How hard could it be? • LM / SS

Chapter 107

Two indistinct voices drifted through the upstairs hallway, a conversation seeming to have already started in Scott's bedroom. So much for waiting until he was home.

He stopped in his tracks, mouth hanging agape when he heard muffled yells coming from the bathroom. Yeah, curiosity killed the cat, but he was a human, not an animal, so the logic didn't apply in his case.

Undoing his gun from the holder in his belt, the door squeaked open as the yells became louder. Throwing open the shower curtain, he almost had a heart attack. Maybe curiosity would kill him one day. He lowered his gun, clutching at his chest with wide eyes.

There was a young boy sitting upright in the bathtub, but it didn't seem to be voluntary in the slightest. His arms and legs were wrapped tightly with duct tape, another grey strip bound over his mouth.

Max kneeled down, head tilted as he pulled the strip of tape off the stranger's mouth. "Uh, hi. Who are you and why are you in my bathroom?" he asked, chin resting in his palm.

"I'm Liam," he spat, wincing slightly from the tape being pulled off so abruptly. "I've been kidnapped," he narrowed his eyes, rocking backwards and forwards as he tried to break out of the tape that was soon going to cut off his blood circulation. Was this guy blind? Because there wasn't many people that retreated to bathtubs as a hobby.

Max whistled lowly, rubbing his forehead in anguish. This was taking it to an extreme level, even for his cousin. "Teenager, fucked up jawline, brown hair?" He threw hands up when Liam nodded, pressing his lips tightly together. Frankly, he didn't want any part in this, but he knew that he would somehow be dragged into it. Kidnapping was a low that he didn't think they would reach yet, but every day his friends and family kept on proving him wrong. "Of course it was, I'm Max."

Two pairs of footsteps came running into the bathroom, skidding to a stop at the doorway. Scott's face had guilt written all over it, an open book that could be read in a split second. Stiles snatched the tape out of Max's hands, slapping it back over Liam's protesting mouth.

"Before you say anything, I didn't leave Jade there on purpose. I had to bring him home because I bit him and panicked, I told Stiles to tell his dad about Jade and he forgot," Scott spilled, while Stiles fought in the background to get a struggling Liam into an empty chair.

"What do you mean? What happened to her? Is that what my headache was earlier? And what do you mean you bit him?" Max hissed quickly, not liking the sound of this at all. A few hours. He had left them for a few goddamn hours and everything had descended into absolute chaos. They wouldn't survive a zombie apocalypse, let alone the remaining years of high school!

Stiles snapped his fingers impatiently, calling for the other two to come into Scott's bedroom. There was plenty of time for chit chat, but right now they had another issue to deal with. An angry newly bit, freshmen sized problem. Clapping his hands together, he began his prepared speech. "Okay, Liam, now you've seen a lot of confusing things tonight. And more confusing things are gonna happen because of the confusing things that happened tonight. Do you understand?"

"I don't think I understand," Max interrupted, retreating to his usual habit of sitting on the floor when he got bored. Stiles always complained about everyone talking in riddles, yet done the exact same thing himself all the time.

Liam nodded along in agreement with the brunette that was picking loose threads out of the carpet. He seemed to be the only one out of the three that had common sense. "Not really," he glared, responding to the question that had originally been proposed.

"Liam," Scott hesitated, deciding to take over the conversation. "What happened to you, what I did to you— which I had to do in order to save you— it's gonna change you."