"LOCK IT!"
"Do I look like I have a key?"
Sierra watched anxiously as the boys bickered and gripped onto the double doors of the high school. They couldn't hear the alpha's growls anymore but knew the monster still lurked on the other side.
Remembering the bolt cutters he used to get them inside earlier, Stiles stood and looked out the small window to see them lying on the pavement a couple of feet away.
Sierra noticed what he was contemplating and immediately shot the idea down. "No."
He patted Scott's shoulder and disagreed. "Yes."
"Stiles, no!" Scott took Sierra's side.
It was too risky for him to go outside. However, Stiles didn't care.
He quietly opened the door he held shut and slipped through the small opening.
Sierra couldn't breathe as he jogged down the steps and leaned down to grab the tool.
Suddenly, Scott pounded on the door loudly to get him to come back. The alpha stood next to Stiles's Jeep with a snarl, and, when it saw Stiles, it began to run towards him.
Stiles sprinted up the steps and threw open the door, slamming it shut once he made it inside. He jammed the bolt cutters in-between the two handles, locking the teenagers inside the school.
Sierra hugged Stiles before he could sigh in relief, and squeezed him tightly. "Don't you ever do that again," she told him seriously and grabbed his face in her hands. "You hear me, Stilinski?"
Stiles placed his hands over hers and brought them down to his chest, simply holding her fingers. "Sierra, I'm fine, okay? We're fine."
"I'm not so sure about that last part," Scott stated, still looking out the window. Shining a flashlight through the glass, he failed to spot the alpha lurking anywhere. All three stepped back nervously from the door, and Scott eyed the bolt cutters. "Those won't hold, will they?"
"Probably not," Stiles replied, letting out a deep breath he had held in from running outside.
They all turned around to see where they could go, but only a pitch-black hallway stood abandoned before them.
A howl erupted out of nowhere, sending them on the run into a random classroom.
Scott and Stiles wanted to move a desk, yet Sierra stopped them once the metal made a loud screech.
"The door's not going to hold it," Stiles told his friends, and Scott nodded in acknowledgment. "It's your boss."
Scott looked up. "What?"
"Deaton?" Stiles clarified with raised brows. "The alpha? Your boss." Stiles pointed at the teen wolf, who shook his head.
"No."
"Yes," the boy argued persistently and rushed out the next part, "Murdering psycho-werewolf."
"That can't be," Scott fought right back; his face fell when Sierra gave him a weird look.
"I hate to say this, Scotty, but he does have a point," Sierra stated, which made Stiles smirk arrogantly. "He disappeared, and not even twenty seconds later, the alpha shows up and kills Derek?"
"We don't know Derek is dead." Scott didn't want to give up hope yet; there was no way the nice veterinarian that he worked for was a murderer.
"Blood squirted out of his mouth," Stiles reminded his best friend in a ramble. "That doesn't exactly qualify as a minor injury. He's dead, and we're next."
"Like hell we are," Sierra spoke up, still holding hands with the boy next to her. "I am not dying in this hell hole. We are getting out of here."
"But how?"
Stiles didn't take long to think; their options were already minimal if they wanted to live. "We get to my jeep," he said first and emphasized his following words. "We get out of here, and then you seriously think about quitting your job." They hurried over the windows before Stiles remembered. "They don't open. The school is climate-controlled."
"Then we break them," Scott suggested, but Sierra shook her head.
"That would make a lot of noise," she advised. "Our best bet is to run really fast." The three spotted Stiles's familiar blue Jeep about fifty yards away, and Sierra sighed. "Really fast." Her eyes landed on their escape vehicle and squinted when she saw the hood. "Sti? What's wrong with the Jeep?"
"What do you mean?" Stiles questioned from behind her. " What's wrong with it?"
Scott followed her gaze and commented, "It's bent."
Immediately, Stiles leaned over Sierra, concerned if it was severely dented. However, it wasn't just dented. The whole hood scrunched up, completely and utterly bent.
Before they could say anything, the glass above them shattered, sending broken pieces to rain over their heads.
Stiles leaned over Sierra to protect her.
The three scared teenagers fell to the floor with their backs against the school wall. Wanting to know what broke the window, Stiles shined his flashlight in front of them to reveal his Jeep's battery.
"Well, shit."
*^*^*^*^*^*^*
"We have to move," Sierra stated, her nightmares replaying in her mind, and looked at her best friends, who looked scared out of their wits. She knew getting upset would worsen the situation, so she took a deep breath and stayed focused on getting out. She did it at the video store; she could do it again.
