before he fell asleep.

Grissom woke him up again.

"Come on let's get up and at 'em.

You sleep very well I must say."

Nick stretched.

He'd been woken from a dream...a dream with Grissom as a zombie hunter...oh, hold on, he thought, that wasn't a dream.

It was a fucking nightmare.

"Do I really need to call in sick again?

I got the hang of it all last night."

"Getting the hang of it isn't knowing it inside out and being thoroughly prepared."

"I can't ever be thoroughly prepared until I've done it...experienced it."

"There is that but you must be prepared for every eventuality...there's still things that you need to learn."

"Like what?"

Nick was eyeing Grissom suspiciously from the comfort of his bed.

"Like what if one escapes..."

"...holy crap...you're joking?"

"Sadly, not."

"So what happened?"

"Here's the deal...you get up...shower, whatever else you need to do, and then make my breakfast and then I'll tell you."

Grissom grinned, maniacally...was he mad, thought Nick...and swung his wheelchair around and exited Nick's bedroom although he'd only just wheeled himself over the threshold.

"Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck..."

Nick was still reciting the one word when he arrived at the kitchen.

"I've managed the coffee and the juice."

Grissom spoke pleasantly.

"How did they get away, what happened?"

"I'll tell you..."

"...no breakfast until you tell me."

Nick went to the coffee pot and filled a mug.

He then turned around cradling his mug of coffee and faced Grissom.

"Well?"

"You drive a hard bargain.

I'm hungry."

"And I'm fucked off.

Have you told me the whole story or are there some bits you've conveniently left out about like, oh, I don't know, wandering zombies."

Grissom looked at Nick and Nick knew immediately what was going to happen.

Grissom was trying not to laugh but he couldn't stop himself.

He laughed and laughed until tears ran down his cheeks.

Nick was trying to remain straight faced although he was having to use all his willpower not to laugh...because Grissom laughing like this...was infectious.

"Sorry.

Sorry."

Grissom eventually spluttered.

"It's just...wandering zombies..."

And off he went again.

This time Nick was less inclined to join him; he was getting angry.

"Okay, Grissom, I've had enough."

Whether it was Nick's tone of voice or whatever, but Grissom did sober up.

"I'm sorry, Nick.

I think...I think I'm suffering from some kind of stir craziness...for wont of a better expression.

I'm almost overwhelmed with relief that I can share my secret.

I haven't told a living soul about this and now...now you know.

I'm sorry.

A zombie...escaped the onslaught a few years ago.

Not deliberately, I don't think, like we might try to hide from an attack...because they don't try to escape they just stand...or walk towards you and take it...

"...but this one I missed...it was at the edge of the group and I didn't notice it for some minutes because I was incinerating the remains.

It was before the new weapons.

Luckily, I just caught a glimpse of some movement out of the corner of my eye.

It was moving, as they all do, steadily with some purpose in mind, I suppose...that is if they have minds, and I seriously doubt they do.

It didn't activate the movement sensors either...but I gather that's normal.

So I had to dispose of this extra one...it was...difficult.

One on its own made me more like being a murderer and I was...spooked...I guess.

That's it, just the once, but it made me much more attentive to the...project."

"You guess you were spooked?"

Nick asked with more than a little sarcasm after the ribbing he'd had from Grissom.

Grissom smiled.

"Touché."

Nick smiled back at Grissom.

"So, is there anything else I should know before I go into...battle?"

"Not really...I've had a few mishaps with the equipment but nothing major. I always set up both guns but they've never failed.

I think together we'll be okay..."

He smiled some more at Nick.

"So you think it's very important I stay off work?"

"I do.

Say for instance you got caught up in a major investigation...and had to work a double?

Not unheard of.

You would then be tired and less alert when you needed to be at your best and most vigilant."

"Okay.

But haven't you ever been caught up in anything and found it difficult to leave work?"

"A few times here and there...but I've always been able to get away, I've had to pull rank a couple of times but I do make sure I stay in the office before zombie nights so I can get away and I always prepare everything...I can load the truck and be off in about twenty minutes...and if, unusually, I have to get back to work I can do everything in about three and half hours..."

He shrugged.

Nick suddenly felt resigned to what he had to do.

"You win.

What do you want for breakfast?"

"Bacon, eggs...pancakes?

I've got a macadamia nut pancake mix.

If you want to use that, I mean, it's up to you."

Grissom was smiling again and Nick, for all his scepticism, seemed to think it was a genuine smile.

"Okay.

Breakfast.

Then I'll call Catherine and lie.

God, if my Dad ever found out, I swear he'd whip my ass."

"Same goes for my mother.

She would be appalled."

"Your mother?

I didn't know you had a mother."

"I beg your pardon?

I think everyone has a mother."

"No, sorry.

I thought she'd passed...you don't talk about her."

"I don't suppose I do."

So over breakfast Grissom told Nick all about his mother and Nick told Grissom about his family.

They were comfortable with each other.

After breakfast Nick called Catherine and pleaded sickness again, saying he had a bug or a virus and felt really sick.

Since Catherine thought Nick would never lie to her she accepted it quite readily and was most solicitous towards him.

It made him feel really bad.

"That's the worst thing I've ever done at work."

He lamented coming back into the kitchen where Grissom still sat nursing a coffee.

"Really?

Not counting the possibility of a murder rap...and what about...what was it...murder central?"

Well Nick walked straight into that but he came out fighting.

