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Kotori frowns. "I've been trying not to dwell on that. I had a system in place, but it just wasn't high enough quality, especially with the stealth tech some of these groups have started developing. I can only do the best I can, and if it's not good enough, at least I tried…." He clicks on a small menu tab and brings up a new window filled with long strings of text and icons you can't make heads or tails of. "Each of these," he points the mouse at one of the rows, "is tied to a single device we set up near each camera zone. If anyone comes within range, not only will we get an alarm in here, but I'll also get an alert on my phone." He holds out his smartphone for you to examine.

"I'm surprised Sonoma lets you have a phone here in camp," you say.

"Well, to be fair, it's not really enabled as a phone. Purely WiFi, custom firmware, I gutted the bloatware out of the thing myself just to make sure. It's not a security threat."

You hand the phone back to him.

"Think you could show me how to use it some day?"

"I really don't think we should be risking tech like that here in camp."

Whether he has the phone or not doesn't matter to me much, as long as the system works.

Next

Kotori beams. "Of course! I don't hear many wolves asking to learn about this stuff. It would have to be with supervision, of course—Sonoma's really strict like that—but I'd be happy to show you the basics some time." He clicks to close the setup window for the alerts and leaves the cameras up on-screen, watching them intently for a moment. "I have a feeling that I'm going to be spending a lot of my time watching this thing and tinkering with it. Feel free to come back anytime and take a shift!"

You laugh, knowing full well that you have other work ahead of you. "Yeah, we'll see."

"I guess you should get a move on then," he says. "I'll be here playing around with our setup if you need me."

Next

As busy as you'd been with securing the camp, it certainly wasn't the only thing on your mind. Not long after the work began, it came out that Havok had broken free of his jail cell during the commotion caused by the final string of feral madness and the stockade fire. Havok was the one wolf who hadn't managed to shake the call of his inner beast, and ever since he murdered another wolf in cold blood, his human side had retreated entirely. He had been recaptured since, but it didn't take long for wolves to start questioning how he escaped from Sonoma's custody in the first place. Not many answers had been forthcoming aside from a promise that the pack wouldn't have much longer to wait to hear Havok's eventual fate for murdering a packmate. The announcement was widely protested, most vocally by Inferi and her Metalheads who were convinced that Sonoma intended to hand down a death sentence. The elders, on the other hand, publicly proposed indefinite detention until such time as Havok could be cured.

Havok should be remanded into the custody of his friends. If anyone has a chance of bringing him back from the abyss, they do.

I knew we couldn't have a fully-feral wolf who had killed packmates running wild in the camp, so I supported imprisonment until we could find a way to heal him.

I supported a possible death sentence; I knew we couldn't have a fully-feral wolf who had killed packmates in the camp.

Next

You threw your support behind Sonoma's death sentence proposal when the issue was brought to a pack-wide vote. The margins had been razor-thin, but Sonoma still had enough sway to convince the pack that they were all safer with Havok put down quickly and quietly. Few of your friends had anything good to say about the decision, but luckily most of them had their anger focused on Sonoma rather than your support of her proposal.

The execution was carried out swiftly, using a lethal cocktail developed by Maker at Sonoma's request. Few packmembers attended the event, but you'd decided that if you were willing to vote in favor of his death, you should have the stomach to be there for it. Havok laid quietly on a large table, heavily sedated for the procedure.

"It should be relatively painless," Maker said as she injected the drugs into Havok's bloodstream. "It will be over in a couple of minutes."

In the end, it seemed that Maker had underestimated the lethality of her drug—in less than a minute Havok's pulse stopped and his chest was still. You felt a twinge of something deep within as your inner beast snorted, nearly waking from its slumber. You did your best to calm it, but you could tell that the primal part of you couldn't understand that kind of death.

Next

During the latter half of your plans and preparations, Ahote worked hand-in-hand with Kotori on his outreach program and political aspirations. He approached you on occasion, asking for advice or running an idea past you.

In the interest of keeping his outreach in check and the pack safe, I volunteered to help him on a regular basis.

The more involved Ahote got with the humans, the less comfortable I felt. I decided to run interference by getting Sonoma involved.

I firmly believe in Ahote's vision of werewolves becoming politically active and open, and I helped him at every opportunity.

I didn't like the idea of working with humans. I didn't get in Ahote's way, but I wasn't going to help him either.

Next

"So why should we believe your story about how our military treated you at the Haven settlement? Like most Americans, I support our troops, and extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."

It's Ahote's fourth streaming interview with the outside world, and his first with a hostile interviewer. From the very first question the host hounded Ahote over the Battle of Haven and the way the elder had been portraying the military. Before connecting, Anna warned all of you that Robert Sheridan could be antagonistic, but she hadn't let on that he would be this bad. Perhaps she hadn't known. She claimed that the United States is a country largely divided—not only on the werewolf question, but on nearly all political issues, and that the only way to reach out to millions of voters was to appear on their preferred broadcasts. It had taken a while to explain to Ahote what online streaming is and why he should take advantage of it. Eventually he came around, but he still seemed skittish and skeptical about the whole thing. According to Anna, Sheridan is the host of a popular radio program that recently made the jump into streaming video podcasts. If the numbers are to be believed, Ahote is now speaking to over a million people.

Ahote pushes a thin pair of glasses upward on a nose glistening with perspiration. "Robert," he says in a calm and measured voice. "I know you've seen the pictures and video of the working conditions we were forced into. The pacification squads roaming the streets and rousting us from our homes. You can't simply deny they exist. Didn't you just profess to believe strongly in freedom of choice and personal responsibility?"

"About those pictures," Sheridan shuffles some printouts on his desk. "One of my insiders claims that several of these photos of alleged abuses are heavily doctored. He was on my show earlier this morning to highlight digital artifacts left over on the images highly suggesting that deceptive editing was done. Do you have anything to say in response to these accusations?"

Before the interviews started, Anna warned each of you that this topic might come up. Several of the photos had indeed been altered, although it was often only to improve the contrast or highlight and zoom on important details. Kotori had just about had a fit at the news and he ranted at WRN's photographer for ten minutes straight. In the end there was nothing that you could do but prepare for the inevitable question.

We chose to admit the truth, especially if a lie can be proven by digital forensics.

We would deny any knowledge of digital alteration one way or the other. After all, the Haven pack hadn't been the ones to leak the photos.

We would outright claim that the accusation is a lie and the photos are genuine. Admitting anything will be used against us regardless of the reasoning.

Next