|
Previous: "Power and Control"
|
Next: "Abomination"
|
Teen Wolf: Sabotage Episode 7
"Clandestine"
Dazed and confused. That was how Scott McCall felt when he woke up. He had no idea where he was, not helped in the slightest by the blurred vision he was experiencing. Slowly, he sat up. The blurs started to form solid shapes, but he struggled to concentrate with such a banging headache.
“Easy does it” came a voice next to him. It was Casey, already awake, “The headache goes after a while.”
“Where are we?” Scott asked, slightly slurred.
“Chad’s warehouse. Déjà vu, not long since I was here with Lydia” Casey commented.
“They’ll find us, Stiles, Lydia, Liam, they’ll know where we are” Scott tried to console the duo.
“And they’ll walk straight into my little trap” came a voice from around the corner. A shadowed figure walked out. Scott’s vision was still blurred, albeit less so than before. However, he could identify that voice easily. It was the sinister tone of Chad.
“Your cute little pack know exactly where you are, and I’ve taken precautions” Chad continued. Scott and Casey both felt horrified by the sound of a gun being primed in the background…
“Easy does it” came a voice next to him. It was Casey, already awake, “The headache goes after a while.”
“Where are we?” Scott asked, slightly slurred.
“Chad’s warehouse. Déjà vu, not long since I was here with Lydia” Casey commented.
“They’ll find us, Stiles, Lydia, Liam, they’ll know where we are” Scott tried to console the duo.
“And they’ll walk straight into my little trap” came a voice from around the corner. A shadowed figure walked out. Scott’s vision was still blurred, albeit less so than before. However, he could identify that voice easily. It was the sinister tone of Chad.
“Your cute little pack know exactly where you are, and I’ve taken precautions” Chad continued. Scott and Casey both felt horrified by the sound of a gun being primed in the background…
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Also starring Linden Ashby, Melissa Ponzio, JR Bourne, Ryan Kelley, Victoria Moroles, Michael Johnston, Cody Saintgnue, Devin Druid, Marie Avgeropoulos, Chase Ellison, Austin Butler and Beverly Naya.
The atmosphere was all over the place as Chris Argent’s basement filled up with numerous people. Stiles, Lydia, Malia, Liam, Mason, Corey, Isaac and Maddie had all managed to escape from Chad unscathed, but they weren’t willing to go down without a fight. To help them out, they’d called on a few friends, namely Argent, Sheriff Stilinski and werewolf Brett. There was little order in the room and there was a lot of chat occurring while they waited to be addressed.
“Why are we down in this grotty dump?” Maddie complained to Isaac.
“I heard that” Argent butted in.
“Argent’s got loads of weapons” Isaac replied, “We can protect ourselves if Chad’s little minions come knocking.”
“I can protect myself” Maddie showed off her fangs.
“Don’t I know it” Isaac remarked. They were interrupted as Stiles tried to get everyone’s attention.
“OK everybody” he raised his voice to be heard. The ambient noise of chatter quietened down and everyone was fixated on Stiles, who continued, “I know we’re all worried about Scott and Casey, but it’s alright, we’re pretty certain we know where they’ll be.”
“There’s just one problem with that” Lydia took over, “If they’re in a location as obvious as Chad’s warehouse, he must be confident that we won’t be able to interrupt.”
“Which leads us to our mole” Stiles carried on, “We’ve got an inside guy who could let us in.”
“Who?” Malia asked.
“Shane, your so-called friend” Stiles answered, looking towards Isaac.
“Wait, he’s on our side? Did I miss the memo or something?” Isaac asked.
“He trusts us, that’s all you need to know, and he can get us inside” Lydia explained.
“So, what’s the plan?” Mason queried.
Flickering lights was all that could be seen by Parrish, Melissa and Hayden as they inched their way into the hospital. They were on the lookout for Anita, who was lurking somewhere nearby, but it was hard to tell exactly where.
“Can you not catch her scent or something?” Melissa whispered to Hayden.
“I didn’t catch it before, there were too many people around” Hayden whispered back.
“Would’ve helped a great deal, we could’ve planned a route” Parrish commented.
“Well that’s not the case so let’s keep focused” Hayden sternly whispered.
“How did you become an alpha?” Scott asked Casey. The two were sat together for the foreseeable future, so Scott thought some light conversation might take their minds off the situation momentarily.
“Well I’m not a true alpha, so you can probably guess” Casey sounded ashamed.
“You killed someone?” Scott was shocked, “I’m sorry, it’s just, you don’t seem like the type”.
“Thanks I guess” Casey laughed, “It’s not as bad as it sounds, I promise. I didn’t murder anyone in cold blood. The alpha who bit me, he got killed by a hunter. Someone else encouraged me to take his power before he died, so he’d live on in some way.”
“That’s kinda sweet I guess” Scott was supportive, “Makes a change from the power-hungry werewolves that always want power and status.”
“It’s clichéd and it bores me” Casey smiled, “So are the stories true? You managed to push through a mountain ash barrier?”
“Yeah, that’s right” Scott blushed.
“Insane! Any chance of breaking through this one?” Casey joked, referring to the barrier surrounded the duo, “Chad’s learnt from our last escape” he noted. The two bonded properly for the first time, but unfortunately it was short-lived when Chad returned.
“Good to see my favourite boys getting along” he commented. The smiles on both of their faces dropped like a tonne of bricks, “Enjoy your alpha status while you can”. Scott and Casey looked at each other, both feeling sick with worry.
