The screaming outside is getting louder, the fear in the room spiking. Nothing like this has ever happened before. There was only one time in my life where some infected made it past our gates, but they were stopped in mere minutes. Now, we are being overrun.

"There are so many," Noah says, the little girl pressed to his chest. "Too many."

"They were humans too," Rosalie says, voice soft. "They looked crazy, and they were trying to bite us, just like the infected."

Gritting my teeth, I move away from the door. "Everyone upstairs."

No one questions me as I lead them up the stairs and into my room. Theo is already there, sitting on my mattress. Once everyone is inside, I close my door and lock it, pushing my dresser in front.

The screams build up, filled with sheer terror. The groans of the infected are getting louder, excited by the screams. The humans though, sound the most terrifying. Laughter, maniacal laughter is coming from them.

"I don't think we are going to survive this, Gwen whispers from behind me. "Matty, what do we do?"

"We wait until Mom, Dad, or Papa come to get us."

A thud comes from downstairs, causing us to fall silent. "Shit," I whisper, pushing Gwen behind me. The infected would stay away from us with the blood on the windows. That can only mean that it is the humans who are trying to break in.

"Gwen, get the weapons," I say against her head, only speaking the words loud enough so that she can hear me.

She nods, walking silently across my room and over to my closet. The thudding gets louder, the door groaning in protest. The laughter is coming from outside, making chills run down my body.

"Matty," Darcy cries.

Rosalie goes over to her, shushing her before I have a chance. I give her a still nod of thanks. Now is the time for us to ignore whatever is happening between our friendship. We have to survive first.

Gwen comes back over to me, handing me an axe as she holds tightly onto a machete. Rosalie has a crossbow raised, Darcy hiding behind her. Theo is standing now, lips pressed tightly together as his eyes remain fixed on the door. His hands are clenched around the two knives Gwen gave him, clearly ready to fight. He has had the least amount of training out of all of us, just under a year. Darcy has had none, a terrifying thought. If she becomes separated from us, she has no way of fighting back.

The crunching of wood causes us all to tense. My breath comes rushing out of me, eyes never leaving the door. The laughter fills the house, going from room to room downstairs. The stairs creak as the humans climb them.

One, two, three...

Three of them, and the moans of the infected following behind.

"Get ready," I whisper.

Gwen steps up beside me as Rosalie pushes Darcy behind the bed, hiding her from sight. Noah places the little girl in her lap, freeing his arms for fighting.

The humans stop right outside our door, the laughter dying off. The first thud against the door causes the little girl to scream. This just seems to excite the humans, their laughter starting up stronger than before. A piece of the door breaks off, and one of the humans peek in, a crazed, bloodshot eyes peeking in.

"Yum," she cackles. Eyes sweeping across the room. The hole grows bigger as she, along with the others, rip away chunks of the door. Just as they are about to break in, something catches their attention. They turn away from us, yelling in rage as they attack an invisible intruder.

Thuds of falling bodies are the only thing telling us what is happening. It is completely silent for almost a minute, before footsteps come closer to the door. The door is pushed away, easy enough since the humans were practically through.

"Beckett?" Noah says, his weapon clattering to the floor.

The alpha steps into the room, blood splattered across his face and clothes. "Let's get out of here before more come."

We don't waste a second, following him out of the room. He pulls Noah close to him, checking for injury before letting us leave. The humans are sprawled across the floor, eyes open as they lay dead.

"We have to grab some food and supplies. We can't leave empty handed or we will never survive out there," Rosalie says.

Beckett opens his mouth to argue, but I cut him off. "She's right. Let's just make this quick. Everyone grab a bag and fill it as much as you can.

The screams continue outside, but we have to ignore them for now. Gwen stands guard as we fill as many bags as we can carry with food and water. Once an infected stumbles in through the front door, Beckett declares that it is time to go.

None of us argue.

It is utter chaos outside, people fighting for their lives. Pack members lay on the ground, along with bodies of the infected and humans. There are too many to count, and the infected just seem to keep coming. Never before in my life have I seen this many, and they are faster than before.

"Come on," Beckett says. They came in through the front gate. We have to take one of the side ones.

It is disconcerting to see our pack members like this, desperately fighting for their lives. I almost feel like I am not here, just watching everything like a movie, instead of living this experience.

An infected looks up at us as we pass by, too busy gnawing on one of my pack mates. Anger floods through me at the sight. I can't help but to raise my axe, burying it in the infected's head. Satisfaction settles in me when I watch it fall to the ground.

I don't know how long I stand there, staring at the pack mate whose face is almost completely gone. Someone yells my name, but it sounds so far away.

Everything is so far away, a ringing in my ears. My eyes flick up, glancing over the fighting, the screams ringing in my ears. Mom is in the middle of fighting two humans, Papa by his side. I take a step over to him, instinct calling for me to protect my family.

Someone calls my name again, but I can't turn away. It is only when someone grabs my arm, wrenching me back that I am snapped out of the haze that I had been in.