"He could be right outside," Scott replied quietly, and Stiles rolled his eyes.
"He is right outside, dumbass. He threw my Jeep battery through the window!"
"Just let me take a look first," the young werewolf rushed out. He slowly peeked out the window and scanned the abandoned parking lot for signs of the murdering alpha. Scott shook his head, letting his friends know the creature wasn't in sight. The three teenagers took hold of the opportunity and crept back into the hallway to get farther away.
Stiles shined the flashlight down both sides but stopped Scott from going to the right. "We have to go somewhere without windows," Stiles told them, and Sierra threw her hands down to her sides in frustration.
"Every room in this stupid school has windows!" She whispered harshly.
Scott widened his eyes as he remembered a place that fit their description. "The locker room."
Stiles nodded in agreement, and they all hurried in that direction. Once they reached their smelly destination, Scott told Stiles to call his dad.
"And tell him what?"
Scott wasn't thinking straight and said the alpha would take off if it saw the lights or a cop car. However, the other two disagreed.
Sierra knew Stiles hated the idea of his father coming close to the school with a killer werewolf on the loose and took his side. "
Scott, what if the alpha doesn't get scared? He could maul every cop coming to the school, including Stiles's dad. I'm sorry, but we're not calling him."
"But the cops have guns," Scott persisted.
Stiles scoffed. "And Derek had to be shot with a wolfsbane bullet even to slow him down. Remember that?"
Scott sighed and then said their only option was to run.
"You do realize the nearest store or anything close to our school is a mile away?" Sierra asked and pursed her lips. "I mean, I know I'm fast, but not that fast."
The three stood in silence by the white lockers, all simultaneously coming up with plans to get out. Suddenly, Sierra grinned and smacked Stiles in the arm.
The boy winced and rubbed the sore spot with his hand. "What the hell, Si?"
"Derek's car," she suggested excitedly, and the boys widened their eyes.
Stiles wrapped his arms around her small frame in a tight hug.
"This is why I love you, Sierra," he commented optimistically, and Sierra patted his head with a laugh while Scott thought the idea through.
"We could get his keys and him, then take his car," he agreed.
Sierra laced her hand with the boy beside her and looked at the teen wolf.
"Then what are we waiting for exactly?" Before Stiles could open the locker room door, Scott placed his hand over his to stop him. "What are you doing?" Sierra questioned in a hushed tone.
"I thought I heard something," Scott told them, and they froze to listen clearly. Just like they did with the double doors, they slowly walked backward and shut off the flashlight.
Sierra whipped her head around to find a hiding place and didn't think twice about opening a locker and climbing in.
"Stiles!" she hissed, and both boys turned to see her idea.
Quickly, Scott got into the one next to her, but Stiles just stood there like an idiot, his whiskey eyes locked in on the door.
With a groan of annoyance, Sierra leaned forward and grabbed him by his shirt collar. It was a tight squeeze, but they both managed to fit by facing each other, standing sideways. She held her breath and looked down, her head resting against Stiles's shoulder. Stiles breathed loudly out of fear until the girl beside him reached up and covered his mouth with her palm.
Scott nervously peeked through the cracks of the metal he was trapped in to see the door creepily open widely.
Footsteps were heard, causing the teens to freeze in place.
Sierra could practically feel her heart jumping out of her chest and tightly squeezed her blue eyes shut.
Then, the door to where Scott was hiding opened, and the man who stood before him let out a yelp of surprise.
Sierra and Stiles scrambled out of their locker to see what happened.
They tried to keep the janitor quiet as he leaned over with his hands on his knees.
But, the adult didn't care and forced the teenagers to leave the locker room immediately despite their protests on getting him to listen. "Just shut up and go!" The janitor spat after they were in the hall.
Without warning, the janitor was brutally yanked back into the locker room, and a loud growl was heard before blood splattered.
Sierra and the boys watched in horror as he pounded on the door for help.
Scott tried to unlock it, but it was useless, and Stiles had to pull him away.
They took off down the hallway again, sprinting with whatever strength they could find in their legs.
The alpha was now in the building and had been literally seconds away from tearing them apart.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*
Sierra had to admit that in the past couple of months, she had been running for her life one too many times.
The trio once again reached the double doors, but as Sierra tried to push against the handle, it wouldn't budge.
Stiles and Scott tried as well, with little success.
Scott managed to open it slightly, allowing him to see outside. "It's a dumpster," he informed his best friends.
Stiles collided with the door repeatedly before Scott told him to stop; it was pointless to waste their energy.
"I am not dying here," Sierra stated while they walked briskly down another hallway. "I am not dying at school."