"I wasn't on the clock when I was with Kristy."

"No.

But if Ecklie had had his way you would have been charged."

"I know.

Catherine saved my ass and here I am lying to her."

"They are lies, I know, but they are in the interest of national security.

If she knew I'm sure she'd forgive you.

I would switch off your cell...save any calls coming through; it's reasonable to assume that if you're sick you're in bed and don't want disturbing."

"Has anyone called you?"

"I've had messages...Catherine, Ecklie...and I've called them back.

I don't need to lie."

He smirked at Nick and slapped the thigh of his leg with the sprained ankle.

Nick shook his head but he did turn off his cell.

"So...more work in your underground nuclear bunker?"

"That's it.

I want to go over things again....make sure you're one hundred percent.

Then go over loading the truck.

Since my truck is still at LVPD we'll have to use yours.

We'll need every bit of space so you need to empty it out.

Leave your gear in the garage.

It's secure.

I was thinking about my wheelchair.

I think it's unlikely, given the terrain, that I will be able to get around in it so we don't need to take that.

I usually use a fold-up deck chair.

I have two of those."

"What about clothes, what do we wear?"

"Good point.

I have some cover-alls...like we wear sometimes to collect evidence and I incinerate them at the scene.

I use a mask too over my nose and mouth...it gets very dusty out there."

"Okay.

How long will it take to get to the...scene...the portal?"

"It's never taken me longer than an hour and ten minutes...even in the worst weather or with traffic problems...once you're out of the city limits it's a straight road...and there's never any heavy traffic.

Even so, I never leave here later than eight-thirty...just to be safe."

"Okay.

Got it.

I'll ask questions as I think of them...but I think I've got the general idea."

"I'm sure you have, you're a good student."

Nick actually blushed and hoped Grissom hadn't noticed.

The rest of the day Nick devoted to dismantling and reassembling the gun.

He'd remembered everything from the day before and Grissom was pleased with him.

Grissom gave him details of exactly what they would be taking and how it would fit into the vehicle.

Nick reversed his truck into the garage and unloaded it...he had boxes of all types of forensic instruments and evidence collection bags and work forms.

Spare clothing.

Some food and drink in survival packages...for emergencies.

He often used the supplies since they could be out at a scene for twelve, fifteen hours at a time in some inhospitable places and a drink other than water was always welcome as was some food.

They had a snack half way through the night and watched another game and then went back to work.

They loaded up the truck with the two guns, the smart vacuum, containers of the special bullets and other containers for the remains.

All of the equipment just about fit into the truck.

When they'd finished and Grissom was satisfied that Nick knew what he was doing, he called it a day.

"I don't think we can do anything else.

We'll take water and some snacks.

I rarely eat but may have a sip or two of water.

Too much adrenaline in my system to feel hunger."

"You said you feel down when it's over."

"I do.

The enormity of what I've witnessed and what I've done hits home when it's all over.

That's the time when I've most wished I could talk to someone about it...but I do feel...no, I know, that I am doing some good, Nick, or I don't think I would be able to do it."

"You're killing them."

"Yes.

I am.

And you will too.

But it's very strange and I wonder whether you'll feel it...but they are not human and they have no human responses, even though they look humanoid.

I'm sure you'll see that, understand that, when you see them.

When you've dealt with your first zombie invasion."

Nick thought about his task for a few moments and he was sombre and then, out of nowhere, a thought struck him and he frowned at himself.

Why hadn't he thought about that before?

The ultimate in evidence and Grissom had never mentioned a thing about it...

"Grissom?

Have you ever filmed them...videoed the...event?"

Grissom went pale before his eyes.

A look of extreme disappointment crossed his face and he looked downcast.

And all at once Nick was filled with doubt...Grissom was lying.

He was fucking lying.

He'd been caught like a rat in a trap...

"Well?"

Nick asked...his innards were churning at the perceived deceit.

Was he about to get the truth...the real truth?

***

"Well?"

Nick asked again only this time he was pissed and he spat out the one word.

Had he really caught out Grissom in a monumental scam...he was mad.

Fucking crazy.

"I had hoped you wouldn't ask the most obvious question.

But you are a trained CSI so it was probably only a matter of time before you did ask."

He sounded defeated.

Caught out...

He stopped and sighed and Nick looked at him with contempt.

"So am I about to hear the truth...for the first time?"

"The truth?

I've told you the truth...I really have..."

"...so?

Filmed evidence?"

"I have filmed it...every time for years on end...years, until I gave up..."

He stopped and rubbed his hand over his face.

"You gave up?

Because there was nothing to film?

It didn't really happen?"

"It happened Nick.

Oh, it happened, believe me.

I have the films...the videos...all of them; you can see for yourself.

There have been times when I've questioned my sanity because I was there and I saw and did what I had to do but...but it won't be what you want to see..."

"...why won't it be?"

"See for yourself."

He wheeled himself over to a large draw and pulled it open to reveal rows and rows of cassette tapes that then became DVD's.

He took out a DVD and loaded into his computer on the worktop.

He set it up and then pressed 'play'.

It was a dark scene Nick could just about make out a rock formation and not much else as he squinted at the screen.

Suddenly that scene was bathed in bright light and it was an outcrop of rocks and sand.

The desert.

The place he would be going to...tonight...since it was the early hours of the thirty first of October.

Just as Grissom had described it.

On the edge of the picture he saw a gun swing into sight.

The gun that he was supposed to be firing at...zombies.

