"If Derek isn't the Alpha, if he's not the one who bit you then who is?" Stiles says leaning over his desk to talk to Scott.
"I don't know." Scott shrugs.
"Did the Alpha kill the bus driver?"
"I don't know." He repeats.
"Does Allison's dad know about the-"
"I don't know!" Scott says too loudly, making a few people turn to look at him. The teacher finally makes his way to us, handing back our recent tests. Stiles got an A, so did I, and Scott got... a D-.
"Dude..." Stiles says. "You need to study more."
Scott just turns the test over on his desk.
"That was a joke." Stiles said. "Scott, it's one test. You're gonna make it up. Do you want help studying?"
"No." Scott sighs. "I'm studying with Allison after school today."
"That's my boy!" Stiles grins.
"We're just studying." Scott rolls his eyes.
"Uh-un. No, you're not."
"I'm not?" Scott asks.
"Not if I'm forced to live vicariously through you." Stiles says. "If you go to her house today and squander that colossal opportunity, I swear to god, I'll have you de-balled."
"Okay." Scott gives up. "Just stop with the questions, man."
"Done. No more questions." Stiles promises. "No more talk about the Alpha or Derek."
Thank god. I still don't know what the hell happened last night. I still felt crazy for having this weird trust in Derek. But it's not as if I could tell them that. They'd think I was crazy, or he was manipulating me somehow.
"Especially Derek." Stiles rambles on. "Who still scares me."
☾
The bell finally rings for the last time today, and I head to Stiles's car with him.
"Do you think Derek knows who the Alpha is?" Stiles asks, getting in the jeep.
"I thought we weren't gonna talk about Derek for the rest of the day?" I asked. And to be honest, I didn't know.
"All right fine." Stiles shrugs. He pulls out of the space and starts driving out of the parking lot.
"Oh my god!" He gasps. Stiles slams on the breaks. I look up and Derek is standing in front of his car. He doesn't look okay, like he's sick or something. And I was right, he collapsed on his back in the street.
"You gotta be kidding me, this guy's everywhere." Stiles throws up his hands. Cars start honking behind us, trying to get out. I jump out of the jeep, and Scott runs over as well, abandoning his bike on the sidewalk.
"What the hell?" He says. "What are you doing here?" He asks a barely conscious Derek.
"I was shot..." He breathes, sitting up.
"Why aren't you healing?" I ask.
"I can't." He says. "It was a different kind of bullet."
"A silver bullet?" Stiles asks excitedly.
"No, you idiot." Derek rolls his eyes.
"Wait. That's what she meant when she said you had 48 hours." Scott says.
"What? Who said 48 hours?" Derek asks.
"The one who shot you." Scott says.
"You were there?" I asked. More cars honk and Stiles jeep, and Derek winces in pain, his eyes flashing between blue and brown.
"What are you doing?" Scott says looking around. "Stop that!"
"That's what I'm trying to tell you..." Derek pants. "I can't."
"Derek, get up." I tell him, grabbing his arm. "We need to get him out of here, there's too many people." Scott and I help Derek up, and into Stiles jeep.
"I need you to find out what kind of bullet they used." Derek tells Scott.
"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" Scott asked.
"She's an Argent. She's with them." He says.
"Why should I help you?" Scott demands.
"Scott." I say. "We need him."
"She's right. You do." Derek says.
"Fine. I'll try," Scott says.
I run around to the other side of the jeep and get in the back through the drivers side. Stiles getting in right after me.
"Get him out of here." Scott tells Stiles.
"I hate you for this so much." Stiles shakes his head, then pulls away.
☾
I texted Scott after some time to see if he found it yet, and he finally replied after what seemed like hours.
Need more time.
"What'd he say?" Stiles asks.
"He says he needs more time." I sigh.
"Come on..." Stiles scoffs. Then glares over at Derek. "Try not to bleed out on my seats, okay? We're almost there."
"Almost where?" Derek asks with little energy.
"Your house." Stiles says.
"What?" Derek perks up more. "No, you can't take me there."
