++++++
The school bus drove on the desert road with Coach Finstock looking out at the passing scenery with a glum look before he turned back and quickly blew his whistle.
"Back to your seat!" he said to the student that was standing to look at the scenery too.
Scott and Stiles were sitting over at the back of the bus together while Sabrina sat in a seat in front of them. Scott was absentmindedly staring out the window while Stiles was scrolling down the screen of his tablet. Scott's mind was lost in the memories of the previous night.
"Yo Scotty. Hey, yo, Scotty?" Stiles said before snapping his fingers at him to bring him out of his daze. "You still with me?"
Scott rubbed at his eyes. "Yeah, sorry. What's the word?" he quickly asked.
"Anachronism," Stiles read out to help Scott with his resolution to be a better student which he was determined to still follow.
Scott sighed. "Something that exists out of its normal time."
"Or an error in time placement,"
Stiles looked up to see his girlfriend facing at them with a smile on her face. Stiles smiled back as he nodded. "Nice. You two are correct. Okay, next word, incongruous."
"Uh...can you use it in a sentence?" Scott asked as he was drawing a blank.
"Yes. Yes I can. It's completely incongruous that we're sitting on a bus right now on our way to some stupid cross-country meet after what just happened, incongruous," Stiles finished.
"Out of place," Scott answered. "Ridiculous, absurd." "Or lacking in harmony," Sabrina answered. "Perfect you two. Okay, next word, Um, Darach." Scott went to give him a look. "Darach, it's a noun." Stiles finally turned to see the look Scott was giving him and he turned away. Stiles rolled his eyes. "We have to talk about it sometime, okay? And we're gonna be stuck in this thing for, like, five hours, so why not?" Scott just sighed and moved to rest his head against the glass window. Stiles gave up. "Next word, Intransigent," he said going back to the list.
"Stubborn, obstinate," Scott answered. "Just like you," Sabrina said to him. She wanted to talk about the events that had happened last night but Scott was being stubborn.
But then the bus suddenly hit a bump and Scott painfully flinched.
"Oh," Stiles said as he noticed that Scott was reaching for where he was wounded. "Buddy, you okay?" Scott just grit his teeth in pain and Stiles started to shake his head. "We shouldn't have come. I knew it. We shouldn't have come."
"We had to," Scott argued. "There's safety in numbers."
"Yeah, well there's also death in numbers, okay?. It's called a massacre or bloodbath, carnage, slaughter, butchery," he said listing its synonyms as he read from the tablet. "Wow, that's," But a pained whimper came from Scott as Stiles stopped and put his tablet down. "All right, Scott, I'm telling Coach that-" said Sabrina as she went to stand up but Scott reached over and pulled her back down in her seat.
"No. No, no, no. I'm all right."
"Well you don't look all right," Sabrina pointed out. "Would you just let me see it?" Stiles asked. "I'm okay." "Just let us see it, okay?" Stiles said giving Scott a hard look.
Scott sighed and then nodded. "Okay," he conceded as he lifted his shirt.
"Oh dude." Stiles and Sabrina saw that the wound was still looking pretty bad. It looked like he had only just got it. Scott put his shirt back down. "I know it's bad but it's because they're from an Alpha. It'll take longer to heal."
Stiles narrowed his eyes. "Then why are Isaac, Boyd and Sabrina fine then?" He then looked over at Sabrina before looking over at the two betas on the far end of the bus and they seemed to be no worse for wear. "I'm still a bit winded but all of my wounds had already healed by the time I made it to bed last night." said Sabrina.
Scott just rested his head back on the window and gazed out in the distance with a sour look on his face. "I can't believe he's dead," he mumbled. "I can't believe Derek's dead."
