The administrative wing of the Bayou Mounds Zoo was a corridor of forced silence and lingering dread. Olivia didn't bother with a formal greeting; she walked into the supervisor's office and placed her digital recorder on the desk with a heavy thud.

  Jason Griffen sat behind Kellen’s old desk, looking like a man who had been drafted into a war he wasn't prepared for. His eyes were bloodshot, and he kept glancing at the empty chair where Kellen used to sit.

  "Detective Hale," Jason said, his voice barely a whisper. "I already told the patrol officers everything I know. This is a nightmare."

  "Nightmares are for sleep, Jason. Right now, I need facts," Olivia said, clicking the recorder into the On position. "Let's talk about Kimberly Watson. She didn't show up for her shift today, did she?"

  Jason shook his head slowly. "No. No call, no text. Just… gone. It’s not like her—well, it wasn't like her a week ago".

  "Kellen gave her a write-up right before he left for Hollis Lake, didn't he? For hopping the fence into the wolf enclosure?" Olivia pressed, her eyes tracking Jason's nervous movements.

  "Yeah. He denied her a raise, too. She didn't take it well," Jason admitted, wiping sweat from his forehead. "She was different after that wolf, Bo, bit her. Upbeat. Confident. Almost... aggressive. She told Josh to 'kick rocks' the other day. The old Kim would have just cried.

  "Did she ask about Kellen's vacation? Did she know where he was going?"

  Jason paused, the realization dawning on him. "She did. Saturday. She asked him which lake. Kellen told her Hollis Lake. He thought she was just being conversational".

  Olivia leaned in closer, her voice dropping an octave—the "Hardboiled" edge coming through. "And Dale Butler? Did she ever mention him? Her boyfriend?"

  "I didn't know his name, but I knew she had one. She used to complain that he was on her back about her weight and her job," Jason said, his voice trembling. "Detective, what’s going on? Is Kim… did she do this?"

  Olivia stood up, snatching the recorder. "Kimberly Watson is a cold-blooded serial killer, Jason. And if she comes back here, you don't talk to her. You lock the door, and you call me. “Are we clear?"

  "Crystal," Jason whispered.

  Olivia walked out of the office, the recording capturing the frantic, heavy breathing of a man who realized he had been working next to a monster. She pulled out her phone and sent a one-word text to Derek and Sheryl:

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  APARTMENT.

  The sky over Bayou Mounds was bruising into a deep purple by 6:50 PM as the team pulled into the River Oaks Apartment complex. Olivia stepped out of her cruiser, the heavy fabric of her tactical jacket—emblazoned with BAYOU MOUNDS POLICE in jagged yellow letters—feeling like a suit of armor. The time for stealth was over.

  They moved toward Apartment 4B, Kimberly’s Ford Escape sitting cold and silent in the driveway. Olivia pressed the doorbell once—then again, the chime echoing hollowly inside the unit. No footsteps. No movement.

  "Move out of the way, both of you," Sheryl commanded, her voice dropping into an Alpha register.

  "Mom, what are you doing? We're in public," Derek hissed, glancing toward the neighboring units.

  Sheryl didn't answer with words. She channeled her superhuman strength into a single, devastating kick that shattered the door frame and sent the wood splintering inward. Derek and Olivia surged into the foyer, weapons raised, moving with the practiced, lethal precision of the Everdale veterans.

  The apartment was a tomb. Sheryl didn't bother with corners; she paced the living room like a predator, her nostrils flaring as she tasted the air for the metallic scent of the Gray Wolf.

  "Clear!" Derek shouted from the kitchen.

  They moved upstairs, but the rooms were empty. Kimberly had vanished, but the "neatness" she’d cultivated had left behind a map of her madness. On a small desk in the corner, Olivia found a handwritten ledger.

  "This looks like a manifesto," Olivia said, her voice tight. "Look at the title: REVENGE TOUR. The names are all here—Josh, Paula, Kellen. They died in the exact order they're listed". A sharp, dark checkmark followed each name.

  "I found another ID on the television shelf," Sheryl called out, holding up a card with two fingers. "The name is Dale Butler".

  "He’s the one they found near the Spillway this morning," Olivia said, recalling the Chief's briefing. "That was her boyfriend. Jason mentioned she’d complain about him picking on her. She probably 'cleansed' him too".

  "So, we're dealing with someone who was pushed to the edge at work, at home, and by her own friends," Derek said, looking at the shredded furniture. "When that wolf bit her, it didn't just give her abilities, it gave her a way to settle every score she ever had".

  "That’s it in a nutshell," Olivia agreed, bagging the manifesto.

  "Where do we look now?" Sheryl asked, her golden eyes flashing.

  "I-10 West, toward Baton Rouge," Olivia said, her tactical mind already mapping the exits. "I'm betting she’s finished with Bayou Mounds. I'll send this evidence to the Chief, but we need to move now".

  The team scrambled. Derek and Sheryl hauled into the utility van while Olivia vaulted into her cruiser, her tires screaming as she led the way toward the interstate.

  Kimberly Watson knew the clock had run out the second she realized her ID was gone. She was a dead woman walking, and she knew it.

  She didn't take her car. Instead, she had summoned an Uber to a quiet corner of the city. Once they reached a secluded exit near a dense forest line, she didn't pay the fare. With a blur of obsidian claws, she slashed the driver's throat, watching the life drain out of him with a detached, cold curiosity.

  She dumped the body in the brush and took sole possession of the steering wheel. As she hammered the throttle, memories of the zoo parking lot fight flickered in her mind—the sting of the silver, the weight of the lion-beast, and the roar of the leopard.

  She knew a second confrontation was inevitable. She could feel them coming for her.

  "I'm ready," Kimberly whispered to her blood-streaked reflection in the rearview. The Gray Wolf within howled in agreement as the speedometer climbed into the triple digits

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