ii. RUNNING WITH WOLVES
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WHEN CARTER FINALLY returned back to the land of consciousness, she was perched upon a metal chair—her waist resting against the back of it as her legs straddled the actual chair, her wrists and ankles constricted in thick metal shackles. Her hooded eyes glanced up to see a distraught Kira standing in the corner of the room, Severo's hand curled tightly around her bicep. Her attention quickly moved off the Kitsune when the door in front of her opened, whirling in the direction of it to see one of Araya's men dragging a reluctant Lydia into the room.
"Oh, God," Lydia mumbled under her breath, wide eyes locking onto Carter's as the man continued to pull her toward the identical metal chair positioned beside Carter. The man forcing her into the seat before binding her wrists and ankles in chains.
Carter began to furiously pull on the chains when Araya stepped forward, visually showing that the Were-Pheanix didn't appreciated the idea of Lydia and Kira being dragged into that with her. "Let her go. Look, you've got me, just let the others go."
As Araya ignored Carter's pleas, Severo yanked Kira forward, the raven-haired girl squirming in his grasp, even more so when he grabbed her wrist and placed her fingers around the dial on a large machine placed before her. "Your hand goes here," he instructed, casting a glanced toward Carter and Lydia. "So, let me explain what's about to happen. This one, the fox, has an immunity to electricity. So she's going to turn the dial on the Alpha-Pheanix." Carter's eyes immediately locked with Kira's, the fox whimpering in response. "If she doesn't, I turn the dial on the Banshee."
In a sudden burst of anger, Kira tugged against Severo's grip. "No, I'm not doing this!"
"Are you sure?" Severo pondered, tightening his grasp on the girl as he forcefully directed her hand back to the dial. "One of your friends has the power to heal. The other? Not so much."
Air hissed up Carter's throat, spitting through her clenched teeth with a low, menacing sound like a swarm of angry bees. Before the sound was out, her muscles tightened in rage. "What are you doing? Is this some sort of sick game to you?"
"This is a test, fuego pájaro. Let's see if you pass," Araya announced, clapping her hands together as she sauntered out from behind the brunette to stand in front of her. "We're going to ask some questions. You answer them, nobody gets hurt. You don't answer, we turn on the dial."
Carter gulped, her fiery anger dwindling down into cackling embers as the harsh reality of the situation began to set in. She pulled her eyes away from Araya and looked toward Kira, sending the girl a comforting look despite the terror coursing through her own veins. She could smell the distress rolling off Lydia and Kira's bodies; practically taste the thirst for revenge coming from Araya; and feel the arrogance that Severo was drowning himself in — those emotions were so much stronger than she had been used to that it was hard to stick to one train of thought despite her clear head. Each new sensation brought on by her heightened animal side overwhelmed her.
She made a concerted effort to focus. There was something she needed to say to Kira before Araya began her interrogation.
"Do what they say, Kira, okay? Whatever they want. I can take it — rather me than Lydia."
"So, we don't know where Derek is. We want to find him as well." Carter cleared her throat at Araya's words, taking an unnecessary breath to settle herself. "You know who took him."
"What?" Carter laughed in a short burst of inappropriate humor, not being able to comprehend the fact that Araya thought she knew who had taken her brother. If she would've known, they wouldn't have taken the time to come to Mexico — to the Calaveras, if they didn't think they had him. "How would I know that?"
"That doesn't sound like an answer to me," Araya chided, showing mocked concern toward the girl's words.
"We don't know," Lydia interjected, fearful tears pooling in her eyes as the thought of watching the brunette next to her go through even more suffering prodded at her mind. "Why do you think we came here?"
"Kira," Araya snapped, obviously not impressed by the two teenagers responses. "Turn the dial." Reluctant and unwilling to put Carter through even more agonizing pain, Kira immediately began to shake her head in refusal. "Should we turn the dial on Lydia instead?"