"I can't take you to your own house?" Stiles looks at him.
"Why not?" I asked.
"I can't protect myself." Derek shakes his head. Stiles slows down and parks the jeep on the side of the road.
"What happens if Scott doesn't find your little magic bullet? Hmm?" Stiles asks. "Are you dying?"
"Not yet." Derek says. "I have a last resort..."
"What do you mean?" Stiles waves his arms around. "What last resort?"
Derek lifts his sleeve up, showing the bullet wound in his arm, covered in blood. It looks extremely infected.
"Oh, my god!" Stiles looks away disgusted. "What is that? Oh, is that contagious? You know you should probably just get out."
"Start the car... Now.." Derek pants.
"I don't think you should be barking orders with the way you look." Stiles says confidently. "In fact, I think if i wanted to, I could probably drag your little WereWolf ass out into the middle of the road and leave you for dead." Derek looks up, with an extremely annoyed expression.
"Start the car. Or I'm gonna rip your throat out." He says. "With my teeth."
The two have a stare down, followed by Stiles quickly starting the car.
☾
Nightfall came all too quickly, and we still hadn't heard anything from Scott. So Stiles finally pulled over and called him.
"What am I supposed to do with him!" Stiles barks into the phone. "And by the way, he's starting to smell.... like death."
Derek just silently glares at Stiles.
"What about your boss?" Stiles asks, then sighs, handing the phone over to Derek. "You're not gonna believe where he's telling me to take you."
"Did you find it?" He asks. "Look if you don't find it, then I'm dead, all right?"
"Then think about this. The Alpha called you out against your will. He's gonna do it again. Next time, you either kill with him or you get killed. So if you wanna stay alive, then you need me. Find that bullet." Derek says, hanging up the phone.
We get to the animal clinic, when I get another text from Scott. Derek collapses on the floor, sitting up against the wall.
"Does Nordic blue monkshood mean anything to you?" I ask.
"It's a rare form of wolfsbane..." Derek sighs. "He has to bring me the bullet."
"Why?" Stiles asks. Derek looks up.
"Because I'm gonna die without it." He says
I text Scott back quickly. You need to get here NOW.
Stiles opens up the door to the back examination room, and I help Derek inside. He's sweating a lot, and his breath is getting more irregular.
Derek takes his weight off me, and leans on the table, taking his shirt off all the way.
"You know, that really doesn't look like anything some echinacea and a good night's sleep couldn't take care of..." Stiles says. He's getting worse, there are dark veins running up his entire arm.
"When the infection reaches my heart, it'll kill me..." Derek says looking down at his arm. The veins are getting too close to his chest. He moves away from the table and starts searching through the cabinets.
"Positivity just isn't in your vocabulary, isn't it?" Stiles says with sarcasm.
"If he doesn't get here with the bullet in time, last resort..." Derek says.
"Which is?" I ask nervously. Derek pulls out a large looking saw from one of the drawers. My eyes widen.
"You're going to cut off my arm." Derek says.
"Me?" I ask in shock.
"Yes..." Derek breathes.
"Wha- I don't, I can't!" I freak out. "I've never done an amputation before!"
"Neither have I..." Is all he says, handing me the saw.
"Wh- what if you bleed to death?" I ask.
"It'll heal if it works..." He says putting a tourniquet on his upper arm.
"I don't know if I can do this...." I say shaking my head.
"If you don't..." He says, looking at me. "I die, and then Scott dies, then the Alpha is gonna come after you two. So... you. You can do this."
"Okay..." I nod slowly.
Derek looks dizzy, he bends over, and throws up on the ground. Except it isn't vomit, it's blood, and it's black...
"Holy God!" Stiles freaks out. "What the hell is that?"
"It's my body, it's trying to heal itself.." Derek pants.
"Well it's not doing a very good job of it." Stiles comments.
"Now.." Derek looks at me. "You gotta do it now..."
He puts his arm out on the table, and his head resting on the metal.
"Oh my god..." I breathe.
"Just do it." Derek says squeezing his eyes shut.
