Werewolf Suspense (Book 2): Outage 2 (The Awakening) Read Free

together. They'd make the best of the situation. They'd make hot chocolate and watch television, and he'd blow snow. Someday, someday soon , they'd leave the house behind and move. They needed a fresh start.
    A scream wrenched him from his thoughts.
    Tom bolted upright in bed and flung the sheets aside, heart knocking.
    "What was that?" he hissed.
    Lorena stirred beside him. She reached out and touched his arm, as if she were afraid he'd vanished. Tom swung his legs off the bed, the floor cold against his socks. He climbed from bed and started for the window, his pulse climbing. He parted the shade and looked outside.  
    What he saw made his body tremble.  
    In the middle of the road, something he couldn't identify—a furred animal, a creature —was tearing into one of his neighbors. Tom's blood froze. Whatever the thing was, it was larger than a man.
    "Oh, my God…" he whispered.
    "What is it?" Lorena breathed from across the room.
    "Lorena, get the gun!"

Chapter Two

    Tom stared out the bedroom window while Lorena ran to the closet. His legs felt rooted in place. The man in the street was Desmond Smith, his neighbor. Desmond was being mangled. His stomach was torn open and he was screaming. The beast had its back turned, but Tom saw bits and pieces of its visage—hands that resembled claws, a gaping maw; a snout larger than any animal he'd ever seen.  
    "Lorena! Hurry!"
    Tom lunged for his boots. He frantically put them on. Behind him, Lorena threw the closet door open, rifling through objects to get to the gun. Tom let go of the shade and ran for his wife. He saw her shadowed form making its way back to him. She had the gun. Tom reached out and took it, staving off the panic that filled his stomach. He'd never used it before. Not for something like this.
    Tom clicked off the safety and raced back to the window. Desmond had stopped screaming. His carcass lay motionless in the snow, his remains strewn across the snow-covered street. The creature loped in the other direction, making its way toward Desmond's house. Tom saw flashes of movement through the open doorway. Another creature—identical to the first, only larger—was already inside. A scream erupted from the top floor. Probably Tori Smith, Desmond's wife. Further down the street, another creature burst through a window, spraying glass into the snow.  
    The things were everywhere.
    Lorena came up beside him and clasped her hand over her mouth, stifling a scream. Tom spun her away from the window just as a series of bangs erupted from downstairs. He swallowed as he recalled the open garage. It was only a matter of time until one of the things burst into the mudroom, then the kitchen. He didn't even have any idea what they were, what might be happening, but he knew he had to react. If he didn't, he and Lorena would die.
    "Come on!"  
    He grabbed his cell phone off the nightstand and raced to the bedroom door, glancing frantically around the room. He considered pushing the bureau in front of the door, but the screams outside told him it wouldn't make a difference. The house felt like a cage with four walls, a trap rather than a place of safety.
    The basement…
    If they could get down there, maybe they could lock themselves in the furnace room. Call the police. The door was sturdy. Maybe he'd push the shelves in front of it.
    "Downstairs!" he hissed.
    Tom aimed his gun as they crossed the bedroom threshold. He peered down the stairs. The house suddenly felt dark and foreboding, menacing . He was suddenly certain one of the things was already inside, waiting to pounce. He kept the lights off. Anything he did might draw their attention.  
    They crept down the stairs one at a time, staring at the front door. Lorena gripped his arm as if she were falling off a ledge, her nails digging into his skin. The glass windows beside the door were frosted with ice. With each step, Tom saw a blurred piece of the street—houses and yards, snow whipping past. When they were