Tires spin against cool gravel as her car races down the desolate road. Under present circumstances, driving alone at such a late time of night is not the smartest decision. Unlike her friends, her body is not built to withstand excessive amounts of trauma. She's fragile in the most pure sense. Her bones, they break. Her skin, it tears. Her body does not fight with animal like ferocity to stay alive. What an inconvenience it is to be so utterly human.
Her phone is propped against her cheek as a voice leaks through the speaker. She's trying to pay equal attention to the road and the nervous rambling of the boy on the other end.
"I wish you would have had Stiles pick you up," Liam sighs, anxiety reeking in his tone.
"Liam, I am a big girl who can drive herself to and from places. I don't need bodyguards with me every moment. I'm not even on the dead-pool for Christs sake," she grumbles tiredly.
"I just don't want anything to happen to you..." he whispers, his voice timid.
"We've been over this, Li. You already have so many things to worry about. I don't need be one of them," she squeezes the steering wheel a little tighter. Don't do this.
"You really think your resistance changes anything? You can choose how you want to handle the situation, but you can't tell me how to feel," he snaps in frustration.
"I don't want to do this right now. Besides, talking on the phone while driving is that much more dangerous."
"You don't have to have a conversation with me. Just put your phone on the console and sing along to the radio or something. I just need to know that you're alright," his voice returns to a quiet, shy tone.
A blurry figure materializes in the distance, it's stance rigid.
"I'm a horrible singer, you know that. You're subjecting yourself to roughly 10 minutes of ear bleeding torture," a small smile plays at her lips.
"I don't think so. I love the sound of your voice," he blushes, thankful that she can't see him.
"Oh, so you're saying you love the sound of a thousand wailing cats? You're such a fu- SHIT!" she screams as her car collides with a tall object.
The momentum causes the car to go tumbling sideways, while the obstruction does not waver at the collision. The sound of heavy metal slamming against concrete echoes into the empty space, but no one is around to hear it. Now that the phone call has been disconnected, no one can hear her screams.
The car seizes its tumbling, landing on its side. Her throbbing head rests against the steering wheel. Gravity pulls her towards the passenger door, but the seat-belt keeps her suspended.
She lifts her head slowly, weary of any broken bones.The slight shifting and flexing of muscles determines that there has been no major injuries. Bruising and minor abrasions are the only wounds sustained. Thank God.
She looks around for her phone, but she can't spot it in the wreckage. Her thoughts wander to Liam, who must be having an anxiety attack at this point. She aches to soothe him of the terrible scenarios that are surely running rampant in his troubled mind.
The glass of all of the windows has been shattered. The fragments twinkle under the moonlight. She wraps a tiny hand around the frame of where the Plexiglas should be. Once she has a secure grip, she moves her other hand to unbuckle the seat-belt. Gravity tugs at her slender frame once the support has been removed.
She hoists herself up and out the window to sit on the side of the car. Her legs dangle over the edge as she struggles to regain composure. She turns her head to observe the scene. To her astoundment, there's nothing there. She slides off the car, a thud resonating as her feet strike the ground.
Shards of glass crunch under her feet as she navigates away from the wreckage. Confusion laced with untraceable fear settles in. This doesn't make sense. She felt the impact. She hit something. A low rumble registers in her ears, she turns around hesitantly.
The sight that greets her watering eyes chokes the breath from her lungs. A creature of at least 10 feet stands before her, its skulled mask giving away no emotion at all. Sharp appendages protrude from its massive frame. A berserker.
She had heard the pack mention the menacing creatures before, but up until now she has been able to evade them. She did not partake in the roadtrip to Mexico. She was not present at the hospital a few days ago. Now she's confronting the beast head on. She has no weapons, no means of protection.
The berserker tilts its head to the side. It's almost as if it were sizing her up. A small, fragile thing like herself has no dense. She doesn't stand a chance. What an inconvenience it is to be so helplessly human.
A woman steps out from behind the beast, her faced marred by supernatural enhancements. The skin of her face is a deep blue. A blue that, in any other context, would be dazzling. Her eyes glow a vibrant green while her nose has reconstructed itself to mimic the shape of a jaguar's. Kate Argent.
"It's a little late to be driving around by yourself. It's a little unsafe. Don't you think?" Kate marvels.
Kate and the berserker advance in her direction. She takes a step back.
"What do you want? I didn't do anything. I'm just a human," to her surprise, her voice comes out steady.
"Oh sweetie, you are just a human. But you're their human, and I need you to give them a message," Kate smiles wickedly.
"What's the message?" she asks tentatively.
