The headline simply read: WERES ARE!
Reporter Tom Herald was pleased with himself.
He had given his fledgling girlfriend Alice Stevens plenty of time and chances to tell her side of the story, and Tom felt he had presented a pretty fair and balanced article that not only did such creatures justice that proved they had every right to exist, but that they were friendly and just wanted to be left alone to live in peace.
When the report went over the wire services and became an International hit, Tom was beside himself.
It had been a mighty long time since he had a story picked up by any of the wire services. Yet he had never received such wide spread coverage before, nor such coverage so quickly.
Questions and more questions abounded from a variety of sources, and Tom did his best to answer them all the best he could.
Yet every time he got a break, which wasn't often or for very long, he kept trying to call Alice, only to receive no answer.
Then the inevitable visit from the military came.
Once again, Tom answered every question they had to the best of his ability, and was surprised when he was offered a chance for a follow up series of articles to cover the government's response to this discovery.
Soon Tom was driven to a high security base in the Washington wilderness.
A couple of times along the way he kept trying to call Alice, but still received no answer.
When they arrived, Tom was treated like a visiting dignitary. The top brass seemed to bend over backward to cater to his every whim and revealed all but the most high security clearance operations.
It was only when they entered a medical laboratory that bright reality turned darkest nightmare.
"What's all this?" Tom asked, staring at rows of sealed jars. Each one containing a specimen of something.
"Oh. We've already dissected a couple of those abominable weres," replied a general as calmly as if he was discussing the weather.
"WHAT?" screamed Tom.
"Come on man. What did you think we were going to do with them? Keep them as pets?" the general asked in return.
"But what about their constitutional rights?" Tom asked in return.
"Since when do animals have rights? Even the SPCA and the PETA people have signed off on this," replied the general. "We rounded all of them up from some small town near here already, and should have the rest of the country were free by the end of next week. Of course, we're looking into the military applications for some of them, like the weremers for the Navy and the predatory ones like the wolves for our ground forces, but as for the rest, President Trump has already signed the Executive Order authorizing their execution."
Wait a second. I knew Trump was planning to run, but he won? Panicking, Tom tried dialing Alice again on his cellphone.
He heard his phone ring. Then realized it sounded funny.
In fact, it sounded like another ring was answering his.
Ignoring the General's request to wait for their escort, Tom ran, constantly calling Alice's cell while trying to follow the echoing ring.
In a room two doors down, Tom got the answer he dreaded most.
Alice Stevens' personal effects were in a plastic tub. Her cellphone received Tom's constant calls, but there was no one to answer, for what remained of the woman he loved was in a series of glass jars along one wall, each labeled with her name and other vital statistics that no one really cared about now that they had the information they needed.
"NOOOOOOO!" screamed Tom Herald, waking up in his own bed in a cold sweat.
I told you mate, said the British voice that claimed it was his inner were, echoing in his brain. Alice has laid everything on the line for you. Not just her own life, but the lives of every were creature on this planet because of her feelings for you. If you betray them, let alone break Alice's heart...
And all Tom Herald could do was lie in his bed and cry.
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*For those who came in late, three threads (Moon Lake-Jenkins, Moon Lake-Andersons, and this one) are within the same setting and basically share the same continuity.
However, it is the morning of Thursday October 29, 2015 for the Jenkins. Tad is currently experiencing that night, while Andersons is between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, with the big Jenny Harper/Harry Jenkins (no relation to the other Jenkins) wedding scheduled for Halloween morning, provided villain Dieter Wilhelm and Jenny's family don't ruin the big moment or discover Moon Lake's secrets and expose weres to the world at large.—tmw.