"Matty, what are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Turning, I see that Dad is the one holding me. His eyes look terrified. "What are you doing out here? Where are your siblings?"

"They're over-" I pint to the right, but my face falls when I see that they aren't there anymore. "They were right over there."

Dad pulls me again, forcing me to start walking. "You've got to get out of here. We aren't going to make it out of this. There are too many."

"Where are we going?"

"Micah and Taylor hid the little ones in the treehouse. I want you to get them out and leave."

"Dad, I can't just leave you and Mom and Papa."

He stops once we are in the trees, hand tight on my arm. "Matty, listen to me. Things are going downhill. We are just trying to hold them off long enough for you guys to make it out safe. Grandpa is waiting at the West gate. Get there, and you'll be safe." He pulls me into a harsh hug. "Be safe, love."

And then he is letting me go, returning to the fight that is still going strong. Turning back to the forest, it is oddly silent. I raise my axe, eyes flitting from tree to tree as I make my way to the tree house.

Elva and Elijah are on watch, both of them startling when they see me. "Time to go," I tell them, voice tense.

"But what about-" Elva starts, looking behind me.

"No. We can't wait any longer. Come on."

Elijah is the one to move first, pulling on the bell of the tree house. The hatch opens and the ladder drops down. The younger ones come filing down, Sebastian, followed by Coralie and the twins. Elva picks up her youngest sister, while I pick up Wyatt.

They don't question me as I lead them through the woods. The West gate isn't too far away from my special spot in the meadow. I know it well.

The growls of the humans and infected start to filter in the woods, and I desperately hope that all of our parents made it out safe. Hopefully, they ran.

"Faster," I call, pushing myself into a run.

The gate it nearing, the sound of an engine coming from the other side. Just when I am about to climb over, the gate swings open, Grandpa cracking it open just enough for us to crawl through.

A bus- one decked out in protective gear and weapons- is waiting for us. "Onto the bus, hurry now."

Grandpa ushers all of us on, going back to the gate once we are safe. Jesse is sitting behind the wheel, and Wyatt scrambles from my arms, his twin sister following him to their father. They are both bawling, and Jesse scoops them up. He is looking over them, obviously searching for his sons and mate.

"They must be at the other gate," I say to him. "Beckett said that we had to leave through one of the side entrances. But I got separated."

He nods, lips pressed tightly together. The sounds of the humans and infected are getting louder and Grandpa hurries back to the bus. "Get the bus moving, the others are coming, but the infected are getting too close. They are going to have to jump on."

Jesse puts down the twins, shifting the bus into gear and getting it rolling. The gate is thrown open, and I watch as my parents, Taylor, Tate, and Micah run straight at us. They are sprinting as fast as possible, keeping some distance between them and the monsters.

"Hurry!" Grandpa yells. He Holds out a hand, grabbing Taylor, as he is the nearest one. The omega is practically flung onto the bus, Micah coming up after him. Tate pushes Mom forward, and Grandpa barely catches his hand. "Faster!"

Tate keeps almost getting Grandpa's hand, but keeps missing. It is only when Dad and Papa give him an extra push, causing him to stumble right into Grandpa, that he makes it on.

Papa grabs Dad's hand, pulling him along. The humans are only a meter away, their eyes going wild as they snap their jaws.

"We gotta go faster!" Jesse yells.

"Wait!" I scream back, watching as Papa tries to close the distance between himself and the bus. "Just wait!"

"Matty-"

"No!" I push Mom away, but he just grabs me again, pulling me close.

"Come on! Run!" Grandpa yells.

They are both clearly exhausted, barely hanging on. Giving it one more shot, Papa pushes them forward, just barely grabbing onto Grandpa's hand.

"Yes!" I yell, running over to the door to help pull them on. They both collapse onto the floor, as Grandpa closes the door, locking it.

"Everyone, sit down," Jesse yells. We gotta outpace them and make it to the East gate, or else we won't be able to get the others."

But we don't even have to make it that far. The others are waiting for us on the main road, Avery and Nik, along with Alexis, and Micah's brother.

My eyes strain to try and find my siblings, and the others. Mom must notice too, because he is biting his nails as he stares out one of the windows, clearly desperate to see that all of his children are okay. Just when I am about to climb off the bus and go searching for them, they come into view, running as fast as they can.

It is clear that they ran into trouble. They should have made it to the East gate before I made it to the bus, the distance much shorter. Beckett is running behind all of them, killing any infected or human who gets too close.

The humans and infected are few in number near the bus, but Jesse slams on the breaks, throwing open the doors. The horde trying to follow Noah and my siblings is too close for comfort. While it is easy to kill one or two infected, it is easy to become overwhelmed with a horde of them all trying to eat you.

The others don't hesitate to get on the bus, no one seriously injured. The most anyone has is scratches, either from falling or fighting off their attackers.

"Is this all?" Papa asks, leaning against the wall. "Where is everyone else?"

"There is no one else," Jesse says, already pulling away from the nearing horde. The gate grows smaller the farther away we get, the place that has always been my home falling from my view. "This is all that's left of our pack."