But there was nothing else on the screen.

He jumped slightly when Grissom spoke.

"Look closely at the screen, what can you see?"

Nick peered at the screen and all he could see was some disturbance on the film...no portal, no zombies, just movement that looked like a hand held video cam was being used very slightly out of focus.

"I can't see anything.

Fuck all."

"Exactly.

I have cassette after cassette, DVD after DVD, all showing exactly the same.

It's on a static tripod.

I'm not holding the camera, I've got the gun.

All I can say to you is that that slightly out of focus look is the portal opening and the zombies trailing out...look..."

Nick was still staring at the screen when it suddenly exploded into fire.

Fire burning brightly...but showing nothing of what was actually burning.

"That's it, Nick.

Nothing.

Makes me look like a crazy mad scientist doesn't it?"

Nick nodded.

"Don't think I don't know it...all I can say is that whatever they are, whatever happens...cannot be filmed.

But please.

Please.

Believe me.

You must believe me."

For the first time since all this had happened to Nick, Grissom sounded defeated.

He was begging Nick to believe him.

But then something caught his eye on the screen.

Grissom was on camera...hoovering up the debris he'd talked about.

What Nick needed to do, right now, was take a leap of faith...he knew that.

The equipment.

The lab.

Grissom's stories about what he did and what had happened.

He didn't have to show this DVD to Nick...he could he said he was forbidden to film it and Nick would have believed him...probably...but he had shown him and if the camera was static then there was some slight change in the focus...

"I believe you.

I believe you because you're Gil Grissom...and I think I know you.

At least I thought I knew you...if you are lying...

If you are lying then your days are numbered because I will notify the FBI."

"Thank you.

You won't have to notify the FBI, I promise."

"Actually...I shouldn't have said that.

You could...dispose of me...quite easily."

He managed an ironic smile...albeit only a slight smile.

"If there's one person in the entire world I would not dispose of...it's you."

And that was just about the sincerest thing Nick had ever heard Grissom say to him.

He smiled...more genuinely this time and nodded his thanks.

He thought he might be blushing.

 

Despite the DVD and the enormity of what he had to do that night Nick slept well during the day of the thirty-first.

He was tired but he did jerk off in the shower before he got into bed.

He had an unusual focus in his head as he eased his hand over his hard-on and remembered their morning together...

He'd been doing a lot of lifting and manoeuvring...some of the equipment was quite heavy and awkward and it had taken several goes to get it into the truck packed so that Grissom had enough room to sit in the passenger seat.

He'd said that he used his passenger seat for some of the stuff...but Nick wouldn't have that luxury.

There was no room for the wheelchair but it would be useless in the terrain as Grissom had said.

They'd eaten a lasagne for dinner...that Grissom said he'd made and forgotten about...it could have been in the freezer for some time, but Nick shrugged and still cooked it and it tasted good.

They had a beer each and then watched TV...Nick found an old episode of Stargate for them to watch but Grissom soon lost interest although he said the portal did look like the one from which the zombies emerged...but it wasn't surrounded by any gate or anything it just appeared, 'as a fracture in the fabric of space'.

Nick had looked at him wide eyed at his description.

"Okay, I made that up...I heard that on an old science fiction film."

He laughed.

"Is there anything else we could watch?

Discovery?

National Geographic?"

Nick channel surfed and found a programme on bird migration and stopped on that.

He was interested.

"Pifflings."

Grissom said and Nick looked at him frowning.

"You told me about the night of the pifflings."

"Yeah...I did... everyone had been involved in the fight night death and I had a smash and grab.

You said I saw that on Animal Planet."

"And you said I was considered a genius because I knew about bugs but everyone thought you watched too much television because you knew about birds."

"Yeah, you remembered."

"I remember everything about...work.

So you're an ornithologist?"

"Not really...but it's been my hobby, on and off, since I was a boy."

"That's a nice hobby...acceptable.

When I tell people about the bugs their first reaction is to shudder in disgust."

"I guess you don't mention being a zombie hunter."

Grissom raised his eyebrows.

"I told you I don't guess.

But it would provide an excellent conversation stopper don't you think?"

"It sure would.

I wonder who'd be the first to call the paramedics."

"I hope it won't be you."

"You know...I'm going to reserve judgement until I've seen this shit with my own eyes."

Grissom chuckled.

"I don't blame you.

But you've done well, Nick, really well to...to assimilate it all."

"You know I've been thinking...you're not really a zombie hunter are you?

You don't go out and find them; you know where they'll be."

"That's true.

But zombie hunter has a better ring to it than zombie exterminator."

"I guess."

Grissom looked over at Nick and shook his head and Nick laughed.

"Man, I feel as if I don't know shit any more.

It's all guess work."

"You know enough to be able to do the job.

Believe me."

Just at that moment Grissom leaned forward to reach his beer on the coffee table and his dick kind of fell out of his boxer shorts.

He'd taken a shower while dinner was cooking and had put on his now customary t-shirt and boxers.

Nick saw it and was momentarily stunned.

It was Grissom's dick just hanging there.

It was dark coloured with a bright rosy head but what really caught his attention was that it was pretty big.

Impressive.

"Your..."

Nick didn't know what to say so nodded in the direction of the peeping penis to alert Grissom of the display.

"Oh."

He smirked.

"Wardrobe malfunction I believe it's called."

He spoke as he tucked it back inside his boxers where it should have been.

