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It doesn’t take long before I catch the scent of other wolves. Down by what used to be the fish market, people tool around. Some burning fires in large cans while others sit on the dock edge with fishing poles in the water. Little children play in the sand, not seeming affected by their circumstances. Children are resilient like that. It seems the Oceanside calls to the locals who have nowhere left to go. Many homes have been destroyed and raided by the pack and the people are afraid to go home. But so mixed together it also makes them easier for the others to slide in and pick which ones they will take next. The twins have regrouped and are climbing up the side of the storage container Danny and I are hunkering down on.
“We think that they are in a warehouse down about two blocks.” Orion huffs lying back on the roof of the container. “The scent is strongest there and Kale saw a guy with a really big gun on his hip go inside. The place is in good shape which raises the hairs on our neck, cuz it’s the only place that isn’t busted up.”
“Alright.” Danny sighs like her body aches. “We’ll go back to the Marshalls and—”
The ground around us shakes and shivers. In the distance we can see a ring of fire and a huge cloud of smoke rising like a mushroom from the ground. Its source is the building we came from, the one where Wade has been keeping watch. People scream and run away from the explosion, we on the other hand run toward it. Running across the storage containers. Leaping from one to the next, we are fast on top of the destruction. The fire is blazing and the smoke is thick and black. I’m sure it can be seen for miles. There is no way that Wade survived.
Danny screams and shouts obscenities while the twins come to a hard stop. I grab her putting my hand over her mouth. Even with all the commotion it is possible that anyone listening can hear her. I hold her tightly until she stops flailing in my arms. She goes still, tears in her eyes.
“Violet? Daniel?” She sobs quietly.
“Danny, they are in the other building, Look that way, there’s nothing over there to say they are not okay.” Orion tries to reason with her. She bites me and jumps down from the container making a bee line for the center of town.