Once in a Lifetime

42

BEACON HILLS MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

The lights were flickering in the deserted hospital, where the floors in the halls are covered with scraps of paper and dead leaves blown in by the wind. The metal doors are groaning under Liam's hands as he wrenched the doors open with his super strength.

Now free to move around, Liam slowly walked out of the elevator, visibly uneasy as a result of how quiet and abandoned the building seemed to be. When he reached the emergency room receptionist desk, he got a bad feeling and looked down an adjacent hall, though he was confused when he found nothing amiss. However, when he turned around to walk back to the desk, his eyes widened in alarm at the sight of the same list of cities as the Phantom Train Station on the wall behind it. Liam took specific notice of the top city row, which shuffles between a number of different towns before stopping at "BEACON HILLS." The arrival time for the train was 2:20AM, and the other visible cities included Bodie, Boneville, Pripyat, Bannack, Skido, Canaan, Garnet, Harappa, and Red Bird.

PHANTOM TRAIN STATION

Tabitha staring at the exact same bulletin board of city names and their arrival times while in the captivity of the Wild Hunt. After a moment, what appeared to be a train ticket blew across the floor in the wind, and when she looked down at it, she suddenly heard a familiar male voice.

Stiles' voice echoed. "Tabitha... Tabitha... Tabitha..."

"Stiles?" Tabitha said.

Corey said over the PA system, "Attention all passengers -- the train will be arriving in twenty-five minutes."

"Stiles?"

Stiles' voice echoed. "Tabitha?"

"Stiles!"

"Tabi, look at me."

"Stiles, wait!"

"Tabitha!" Micah called as he walked up to his daughter. "Give the girl some room."

"Dad? Dad!"

"Oh, thank God. Oh, I found you. I can't believe I found you." He hugged her and placed a hand on the back of her head. "I'm right here, sweetheart."

"Dad, I can hear Stiles," she told him. "I think... I think I can get to him. I think he can get me out of here."

"You need to get out of here. Don't worry about me."

Tabitha scoffed. "What? You're kidding, right?"

"Go. Get help. Find your friends."

"Yeah? And what about you?"

"We'll find each other again."

"Dad..."

"Tabitha... I'll hold them back. Now, get the hell out of here. Go. Go!"

Stiles' voice echoed once again. "When I kissed you... When I kissed you... When I kissed you!"

Tabitha started making her way toward his voice and three shapes slowly began becoming clearer.

ARGENT BUNKER

"Tabitha?" Stiles called. "I can see you! Don't stop! Tabitha?"

The light faded and his hopeful expression dropped.

"Stiles?" Malia called.

The light disappeared and the spot Stiles had seen Tabitha was empty.

"Where is she?" he asked. "It was working. You saw her, right?"

They shook their heads and Malia said, "...We didn't see him."

"No, she was here. I know it. Tabitha was here."