So when Nick was in the shower it was the image of Grissom's dick that he had in his mind.

As he fisted his own dick he was certain that Grissom's dick was twice the size.

At least...

Grissom woke him, as had become the custom in the three days he'd slept at his home.

Nick was surprised that he had slept so well, given that this very night he would be going on his first zombie...excursion.

"I've let you sleep in since we're ready...except for eating."

"Thanks."

Nick mumbled.

"What time do we leave again?"

"Eight fifteen...eight thirty.

It's nearly seven now."

"Okay.

Don't feel like eating.

Do you want breakfast?"

"I would like something, yes.

If you don't want to cook I can have cereal, toast.

You should try and eat something...even if it's only a piece of toast."

"Yeah, okay.

I'll be down in a few."

"Nick?"

"Yeah?"

"It's going to okay...don't worry, you'll be great, I'm sure."

"I'm glad you're sure...because I'm not."

Grissom chuckled.

"Have your shower, I'll go and get the coffee going."

"Okay."

Nick had some toast but he had to force it down.

He also had to call Catherine and say he still didn't feel well enough to work...and he threw in that he'd probably go to the doctor since he felt so bad.

When he finished the call he was ashamed that he could lie so easily.

He'd make it up...work his ass off for a few weeks.

It was the least he could do.

Although he supposed he would need to take off the twelfth of November.

That was, of course, if all this was true.

If Gil Grissom wasn't a raving madman.

They were both ready at ten minutes past eight.

They had a freezer food box that they put in the foot well and Grissom could rest his plastered leg on it.

Nick had packed some bottles of water and few snacks.

Grissom declared they should leave.

And off they went into the already dark night heading for the desert, portals and zombies...

Or so Nick assumed...

***

They were quiet except for Grissom giving Nick directions.

He was right about the traffic it was very light going out of the city...most people were headed in to chance their luck...Grissom and Nick were headed out to kill some zombies.

Nick started laughing, quietly, about half an hour into their journey.

"What is it?"

Grissom wanted to know.

"Man.

I'm driving out into the desert with a...with two nuclear weapons in my truck to kill me some zombies.

What isn't there to laugh about?"

"I get it.

It's okay; it's okay to be nervous.  

I was...still am really."

"You are?

Even after how long...fourteen years?"

"Yes...even after all that time.

Nothing has even gone wrong...oh, I know I nearly lost a zombie but I got it back.

But it stretches the boundaries of one's mind...there's no denying that.

The not knowing where they're from.

Why they come.

The significance of the portals.

It's all so...so...fucking random and...fucking puzzling.

Yes: puzzling.

When I asked about then...I said if I know about them anyway what was the problem with me knowing the whole story."

"Yeah?

What did they say?"

"It was strictly on a need to know basis and they said that surprisingly few people knew the whole story...and they preferred it that way.

End of..."

"...I don't know whether to be excited or shit scared."

Nick spoke honestly.

"There's nothing to be frightened of...the experience isn't frightening, I don't think...although I suppose the first time...

But you'll have me by you side, you'll be great."

"There's a part of me that still thinks that this is a hoax...that you're..."

"...crazy?"

"Yeah."

Nick smiled into the night as he drove. And then a thought suddenly struck him.

"What about daylight saving...do they still stick to the same time when the clocks spring forward and fall back?"

Grissom laughed.

"That confused me when it first happened...and I got here at the same time just to make sure...but they stick to six minutes past eleven whatever has happened to time...just another weird fact about them."

He laughed some more and Nick looked across at him momentarily.

Weird...that about summed it all up...

They were quiet for a few minutes and then Grissom spoke again.

"You need to turn right in about a mile...it's a track, but not too bad, your truck will have no problem.

I don't blame you really, for thinking that it could be a hoax and that I'm crazy.

In my case I saw them before I started the job, so I did know about them.

It's a huge leap of faith I'm asking of you.

To trust me."

"I do trust you."

He paused for a few moments and they were both silent and then he continued.

"Kinda.

Sorta."

Gil chuckled beside him.

"Here: just coming up now."

They turned onto the track and like Grissom had said it wasn't too bed.

They drove along in into the complete darkness for over four miles before Grissom spoke again.

"See that rock formation up ahead...go past it and then there's another turn right onto a more difficult track...but it only a matter of a couple of hundred yards.

Five minutes later he spoke again.

"Turn here and face the rocks.

Park up, Nick. We've arrived.

 

"This is it."

Grissom stated the obvious.

Nick had cut the engine and lights and their eyes had to adjust to the total blackness for a few minutes but gradually they saw more...it was a bright moonlit night.

"It's Halloween.

Fitting somehow."

Nick observed.

"It is."

They sat there for a little longer in silence and then Grissom spoke again.

"Let's get the show on the road.

I think if you unload me first and get me settled in the little chair...I can start assembling the guns while you get the lights rigged up and then put out the sensors.

Is that okay?"

"Yeah."

Nick got out of the truck and took out the foldaway chairs for both of them; he'd tucked them by the side of his driving seat.

He set them out in front of the truck as per his instructions from Grissom.

He then helped Grissom out of the truck and manhandled him the few feet to the chair.

The leg that was in plaster was still able to rest on the freezer box they'd brought with them.

Nick unloaded the gear from his truck and spread it around in front of Grissom.

"Okay.

The lights."

He started getting two arc lights ready and positioned at either side of the truck and facing towards the rock face.

They had a huge heavy duty battery to run the lights but they were using flashlights to preserve the power.