And just as Severo reached for the dial connected to Lydia's fate, Carter instantly yanked on the restraints and shot forward in protect. "No!" She cried out, refusing to put one of her only friends who didn't heal through such torment. "No! Do it, Kira." The girl could see the distress in her eyes, knowing that she for her friend. "Do it."
"Let's start at one."
Kira sent one more fleeting glance toward Carter before placing her slender fingers on the dial, slowly turning the knob toward one. And before Carter could notice the sparks coming from the shackles, the pain hit her as the fire ripped hotter in her chest. Her heart took off, beating like helicopter blades, sound almost a single sustain note; it felt like it would grind through her ribs. The pain had been enough to stun her, to break through her perfect facade of control. Her back arched, bowed as if the electricity of dragging her upward.
The first level had been enough to send the girl into unimaginable agony — not even wanting to think about the nine levels after it.
"Tell me!" Araya shouted over the sound of electricity cackling along the chains. "Who actually has Derek? Who had a reason, a vendetta particular to your family?"
Clenching her teeth through the pain, Carter spoke, spit flying through her teeth as she surpressed her groans of discomfort. "I said, I don't know."
"Ah, you don't know because you haven't figured it out yet," Araya hissed in detest, not being able to believe that the youngest Hale hadn't been able to think of the name right on the spot. "So think! Who could've have taken him?"
Carter allowed her torso to slump forward against the chair. The fire in the pit of her stomach flare up in the center of her chest, sucking the last remnants of the flames from the rest of her body to fuel the most scorching blaze yet — trying to battle against the electricity. Beads of sweat rolled down the sides of her face as her chest rose and fell rapidly as the pulse of the electricity throbbed through her body.
Severo, with a blank expression, motioned toward the dial, "Tres."
Kira's head whipped into the man's direction, jaw clenched as the glared at him through her tears. She comprehend why he wanted her to amplify the currents so that Carter could answer a question nobody seemed to know the answer to — it didn't make any sense to her.
"Tres."
"It's okay, Kira," Carter panted breathlessly, heart pounding wildly in her chest. "It's okay."
Her fingers remained around the knob, pulling her lips into a tight line as she hesitantly turned the dial up two knoches. She heard the spine-chilling whir of the machine, the sound being enough to rattle her brain at knowing what it meant, it meant more agonizing electricity pulsing through Carter's body. The Were-Pheanix's head went flying back, hair cascading down across her shoulders as the veins in her neck and arms bulged and throbbed to no end. She was clenching her teeth so hard she was sure they were going to break.
"Who had the power?" Araya shouted at her. "The power of a shapeshifter?"
"I don't know."
An irritated sigh came from Araya's mouth, "Someone who could have turned without you knowing. Turned, but not by a bite!"
"I don't know!" Carter growled out in frustration and pain, raising her voice just to get the point across that she had no idea who took her brother.
"Diez!" Kira instantly shook her head at Araya's order. "Diez!"
And as slowly as she could, Kira turned the dial, knowing that Lydia would face the repercussions if she didn't. The strawberry-blonde clamping her eyes shut when Carter released a furious scream of fiery agony; the girl wanting to cover her ears at the pained sound, knowing that she wouldn't able to watch her friend suffer for a much longer before she would beg them to turn the dial on her.
Araya, noticing that Kira had been refusing to turn the dial up all the way, shoved the raven-haired girl out of the way and cranked the knob up herself. The line on the meter quickly flying toward the end that read one-thousand volts. Kira fought against Severo's hold as he restrained her arms to keep her from interfering. Carter's blistering wails echoed throughout the room, drowning out the sound of pulsing electricity, causing tears to burn her two friends' cheeks.
And suddenly, her eyes shot open.
Her body seemed to absorb the heat in the electricity and used it to fuel the fire that shown in her glowing eyes.
