Bravely Courageous

29

Allison frowned. "What do you mean still? He's not healing?"

"No, he's not healing. I think he's actually getting worse. The blood's turning, like, a black color."

"What's wrong with him?" Maggie wondered. "He was injured hours ago. He should be healing, if not healed."

Lydia nodded and Stiles said, "I don't... do I have a PhD in lycanthropy? How am I supposed to know that?"

"Stiles, cut it out."

Allison sighed and thought for a moment. "We need to get him off the bus."

"And take him where? A hospital?" Stiles shot back sarcastically.

Allison let out another sigh. "If he's dying, yeah. Stiles, there's a rest area about a mile up. Tell the coach to pull over."

Stiles scoffed. "Yeah, I've been trying."

"Well, reason with him," Allison said.

"Reason? Have you met this guy?"

Maggie nodded. "We all have. You have try something."

Stiles sighed. "Yeah, okay."

---

In the bus, Stiles sat next to Jared, who was looking nauseous and smiled deviously. "Hi, Jared. How you doing?"

Soon, the bus was filled with the disgusting smell of vomit.

---

The bus stopped and Stiles got Scott out. 

Scott's friends got him to the bathroom. Maggie lifted up his shirt to reveal a wound surrounded with black goo. Stiles grabbed her hand. "Oh, my God."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Allison questioned.

"Sorry," Scott mumbled.

Allison smiled softly. "Okay. Just give us a second, okay?"

The four of them moved to the side, leaving Scott in his place against the wall. Allison frowned. "This shouldn't be happening. I've seen him heal from worse than this."

Stiles thought for a moment. "Okay, what do we do then? Do we just call an ambulance?"

"And if they get here too late? Or what if they don't know how to help?"

"We gotta do something."

"You know, it could be psychological," Lydia suggested.

Stiles turned to her. "What do you mean, like psychosomatic?"

"Somatoformic," Lydia corrected.

Maggie noticed Stiles' expression and said, "It's a physical illness from a psychogenic cause."

"Yes, it's all in his head," Lydia added.

"All in his head?" Stiles wondered. He thought for a moment. "Because of Derek. He's not letting himself heal 'cause Derek died."

"So what do we do?" Allison wondered.

Maggie shrugged. "Stitch him up." Allison shot her a look. "I'm serious. If he's somatoformic, stitching him up may let him believe he's healing."

Allison gave her a nod before walking over to Scott. "He's going to need another shirt. Where's his bag?"

"Um, I'm going to get out," Stiles said. "I hate needles anyway, so... uh, do you know what you're doing?"

Allison nodded. "Yeah, my father taught me."

Stiles glanced between them. "I mean, how fast are you gonna... I mean, the bus, like, the bus could leave."

Maggie turned to Stiles. "Then we have make sure it doesn't. I'm going with Stiles."

"Yeah, I'm good."

Stiles and Maggie left to get the shirt for Scott. He glanced to her. "Scott's gonna be okay, right?"

"I hope so." Her phone chimed with a message. "Caleb is on his way. He's worried about something, but won't say what."

They returned to the bathroom and Stiles handed Scott the shirt. "Can you stand?" Scott nodded. "Okay. Put this on."

"Whoa," Scott groaned with a wobble. Maggie assisted Allison in holding Scott's other side as they walked out of the bathroom.

They got outside and Lydia joined them. "Is he okay? Are you okay?"

Scott nodded. "Yeah. Stiles. Where's Stiles?"

"Trying to stall Coach," Lydia answered. She turned to Maggie and Allison. "We still don't have gas."

Allison shook her head. "I'm not leaving him."

"Then our only option is to leave the car," Maggie stated sarcastically.

Allison nodded. "Sounds good."

Lydia frowned. "She was being sarcastic. That wasn't an actual suggestion. Allison, wait. Ah. Screw it. Come on, Maggie."

Maggie ran towards Stiles and saw Isaac beating up Ethan. Everyone was watching around. He continued beating him and only stopped when Scott yelled, "Isaac!"

They piled back into the bus. Lydia was in a seat by herself, Maggie sat with Stiles, and Scott was sitting with Allison. Stiles, Lydia and Maggie began discussing the recent murders. "All right. Let's go over this one more time. So it's the sacrifices, right? Everything has to do with them and someone who thinks he's, like, a dark druid of some kind."

"Or actually is a dark druid," Lydia said.

"You mean a Darach," Maggie corrected.

Lydia shot her a small frown. "You know... Some ancient cultures sacrificed people in preparation for battle."

Stiles nodded. "So we got Alpha werewolves against a dark druid."

"Yeah," Lydia replied.

"Wonderful," Maggie mumbled, pulling out her phone to text her brother. 'Meet us at the motel. We need to talk face to face.'