"No one is going to die," Scott tried to calm her down but failed.
"Tell that to Mr. Stewart," she responded about the dead janitor.
Stiles scrunched up his face, half scared out of his mind for his safety and Sierra's, the other half worried his final resting place would be in the place he hated more than hospitals. "What does he even want?" he questioned.
"Me," Scott replied without hesitation and sighed. "Derek said it's stronger with a pack."
"Because nothing is more beautiful than a psychotic werewolf who's into teamwork," Sierra commented sarcastically, and Stiles grabbed her hand, hoping to comfort her.
"Sierra," Stiles said her name, and she looked at him, fear swimming in her blue eyes. "I know you're scared, but snapping at us isn't going to help. You need to stay calm, okay?"
Sierra inhaled through her nose deeply and nodded, squeezing his hand tightly.
Scott froze midstride, and all three glanced out the large window to see the alpha staring at them with its beady red eyes from across the roof. It let out a snarl and started to run towards them.
In a flash, the three sophomores fled in the direction they came from, not stopping to see the hairy monster shatter the glass and chase them.
They tried to keep their heartbeats from spiking as they dashed behind a row of old lockers, but it was found to be extremely hard with their emotions out of whack.
Sierra kept her eyes closed to stop herself from crying. She didn't recognize the part of the school they ran to, and Scott nudged her to follow Stiles a minute later. She latched on to the boy's arm, and he glanced down to ensure she was alright.
"We need to do something," Stiles told Scott after seeing her terrified face. "I don't care if we kill, hurt, inflict mental anguish on it, whatever. We have to do something."
Roars from the creature came from every direction, confusing them about where it was lurking.
Stiles put his free hand in his coat pocket, not responding to Scott's weird looks. He quietly held his keys in his palm before throwing them as hard as he could away from them.
The jingle caused the alpha to growl, barely giving the teenagers time to run away and dash inside another random door.
Scott slammed it shut just as the alpha arrived and threw his body against it while Stiles and Sierra separated momentarily to move a desk in front of it.
They sighed with relief as the werewolf couldn't get in, but that was before Stiles leaned closer, wanting to look at it.
Sierra pulled him back, yet Stiles reasoned with her. "It's trapped, okay? It's not going to get out."
As much as Scott and Sierra tried to get him to stop, their friend wouldn't stop taunting the alpha.
Then, a loud bang echoed through the walls, and they halted immediately. Stiles cast his light towards the ceiling, to which the tiles started to come undone.
"Well done!" Sierra shouted at Stiles while they ran away for the tenth time. "You just had to intimidate it, didn't you?"
"This one's on me!" Stiles accepted his fault and raised his hand. "That's my bad!"
"Damn straight!"
Scott held his hand, listening closely after they had created a reasonable distance. "Do you guys hear that?"
Stiles and Sierra exchanged glances, not hearing anything. "Hear what?" Sierra asked slowly.
"It sounds like a phone ringing," the shaggy-haired boy explained before he frowned deeply. "I know that ringtone," he shared worriedly. "It's Allison's phone. Stiles, give me yours."
Stiles handed him the device quickly, and Scott dialed the number he knew by heart.
"Stiles?" Allison asked from the other side, confused.
"No, it's me," Scott told her while Sierra and Stiles watched anxiously. "Where are you?"
Allison had no trouble showing sass in her response, wanting to know why he didn't show up at her house. Once Scott found out she was alone by the swimming pools, his words became even more rushed.
"Get to the lobby," Scott instructed sternly. "Go now."
The three teenagers burst through another set of doors to reveal the very confused Argent walking toward them.
Scott met her halfway and didn't waste time questioning her. "Why did you come? What are you doing here?"
Sierra and Stiles stayed back while Allison explained how she got a message from her boyfriend to meet him here.
The teen wolf told her he didn't send it and Stiles stepped in, thinking of a way to escape. "Did you drive here?" he asked but frowned when she revealed Jackson and Lydia were the ones to drop her off.
Then Allison's phone rang again before Lydia and Jackson joined them through another entrance.
"Finally," the popular strawberry-blonde stated in relief. "Can we go now?"
Sierra nervously moved closer to Stiles as the ceiling above them began to rattle and sound like thunder.
"Run!" Scott exclaimed, and the six teenagers barely got out of the way as the alpha toppled down from above.
They sprinted up the steps, the black monster right on their heels. Terror flowed through their veins, and they quickly threw open another classroom. Immediately Scott and Jackson barricaded the door with anything their girlfriends handed them.
