By the time Oliver pulled into the HQ rear parking lot, Claire had passed out. He was convinced it was a phase and whenever she woke up, the Claire she knew would be long gone.

He screeched to a stop outside the sliding glass doors and signaled for the waiting officers.

"I need some help here. Can someone get a gurney, ASAP. I secured Claire to the door with her cuffs and seatbelt."

"You cuffed her?" the first officer said, his eyebrows raised. "Was that really necessary?"

"She thought so. Hurry, we don't have much time, she can wake at any moment."

One officer ran back inside while the other ran around the car and helped Oliver remove the cuffs and the seatbelt. As they lifted her out of the car, her hands twitched.

"Where's that gurney?" Oliver yelled as they lifted Claire out of the car. "You, take her legs." Oliver lifted her by her armpits and walked towards the door just as the other officer appeared with a gurney and the on-duty sergeant.

"Quickly," Oliver said and laid her down on the gurney, then strapped her arms and legs in. As soon as he was done, he stepped away and took a deep breath.

"Thank you, sir, for bringing her here," the sergeant said. "I'm Becker. I'm the one she called earlier. She told me to have a secure room waiting for her and to keep her restrained no matter what."

"That's correct. Did she tell you anything else?"

Becker nodded and gestured towards the building. "Yes, in fact, she did. Some sort of biological outbreak. We can talk further in my office."

"Before we do that, Sergeant, I'm looking for Matthew," Oliver said as he followed Becker into the building.

"Claire's son? Yeah, he's waiting in my office. How do you know Matthew, if you don't mind me asking."

"He's my son."

Becker raised his eyebrows. "Your son? I didn't realize—"

"We've been separated for a while," Oliver said without going into detail. If she hadn't shared details of her past with her co-workers, he didn't want to be the one to fill in any murky details.

"I see. She said something about an outbreak. Is it true?"

Oliver nodded. "I'm afraid so. I had hoped I would never see one again, but it's here. I'd advise your men to take extra care. These beasts are smart."

"Smart?" Becker laughed. "Sir, I spent years hunting down these animals before they were finally contained. They were anything but smart."

"These are different."

"If you say so."

They arrived at Becker's office. Matthew, seated in the chair opposite Becker's desk, looked up. He furrowed his brow and stood up to greet Oliver.

"Dad? Is it really you?"

Oliver resisted an impulse to rush over and give Matthew a hug. He wiped a tear from his eye and nodded. "It is. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Matthew crossed his arms. "Yeah, like five years. What took you so long?"

"Listen, Matthew," Oliver said, "Your mom and I—"

The phone on Becker's desk interrupted them. Becker picked it up and listened intently for a few moments, then hung up. He looked up at Oliver.

"You better come with me to the ops center."

"Why, what's happening?"

"I'm not sure."

"Matthew, stay here, all right? I'll be right back, ok?"

"Fine." Matthew sat back down, crossed his arms and examined the floor. Oliver followed Becker down the hall and through a door with sign that said OPS CENTER. Inside, half a dozen officers sat in front of two rows of computers, all with headsets. An enormous screen filled the entire wall in front of them. It was divided into several sections. Two out of four sections on the screen showed active body cams, two showed only static. Frantic radio calls reverberated around the room.

"What's going on?" Becker demanded as he stepped up to the officer in charge.

"We've lost contact with two of the groups, sir."

"Lost contact?"

"It happened very suddenly. One moment, they were searching one area with reported activity, the next there was a frenzy, a lot of screaming." The office cleared his throat. "Then we lost the feed."

As if on cue, the room filled with shouting and rapid movement on one of the remaining body cams. Someone screamed. Weapons fired at random. Oliver gasped when the face with red eye whites appeared for a moment on the video feed. Then it lost signal.

Becker cursed and slammed his fist on the closest table. "What's the location of Team Alpha?"

"They secured a perimeter around the town, as planned. Road blocks on any roads. Nobody is getting in or out."

"Sir," another officer said and pointed towards the screen. "Check this out. Teams Bravo, Charlie and Delta are on the move."

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"On the move?"

A map of the area replaced the camera views on the screen. It showed colored dots representing the four teams and their precise location.

"Sergeant, you have a lot of high-tech equipment for a small island," Oliver said as he squinted his eyes.

"To keep this stuff from happening in the first place," Becker said and return his attention to the screen. "Why are the vehicles moving, but not the men?"

"I don't know, sir. They haven't moved since the feeds were cut. Perhaps they're alive after all?"

"You mean, running without their equipment? Not likely."

"It's them," Oliver said as he crossed his arms. "They're coming here."

Becker turned and looked at Oliver. "Them who?"

"The zombies."

Becker grinned. "Right. Like I said, I never saw an intelligent—"

"Yes, I know what you said. I'm the scientist who stopped the last outbreak. With all due respect, I think I'm more qualified than you to speak to their mental capabilities than you are. Especially since' I've encountered them myself."

Becker shook his head. "Doesn't matter. This is a purely military operation at this point. If this is a fresh outbreak like you and Claire seem to think, the only thing we can do is contain it an eliminate it."

"It will not be easy. They're different. They're smart. I told Claire that they're like a hive. Everything they do is in unison, with a shared goal."

"And what may that goal be, sir? World domination?" Becker chuckled and shook his head.

Oliver felt a chill run down his spine. He hadn't actually thought that far about what the purpose of the hive might be. What were they after? Was world domination such an outlandish explanation?

"I don't think that matters at this point. If they're heading this way, it will only be a matter of time before we find out first hand."

"That much we can agree on," Becker said and pressed his lips tightly together. "Deploy a perimeter around the city," he said to the team leader. "No-one comes in or out."

