196 Bigger Picture (2/2)

”What's it at now?” Mindy asked.

”I'm not sure. I kind of lost track.” Remian confessed.

Mindy closed her eyes for a moment. Then, she said, ”It has been 71 days since the last Beast Wave. The current death toll is 6129. Yesterday, it rose by 226.”

”Wow! How did you find that out?” Remian asked in amazement. ”Is it accurate?”

”That's Doom's count, according to Darian.” Mindy told him. ”That's the count that is going to spring the Beast Tide when it hits 10,000. I don't know if it's accurate, but that's the count that matters.”

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”That it is.” Remian agreed. ”Up by 226 in a day… at the rate we're going, we'll be facing the next Beast Tide in half a month.”

Half a month! Remian suddenly felt a chill.

”Are you all right?” Mindy asked, seeing his face pale.

”It's just…” Remian shook his head. ”I thought we'd have years, yet. Half a month is…”

”Eighteen days, at the current death rate.” Mindy calculated. ”That's not good. We better alert George and have them prepare defenses, try to reduce the killing.”

”I'll leave you to it, then.”

***

Darian was snacking on Wyvern Berries, a rare fruit that grew up around draconic aura, when Mindy's thoughts reached out to him. [Darian! I need some help!]

[Again…?] Darian half-groaned.

[At the rate things are going, the next Beast Tide is going to happen in eighteen days! Do you want that?] Mindy asked. [We have to reduce the death toll!]

[Great idea. So go do that and let me eat in peace!]

[But we don't know what's causing it! I remember George set strict rules on hunting Wilds. How did the death toll rise to over 200 in a day? That's simply not possible!]

[It's not just hunting that's killing the Wilds. It's all human activity. This includes water pollution, losing their homes and dying without shelter, losing food sources and starving to death, poisoning due to eating human litter… as long as it's related to something a human did, the Wilds count it as a manmade death.]

[Does George know that?]

[Seeing the way the death toll is rising, probably not.]

[Tell him! Tell him, quick, before things get worse!]

Darian groaned. [It's the middle of the week, I'm not supposed to go anywhere until the weekend, and on top of that, George is at Kara-Goth, not Three Pines.]

[But you can do it. Ha'res-dras could probably make the trip there and back within hours. I'm days away even if I rushed back with the Red Fang right now!]

[Within hours, you say? It's going to take even him all night and half the morning! Plus, I don't even know if I can convince him to bother!]

[Just try! Please?!]

[No promises.] Darian growled, half-regretting that he'd told her about the Count when she asked.