Read Online Wolfen by Madelaine Montague - Free Book Online Page B

uncomfortably. “Oh, yeah. I should've said a dozen ex cluding the preacher."

     

      Balin released an irritated huff. “I wasn't paying attention either, damn it. We'll have to stay until they come out again."

     

      "Well shit!” Con exclaimed in disgust. “I'm hungry. I sure as hell don't want to wait around and then try to beat them down to the diner when the preacher turns them out."

     

      "There is that,” Balin said thoughtfully. “Fuck! Let's just go in and do a head count. We might as well forget subtlety. When the shit hits the fan they're going to know what's going on anyway."

     

      They met up with Xavier, Jared, and Dakota at the diner thirty minutes later. Dakota, who'd drawn the smallest church, was waiting when they arrived. Xavier and Jared arrived shortly behind them.

     

      "I counted thirty five,” Dakota reported when the waitress had taken their order and left again.

     

      "Forty to fifty,” Jared said.

     

      Balin gave him a look.

     

      "What? They haven't fucking changed yet. You know as well as I do that the scent isn't as strong until they've made the change. Besides which, the weres weaving in and out among the humans confused the scent."

     

      "You should've gotten closer if you weren't certain,” Balin pointed out. “Con and I counted forty eight—definite."

     

      Jared and Xavier both glared at him at the rebuke but swallowed their spleen. “Alright, so we're talking maybe a hundred. What was the population of this little burg again?"

     

      "The sign at the city limits claimed a thousand, but it looked pretty damn outdated to me. I'm guessing they've had a decrease in the years since that sign was put up, but it'd just be guessing,” Balin said.

     

      "It's just guessing all the way around,” Jared said disgustedly. “It didn't seem to me that there was much of a turn out for church. Half the place was empty and we don't know it that's usual or not."

     

      "Same here,” Dakota put in. “Everybody seemed nervous, though. I'm thinking a lot of people stayed home because they know something's going on even if they haven't figured out what."

     

      Balin frowned thoughtfully. “That would explain the streets being so empty on a Saturday when it should have been the busiest day of the week. So we're looking at around a hundred, definite, that haven't been infected—yet—possibly several times that many that are too scared to come out. Short of blowing this wide open and doing exactly what the council feared—removing the illusion the humans have that there's no such thing as wolfen or werewolves—we need to come up with something they'd more easily believe to protect the lie and still protect the uninfected."

     

      "A bio-hazard?” Jared asked a little doubtfully. “I don't how convincing that would be in such an out of the way place."

     

      Balin looked at him in surprise, but he immediately saw the merits of the suggestion. “I can guarantee they aren't so cut off they haven't heard all the hype about terrorists,” Balin retorted. “And that would not only be easier to believe than the truth, but I doubt they feel insignificant enough to be a target. Besides, it would be something to explain the things they've noticed—that a lot of people aren't behaving ‘normally'."

     

      "It could create a panic,” Dakota pointed out. “There's not going to be anything ‘quiet’ about that."

     

      "We've already agreed that there's no way to hush this up like the council wants. It's too big already. If we're careful, we could contain the panic to this one small area, though, and I think it would serve the council's purposes well enough even if it got out. They'll be satisfied as long as the story that gets out has nothing to do with wolfen,” Balin said.

     

      "An outbreak of some kind of rare disease or contamination of the water supply might create less noise,” Xavier pointed out.

     

      Balin