"You know if you have guns powered with nuclear batteries, why couldn't you have the lights running off the same kind of battery.

Save a lot of space packing and provide a lot of power for a longer time."

Nick just spoke while he was erecting the lights.

"Nick!

That's a great idea...so simple.

I'd never thought about it but I will certainly put it forward as an idea...and say that the new boy wonder came up with it on his first time out."

"Boy wonder.

The times as a kid I would play that role...and now it's for real.

I think."

He added but he turned around and grinned at Grissom.

"I will be vindicated..."  

He checked his watch with his flashlight.

"...in eighty-one minutes."

"Okay.

That's the lights up and ready.

Do you want to test them?"

"No; get the sensors out first and make sure they're working.

If we put on the lights we could attract some unwanted attention.

It's never happened; this place is isolated...and a soulless hell hole."

He spoke with some passion and Nick stopped his unpacking to look at him.  

Grissom avoided his gaze and continued unpacking one of the guns.

Nick remembered his instructions clearly and put out each sensor in a sweep of about two hundred yards around them and activated each one as he set it out.

They were small dome shaped instrument on a tripod...about eighteen inches high.

A tiny light flickered on and off telling him each one was active and when he got back to Grissom he got the control panel and activated that and gave it to Grissom.

"I'll check them."

He walked back to where they were set up one and, as previously instructed, he threw just a few grains of sand between two of the sensors and he immediately heard the bleep behind him where Grissom held the console...it was only a very low bleeping but it was just so quiet in the desert...as quiet as a grave...

Grissom had told him there was nothing around them...he'd not seen one insect, flying or crawling...no moths in the lights...no night birds, no critters.

Nothing.

That was the weirdest thing; because the desert was noisy...if you listened...

By the time they'd tested the sensors Grissom had one gun assembled and ready.

Nick sat down and took the other gun and under Grissom's watchful eye he put his gun together.

"You're good.

You've learnt your lessons well, Nick."

Nick smiled at Grissom.

He liked to have compliments from him and he'd been getting quite a few these last few days.

He wondered if it would continue in work, real work...probably not, he thought.

They were completely ready twenty eight minutes before the time...the last thing they did was pull on the white jump suits; Nick helped Grissom with his and he put the masks ready to wear.

They sat back in the quiet and rested.

The work was quite demanding.

"You want a drink?"

Grissom asked.

"A water, I guess."

"You don't know?"

"Hand it over...that joke's getting old already."

"Sorry."

And to his surprise, Grissom really did sound sorry.

"That's okay."

"Do want anything to eat?"

Grissom asked, as he handed him a bottle of water and took one himself.

"I couldn't.

Not a thing.

You?"

"No.

I'm okay I did eat more than you before we came out.

You might benefit from a bit of sugar.

Have a small candy bar."

"Okay, I'll try."

Grissom ferreted around in the freezer box and pulled out two small candy bars.

"I'll join you."

They ate in silence; but the sound of the wrappers ripping open was like a crackling bolt of lightning in the quiet.

Suddenly Nick spoke.

"I need a leak."

"So go have one...walk some way away...I don't want to smell it."

Nick set off the sensors and Grissom re-set them...and again when he walked back to his chair.

"You okay?"

Grissom asked.

"No."

"Once it all starts you'll be like an old pro...believe me."

Grissom sounded reassuring to Nick's ears and Nick stared at him.  

"What you looking at?"

"You.

Being calm and reassuring."

"I thought I was always calm and reassuring?"

Nick could tell he didn't believe it himself.

"You're calm.

I don't think you're particularly reassuring."

"That's more than I hoped for."

"How long now?"

"Just a few minutes."

"I want another leak and I have stomach ache now."

"Nerves.

It's understandable but you'll be great once you're in the swing of things.

Ready to switch the lights on when I say so?

And start firing when I do?"

Nick took a very deep breath and let it out breathing out his agreement softly. "Yeah."

"Put on your mask now."

Grissom instructed as his slid his into place.

Both men fell silent and watched ahead.

Nick had his hand on the lights switch and they waited...

"My God..."

"It's begun.

You'll be okay, Nick, I promise."

Nick sat bolt upright in his little chair...his eyes felt as if they were about to pop out of his head...he was surprised...more than that he was astounded...there really were no words...

***

...there were no words in his head or in his entire vocabulary even...to describe what he was seeing...

In thin air or maybe it was actually on the rock face...he just didn't know...a light had appeared.

A golden light shimmering in the blackness around them, like one large drape at a window.

He couldn't really describe it...maybe it was like a ripple on a pond on a hot summer's day.

It was undoubtedly beautiful...maybe the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen and he stared open mouthed, beneath his face mask.

It started to change colour and the golden light became shimmering silver and then it was moving and undulating and he was utterly mesmerised...as the silver gradually faded to be replaced by colours so vibrant, so rich...like the brightest and most intensely colourful rainbow he'd ever seen but then it was shimmering more rapidly and through the movement the colours were evaporating before his eyes to be replaced by another silvery sheen...shining, shimmering like the softest silk being wafted by a breeze...luminesce in the darkness surrounding it...

His only thought at that very moment was that Grissom was right...and then Grissom shouted...

Nick jumped a few inches from his seat at the shock of the voice but he didn't look at Grissom...it was if he couldn't tear his eyes away from this wondrous spectacle of light...the portal...

"The lights, Nick, the lights.

Now!" he shouted again.

