Werewolf Suspense (Book 4): Outage 4 (The Reckoning) Read Free Page B

family, Louis," Abraham said.
    "It'll get easier," Tom told him, though he wasn't sure. Lorena's death was fresh enough that it burned his eyes to think about. "I lost my family, too. My son from an accident, my wife from this," Tom confided. "So I know how painful it is."
    Louis calmed down. He dried his face. "It doesn't matter anymore, anyway," he said, shaking his head sadly. "We won't have time to recover from it."
    Tom frowned. "What do you mean?"
    "It's almost over."
    Tom looked at Louis, wondering if he was coherent. He exchanged a worried glance with Abraham. Perhaps the man had finally lost it, consumed by grief for his dead loved ones.
    Louis raised a shaky finger to the window, pointing at the glass. Snow fell from the sky, softly rapping the pane.
    Tom shot up from the bed. He took a shaky step.  
    When had it started to snow? He hadn't noticed that before.
    Dread filled his body.
    He finished the short trek to the window, studying the landscape. Twin lights burned at the front of the building, illuminating the falling flakes. The cars were in the same position, glossed in white, motionless. He saw nothing alarming, but seeing the snow was almost as terrifying as seeing the beasts. He pressed his face to the windowpane, scanning the front of the hospital for signs of danger.  
    There's nothing out there , he tried to tell himself.
    And then he saw something. The moon crept from behind the clouds, shining light on the landscape.
    The bodies of three gutted officers lay by the front entrance.

Chapter Four

    "Shit!" Tom hissed.
    "What is it?" Abraham stood, his worry turning to panic. He sprang from the bed and took up next to Tom, scouring the landscape.
    "Over there," Tom said, barely able to get the words out.
    Abraham gasped when he saw what Tom had. The officers' weapons lay in the snow next to them, useless without hands to hold them. Red blood covered the landscape.
    Tom spun to face Louis. The man stared at them with a sad, defeated expression.  
    "I told you," Louis said, shaking his head. "I told you they were coming."
    "Why didn't you warn anyone?" Tom demanded. "Why didn't you tell a nurse?"
    Before Louis could answer, footsteps pounded the hall and Kelsey appeared at the doorway. "Is everything all right? I heard yelling."
    "No." Tom could barely choke out the words. "They're back. They're outside."
    "They—?" Kelsey stopped short, dread creeping into her face. "Where's Officer Dickson?"
    "He got on the elevator."
    "He said he was going to check something out. He said he'd be back…"
    "He's dead. So are the other officers. Look out the window. We need to lock this floor down. We need to find weapons." Tom's thoughts spit rapid-fire, and he fought back the panic that threatened to overtake his body.
    Not again. Not again…
    Moments earlier, he'd been trying to put the pieces back together, and now everything was unraveling. This can't be real…
    "I'll call the other officers on the road. I'll get them back here," Kelsey said, digging in her pocket. "They left me a cellphone. It should have service. At least, it did, when I last… Dammit." Kelsey fiddled with the screen.  
    "Even if you had service, by the time they got back here, it'd be too late. We need to prepare. We can keep trying to get ahold of them, but right now, we're on our own."
    "What are we going to do?" Kelsey's calm broke as she lowered the phone.
    "You said there are thirty people on this floor, right?"
    "Yes, and three of us nurses."
    "How many children?" Tom asked Kelsey.
    "Only Silas and Katherine."
    "We need to keep people in their rooms. Out from the open."
    "People will panic," Abraham said. He cast a glance over his shoulder at the despondent, torn-up man. Louis stared at them with a hollow expression.
    "We'll tell them it's a precaution," Kelsey suggested.  
    Tom nodded. "How many entrances are on this floor?"
    "Two elevators and two stairwells. Only one of the elevators is working, on emergency power. The other is shut