As I watched, he lifted a megaphone to his lips and shouted, “Come one, come all to Wolfe Industries’ cookout. It’s a barbecue; it’s a carnival; it’s fireworks! Come to the party!”
Looking at the grinning plastic animals, I gagged. They were grinning all right. It wasn’t beef and pork that would be on the menu at this barbecue—it was Fox Hollow!
Chapter 39
As the last float went by, the people on the sidelines rushed into the street, following the parade to the recreation center grounds on the hill below the Wolfe Industries complex. They streamed by me like a flood.
“Don’t go!” I shouted. “You’re in danger! They only want to get you all in the same place so they can turn you into monsters like them!”
Some people laughed. Others made a wide circle around me, not wanting to come too close. I heard people whispering about the “strange wolf-boy” who would never learn human ways.
I felt helpless. But somehow I had to stop this. I darted into the crowd and grabbed a woman by the sleeve. She pulled away, gathering her three small children close.
“Listen,” I begged. “Please listen. There used to be a town here before Fox Hollow. Strange things started happening just like here and then suddenly all the people disappeared. Wolfe Industries is trying to get everybody together so they can make us all disappear. It’s happening again!”
The woman stared at me in disbelief. “It’s a cookout,” she said. “Just a simple cookout.” The children looked at each other uncertainly but the woman pulled them away and they hurried off, disappearing into the crowd.
I tried again, stopping people and explaining to them what I’d learned that day in the library. They just looked at me as if I were crazy and then ignored me.
I realized I’d never convince the adults. I had to get the kids to help me. I stopped a boy I knew from school. “Marshall, listen to me. You’ve got to help!”
“Sure, man,” he said, snapping his gum. “What’s up?”
Everything spilled out, all of it. But halfway through I noticed his eyes straying impatiently to the crowd running into the rec area.
“Look at the size of that Ferris wheel,” he interrupted me excitedly. “I hear they have an awesome roller coaster, too. Chill out, Gruff. These guys are just businessmen, trying to show the town a good time.” And off he ran.
Nobody would listen! The kids were running to be first on line for rides and the adults were congratulating each other on having moved to such a great little town.
I started looking for Paul. He’d believe me!
The recreation area was spread out below the big complex of Wolfe Industries, as if the company was watching over it. The rec area—a ball field, playground, rec building, and pool—had a shiny new fence around it. As people waited to get inside the gate I ran along the outside, hunting for a sight of Paul.
Beyond the recreation center was the pond where Paul and I had first escaped the werewolves. But when I came to the pond, I stared in shock. There was nothing left of the pretty little pond but a big mud hole with a little scummy water puddled in the middle.
“Hey, Gruff.” I spun around. It was Big Rick, grinning at me.
“Neat, huh,” he said, cocking his thumb at the pond. “The guys at Wolfe Industries said it would breed mosquitoes so they drained it. Who cares, anyway? The company built an Olympic-size swimming pool in the rec building. That’s better than some muddy old pond. The fire department is filling the pool right now.”
I realized that all of this was the “project” the werewolves had been working on. They’d completed it in time and I had never guessed. Did this mean they had won for good?
Rick had taken the bandage off his arm and the scabby marks of werewolf teeth were clearly visible. “You ought to come inside,” he said. “You’re missing the party. We wouldn’t want you to miss the party, would we?”
I raced away from his evil grinning face, ran through the gate, and threaded my way through the crowd.
Where was Paul?
People were chomping on cotton candy and popcorn. A band had set up on a stage and men were firing up huge barbecue grills. There were fire trucks parked by the big rec building.
My brain was working feverishly as I took in every detail of the rec area. There must be something here I could use to convince people. Some mistake the werewolves had made that would show people what they really were.
I passed a woman talking to her daughter. “Sorry, honey, but the man said there won’t be any hamburgers ready until after the fireworks,” she explained to the girl.
That was it! I’d throw off the lids of those giant coolers and show the people there wasn’t any beef waiting to go on the big grills. I’d tell them they were going to be on the menu—unless they wanted to be werewolves instead. That should convince them!
But it was hard getting through the crowd. People seemed to knot around me wherever I moved. Big men knocked me off course then grinned into my face, their eyes flecked with red. Sharp-clawed fingers plucked at my clothes, slowing me down. The more I struggled, the more people pushed me backward.
“All right, everybody, get ready,” someone shouted from the stage. “It’s just about time for the fireworks.”
Fireworks! I stared in dismay at the sky. The sun was sinking. The full moon was about to rise!
Chapter 40
It was too late to convince people. I’d have to shout a warning and hope I could scare people into running away.
I took a deep breath. It would have to be the best shout ever. I opened my mouth—and my jaw locked. The only sound that came out of me was an eery mournful howl.
The wereing! The Change was starting. I was about to become a werewolf!
Crouching,
