The sun wasn't even up over the horizon as Ducky arrived at NCIS Headquarters. He enjoyed having this time in the morning before anyone else arrived. For that time, which passed all too quickly, he was alone with those who had passed on. As he entered the morgue, and clicked on the light something caught his eye. The black bag laid out on one of the autopsy tables was moving. Was it possible that the person inside was not actually dead? Advancing on the bag, images of another who was not actually dead flashed in his mind. With slightly trembling hands, he took hold of the zipper and began sliding it cautiously down. When it was open only a few inches, a hand shot out, vicelike fingers gripping his arm tightly.

"It's all right...you're--" Before Ducky could finish, he felt a flash of sharp pain. When he was finally able to jerk his hand free, two fingers were missing and blood was flowing freely down his arm. Cradling the wounded hand, he could only watch in horror as the zipper continued to open and the creature rose to a sitting position. Nothing in any of his medical training had prepared him for this. Thankfully, Abigail and Tony had. This was no longer a man, it was a zombie.

The zombie slid off the table and fell to the floor, legs still entangled in the body bag. If Ducky had learned anything from the time he spent watching "Dawn of the Dead" with Abigail, it was that a zombie's only weakness was in the head. Destroy the brain and destroy the zombie. Shortly after the morgue had been invaded by Ari Haswari, Ducky found a gun in the locked drawer of his desk. There was no note, no explanation, but he knew that only Gibbs would have done such a thing. Truth be told, he hadn't thought about that gun since he found it in the drawer all those months ago. He'd never thought that he would need to use it, but, he needed it now. Unlocking the drawer with his good hand, he pulled out the gun, aimed it at the head of the zombie still struggling to extricate itself from the body bag and fired. The gunshot sounded like a roar, but he pulled the trigger two more times just to be sure. With one heaving groan, the body shuddered and lay still. The gun clattered to the floor, and Ducky was reminded of another unfortunate truth about zombies. One bite was fatal. He had no idea how long it would take the foreign toxin to permeate every cell of his body, but the process was inevitable. He had two choices. One. Shoot himself in the head to prevent his reanimation as a zombie and seal off the morgue. Two. Spend his last few hours doing the best he can to track down and eliminate the cause of this plague and trust that his friends would do the right thing and put a bullet between his eyes when it was his time. It wasn't a hard decision, but at the same time he couldn't allow himself to put the lives the others in danger. Hitting the panic button, Ducky sealed off the morgue and dialed Gibbs's desk.

"What is it, Duck?"

As Ducky related to Gibbs what happened down in the morgue, the pencil Gibbs had been holding snapped in half. "Zombies? You have to admit that's a little out there."

"I couldn't agree with you more, but I'm afraid that's exactly what happened. Ask Abigail or Tony, they'll tell you I'm right."

Tony had just arrrived in the bullpen, but the look on Gibbs' face gave him pause. "What's up, Boss?"

Hanging up the phone, Gibbs looked at him with an expression he hadn't seen since Kate was shot. "Ducky was bitten by a zombie."

"What? A zombie?" Tony couldn't believe what Gibbs was telling him.

"That's what he says, and he's positive you and Abby will back him up. I hope he's wrong."

---

Minutes later the two agents stood outside the morgue. When Ducky held up his damaged hand, Tony winced, but Gibbs just stared straight ahead. Then, Ducky showed them the body lying on the floor, half out of the body bag, and Tony knew.

"He's right, boss. That has to be a zombie."

Gibbs remained unconvinced. "I want an autopsy." Whether it was the fact that the life of his friend hung in the balance or Gibbs' Rule 3, there would be an autopsy. Ducky nodded resignedly and Gibbs turned back to Tony. "I want you to go back to where the body was found. Take Ziva with you."

"On it."