While she screamed they watched as her unusually long pearly fangs slipped through her gums, her cries deepening into a bellowing roar; the ability to shift helping her fight against the high voltage pulsing through her. And despite the burning pain, yanked her arms upward with one swift motion causing the shackles to fall off her wrists. Her body slumped forward, being relieved of the electricity, placing her forehead on the back of the chair as she tried to regain control of her pounding heart.
"Say the name, Carter."
"Kate — Kate Argent."
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"So, you're just letting us go?"
"I sent four men out to where Kate was rumored to have been seen," Araya began, leading Carter out of their meeting place/night club after telling the girl that her and her friends were free to leave. "None of them came back. Let's see if you can do better."
Carter halted along side Araya, standing next to a tall iron gate that led out into a small open area where Stiles' jeep was parked. "You could've just told me she was alive — the electrocution was sort of unnecessary when you think about it."
"You wouldn't have believed me," Araya replied and Carter tilted her head, pondering over the thought before she nodded in agreement, knowing that the concept of Kate actually being alive still sounded a bit far-fetched. "Now I know what kind of Alpha you are. And where your next step lies."
Carter furrowed her brows in confusion, "What next step?"
"When you take the bite of an innocent," Araya stated simply, as even it was the forefront thing on Carter's mind. "Just because you're a Pheanix turned werewolf, does not mean you can't make wolves of you own — and when you do, then, I will cross you border and come knocking at your door."
And with that, Araya turned away from the brunette and disappeared in the darkness of the alleyway. Carter shook her head at the thought, knowing that she never wanted to place her burden upon someone else — someone who has unlike herself; unlike Scott. That's all the bite was. A burden. Something that no one should have to carry. Running her hands over her face in exasperation, she began to make her way toward her friends, who were all leaning against the side of Stiles' jeep with curiosity etched on their faces, well, not Malia and Scott, the only ones who had been able to hear what Araya had told her.
Stiles' face lit up at the sight of the brunette making her way toward them, breaking away from the rest of the group and approached the girl. "So, what now?"
"She thinks she knows where we can find my brother," Carter announced, reaching out with her arms to pull Stiles into a hug when she noticed the extremely worried expression he wore when he approached her. Scott had relayed all of the details of what happened to her while they were locked in the bathroom — she could see it in his eyes. "I'm okay, Stiles, really."
"She going to tell us where?" Malia called out, causing the couple to break apart and move to join the rest of the group. Malia narrowed her eyes at Carter, crossing her arms over her chest as she sent her a challenging look.
"Uh, actually, she's giving us a guide," Carter explained.
And soon after that, the rumbling of a motorcycle engine revved up in the distance. All of their heads whipped in the direction of the sound, seeing a woman in all black slowly riding her motorcycle toward them. The vehicle stopping close enough to Stiles to have the boy jumping back, all of them glancing at one another in confusion. The woman tore off her full-faced helmet, her long brown curls cascading across her shoulder. Carter instantly noticed the four long claw marks running along her jaw and across her throat — it was as though her throat had been sliced out.
"You know her?" Stiles asked, pointing a skeptical finger toward the woman.
Carter nodded, "Braeden."
"Who's Braeden?" Raeven inquired, her voice low and cautious, knowing that out of all of them she had the worst trust issues. She didn't even fully trust Carter and they were related — hell, at one point she was even the same creature as Carter, but what her father had done to her had changed her overly trusting ways into ways that barely trusted anyone. "Is she our guide? She doesn't look like she could guide a fish to water let alone navigate through the desert."
Lydia glared at Raeven, still finding it hard to believe that someone who looked exactly like her best friend could be so different. "She's a mercenary."
Ignoring the doppelgänger's comment, she locked eyes with the Were-Pheanix. "Right now, I'm the only one who's gonna take you to la iglesia."
"The Church?" Carter probed, not fully understanding why Derek would be at an abandoned church that was built on top of an ancient aztec temple where people used to worship Were-Jaguars. "Why would Derek be at a place that has been deserted for years?"
"What's the Church?" Stiles questioned, glancing between Braeden and Carter in confusion.