However, Stiles and Sierra focused on something much more important. They stood with their hands intertwined in front of about fifteen colossal glass panes.
Stiles spoke out, wanting them to stop if the door was the only way out.
The other teenagers didn't listen and continued to stack random chairs and desks on top of each other. Allison and Lydia were throwing out questions about what chased them but Scott just demanded help in moving the teacher's desk.
"Guys, just wait a second," the son of the sheriff tried again to no avail. "Stiles is wanting to speak!"
Annoyed and angry, Sierra shouted from beside him, "Shut it!"
The two couples paused what they were doing and faced the pair of best friends, who stared back at them in frustration.
"Okay, nice work," Sierra started sarcastically and clapped her hands. "Wonderful job, but how should we decorate the twenty-foot wall of windows?" She threw her hand out like she was giving away a car, and Stiles did the same to prove that what the others were doing was pointless.
"Can someone just explain to me what is going on?" Allison demanded in a high-pitched tone next to Scott. She looked up at him, frightened. "Cause I am completely freaking out here, and I would like to know why. Scott?"
Sierra glared at Allison, Jackson, and Lydia. They had no reason to be at the school and make the situation with the alpha worse by demanding answers no one could give them.
Not being able to take the tension, Stiles spoke up first to tell the popular trio that the janitor was dead.
Lydia let out a shaky breath. "This was supposed to be over," she said while clinging to Jackson's side, referring to what happened at the video store. "The mountain lion killed—"
Jackson interrupted his girlfriend. "Don't you get it? There wasn't a mountain lion."
Allison kept rambling off questions, causing Stiles to hold Sierra physically back from attacking the girl herself.
Sierra couldn't ignore the anger bubbling in her soul. It was a mix of fear— fear of dying or her friends dying— and bitterness, even though she honestly couldn't figure out why. It was too much for her to handle.
The emotions in the room heightened when Scott began stuttering out that no one could leave the school. Not yet. Otherwise, he would kill them.
Allison's face hardened. "Who is he?" she demanded harshly, whipping her glare between Scott, Sierra, and Stiles. "Who is it?"
Sierra didn't have an answer, and when she glanced up at Stiles, his mouth was open with no excuse.
"It's Derek," Scott's voice broke the silence. He avoided eye contact with his best friends, who stared at him with dropped jaws.
Allison and Jackson pestered Scott with questions to make sure it was true, as he put the complete blame for every murder on the werewolf who had died only a couple of hours ago. "If we don't get out now," Scott said, "He's going to kill us, too."
Sierra took a step forward, in disbelief at her best friend's lies. "Are you kidding—"
Stiles yanked Sierra back and shot her a warning glance. Ignoring the stares of Jackson and the girls, Stiles said, "It doesn't matter if it's Derek or not. Either way, there's someone here trying to kill us, and we can't leave."
"Call the cops," Jackson told Stiles.
It didn't take long for the boy to disagree. "No."
"What do you mean, no?" Jackson couldn't comprehend his reasoning, and Stiles was past fed up with it.
Frustrated, Stiles glared at the lacrosse captain. "I mean, no," he stated. "You wanna hear it in Spanish? Noh."
"Look, Derek killed three people, okay?" Stiles went on, making Sierra step away from him with a shaking head. "We don't know what he's armed with."
Jackson didn't back down. "Your dad is armed with the entire sheriff's department," he argued. "Call him!"
"I'm calling," Lydia stated and pulled her phone out of her purse to dial. Stiles stepped forward, not meaning harm, but Jackson roughly placed his hands on Stiles's chest to make him back away.
Speaking for the first time, Sierra slapped Jackson's arms away and sent him a harsh glare. "Don't touch him," she spat with her eyes narrowed as Scott stood between them in case one attacked the other.
"Hello, we're at Beacon Hills High school," Lydia informed into her phone quickly. "We're trapped, and we need you to—" The popular girl paused to listen but then brought her phone down disbelievingly. "She hung up on me."
"The police hung up on you?" Allison questioned in doubt, and Lydia nodded slowly.
Lydia explained with furrowed brows about the police, saying they got a tip about prank calls from the high school, and if they called again, it would be traced, and she would be arrested.
Allison told her to call again, but being the sheriff's son, Stiles knew they'd go to the Martin house before they came to their aid.
Allison freaked out and grabbed the sides of her head, demanding to know why Derek wanted to kill them.
Everyone looked at the teen werewolf, expecting answers.
"Why is everyone looking at me?" Scott asked, which sent Lydia and Allison into another interrogation.
Eventually, Scott grew frustrated and repeated the answer he'd been saying a lot recently. "I don't know," he snapped at his girlfriend.