                                                                                                            

Nick did look briefly at Grissom then and realised that he must throw the switch he was holding.

He did and in that moment everything changed...

The two powerful arc lights lit up the area where once the most beautiful sight Nick had ever seen and then, through the now brightly lit silken drape there was movement and the beauty became utterly hideous...

Nick saw them slowly and purposely making their way out of the portal, out of the beauty into the harshness of the arc lights...

Zombies.

Nick saw his first zombies and his very first thought was that he was going to vomit, but he didn't...the very sight of them was the most abhorrent he'd ever seen.

It was like a large number of badly decomposed bodies that were alive instead of lying on the mortuary slab...  

They appeared to be dressed in bits of clothing, the remnants of real clothes as far as Nick could see.

They all appeared to be about the same height and in the same stage of decomposition; body parts hung from them...an arm seemingly still attached to its socket by a sinew...a leg walking but with only a tenuous link, maybe just some cloth, to the torso above.

And Grissom was right about something else; this many decomposing bodies so close to them should be stinking like nothing on earth had ever stunk before but there was no smell...nothing...

But one thing was immediately apparent to Nick...he didn't have to think about it, or contemplate it or mull it over and then decide.

These creatures were evil...whatever else they might be...an accident, an anomaly, whatever...it didn't matter; they were the embodiment of evil and without prompting from Grissom he readied his gun to fire...

Grissom whispered to him and he realised that it was deathly silent.

There wasn't a sound...not one solitary sound to be heard as these aberrations crowded out of the portal.

"Don't start firing...remember the portal will close when they're all out...and at that moment we open fire, not before.

It won't be long...the numbers vary but I've never known it be open longer than a minute, maybe seventy, seventy-five seconds and we're approaching forty seconds.

Hold on...you're okay."

Although only a whisper Grissom's voice was quite clear and steady even beneath the mask.

Nick felt comforted by his closeness in the presence of the evil before him.

Nick, like Grissom, had his eyes peeled on their prey.

"Got it."

Nick was surprised he was able to respond.

He'd just noticed his heart was beating so fast that it was threatening to burst from his chest.

His mouth was dry and he was trembling.

But he thought another thought: Grissom wasn't crazy at all...and that thought held him together.

Grissom was dead right about something else too... he would have no qualms about killing these...exterminating these zombies.

They must be stopped at all costs.

He knew that instinctively.

He understood everything Grissom had been drilling into him over and over these past few nights.

The creatures moved purposefully and towards them but they were unseeing...no sound, no smell, no nothing except a kind of relentlessness...doing what they were supposed to do, programmed to do...

Grissom moved his gun up and aimed.

"The portal is closing, Nick.  

Prepare yourself and shoot when I do."

Nick aimed, as he'd been instructed, to the right side of the group of these repulsive apparitions.

Grissom was aiming to the left and as they started the task they were to move towards the middle of the group...capturing all of them.  

Not one must escape...not survive, because these accursed creatures were not alive to be able to survive.

They were already dead...of that Nick had no doubt whatsoever.

Grissom shouted out.

"Fire!"

And almost before the word was out of his mouth he was firing and in an instant Nick was firing too.

It was the first time he'd been able to fire the gun and he was unprepared for the kick against him as he pulled the trigger but he recovered instantly and continues firing.

The titanium bullets...shells...were released and the effect was instantaneous...the shells literally ripped into the already decimated bodies of the zombies and body parts started flying through the air.

No sooner had the shells hit their target...and they did hit their target, Nick and Grissom made absolutely sure of that...then little explosions and fires broke out in the body parts even as they flew through the air and were then strewn around the sand in front of the men.

Within a few seconds quite robust little fires were burning brightly among the feet of the zombies still moving relentlessly forward.

The gunmen didn't pause at all in their volley of shots as they still tore into the zombies but the ungodly creatures were thinning out and gradually the fires burned brighter as more body parts joined the bonfire.

And then almost as soon as it had begun Grissom and Nick found themselves shooting at the same lone zombie...its body flew apart and dropped to the ground and joined the fire which had now formed a continuous cover over the sand in front of them.

And then it was quiet.

Their guns silent.

All Nick could hear was his heart thumping and his own heavy breathing and then he was aware of the same breath sounds from Grissom.

Then he became aware of something else...

He moved the gun aside and leaned forward towards the fire.

Grissom chuckled beside him.

"I forgot to tell you about that."

"It isn't hot...we should be roasting ourselves this close but it's burning..."

"...cold.

I know.

Weird...or should I say just another thing that's weird about this whole set-up."

"Yeah.

Got to give it to you Grissom.

You were right...you are a fucking zombie hunter...exterminator anyway."

"So are you.

You did really well.

Excellent...much better than I was for several months."

"I had a good teacher...the best.

I'm sorry I doubted you."

"Don't be.

You had no reason to know I wasn't a crazy madman.

Just my word for it..."

"...your word counts."

"Thank you.

I appreciate that...the fires are dying out."

He said looking around.

"That was real quick it's only been a couple of minutes."

"That's right...they would appear to have no substance to them and burn very quickly.

All you will find will be dust...in fact you'd be hard pressed to distinguish the natural sand from their dust.

You will see minute fragments of titanium in the sand.

That's one more thing.

A short lived, cold fire it may be...but it burns sufficiently fiercely to reduce the titanium to sparkly bits in the sand.

The new machine is great...sucks it all up...spews out the real uncontaminated sand and contains the rest.