Meanwhile, Lydia was dishing out instructions to the pack.
“We’ve split us all into three groups – Liam, Malia, Isaac and Brett, you’ll take the front entrance. Mainly you’ll need to fight off any guards but also, you’ll be our distraction. Maddie, Mason and Corey, you need to sneak in the back and get them back out as quickly as you can. Stiles, Sheriff and Argent will stay here with me” Lydia explained as assertively as possible.
“You’re trusting us to get Scott and Casey out?” Corey was taken aback by how big a role he had in the plan.
“You can turn invisible, I couldn’t think of anyone better for the job” Stiles justified. Corey reluctantly nodded, giving his seal of approval.
“I can’t turn invisible though” Maddie interrupted.
“Your feminine charm is the reason we allocated you there. If you come face-to-face with Chad or anyone else, you’re the person who’d be able to talk yourself out of it” Lydia complimented.
“So what are we waiting for? Let’s get moving people!” Stiles hurried everyone out of the basement.
The adrenaline was running high throughout Hayden’s body as she inched closer with Parrish and Melissa. They were cautious at every doorway, at every corner and at every turn; basically anywhere that Anita could be hiding, ready to pounce. Hayden’s heart was pounding loudly. She had no idea if she was even going to make it out of the hospital alive, and it scared her to death. Liam was her anchor, he always was. He was the reason she kept on fighting. This gave her confidence. Her nerves turned to self-belief as she moved slowly through the hospital, with Parrish on her right and Melissa on her left. Parrish’s gun was out, while Melissa kept back a little bit, considering she lacks the healing power of her friends. The trio approached the final corner before reaching the young girl’s hospital room. Every other room had been evacuated already and nobody was in sight, leaving this young girl alone. Hayden couldn’t stomach the idea of someone so defenceless left in the hands of a ruthless killer, and was determined to get her out. Parrish led the way as they approached the door. He peeped into the room, gun in position, before entering. Melissa and Hayden stood outside in anticipation, hoping Parrish would give the all clear and they could get out as soon as possible.
“It’s empty” Parrish reported back, still keeping his voice quiet.
“Thank god for that” Melissa breathed a sigh of relief, walking into the room.
“No, I literally mean empty. She’s gone” Parrish broke the bad news. Hayden’s stomach sunk, now feeling very worried.
“It’s a trap, and we’re walking right into it” Hayden worried. Melissa looked stumped and Parrish was out of ideas for what to do next.
“We can’t just leave her” Melissa was adamant, “Scott would know what to do.”
“Well he’s not here, is he?” Parrish remarked.
“Thanks for stating the goddamn obvious” Melissa retaliated, feeling the pressure.
“Stop it!” Hayden interrupted, “We might not have Scott, but we do have me. The girl, she’s been in this room most of the day, I can catch her scent.” Melissa and Parrish experienced a renewed optimism as they saw a glimmer in Hayden’s eyes.
Two cars were needed to transport everyone to the warehouse. Mason, Corey and Brett were driven by Liam, while Malia drove Isaac and Maddie.
“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this” Mason commented, worried about the events that were set to unfold.
“It’ll be OK, we should be experts at this by now” Corey joked.
“Sounds pretty simple to me, we just distract them and sneak in the back. Can’t be too difficult, right?” Brett assumed.
“I wouldn’t be so sure. This is the guy who framed me for murder, he’s one step ahead of everyone and we need to expect the unexpected” Liam was concerned, but looked pretty emotionless, as if he had something more important to worry about.
“You’ve got Hayden on your mind haven’t you?” Mason looked to his left, at his best friend in the driver seat.
“Is it that obvious?” Liam gave in. He certainly was thinking about Hayden – non-stop, in fact. He was worried whether his girlfriend would make it out of the hospital alive, and if she did, whether he’d still be alive to see her at the end of it.
“Don’t worry, it’ll all be over soon and you can see her again” Mason reassured him.
“Hey, remember when you went on the run?” Brett interrupted, “You were happy to walk away from her then, but it was because you wanted to protect her. Protect her now.” His words of encouragement resonated with his former rival. Liam had his head back in the game and was ready for action.
While this chat was occurring, the other car was similarly mellow.
“I can’t do this” Maddie felt hugely emotional. She was sat in the back seat on her own, with Isaac in the passenger seat next to Malia. Isaac reached around and put a comforting hand on Maddie’s knee.
“You’ll be amazing, you always are” he smiled.
“Do you two want a room or something?” Malia butted in.
“You’ll also be amazing, that goes without saying” Isaac was well aware he was on dangerous ground, between the missus and the ex, so to speak.
“I hope this is worth it. We’ll be fighting our asses off for them, I just hope he hasn’t outsmarted us” Malia expressed her concerns.
“He was always calculated, he never did anything without a reason” Maddie explained.
“We’re in trouble” Isaac added.
Lydia couldn’t take her eyes away from her phone. She was checking it every few seconds to ensure she hadn’t missed a message from one of the others. Her mind was in overdrive, worrying about what may or may not have happen to her friends.
“Stupid thing!” she shouted as she threw her phone to the floor.
“Hey, watch that!” Stiles said as he walked to calm her down, “I don’t wanna have to pay for an upgrade.” Lydia raised a smile briefly.
“I’m worried, Stiles” Lydia confessed as a tear fell from her eye.
“What’s up?” he put his arm around her, genuinely concerned for his girl.
“I can’t shake this feeling” Lydia sounded dazed and was vague in her words.