"It's not a place you'll find God." Braeden quipped, tugging her sleek black helmet on before positioning the motorcycle in front of the jeep; waiting for the group to cram themselves inside the powder blue vehicle.
Carter groaned as they began to pile inside Roscoe, the brunette not looking forward to how tight a fit it was going to be. Well, it wasn't uncomfortable for Scott and Stiles since they occupied the front seats, but as for Lydia, Malia, Carter, Kira and Raeven, it had been an extremely uncomfortable journey. The five girls squeezed together in the back of a jeep meant to hold three — Carter finding herself once again in Raeven's lap. The girls' inwardly hating Stiles' jeep even more when the thought of having to fit a grown man back there when they acquired him.
Their legs were all bunched up, pressed against one another, as they scooted and squirmed to try and make themselves slightly more comfortable than what they were. Malia and Raeven were in the middle, with Carter perched on her lap; Kira was behind Scott and Lydia behind Stiles. They were all trying to distract themselves from the awkward atmosphere in the car, the only sound breaking the silence was the tires crunching over the sand as they drove through the desert.
"Okay, I'll ask," Malia stated, leaning forward in her seat. Her elbow jabbing into Carter's ribs in the process, the brunette scowled at the Werecoyote but remained silent. "Who's Kate Argent?"
Kira raised her hand, making her look like the quiet and awkward new kid at school who had been too afraid to speak out without permission. "Uh, I'd like to know, too."
"Well, we were are her funeral," Stiles claimed, glancing over at Scott for a brief moment. "So, I'd like to know how she got out of a casket that was buried six feet underground."
"She was never in it," Carter informed, but quickly noticed that Kira and Malia still had confused looks on their faces. She sighed, rubbing her hands over her face before she continued: "She was Allison's aunt and a total sociopath."
Feeling a pang of guilt course through her chest, Kira spoke out against the topic: "You don't have to talk about it now if you don't want to." The raven-haired girl knew, although not knowing or understanding Allison as well as the others in the vehicle, that hearing her name only had been enough to trigger the horrible memories of her death.
Malia, quite unlike Kira, wanted to know all about Allison's psychotic aunt no matter the emotional consequences. "Um, yes, he does."
"Yeah, she's right," Scott breathed out, nodded his head in response. "You guys should know — you need to know."
Carter nibbled on her lip, knowing that she needed to be the one to explain why Kate was supposedly a sociopath, seeing as though it all started with her family. "All right, Kate was the one who set the fire that killed most of mine and Derek's family. But, some of them survived, like Cora, and Peter."
"A very angry Peter," Lydia added, pursing her lips as she thought back to the memory of the Beast Alpha biting her on the lacrosse field during the winter formal sophomore year — the incident seemed like it was years away, like they had already lived that life and began another.
"Yeah," Scott mumbled, thinking about the night he had been bitten, sending his and his friend's world into a downward spiral. "He's the one who bit and turned me."
"And the one who finally caught up to Kate and killed her," Lydia finished.
Carter had been made fully aware of how the huntress died, Derek making it one of the first things he told her when he dragged her out of Canada and back to Beacon Hills. Peter had trapped Kate inside their old and tarnished house, claws pressed against her flesh as he made the woman apologize to her niece before ripping her throat out right in front of Allison. She could just picture it in her head; blood splattering on the walls — crimson dripping from Peter's claws — Allison's cries of protest — blank and empty eyes staring into the nothingness of the afterlife...
She shuttered, shaking away the images.
"Yeah, and we saw her buried," Stiles pointed out, pounding his fist on the steering wheel lightly as he tried to wrap his head around the thought of Kate actually being alive.
Carter shook her head, leaning forward to place herself in between the two boys in the front. "No. We saw a casket, remember? She wasn't in it. The Calaveras heard that Kate had been killed by an Alpha's claws, they wanted to make sure that she was really dead. But her body was healing, more and more, as she got closer to the full moon. She was coming back. So, they switched out the bodies — they took her. If a hunter is bit, they have to take their own life before they change. The Calaveras, they treat the code like law — they make it their responsibility to enforce it."
