BLUNT. | Liam Dunbar

In the Nude - Chapter Fifty-Three

A N N I E

Parrish unloaded another round onto the Berserkers as I pulled back another arrow, shooting it directly as the Berserker's belly, but only to be shot down.

The Berserker turned to Parrish growling as Parrish cringed his face. "They're not going down! Nothing's getting through that armor and I'm running out of ammo!"

Suddenly, a cracking came, and I turned to see my Aunt Kate snapping a man's neck. She licked her lips, looking at Araya - the leader of the Calaveras - and smiled. "You're next, Araya. I'm coming to kill you next."

Araya grimaced, pulling out a taser, and waving it in the air. "Then come, La Loba. Let me show you how the Calaveras die."

All of sudden, a ripping roar echoed throughout the ruins, and I turned to see a black wolf jumping over a large piece of concrete. It trampled Kate to the ground, slicing and dicing her clothing, making her weak. It jumped off of her, and turned around, slowly morphing back into a human being.

Slowly morphing back into Derek.

A very naked Derek.

"You--you were dead." Kate choked out, pulling herself to her feet.

"No," Derek smiled. "I was evolving. Something you'll never do."

Kate growled, rushing at Derek, and I couldn't hold it in anymore. I armed my arrow, the special arrow my father had given me the night we got attacked at our old building... one laced with powerful wolfsbane... and shot it, hitting Kate in her stomach.

She gasped, turning to me and sprinting away in pain. I quickly followed her, racing behind her into a dark tunnel like area.

She turned around to me, breathless, "Annie?"

I armed another arrow, this one less toxic, this one not laced with the extremely poisonous yellow wolfsbane my father gave me. "You want to kill me, Annie?" Kate gasped.

I shook my head, "No, but I don't want to save you anymore either. I don't know if you're worth saving."

Kate huffed, "You're just like your father, Annie, always trying to make me the bad guy. You can't see them clearly anymore, can you?" She raised her eyebrows, holding her belly in pain. "Scott's not your little hero. None of them are. Not when they killed Allison."

At that, I lowered my arrow, looking at my Aunt. "Allison died. She died saving her friends. Who would you die for?"

Kate stayed silent, and then shook her head, slowly backing down the tunnel. "You're not going to kill me, and you're not going to catch me. Not you. Not your father. Not Peter. And not the Calaveras."

Kate turned and rushed down the tunnel, and I let her go, shaking my head, tears streaming down my face.

I had to let her go.