The berserker moves quickly. Too quick for her to process or react. Suddenly a sharp pain shoots through her lower abdomen on the right side. She looks down to see one of the berserker's sharp appendages plunged into her torso. Her lips part, but no sound comes out. A silent scream.
The berserker retracts, removing the impalement. Dark blood runs out of the gaping wound like water runs out of a faucet- steady and unyielding. She falls to her knees, her handing moving to put pressure on the opening. The edges of her vision begin to blur, her body becoming too heavy for her to support. She falls to the ground with a quiet thud.
Kate approaches the fallen girl, an unemphatic grin stretching her mouth. She leans down so her lips are mere centimeters from her ear.
"You are the message."
***
Shouting and the pattering of feet disturb the peaceful night. They're tumbling out from the powder blue jeep, sprinting before their balance is regained.
Liam reaches her first, his heart slamming against his chest cavity.She lies on her side with one arm loosely clutching her lower abdomen. Dark red blood stands out lividly against her fair skin. He crouches down to be level with her body. He can hear her heart beating softly, the beats much too slow to give him any comfort. He tucks his lower lip between his teeth to keep the sobs caged in his throat.
Scott mimics Liam's stance, reaching out to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. Liam looks up at the alpha, his lip falling out from between his teeth. His lips are quivering, his shoulders trembling.
"I knew something like this was going to happen. I fucking knew it!" Liam yells, salty tears leaking from the corners of his sorrowful eyes.
"We need to get her to the hospital," Scott says softly.
Liam nods in agreement. He scoops her body up in his arms gingerly, careful not to jar her too much.
"Please, please don't leave me," he whispers softly to the unconscious girl bleeding out in his arms.
***
The sterile scent of hospital instantly fills their noses as they rush through the doors. The three boys shout for help, their voices cracking with urgency. Mrs.McCall comes to their aid immediately, placing her on a hospital bed. She works quickly, tearing away the fabric that hides the severity of her wound.
With the fabric of her shirt pulled away from her lower abdomen, the wound appears even more gruesome. The skin around the edges is raw. The center is a pool of blood. Melissa gasps, pushing the bed away from the lobby. The three boys chase after her, worry making them nauseous.
She and Melissa disappear through a set of doors that the boys are not allowed to enter. They slump against the wall, their weary heads falling into the hands.
***
Minutes that feel like hours pass. Scott can hear exactly what is being said, while Liam only catches every few words. Hemorrhaging. Too much blood loss. Too late.
Too late.
Finally, Melissa emerges from the doors. A sullen, morose expression has morphed her usual cheeriness. They already know what she's going to say before the painstaking words leave her mouth.
"I'm so sorry. There's nothing we can do to help her," her eyes water.
We were too late.
Stiles bites his lips together roughly, bringing his fist up to rest under his nose. He squeezes his eyes shut tightly, tears sliding down the side of his face. It was bad enough the first time. They can't lose someone again. Not again. They had failed to protect someone who could not protect themself.
"Scott," Liam chokes out between sobs, "Scott, please. Please do something. You can fix this."
Scott looks at his beta with sad eyes. Liam never knew Allison. In fact, he has never even heard of the brave huntress. He didn't know her kind smile, her fierce loyalty to her friends. He didn't know the pain of losing her, and Scott didn't want him to. They're all too young to have felt such grief, especially Liam. Scott wants to protect him from the irreparable, unhealable pain that accompanies loss.
"Is her heart still beating?" Scott addresses his mom.
"Yes, but not for much longer," she sighs.
"Mom, I-I have to try," he pleads.
"Okay," she nods in understanding, gesturing for the boys to follow her.
***
She looks so delicate underneath the harsh lights of the empty operating room. A mask is placed over her mouth to assist with breathing. Her chest rises and falls rhythmically from the forced inhale and exhale of oxygen. Liam and Stiles stand at her left side as Scott lifts her forearm gently. Scott studies the pale skin and blueish purple veins that twist throughout her arm. There's no guarantee that she'll survive this, but he has to try.
Scott's warm brown eyes flash to a bright red as his teeth become pointed. He bows his head to rest his lips against the inside of her arm. The sharp fangs pierce her soft flesh, blood oozing out the corners of his mouth. He retracts after a few seconds, wiping his mouth on the back of his sleeve as his features turn back to human.
"And now we wait," Stiles sighs heavily, patting Liam on the back.
Liam moves to stand by her head, hesitant to leave her even just for a few minutes. She had been involved with supernatural creatures long before he moved to Beacon Hills, but he can't help but feel responsible for her current state.
He thinks back to the previous weeks. The upperclassman had immediately taken a protective affection over the young beta. He was shocked that she would pay so much attention to him. That she would grow to care for him so much.