“You’re not making any sense right now. Is it a banshee thing?” Stiles queried.
“I think…I know somebody’s going to die tonight” Lydia said, sounding vacant and barely aware of what she was saying.
Hayden led the way to the hospital elevator. Parrish and Melissa followed either side of her, unaware of where they were being taken but fully trusting Hayden’s senses. When they were positioned in the elevator, Hayden examined the buttons, and pressed the button for the basement. Melissa was watching, and felt a sense of dread in her stomach, knowing exactly what’s located on the lowest level – the morgue. When the lift stopped moving, signalled by a small ding sound, the doors slid open. Parrish led the way once again, holding his gun, while Hayden and Melissa stayed in the lift – the latter holding the lift door open by placing her hand by it. Parrish stepped out only a few steps, and turned back.
“The coast is c…” he announced, but was cut off in a flash, as a figure pounced on him. The lights were flickering on and off, so it was difficult to make out. Melissa and Hayden stepped back in fright, and the lift doors shut on them. They were now trapped – torn between making a run for it to save themselves, or stepping into the unknown to save Parrish and the young girl.
“What do we do?” Hayden asked, panicking.
“We do what Scott would do. We fight out way out” Melissa said, with confidence.
Filled with drowsiness, Scott was drifting off to sleep. His energy levels were low – he hadn’t eaten or drunk anything since being kidnapped by Chad, and whilst his stomach was rumbling, it wasn’t the only part of his body complaining. To move his arm even slightly felt like a struggle. Talking began to feel difficult. Then, he felt something on his shoulder. Casey had fallen asleep, and was using Scott as a pillow. Scott didn’t mind, and rested his head on Casey’s. He wasn’t sure how to get out of the situation he was in – he’d tried breaking the chains, but they were too strong, even for his wolf power. Besides, at this point, he didn’t have the energy for that. However, at that moment, Scott went from feeling drained to being wide awake, as another guy was thrown into the room. Chad followed behind, moving fast towards the other man. Scott focused on the other guy, who was lying in front of him now. It was Shane, with added cuts and bruises on his face. He was cowered on the floor, scared stiff of the approaching Chad.
“Please, please don’t” Shane was pleading. Chad stopped in front of him and looked at Scott, as well as a now-awake Casey.
“This is what happens when you disobey me” Chad spoke. He turned back to Shane, “I told you to bring me the banshee. Where is she?”
“I couldn’t, I tried but I couldn’t get her to come” Shane tried to explain, speaking rapidly and tripping over his words.
“You tried? Is that all?” Chad scolded. He grabbed Shane by the arm and picked him up. This was when Scott noticed what was in Chad’s other hand. A blow torch. Chad turned it on, and held it to Shane’s chest. Shane yelled in pain as it moved closer and closer, while Scott and Casey both winced. They had little energy to move their heads away, so opted to close their eyes instead. However, Shane’s ear-piercing screams were still very much audible.
The cars pulled up down the road from the warehouse. They purposely kept their distance, not wanting to be spotted by Chad. Malia took out her phone and called Lydia, who jumped when the phone rang and couldn’t answer it quickly enough.
“Are you alright? What’s happening?” Lydia asked in a panic.
“We’re fine, we’ve just arrived” Malia explained much more calmly.
“OK, you’re going to have to approach the warehouse, but keep yourselves out of view. Then when you’re ready, Mason, Corey and Maddie will need to head round the back while you head straight to the front entrance” Lydia detailed.
“Gotcha, I’ll call you later” Malia said, finishing the call.
“And be careful!” Lydia tried to cram in a final warning but the call got cut off midway through it.
Reluctantly, Melissa pressed the button to open the lift doors. There wasn’t a peep to be heard beyond the still-flickering lights. Hayden pointed in one direction, using her sense of smell to guide her to where the young girl was. They crept down the corridors, keeping an eye out at all times for Anita. Before long, they reached the morgue. They took one look at each other, a deep breath, and pushed open the doors. Placed on the table in the middle was the girl, whose name was still unknown to the pair. Parrish was placed on the floor next to her, motionless but breathing. As they examined the room, they didn’t notice Anita hiding in the corner. She jumped out and pounced on Melissa, who fell to the floor. Anita bit into Melissa’s arm. Melissa shrieked in pain as blood squirted out and drooped to the floor. Hayden wasted on time in jumping to the rescue, baring her fangs and claws as she kicked Anita off a distressed Melissa. Anita gathered herself together and stood back up, also baring her own claws and fangs. They stood opposite each other as Melissa crawled behind Hayden to reach Parrish. It was a stand-off, and Hayden had left her worries at the door. All that was going through her mind now was her protective instinct. She knew she had to fight Anita and it wasn’t going to be easy, but to save her friends, she’d do anything. Anita hurled herself towards Hayden, and suddenly, there wasn’t a single thought on her mind, as she battled against the vicious werewolf. Hayden’s hands pushed against Anita’s shoulders, holding her back with all her strength.
Creeping slowly towards the main entrance of the warehouse, Isaac led the group of four. The large shutters were closed and they approached a door towards the right of it instead. It was locked. Liam tried to bash it in, but ultimately failed.
“What do we do now?” Liam asked.
“There must be another way in” Malia suggested.
“We could try and lift the shutter” Brett offered. The rest gave looks of approval and all four positioned themselves in prime position to lift it up. Each and every one of them gave all of their strength to try and push the shutter up, and it didn’t seem to be going anywhere for a few seconds, until it lifted up by five centimetres.