++++++
The Coach blew his whistle at some others on the bus. "The two of you, back in your seats." He then looked down at the kid in front of him. "Jared, again, car sick? Every time, how do you even get on the bus?" Jared was starting to pale. "Look at me. No," he said quickly. "Don't look at me. Look at the horizon. Keep your eyes-Keep your eyes on the the horizon." Jared nodded at him. But then he saw the state Scott was in. "McCall, not you too?" he complained.
Scott rose his head up. "No Coach, I'm good," he tried to say in an upbeat tone.
But Stiles and Sabrina just narrowed their eyes at him and they widened when they looked at Scott's side. "Scott, you're bleeding again. And don't tell me that it's just taking longer to heal, okay? Because I'm pretty sure that still bleeding means not healing, like, at all." Stiles said.
"Stiles, stop," Sabrina shushed before turned around in her seat and pointed over ahead of them. "He's listening."
Stiles and Scott then looked over and saw that Ethan had his head turned slightly and they could make out some focus in his eyes. "Is he's going to do something?" asked Stiles.
"No," Sabrina said. "Not in front of this many people." Scott finished for her. Stiles nodded before pointing on ahead. "Okay, well, what about the two ticking time bombs sitting near him?" But Scott shook his head. "No, they won't. Not here."
"Okay, well, what if they do? Are you gonna stop em?" Scott gave him a look. "If I have to." Stiles returned Scott's resolute look with a stern one.
++++++
The bus then went and hit a major traffic jam and stopped abruptly making Scott moan in pain given to him by the shocks. The jam seemed to go as far as the eye could see.
"There's a jackknifed tractor a few miles ahead," Isaac read off his phone. "Could miss the meet." But his face then fell. "Boyd?" Boyd was now breathing a little faster than normal and there was a light growling escaping his throat. His eyes also started to glow slightly as he started to turn towards Ethan's direction.
Scott quickly noticed and moved to get up but Stiles tried to hold him down. "Scott, where are you going?"
"Boyd, he's going to do something," "Okay, what? How do you know?" Stiles asked. "Look at his hands," he said as he pointed out the claws that Boyd was now sporting at the end. Scott was about to move Stiles out of the way but Sabrina lightly pushed him back down in his seat.
"Sabrina-"
"No, Scott, you-" she pointed at him. "Are going to stay here. I'll go handle Boyd." Sabrina said before getting up from her seat and moved forward on the bus until she came to Boyd's side. She went and grabbed his hand with a steel grip.
"Let go," Boyd hissed at her before looking back over at Ethan.
"You got a plan?" Sabrina asked him. "Tell me your brilliant plan and I'll let go. What are you going to do? Kill him right here? And then what? What are you gonna do after that?"
Boyd narrowed his eyes and looked right into Sabrina's. "I don't care," he said. He then moved to try and get out of the seat but both Sabrina and Isaac held him down. "Well, I do," Sabrina said to him as she held him down.
But Isaac's eyes fell over to Scott who was still sitting with Stiles. side. "Is he still hurt?" Sabrina sighed. "He says he's fine but...I know he's not," Sabrina then stared at Boyd. "Give me a chance to figure something out, something that doesn't have to end with someone else dying."
"I'm fine," he said in a mirrored tone that he had used with Stiles. He then focused back on Boyd. "Give Scott and I a chance to figure something out. Something that doesn't have to end with someone else dying."
Boyd let out a frustrated breath but he settled down. "Okay."
Sabrina then moved to head back to his seat where Stiles and Scott was calmly waiting for her.
"Crisis averted?" he asked as soon as Sabrina got there. "Mm-hmm," Sabrina nodded as she went to sit down in front of the two again.
"Okay, good. Cause we got another problem. Ethan keeps checking his phone, like every five minutes. It's like he's waiting for something, you know, like, a message or a signal of some kind. I don't know, something evil though, I can tell. I have a very perceptive eye for evil, but you two know that."
Scott narrowed his eyes over at Ethan. "I don't like him sitting with Danny." "Join the club," Sabrina mumbled. "Yeah, neither do I," said Stiles. Stiles then whipped out his phone. "I'm going to see what he's waiting for?"
