Brother || Teen Wolf

Chapter 31 - Chased

The adrenaline pushing your body forward. Your heart thumping in your chest. Your feet hitting the ground, the shock reverberating in your knees and up your spine. Running does that to your body and some people love it as much as others resent it. Jamie belonged to those who love these sensations, who feel more alive when on the move.

This night in the school corridors, Jamie was running. There was adrenaline in his veins, but it only made his legs shake and cold sweat cling to his back. His heart was beating too fast, thumping so hard his chest felt too small to contain it. His feet were hitting the ground faster than they had ever been, his ankles and knees protesting against the abuse. Lydia was just in front of him and Stiles was on his left, baseball bat in hand. Scott was behind them, glancing regularly over his shoulder. Only fear kept them going, fear and an unwavering determination to live to see another day.

What chased them down the corridors had defeated them by a mere look, taking away all their foolish hopes of fighting back. Trained or not, supernatural or not, the Alpha was too strong for any of them to even dream of approaching it and survive the encounter.

Derek had been its first victim. The werewolf didn't even get the chance to defend himself. He was stabbed cowardly in the back by the Alpha's claws, never seeing the face of the beast that was taking his life.

The janitor had been second. The man was silently patrolling the corridors, checking one last time everything was in place for the next school day. His dedication put him on the Alpha's path and ended a life in the shadows. In his last moments, he had wondered if the students would notice he was gone. Most of them didn't even know his name.

Needless to say, none of the teens wanted to join Derek and the nameless janitor into the grave.

Lydia led them to an empty classroom, holding the door open and fighting the urge to scream in despair. They quickly blocked all exits with desks. They all knew wooden desks wouldn't keep the Alpha out but they had to try, not doing anything felt too much like giving up.

"It's your boss, Scott," Stiles broke the silence first.

"What?" Scott, Jamie and Lydia all spoke at the same time. Scott's tone held disbelief, but Lydia and Jamie were simply confused. They had rushed towards Scott the second they heard him roar, only to come face to with the Alpha stabbing Derek with its claws.

"Deaton is the Alpha?" Lydia repeated. Her breath was short and her brain, flooded by adrenaline that prevented her from thinking clearly.

"But he's always so nice!" Jamie protested.

"Nice?" Stiles repeated with a humorless laugh, "No, he's a murdering psycho werewolf!"

"That can't be," Scott shook his head in denial.

"Oh come on!" Stiles lost his calm, "Derek suspected him! Then Deaton disappears and that thing shows up ten seconds later to toss Derek twenty feet through the air? That's not convenient timing?"

"It's not him," Scott repeated in a hollow voice. It sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than Stiles.

"He killed Derek," Stiles reasserted firmly. He didn't do it to be cruel, but he needed his friends to snap out of it and find a way to get out of there alive.

"No, Derek can't be dead," Jamie denied in a small voice. "He's a werewolf. He'll heal, right?"

He looked at his friends expectantly, hoping they would agree with him. But none of them did. Derek was grumpy, gruff and short-tempered but he was the only one they could turn to regarding supernatural things. He had guided them, helping Scott deal with his anger and training Jamie and Lydia to defend themselves. He was only starting to open up to them and now, he was dead. Jamie refused to believe it but Stiles wouldn't let him escape the harsh reality.