3RD PERSON POV

CHRISTMAS EVE, 2131

"Oh, baby," the woman whispered, gazing down lovingly at the bundle in her arms.

"What are you going to name her?" The doctor asked, filling out the birth certificate.

The woman thought for a second, and then smiled.

"Kaylee. Kaylee Janix." The doctor looked at her, surprised.

"You aren't going to giver her Jam- I mean, your husband's last name?" The woman shook her head violently, clutching the baby to her chest protectively.

"The deal was for our first child to have my last name and our second child to have his, but I just can't put my child through the resentment and judgment she might go through having..." The woman shuddered. "With having his last name." The doctor nodded sagely.

"Would you like me to bring your son in?" She asked. The woman nodded, and the doctor went out of the room only to return moments later with a child in her arms.

"Here you go," she said with a gentle smile as she placed the child next to his mother. She turned to leave, but the woman's voice called out to her.

"Emilie... thank you. For everything." The doctor looked back at the woman, smiled, and then left the room.

TWO HOURS LATER

'The pack is under attack! I repeat, the pack is under attack!'

The message blared through the mind-link, jolting the woman, the child, and the baby awake. The baby started bawling while the child clung to his mother in fear as she got up slowly from the bed. She stumbled into the hallway, holding the baby at her chest and the toddler trailing behind her, only to be almost knocked over by a screaming woman.

"Oh my god! It's here!"

"We're gonna die!"

"The Plague!"

"They're breaking down the walls!"

"The Beta just died! I felt it through the link!"

"Help! My mate was bitten!"

"What the hell do I do?!"

Then, the scariest one of them all.

"Zimmerman! James Zimmerman! He's here with the beasts!"

An older woman grabbed the mother by her shoulders, roughly shaking her.

"Jasmine, Jasmine, dear child! He's here for you!" Jasmine gasped.

"How- how did he find me, Marissa!"

"I don't know, but you have to run! Now! Get to the safe house!"

Marissa picked up the little boy and placed him on her hip, and then the two women were dashing down the hallway, absorbed by the throng of people dashing to get away. They raced outside, and one of the mutated victims - the Turned, lunged at them, screaming.

"My love, my flower! come back to me, so we can all be a happy-" Its ramblings, undoubtedly a message from James Zimmerman, were cut off suddenly by a claw swipe tearing through its neck.

"Jasmine! Marrissa! Thank goodness you're safe!" a man said, his expression turning from bloodlust into one of relief. "Quick, the safe house is over there!" He pointed to a gate twenty yards from them. "Go! Now!"

A Turned lunged at him, and he struggled to keep it away from the women. They rushed over to the safe house and unbolted the heavy metal door. Marissa placed the toddler down inside and reached over for the baby, but the moment she was in her arms a Turned lunged straight for Jasmine, its claws tangled and knotted in her hair as it started to drag her away.

"Marissa!" she called out. "James is going to take me away! Protect my children! My baby-" she was cut off by a scream from another person being bitten by a Turned. "My baby's name is Kaylee! She has my last name! Now go, bolt the do-" She was cut off once again by the gnarled hands of a Turned covering her mouth. She screamed and struggled as she was pulled through the mud and gore, away from her children.

Marissa quickly slammed and bolted the door shut, barely doing it in time to ward off another wave of the beasts, before turning to see about seventy people in the room. A girl, probably thirteen or fourteen, spoke up with a timid voice.

"Luna... What do we do?"