"What are you doing?" Scott whispered.
"I'm gonna ask," he said like it was obvious. But he would do it in a way that Ethan wouldn't be able to tell.
Stiles sent a text to Danny and he quickly whipped out his phone to see that Stiles was asking to see what Ethan was checking his phone for. Danny moved to look at Stiles and shook his head and went to put his phone away. Before he could, Stiles sent another message for Danny to just do it. Danny texted back no. Stiles tried again. Danny refused again by texting that he liked Ethan and wouldn't do it. Stiles grit his teeth and texted for him to just do it again. But Danny put his phone away and didn't bother to respond. Stiles saw that Danny wanted to be difficult so he would be difficult right back. He texted DO IT and sent the text numerous times. Danny's phone kept beeping to alert him to Stiles' texts but he ignored it. But it didn't stop and Ethan was starting to give him a look.
"Something wrong?" Ethan finally asked.
Danny sighed and caved hoping to stop Stiles hounding him. "Actually...I was wondering the same thing about you."
They got to talking and Scott and Sabrina quickly tried to zero in their ears to hear what they were saying but Danny and Ethan turned to look at them. Scott, Stiles and Sabrina then quickly ducked their heads to be out of sight and out of mind.
"Well, that wasn't very subtle," Stiles let out.
"Ya think?" Sabrina asked as the three of them sat back up in their seats again. Stiles then got a return text from Danny saying that someone close to him was sick and might not make it through the night.
"Ennis," Scott muttered.
"Okay, so does that mean-"
"He's not dead," Scott said finishing Stiles train of thought.
Stiles narrowed his eyes. "Not yet."
++++++
The traffic jam wasn't budging in the least and the bus was stuck in a sea of cars on the highway. Tensions in the bus were rising and not just with the werewolves inside. Coach's was as he was baring down on Jared who was looking more pale and sick even if the bus wasn't really moving.
"Jared, I'm warning you. I'm an empathetic vomiter. You throw up, I'm gonna throw right back on you. And it will be profoundly disgusting." Coach warned.
Jared cringed."Please don't talk about throwing up. It's not good."
"I might throw up on you just to make a point Jared."
"It's not good," Jared blurted out painfully. "It's not good."
The Coach then turned to the rest of the people on the bus. "Now the rest of you, don't think we're gonna miss this meet because of a slight traffic jam, a minor tornado warning, Jared," he said giving the carsick kid another look. "We're gonna make this thing. Nothing is gonna stop us!" He then glared on ahead. "Stilinski, put your hand down!"
Stiles let his raised hand slide just a bit but he was still keeping it raised. "You know there's like a food exit about a half mile up. I don't know if we stop and then maybe traffic-"
"We're not going to stop," Coach cut him off. "Okay," Stiles huffed out. "But if we stop- Coach then blew his whistle to cut him off. "Stilinski! Shut it! Seriously! It's a little bus! Stop asking me questions!"
Stiles let his back hit his seat hard. "I hate him," he mumbled before looking back at Scott. Sabrina went and took a look at Scott's side. There hadn't appeared to be any change. "Did you call Deaton?" she asked Scott. Scott's head was bobbing a bit now and he was starting to sweat a bit heavily now that Stiles wasn't siphoning off his pain. "I keep getting his voicemail," he managed to breathe out.
Stiles let a hard puff out through his nose. "That's it. I'm calling Lydia and Allison." Scott looked over at him. "How are they going to help? They're back in Beacon Hills."
Sabrina shook her head. "They're not," "They've been following us for hours. Pathetic," Stiles mumbled as he took out his cell phone.
Over in Allison's car, Lydia saw she was getting a phone call and checked to see that it was Stiles calling her.
