Chapter Twenty Nine: Fury (Part 2)
Chapter Song: Heathens by Twenty One Pilots
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Bang.
There was screaming, none of which belonged to me. The world slowed down. My body jerked in place as if someone had punched me. Hard. The breath was knocked out of my chest as I let out something between a cry and a gasp, my jaw gaping as the pain spread through my body in a milli-second. My hands flew up to my upper abdomen, a warm liquid seeping onto my palms. The screaming continued and my ears drowned out everything but my racing pulse. My eyes trailed up to meet Matt's gaze. My eyes began watering as I cocked my head in confusion, staring at the teen as the pain slammed into me like a truck. My legs buckled and I found myself falling to my knees.
I peeled my hands away from my side and held them out in front of me. They were stained in warm, sticky blood.
Red. Dark red. There was blood covering my small fingers and caked in the creases and crevices of my palms.
I blinked the flashback out of my vision and looked back up to Matt, my face paling considerably. He stared at me, a hint of enjoyment in his eyes. Like the flip of a switch, the world around me had fastened to its normal pace and a bombardment of noises flooded my ears.
"Okay! It's sent! It's sent!" Scott screeched, his hands trembling as he shoved the phone back to Matt. Scott rushed over to my side, crouching down beside me. He began repeating over and over that I would be okay. I didn't need werewolf hearing to know he knew that was a lie.
I prepared myself for the worst. I knew within the next thirty seconds the real pain would hit me. It was what happened last time. The body goes into such a state of shock at first you can only feel the impact of the bullet. Like you've been continuously punched. The burning is next. Within minutes, the real pain takes over and you want nothing more than to die.
I wasn't prepared.
Scott helped me to my feet but standing sent waves of nausea throughout my body. I slipped myself from Scott's grasp, carefully backing up and leaning against the wall beside the doorway where Jackson stood. I sickeningly prayed for him to paralyze me so I wouldn't feel the pain that crept up my body. I could feel the fabric of my dress wet and stick to my skin. I looked down, seeing the hole in the black material. Beyond that, all I could see was blood. The hole was a few inches above and to the side of the bottom of my rib cage—just inches from where my original scars had been. The bullet pressed against layers and layers of thick scar tissue—which was currently the only thing on my side that gave me hope. There was so much scar tissue present from my injuries inflicted by Cadwell that at the moment, it was the only thing protecting vital organs. The pain continued, my head spinning and threatening to have me lose consciousness.
"Next room. Now." Matt snipped at my brother. With one last worried and sympathetic look, Scott reluctantly obliged. Jackson stayed outside the doorway and kept watch. A quiet, shaking breath passed through my lips as the stinging in my side escalated to become unbearable. With my feet unable to keep myself up any longer, I slid down the wall and onto the floor.
Every movement made me want to rip my organs out.
Biting down on the inside of my cheek, I moved my legs once more, resting my right leg against the floor and tucking it under my left. Aching pain shot through my body. I could feel the metal pressing against nerves.
"Hayley." Stiles called. I ignored him. My ears rang with the sound of my own pulse as my fingers soon found their way from my side to inside my wound to fish for the bullet. I gnawed down on my lip, preventing myself from screaming out. My stomach churned, my throat burning as bile bubbled up. I chanted over and over in my mind that I couldn't focus on the pain, I could only focus on surviving tonight. I had to do it. For Scott. Stiles. Derek. Mom.
"Hayley." Stiles repeated. My breathing became labored and heavy while my fingers searched around for the bullet, finally finding it and slowly pulling it out. I flicked it to the side, the metal clinking against the floor echoing in my ears.
"I'm fine." I lied, swallowing my dry throat. My two paralyzed friends stared on, helpless. I winced as I took the pressure off my wound. My hands came into vision again.
Blood, so much blood. It was more blood than I ever seen. The throbbing at my side alerted me there was more constantly coming out.
"Hayley." Stiles called my name again, breaking me out of my hallucination. My eyes drew up to look at him. "Hayley, look at me. Not your hands. Look at me." He soothingly ordered. I blinked a few times, attempting to rid myself of the blanket like haze. "You've got to get out of here."
"And how would you propose that?" I asked, pressing my hands down on my body again. "By jumping out a window or walking right through Jackson?" I pressed my back harder against the wall. I licked my lips and hissed in pain.
I whimpered in pain, pressing my back hard against the back wall of the closet. It was almost impossible to see anything through the slats. My vision was hazy—probably from all the blood that was taking residence on my shirt instead of inside my body.
