─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
eventually, lydia had joined scott, liam, moon, hayden and franchie in the locker room. it was late night so everyone was tired and the room was quiet.
"what were you going to do with these?" liam asked. he had gotten up, leaving moonee on the ground. in his hands were long metal chains.
scott shrugged, "brought them just in case."
"in case of what?"
"in case we had a chance to catch one of them." scott informed him, "if we can't make the school a fortress, then maybe we can make it a trap."
"they're coming for her- doesn't that mean she's the bait?" liam asked scott.
"hayden's bait?" franchie questioned, walking to them.
"you never said that." moonee hissed at her brother as she got to her feet.
"guys, we brought her here to protect her." lydia tried to tell them as liam dropped the steel chains.
"so why is she bait?" franchie queried, growing irritated.
"am i?" hayden asked innocently.
scott glanced at franchie, she tried to hide it but he could smell the annoyance on her. in all the years he had known her, she had never gotten like this. "no, no one's bait. but we can't be bodyguards to everyone every night."
"then why aren't we talking to stiles' dad?" liam challenged, "why aren't we doing something better than hiding in a school?"
"exactly."
"because we still don't know anything about them or what they want, okay?" scott told his sister, "they're winning, and we don't even know what the game is."
"what if they come in here and those things don't work?" liam snapped, "what if you have an asthma attack again? what are we gonna do?"
"i don't know."
"this plan sucks!" liam exclaimed.
"you got a better one? kids are dying, and she's next!" scott began to raise his voice in frustration. "so, somebody has to do something. somebody has to save everyone. so somebody's got to be the bait!"
"scott... promise me you'll do everything you can to save her." hayden was liam's friend, despite the ongoing hatred they had for one another, and he didn't want to see her hurt.
"promise us." moonee added.
"scott, please." fran muttered.
"i'll do everything i can." scott nodded, "i promise."
"guys... i think i might need a little help right now." hayden was digging through her backpack, "i forgot my pills. i have a bottle in my locker. i can get them, but-"
"i'll get them." scott cut her off, "what's your combination?"
"do you want me to come with?" moonee offered after hayden told him the code.
"of course not." scott shook his head before he and lydia made their way to the door.
"that was rude." moonee scoffed, turning away and sitting down on the metal bench.
the four sat in silence after the seniors left. they were too angry or too scared to speak up.
"moonee, did you hear that?" liam glanced up after a while.
"probably not, i don't have advanced hearing." moonee shrugged, "but i can feel something isn't right."
"i heard it. they're here, aren't they?" hayden's voice cracked, "they're in the school."
moonee sat up quickly, "they are?!"
"i thought you said you could feel it?" franchie reminded her.
"i never said i knew what that feeling was." moonee shot back.
liam began to slowly walk towards the door, "scott? lydia?"
"dunbar, get back."
he didn't listen, he moved closer to the door but finally stopped when the handle cranked. the boy took a step back as the door opened.
standing tall was one of the dread doctors - the surgeon. moonee's heart stopped for a second, she felt like she couldn't move. this was the first time she had been face to face with them since she was younger.
liam backed up into the lockers, pulling moonee where hayden and franchie stood. once the geneticist had entered the room, the surgeon and pathologist came tracking behind.
the frequency box was knocked to the ground by the surgeon, and it then glimpsed up at the four. "we're on a frequency you can't possibly imagine." its robotic voice croaked out to them.
the surgeon used his stick and slammed down, smashing the box into pieces. sparks of electricity and wires flew everywhere once he had done it.
the four stood in dread and silence, unable to do anything to save themselves. the next thing they knew, they all had been struck unconscious - blacked out on the locker room floor.
─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
moonee's eyes slowly peeled open to be welcomed with a bright light. her pupils constricted due to the harsh glare and she shut her eyes again, tight. after a few moments, she opened them up again, making sure to look elsewhere.
the girl was laying on a table in the dread doctors' operating theatre. she was strapped onto the metal table, unable to move her hands and legs.
laying on the ground, far away was franchie and liam. they were wired and clamped to the floor, still barely conscious. on the other side of the room, also on a counter, was hayden and her eyes wide open in confusion.
