(FREE TO READ) Bad Moon

chapter 52; cold air

When Jaylin came to, he was sung over the bearded man's back, sore and heavy as a sack. They had made it outside somehow, and it was the cold of the air that woke him now. He took in his surroundings—the white slab wall they'd backed themselves into, the sound of trucks in the distance and the rattle of the large electric gate, what felt like miles away.

He slid down from the man's shoulders and wobbled into a pair of hands behind him. They held him up by the biceps until he could stand for himself.

"It's okay, here, here." The small one said. She held his shoulders securely and set him back against the wall. "Quiet, okay? We're trying to figure out a...game plan."

Jaylin nodded, his throat too dry to speak if he wanted to. The girl smiled and gave a wave. "I'm Netty." She pointed to the bearded man. "That's Bo." Then to the handsome one. "Olly." Spinning around, Netty gave him the names of all the faces around him—mostly girls. "These are the Oregon Sentinels, Llana, Ruby, Franky and Sam. Oh and me, I'm one of them."

"Netty, quiet," Olly shot a look over his shoulder. "They're coming this way."

The eight of them went deathly still, waiting until the sound of footsteps had disappeared into the building, the glassy rattle of the front door sealing them away.

Bo turned to him. "You've been outside before, haven't you? Know any way out besides that gate?"

"There's another gate," Jaylin said. "But it only goes to the old plantation house. Ziya's house. I don't...I don't think there's anything else."

"Perfect," Bo grumbled. Jaylin could hear a slight twang to his voice—like Matt's but rougher. "So there's one way out and every white-jacket asshole this side of Salem's guarding it."

"Salem?" Jaylin questioned, but his voice was overpowered by Netty.

"What about the fence?" she asked. "Can't he just bend a hole in the metal like he did to get us out?"

"Look at him, Netty," Olly said, his voice much softer than Bo's. "The guy can hardly stand. Besides, what are the chances that gate's made of silver. And probably electric or some shit."

Jaylin looked face to face as they spoke, but it was like none of their words stuck in his head. Nothing registered. He was too tired to think, too tired to listen. Their conversation droned on in his ears like voices beneath water—then he heard a sound that made him break the water's surface. It started as a howl on the wind, but there was a second voice that existed within it. Two prominent voices in a very distant croon.

Bo, Netty, Olly and the others—they all perked to the noise. They turned in the same direction, listening to the sound of the distinct wolf cry.

"Imani," Bo exclaimed.

"It is Imani, isn't it?" Ruby glistened at the sound. Franky cupped a hand over her mouth to quiet her excitement.

"They're coming from the North," Netty pointed. "I wish we could call back to her."

"There's no use," Bo said, "she knows we're here. Hey, kid—you still got that clearance card?"

Jaylin felt into his coat pocket, fishing out the pass card belonging to Dr. Good.

"Maybe we can get through with that," Olly said.

Jaylin looked on to the gate—to the men with guns, checking each truck one by one. Even if they could get their hands on a vehicle, they'd be stopped at the gate. "I don't think so."

"So that leaves us one option." Bo brushed down his beard with five large fingers. "We wait until they open the gate again, Then we run."

"We'd be killed," one voice said from the bunch. "They have guns."