Your eyes burst open, brow and lashes flinging droplets of sweat with the speed of your waking. For a moment you panic, struggling with a wet and clinging enemy, certain you are drowning until the fog of dream lifts, leaving you in close combat with a sweat-soaked bedsheet.
Sheepishly shaking your head, you fling the sheet to the floor, glad for once that you live alone where no one can witness your embarrassment. A new day is dawning outside, and you're determined to make it count. That is, at least, until you remember that life's inevitable wheel has brought you right back around to the beginning of yet another work week.
HISS, SNAP, BUZZ! A commotion of electronic scratches explodes from your dresser drawer.
"…you read me? Wolves of the Haven pack? This is WRN…Werewolf Rights Now! Can you hear me?"
It's hard to hear through the static, but the voice sounds female. Justin's radio! You'd almost forgotten about it with all that's been going on! You open the drawer and pick up the device, extending its antenna.
A laugh from the other side. "Yeah, when it wants to. The interference around Haven is a bitch, but every so often we get a good window to call in. Are you one of the werewolves? I'm Anna."
You laugh. The voice sounds like that of a blissfully naive kid. But you suppose any contact with the outside world is better than nothing.
"Yes." You roll your eyes, happy that Anna isn't here to see you do it. "I'm one of the wolves."
"I knew Justin would get through to you! Have you seen him? Do you know where he is?"
Of course you knew this would come up eventually. Last you checked, Haken has been taking surprisingly good care of Justin in his room at the back of the factory, but it could still be seen as kidnapping. Which, technically, it is. You could tell her the truth about his detention and explain why, but maybe glossing over the particulars would help with outside relations.
So you have no idea where he went?" Anna asks incredulously. "You just let him wander off? He's an idiot! He'll get himself killed! Or worse, he'll get captured and rat on all of us!"
It's nice to see where her priorities lie.
"When you see Justin again, just let him know that he needs to drop everything and come back. Make it sound like an emergency so he has no choice. I can't trust him to come back when he says he will, so we'll have to trick him into it. Okay?"
"Sure."
Anna clears her throat. "So, anyway, back to the reason I called. We've been picking up a lot of chatter over the military frequencies about a large group of werewolves attacking human patrols. Apparently they're going to leak it to the press. Some of the men were wearing body cameras transmitting video wirelessly. It sounds pretty me