Weight of the World

77

"Indeterminate?"

"Mean's it's a partial print. Basically, it was all we were able to get considering all the fire, blood, and carnage."

"How many size tens are out there?" Scott wondered.

"Only one with Parrish's blood on the sole," Molly replied.

Liam frowned. "So are going to try to get the game canceled?"

Stiles shot him a sarcastic look. "No, no, we're going to play, but we're just going to hope really hard that it doesn't turn into a blood-soaked massacre."

"Okay, but, um... Aren't we kind of missing out on a chance to catch this thing? We don't have the who, but we have the where and the when."

"There's too many people," Scott said.

Lydia spoke. "And we don't actually know if it's going to happen. It just might end up being a regular lacrosse game. It's possible, right?"

Molly met her eyes. "It's Beacon Hills. There will never be a regular lacrosse game."

Liam frowned. "Okay, getting back to the question, are we getting the game canceled or not?"

"We're getting the game canceled," Stiles said.

Lydia had a Banshee feeling and Molly followed her into the stacks. "What?"

"This," Lydia said.

Molly frowned. "Bad news it seems. Awesome."

Stiles grabbed Molly's arm and they went to the station. They tried to persuade the sheriff to cancel the game, but he shook his head. "Stiles, Molly, I'm... I'm not so sure I actually have that authority."

Stiles frowned. "You're the county sheriff. You can't cancel a high school lacrosse game?"

"It's a charity game which generates tens of thousands of dollars. I'd have to go to the school board with evidence of a credible threat."

Molly frowned. "A giant werewolf could possibly rampage across the field and kill people. Now, I'm not sure about you, but that sounds like a pretty damn credible threat to me."

"Look, we're going to have a presence at the game already. We'll double it, we'll triple it."

"Triple... Dad, quadruple it. Octuple it," Stiles said.

"There's always a person who could forfeit the game..."

"Coach," Molly finished, glancing up at Stiles.

Stiles shook his head. "Not when you're stuck with a substitute who's strictly by the book."

"Finstock, Stilinski. Sheriff, any clue where he's been hiding out?"

The sheriff met her eyes. "Rehab for the last seven months. Maybe it's time to check on his progress."

---

The teens picked up Scott and drove to the rehabilitation center.

They walked inside and saw Coach sitting on a couch, seemingly catatonic. "Oh my..." Stiles began.

"What?" Scott whispered.

"Hey, Coach," Stiles called. "It's Scott, Tabitha and Stiles. Coach, you're in rehab. You didn't have a lobotomy."

"Coach?"

Stiles reached out to touch the checker game and Coach's hand reached out, grabbing his arm. "Don't you touch it. I've got Nurse Gonzalez by the balls of the last three moves and she knows it."

"Let it go. You're checking out of this place now."

Coach shook his head. "Not a chance."

"Okay, Coach. But we know you're fine."

Coach's voice dropped. "I have a debilitating disease. It's called 'I'm-not-going-to-have-another-arrow-to-my-stomach-phobia'. Look it up."

Stiles sighed. "Nobody's shooting arrows at anyone, okay? We need you to coach the charity game. Okay?"

Coach scoffed. "Charity? Not a chance."

Stiles narrowed his eyes. "How exactly have you been conning them into letting you stay here?"

"I, uh... I have relapses. It's... It's serious. I've had seven of them."

"So once a month?"

"Yeah, you see, uh, every time they are just about to discharge me," he clicked his tongue, "I relapse."

Molly nodded. "That's a genius move."

Coach turned to her with a grin. "I thought so too."

Stiles frowned at her. "Molly, don't encourage him." He looked back at Coach. "And no one's noticed that pattern?"

Coach continued with a smile. "I have phenomenal health insurance. So why don't you guys get the hell out of here. I hate charity games. They're meaningless."

"I don't think the charities would agree," Scott told him.

"What's it for this year?"

"Cancer."

"For or against?"

Stiles and Molly looked at Coach, completely baffled by his words. "Against, Coach. Deeply against."

"Yeah, okay, well, I'm deeply not interested."

"Coach, we need you," Scott said.

Coach shook his head. "I will never coach there again."

Stiles nodded. "That's okay. Because we don't actually need you to coach."

"We need you to forfeit," Molly told him.

---

The teens made their way back to the school and Scott assigned roles for everyone and had them repeat their role. "Mason, you know your part?"

Mason nodded. "Corey and I break into the Devenford bus and search their shoes."

Malia stepped forward. "I take out the TV vans."

"The rest of us are looking for a size ten with a bloody sole," Liam said.

Malia looked between her friends. "Just out of curiosity... What if it doesn't work? What if we have to go up against this thing? I mean, I hate to bring up bad memories, but Scott's still healing from what Theo did to him."

Kira glanced to Malia. "No, he's not."

"She's right," Scott said, lifting up his shirt.

He lowered his shirt and continued. "It happened that night we got Lydia and Molly out of Eichen House. I healed. When we were all together again, when we were a pack."

"The Beast doesn't have a pack," Liam pointed out.

"Not like us. We can do this, guys. No one dies tonight."

From her spot on the bleachers, Molly noticed Stiles talking to Coach.

Coach blew his whistle, starting the game.

Molly moved to sit on the bench between Stiles and Liam. She noticed Kira's eyes flash orange and let out a soft groan.

Coach blew his whistle a second time and Brett grabbed the ball. Kira chased after the werewolf with narrowed eyes. Their backup plan was to have Brett go after Liam. Kira ignored the plan and knocked Brett's helmet off, resulting in her being kicked off the field.

Liam and Scott chatted with Brett for a brief moment before the game resumed. Liam scored twice, bringing the score from 1-3 to 3-5.

Molly noticed Stiles getting kicked in the head by Sydney's shoe and narrowed her eyes.

Stiles pointed to the scoreboard. "We've got a tie game. We're now in overtime."

Molly nodded. "Now we're getting somewhere."

They heard a growl and people began screaming as students ran into the school.

Molly ran towards the danger, faintly hearing Stiles calling out after her.