Catherine and Sam came out quickly when they heard Sarah's calling. They saw the crowd too but they need to focus on something or they will lose everything.
That's what Catherine thought but then she looked up, "Sam, you'll follow them. We need to know what they are up to."
"Alright, You guys should get home safe, I will be right back." He said and walked to the back of the grocery store, climbed on the shallow fence guiding it from the forest which was now burnt.
He looked closely and saw them, the people, going towards the fortress. He ducked his head when one of them nearly saw him. He can't be caught easily even if they saw him. He knows the terrain very well.
He scurried to the exit door at the back of the grocery and found some rotting bodies. Quickly he ran off from that to get closer to the fortress.
Now he got a vantage point and he sat slowly on the boulder to have a perfect view of what was happening. The fortress smells of ashes. Its walls are blackened from the fire.
A woman stepped forward and climbed a makeshift podium. Everyone stood before her silently. She wore a dark robe and sunglasses. She looked younger than Catherine and at the same Time stunning. Sam sat there waiting. She stepped onto the podium and said.
"The first thing you all need to know is that our true leader will soon be here. My name is Georgina. I was here before and I'm here again. Aiden is a child and he's too weak to be an Alpha in a park. So we cast him into another realm. It's war, my people. Look around you. Everything has crumbled and might crumble further. We need a new leader. We need one leader to rule the packs and humans. That leader is here and I'm here spoke-person. We need a change. Repeat after me. We need a change."
.
"We need a change." Everyone shouted.
She raised her right hand with a closed palm and continued talking.
"We rule here now. We make the rules and we are going to bring change. Often people say we must focus on finding answers, as they are difficult. Perhaps, however, a lot of answers are prompted by questions, so in a way, there’s a guide to what needs to be answered. But asking the right questions is equally very hard. We are here to turn things around."
Georgina stepped down and walked to the fortress's door. She snickered when she got to the door. The door fell before her with broken pieces of
"Alpha can't get off that."
She entered. The folks outside are happy not who is their leader if not her.
***
When Sam got back he found them talking to Damien and the voice speaking through him. He looks bigger and baggy like he was going to burst anytime.
"Sam, the voice is getting clearer," Sarah said.
"Whose is it so far?"
"We still can't pin it that it is Alpha's but there are high indications of that."
"Oh, that's great. Where is Catherine?"
"In the room. Probably sleeping."
"Alright."
He walked into his room and sat down looking gently at the ceiling and thinking possibly it's going to help him pin things together. It's a world of change, he remembers and that change will consume all. He lay down and smiled for a while and then turned to face the door thinking about everything. He recalled what Martha Stewart told him about thinking.
"Everyone has been thinking about everything and those thoughts weren't going to measure up to counter entropy. We are gonna keep being chaos closer. Orderliness is an illusion."
"Are you saying we can't possibly get everything right?" He asked her.
"Yes, that's what it is. Where are here today doing what the coming generation might see as taboos? This is ingrained in us. We need to embrace it. Do what we can and allow the rest to rest."
"The world is stranger than I think."
"Don't worry too much, Sam. When your parents were here it was stranger then. That's why lots of your family are assassins. You should know something triggered that and the fabric of nature allowed them."
"Hmm!"
"You are a great human, Sam. Continue being good. That's what your mum wants from you."
He stood up and went straight into the room Catherine was in. She wasn't sleeping but she was reading a book. Sam never cared about books that much. He only reads when it's necessary.
"Catherine," he called. "We need to talk. You asked me to follow those folks. I did. They are onto something. We need to work faster."
"What are they up to?" She asked and dropped the book in her hands
"I don't know but this Georgina is having her pack at the fortress. She is onto domination of the entire smallsvile. And she knows Alpha. She knows where he's."
"What do we do now?" Catherine asked tentatively.
"I don't know but if we are doing something we have to be fast about it."
"You are right. But was it the same Georgina Nicole you saw?"
"I have not seen her before. I don't know."
"I have not seen her. Sarah talked about her. She heard she was dating Aiden. Then she's not dead too and probably knows where Alpha is."
"That might be it. She mocked him too. And she spoke of another leader. She. Let's see what happens next but we need to act."
"Yeah. Let's have a meeting tonight and work on a plan."
"That's okay. I missed the children. Let me say hi to them."
"Alright, Sam," Catherine said.
***
That night they sat around their dining table to discuss the latest developments. The pregnant woman was there too. She has become part of the team. Catherine stood up and spoke. She smiled at first remembering what her first day was like leading a gang of humans and werewolves. It wasn't like a ride in a park. It was because she knew no one then.