"Hey Stiles," she said giving Allison a look as she then looked away a bit. "Yeah, we're just about to walk into a movie. You know, the popcorn and-"
"Yeah, Sabrina and I know you guys are right behind us," Stiles spat out. "Just put me on speaker." Lydia sighed but put her phone to speaker. His voice then filled the car. "Okay, look Scott's still hurt."
Allison was thrown for a loop at that. "What do you mean still? He's not healing?"
"No, he isn't healing. I think he's actually getting worse. His blood turning, like, a black color."
"Well, then what's wrong with him?" asked Lydia.
"What's wrong with him? I don't-Do I have a PHD in lycanthropy? How am I supposed to know?"
Allison rubbed at her forehead. "We need to get him off the bus."
"And take him where?" Lydia asked her. "A hospital?"
"If he's dying, yeah," she spat out. "Stiles, there's a rest area about a mile up. Tell the coach to pull over."
"Yeah, I've been trying."
"Well, reason with him," she spat at him.
"Reason? Have you met this guy?" he spat back at her.
Allison glared at the phone. "Just try something."
Stiles hung up his phone and grit his teeth.
"Coach, its five minutes for a bathroom break, okay?" Stiles had bitten the bullet and was trying, again, to get Coach to stop. "We've been on this thing for like, three hours?" But Coach blew the whistle at him. Stiles let his head lean back a bit before he pushed again. "Being cooped up for hours is not good," he started again, louder at Coach who only blew his whistle again. "You know, our bladders aren't exactly-" Another whistle and Stiles left hand started to dig into the back of the seat it was leaning on. "Coach, this is-." But the whistle kept blowing and soon started to be blown right into his face every time he tried to get a word out. "Let me talk!"
"Get back to your seat, Stilinski!" Coach spat out.
"Okay!" Stiles roared at him before he turned.
"Jared," he heard Coach shout as he was slowly heading back. "Keep your eyes on the horizon."
Stiles suddenly had an idea. Stiles went over and threw himself next to the kid. "Hey Jared. How you doing?" he said to him before a small mischievous smile started to take hold.
As soon as they could, the bus pulled into the rest stop down the road and everyone on the bus started to pull out in a frenzy.
Coach sprayed some air freshener before popping the window open. "Jared, you suck! Hey, somebody grab some towels, or a mop or a new bus."
Stiles and Sabrina helped Scott off the bus and was soon joined by Allison and Lydia who was running towards them. The four of them then went to pull Scott into the girls bathroom for some privacy.
++++++
Scott was set against the wall by the sink and he was starting to cough a bit. Allison then pulled up his shirt and she, Stiles, Sabrina and Lydia saw that the wound was starting to fester and black lines were spreading out across his torso.
"Oh my god," Allison gasped. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"Sorry," Scott mumbled at her.
"Okay. Just give us a second, okay?" She then went and pulled the other three aside. "This shouldn't be happening. I've seen him heal from worse than this." "Okay, what do we do then? Do we call an ambulance?" asked Stiles. "What if-What if it's too late? What if they can't help?" Allison asked.
"It doesn't make any sense," said Sabrina. "All of us were wounded and we all have healed up already, but not Scott. I don't know why."
"You know, it could be psychological," said Lydia softly.
"What do you mean, like, psychosomatic?" Stiles asked her. "Somatoformic," she corrected. Stiles narrowed his eyes so she explained further. "A physical illness from a psychogenic cause. Yes, it's all in his head." He nodded. "All in his head? Because of Derek. He's not letting himself heal cause Derek died." "What are we going to do?" Allison asked out loud.
Lydia then went and pulled out some gauze from her bag. "Stitch him up." Stiles, Sabrina and Allison gave her a look. "I'm serious. Maybe all he needs to do is just believe it's healing."
At this point, they were willing to try anything. Allison moved to prepare all the first aid supplies they had with them while Stiles started to clean Scott's wound.
"He's going to need another shirt," Allison said to him. "Where's his bag?"