"Good for her," Malia complimented, not allowing Carter to finishing telling them what Araya had told her. "I wouldn't do it either."
"Would you kill half a dozen people to get out?" Carter bit back, holding her hard stare on the girl. "Because that's what she did."
"So," Kira drawled out, "Kate's a werewolf now?"
"I don't know," Scott admitted before Carter could. "You know, there's a saying, sometimes the shape you take reflects the person you are."
"What kind of shape is a sociopathic bitch?" Raeven pondered, not even trying to hide her distaste toward the woman whom she had never met; she murdered her family, she may have never met them, but they were still Hales, just like her.
Before Carter could answer, she went flying into Lydia's lap, the two supernatural girls slamming against the side of the jeep. Lydia cried out as her arm got pinned in an awkward position beneath Carter's waist; the five of them being tossed like rag dolls in the backseat. Raeven grunted, pushing Malia off of her in a not-so-gentle manner, not liking the girl any more than she liked her. Kira groaned as she rubbed the side of her head, feeling a knot swelling beneath her scalp after her head had collided roughly against the side of the jeep.
Stiles was frantically trying to regain of the steering, Scott's chest rising and falling erratically as the jeep came to a faltering stop. The two boys wasting no time before flying out of the vehicle to inspect what it had hit. The girls had made a move to follow, but due to how tightly packed they were, they had to practically sacrifice an arm and a leg to get themselves out of the backseat. Carter had been the first out, landing ungracefully on her feet having to grab hold of the jeep's door to keep herself from falling on her face.
Braeden quickly dismounted her motorcycle, dusting swirling around her as she approached the jeep. "What happened?"
"I don't know," Stiles shouted back. "It felt like we hit something."
"Scott," Braeden called out, clutching her hands into fists at her sides, knowing that they were running out of time. "We need to get there by night. It's too dangerous otherwise."
Carter waved a hand toward Braeden, "Go."
Scott stepped forward, "No, not without you. He's your brother — you need to be there."
"Well, someone needs to protect these clowns," Carter joked, her humorous expression quickly falling serious as she stepped toward him. "And someone needs to find Derek, and there is no other supernatural being in this world that I would trust with my brother's life more than you."
Stiles nodded in agreement, "We'll figure something out. We always do. Just go."
"Scott!" Kira called out when Scott began to make his way toward an awaiting Braeden. "I can't think of anything else to say except for be careful."
Carter smiled to herself, deciding to let the budding couple have a moment alone before Scott left with Braeden. The brunette sighed, running a hand through her dark curls, turning back to face the jeep only to see Raeven kneeling next to the front tire on the passenger's side. Her dark eyes were narrowed, a frown line appearing between her eyebrows as she stuck her head under the jeep just above the wheel, something rough falling into her palm.
"Stiles," Raeven's voice sounded wary and confused. "I don't think we hit something," she stood up, her hand curled around a long, foreign object. "I think something hit us."
Stiles took the object away from Raeven, his eyebrows furrowed at the sight of the peculiar thing that had been stuck beneath his jeep. It appeared to be made out of some sort of bone — whether it was human or not, he decided that he would rather not know — it was sharpened and curved like a blade.
Carter's eyes widened at the sight, knowing that what that object came from, definitely wasn't human — well, not anymore.
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"Maybe we should just walk." Raeven suggested, crossing her arms over her chest with a huff as she leaned against the side of the jeep while Stiles frantically attempted to fix whatever was wrong with it. "I mean, we're all healthy and young — well, some of us are young, but I'm pretty sure we'll make it to la iglesia faster by crawling...especially at the rate you're working."