“Keep going” Malia commanded. All four kept pushing it up, and before they knew it, it slid all the way up. However, because they were all so pleased with themselves for opening the shutter into the large warehouse, they failed to hear a click sound above, and all of a sudden, a circle of power fell to the ground. The sense of accomplishment in the group fell to fear as they realised.
“Mountain ash” Isaac identified, with anger in his tone.
“We’re trapped” Liam added. He showed his wolf eyes and began trying to push against the mountain ash barrier, but to no avail.
“Quit it, there’s no way out. We’ve got to rely on the others” Brett spoke to Liam.
“I need to call Lydia” Isaac said, digging into his pocket to retrieve his phone.
Shane was lying on the floor. He was in pain throughout his entire body, but he knew Chad wouldn’t give him time to recover.
“Move these two downstairs” Chad commanded, “Now.” Shane stood up slowly, and pulled two handcuffs out of his pocket. He untied both Scott and Casey, and placed the handcuffs on their wrists to stop them fighting back.
“Come on, stand up” Shane instructed.
“I can’t” Scott complained, barely sounding awake.
“I said get them downstairs” Chad raised his voice. Shane gave Scott a hand, before offering the same hand to Casey. Shane had one of them on either side of his body and tried to assist them as they headed towards a narrow wooden staircase down to the basement. It was a struggle to help two weak teenagers down a staircase alone but Shane powered through, whilst also trying to block out his own pain. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he let go of the duo and they slumped to the floor. The room was pitch black, and neither Casey nor Scott could make out anything. Chad casually strolled down the stairs behind, and walked in front. Shane quietly crept back up the stairs.
“Meet your masters” Chad grinned as he switched the lights on. Across the room were two hospital beds, with Chad’s mum and dad laying on one each. They looked totally lifeless, and almost shrivelled in appearance. Chad’s mum pressed a button on her hospital bed remote control, and it lifted up at the top end, so she could sit up.
“True…alpha…” she muttered slowly.
When Shane reached the top of the staircase, he rushed to the back door. Waiting patiently outside were Corey, Mason and Maddie.
“You took your time” Maddie remarked as he opened the door. She went to walk in but he blocked the way.
“I’m sorry, I can’t do this” Shane said as he tried to shut the door. Maddie stuck her foot in the way.
“No no no, you’re not turning us away now” she adamantly stated. Shane moved towards her, as if he was about to tell a secret.
“Look at what he’s done to me” he whispered, lifting his top. He revealed the burn marks made by Chad and the blow torch.
“Why isn’t it healing?” Corey asked.
“He laced it with wolfsbane. It stings like hell” Shane sounded broken.
“This is what he does. He’s manipulating you, and he’s gonna kill Scott and Casey. You need to help us” Maddie pleaded. Shane thought for a moment, before opening the door to allow access.
“You won’t regret this” Maddie smiled to him, showing sympathy.
“We’ve got to get down there” Lydia stated, having just finished a phone call with Isaac.
“It’s too dangerous, you said so yourself” Argent responded.
“But if they’re in danger, then it’s our duty to help them out” Stilinski argued.
“Well what are we waiting for? We gotta help them” Stiles sounded eager to assist his friends. They wasted no time in leaving Argent’s basement and heading to Stiles’ jeep.
Hayden flung Anita to the floor, knocking a lot of medical equipment off the adjacent table in doing so. Anita was down for a second but got back up and flung herself back at Hayden, who fell crashing to the floor with Anita on her.
“He’s alive!” came a voice from across the room. Melissa was reporting on Parrish, who was simply unconscious after being attacked by Anita earlier.
“With all due respect, my need is greater” Hayden responded.
“You’re disposable” Anita bluntly stated as she met Hayden eye-to-eye, “I was sent here for Melissa, the medic, anyone else is simply in the way.”
“You don’t have to do this” Hayden pleaded as she struggled, “You’re above Chad.”
“He’s given me a new way of life, why would I give it up? He’s promised me power and status” Anita explained.
“Yeah? Well how about this for power” Hayden stated as she grabbed Anta by the neck, as her eyes glowed yellow. She used all of her wolf strength to fling Anita right across the room, crashing into the wall and leaving a huge crumbling dent. Hayden looked horrified in her own strength, not intending such a huge impact.
“What did you do?” Melissa asked, in shock. Hayden walked over to where Anita was slumped on the floor. Melissa crawled a metre across the floor from Parrish to Anita and checked her pulse.
“She’s…she’s dead” Melissa stuttered as she spoke. Hayden’s stomach dropped as she felt a sick sense throughout her entire body over what she’d just done. She stared at Anita’s lifeless body as her conscience kicked in and she felt dreadful, worse than she’d ever felt in her life.
Not showing any sympathy, Chad dragged Scott and Casey across the floor. They were both too weak at this point to fight and submitted to Chad’s forcefulness. Both of Chad’s parents managed to gather enough energy to display their claws. Chad picked Scott up and placed him on his mum’s hospital bed, in the perfect position for her claws to reach his chest. Likewise, Casey was placed in a similar position next to Chad’s father.
“Your energy’s been drained using the chains I put on you, but there’s still some scraps left, and with two alphas, I can’t afford to waste a drop” Chad explained. At this moment, both parents dug their claws into their respective alpha’s chest. Scott’s eyes shut in pain, but he couldn’t muster up any energy to talk. Casey however felt even worse. He felt like he was being drained of each and every droplet of his power. His wolf eyes glowed red, before flashing to a lighter yellow. His alpha status was gone.
