Surviving the Night - The Quarry

Chapter 22: Silver

Kaci's POV

The tension in the room is so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"We have to go back to the body. We need to check if it's Abi," Nick says causing Jacob to scoff.

"You want to go back out there when there are multiple of those things running around out there?" Jacob says.

Nick looks at Jacob like he's insane, "Yes. We need to know if Abi's hurt or not."

"Hate to break it to you, bud, but if that was Abi, I'm pretty sure there's nothing you can do to help her."

"Jacob's right. Whoever I shot is dead either way," Laura says.

"We need to know," Stella speaks up, agreeing with Nick, "Nick and I can go alone if no one else is willing to check."

"No, we need to stick together. I'll go, too," I say.

"Kaci, you're already bit. There's no way you're going back out there," Jacob says sternly, "Are we really going to risk more of us getting hurt?"

"I'm not asking you to go, but I'll telling you that I am. Abi's our friend, and she'd do the same for us," I say.

Jacob gives me a look, silently wishing for me to change my mind. But when I don't say anything else, he eventually groans, "Ugh, fine. I guess we're all going."

"Alright, am I done here? Because I really need to go help Max," Laura says, taking a step forward.

"Woah, woah, woah," Ryan says, lifting the gun in Laura's direction, "We can't let you leave."

"Um, yes you can, and you will," Laura says, glaring at him.

"No way. We still have no idea if you're telling the truth, and you potentially murdered one of our friends. How can we trust you?" Ryan says.

"Listen, I don't have time for this," Laura rolls her eyes, "I need to find and kill Chris Hackett before the sun rises, which means I only have a few hours left."

"Which is exactly why I can't let you leave. Are you guys even hearing what she's saying? She's openly admitting to trying to murder someone. And not just someone, but Chris. The guy we've worked with all summer," Ryan says, shaking his head, "I need to prove that Chris isn't involved in this. He can't be."

Emma lets out a noise of frustration as she abruptly stands up, running a stressed hand through her hair, "Fuck this. We've been having the same conversations over and over, and still nothing makes sense. I mean, werewolves? Curses? Murder? I didn't sign up for any of this. I just need this night to be over."

Emma storms out of the room and into Chris Hackett's office before locking the door.

We look at each other, before Stella says, "She's just stressed."

"Yeah, well we all are," Jacob replies.

Laura tries to take another step, and Ryan re-aims the gun at her.

"Ryan, chill out," Nick says in a low voice.

"No. She's bringing us to the dead body and then we can decide what to do from there," Ryan says.

I can feel the annoyance practically radiating off of Laura as she stares at him, "Fine. But we're going now. I'm not wasting any more time."

Ryan agrees as we all exit the cabin. It feels like an eternity before we get back to the pool house, but I'm grateful we get there safely.

The pain in my side is at an all time high, but I'm trying to do my best to hide it. We have bigger issues right now.

The group makes its way around the side of the pool, seeing a body floating in the water, surrounded by blood.

"It's a human?" Jacob says, confused.

"It wasn't when I shot it," Laura says, looking down at the girl, "Is it your friend?"

"No," Ryan says as he thickly swallows, "It's Kaylee Hackett."

"Chris' daughter?" Stella says as I look back down at the body. It's hard to tell since the body is face down, but Ryan's right. It's Kaylee.

"So am I free to go now?" Laura asks, impatiently, "It wasn't your friend. We're all good now, right?"

"Wait," Ryan says, struggling to wrap his mind around what's happening, "Let me just think."

"I hate to say it, Ryan, but this isn't looking too good for Chris. I mean, if Kaylee is involved in this, Chris has to be," Jacob says.

"Or they're being set up," Ryan says.

"Come on, dude. You can't be this slow. The Hacketts are terrible people, whether you'd like to admit it or not," Laura says.

"Says the murderer," Ryan spits back.

"Look, I don't care if I killed a Hackett. She wasn't human when I shot her. What she was before, she would have killed me first."

"Doesn't make you any more innocent," Ryan says before adding, "We were better off with Kaylee alive than you."

"Fuck you," Laura says back.

As the two bicker back and forth, an intense ringing goes off in my ears. I close my eyes tightly, trying to get the overbearing noise to stop. My entire body feels so overstimulated that I can't even tell what's wrong with me.

A burning feeling suddenly shoots down my arm as if someone branded my wrist with a hot iron. I involuntarily let out a scream as I scratch at my arm, ripping the bracelet off my wrist. Everyone goes silent as their heads snap to me.

"Holy shit, Kaci. Are you okay?" Jacob asks, cautiously taking a step forward.

I hold my wrist, panting as the pain subsides, "I don't know what's happening."

Laura walks over and picks my bracelet up from the ground, "It's silver."

We look at her, waiting for her to explain. "'And should you yourself be cursed, armed with silver, end the first.' It's from the poem. Silver is the only way to kill the wolves. It's how I killed Kaylee."

Laura slides the bracelet into her pocket, "We can actually use this."

"Does that mean Kaci is going to change soon?" Stella asks.

Laura looks at me, "She should still have time. It would be too quick."

"I feel fine. I promise," I say, but the look Stella gives me makes me think I don't look fine.

Laura looks down at my wrapped hand, "What happened to you?"

"Oh. I cut it earlier on some glass. I'm fine though," I tell her.

She nods as she walks over and stands in front of me. Ryan gives me a worried look, but I slightly shake my head to tell him it's fine.

"Can I?"

"Sure," I say, not even sure what she's planning to do.

She begins to unwrap the bandage, peeling back the bloody cloth. She drops the bandages on the ground and tells me to look at my hand.

I hold my hand up in the moonlight and my words get caught in my throat, "What the fuck?"

"What is it?" Nick asks.

"My hand. It's completely healed. There's nothing there anymore," I say.

Jacob's eyes widen as he gently takes my hand in his to inspect it. "How is this possible?"

"She's transitioning. The same thing happened to my boyfriend when he had an injury. The wolves have an extremely expedited healing process," Laura says.

Laura looks at everyone slowly as she says, "So, for the hundredth time tonight, unless you want both Kaci and Abi to turn into one of those fucking monsters for the rest of their lives, running around the woods looking for anything to kill, then I suggest you help me find and murder Chris Hackett."