Carter chuckled at that, knowing that Raeven never took much liking for putting a filter on her mouth, allowing whatever she thought of come right out of her mouth. But, she had been right, it was nearing nightfall and by the looks of it, Stiles wasn't any closer to fixing the jeep than he had been an hour and a half ago. Along with the Were-Pheanix, Kira and Malia took up defensive positions in front of the vehicle, the three of them being the only ones who could actually fight.
A sudden surge of heat flashed through her body, her muscles trembled in response as the pressure in her head spiked. The setting around her was making her uneasy; the dry winds were dulling down, a sign that the nightly hours were upon them — and it was going to be a dark night, a night full of terrors that climbed out of their nightmares.
It was definitely going to be a long night.
"Hey," Stiles shouted, his voice muffled by the screw driver he had propped in his mouth. He quickly removed it, his eyes burning holes in the back of Carter's doppelgänger's head. "I will never abandon this jeep. You understand me? Ever — ever."
Before the Banshee or the Demi-Demon could make a retort, Carter's body went visibly stiff. Her eyes locked on the horizon just south of them; her instincts screaming at her that something else was out there with them.
"Work faster, Stiles," Carter commanded, taking a daring step forward. "There's something out here with us."
Her words had been enough to send Stiles into a spastic panic, knowing that whenever Carter gave out a warning, it wasn't something you took lightly. In fact, her words had sent everyone on edge.
And soon enough, the desert sky had darkened from an orange hue into a dark thick blanket in the matter of minutes. Raeven and Lydia were taking their respected turns of holding the flashlight above the hood of the jeep to shed light on the engine as Stiles continued to work restlessly. Carter hadn't moved from her spot, but she heard Malia sheepishly pacing behind her while Kira moved to get her katana out of the backseat.
"Lydia, could you please hold the light still for a second?" Stiles reprimanded the strawberry-blonde as her hand wavered slightly, causing it to move off the engine long enough for the boy to get irritable. "It's really hard to see anything if you keep shaking it like that."
Lydia narrowed her eyes in defiance, "I'm shaking it like this because we're in the middle of nowhere with your broken down jeep and we're being attacked by yet another razor-clawed monster. And I'm terrified."
"Well, just be slightly less terrified." Stiles demanded, looking up at the girl for a brief moment before getting back to work.
Kira made her way to stand beside Carter, her grip tightening on the hilt of her katana every few seconds, the notion allowing the brunette to know that the Kitsune was drowning in her own fear. "Anything?"
Carter shrugged, scarlet-orange eyes scanning the area around them but to no avail. "It's too hard to see. We should've brought another flashlight."
Kira tilted her head as a thought probed at her mind, moving back toward the jeep, she held her katana in front of the headlight; using the metallic blade to cast a better view of what lied ahead of them. And while doing so, the raven-haired girl caught the slightly bit of rustling in the distance. A large being was crouched behind a bolder, its head peeking out every few seconds to watch the group.
"Did you see that?" Kira questioned.
Stiles' head snapped up when he heard a threatening roar emit from Carter's throat. His eyes widened in panic as the Were-Pheanix immediately took off in the direction of the being with a Werecoyote hot on her tail. His chest tightened at the sight, watching her run willingly into danger.
"Hey, Carter!" Stiles cried out in exasperation and fear. "Oh, God, Carter, no!"
"Carter, wait!" Kira called, taking off after the two girls.
Her running ceased when she had reached a clearing, two large rises in the earth served as makeshift walls around her. She honed for the sound of Carter or Malia, but the only thing she received was the erratic sound of her crazed heartbeat and ragged breathing. Kira tightened her hold on her katana, placing the weapon out in front of her in a defensive manner as she took cautious steps forward.
"Carter?" Kira hollered, but whirled around when a crunching sound came from behind her. The sound was soon followed by the pounding off feet running across the terrain, she whipped around — ready to attack whoever it was trying to sneak up on her, but lowered her weapon when she noticed that it had been Malia and Carter.
Carter held out her hands to stop the girl, crimson lining her palms. "Whoa, it's just us."
