"We're losing them. We're losing them all."

"Flynn?"

"We couldn't revive him. I'm sorry, excuse me," she said as another machine went haywire.

Xavier dug his hands into his hair and tried to take a breath, but the air was suddenly heavier than it was before, his chest sore.

Helpless.

He felt utterly helpless. There was nothing he could do that would make everything okay again.

"Has Hannah found anything?" Dr. Booth asked from across the room.

He wanted more than anything to say yes, but he couldn't. "I'm afraid not," he responded, shaking his head.

"Tell her to hurry or they have no chance."

How was he supposed to go out there and tell her that, especially after having lost a friend? His gaze drifted to a bed in the corner with a sheet covering a body. He knew that's where Flynn was. What on earth was happening to his research station? First Judith. Now Flynn. This was supposed to be just simple research on a dead body. But the boy wasn't dead, and he wasn't alive either. He was somewhere in between. There, but not all there.

Finally finding his feet, he raced outside and grabbed each of the girls by their arm and helped them stand up. "If we don't solve this thing, we're going to lose all of them. Let's go," he ordered.

"I'm not going near that thing," Cheryl snapped, pulling herself out of his grip. "Damn it, Hannah! How could you have done this to us?" Cheryl tackled Hannah and planted a right hook on her chin before Xavier could stop her.

"Hey, hey." He hauled her off Hannah. "I know you're upset, but fighting won't change anything. We have to pull together and try to solve this as quickly as possible. Can we do that safely?"

"What's the point? We have no effing answers," Cheryl said, trying to headbutt him. "Let me go, damn it!"

"Easy now, Cheryl. I'm on your side, so is Hannah. She didn't want this to happen anymore than you did. But I know she wants to solve this before any other people die."

"Fine," the woman grumbled.

Hannah blinked back tears, trying desperately to understand that Cheryl was just traumatized. They both were. But her friend was looking at her with such hate that it created an empty pit in her stomach. What if she just lost two of her best friends? Darkness descended upon her like a thick black cloud.

It was a feeling she didn't wish on anyone, and it made her more determined to find out what was going on and fast. Flynn had, had a relatively minor bite on his arm, but it still spread through him so quickly. Whatever was infecting them showed no mercy. Flynn had lasted about 48 hours, Judith less. That meant she may have only another 24 hours to find a cure or the rest of the people in that clinic would die.

There were a few more antibiotics to check back in the lab, but her worry was that none of them would work. She had hoped that one of the people infected would somehow build up enough antibodies and survive, then they could work on understanding how the disease worked, but it was beginning to look like that wouldn't happen. No one could last long enough, like with rabbies.

Hannah walked down the hall on shaky legs, trying to hold back the loud sob building in her chest. She couldn't cry. Not yet. She had a job to do, and if she didn't do it, no one else would.

"Wait," she cried, making Cheryl and Xavier bump into her back. "Xavier, I need you to go back to the clinic and get a blood sample from Flynn and then one from Judith. I need to see how its changed since their death." Hannah turned and looked at Cheryl, her heart tearing in two. "If you want to work in the lab across from ours, I'll understand; just know that I'm grieving him too."

"No, it's okay. I don't want to be in a room with men right now," she said. "I'll survive as long as that kid can't get close to us."

Hannah reached out and gave her friend a hug. "We're going to figure this out, and then we're gonna make sure it never happens to anyone else."

Cheryl touched the brown bruise on Hannah's chin. "I'm sorry I hit you."

"To be honest, I don't blame you. We are here because I wanted to come." That was the truth. The other two only tagged along for the ride because they were her assistants. She didn't have to bring them. Director Adams had given her the option of using people he already had, but she wanted her people. Ones she already knew she could work with.

But now Flynn was dead because she'd put them in this position, and that could never be taken back. That was a hard pill to swallow. It was stuck in her throat, with a raw gnawing feeling in her gut. They didn't have time to grieve him, though, because doctors didn't have that luxury. They had to get to the lab and try to solve the mystery before any others died. Hannah wasn't sure how possible that was, though.

"You don't think Flynn's gonna become like that kid, do you?" Cheryl asked, wringing her hands in front of her.

"The kid is likely an anomaly or was possibly cryogenically frozen by an ancient civilization." She wasn't sure she believed the latter, but that would certainly explain the ice cube, aside from being in Alaska.

"Maybe," Cheryl murmured, not looking like she believed her.

Hannah felt the same uncertainty reflecting in her friend's face. What they were dealing with was completely unprecedented in human history, except in myths, legends, and science fiction. She didn't have a clue as to what they were doing and that scared her. She needed to be confident in her skills, but with every new discovery, she had that fresh out of college feeling.

When they entered the lab, they walked over to the window and studied the boy. His face and hands covered with blood.

Cheryl scrunched her nose. "Gross."

"I know." Hannah wished they could clean him up, but there was no way she was going to let anyone inside to tend to him. It was hard looking at him, knowing it was human blood on his face. A shiver snaked its way down her spine, making her turn away.

Not long later, Xavier walked into the room with vials of black goo.

"Those belong to Flynn and Judith?" she asked.

He nodded.

"That can't be right." Hannah took Judith's vial over to the microscope and placed some on a slide to study. She looked into the eyepiece and was not prepared for what she saw. The 3rd element, Fraser-x, was multiplying rapidly. Her insides twisted into a knot. She grabbed Flynn's vial.

Same thing.

"Not good. Not good at all," she murmured to herself.