"Instead of focusing on me, let's try to focus on how we're getting you two out of this situation." I suggested.
"No." Derek protested. My eyes trailed over to his.
"I still have working legs." I snipped.
"You know what's happening to Matt?" Stiles looked over to Derek.
"Yeah, but the books not going to help him. You can't just break the rules. Not like this."
"What do you mean?"
"The universe balances things out. Always does."
"Is it because he's using Jackson to kill people who don't deserve it?"
I thought I was safe—I thought that I managed to dodge the bullets. Furniture and walls had quickly become my safe haven as shots rang out and mom screamed at the top of her lungs for me to run as fast as I could. I thought the pressure pushing at my side was from running into the corner of the dining room table. Even with me being six years old, I wasn't naïve enough to believe the three circular wounds in my skin were from the edge of that table. Apparently bullets weren't only meant for bad guys.
"So if Matt breaks the rules of the Kanima, he becomes the Kanima." Stiles finalized.
"Balance." Derek agreed, attempting to nod his head.
"Will he believe us if we tried telling him that?"
"There's not much convincing him." I quietly added, my head still back and my eyes shut as the pain gnawed away at my side.
"She's right." Derek agreed.
"Okay, he's going to kill all of us when he gets that book, isn't he?"
"Yep." Derek casually answered. Stiles exhaled a hefty sigh.
"All right, so what..." Stiles voice trailed off as I closed my eyes once more. My pulse pounded against my carotid artery. My eyes slowly blinked open again, my eyes flickering down in attempt to see the bullet wound and, more importantly, to assess how bad it was.
There were three holes in my shirt. The crisp, teal color was fading as the dark red blood spread through the fabric. I couldn't see anything but red. The darkness within the closet didn't help either. I needed to get out of here. But I was helpless.
"Does your dad keep a gun in here?" I quietly spoke up, my eyes trailing up to meet Stiles. I could hear the thoughts of six-year-old me ringing in my head: I needed to get out of here. But this time, it wasn't just me who needed to get out. Once Matt got that book, we were all as good as dead. That wasn't something I was going to let happen.
Not again.
"No."
"You could empty an entire clip into it and it still wouldn't matter." Derek reminded. I inhaled a sharp breath and began looking around.
"What can we do to speed up this process?" I motioned to Derek with his claws stabbed into his thigh.
"I need to trigger the healing process more."
"God that's Oedipus, you dumbass!" Matt roared from the next room over. My eyes grew large, my heart skipping beats in fear for Scott.
"So is that hypothetic situation we talked about getting any less hypothetical?" Stiles wondered, his voice quiet in fear Matt would hear him.
"I think so." Derek whispered back. "I can move my toes." Stiles let out a dragged out sigh at Derek's remark.
"Dude, I can move my toes." I closed my eyes in disappointment and exhaustion. Our odds were looking worse.
"You need to trigger the healing process more?" I repeated Derek's earlier statement.
"Yes. This isn't enough to trigger it." He replied, his eyes shifting over at me. I looked down to my feet—more specifically the heels strapped to them. The thought that crossed my mind originally came off as too crazy, too unrealistic. But it was worth a shot.
I took a deep breath in, jabbing my foot forward and shoving it into Derek's foot. A bone crackling echoed in the room as Derek's foot was forced into an overly upright position. Derek's hefty grunt overpowered my painful hiss.
"Did you just break his foot?" Stiles jaw laxed.
"Wasn't a break but it was something." Derek grunted.
"If we get out of here alive you can punch me for that later." I quipped, gritting my teeth together to speak through the pain.
"Okay, sure, let's say Derek's healing plan works. What happens then? Jackson's going to kill you, literally, just for standing. And then he's going to kill us." Stiles reminded. As Derek opened his mouth to answer, the room went black. The eerie sound of the buildings power shutting down echoed as we became deadly silent. My breath hitched inside my throat as I attempted to look around the pitch black room. I couldn't help but wonder if this was part of Scott's plan to get us out of here, but the feeling in the pit of my stomach argued otherwise.
A loud, wailing siren pierced the air as one of the dim emergency lights flickered on in the hallway. My eyes adjusted to the dim light and immediately noticed that Jackson managed to disappear during the blackout. Derek and Stiles eyed the doorway, noticing Jackson's absence.
"Shit." I whispered under my breath. The wailing siren was soon joined by the sounds of glass shattering and endless gun shots. My body flinched as my head whipped towards the sound, onlooking in fear.