“Stop!” came a female voice from the exit. Nobody was in view, but suddenly, Scott and Casey were both yanked off the hospital beds and the energy was no longer being drained. At this moment, Corey, Mason and Maddie all snapped into view. With the help of Corey’s chameleon power, the trio could sneak into the basement and save Scott and Casey. However, they were not out of the saucepan yet.
“We need to get out of here, now” Mason commanded.
“I…I can’t move” Scott slurred.
“You’re not going anywhere” Chad stated. He walked up to his parents, in between the two hospital beds, “I lied. Your power and energy wasn’t helping them out. Their bodies are beyond repair, but they sure as hell make for good storage.”
“Storage for what?” Maddie yelled.
“For me” Chad looked round and smirked, before baring his claws and digging his right hand into the stomach of his father, and his left hand into the stomach of his mother. Their faces barely moved, without sufficient energy to be affected. Their eyes slowly shut, never to re-open again, as any remaining life force was killed stone dead. Chad bent his head back, absorbing all of the power he’d stolen from the murders over the previous months. Maddie, Corey and Mason stood back in horror, while they tried to give Casey and Scott a hand. Chad then turned back around, slowly. His eyes glowed red as his face turned orange into his werehyena form.
“Out of my way” he ordered.
“Why are we down in this grotty dump?” Maddie complained to Isaac.
“I heard that” Argent butted in.
“Argent’s got loads of weapons” Isaac replied, “We can protect ourselves if Chad’s little minions come knocking.”
“I can protect myself” Maddie showed off her fangs.
“Don’t I know it” Isaac remarked. They were interrupted as Stiles tried to get everyone’s attention.
“OK everybody” he raised his voice to be heard. The ambient noise of chatter quietened down and everyone was fixated on Stiles, who continued, “I know we’re all worried about Scott and Casey, but it’s alright, we’re pretty certain we know where they’ll be.”
“There’s just one problem with that” Lydia took over, “If they’re in a location as obvious as Chad’s warehouse, he must be confident that we won’t be able to interrupt.”
“Which leads us to our mole” Stiles carried on, “We’ve got an inside guy who could let us in.”
“Who?” Malia asked.
“Shane, your so-called friend” Stiles answered, looking towards Isaac.
“Wait, he’s on our side? Did I miss the memo or something?” Isaac asked.
“He trusts us, that’s all you need to know, and he can get us inside” Lydia explained.
“So, what’s the plan?” Mason queried.
Flickering lights was all that could be seen by Parrish, Melissa and Hayden as they inched their way into the hospital. They were on the lookout for Anita, who was lurking somewhere nearby, but it was hard to tell exactly where.
“Can you not catch her scent or something?” Melissa whispered to Hayden.
“I didn’t catch it before, there were too many people around” Hayden whispered back.
“Would’ve helped a great deal, we could’ve planned a route” Parrish commented.
“Well that’s not the case so let’s keep focused” Hayden sternly whispered.
“How did you become an alpha?” Scott asked Casey. The two were sat together for the foreseeable future, so Scott thought some light conversation might take their minds off the situation momentarily.
“Well I’m not a true alpha, so you can probably guess” Casey sounded ashamed.
“You killed someone?” Scott was shocked, “I’m sorry, it’s just, you don’t seem like the type”.
“Thanks I guess” Casey laughed, “It’s not as bad as it sounds, I promise. I didn’t murder anyone in cold blood. The alpha who bit me, he got killed by a hunter. Someone else encouraged me to take his power before he died, so he’d live on in some way.”
“That’s kinda sweet I guess” Scott was supportive, “Makes a change from the power-hungry werewolves that always want power and status.”
“It’s clichéd and it bores me” Casey smiled, “So are the stories true? You managed to push through a mountain ash barrier?”
“Yeah, that’s right” Scott blushed.
“Insane! Any chance of breaking through this one?” Casey joked, referring to the barrier surrounded the duo, “Chad’s learnt from our last escape” he noted. The two bonded properly for the first time, but unfortunately it was short-lived when Chad returned.
“Good to see my favourite boys getting along” he commented. The smiles on both of their faces dropped like a tonne of bricks, “Enjoy your alpha status while you can”. Scott and Casey looked at each other, both feeling sick with worry.
Meanwhile, Lydia was dishing out instructions to the pack.
“We’ve split us all into three groups – Liam, Malia, Isaac and Brett, you’ll take the front entrance. Mainly you’ll need to fight off any guards but also, you’ll be our distraction. Maddie, Mason and Corey, you need to sneak in the back and get them back out as quickly as you can. Stiles, Sheriff and Argent will stay here with me” Lydia explained as assertively as possible.
“You’re trusting us to get Scott and Casey out?” Corey was taken aback by how big a role he had in the plan.
“You can turn invisible, I couldn’t think of anyone better for the job” Stiles justified. Corey reluctantly nodded, giving his seal of approval.
“I can’t turn invisible though” Maddie interrupted.
“Your feminine charm is the reason we allocated you there. If you come face-to-face with Chad or anyone else, you’re the person who’d be able to talk yourself out of it” Lydia complimented.
“So what are we waiting for? Let’s get moving people!” Stiles hurried everyone out of the basement.