Their blood was quickly changing into the same thing as the boys. Maybe he was human after all, and Flynn and Judith were going to turn into the same thing. What would they do then? Adults were bigger than the little boy and could do way more damage.

"Xavier, I think we may need to put the bodies in a secure room," Hannah said.

"Why?" he asked, leaning against a table in the back of the lab, next to Clint, who was eyeing her curiously.

"I have reason to believe that they are going to come back to life too."

"So, they are like zombies?"

She let out a low growl of frustration. "I don't know what they are, but zombies don't exist, okay? They are a figment of someone's imagination."

"Okay then, what's your definition of a zombie or the undead that go around eating people?"

"I'm not even gonna attempt to answer that." She didn't want to because everything was pointing in that direction, and all she knew was that in every zombie movie, there never seemed to be a cure. And she wasn't ready to give up on helping Flynn. "Do you have a secure room or not?"

"We could put them in with the kid."

"He might attack them."

"Have you ever seen a zombie attack one of their own?"

She shot him a look that said, 'drop it,' as a chill passed through her. The evidence around them said he was right, but the practical part of her mind refused to believe in what seemed impossible. Putting Flynn's blood away, she looked out the lab window into the hallway and saw the group of scientists that Director Adams had sent down to help her.

"Excuse me," she said to Xavier, happy to get away from his cockamamie ideas. Stepping by him, she moved into the hallway. "Hi, guys, I'm Doctor Fraser.

***

Assistant Director Clemmens stepped into the stores' warehouse. He had to meet with Mark's boss to discuss termination. The man was more a liability than a help these days, and it was time to let him go. Sure, the man had a degree in horticulture, but he wasn't very reliable or safe in his practices.

"Hi, Joe, are you able to call Mark into the office?" he asked.

"I can try, but come to think of it, I haven't seen him lately." Joe said before using his vocera to attempt to contact Mark, but to no avail. "Let me go do a safety check on him. Would you like to come?"

"I'll wait here for you. I need to get off my feet for a few minutes." Truthfully, he didn't want to walk the length of the warehouse, which was about the size of a football field, only to come back this way again to have a private conversation in the office.

Clemmens made himself comfy on a brown armchair stuffed in the corner. He'd spoken to Adams that morning about letting Mark go and had arranged a flight back when the CDC arrived, as his actions put the entire station at risk.

He would generally give people the benefit of the doubt because everyone occasionally had a bad day, but if they risked other people, then it needed to be addressed. The man hadn't followed proper protocols and now two people were dead. That meant they would be placed under investigation when the CDC team arrived, and if he didn't deal with the situation, they would do it for him. Director Adams had entrusted the situation to him because he had much bigger fish to deal with.

A call came through on his Vocera from the Director. "Can you join us in the conference room?"

"I'll be up shortly." Clemmens responded as he looked at his watch. Fifteen minutes had passed since Joe left the office. He didn't have time to go hunting for them, he'd have to check back down here later. Standing up, he left Joe's office to head upstairs and passed Derrick along the way. "Hey, can you go check on Joe and Mark in the Hydroponics Bay? I was waiting for them, but they never came back to the office. I'd do it, but I'm needed upstairs. If you could let them know I'll be back soon, that would be great."

"Sure, not a problem," Derrick replied, giving him a quick salute. That was about as far as their discussions ever went. The Assistant Director never paid much attention to him unless he had directions to give him. That's how Derrick liked it. No boss breathing down his neck. Xavier could be strict but was generally pretty easy going as long as everyone did their jobs.

His shift was winding down now. The hydroponics bay was the last place he had to patrol before heading back to the office and calling it a night. He couldn't wait to get back to his room and take a call from his wife. It was his little girl's first birthday today, and they haven't had a chance to connect in months. He really wanted to be there, but he wasn't due for a vacation for another two months. His last one was a few months after his daughter was born. Her bright blue eyes and curly blond hair stuck in his mind all day long. She looked like the spitting image of his gorgeous wife. His daughter didn't take after him at all. He had mousy brown hair and dark brown eyes. The complete opposite.

"Hi, Derrick," a lady down one of the aisles yelled.

"Hi, Amanda. How's the hubby?"

"Recovering, finally. That flu really kicked his behind," she responded.

Derrick was glad that was all it was and not this strange other thing going around. He pushed open the door leading into the Hydroponics Bay and glanced around. The place looked oddly like a ghost town, nary a soul in sight. Generally, 3 or four crew members worked here during a shift.

"Hello?" he called, as he walked between the tables covered with plants. Instrumental music played softly in the background. It reminded him of the music you hear while waiting on hold, but someone once told him that plants respond to music. He wasn't sure whether that was true or not.

When Derrick reached the second to last aisle, there was a trail of red on the ground, like something had been dragged. He paused a moment to listen, and a munching sound caught his attention. Grabbing out his taser, the closest thing he had to a weapon, he followed the sound. Why the hell didn't they let them have guns, he'd never know. They had some stored in the office, but they weren't allowed to carry them unless it reached a certain threat level, like a hostile takeover from a foreign country.

Derrick's heart raced and a sweaty sheen appeared on his forehead. He was relatively new to this security business and was always worried about doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. "Hello?" he called. "Anyone there?" A shuffling sound came from behind him, and he went to spin around to see what it was, but before he had a chance, he was tackled from behind.

He cried out his daughter's name, "Crystal-bear," as teeth bore deep into his neck, tearing his carotid artery in two, his life force spreading across the floor. His mouth opened in a silent scream, looking much like a fish, as another employee crouched down to enjoy the freshly fallen body.

His hand reached to the heavens for a moment before falling for the last time.