Chapter 17

Tailing the police was surprisingly easy. Evidently they were expecting people to hide from them, not stalk and follow them.

Because of the urgency of their mission, the four of them had sought out police and began following them right away. Even in their cars they were easy to follow. This was mostly due to them driving slowly as to effectively patrol the streets looking for whatever it was they were looking for. Ariel was sure it was people like them, who were out late for no real reason. Still, they were learning a lot.

From what Ariel and the others had been able to figure out, most of the police were also active hunters. It made sense, since they used guns to hunt wolves. They also learned that any misbehaving kids were brought to a place they called 'The Detention Center.' It sounded ominous, just the kind of place you might keep someone you kidnapped.

Finding this place was not as easy as finding out about it. The officers talked a lot about taking people there, and what they speculated what was done with them; nothing good, they never actually said where it was. Following them all. ight never even gave them a clue. It seemed that night was slow in terms of catching someone bound for the place.

As pressed for time as they were, they still needed to rest. However, they were not alone. Because of the number of people they had now, informing the others spread their research network, and others were keeping tabs on all the officers by the time the four of them finally went to sleep.

By now several of them didn't go home. Ot had become tricky, or too dangerous for them to go back to the hunters. Ariel and the twins were good at lying to their captors, but others were not able to. This meant they were at risk of exposing themselves and instead had to migrate from safe house to safe house. So while some of them were following the cops, the police were actively searching for them.

Luckily, the police were unaware that the kids were onto them. They were not overly observant, and they were a little to relaxed with what they talked about in their cars with the windows down. Most topics were normal thing's like family problems, going out after work, or shows on television. When the topics shifted to the job or kids though, it became far more interesting.

"I just don't know what she's thinking any more." The officer was a woman, speaking with her male colleague.

"I know what you mean. It's like he's an entirely different person. This little experiment seemed good on paper at first, but I'm starting to doubt the council had planned for something like this. Ever since we have not been able to give them the wolvesbane, they are changing. Not just mentally. I think it's safe to say this is a failure." The man sighed, the woman remaining silent for a moment.

"The only thing we can do. ow is clean up. Getting more of those pills isn't going to make things go back to how they were. They have shared to change. It's too late." The woman's voice cut in as the man finished speaking.

"What are you talking about?! These are our children-" The man cut her off.

"No. They're not. They are wolves that look like people. Giving them the wolvesbane only works if you can keep giving it to them. Otherwise they just become wolves again, and it's our job to kill the wolves." The woman was quiet for a time.

"Is that why we have to take them to the factory?" There was a stiff accusatory edge to her voice.

"Yes and no. They have a choice. Stay locked up until the new pills get here, or die." His tone was far too casual. It was like he was speaking about the weather or a book he read. Not killing young adults and children. It was just as bad as they had feared, and when the location was shared, a new plan was created. They had to get the others out.