I N S T I N C T | Jackson Whittemore

05: battle lines

Battle Lines
Chapter Five

Annie laid behind a hill, still in her dress, praying that the string on her leg was to Stiles's shoe and not a snake crawling on her. Allison got hauled back home after Kate's funeral, and Annie honestly wanted to be there with her. After an afternoon of old grandpas, funerals, and now a slaughtered man inside an ambulance... her hands were quite full.

Stiles shook his head at the flashing, bloody ambulance up ahead, "What the hell is Lydia doing?"

Scott shook his head, "I don't know."

Annie wasn't sure if this explicit attack belonged to the girl or not. She had never seen such bloody acts done by a werewolf... excluding Kate's murder. Stiles sighed, "What kept you from doing that, was it Allison?" he asked Scott.

Scott sadly shrugged, "I hope so."

"Do you need to get closer?" Annie questioned as Scott sniffed the air for Lydia's scent.

"No," Scott smelled the air once more, definitely picking up something, "I got it."

Scott went to stand up, and Annie went to get up with him, holding her bow tight, when Stiles grabbed Scott's arm. "Just find her... please... just find her," he begged.

Scott nodded, "I will."

Scott looked up at Annie, and then sprinted off into the woods, Annie not far behind. Scott made sure to stay close enough to Annie that he could see her at all times. Suddenly, a growling mass collided with Scott, pushing him to the dirt. Scott threw himself to his feet, and threw a punch at the person Annie recognized as the homeless man from the school.

The man ducked the punch, and rushed at Scott, only to get stopped by Annie aiming an arrow at him. "Back up," Annie said roughly, "I said back up!"

The man slowly backed up, only to trigger a trip wire that wrapped around his hands, and deployed him into the air. Suddenly, a hand went over Annie's mouth, and was pulling her backwards into the dark woods.

Scott rushed towards her, "Wait! Stop! What are you doing? I can help him." Scott ushered his hand to the man hanging by his hands.

The voice Annie could recognize from the one in the bathroom... the Alpha... spoke out, "They're already here."

Derek released Annie, and as soon as his hands slipped from her body, she armed an arrow, aiming it at him. Derek didn't flinch, he just stepped behind a tree. Scott growled, "I can help him!"

Derek launched himself at Scott, tackling him to the ground, "Quiet!" Derek pushed Scott's head towards the Argents walking up to their newest catch.

Annie slowly withdrew her arrow and watched as her brother, father, uncle, her grandfather, and their team walked up to the werewolf snarling at them. Kyle took a step forward, looking the savage beast up and down, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"Nothing! Nothing, I swear," the man twitched.

Sam straightened his back, "You're not from here... are you?" the wolf stayed silent, and Annie cringed as her brother lashed out, "Are you!?"

"No!" The man said, "No, I came... I came for the Alpha. I heard he was here... that's all. Look, I didn't do anything, I didn't hurt anyone. No one living. He wasn't alive in the ambulance, he wasn't, I swear."

Annie held her breath, she was shocked that something could even do that to a person... living or dead. She was happy it wasn't Lydia to blame, though, but she was more worried about what happened to Lydia. Who knows how long this man has been here, and who he might have gotten his hands on.

"Gentlemen!" Gerard called out, and Annie flinched at the tone in her grandfather's voice. "Take a look at a rare sight. You wanna tell them what we've caught?" he looked over at his son.

Chris looked around at the men, "An Omega."

"The lone wolf!" Gerard spoke loudly again, "Possibly kicked out of his own pack, or a survivor of a pack that was hunted down. Maybe even murdered, or possibly alone by his own choice. Certainly not a wise choice," Annie watched as Gerard unsheathed a sharp sword. "Because, as I am about to demonstrate... an Omega rarely survives on his own."

Annie gasped as Gerard swung the sword and cut the man's lower half off of his body, dropping to the ground in a mess of blood and guts. Derek pushed Scott's head further up so he could get a better sight, "Look! Look! Look at them! You see what they do? This is why you need me. This is why we need each other. The only way to fight them... is together."

Annie inhaled sharply, feeling her heart skip a beat. Scott cleared his throat, standing up, and looking back to the entire scene, "What are they doing?"

Annie gulped hard before answering, "They're declaring war."

Chris stepped forward towards Gerard, his face growing with rage, "We have a code!"

"Not when they murder my daughter," Gerard said bitterly. "No code, not anymore. From now on, these things are just bodies waiting to be cut in half. Are you listening? Because I don't care if they are wounded or weak, or seemingly harmless... begging for their life with the promise that they'll never, ever hurt anyone, or some desperate, lost soul with no idea what they're getting into," Gerard looked around at his team.

He gritted his teeth, "We find them. We kill them.... We kill them all."