'Mummy,' Lila shouted as Yoko took her out of the oval room. Her smothered voice lingered in my head even after she was gone, her image imprinted into my mind. It could be the last I'd see her. I knew Yoko would keep her safe in the vaults; the safe room agreed upon once things go wrong. I returned my attention to the couple running through the thick snow outside in disbelief. I sighed. How could they have survived The Freeze?

I felt stifled, as if watching a person drown. Slow and agonizing was their progress. From the darkness emerged the predator, closing in.

Bill's gunshot pierced through the heavy silence overthrowing one of the Shadows. Its' screeching scream agitated the horde, causing them to attack all at once. The hail of bullets raining on them did not stop them from entering the premises.

'The gate isn't closing; why the hell isn't the gate closing?' frantically asked Martha, her voice masked by zaps of her weapon.

'Ali, the gate!' I cried into the transceiver before shooting from the rifle I picked from the weapons and ammunition piled close by.

'Working on it,' he replied, distressed.

'What's wrong?'

'The damn hydraulics froze.'

'Can you fix it?' Fear twisted my insides in the moments waiting for his reply, every bit of courage I thought I had shredded.

'Uh... Yes! It's working, it's working!'

The gate boomed closed, putting an end to the flood of creatures streaming in. We mercilessly hunted the ones inside except for those too close to the humans we've decided to harbor.

My heart thudded in my ears, sweat streaming down my back despite the bite of chill entering through the slits in the windows. In the stillness, I swear I could hear it. The clicks they made before pouncing at their prey. My finger exceeded my mind and pulled the trigger just as one had attacked. It dropped to the ground, its deformed humanoid body lying motionless, half-swallowed by the snow.

Questions flashed in my head as I watched the snow around it turn a deep burgundy. Would we eventually be one of them? Was it the mutation that started it all? Could we survive? A child's cry pulled me back to the three adults. They had their backs to the children, surrounded them fearlessly facing their enemy. But in that heroic moment, something was gravely wrong. Those people had no weapons on them!

When the horde attacked like a snaped bear trap, I thought it was the end, when to our shock, the humans attacked too! Bare-handed, they ripped the throats of the Shadows as if it was nothing, leaving none alive.

No one in the room spoke for a long while. My mind struggled to wrap around what had just happened. What on earth did we just witness? What did we allow into our facility?

'Open the door,' a woman yelled. 'The children are scared,' she continued pointing at the children behind her. 'They haven't properly eaten for a while... Please, we need your help just as you need ours.'

I turned at Ray who's features I could not decipher, then looked at Martha. Her weapon rattled in her trembling hands. Bill to her side had his blank stare fixated on the corps, his ashen face haunting. All of them, like myself, were in shock.

'We know what kind of facility this is,' continued the woman, her voice carried by the freezing wind. 'We can contribute to your research.'

I picked the binoculars hanging around my neck, taking a closer look at the woman talking to us. The black helmet on her head made her features impossible to be seen. The logo on the shoulder of her suit was familiar, yet I could not remember where I saw it. But what truly bothered me was how on earth did she know about the research?

'What shall we do?' I finally asked.

'Kill them,' said Bill, lifting his rifle.

'No!' I cried, 'We can't do such a thing!'

'It is the right thing to do,' said Ray.

I could not believe my ears. Ray of all people, agreeing to kill, children included.

'What about the children?' I asked, swallowing down the knot in my throat.

'We can never be sure that they weren't affected by whatever their folks have,' whispered Martha cautiously as if fearful of being heard.

'I can't agree to this. I won't agree to it!' I exclaimed, my head between my hands. 'Haven't any of you ever wonder how she knows about our research?'

'We are at a human genetics research lab, Beth. Everyone knew what's the building's for. Don't allow her to affect your judgment,' said Martha, leaning close to me. 'Think of Lila.'

I felt Ray's hand touch my shoulder, and I flinched. 'Don't dare use my daughter as leverage!'

'Beth, we all know it isn't the right thing to do, but it is what we must to survive,' added Ray, his eyes pinned on mine, leaving his post, approaching.

I moved away, bitterness rising to my mouth, his face out of focuses from the tears I fought back.

'Their visit to this facility has a reason.'

'Then allow them to explain their reasons instead of butchering them,' I fumed, hasting towards the door.

'Beth, wait! Where are you going?' Ray cried.

'To meet them!'