Free Werewolf Suspense (Book 4): Outage 4 (The Reckoning) by T.W. Piperbrook Page A

a horde of them. If more show up, we'll be killed."
    Noticing Abraham looking at his leg, Tom inspected his bandage. Blood leaked around the frayed edges. "I guess I'll need a new bandage," he said grimly.
    Abraham nodded, watching Tom strangely.  
    "What's wrong, Abraham?"
    Abraham cleared his throat. While the others were engaged in quiet, nervous conversation, he asked Tom, "Earlier, Sally and I were talking about your wound. Are you positive you weren't…?"
    Tom looked down at his pale leg. He bit his lip.
    "It happened in the basement of the Knights of Columbus. There were glass shards all over the floor. I was fighting the creature, and it threw me into them. I think I sliced it on a piece of glass."
    Abraham expelled a long breath and put his hand on Tom's shoulder. "We were afraid you'd been bitten. We were afraid you might…turn, Tom."
    Tom shook his head and smiled. "I don't think so. I would've shown symptoms by now. It's just a cut."
    Kelsey and Tabatha walked across the room to join Abraham and Tom, staring nervously at the door. After the conversation with Abraham, Tom suddenly felt a tinge of suspicion toward everyone in the room. He looked around, trying to ascertain if anyone else was injured. It didn't seem like it. But then he recalled the story he'd heard about the nurses from the night before. According to the police, they'd hidden in a storage closet. And just now, they'd been the only survivors in the maintenance room. What if Kelsey and Tabatha were beasts? That might explain why they survived.
    They might be waiting for the opportune moment to attack.  
    He studied Kelsey's emotional face, Tabatha's fear-stricken eyes. He was pretty sure they weren't afflicted. They'd had plenty of chances to turn and savage the patients, and yet they'd continued to try to help them. And Kelsey had saved his life.
    She wouldn't have done that if she were planning on killing him. Would she?  
    Besides, Sigrid had been with them, and now she was dead.
    Feeling less suspicious, Tom asked, "Do you know of anywhere else we can go, Kelsey? A more secure place to hide?" He gestured to the open window, watching snow and ice pelt the floor. A cold wind chilled the room. Katherine, Silas, and Sally were huddled by the heating vent, but the heat was no match for the encroaching elements. They should've gone to another room, but even that wouldn't save them from the beasts.
    "We need to get out of here," Tom said. "What about the maintenance room, Kelsey?"
    "The door is thicker, but it won't hold much longer than this one," Kelsey said gravely, gesturing at the bed blocking the door.
    "I have an idea," Abraham said, biting his lip. "What about the roof?"
    "That might be an option, if we can get up the staircase without trouble." Kelsey pursed her lips, patting the keys in her pocket. "But even if we make it, it's bound to be freezing up there. The exposure won't do us good."
    "We'd be subjecting ourselves to frostbite and hypothermia," Tabatha reaffirmed. "There's a chance the beasts won't smell us when we're high off the ground, but they'd track us through the stairwell, from what we've seen."
    Tom walked the length of the room until he reached the window. The moon had settled behind the clouds, enveloping the landscape with its eerie glow. The police cruiser sat idly, splashing its headlights over the land. The windows had been smashed; the hood was bent. One of the tires was flattened. Even if they could get to it, they'd have little chance at getting away. He looked for the bodies of the police officers.  
    They were gone—dragged off and eaten, according to Abraham.
    Tom swallowed. He recalled how he'd made the sprint to the station wagon the night before from the machine shop. That seemed like ages ago. His mission of revenge had been eclipsed by his need to protect the people in this room.
    From what he knew, they were the only ones left.
    He grabbed a blanket from the floor and handed it to Katherine and