"Sam told me everything when he came back. We have some threats."
"Threats," Sarah said.
"Yeah, threats and we have to deal with them. The crowd we saw at the grocery store are here for domination. They might wipe us out if we don't take action. And we know we are the weak ones now. We've got no guns, not enough food but still, we need to bring things to otherliness."
"How do we go about that, love?" Sarah asked. "When we are outnumbered and not just weak but the weakest."
"That's why we are here, Sarah, to get solutions. Sam came up with something. We should discuss it and then open the floor for more contributions. What do you think?"
"Good. What's the plan?"
"Sam, take us through it," Catherine said.
The pregnant woman said nothing until after Sam finished talking about the plan. The main thing they needed is money. That will help them see things through. But they have nowhere to get such money. She stood up and said.
"The plan is great but we need lots of other things. I have contacts. Here in Smallsville. They might be able to give us guns. But they need money because they need to feed."
"Then that will be a problem," Sam said. "I know there is money in a vault at the fortresses' lower bunkers. It's a secret place. So the only people who know it's there are me and Alex."
"But we can't get there now," Sarah said.
"Yeah, that's the problem. You'll have to get down into the first bunker from Alex's office to start having access to others."
"I can get us some money." The pregnant woman said.
"How?" Catherine asked fiddling with something in his hand.
"Those guys we'll be getting guns from owing my Dad some money. Instead of getting the money, we collect guns from them. How about that?"
"Good," Sam said. "So we have guns. We will use the guns to enter them."
"Yeah, you are going to be a dealer."
"So that's it. Let's see how we can get Damien to talk faster so we can get Alpha back. And thank you…" She snapped her head. "We didn't ask to know your name. I'm sorry about that."
"It's fine." The pregnant woman said. "It feels good to be anonymous. My name is Lillian."
"Awesome! Lillian the Lilie." Sam said and they all chuckled.
"Let's get to work, " Catherine said. "And Lillian thank you. You have been a blessing to this team. Hope we do more things together."
"Sure, we'll. Today, Damien revealed more information about where we can find Alpha. I have come up with a chart though it's going to be tougher getting into the sinkhole."
"Sinkhole! Where?" Sarah and Sam shouted.
"I don't know yet. We need to work on that."
"Let me see the chart." Sam, asked but was sceptical about it. He has been to some sinkholes on the island before. He might know where this one is.
******
Jenn Geuro was still in the cordless pod. Now she couldn't move any part of her body again including her mind. The concept of mind over matter that John built in her has broken down. He broke it down himself after seeing the incident at Smallsville. He knows someone was behind it. The weapon he built her into is to destroy things gradually, not at once. He walked into the cubicle and smiled. Then he went straight to her pod and ran his fingers over the transparent wall separating them.
"Jenn, you are paying for what your grandfather did. He was a brute. Brilliant and childish. I would have given him a better offer if he hadn't published his research. Where is he now? I'm still here."
He pulled out his phone. It rang.
"Hello, Maddie."
"John, I just discovered who was behind the missile attack. Can you please come to your office?"
"I will be on my way."
***
John Dikkorp's office
"Who did it? " he walked in and quickly sat down.
"Andrea did it."
"Andrea? The guy in the prison?"
"Yes, him. He was able to bypass the prison protocol. Someone gave him intel."
"Who was that?"
"All that we gathered pointed back to the elites. They gave him intel. One of them led him to the cubicle."
"Then it must be Edison's younger brother. He was here three weeks again when I called you about the plan."
"Yeah, yeah. They've been plotting our downfall too."
"That's it. No society flourished without an opposition. We have been dealing with them for centuries. Get enough information from each of them then kill them. The other bullet used on them were rubber bullets"
"Oh, I thought they died that day." He laughed. "Of course, I knew they were rubber bullets. It's better that way."
"And that Andrea, bring him here again. I have an errand to send him."
"I will send him here right away."
He took out his phone and called F12. John paced around. His face was puzzled by what he just heard. The elites have been betraying him and his brother. It's time to get rid of them.
"F12,"
"Sir!"
"Bring me, Andrea. I'm in John's office."
"Right away, sir."
***
Andrea was thrown into the office when wanted to run. F12 threw him across the room and he landed at Maddie's feet. He crawled up whimpering. He looked tattered.
"You fool," Maddie said. He wanted to kick him away from his shoe but John stopped him.
"Let him be, Maddie. Look at how deprived you look. You could have been enjoying but you switched and now you carried out genocide. Why?"
"They asked me to do it. They said they will see me free."