"moonee?"
"hayden?"
"no, no, no! don't! don't hurt them!"
"moon!"
"hayden. hayden. hayden." the geneticist and pathologist began to chant, circling around her.
the surgeon stood in front of moonee, towering beside her as it started her down. moonee looked to the side to see a needle and tube stuck into her arm.
"what the-" she groaned, her eye sight wavering.
"your condition improves." it told her.
"i'm not a chimera." she groaned, watching the liquid enter her body.
"your condition worsens." the other two announced to hayden from the opposite side of the room.
"no!"
"leave them alone!"
the geneticist marched over to the two yelling sophomores and was swift to silence them. moonee couldn't see what happened to her friends, but she could tell it wasn't good.
while unconscious, franchie was unclamped from the ground by the geneticist and picked up. simultaneously, moonee's tube was yanked from her arm, and she was untied from the table. the mccall sighed in relief when she felt herself being lifted up.
her ease quickly shifted into a panic when she realised she and franchie were simply exchanging places.
"no, no, no!" she yelled. moonee was unable to thrash around because whatever substance they had been piping into her, had made her weak.
the surgeon dropped her beside liam, violently and clamped her arm down.
"liam?" she coughed out, not knowing whether he was awake or not, "are you okay?"
the stillness let her know he was unresponsive. moonee took a deep breath, accidentally inhaling the fumes from the room. it reeked of strong chemicals, smoke and merely vulgar.
moonee laid on the ground in silence, unable to do anything. she thought of melissa, her brothers, all her friends and even xan. she hoped the rest of the pack would soon find them and rescue them.
─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
when moonee woke up from the sleep she didn't know she was in, hayden had joined her and liam on the ground. when liam rose, he moved as near to moonee as he possibly could, but it wasn't too close due to the clamp on his arm.
"hayden? hayden, are you okay?" liam asked the girl.
"it hurts..." hayden puffed out.
"give me your hand." liam ordered while taking the girl's hand into his, "there's something scott does... he can take away the pain. i've never done it before, but i can try."
moonee could hear that liam was trying his hardest to take hayden's pain away, but he wasn't able to.
"i'm sorry..." liam sighed, laying back down in between the two girls.
"why are they doing this to us?" hayden questioned.
"i don't know." liam spoke, "i don't know."
"are you guys okay?" moonee whispered.
"you're awake?"
"well duh." moonee coughed out, "it stinks in here and can't breathe."
"they put these things into my arms and clamped me to the ground." liam explained.
"in your arm?" moonee grimaced.
"yeah."
"i'm not tied down." hayden confessed, "i'll help moonee and then i can help you." hayden crawled over liam's legs and sat beside the girl.
she observed and saw the sweat on moonee's face, the dampness in her stripped top and the bleeding in her arm. her cast had been removed and her whole arm was bruised, causing hayden to cringe.
the romero girl quickly undid the straps on moonee's arms, letting her free. once she was done, she helped the girl sit up.
"thank you so much."
"it's okay."
hayden then moved over to help liam and moonee was about to join her, but something caught her eye. franchie was laying on the table, she had completely forgotten they had been switched.
moonee used all the strength she had to push herself up and begin to crawl over.
"moonee, where are you going?" liam asked.
"fran." was all she said.
once she reached the table, she hauled herself up. it took all her strength and was so painful that tears began to seep in her eyes.
she turned back to see hayden yanking the metal poles out of liam's arm. seeing they were okay on their own, she faced her best friend again.
"franchie." moonee mumbled, lightly shaking her, "fran, wake up. please."
the girl's eyes shot open. however, fran's usual dark brown eyes were replaced with vibrant orange and yellow ones.
"moonee!"
before the girl could react to her friend's new eye colour, she felt a needle penetrating her neck. her body froze as the liquid inserted into her vein and her eyes rolled to the back of her head.
⎯ ❃ neens speaks!
hayden and franchie 👀 such cuties and they're gonna be the best girlfriends