Consumed By Pressure (Thiam TW)

Chapter 32: Running into the Darkness

Liam woke up feeling Theo still around him; he looked at his phone, midnight. It was going to be a long night. He looked at his situation, trying to escape Theo's grasp. He twisted, and Theo moved but he didn't wake up. Liam slid out of his arms, throwing on a hoodie and his running shoes. Liam sighed, now trying to sneak past two werewolves, a werecoyote, a chameleon, Nolan, and Mason that was going to be even harder. Liam was at least light on his feet from lacrosse; he snuck down the stairs and noticed Brett and Nolan fell asleep on the couch. "Great," he muttered, trying to get to the door. He managed to somehow get out before either of them woke up.

Brett heard the door close and woke up, throwing Nolan almost to the floor.

"What?" Nolan looked at him panicking.

"Nothing, I thought I heard something," Brett assured him, "let's go to bed." He figured it was just someone upstairs.

Liam walked out into the darkness; it felt good feeling the cold air on his skin. He was freezing of course, but he always was. He walked off towards the woods trying to clear his head; everything was fuzzy. He was ignoring the black dots in his vision but jogged on. He knew his body didn't have the energy for this, but he needed to keep going.

Theo woke up two hours later, realizing the bed was empty. "Liam?" Theo called out. He looked in the restroom and went downstairs. His boyfriend was nowhere in sight; he tried his phone and heard it ringing upstairs where he left it.

"Damn it, Liam. Where are you?" Theo said to himself. He thought about waking someone else up to go with him, but he figured he would be able to find him himself. He quickly exited the house silently.

Liam was walking for an hour when he realized he should turn around. He was exhausted; his body could barely support his own lightweight, but he had no choice now but to keep going. He felt his vision go black and didn't remember hitting the ground.

Theo found Liam's track easily; he knew Liam's scent and footprints in and out. He jumped in his truck following the path for about a mile, when he found him collapsed on the side of the road.

"Liam!" Theo ran to his side, trying to shake him awake. He felt his heartbeat, slow and faint. "Come on, Liam wake up'!" Theo growled at him.

Liam's eyes opened at the sound of Theo's voice, "Theo," he managed to speak out.

"Grab on to me, Liam."

"I can't hold myself up," Liam tried looking at him. Theo swung Liam's light body in his arms and put him into the truck.

Theo was silent; he was mad at Liam for going out alone, but he was too concerned to yell at him right now. What had driven Liam to go run alone in his state? All he cared about right now was that Liam was okay.

"Are you hurt?" Theo looked over at him, leaning against the window.

Liam shook his head barely conscious, "I'm sorry."

"Liam I should be furious with you, but right now all I care about is making sure you are okay. How long were you out do you think?"

"What time is it?"

"3:30," Theo looked at him.

"An hour," Liam muttered.

Theo turned up the heat on his truck, looking at Liam shaking.

"I thought I was going to find you dead," Theo looked at him when they pulled in.

Liam was fighting back tears.

"Liam, it's fine. You're with me; I have you. Just promise me, never again."

Liam nodded collapsing into Theo's arms. Theo silently walked upstairs carrying Liam going back to bed. Theo held him tighter than he ever had before.