"I'm not sure that will be enough. Did Claire tell you about the water treatment plants?"

Becker turned, his eyebrows raised. "The plants? What about them?"

Oliver shared the details he had found in Armstrong's lab and office and how he suspected everyone on the island were being targeted.

"Holy Mother of—" Becker started, his face turning white.

"What is it?"

"She said something about securing the treatment plants. It seemed like an over-reaction at the time. I'll deploy teams at once."

"It's likely too late either way," Oliver said and shook his head.

"Dad?"

Oliver turned. Matthew stood just inside the door. His face was white and he looked confused. "Dad, what's going on? Where's Mom?"

At that moment, Oliver knew what had to be done. He stepped over to Matthew.

"What did your mom tell you when she called?"

"To grab my bug-out bag and come over here, to be ready to leave? Why, what's going on?"

"I'll explain later. Where's the bag?"

"In the office."

"Go grab it, quickly. Meet me back here."

Matthew nodded and disappeared out the door. Oliver turned to Becker.

"You need to evacuate."

"Evacuate? Evacuate what?"

"The city, the island?"

Becker looked at Oliver, then crossed his arms. "There's no way to evacuate to, sir, even if we wanted to."

"So you're just going to let everyone get infected? That's the plan?"

"That won't happen. We're isolating the city. We'll be fine."

"Where's Claire? I need to see her."

"Just down the hallway, to the right. Room A."

Oliver nodded and left Becker behind. As he stepped out of the room, Matthew came running, his back on his back.

"Dad?"

"Stay here, I'll be right back."

"Not happening. I'm not staying put anymore. I saw what was going on in there," Matthew said and nodded towards the Ops Center door.

Oliver sighed. "Very well. Follow me," he said and walked in the direction Becker had indicated. He found the door with ROOM A on it and entered. Just inside the door, he froze. There, in front of a large observation window stood Ron, the hunter Oliver had encountered on the plane ride to the island. Ron turned and looked at Oliver, then cracked a smile.

"Well, fancy seeing you again, son."

"What are you doing here?"

"What do you think? Smelling the roses?" Ron nodded towards the window and laughed. "I can't remember ever seeing a live one captured."

Oliver felt a chill run down his spine as he stepped up to the observation window, Matthew close behind. Claire, or what had once been here, lay on the bed, wresting with the restraints. Matthew's eyes grew large as saucers and his mouth dropped.

"Mom?" he whispered. Oliver grabbed Matthew and held him close.

"I'm sorry you had to see this," he whispered.

"What's wrong with her? What is she doing?"

Oliver hesitated. He never in his life imagined he would have to break these news to his son.

"I'm afraid she's infected, Matthew."

Matthew looked up at Oliver. "Infected? What do you mean? Like a—"

Oliver nodded. "Yes, like a zombie. I don't think there's a whole lot of her left in there."

"She's a live one, isn't she?" Ron said with a chuckle.

"That's my wife! Show some respect," Oliver hissed and got into Ron's face. "She's not an 'it' or something to be hunted. She's not a trophy."

Ron backed up and held his hands up. "Sorry mate, no disrespect to either of ya. I'm just telling ya, I knew I'd find something here."

"There's plenty coming. You leave her alone."

"So I hear, so I hear."

"I need to see her," Matthew said with tears streaming down his cheeks. He pulled free of Oliver's grip and walked straight to the side door that led into the room and was inside before Oliver could stop him.

"Matthew, no, don't go in there!" he said as he ran after him. He was too late.

Matthew stopped a few yards from the bed, and just stood there as Claire thrashed against the restraints. Oliver joined him and grabbed his shoulders.

"Don't go any closer."

"Mom?" Matthew said, his voice breaking. "Mom, it's me, Matthew."

Claire calmed down instantly and turned her head towards them. The bright red eyes stared back at them, her mouth partially open. Saliva dripped onto the pillow.

"Mom?"

Claire grunted and tried to reach towards them, her hands tugging against the restraints.

"Claire?" Oliver said. Claire continued to stare at them. "Claire, can you hear me? Are you there?"

Claire, or what had been Claire, blinked and a tear rolled down her cheek. Oliver felt his own eyes tear up. Then, she growled and her struggle against the restraints intensified. Oliver pulled Matthew out of the room and locked the door.

"Well, gentlemen, I've got some huntin' to do," Ron said and nodded towards the two of them. He walked towards the door, then hesitated. "Listen, I'm sorry, ok?" Then, he walked out the door and left Oliver and Matthew in silence.

"Dad, what's wrong with her? What do we do?"

"I don't know if there is anything we can do. Not right now, at least." Oliver paused and rubbed his eyes. "Matthew, as much as I hate to say this, we need to get out of here. What you saw in the ops room, those are zombies. An entire town full of them, and they're coming this way."

"Becker will protect us, won't he?"

"I'm not so sure I trust his abilities. We need to head to the airport and find a flight out of here."

"Dad, we can't leave Mom here. We can't!" Tears streamed down his face and his arms were crossed.

Oliver opened his mouth to explain but an alarm bell interrupted him. Orange emergency lights mounted on the wall flashed.

"Dad?" Matthew said and grabbed Oliver's arm. The door burst open and Ron stepped in, a semi-automatic rifle in his hands.

"Lads, it's time to hit the road. The perimeter has been breached. We've got to go."

Oliver glanced over at Claire and felt a chill run down his spine. She was still, and her red eyes met his. She grinned.

She grinned [https://img.wattpad.com/c62b234f7a5dee1ce0ccf5fb446c350b757bf952/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f665254723463396b746c675631673d3d2d3837393535323236382e313630633261333533623563366464643933303834363134383235322e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]