Chapter 48: Chapter 48: Waiting

The now-familiar scrabble of 14's note and makeshift pencil thrusting through the wall caught Nikhil's ear. She's up!

He rolled quickly off the cot and scooped up the note, eagerly moving into the thin stream of light by the door to read her message.

"Hear them again?"

Oh, did he; last night's racket of snarling howls was the entire reason Nikhil had been lying half-dazed on his cot for the past several hours. The inhuman cries had woken him from a deep slumber, and the unsettled feeling they'd left in his gut had made it near impossible to get back to sleep.

Without any supplies to send a note, Nikhil had banged fruitlessly on 14's wall and even tried shouting to her, but to no avail. He'd been left to ponder those inexplicable growls on his own. And even after hours of thinking, he still couldn't imagine what was going on out there. Or who - or what - those horrifying sounds were coming from.