The adrenaline was running high throughout Hayden’s body as she inched closer with Parrish and Melissa. They were cautious at every doorway, at every corner and at every turn; basically anywhere that Anita could be hiding, ready to pounce. Hayden’s heart was pounding loudly. She had no idea if she was even going to make it out of the hospital alive, and it scared her to death. Liam was her anchor, he always was. He was the reason she kept on fighting. This gave her confidence. Her nerves turned to self-belief as she moved slowly through the hospital, with Parrish on her right and Melissa on her left. Parrish’s gun was out, while Melissa kept back a little bit, considering she lacks the healing power of her friends. The trio approached the final corner before reaching the young girl’s hospital room. Every other room had been evacuated already and nobody was in sight, leaving this young girl alone. Hayden couldn’t stomach the idea of someone so defenceless left in the hands of a ruthless killer, and was determined to get her out. Parrish led the way as they approached the door. He peeped into the room, gun in position, before entering. Melissa and Hayden stood outside in anticipation, hoping Parrish would give the all clear and they could get out as soon as possible.
“It’s empty” Parrish reported back, still keeping his voice quiet.
“Thank god for that” Melissa breathed a sigh of relief, walking into the room.
“No, I literally mean empty. She’s gone” Parrish broke the bad news. Hayden’s stomach sunk, now feeling very worried.
“It’s a trap, and we’re walking right into it” Hayden worried. Melissa looked stumped and Parrish was out of ideas for what to do next.
“We can’t just leave her” Melissa was adamant, “Scott would know what to do.”
“Well he’s not here, is he?” Parrish remarked.
“Thanks for stating the goddamn obvious” Melissa retaliated, feeling the pressure.
“Stop it!” Hayden interrupted, “We might not have Scott, but we do have me. The girl, she’s been in this room most of the day, I can catch her scent.” Melissa and Parrish experienced a renewed optimism as they saw a glimmer in Hayden’s eyes.
Two cars were needed to transport everyone to the warehouse. Mason, Corey and Brett were driven by Liam, while Malia drove Isaac and Maddie.
“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this” Mason commented, worried about the events that were set to unfold.
“It’ll be OK, we should be experts at this by now” Corey joked.
“Sounds pretty simple to me, we just distract them and sneak in the back. Can’t be too difficult, right?” Brett assumed.
“I wouldn’t be so sure. This is the guy who framed me for murder, he’s one step ahead of everyone and we need to expect the unexpected” Liam was concerned, but looked pretty emotionless, as if he had something more important to worry about.
“You’ve got Hayden on your mind haven’t you?” Mason looked to his left, at his best friend in the driver seat.
“Is it that obvious?” Liam gave in. He certainly was thinking about Hayden – non-stop, in fact. He was worried whether his girlfriend would make it out of the hospital alive, and if she did, whether he’d still be alive to see her at the end of it.
“Don’t worry, it’ll all be over soon and you can see her again” Mason reassured him.
“Hey, remember when you went on the run?” Brett interrupted, “You were happy to walk away from her then, but it was because you wanted to protect her. Protect her now.” His words of encouragement resonated with his former rival. Liam had his head back in the game and was ready for action.
While this chat was occurring, the other car was similarly mellow.
“I can’t do this” Maddie felt hugely emotional. She was sat in the back seat on her own, with Isaac in the passenger seat next to Malia. Isaac reached around and put a comforting hand on Maddie’s knee.
“You’ll be amazing, you always are” he smiled.
“Do you two want a room or something?” Malia butted in.
“You’ll also be amazing, that goes without saying” Isaac was well aware he was on dangerous ground, between the missus and the ex, so to speak.
“I hope this is worth it. We’ll be fighting our asses off for them, I just hope he hasn’t outsmarted us” Malia expressed her concerns.
“He was always calculated, he never did anything without a reason” Maddie explained.
“We’re in trouble” Isaac added.
Lydia couldn’t take her eyes away from her phone. She was checking it every few seconds to ensure she hadn’t missed a message from one of the others. Her mind was in overdrive, worrying about what may or may not have happen to her friends.
“Stupid thing!” she shouted as she threw her phone to the floor.
“Hey, watch that!” Stiles said as he walked to calm her down, “I don’t wanna have to pay for an upgrade.” Lydia raised a smile briefly.
“I’m worried, Stiles” Lydia confessed as a tear fell from her eye.
“What’s up?” he put his arm around her, genuinely concerned for his girl.
“I can’t shake this feeling” Lydia sounded dazed and was vague in her words.
“You’re not making any sense right now. Is it a banshee thing?” Stiles queried.
“I think…I know somebody’s going to die tonight” Lydia said, sounding vacant and barely aware of what she was saying.
Hayden led the way to the hospital elevator. Parrish and Melissa followed either side of her, unaware of where they were being taken but fully trusting Hayden’s senses. When they were positioned in the elevator, Hayden examined the buttons, and pressed the button for the basement. Melissa was watching, and felt a sense of dread in her stomach, knowing exactly what’s located on the lowest level – the morgue. When the lift stopped moving, signalled by a small ding sound, the doors slid open. Parrish led the way once again, holding his gun, while Hayden and Melissa stayed in the lift – the latter holding the lift door open by placing her hand by it. Parrish stepped out only a few steps, and turned back.
“The coast is c…” he announced, but was cut off in a flash, as a figure pounced on him. The lights were flickering on and off, so it was difficult to make out. Melissa and Hayden stepped back in fright, and the lift doors shut on them. They were now trapped – torn between making a run for it to save themselves, or stepping into the unknown to save Parrish and the young girl.
“What do we do?” Hayden asked, panicking.
“We do what Scott would do. We fight out way out” Melissa said, with confidence.