I'm sorry I have to leave that to you...but I'll get started dismantling the guns...

"Are you okay, Nick?"

Nick had been sitting back listening to Grissom but also thinking about what had happened.

He looked at his watch as Grissom spoke to him.

It was seventeen minutes past eleven.

The portal opening, the zombies emerging, the extermination process...the bullets and the fire...all over in eleven minutes.

The lot...

"I'm okay.

Coming down to earth."

"I think you'll find it'll take several days for you to properly assimilate, if that's the right word, the experience you've just had.

It will be the first of many.

And for me...I have someone to talk to about it, and you will have me.

Zombieman and Nick.

Or, you know, it could be Zombieman and Gil."

"Yeah, it could, couldn't it?

I did it, Grissom.

Shit.

Fuck.

Man.

I did it."

Grissom laughed.

Then they sat back for a few minutes and just looked at the scene...although there was nothing to see...nothing at all.

"Okay.

What did you say?

We got the show on the road now it's time to pack up and go home."

Nick prised himself out of the seat and went to get the vacuum machine to capture the zombie remains.

He felt pretty good now.

He felt he had really accomplished something.

And what had Grissom said...it's a high...you feel as if you're on a high.

He let the momentum of his high carry him around do the do the clean-up exercise.

He made sure he hoovered all the dust up and was fascinated as the machine blew out behind it what it didn't want...so Nick wasn't hoovering up the same sand twice.

Nick was keeping hydrated with water and had another candy bar as he performed his tasks.

When that was done he dismantled one of the arc lights but left one standing as he went around and collected the sensors.

He turned the light around towards the truck so he could see what he was doing as he carefully loaded up the truck...he had to keep it in the same order to ensure it all went in as it had come out.

It did...with just the two guns and the one arc light left he went around to the front of the truck.

"All ready here..."

Grissom had dismantled the guns and had packed them neatly beside him ready for Nick to load the truck.

Nick took them and then started on the last light...using his flashlight to do the last of the packing.

Grissom kept looking at Nick and smiling to himself.

Well pleased with his choice for a fellow zombie hunter.  

He ripped off his white coverall and screwed it up and threw it on the ground with his mask.

He hauled himself up out of the seat, and using the truck to help him along, painfully made his way to the passenger door as Nick folded the seats up and put them back down the side of his driver seat.

And then took his suit off and threw it with Grissom's.

He had some matches in his pocket and set first to them and watched for a few seconds as the fire took hold.

Nick saw Grissom hanging onto the side of the truck for dear life.

"I can help you, hold on."

Nick called over to Grissom and he made his way over to Grissom who was by the passenger door but needed a helping hand up to the seat.

His accident had been painful and annoying and yet for him it had been a blessing in disguise.

He'd brought Nick into his very exclusive club...there was only one thing more he wanted...needed to do...and he was planning on doing it right now...

***

The Epilogue

Nick held Grissom, with his arms just above his waist, as he prepared to help him up into the passenger seat of his truck.

Without any warning whatsoever Grissom grabbed the front of Nick's shirt and pulled him into him and kissed him on the lips...

Nick was so astonished he didn't react at all to the warm lips pressing against his own lips and as suddenly as they'd arrived...they left.

Grissom released his shirt and leaned backwards from Nick although Nick's arms were still around him.

"I'm sorry, Nick.

That was unforgiveable...I wouldn't blame you if you left me out here in the desert."

He did sound very remorseful but Nick was still processing the kiss.

"Hold on..."

Nick said, but stopped and stared for a few moments at Grissom, in the dimness of the truck's interior light.

He had absolutely no idea what to say so he did what he thought was the best thing considering the circumstances.

He pulled Grissom towards him and kissed him.

Thoroughly.

And in the blink of an eye Grissom returned his kiss with fervour.

With passion.

In moments Grissom was moaning into the kiss, his tongue battling for dominance with Nick's.

For a few minutes they were consumed with each other's mouths...until Grissom pulled back a little and moved his hands to Nick's face and held each cheek, tenderly.

"That was unexpected and wonderful...but I have to stop...my legs..."

He spoke breathlessly.

"Man...I forgot...come on."

Nick lifted and Gil pushed himself up until he was sitting sideways on the passenger seat with his legs hanging out of the door.

"Thank you."

Grissom's voice was completely different, even uttering the two words.

Soft and kind.

"I'm sorry that I surprised you with the kiss...I just needed...wanted so desperately to do it...but you're obviously okay with it?"

Grissom did sound a little nervous as he asked if Nick was okay with the kiss.

"It was more than okay...it was good, very good, but not that much of a surprise...not really, man, you've being dropping some pretty big hints these last couple of days."

Nick grinned.

As one they moved towards each other again and kissed and Nick let his hand wander down to Grissom's crotch and he palmed the bulge he found there; Grissom bucked his hips in Nick's direction.

Nick pulled away.

"You want me to blow you?"

Nick asked, his voice thick with emotion and very Texan.

Grissom chuckled quietly.

"You have to ask?"

"I guess not.

Here, rest your leg on the door.

He opened the passenger door as wide as it would go and lifted the leg that was in plaster and rested it on the door's storage compartment.

"That's good."

"Is your sprained ankle okay?"

"That's no problem...as long as I don't walk on it."

Nick bent over Grissom and kissed him some more and then went down on his knees in the sand and found that his head was level with Grissom's crotch.