The overwhelming pain was soon put on the back burner when I realized that this was no part of Scott's plan. My fight or flight quickly took over, my heart beginning to race. I inhaled sharply, pressing down firmly on my wound and scurrying over to Stiles. Beside him, Derek stiffly bent is legs.
"Can you move anything?" I asked. Stiles shook his head. "Derek?" I asked.
"Getting there." He stiffly nodded, bending his legs more. I grabbed Stiles' limp arm with my free hand and draped it over my shoulder. Pangs of stabbing shot at my side. As I attempted to get Stiles to his feet, I found myself too weak to lift him from the ground.
You can't be helpless, not this time.
Stiles' brown eyes lit up in shock as he helplessly stared to the doorway. I looked to the doorway in fear, relieved to find only Scott rushing into the room.
"What's going on?" I asked over the continuous rounds of gunshots.
"Argents." Scott dropped to his knees beside me to assess Stiles' condition. I dropped Stiles arm from my shoulder as I watched Derek attempt to roll onto his side.
"Take him!" Derek demanded as he struggled. "Go!" Scott immediately swooped Stiles off the floor and began pulling him.
"Hayley!" Scott called.
"I'm right behind you! Go!" I yelled. I crawled over to Derek, my teeth gnawing down on the inside of my lip as I prevented myself from screaming in pain. With one hand pressed against my side, I used the other to help Derek as the paralysis slowly wore off. His crystal green eyes glared to the blood caked on my hands before he took it in his own, using assistance to get onto his knees and lean against one of the chairs for support.
"Derek," I breathed, "If they know about Victoria...you need to get out of here. Whatever they're going to do to you is going to be a hell of a lot worse than what Matt has planned." Derek shook his head.
"I'll get your mom. You get out of here." Derek ordered, his body beginning to twitch ever so often. A stabbing pain ripped through my side, a painful grunt passing through my teeth. My vision blurred momentarily as I pushed harder against the bloody flesh and fabric.
"I'm not leaving any of you here." I weakly shot back through my teeth. Derek's knuckles turned ghostly white as he gripped the top of the chair so tightly the wood began to fissure under his grasp. A feral like growl left his mouth and his head snapped up. Derek's ears were pointed, his nose scrunched up, and his eyes gleaming a blood red. He roared, baring his fangs.
"Go!" He demanded, his voice deep and menacing. Instantly, Derek took off out of the room, leaving me in the darkness. Instead of following Derek's orders, I rushed over to the Sheriffs desk. With only the hallways emergency flood lights to work with, I quickly shuffled through the drawers. The first drawer was nothing but office supplies and papers.
"Come on, come on." I whispered, my voice shaking. I yanked the second drawer open, quickly rummaging through the mess. I froze, my hands wrapping around the handle of the switchblade. My eyes focusing on the initials engraved in the wood. N.S. My shaking fingers flicked the blade up. My pale face stared back in the reflection of the knife. Terrified.
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Blood smeared on the beige walls of the police station as I used them for support. I stumbled down the hallway, my blood pumping furiously as I forced myself forward, mom's terror filled screams fueling me. I could hear her desperately pleading for Matt to listen to her. I could hear my heavy breathing echoing in my ears over the sounds of the alarm. Another gun shot rang out in the station.
Argents. What were the chances? We were already beyond screwed with Matt. Now hunters had been added to the mix. Our luck continuously diminished, the chances of us getting out alive becoming slimmer. If Matt thought whatever the Argent's were doing was part of Scott's plan, he wouldn't hesitate to kill everyone in his path.
I stumbled again as my vision wavered once more. I pushed myself forward, knowing I had to get to mom and Scott no matter what.
I turned down the next hallway, immediately noticing a female figure walking hastily the opposite way, her back towards me. Her fingers wrapped tightly around the crossbow, holding onto it for dear life. I took a couple steps forward, squinting my eyes to make sure I was seeing correctly.
"Allison?" I realized. Allison swung around, her eyes wide and alert as she aimed her crossbow at me. A gasp lodged itself in my throat as I looked to Allison like a deer in headlights.
"It's just me." I heavily breathed, putting my bloody hands up in the air as I became nervous to make any sudden moves. Allison's jaw was squared, her teeth gritting together. It took Allison a moment to register I was the one in front of her, yet her aim on the crossbow didn't budge. She quickly gazed over the blood stains on my hands and then peaked over to the hole in my dress. With dead emotion in her eyes, she looked back up to me.
"Where's Derek?" She asked, deadpan. Her question was unexpected, causing my face to contort in confusion.
"What?"
