North Starr

66

The sheriff placed an X through Tracy's picture and said, "Chimeras."

Stiles shrugged. "Well, yeah, two dead Chimeras."

"And new eight ones," Melanie said as she crossed her arms. "That's ten now."

Sheriff Stilinski didn't turn around, focused on his board. He tacked up another picture as he said, "I'm thinking 11." Melanie glanced at Stiles to see him tensing up as his mouth opened. "Out station tech guys confirmed something for us." He turned around. "They said both the holding cell lock and cameras could have malfunctioned because of something electromagnetic. You said that, uh, these guys..."

"Dread Doctors," Melanie interrupted.

The sheriff frowned, turning to her. "Are we really calling them that?"

"Unless you can come up with a better name, yes. You're thinking they broke Donovan out?"

"It's how they got into Eichen, isn't it?"

"Donovan's a Chimera," Stiles said.

The sheriff nodded. "Yeah. But is he a failure like Lucas and Tracy?"

"If he is, he's probably dead."

"Not until I've seen a body," Sheriff Stilinski replied as he studied his son. "You're uncharacteristically quiet."

Stiles locked eyes with his dad. "Yeah. Sorry... I'm, uh, I'm just trying to think about it. Uh... these are are all strangers, right? So, now shouldn't we be trying to figure out why these teenagers? If the Dread Doctors, if they went through all that... burying them, killing them, breaking one of them out of jail..."

"They couldn't have been chosen at random."

Melanie shook her head and stood. She walked towards the board and looked at it. "There's something in common with them. There was something that made them right for this experiment."

They made their way to Scott's and Melanie let out a sigh. "Oh, yay. I'm looking forward to this."

Lydia ignored her. "My mom's book club usually has more wine."

Stiles let out a sarcastic chuckle. "Well, they also probably didn't read books that caused violent hallucinations."

"That's why Malia's here," Scott told him.

Kira frowned. "So none of us go running into traffic?"

"Or worse."

"Like what happened to Judy," Malia said. She noticed their confused looks. "Chapter 14."

Lydia grabbed the only actual book and looked at it. "Maybe I should have my mother read it. She might remember a girl with a tail leaping off the ceiling and attacking everyone."

Melanie was handed a stack of papers and leafed through them, letting out another sigh.

Stiles muttered, "Yeah, if it works."

"It has to," Lydia replied.

"What does that mean?" Scott asked the strawberry blonde.

Lydia met his eyes. "I think I saw them during surgery. When I look at the cover of the book, it's almost like..."

"A memory trying to surface," Theo finished.

Stiles tensed up and Melanie stood in front of him. She set down her stack of papers and studied him with a questioning look.

Lydia glanced at Theo and nodded. "Yeah."

"Isn't that what Valack wanted when he wrote it?" Kira questioned.

"If they did something to me, I want to know what it is."

Each teen, excluding Lydia, grabbed a stack of papers, Melanie picked hers up from where she'd left them, and scattered across the room. Malia, Melanie and Stiles were on the couch; the latter two sat next to each other. Scott and Kira were across from them, on the other couch. Theo and Lydia were both in a chair.

They started reading and after a few minutes, Melanie yawned and began closing her eyes. The book was an exhausting read, and she already wanted to be done it.

"Anyone feel anything yet?" Scott asked.

"I really hate this book," Melanie said.

"Tired," Kira replied, trying to keep her eyes open.

"Hungry," Lydia answered.

Theo gave a small smile. "I think he meant the book."

Melanie tried reading again, but the book seemed to drone on more so than before.

Scott looked between Melanie and Kira. "You two aren't giving up, are you?"

"Just resting my eyes," Kira told him.

Melanie sighed and closed the book. "I'm done."

Melanie rested her head on Stiles' shoulder and her breaths evened as she fell asleep. Stiles glanced down at her and did his best to keep still lest she wake up and move.

Everyone eventually dispersed and Stiles remained a moment longer.

He picked Melanie up in his arms and walked out to his car. He put her in the passenger's seat and drove her home.

When he reached her house, he brought her inside and laid her on her bed.

He whispered, "Sleep well, Mellie. I'll see you in the morning."

---

The next day at school, Scott looked between his friends. "We keep an eye out for each other today, okay?"

Stiles glanced at Melanie. "Yes, and keep an eye out for eight other potentially homicidal Chimeras."

"And keep an eye out for the Dread Doctors," Kira added.

They separated and made their way to class.

In the midst of class, Scott began panicking.

Melanie rushed to her friend's side and tried calming him, but nothing she did worked.

Scott was sitting against the teacher's desk.

Melanie shook Scott's shoulder a few times, but he didn't respond.

Liam appeared and showed his werewolf eyes and growled Scott's name.

Scott shook his inhaler and took a puff. "Thanks, Melanie. Thanks, Liam."

As they made their way to the hospital, Melanie was in a room staring at her family's bodies on the ground.

"Derek? Cora? Laura? Mom? Dad?" she called softly, running to the bodies. "No!"

Their eyes opened and they were hollow. Their mouths were sewn shut as though someone had wanted to prevent them from screaming.

Melanie screamed and fell to her knees.

Scott ran to her side. "Melanie, are you okay? Hey, Melanie!"

The brunette nodded, but Scott knew from her chemosignals that she was lying. "I haven't heard from Stiles, and that often means trouble. I'm gonna go check on him."

"Okay. Be careful."

"Yeah. You too."