Kira sighed in relief, "What happened? What's out there?"
"Berserker," Carter panted, pressing a firm hand to the deep gash that began on the side of her neck and trailed down across her chest. "They're big and fast — cut deep, apparently."
The revving of the jeep's engine seemed to spark a sense of delight in the three girls. Their eyes widening, glancing at one another for a moment before retreating back to the jeep. And upon the arrival of Carter, Malia and Kira they all began to climb back into the jeep. Raeven, Lydia, Malia and Kira were in the backseat, while Carter took the passenger seat beside Stiles.
When they had finally gotten back on the road and were heading toward la iglesia, Stiles thought it had been the appropriate time to delve into the lecture as to why Carter was never allowed to take off without warning like that ever again. The sight of her retreating form had reminded the boy all too much of when she left Beacon Hills without a word for three months — it sparked a feeling deep within him, feeling he never wanted to experience again.
"You — you please — please don't do that ever again!" Stiles cried out, pointing an accusing finger at Carter as he tried to keep control in his distraught state. He had practically lost him mind the instant she left, his worry and fear for her skyrocketing higher than he had thought humanly possible.
"Do what, Stiles?" Carter asked, her voice surprisingly soft, the fiery beast within her coiled within itself at the thought of its Ideale Altro being mad at it. It made Carter want to punch herself in the face, she had never been weak or soft when it came to boys, but when Stiles raised his voice to her — she had a sudden urge to beg for his forgiveness.
"I — I thought you just took off," Stiles replied softly, concern lacing his words. "I thought you were running."
Carter tilted her head at him, "Stiles, I was running."
"No, I mean, like — I thought you were leaving." Stiles clarified. "I thought you were leaving again."
Carter shook her head at the thought, her gaze boring holes into the side of his face. "If I were leaving, you would be coming with me. I wouldn't leave without you — not again, I promised you, didn't I?"
"Really?" Stiles asked, seeming to be warmed and shocked by her declaration.
"Yeah, I would never leave without you."
Lydia smiled at the moment between the two, but her face fell when she finally caught sight of the angry wound on Carter's neck and chest. "That doesn't look good."
Carter fingered the wound gently, a sharp stinging sensation shot through her body. "It's okay."
"Are you sure?" Kira pressed. "It looks deep."
"Yeah, I can feel it healing," Carter announced, lying through her teeth. In truth, it didn't feel like it was healing, not when every other second a jolt of pain shock her nervous system.
"You guys didn't see anything?" Lydia inquired, looking between Malia and Carter in a desperate attempt to get some answers.
"No," Malia replied, leaning her head against the window while watching the desert fly by.
"Barely," Carter added. "It had a strong scent, though."
"Like what?" Stiles questioned.
"Like death."
When they arrived to their destination, the jeep manuevering through the destroyed village surrounded la iglesia. The chuch had been the only building left standing, Carter explaining that it was built on top of the ruins of an Aztec temple, so when an earthquake leveled the rest of the town — the church was left standing. They had clambered out of the jeep just in time to see a beam of light breaking through the darkness, Braeden stepping through the doorway with a hobbling Scott behind her. An arm was slung across his shoulders, a spark of happiness surged through Carter knowing that it was Derek.
They all rushed toward their friend, becoming extremely confused as they were made aware of the distressed expression on Scott's face. When Derek finally raised his gaze, Carter went tumbling backward, body falling in the dirt as she clamped her hand over her mouth. The sound of her shriek had been muffled by her hand, but it didn't stop them from noticing the disheveled look on her face.
The sight in front of her had rocked her to the core, never expecting in her life to see that young face again. She knew it so well, the images of their childhood branded into the soft tissue of her brain. How could see forget? It was the face of the Derek Hale she once knew, the face that she kept close to her heart for reminder that he hadn't always been so cold.
And before she knew it, warm tears were sliding down her cheeks.
"Oh, my God."
"Carter?"
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