"Tell me where Derek is." She repeated, her crossbow still aimed at me. It was then when she refused to budge her stance that I realized she knew about Derek biting her mother.
"Allison, what are you doing? Put the arrow down." I pleaded. "Please. Matt, Matt shot me. You have to help us. My moms in here." My choice of words was ill picked. With a sneer twitching the corners of her lips, Allison marched forward to me.
"I know you know where he is." She snapped. I shook my head in disbelieve.
"I-"
"Stop protecting him, Hayley. Tell me where he is." I recognized the fury bubbling in her voice. It was a tone that matched her voice when she gunned down Scott and I with Kate. It was right after Scott betrayed her by not revealing his secret early on. Allison, standing a breathing distance away, glared a heated gaze of fury into me. She disregarded the blood covering my hands as she actively waited me to give up Derek's location. I shook my head, my eyes narrowing into slits. I tried to move past her, but she blocked me.
"Get out of my way, Allison." I growled.
"I will shoot him. Whether you're standing in front protecting him or not." She threatened. Before she could allow herself to feel any remorse, Allison shoved past me, causing a shooting pain to zap up my side. "Stay out of my way." She barked, storming back into the hallway I originally came from. My jaw dropped as I found myself frozen in place in utter shock, Allison's words echoing in my head.
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Roaring and hissing echoed in the holding cells as I finally reached the room. Bodies were being thrown against furniture and slammed against walls. Just as I was about to round the corner, a body came skidding to a halt right in front of me. Matt looked at me, his face filled with uneasiness. I glared at him, flicking open the switchblade in my grasp. Matt faltered on his feet.
"You wouldn't kill me. You couldn't." He spat. He was right.
"Just like you couldn't drown someone?" I mocked, having a very basic understanding of why Matt couldn't swim. A struggle ensued as Matt and I grabbed ahold of each other. I reached for his gun, failing to retrieve it. My entire torso screamed in retaliation, pleading me to run far away from all of this to go get help.
I swiped the blade at Matt's abdomen, managing to knick skin. He growled, shoving me against a wall as we tumbled into the holding room. The struggle didn't last long as my strength continued to diminish. My vision wavered, my legs growing weak. With all his force, Matt shoved me to the ground. By the time I looked back up, both Matt and his gun were gone. Across from me, the Sherriff laid on the ground unconscious. His noticeable breathing put me at ease. The burning pain at my side reminded me that I was quickly going downhill. The adrenaline pumping through my veins kept me persistent, collecting myself from the ground and rushing over to mom's cell. The Kanima jumped up onto the bars in front of me, causing me to skid to a stop with a gasp. When Derek attempted to attack, the Kanima managed to kick him across the room. It continued to hang on the bars, hissing ominously as it stared at me.
"Mom, back up! Back up!" I yelled, standing defensively with the switchblade tightly in my grasp. Mom held her hands over her mouth to prevent any screams as her eyes flooded with tears. "Come here. Come on." I whispered under my breath, my vision blurring for one moment.
You're okay, I assured myself. You can help them this time.
The Kanima hissed once more, taking a defensive stance as it readied it's body to bounce. Before I could react, Scott whizzed past me and sunk his claws into the Kanima's back. The creature wailed as it was thrown across the room. I stumbled back as Scott crouched to the ground, breathing heavy and facing away from mom. With one last bone chilling screech, the Kanima took off with Derek in hot pursuit.
"Oh God, Scott! Scott are you okay?" Mom cried out. Scott looked up to me, his face fully transformed. I shook my head in fear, silently pleading for him to turn around and walk out before she saw him. Just because mom saw Derek and the Kanima didn't mean that she needed to know about Scott. Some of the secret could still be saved. More importantly, mom needed to be shielded from this life. Mom continuously called out Scotts name as I continuously shook my head. A silence blanketed over mom as she realized the reluctant fear on my face. Scott hesitantly turned around, standing up to barely face her. Moms sobs halted and were replaced by haunting gasps. Mom stepped back into the depths of her fell, her glassy eyes frozen on Scott's werewolf face.
"No." Mom whimpered, crying into her hands. She continued to back up until her back hit the wall. Scott hung his head in shame before finally running out of the room.
"Mom." I spoke up, shaking my head in disbelief. I swiped the holding cell keys from the ground, pushing myself forward and leaning my weakening body against the cell's metal bars.
"No." She sobbed. "No, no. Get away."
"Mom, I'm not—"
"Stay—stay away." She wept, holding her shaking hand out in front of her for protection.
