To Hell And Back

Chapter 5

We got to the school in 15 minutes and Scott and I were walking down the hallway as Stiles was on his phone.

"There was a call a few hours ago about a Sophomore from Beacon High who never came home last night." Stiles informed us as soon as he hung up.

"What's his name?" I asked.

"Noah Patrick."

I watched Scott take his phone out and start typing. As we were walking down the halls more, Malia walked up to us and tossed a shirt at Scott.

"Now we can catch his scent." Malia crossed her arms. This must be one of Noah's shirts.

"It's time for Ash to put her new sense of smell to work." Scott smiled at me.

"You called her?" Stiles gave Scott an incredulous look.

"We need all the help that we can get." He shrugged. "I should be calling everyone."

"And I know what this kid looks like." Malia added.

*****

This kids' scent was coating my nose hairs. We showed up at what looked like an old subway station. Underground with pipes everywhere. Stiles was walking ahead of Scott, Malia, and I.

"He didn't want you to call me, did he?" Malia asked.

"No." Scott stuck his hands in his pockets. "Is it that bad?"

"Yeah, we kind of broke up."

My heart started beating faster.

"Hey, you can tell me what's going on with you. I mean, besides Stiles. You can talk to me."

"Me too." I spoke up, glad my voice didn't squeak.

"I said I'd help find this kid and I'm doing it to save Stiles' dad. Don't ask me to talk." She snapped. "Why is your heart racing, Ash?"

"N - no reason." I looked down at my feet. "We're just offering to be sounding boards for what's going on with you.

"Just saying that it's okay if you want to." Scott added.

"I know." Malia paused and squinted her eyes at me.

All of a sudden, I caught Noah. "I got it, his scent."

"Me too." Malia rushed past Stiles and her and I started to lead the boys down tunnels. 

We came across a shoe and I picked it up. "This is Noah's. He was here."

"Guys..." Scott spoke up in a nervous voice. "I think I've been down tunnels like this before. Like when we were trying to find Liam and Hayden."

"Okay, so what?" Stiles asked.

"Maybe it means we're closer than we think. Maybe there's something else down here. Something that we haven't found yet."

"Yeah, nothing that helps my dad. Look, we can't just be standing around here waiting for something to -" Stiles' eyes closed and he fell backwards. Thank God that Scott had faster reflexes than me, because Stiles didn't hit the ground.

"Stiles." I panicked. This is the second time that he's blacked out today.

Stiles' eyes flew open and he tried to stand up Scott grabbed his shoulders. "You okay?"

"Yeah, fine." Stiles stood up with Scott's help.

I heard a low growl and turned around to see Malia holding a teenage boy roughly by the arm.

"Let me go, please, please." The kid, Noah was whimpering.

I started hearing numerous footsteps and groaning. "They're coming." Malia and Scott seemed to hear as well. Malia growled.

Noah tried to get away from Malia but she tightened her grip on him. Stiles stalked over to him.

"Yo, Noah. Did you by any chance try and kill my father because Theo told you to?" Stiles snapped.

"What?" Noah was still struggling. "I don't remember doing anything like that. I wouldn't do that to someone."

"You're not going anywhere."

"I said I don't remember."

"You don't remember anything?" I spoke up and his head snapped towards me.

"No. Not when it happens. Not when I change."

"You clawed my dad half to death, okay? And now it's poisoning him." Stiles snapped. "You're going to start remembering every detail right now."

The footsteps were getting closer. "Scott, I hear them."

"Yeah I do too." Scott nodded. "Hey, Stiles and Ash, get him out of here. Go to the hospital. Figure out a way to save your dad."

"We're not gonna be able to stop them." Malia said.

"But we can slow them down. Ash, Stiles, go."

"I can he -" I started but Scott just pointed towards the exit.

Stiles grabbed Noah's arm and we turned around to make our way out of the tunnels. We ran until we came to a steel gate that was, of course, locked.

"Step back. I think I can break through it." Noah shook Stiles' hand off of him.

"I can too." I held my hand up.

"Sometimes... most of the time, I lose control. So you better step back." Noah ignored me.

Stiles grabbed my arm and yanked me back with him. I watched as Noah began to transform. Sharp bones started protruding out of his arms and back. It was actually gross. He looked like a human version of a Berserker. My eyes trailed down his arms to his hands that were on the fence, bending it backward. One of the bones on his hand was broken. Like a piece was missing. Wait, Berserker... bones... if there's even a small piece of bone marrow in the body where it isn't supposed to be... I need to call Melissa. I look over at Stiles and he was concentrating on the broken bone as well. Noah broke through the fence just as I took out my phone. I scrolled to Melissa's number as we were running towards Stiles' dad's car.

"Hello? Ashlyn? What's wrong?"

"You need to open Stilinski up again. There is a piece of bone stuck in him." I said quickly.

"What?"

"Just do it. We found Noah and he is part Berserker. One of his bones is chipped. He doesn't remember attacking Stilinski, but that has to be what's wrong."

"Okay, okay."

"Thanks." I hung up the phone as soon as we got to the car. Stiles gave me a relieved smile.

"Thank you for being there for me." Stiles said and reached out to squeeze my hand. I squeezed it back with a smile.

Noah ran off to who knows where. But, Stiles and I were rushing to the hospital. As soon as we made it there, we ran in and ran back to his dad's room. Melissa was standing outside of the room and turned around when she heard our footsteps.

"He's okay." She smiled.

Stiles let out a deep breath and hugged Melissa tightly. I let out a sigh of relief and joined the hug.

"You can go in and see him. He's still knocked out but should be waking up soon." Melissa nodded.

Stiles nodded with a smile and turned to me. "I want you to come in."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Positive."

We entered Stilinski's room and Stiles pulled up a chair next to his dad's bed and I sat down in the corner. After about an hour, I was dozing and woke up to see Stilinski wake up and look down at Stiles, who was holding his hand. He squeezed Stiles' hand and made Stiles look at him.

"It's okay, Stiles. You still got me." He smiled down at his son. My eyes started to tear up. "Hi, Ashlyn." He smiled up at me.

"Hi, Mr. Stilinski. Glad to see you awake." I waved from my spot in the corner.

"Me too, sweetheart. Me too."