Filled with drowsiness, Scott was drifting off to sleep. His energy levels were low – he hadn’t eaten or drunk anything since being kidnapped by Chad, and whilst his stomach was rumbling, it wasn’t the only part of his body complaining. To move his arm even slightly felt like a struggle. Talking began to feel difficult. Then, he felt something on his shoulder. Casey had fallen asleep, and was using Scott as a pillow. Scott didn’t mind, and rested his head on Casey’s. He wasn’t sure how to get out of the situation he was in – he’d tried breaking the chains, but they were too strong, even for his wolf power. Besides, at this point, he didn’t have the energy for that. However, at that moment, Scott went from feeling drained to being wide awake, as another guy was thrown into the room. Chad followed behind, moving fast towards the other man. Scott focused on the other guy, who was lying in front of him now. It was Shane, with added cuts and bruises on his face. He was cowered on the floor, scared stiff of the approaching Chad.
“Please, please don’t” Shane was pleading. Chad stopped in front of him and looked at Scott, as well as a now-awake Casey.
“This is what happens when you disobey me” Chad spoke. He turned back to Shane, “I told you to bring me the banshee. Where is she?”
“I couldn’t, I tried but I couldn’t get her to come” Shane tried to explain, speaking rapidly and tripping over his words.
“You tried? Is that all?” Chad scolded. He grabbed Shane by the arm and picked him up. This was when Scott noticed what was in Chad’s other hand. A blow torch. Chad turned it on, and held it to Shane’s chest. Shane yelled in pain as it moved closer and closer, while Scott and Casey both winced. They had little energy to move their heads away, so opted to close their eyes instead. However, Shane’s ear-piercing screams were still very much audible.
The cars pulled up down the road from the warehouse. They purposely kept their distance, not wanting to be spotted by Chad. Malia took out her phone and called Lydia, who jumped when the phone rang and couldn’t answer it quickly enough.
“Are you alright? What’s happening?” Lydia asked in a panic.
“We’re fine, we’ve just arrived” Malia explained much more calmly.
“OK, you’re going to have to approach the warehouse, but keep yourselves out of view. Then when you’re ready, Mason, Corey and Maddie will need to head round the back while you head straight to the front entrance” Lydia detailed.
“Gotcha, I’ll call you later” Malia said, finishing the call.
“And be careful!” Lydia tried to cram in a final warning but the call got cut off midway through it.
Reluctantly, Melissa pressed the button to open the lift doors. There wasn’t a peep to be heard beyond the still-flickering lights. Hayden pointed in one direction, using her sense of smell to guide her to where the young girl was. They crept down the corridors, keeping an eye out at all times for Anita. Before long, they reached the morgue. They took one look at each other, a deep breath, and pushed open the doors. Placed on the table in the middle was the girl, whose name was still unknown to the pair. Parrish was placed on the floor next to her, motionless but breathing. As they examined the room, they didn’t notice Anita hiding in the corner. She jumped out and pounced on Melissa, who fell to the floor. Anita bit into Melissa’s arm. Melissa shrieked in pain as blood squirted out and drooped to the floor. Hayden wasted on time in jumping to the rescue, baring her fangs and claws as she kicked Anita off a distressed Melissa. Anita gathered herself together and stood back up, also baring her own claws and fangs. They stood opposite each other as Melissa crawled behind Hayden to reach Parrish. It was a stand-off, and Hayden had left her worries at the door. All that was going through her mind now was her protective instinct. She knew she had to fight Anita and it wasn’t going to be easy, but to save her friends, she’d do anything. Anita hurled herself towards Hayden, and suddenly, there wasn’t a single thought on her mind, as she battled against the vicious werewolf. Hayden’s hands pushed against Anita’s shoulders, holding her back with all her strength.
Creeping slowly towards the main entrance of the warehouse, Isaac led the group of four. The large shutters were closed and they approached a door towards the right of it instead. It was locked. Liam tried to bash it in, but ultimately failed.
“What do we do now?” Liam asked.
“There must be another way in” Malia suggested.
“We could try and lift the shutter” Brett offered. The rest gave looks of approval and all four positioned themselves in prime position to lift it up. Each and every one of them gave all of their strength to try and push the shutter up, and it didn’t seem to be going anywhere for a few seconds, until it lifted up by five centimetres.
“Keep going” Malia commanded. All four kept pushing it up, and before they knew it, it slid all the way up. However, because they were all so pleased with themselves for opening the shutter into the large warehouse, they failed to hear a click sound above, and all of a sudden, a circle of power fell to the ground. The sense of accomplishment in the group fell to fear as they realised.
“Mountain ash” Isaac identified, with anger in his tone.
“We’re trapped” Liam added. He showed his wolf eyes and began trying to push against the mountain ash barrier, but to no avail.
“Quit it, there’s no way out. We’ve got to rely on the others” Brett spoke to Liam.
“I need to call Lydia” Isaac said, digging into his pocket to retrieve his phone.
Shane was lying on the floor. He was in pain throughout his entire body, but he knew Chad wouldn’t give him time to recover.
“Move these two downstairs” Chad commanded, “Now.” Shane stood up slowly, and pulled two handcuffs out of his pocket. He untied both Scott and Casey, and placed the handcuffs on their wrists to stop them fighting back.
“Come on, stand up” Shane instructed.
“I can’t” Scott complained, barely sounding awake.
