Alone • Liam Dunbar

Twenty-Nine

"No! What happened to my son?!"

Melissa's deep wailing echoes through the hospital as she openly belted out in agony. From down the hall, I see her fall to her knees. I feel despair in the pit of my stomach at her reaction that feels all too real.

Scott was right, she really could sell it.

Doctor Geyer holds her and angrily waves off people who openly gawk as if she wasn't a grieving mother. The crowd that had gathered disperses and I follow the flow of people to the stairwell. It was too big of a risk to use the elevator, as I could risk catching a ride on the lift with the Benefactor. I make my way down to the floor of the morgue, waiting patiently for Melissa to arrive. 

After a few minutes, the elevator pings and opens, revealing her tear-stricken face. 

She walks over to me, her body shaking from the aftershock of her performance. When she's close and realizes we're alone, she straightens her posture and wipes her face clean of moisture, dropping the act.

"You should've been an actress," I commend her for her performance. Despite the situation, she gives me an amused smile in return.

I hold one side of the doors to the morgue open, guiding her inside. Stiles, Kira, Liam, and Noshiko all turn upon our entrance, the four of them surrounding Scott's pale and semi-dead body.

"I still hate this plan," Melissa says as she stares down at her son's body.

It was difficult for me to look at Scott as the reality of what we were doing finally struck. I take a breath and force myself to remain calm, knowing this certainly wasn't the time to have a breakdown.

"Give me your hand." Noshiko holds her palm out, waiting for Melissa to do as she says.

Melissa looked to Stiles who nods encouragingly. Noshiko draws Melissa's hand to Scott's exposed chest to rest on the surface, and after a few seconds, she breathes out in relief as she has likely felt his rare heartbeat.

"Is that enough to keep a werewolf alive?" she asks. 

"Enough for an Alpha," Noshiko smiles comfortingly. 

Melissa gives her a grateful look as she takes her hand back. 

"How much time do we have?"

"Forty-five minutes," Noshiko responds.

I glance down at the watch Chris had given me earlier, checking to see if we were on schedule. 

"What happens after that?" Melissa presses.

"I bring him back the same way," Kira replies comfortingly, though, Melissa shakes her head. 

"No, I mean what happens if he stays like this longer than forty-five minutes?"

Silence falls over us, everyone exchanging guilty glances. We hadn't checked with Scott to be sure he told his mom the truth about our plan, but apparently, we should have. 

"No one told her?" Noshiko hisses, understandably angry. She already hated this plan and keeping Melissa in the dark only fueled her spite.

"What? What happens after forty-five minutes?" Melissa trembles.

"He dies," Noshiko boldly answers. 

Melissa's hand covers her mouth, as if she's preventing herself from vomiting on her son's lifeless body. Wordlessly, she begins to move to a back room nearby. 

"I need a minute," she disses herself. Everyone knows better than to stop her. 

I check my watch out of instinct as she leaves, seeing that we only had a certain amount of time to make contact with the Benefactor. I swallow my guilt over moving on from Melissa's reaction because if any distractions tonight caused Scott to lose his life, that remorse would only become ten times worse.