"Um, I'm gonna get it. I hate needles anyway," Stiles said moving for the door but stopped suddenly. "Uh, do you know what you're doing?" "Yeah, my father taught me." "I mean, how fast are you gonna-I mean, the bus, like, the bus could leave." "Okay, just make sure it doesn't leave," she said sternly to him.
Sabrina grabbed Stiles hand. "I can help. Coach loves me. Come on." She took Stiles out of the room and Lydia followed after the two.
++++++
The rest stop was busy with activity from everyone until there was a loud whistle blown from the bus as Coach stepped out of it.
"Let's go! Back on the bus!" Coach shouted out to everyone.
Stiles, Sabrina and Lydia were off to the side and they gave each other a look. They were out of time. Sabrina glanced the crowd and did a double-take when she saw that Isaac and Ethan were now fighting.
Isaac punched his face over and over again making Sabrina think back to what happened last night with her.
++++++
Derek let out a growl before he charged in for Kali. At that, it caused the other members of the Alpha Pack to charge as well as the twins jumped off the landing and combined in mid-air to form their combined Alpha form just as they hit the ground. Sabrina was fighting Ennis alongside Boyd as Cora moved to help her brother fight Kali. Scott pushed Isaac back as he watched in despair as they all started to fight despite his wishes that they don't. The fused twins stomped forward and roared at them. Isaac then shifted and ran to fight with him. Scott rolled his eyes but saw that there now was no choice and then shifted to fight as well.
The only one not fighting was Deucalion who stayed calmly where he was as he listened and observed all that was going on around him.
Isaac was thrown to the side by the twins just as Scott moved to help him. He was grabbed by the throat and thrown off into a nearby pillar. Isaac moved to swipe at their fused face but their beefy hand clamped at his shoulder and Isaac let out a hard shout when they pushed on it. Scott made it to his feet and ran to get them to let Isaac go but they went and clawed right up Scott's torso sending a shower of blood spewing out and Scott roared deafeningly in pain. Ennis went and dug his claws into Sabrina's side and then launched her in into the air where she landed with her back slamming on the hard floor. Boyd then threw a punch at Ennis face which made him growl in anger.
Boyd tried to throw another punch but Ennis grabbed his arm and pulled on it making Boyd growl out in pain and made him stiffen up. Boyd was then grabbed by his shoulder too and launched into the air as he landed next to Sabrina. Ennis stood over Sabrina as she glared right back up at him. "Sabrina McCall...did you ever find out who bit you when you were ten?"
Sabrina's eyes widened. "How did you know-"
Ennis leaned down and was now face to face with Sabrina.
"Because I'm the one that bit you," he whispered as Sabrina gasped as Ennis straightened himself up again. Sabrina growled and jumped up but Ennis grabbed her neck and slammed her into the ground again.
Derek stuck Kali with his claws but she managed to pull back out of the way. Cora moved in and kicked her from behind to push her back Derek's way and he struck at her face with his elbow. At her pained cry, Ennis turned away from Sabrina and moved to claw at Cora for her shot at Kali.
At Cora's cry, Derek dropped his guard to look at her which Kali used to send a clawed kick across Derek's face and sent him flying face first to the ground. Sabrina moved to get to Ennis again to keep him from hurting Cora more but she was struck at back of his leg with Kali's clawed feet when she spun and sent a kick at him to help Ennis. Sabrina let out a pain gasp as she fell on one knee. Boyd tried to charge at Ennis from behind but he felt his approach and grabbed him and held him tight. Kali moved for them and sent a spinning kick right for Boyd who was struck in his stomach by Kali's claws next. Ennis then threw Boyd off to the side and joined Kali as they stood in the middle of all the fallen bodies. The twins grabbed Isaac off the floor and whipped him over so that he landed some feet away and hit the floor close to Boyd. They then grabbed Scott by his arm and they dragged him off so that they could be with the others. They then dropped him down and moved for the still kneeling Sabrina and grabbed her from the back of her neck to make her be upright as they moved their other set of claws to be over the front of his neck.