He pulled the zipper down and undid the button and then his belt and then fished around for access to the erection he could see straining through the silky cloth of Grissom's boxers.

He tugged at it and it almost sprang out of the fly hole.

"Nice."

Nick murmured and realised that although it was big it wasn't gigantic, as he'd imagined before he went to bed.  

He glanced up at Grissom who was staring at Nick with a look of shock, bewilderment, even worry. "You okay?"

Nick was concerned about him.

"Never been better.

Incredulous...never in my wildest dreams, and I've had many wild dreams about you...did I think I'd ever be this lucky.

Don't stop."

He put his hand on Nick's head and gently pushed it down and then let his fingers run through the short strands of Nick's hair.

It was immediately apparent that Nick knew what he was doing and was no stranger to the art of fellatio.

Grissom leaned back and closed his eyes...it'd been a couple of years since he'd been blown...and that was an anonymous stranger...not Nick.

Nick Stokes.

Blowing him.

Nick's tongue was lapping his shaft and his teeth were grazing the swollen head...just on the right side of painful and enough to cause sparks to shoot up into the pit of his belly.

Nick was holding his balls and twisting them and pulling them and once more it was just right...a little more pressure would have been uncomfortable but this...this was sublime...

As Grissom thought these thoughts on the expertise of Nick's blow job he knew he wasn't going to last...because...and then he couldn't think what he was going to think because Nick swallowed him down his throat...the wet hot constriction...such a unique feeling...and Nick was pulling back and pushing down again and Grissom was coming...shooting down the throat of the man on his knees before him.

The heat in his cock matched by the heat deep in his belly and up his spine...and in Nick's mouth.

His orgasm took him completely by surprise...he had will power and staying power...but Nick had just stolen his powers from him by sucking him dry in the space of a few minutes.  

And now Nick was being solicitous...licking him and cleaning him quite thoroughly and gently before pushing him back into his boxers.

"You can fasten your own pants."

Nick sounded gruff as if he had a sore throat...not surprisingly, Grissom thought as he began to regain his senses.

Nick pulled himself upright using the truck as a support and turned and leaned on the back passenger door.

"I need to do you..."

Nick chuckled and looked down at his pants, still zipped up.

"I came in my pants."

He turned and bucked his hips a little for Grissom to be able to see the wet spot.

Nick had felt his own orgasm approaching and had grabbed his dick through his pants and rubbed frantically a few times and he came as he swallowed Grissom.

"I made you come in your pants?"

Grissom asked, quite proudly it seemed to Nick.

"Yeah."  

Nick grinned.

"Like a horny teenager."

"You're horny, I'll give you that.

Not a teenager...an experienced man.

You don't know how long I've wanted this."

"To have sex after the slaughter?"

"No.

No.

You.

I've wanted you since the first time I saw you...no, it was even before that.

I heard you talking to Jim and your Texan twang gave me the first of many...many hard-ons you've given me..."

"...you're joking me?"

Nick was staggered at the confession.

"I wish I was.

You have tormented me since that day.

The times I've had a hard-on at scenes when your ass has been in the air...

When you've been sitting at the microscope studying a sample I've wanted to kiss the nape of your neck...

When you've been in front of me talking I've had to put my hands in my pockets to stop me feeling your ass, or putting my hand on your crotch to check out your package.

Or looking up at the screen in the audio-visual lab and I've wanted to sink my teeth into your neck.

It's been tortuous, to be honest.

And now, now, I find out you're gay...you must be gay...the way you sucked me off?"

Grissom was talking very matter of factly as if he was talking about a case but the last part was clearly a question.

"Yeah, I'm gay.

I've had a few het experiences but I'm gay.

You?"

"I don't like being labelled...because it's the person I like...you...it's been you for all these years.

But I'm just being a pedant...I'm gay."

"Do you think we should be going...it's cold.

I've just got to throw sand over our coveralls. " The fire had died and Nick kicked sand over the ashes and came back to the truck.

"Ready to go?

Everything's loaded."

"I could eat a steak...could we get a steak somewhere?"

"I've got jizz all over my pants and we haven't got your wheelchair..."

"...true.

Maybe we could go out on a date and have a steak.

What do you think?"

"You asking me out?"

"Yes.

Definitely.  

Will you?"

"Sure, we can go on a date...I have sucked you off after all."

"Very expertly if I may say so."

Nick smiled and shook his head.

These past three days had been the weirdest in his life and then some...all Grissom had done was fall over a wall and now here he was killing zombies and blowing his boss.

Wow.   

And like a blinding flash of insight everything about Grissom and him became clear.

Grissom had been deliberately distancing himself from him but not because he didn't like him or thought he was a useless CSI, no...because all along he'd wanted him...

Grissom broke into his illuminating reverie...

"I wonder if they could make this into a TV show...two gay zombie hunters getting together."

"What would they call it?"

"CSI Las Vegas: Zombie Hunters!"

The End

Thank you very much for following this fic and all your kind comments...still the same old crowd.

Only one new anonymous comment!

Hey ho...

I do have one fic finished and it was like pulling teeth to get the last thousand words...I will post it to Lj and unless I get the bug again I'm afraid it could be my swan song.  

I have no new ideas even though I have unfinished fics.

 

It's been over four years and a lot of fics...nearly TWO HUNDRED...with several o/100,000 words!!

I've been re-reading a few v.old ones and I think I have been repeating themes...so...it was good while it lasted!

:O)

Dee xx

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