General Population by Eddie Jakes Read Free Book Online Page A

as he turned. Maddix had never seen a werewolf turn before, and considering the circumstances he wasn't sure he ever wanted to again. The body continued to spasm in its human form; everything wolf-like was gone. Maddix took note that his eyes—despite his transformation—remained clouded and the foaming around the mouth persisted.
    Once the movements stopped Maddix collected his stake off the ground. It was perfectly clean with no signs that it had ever been used to stab a werewolf in the stomach. It confirmed everything that he had read about them only being vulnerable to items of silver.
    "Aye there, Maddix?" said a slurred voice from behind him. "Did your dog make a mess on the carpet?"
    Maddix wasn't too surprised to see that two of the constables had decided to spend their patrolling night drinking heavily. He could smell cheap whiskey on both of them. Not that there was such a thing as fancy whiskey in Malevolent, but in his mind whatever whiskey the constables drank made it cheap by association.
    "Go to hell! Where's your boss?"
    "Probably at the station. Getting himself some beauty rest."
    "Let's go wake him up." Maddix wiped the sweat from his brow. "Things are not under control anymore!"

    Maddix's heart was beating so fast that his body temperature seemed to triple. This made the air around him so cold he felt like he was being locked in a freezer. He tried calming his nerves by drinking some cold water, but all that seemed to do was make it worse. Although he had felt scared before, he'd never felt this helpless. It was one thing being jumped by monster in the real world; it was another thing entirely to be trapped inside a cage with a whole civilization of them.    
    It was well over two hours since he had sent for Larouche and the elusive chief had yet to make an appearance. Although, he considered, that was probably not such a bad thing. Expecting Larouche to take anything he said seriously was a stretch but considering this latest attack, he would have to listen at least to reason if not act on it. Dead vampires, zombie attacks, and now werewolves? There needed to be some action taken, and it was now just a question of what the next steps should be. Violation of the pact between humans and the creatures of Malevolent has only one consequence … extermination.
    Maddix glanced around the station watching all the activity going on around him. Mostly it looked like a lot of gossiping about what happened, but he could swear he heard a few jokes directed at his expense. He supposed it was kind of funny to see the overseer get caught with his pants down. It was assumed that someone with so much responsibility would be a little more alert to danger. That was a drawback of living in a prison where the prisoners can't harm you, though. You get soft.
    The three drunken constables Maddix encountered were carrying the naked body of his attacker to the emergency first aid room. There wasn't any need for doctors or a morgue in Malevolent since no one ever got sick or seriously injured, and the prisoners took care of their own dead on the rare times they had any.
    At least that's how it used to be.
    It was like the whole world had changed the second Drahomira came into his office and reported her brother murdered. Maddix ran scenarios through his head to find a connection. Could this rabid werewolf have killed Havel Statsny? Something had to be sick in this wolf that attacked him, he could see it in his eyes. Could a werewolf even get rabies? And if they did, how did he contract it here? He supposed that theoretically it was possible. Magic and science didn't always work well together.
      "Just got the word that the chief is rounding up some suspects and then he'll be here," said Constable Roberts with his head poking through the door.  
    "Suspects? Who?"
    "I don't know, Colonel Mustard, and Professor Plum no doubt. They're always causing trouble around here," joked Roberts.
    "Fine, whatever. Can you send someone to