A/N: I claim no right to Doctor Who. This is one of my first non-AU original stories with a couple of original characters. Now, I normally don't ask for reviews (although I love them and you), but I'm extremely open to comments on this. Help a girl?

Sam sat at her usual table in the back of the hospital cafeteria finishing her horribly dry turkey sandwich and the last minutes of her break. She grimaced. She hated turkey and began to wonder why she had made this specific lunch choice. That is, until she was broken out of her thoughts when the doors to the cafeteria burst open, a man in a long navy coat and a much younger woman slamming the doors shut behind them.

"Clara!" the man pointed. "Look back there and find something to brace the door."

"Got it!" the woman named Clara responded. She rushed behind the counter, locating the janitor's closet behind it. She grabbed a broom. "Will this work?"

The man nodded, holding out his hand. "It'll make due for now." Clara tossed him the broom and the man stuck the broom through the door handles.

Sam watched in a stunned silence from her corner. They hadn't noticed her yet, and Sam was still deciding if that was a good thing or not. She put down the rest of her offensive sandwich.

The younger of the strange pair must have noticed her movement. She tapped her companion on the shoulder. "Doctor," she whispered. "We're not alone. There's someone in the corner."

In the time it took Sam to blink, the man had made his way across the cafeteria. He stopped within, in Sam's opinion, the boundary of normal personal space, his wide eyes peering into hers. He pulled a metal appliance from his coat and waved it at her. Sam squinted at the bright green light from the tool as he brought it near her face.

"Who are you?" the man growled, his Scottish brogue making the situation all the more intense.

Sam stood to her tallest, even though her eyes only met his chin, and she pulled her shoulders back. "Dr. Samantha Pryor. And since you're in my hospital, who the hell are you?" She reached up and pushed his tool out of her face. "And what are you doing with that?"

The young woman chuckled from the man's left shoulder. "I like her."

The man called the Doctor grumbled and took a step back. He looked at his tool, as if checking a thermometer reading, before placing it in a pocket. "I'm the Doctor, this is Clara. Your hospital, as you call it, is in grave danger."

Sam crossed her arms. "Doctor who?"

Clara stepped forward, hand extended to Sam. "Just the Doctor. He likes being mysterious. Hi, I'm Clara Oswald."

Sam slowly shook her hand. "So, he's Scottish and you're English?"

"And you're American and we're in America," the Doctor interjected harshly. "Did you happen to miss the part where I said your hospital is in danger?"

"Ok, what's going on? Why's it in danger?"

"Have you had any unusual incidents? Any strange patients? We noticed on our way in someone mentioned a body had gone missing."

"Doctor," Clara said in a disapproving tone."

"We may have listened in on some security officers, but semantics."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "No, not that I'm aware of… wait, what do you mean, strange?"

"Anything."

"A colleague did tell me a patient of his had been acting strangely a day or so ago, but I'm afraid I don't know exact details about it."

"How strange?" Clara asked.

"Erratic behavior, low blood pressure, and his eyes…"

"What about his eyes?" the Doctor asked.

Sam shrugged. "Umm, John said that they were yellow and red."

The Doctor bent down to look into her eyes. "Now this is very important, Dr. Pryor. What happened to this patient?"

"I don't know, I didn't ask. What's this about?"

Clara and the Doctor shared a look. The Doctor turned back to Sam. "Those symptoms match exactly a species of unparalleled danger to yours. A parasitic alien that slowly invades and has the potential to wipe out the host species. We've been tracking its signature for awhile now and guess what? You're its first stop."

Sam was silent for a moment, and then she burst out laughing. Brushing her auburn hair out of her eyes, she stared incredulously at the Doctor and Clara. "Aliens?! You actually expect me to believe that aliens are invading this hospital? This tiny hospital in the middle of nowhere?" The Doctor scoffed and rolled his eyes as she paused for breath. Then something clicked in Sam's mind. "Hang on, you said 'your species'. What, are you supposed to be an alien too?" When the only response she received was a raised eyebrow, she turned to Clara, pointing at the Doctor. "Is he for real?"

Clara simply nodded.

With a sharp nod, Sam looked warily back at the Doctor. "Saying I believe you, which I'm not saying I do at the moment, but if I did and what you're saying is true, what would this parasite want with cadavers? I'm assuming you're going to say this has something to do with that missing body you eavesdropped about earlier."

For the first time, a somewhat pleasant look crossed the Doctor's face. He flipped back the corners of his coat back to put his hands in his pockets, flashing a bit of a red liner. "You're right, Clara. She may be a clever one. Once the parasite has taken over a living being, it's food source is the bodies of the host species' dead."

Sam pulled her hair back into a ponytail. "So what do we do?"

"We, Dr. Pryor, are going zombie hunting."