"Mom." My brows furrowed together. She was genuinely terrified of me. She cowered into herself as if I was the monster approaching her.
"Go." She wailed, mascara tainted tears streaming down her red cheeks. My lips were parted in hopes for words to fall out of my mouth, but I found myself standing in silence. I pursed my lips together, swallowing hard. I slipped my bloody fingers through the cell bars and dropping the keys in. They clinked loudly as they made contact with the floor, causing mom to flinch. I began backing up, finally rushing out of the room.
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Mom knew. There was no passing this off as some freak stress hallucination. She knew. She saw Derek, she saw the Kanima, and most importantly, she saw Scott. Scott revealed himself. I could feel my racing heart sink into the pits of my stomach, my throat tightening as I held back tears.
The realization that our family wouldn't be the same hit me like a brick wall the same time a wave of pain surged through my body. I paused, grasping the wall for support as I gritted my teeth together, my eyes squeezing shut. The pain grew overwhelming. My fingers clawed at the skin surrounding the wound, pressing down to find any relief. I peeled my eyes opened, my vision taking a moment to become clear and straight. I continued down the hallway, my knees beginning to become wobbly. My walk through the hallways became blurred. In the dark, everything looked the same. Between that and my growing disorientation, I didn't know where in the building I was. I turned into the next hallway, only to immedatly bump into a large body. I gasped, my body stiffening into defensive mode. My vision blurred briefly once again, my knees growing shaky.
"Matt disappeared." Derek informed.
"We need to go. We have to get you out of here." I said. Derek held onto my arms to give me support. "I'm fine, we need to leave. Now. The Argents are looking for you. They know." I informed, pushing myself to walk forward. At the end of the dark hallway, Derek's hand tightly latched onto my bicep, stopping me from walking any further. Worry and confusion flooded his facial features. Derek placed a finger to his lips and then pointed it to the adjoining hallway. We pressed our bodies against the wall and I weakly leaned against Derek for support, preparing ourselves for what would happen next.
There was nothing that could have prepared me to hear Scott's voice.
"What are you doing here? It wasn't supposed to happen like this." Scott's voice lingered in the air.
"Trust me, I'm aware of that." It took me a moment to register the voice. When I realized it was Gerards, I had hoped my mind was playing tricks on me.
"I've done everything that you've asked of me! I'm part of Derek's pack, I've given you all the information that you wanted, I—I told you Matt was controlling Jackson—" As Scott continued to speak, my heart sunk lower and lower.
"Leave him to us. Help your friends. Your family. Leave Matt and Jackson to me. Deal with your mother. Your sister. Go!" Gerard assured. A silence overtook the hallway. Suddenly, my side wasn't the only thing in antagonizing pain. My heart ached with the realization Scott had been working with the enemy this entire time.
"You dropped this." Scott muttered, only for Gerard to forcefully tell him to 'go' once more. Subsequently, Scott rushed past us and disappeared, unaware of Derek and my presence in the shadows. My head spun, and not just from the vast amount of blood loss. I glared down to the floor as the room spun. I looked up to Derek in disbelief. He seemed to be enraged that Scott managed to fool all of us. Even with all his anger, Derek refused to do anything about it right now. I swallowed my doubt and confusion, pushing Scott's disloyalty into the back of my mind. That could be put on a back burner...but only for now.
"Let's go we need to get you out of here."
"No." He disagreed. "I'll get everyone else. Go."
"Derek, they didn't come here to save us. They came here to kill you." I exclaimed. I winced in pain, putting pressure back on my wound. I looked back up to a troubled Derek. "Please."
Putting his stubbornness aside as he saw the desperateness in my dull eyes, Derek obliged. He kept strictly by my side as we rushed through the hallways in hopes to find the exit before either the Kanima or the Argents found us. As my vision continued to waver ever so often, I prayed the adrenaline would at least keep me going till we got to Derek's car. I was so close, I couldn't give up now. The pain in my side was growing worse, and it got harder and harder to ignore. The two of us finally made it into the lobby, and the front doors in front of us looked like heaven. Cold air slapped my face as we sprinted out into the deserted parking lot and over to the Camaro.
The ground spun from under my feet. I bent over, resting one hand on the cool metal of the Camaro's body and the other against the bullet hole in my skin. I grimaced in pain as a burning throb gushed through my side. I retracted my hand, seeing it drenched in blood as fresh as the moment the shooting happened. I gazed up, meeting Derek's worried gaze. He knew by the ghostly pale tone of my skin no one else in that station mattered anymore and he needed to get me out of here.