"You selfish bastard. That's what made you do it? Just that?"
"Yes, sir. I don't want to be in prison forever. It's killing me. I'm seeing things. They are killing me."
"I won't kill you but you'll have to pay for what you did."
"I'm ready to do anything, sir. Just anything."
"Maddie, get him a gun. After questioning those traitors, he should kill them. Never give your closer enemy a second chance."
***
The next day after returning the elites to their houses with the assurance of their safety from Andrea who they told lied to them about them, they were each shoot dead within an hour. It was a clean job. Andrea did his best. But then he remembered days he wasn't this popular, when he was part of Alex's disappearance and when he snitched on Elvira. After killing the last elite he gathered with a team important files and returned them to John Dikkorps.
"You did well, Andrea. You did well."
"Thank you, sir."
"Can go to the hotel now. I will see you tomorrow."
"Alright, sir."
Andrea walked away from him towards the hotel. He was happy to have gotten back into the favour of the richest werewolf around. He glanced at himself.
"I'm finally gonna be rich. It has been a long time ago I made use of my wolf form. Anyway, I don't need it here. "
The meeting was in a secret place so no one knows what he was up to except Maddie. John left him and called F12 to do the needful.
"Make sure he kills himself."
"Done, sir."
"Alright. See you tomorrow after the news announces his death.
"Alright, sir."
***
Elvira was in the library with John Dikkorp when the news came in. John frowned and said.
"Sadness is a choice. Sad news everywhere."
Elvira said nothing but focused on the news. John's library comes with a tv and a radio. When you don't feel like reading you can always use another path.
In the news, Andrea was shown hanging on a fan. There was a note on his side. The woman on the news reads:
"Andrea, hanged himself after killing the elites in Barkot. He left a note and I'm going to read it."
"From Andrea to you. The end means a lot to me. I should go away this way and that alone will not make me come back. The world is a place where madness grows. I am gone."
"Elvira, Andrea did the worst. Why will he kill the elites then afterwards take his own life?"
"I guess he's mad." She said looking at the book. She knew what she was hiding. It's better not to allow John to read her mind. She needed to focus and see to the end of her plans.
"Madness is everything, Elvira. Madness is everyone. I pity him."
"You mean he could have stayed behind and rot in jail?"
"That would have been a better alternative. Living is better than dying. He could have gotten himself some time."
"To suffer here?"
"Or to enjoy here. That's subjective."
"Can we read this book," she changed the topic. "Andrea should enjoy wherever he's."
John laughed. "He should enjoy his time in the pool."
"Yeah." She opened the next page and on it are pictures of extinct animals, humans and wolf forms with a connection between them leading to generations. Before she asked John the question on her mind, he started throwing out answers.
"You will see that our evolution with some of the humans started from afar. Then it grew with love from them, brutality from them and then we became more intelligent than them. They can't morph into us but you can see we have that power."
He smiled and continued and Elvira listened to him without saying much most of the time. And Andrea doesn't know what to think about him. He was a helpful pawn. That was all he could think.
***
Jenn Guero woke up from her imposed sleep. Her head was lighter than it was before. She could move it again but her limbs were not moving. She smiled and looked up. Her blue hair fell to the back. She wanted to touch it, but she couldn't. She saw Sarah's mother in her dream. She's still under house arrest and she must not say anything to anyone about anything concerning her and John DIkkorp. She knew Dikkorp tried wooing her but she turned him down. Perhaps that's what she's paying for now. Instead of being his mistress, she's now in his glass walls like a piece of art.
John stepped into the cubicle. He I'muckled and wandered towards her pod. He looked up at her. He smiled. He ran his fingers on the glass walls and said.
"Jenn, you could have been here with me gazing at the stars but you chose to be in between death and life. How are you enjoying it? Now!" He yelled.
"You have killed enough innocent people, sapped the werewolves and she-wolves in Smallsville out of their heads. They lost their identity because of you."
He chuckled again. He knew he was telling himself what he wanted to hear.
"I know you can't talk. I know you can hear me though. And tonight I'm going to end you forever. I created you."
He pulled out the plug under the pod. The water in it drains downward. And gradually Jenn melted away like butter then dew. She couldn't leave the last word. She couldn't even say anything.
"It's better I focus on nurturing Elvira and watch her lead Smallsville. That girl is going to do something huge soon."
He strolled out and walked back into his office. He sat down and put off his shirt. He's muscular and younger.
"What I need now is sleep," he said and went straight to his office bedroom.
"A great sleep is better than everything. I need it now." He put out the light and threw himself in bed. He sighed and slept off.