"Okay," I said, and I put the saw against his skin.
"Kara?" I hear Scott's voice.
"Scott?" I ask, and he runs into the room.
"What the hell are you doing?!" He asks. I drop the saw on the ground.
"Oh, you just prevented a lifetime of nightmares..." Stiles breathes.
"Did you get it?" Derek says looking up. Scott pulls out a bullet from his pocket, and hands it to Derek.
"What are you gonna do with it?" He asks.
"I'm gonna...." Derek's eyes roll to the back of his head, and he drops the bullet, passing out on the floor.
"No!" Scott yells.
"Derek!" I say, trying to grab him as he collapses. He falls like a rock, and doesn't open his eyes. "Derek? Derek, come on. Wake up!" I shake him.
"Scott what the hell are we gonna do?" Stiles asks.
"I don't know!" He says. I turn around, Scott's trying to reach the bullet, as it's fallen down under some table. "I can't reach it!"
"He's not waking up!" I tell Scott.
"I think he's dying, I think he's dead!" Stiles says. I put two fingers to his neck.
"He's got a pulse but it's weak, Scott hurry!" I tell him.
"Just hold on!" Scott yells back. "I got it! I got it!"
"Move." Stiles tells me. I move aside and Stiles shakes his head. "Please don't kill me for this."
Stiles punches Derek in the face, and he opens his eyes.
"Ow!" Stiles says clutching his fist. Derek looks around, and sees Scott with the bullet.
"Give me that." He says. He gives the bullet to him and we help him off the floor. Once he's standing on his own, he takes the bullet and breaks it open, spilling the powder on the table. He reaches into his pocket, pulls out a lighter, and sets the powder on fire.
It blazes and sparks for a few seconds before evaporating. When it does, Derek sweeps the powder into his hand, takes a breath, and shoves it into the bullet wound. Digging it in with his finger.
"UGHH!" Derek screams in agony. He falls to the floor again writhing in pain, after a minute he stops moving and the veins disappear from his arm, the bullet hole finally healing.
"That was awesome!" Stiles yells. "Yes!"
Scott and I just look at him questioningly. Derek finally sits up, then stands up all on his own.
"Are you okay?" Scott asks.
"Except for the agonizing pain?" Derek asks, agitated.
"I'm guessing the ability to use sarcasm is a good sign of health." Stiles sighs. Derek sends another death glare his way.
"Okay, we saved your life," Scott says. "Which means you're gonna leave us alone. You got that? And if you don't, I'm gonna go back to Allison's dad, and I'm gonna tell him everything-"
"You're gonna trust them?" Derek asks. "You think they can help you?"
"Why not? They're a lot freaking nicer than you are!" Scott says back.
"Yeah." Derek nods. "I can show you exactly how nice they are."
"What do you mean?" I ask.
☾
Stiles takes the four of us to Derek's car, then Derek drives Scott and I to some kind of long term care facility. We follow Derek inside, and he takes us into some patient's room.
We walk in, and the man is sitting in a wheelchair. He looks almost comatose. He doesn't even acknowledge us being there.
"Who is he?" Scott asks.
"My uncle." Derek answers. "Peter Hale."
"Is he a WereWolf?" I ask.
"He was. Now he's barely even human." Derek says, looking down at him. "Six years ago, my sister and I were at School. Our house caught fire. Eleven people were trapped inside. He was the only survivor."
"So... What makes you so sure that they set the fire?" Scott asks.
"Cause they're the only ones that knew about us." Derek scoffs.
"Then they had a reason." Scott says.
"Like what?" Derek looks at Scott. "You tell me what justifies this."
Derek grabs his Uncle's wheelchair, and turns him more towards us. We finally see the other side of his face.
"Oh my god..." I gasp. His face was almost completely melted off.
"They say they'll only kill an adult and only with absolute proof." Derek says. "But there were people in my family that were perfectly ordinary in that fire. This is what they do, and it's what Allison will do."
"What are you doing?" A nurse walks in the room. "How'd you get in here?"
"We were just leaving." Derek says.