He tried so hard to keep his feelings for her platonic. Afterall, an upperclassman would never go for a freshman. He attempted to distance himself from her to keep his feelings under control, but she was having none of that. She confronted him not too long after he made the decision to avoid her. He made up some bullshit excuse about trying to focus on school, but she saw right through that. She demanded to know the real reason for his coldness, so he told her.
Her reaction wasn't clear or direct. She rambled. A lot. She was concerned for his well being. He needed to get his new found abilities under control above anything else. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the words that spilled nervously out of her mouth. But she never once mentioned his age, or the gap between them, so the tiniest inkling of hope kept him hanging on.
Scott's guiding hand snaps Liam out of his revere. He leads his two companions out of the room into the lobby to wait- to pray that she's strong enough to survive this.
***
Hours pass by. It feels like an eternity. They can't see it from the windowless room in which they wait, but the sun is beginning to rise. Vibrant yellows, oranges, and pinks decorate the once purple and black sky that they had last seen.
While they hate waiting, once the waiting is over, so is their grace period. Waiting allows one to still have hope in the outcome of the situation. Once that period has ended the outcome cannot be unseen, cannot be unheard. They have been able to hope that she is alive, but that may not be the case. They may have to experience the excruciating, crushing pain of loss once again, and they're not so sure they can bear it. Not again.
They peak their heads through the open door hesitantly. Her chest is still rising and falling with breath. Scott wasn't too late with the bite, but whether or not she can survive that is another debacle completely.
They move to flank her sides, holding their breath subconsciously. Scott lifts her arm to inspect the spot that he had marked her.
"Oh thank God," Scott sighs with relief. He tilts her arm to show Liam and Stiles that the bite had healed. She did it. She survived.
"We weren't too late," Liam exhales heavily, dropping into a chair beside her resting figure.
Stiles and Scott take a seat in two chairs in front of the hospital bed, anxious for her to regain consciousness.
Liam reaches for her hand, playing with her lengthy fingers. Her skin is cool on his sweltering skin. He lets his eyes travel up her body, starting with the smooth skin at the base of her throat. He wonders what her skin would look with purple splotches across the pristine skin and prominent collarbones. His heart races at the thought and Scott quirks an eyebrow as he notices the difference. Liam blushes furiously, turning his scorching cheeks away from Scott.
Liam glazes over the rest of her, moving past her lips quickly to avoid any other thoughts that could increase the speed of his already racing heart. He nearly jumps out of his skin when he notices that her eyes are open, and she's looking right at him.
"What are you doing?" she smirks slightly, her voice a little hoarse.
"He's ogling over you per usual. I wouldn't be surprised if a few unholy thoughts crossed his mind in the process," Stiles chimes in.
"Shut up," Liam growls, embarrassment further darkening the blush on his cheeks.
Stiles chuckles, holding up his hands defensively.
She reaches out her hand to brush her fingers over Liam's cheeks.
"You're cute when you blush," she notes matter-of-factly.
"W-what?" Liam's eye widen a bit, becoming flustered.
"I mean you're cute in general, but you're extra cute when you do that," she smiles.
"Like little brother cute?" Liam frowns.
"What?" her face scrunches up, "No not at all. I've never thought of you like a little brother. Hell, you look older than me. I have this theory that you're not actually 15 because sometimes you looks like a grown ass man. I mean c'mon, what 15-year-old has arms like that," she laughs lightly.
"You are young for our grade, too," Scott nods to her in encouragement.
Stiles grabs Scott by the arm to drag him out of the room, giving the two betas some privacy.
"You scared the hell out of me," Liam confesses.
"I'm so sorry. I don't want to live my life any differently, but I guess I have to. I have to be more cautious," she sighs.
"We can protect each other," he gives her a small smile, and gives her hand a reassuring squeeze.
She nods in agreement, returning the smile.
"Hey, Liam."
"Yeah?"
"C'mere."
He leans forwards so his face is right next to hers.
"Hmm?"
She places a hand behind his neck to press her lips against his. His eyes go wide with shock. Sure he had dreamt of this happening, but he never thought it would become a reality.
His eyes flutter shut as a warmth spread throughout his body. Her lips are soft against his as they move in sync. They fit together perfectly. It's like he already has her memorized.
"What changed?" he whispers against her lips.
"I almost died. That made me rethink some of my choices," she admits with a soft giggle.
"I'm glad we weren't too late," he rests his forehead against hers, kissing her nose gently.
She tilts her head up to give him another sweet kiss.
"I'm glad I wasn't too late."
