I reintroduce myself.

The girls were panting out their adrenaline by the time they could see me. I gave them my most calming smile and approached slowly.

"Welcome to my shelter, I am Alexander Novak," I told them.

The young women exchanged confused glances. Carmen Rossi, the green-eyed Argentinian with Italian heritage was the one that spoke first.

"Have we meet?" She asked hesitantly with her thick Argentinian accent. "You seem familiar."

I chuckled. "Yeah, but I am not surprised you don't remember me. It was a while ago, and I have shaved my beard since. Plus, last time I saw you all, we weren't even in the US."

There was a pause of two seconds at that but then their eyes almost simultaneously widen in recognition.

"You are that Tour guide from our College vacation to Panama last year!" Said the blonde girl from...Alaska, if I recall correctly.

"That's right Ava," I confirmed with a nod. "Honestly, I wasn't expecting at all to see you ever again. Imagine my surprise when I saw you through the cameras of one of my drones. Still, it's good to see a familiar face, even though we only meet that one time. Ever since this Zombie pandemic broke out in full a week ago my bunker has become a bit...well, too quiet for my taste as I am sure you can imagine."

The group was quiet for a moment, pondering this strange bit of luck. Then, Luciana, the gorgeous dark-haired Brasilian of the group asked the obvious question. "What are you even doing here and with a stocked shelter at that?"

"A very good question," I acknowledged. "But the answer is very long and complicated so for now, suffice to say I learned in advance that this Zombie plague was coming but as the CIA was covering it up to prevent a panic while they still believe they had a chance to contain it, I couldn't really tell the truth to anyone without risking a government-sanctioned "disappearance". And that was if anyone even believed me," I said with a long sigh. "So, I used the fortune I acquired through my dealings with the CIA and their CDC Blacksite to prepare the very best underground shelter I could commission before all hell broke loose. And, here we are."

"Huh, sounds like you have a very interesting tale," Said Kate, the lovely Irish redhead.

"You don't know the half of it," I assured them. "I will tell you all about that later, though. For now, is anyone injured?"

They shook their heads.

"Good," I nodded. "I seem to recall one of you was finishing her training to become a paramedic, though. Which one was it?"

Carmen raised her hand.

"Well, your profession just became a hell of a lot more important in the last week," I noted. "Remind me to show you around my stockpile of medical supplies later on. If something goes wrong you need to know what medicines, surgical instruments and the like I managed to get before the outbreak spread to the masses. For now, though, let's have something to eat, I am sure you are famished."

"Thank you," Luciana said in a small voice as it started to sink in that they found a safe haven.

And with that, the grateful girls followed me.