Allison stepped back from him, hurt.
"Alright, why don't we ease back on the throttle here?" Stiles suggested and dragged the shaggy-haired boy and Sierra away from the other three. "First of all, throwing Derek under the bus like that, nicely done," he remarked quietly, aware of the glare Sierra directed at him and Scott.
Scott didn't know what to do, and he had thought at the last second that it didn't matter if he threw Derek under the bus because he was dead. Right?
"Are you serious?" Sierra demanded in a harsh whisper. "He's still a person, Scott. Someone who has been trying to help you."
Scott sighed, knowing she was right. However, he was more upset when he realized he had hurt Allison's feelings.
"She'll get over it," Sierra stated after she rolled her eyes.
Stiles took notice of her attitude and tilted his head towards the dirty blonde. "What's wrong with you?"
"I don't know, Stiles," Sierra responded sneeringly, her voice low. "Maybe I'm upset that I'm trapped in this hell-hole while a freaking werewolf corners us like we're his prey."
Her best friend's expression hardened as he pressed his lips together, not wanting to say the wrong thing to make her even angrier.
"Sierra's right," Scott muttered. "It could've eaten us already. What's it waiting for?"
"Maybe he just wants a teenager buffet," Stiles mouthed off without regard, but Scott shook his head.
"No, Derek told me it wanted revenge."
Sierra eyeballed the Argent girl, whose brown eyes held back tears as she whispered to Lydia and Jackson. "What about Allison's family?" she suggested and crossed her arms over her chest, leaning closer to them. "Maybe that's what the whole text was about. Someone had to send it, right?"
The lacrosse captain interrupted the team huddle loudly, just wanting to go home. "Okay, ass-heads," he insulted, and Sierra took a deep breath to keep herself from punching his face in. "New plan. Stiles calls his useless dad and tells him to send someone with a gun and decent aim. Are we good with that?"
He looked around the group, daring someone to disagree.
Stiles's jaw tightened in anger when he heard Jackson call his father useless.
Sierra about attacked Scott when he agreed to Jackson's idea. He didn't care if Stiles had to tell him the truth; he wanted to escape while he was still living.
"I am not watching my dad get eaten alive," Stiles stated and shook his head at the others with a raised voice. "No."
Jackson took a step forward. "Give me the phone," he ordered and grabbed his classmate's shoulder.
Immediately, Stiles turned around and punched him straight in the jaw.
"Nice shot," Sierra commented, standing firm by the chalkboard while Allison ran to Jackson's side, which made Sierra raise her eyebrows.
Now that he got his anger out and saw Jackson on the ground, Stiles reached into his pocket to grab his phone. He pressed his father's contact and brought the device to his ear. Hearing the voicemail, he left an urgent message that they were at the school just as the doors to the room rattled.
The six teenagers backed away from the entrance, and Stiles remembered the kitchen on the far side of the room. "That stairway only goes up," Scott reminded.
"Up is better than here," Sierra replied, her blue eyes locked on the loose barricade her friends built earlier.
They hurried up the stairwell, Stiles pushing them to run faster as he heard a familiar growl.
Once they were on the second floor, Lydia found an open chemistry classroom. Everyone followed her lead, and Scott jammed a stool under the lock.
They stayed silent to listen for any noise, but their heavy breathing was the only sound to be heard. Even though she was still mad, Sierra held onto Stiles tightly, and Lydia placed her hand over her mouth in fear while waiting.
A snarl fell from the alpha's mouth while a vast shadow passed the door. After a moment, the group sighed with relief, and Scott remembered how Allison got here in the first place.
"Jackson, how many people can fit in your car?"
"Six," he whispered back, "but it'll be a tight squeeze. More than likely, someone would have to sit on another's lap."
"That's so untrue," Allison scoffed. "I barely fit in the back."
Stiles shushed them before they could start an argument. "Guys, there's no way out without drawing attention."
Scott noticed another door and brought his best friends over. "What about this?" he questioned. "This leads to the roof. We can go down the fire escape to the parking lot in seconds."
Sierra observed the handle and shook her head. "Scott, that's a deadbolt."
"The janitor has a key," the shaggy-haired boy pointed out.
"You mean his body has a key," Stiles rearranged the words more accurately.
Scott looked at them seriously and dropped his voice lower. "I can get it. I can find him by scent, by blood."
Sierra couldn't help the sarcasm that rolled off her tongue. "Well, gee, that sounds like a completely terrible idea."
Stiles sighed, knowing Sierra was right and looked at the beta.
"What else you got?"