The Absence of Truth | S. Stilinski

XII. | afloat

XII. | afloat

                    ERICA WAS THE first to lunge, letting a growl rip through her throat - one that bounced off the tiled walls. The monster maneuvered quickly toward the young wolf, barely touching her with a clawed hand before throwing her against a nearby wall with inhuman strength, rendering her useless to the fight. My eyes were locked onto her body, and I didn't look away from her slumped form on the floor until I saw her chest heave, letting me know that she was at least still breathing. I could tell Derek was annoyed that she hadn't waited for him to attack, because he turned around and shoved Stiles in the chest, yelling at us to move, red eyes glowing with ferocity. My eyes were locked on the monster, and before Derek could turn around and begin to fight, it lashed out with one clawed hand, scraping the back of his neck. He reeled around, no longer in wolf form. He stumbled and began to lose his balance. For a second, I was pleased to see that I was no longer the weak one - he was.

"Derek, your neck." Stiles was the first one to speak. As Derek began to lose control of his legs due to the venom running through his system, Stiles grabbed him from under the shoulders.

I watched as the monster slinked back into the shadows of the pool room, then rushed forward to help Stiles keep Derek on his feet. I threw his left arm over my shoulder and followed in Stiles's footsteps, nearly jogging to the nearest exit. Derek was heavy, but without his help, he was heavier. I struggled to stay on my feet as we turned a corner around the diving pool. Derek and Stiles were bickering, but I was too focused on living to fight.

"Call Scott!" Derek said roughly, causing Stiles to reach into his pocket for his phone.

As we turned the corner around the diving pool, Stiles lost his grip on the device, watching as it fell to the ground at his feet. I know he wasn't thinking when he let go of Derek to retrieve it, but I was still caught in the crossfire as Derek's heavy body began to fall into the pool, dragging myself with it.

"Stiles!" We called out in unison right before we hit the water.

Then, we were under. I was caught beneath Derek, and squirmed to try and get loose. My eyes were open under the water but his remained closed. He was no help in trying to get us untangled, as he had no control over himself. The panic in my system didn't last long before I felt the weight of his body lift from my own. In the blurriness of chlorinated water, I could see the bright red of Stiles's track suit headed to the surface with Derek towed behind. Without the anchor of Derek, I was able to swim to the surface, breathing heavily once I reached it.

Stiles was struggling to hold Derek, so I swam over and threw one of his arms over my shoulder to help. We treaded water, rapidly looking around the pool edge for the monster.

"Do you see it?" I asked aloud, my voice echoing through the room.

"No," Derek responded, remaining limp on my shoulders.

"Maybe it ran off," Stiles said, spitting water out of his mouth.

A threatening hiss filled the space, letting us know that we weren't out of danger yet.

-

Under the water, my legs pumped to keep us afloat. My clothes were heavy and I fought with them under the surface of the pool. Next to me, Derek and Stiles spoke to each other. I ignored them, instead focusing on taking off my sneakers under the water. Once they were removed, discarded at the bottom of the pool, I shrugged my jacket off of my shoulders, immediately feeling relief when it was gone.

In my ear, Derek yelled at Stiles about being paralyzed from the neck down. I rolled my eyes and instead of yelling at them both, scanned the side of the pool. "Hey, boys," I said, already inching to get to the edge of the pool where I could see Stiles's phone as it sat dry on the tile, "I don't see it anymore."