“I said get them downstairs” Chad raised his voice. Shane gave Scott a hand, before offering the same hand to Casey. Shane had one of them on either side of his body and tried to assist them as they headed towards a narrow wooden staircase down to the basement. It was a struggle to help two weak teenagers down a staircase alone but Shane powered through, whilst also trying to block out his own pain. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he let go of the duo and they slumped to the floor. The room was pitch black, and neither Casey nor Scott could make out anything. Chad casually strolled down the stairs behind, and walked in front. Shane quietly crept back up the stairs.
“Meet your masters” Chad grinned as he switched the lights on. Across the room were two hospital beds, with Chad’s mum and dad laying on one each. They looked totally lifeless, and almost shrivelled in appearance. Chad’s mum pressed a button on her hospital bed remote control, and it lifted up at the top end, so she could sit up.
“True…alpha…” she muttered slowly.
When Shane reached the top of the staircase, he rushed to the back door. Waiting patiently outside were Corey, Mason and Maddie.
“You took your time” Maddie remarked as he opened the door. She went to walk in but he blocked the way.
“I’m sorry, I can’t do this” Shane said as he tried to shut the door. Maddie stuck her foot in the way.
“No no no, you’re not turning us away now” she adamantly stated. Shane moved towards her, as if he was about to tell a secret.
“Look at what he’s done to me” he whispered, lifting his top. He revealed the burn marks made by Chad and the blow torch.
“Why isn’t it healing?” Corey asked.
“He laced it with wolfsbane. It stings like hell” Shane sounded broken.
“This is what he does. He’s manipulating you, and he’s gonna kill Scott and Casey. You need to help us” Maddie pleaded. Shane thought for a moment, before opening the door to allow access.
“You won’t regret this” Maddie smiled to him, showing sympathy.
“We’ve got to get down there” Lydia stated, having just finished a phone call with Isaac.
“It’s too dangerous, you said so yourself” Argent responded.
“But if they’re in danger, then it’s our duty to help them out” Stilinski argued.
“Well what are we waiting for? We gotta help them” Stiles sounded eager to assist his friends. They wasted no time in leaving Argent’s basement and heading to Stiles’ jeep.
Hayden flung Anita to the floor, knocking a lot of medical equipment off the adjacent table in doing so. Anita was down for a second but got back up and flung herself back at Hayden, who fell crashing to the floor with Anita on her.
“He’s alive!” came a voice from across the room. Melissa was reporting on Parrish, who was simply unconscious after being attacked by Anita earlier.
“With all due respect, my need is greater” Hayden responded.
“You’re disposable” Anita bluntly stated as she met Hayden eye-to-eye, “I was sent here for Melissa, the medic, anyone else is simply in the way.”
“You don’t have to do this” Hayden pleaded as she struggled, “You’re above Chad.”
“He’s given me a new way of life, why would I give it up? He’s promised me power and status” Anita explained.
“Yeah? Well how about this for power” Hayden stated as she grabbed Anta by the neck, as her eyes glowed yellow. She used all of her wolf strength to fling Anita right across the room, crashing into the wall and leaving a huge crumbling dent. Hayden looked horrified in her own strength, not intending such a huge impact.
“What did you do?” Melissa asked, in shock. Hayden walked over to where Anita was slumped on the floor. Melissa crawled a metre across the floor from Parrish to Anita and checked her pulse.
“She’s…she’s dead” Melissa stuttered as she spoke. Hayden’s stomach dropped as she felt a sick sense throughout her entire body over what she’d just done. She stared at Anita’s lifeless body as her conscience kicked in and she felt dreadful, worse than she’d ever felt in her life.
Not showing any sympathy, Chad dragged Scott and Casey across the floor. They were both too weak at this point to fight and submitted to Chad’s forcefulness. Both of Chad’s parents managed to gather enough energy to display their claws. Chad picked Scott up and placed him on his mum’s hospital bed, in the perfect position for her claws to reach his chest. Likewise, Casey was placed in a similar position next to Chad’s father.
“Your energy’s been drained using the chains I put on you, but there’s still some scraps left, and with two alphas, I can’t afford to waste a drop” Chad explained. At this moment, both parents dug their claws into their respective alpha’s chest. Scott’s eyes shut in pain, but he couldn’t muster up any energy to talk. Casey however felt even worse. He felt like he was being drained of each and every droplet of his power. His wolf eyes glowed red, before flashing to a lighter yellow. His alpha status was gone.
“Stop!” came a female voice from the exit. Nobody was in view, but suddenly, Scott and Casey were both yanked off the hospital beds and the energy was no longer being drained. At this moment, Corey, Mason and Maddie all snapped into view. With the help of Corey’s chameleon power, the trio could sneak into the basement and save Scott and Casey. However, they were not out of the saucepan yet.
“We need to get out of here, now” Mason commanded.
“I…I can’t move” Scott slurred.
“You’re not going anywhere” Chad stated. He walked up to his parents, in between the two hospital beds, “I lied. Your power and energy wasn’t helping them out. Their bodies are beyond repair, but they sure as hell make for good storage.”
“Storage for what?” Maddie yelled.
“For me” Chad looked round and smirked, before baring his claws and digging his right hand into the stomach of his father, and his left hand into the stomach of his mother. Their faces barely moved, without sufficient energy to be affected. Their eyes slowly shut, never to re-open again, as any remaining life force was killed stone dead. Chad bent his head back, absorbing all of the power he’d stolen from the murders over the previous months. Maddie, Corey and Mason stood back in horror, while they tried to give Casey and Scott a hand. Chad then turned back around, slowly. His eyes glowed red as his face turned orange into his werehyena form.
“Out of my way” he ordered.