Derek was the first to stand amongst them but was frozen on what to do now.
"Kill her," Deucalion called out.
"What?" he spat out.
Deucalion pointed his cane over in twins' direction as they held Sabrina up to be helpless. "Kill her," he repeated. "Right here and right now Derek. Or." Kali took that as her cue and stomped over to Cora and put her foot on her chest with the claws just grazing the young girl's jugular. "Your sister dies."
Sabrina eyes widened. "What? Do you mean me?!" she cried. But she stopped there as the fused twins went and yanked hard on the her hair. Sabrina moved to try and pull the twins' grip away from herself but they weren't budging.
"Are we serious with this kid? Look at him. He's an Alpha? To what? A couple of useless teenagers?" Kali spat. "Some have more promise than others," Deucalion put in as he started to descend slightly down the steps. He gave Scott a small look.
"Let him rise to the occasion," Kali faced Derek and her red eyes burned at him. "What'll be, Derek? Pack or family?!" she shouted making Cora give out a small scream as she drew some blood from Cora's neck.
Suddenly a flash went off at the floor next to Kali making her flinch and jump away from Cora. Then another flash went off next to Ennis making him let go of Scott.
"Your eyes!" Deucalion shouted out. "Cover your eyes!" He shouted to them as another flash struck.
++++++
Sabrina snapped out of her daze when she heard her classmates cheering Isaac on.At that, Sabrina ran over to the crowd as fast as she could. She made her way through the people to see Isaac was pounding on Ethan as the Coach was trying to separate them.
"Isaac, back off!" Coach yelled at him but Isaac brushed him away.
Isaac then pushed Ethan to the ground and charged for him but he was then grabbed at his shoulder and pushed down to the ground. Stiles had been on the bus, moving to try and stall the Coach when they heard the fighting break out. Stiles saw that Isaac had snapped and moved to separate them. He understood the guy's anger, but this wasn't the time and place for it. Not with this many innocent people around.
Isaac just got up and moved to go back to tearing Ethan apart, even if he had to go through Stiles. He didn't care anymore.
"Stop Isaac!" Sabrina shouted at him.
Isaac suddenly stopped in his tracks. He looked up at Sabrina's face and he started to calm his breathing and settle down.
Danny then ran off to help Ethan get to his feet. Ethan made to push his way around Danny to make a pass at them. But Sabrina quickly turned around and glared right into his eyes. Ethan was staring at Sabrina as the memory of last night hit him.. He took a step back and then looked over to Scott, Isaac and even Boyd who all had their eyes narrowed at him as well before Danny went and helped him into the bus.
A whistle sounded and Coach stomped on to the center of this grouping. He then rounded on Isaac. "Alright Lahey, you're sitting in the front with me, for the rest of this trip. And you could bet that you have plenty of suicide runs and detention to look forward to when we get back. As for the rest of you, show's over. Now get on the bus!"
++++++
Everyone was back on the bus and was, moderately, calm as it drove on down the highway again. Scott was back in his seat but Allison was sitting with him. Stiles was sitting in front of them with Sabrina. The both of them in deep conversation.
"All right. Let's go over this one more time," he said to her. "So it's the sacrifices, right? Everything has to do with them and someone who thinks he's, like, a dark druid of some kind."
"Or actually is a dark druid," Sabrina put in.
"A Darach. Deaton told me that he's trying to collect power and the sacrifices are each for a certain ability that he'll need. He said that there were going to be five which means there are still three more groups of people he's after. But we have no clue what they are or what its even for," he said a bit frustrated.
Sabrina narrowed her eyes in thought. "You know...some ancient cultures sacrificed people in preparation for battle."
"So," he breathed. "We've got Alpha werewolves against a dark druid."
"Yeah," Sabrina mumbled to him.
[Edited 2/19/17]