"This freaky stuff all started four days ago, right?" Tommy said, glancing around the small crowd.  A few nodded in silent agreement; others fidgeted.

     "So that means that these aren't our ordinary werewolves," Tommy went on, starting to pace.  "Last night was the first full moon I've actually even seen this month."  He snapped back to face his audience, arms out to his sides, eyes wide.  

     Ellie glanced anxiously for at her fellow survivors, feeling a twist of agony creep up her chest.  Was this really it?  Her and the rest of these teenagers?  

     She could remember those first proud steps into the hall of Willow High, lifting her head up high, her hands grasping onto her hot pink backpack straps with pride.  She had felt to mature;  So privileged.

     Now, she felt no bigger than the kid she really was, the kid she always knew she was.  She wished she could feel her mother's arms wrapping around her, just one last time, just so that she could remember how it felt and tuck it away.

     Her heart sped up.  There wasn't any going back.  Snap!  Snap!  Ellie blinked furiously, so see Alex's fingers in her face.  She leaned backwards, now cross-eyed, and lost her balance.

     She fell backwards, luckily missing the back of her head.  "Thanks," she grunted, rolling to her knees.  "Dang, Alex," she heaved to her feet and focused her attention back on Tommy.

     "You were going to miss important information," Alex explained unapologetically.  Ellie only rolled her eyes.  

     "I remember the night it all started," Tommy said.  "It was around midnight when the orphanage was attacked," Bea whispered, casting her eyes thoughtfully down to the floor.

     "I had been over at a friend's house, and we had just finished eating dinner," Tommy said, ending with a stale pause.  "I don't even know what happened to the workers at the orphanage  ."     

  Catherine heaved in a large breath and jammed her hands into her jean pockets.  "I had been out fishing, in W.O. Lake.

     "I don't know where the wolf came from, exactly.  I just remember hearing a growl, and . . . .  I ran."  Her blonde hair fell forward as she eased down into a sitting position.

     "My family had been eating dinner," Ellie explained, "I saw my parents run.  But I know they didn't make it."  Ellie wasn't honestly quite sure how she knew, but something in the air at that one moment, the moment that the wolf-man had lurked out into the backyard, had told her every detail.

     "But enough about that," Tommy said, plastering a smile onto his face and clapping his hands together.  "We need to decided what the heck we're doing."

     "All in favor of leaving town first, to get to safety, say 'aye,'" Alex instructed.  Ellie watched him skeptically.  What had changed in him since the beginning of this?  He had once been so eager in the idea of saving everyone, but now he seemed ready to leave.  She wasn't sure why, but something had changed.

     "Aye!" Nathan shouted.

     "All in favor of scoping-out the town for any other people and trying to demolish the wolf-people, say 'aye.'"  Tommy rocked back on his heels and sucked in his bottom lip, waiting for that one magic word to be said.

     Some reluctantly and some eagerly, they all shot their hands up into the air and said, "Aye!"  Ellie watched as Alex's mouth twisted.

     Ellie paused, hand in the air, and froze.  It wasn't only Alex that had changed, it was her, too.  It was like, just in the past night, they had traded perspectives.  Ellie grimaced as she imagined herself, acting like Alex was.  But, I had only been doing what I thought would be more effective, Ellie told herself desperately.  

     She looked around and saw that everyone else had lowered their hands, so she did the same.

"Where do you think they came from?" Jessica asked Ellie as they walked down the metal stairs.  Ellie shrugged, lowering her shoulders slowly.  "I don't know," she said, stepping off the last stair.  "Do you think they came from down by the creek?" Jessica inquired, her voice hopeful.

     Ellie stared at her.  "Why?" she asked.  "It just seems like a good place for wolf-people to come from;  With the woods and all."

     Ellie considered for a moment, before asking, carefully, "What do you think W.O. stands for?"  Jessica paused, mid-step.

     "You know," she finally said, her voice edged with eagerness, "I remember that my Granddad had a really nice fishing trophy, from 1945, or something.  And I remember reading the plaque, and for some reason I think it said:  Willow Opal Lake Fishing Tournament, 1945."  By the time Jessica was finished, she had a spark in her eyes.

     "But I might have the year wrong," she added quickly.  Ellie nodded, over and over and over again, turning all of the information over in her mind.

     "What is with the name Opal?" she then asked, looking at Jessica.  Jessica shrugged.  "Speaking of which," Ellie added, "where is Opal?"

     It had just now occurred to her, like a punch to the stomach, that she hadn't seen the girl all morning.

     "Will you help me look?" Ellie asked.  Jessica almost said yes, but then shook her head sympathetically.  "Sorry," she said, "but we're both supposed to be doing what Tommy assigned us to do;  Look for any valuable tools.  But since you're looking for the girl -- Opal?  Anyway, I have to do double-duty."

     "Opal!" Ellie called, cupping her hands around her mouth.  Surely the girl hadn't wandered outside.  Not after what had happened to her the previous night.

     "Tommy, Alex, Bea, Nathan, Catherine?  Have any of you seen that little girl, Opal?" she asked, taking a step backwards and tilting her head up, so that she had a clear view of the upstairs area.

     But to no prevail.  Every step she took around the building, it seemed more and more likely that Opal had simply escaped the building.  She had noted Tommy and Alex's efforts to secure the door with a broom, and a few office chairs, but they were all pushed out of the way now.

    Her breath caught in her throat, and a rattling thought struck her;  Had one of the wolves come into the building, and only gotten Opal?  

     "Guys, come here!" she yelled.  In a moment Ellie watched on as the rest of the group tumbled down the stairs, clearly alarmed.

     "I think one of the wolves might have come in and taken Opal," she explained in a rushed breath.  Tommy and Catherine exchanged a look, which was carried on by her and Alex, who said, "Actually, we just found this note."