5.

The ground is damp. Every step Scott and I take is a symphony of dead leaves mixed in with a soft undertone of squelch from the wettened earth beneath our feet. Little to no talking has taken place since our talk in the car. Our hearts and souls too nervous with the unknown surrounding us.

I can feel the humid air associated with hot summer nights squeezing my breath from me. The light drizzle pelting my coat doesn't soothe my anxiety nor give me the oxygen I desperately seek. I've never been someone who is incredibly anxious in times of adversity. But, the unpredictable, narcissistic, insane Peter Hale I remember from Season 1 of Teen Wolf all those years ago is currently within my surroundings. 

This unstable individual had just murdered his niece. Despite the fact Peter Hale's entire objective is getting revenge for his murdered family. He actively engages in such treachery for a little extra power. 

Gnawing on my lip I notice a small stream up ahead, its currents moving more rapidly than normal because of the precipitation permeating its waters. As I get closer to the rapids I hear Scott suddenly say something that catches me off guard.

"Why is it so quiet?" His tone is barely above a whisper, so soft I'd almost missed it. My feet stop moving and in quick succession so do his. We are about a dozen feet away from the murky water ahead of us, its pebbles illuminated by the flashlight currently in my possession. I turn it off. The beam providing us with a perfect view of our immediate surroundings has been momentarily stowed on the right side of my coat.

After taking my hand out of my pocket I take a deep breath, hoping the jitters permeating my body don't reside in my expression or words. "We haven't traveled far enough in to hear the sirens and shouts of the police," I say after a moment of silence, my voice steady and sure. "It should be about a half mile at most before we encounter anybody else." I take a couple of steps after easing his worries, my estimate is exaggerated as I'm sure my father has already searched a good portion of the reserve in this direction. It'll only be a couple of minutes tops if we keep heading in this direction-

"I don't mean other people," Scott says, not following after me. Once again I stop, my brows furrowed and my expression no doubt drawn in confusion. Grabbing my flashlight and flicking her on, I take aim near Scott. Not up high enough to blind him, only as high as necessary to fully encompass his being.

"I mean the sounds of wildlife, of nature and, you know, frogs and stuff." I pause for a second, recognizing the fact that I haven't taken a moment to consider this fact. It is unusually quiet for how loud I'd expect tonight to be. The rain, the leaves, the branches, the wildlife. Tonight should be roaring with the sounds of nature, however, the wildlife is abnormally silent. Turning the expected ever-noisy sounds of the night into simple background noise, easily capable of being tuned out.

Of course, this is a result of Peter's transformation more than likely disturbing the natural peace established in the area. I forgot about this factor, but no matter, I don't believe this problem will cause any immediate issues.

"I don't notice anything different. I'm sure it's just the nerves getting to you Scotty," I say with a smirk and turn back around. His following footsteps are hurried, quickly allowing him to catch back up to me. "I'm not nervous" He stammers out. His attempt to deceive me is laughable, especially with the crack his voice carries mid-sentence. But I let him have this one, not saying a quick rebuttal or comeback to tease him on it. Mainly because he's my boy, but also because I'm probably just as nervous as he is.

Possibly even more so.

~~~~~~~~~

"I hear them," I say, the faint voices of the local police department coloring my ears. In front of us is a hill, steep with roots and slackened with the mud caking the earth. I take a moment to contemplate, debating if I should continue in the direction I know my father will be or if I should lead us in another direction in the hopes of not being detected.

I turn off my light a moment later, my mind made up. Tonight's moon is radiant, its soft rays of light cascade gently into my pitch-black surroundings. I turn toward Scott and say "We should change direction." He nods in agreement, silently giving me the choice of where we should head. 

I take steps to the right, not going over the hill in front of us but instead along the side of it. Using the limited visibility provided to me I cautiously step over various vines and roots littering my path and make my way through the scattered valley of trees. 

The rain begins to pick up, battering my jacket slightly faster and with more force than before. I pull on my hood in the hopes it encapsulates more of my hair, the dense black locks already blanketing my forehead from my half-hazard job minutes earlier. As I sweep my hair back into my hood I hear Scott a few meters behind me wheezing out, "Wait a minute."

Sliding to a stop I face his frame leaning against a nearby tree stump. The once magnificent centuries-old log is now broken and battered from years of erosion. I close the distance between us, stuffing my hands in my pockets as I do so. "Why don't you have the. . .the flashlight on?" Scott asks, his question interrupted by his usage of an inhaler. 

"It's so the cops won't spot us as easily. Instead of them seeing two randoms in dark clothing with a bright ass light shining every which way, they'll see nothing. They are probably only peering where their lights are shining, which is more than likely at the ground in front of them since the low visibility provided by the rain is drastically reducing their sight to only what's at their feet."

He's facing the ground, one hand on his knees and the other in his pocket, toying with his recently used inhaler. The only reason I know he heard what I just said is from the slow nod he gives me. 

After a long moment he looks up at me and says jokingly, "You know, I've noticed you have an awful lot of foresight for these types of circumstances." A smile flits across his face as he says this, basking in the adrenaline that comes with actively evading the police.

I mirror his expression and evade his suspicions by saying, "We better keep moving, that body isn't going to find itself." Laughter breaks out of us, permeating our vicinity and turning the once tense atmosphere into something more comfortable. Allowing us to momentarily forget about the fact there are unknown horrors lurking all around us.

Smiling I turn back around, facing away from Scott and taking leadership of the voyage we embarked on. The ground is now entirely moist, my boots slightly sinking into the material and creating small puddles that quickly get filled to the brim. As we traverse the area my vision dims even more than before, almost as if someone completely shut the lights off in the area.

The moon stopped providing light and now only darkness surrounds us. Spinning I make sure to grab Scott with one hand and with the other I fumble for my flashlight. I don't think I'll ever be able to turn it on as fast as I did at that moment.

As a pure beam of light projects into the wilderness around me I freeze.

Right at my feet, only a couple yards off to the side of us is a face.

An expression of horror paints her once beautiful features.

I can't explain what I'm feeling right now. The previously joyous atmosphere once again transforms into something darker, something much more disturbing.

Bits of disgust, fear, anger, and sorrow dance throughout my being, forming an amalgamation of emotions I can't put into words. 

Scott notices my abnormal behavior and turns to see what I'm looking at. I'm assuming his reaction is the same as my own. Or at least similar enough that we could interchange our reactions and come to the same result.

We need to leave.

Whatever monster did this to her is still out here. Peter is still out here.

"Let's go," I say, choking at the end of my brief sentence as bile rises within the back of my throat. I hastily turn away with Scott in hand, eventually draping my arm over his shoulder to keep him close and provide comfort to one another in this disturbing time.

"What th-the-the hell did that?!" He says, in terror. I can feel his legs start to lock, his steps beginning to stagger. 

"Breathe Scotty, breathe. Use your inhaler." I command, praying that he does not have a panic attack right now. He fumbles inside his jacket pocket for his inhaler, eventually dragging it out, and just as he is going to use it thunder streaks overhead.

The sudden explosion of noise that assaults us forces Scott to drop his inhaler, which we quickly lose down a slippery hill. I contemplate chasing after it, but we can always come back for the inhaler tomorrow, or if we need to, I can buy him a new one.

"Oh, Shit! Let me go get it!" Scott yells, the sound of the rain being so overbearing that his voice barely breaks through the noise.

"Wait, stop-" Before I can even finish my sentence he gets out of my grip and begins trekking down the hill. My flashlight illumination isn't great anymore and I can hardly follow his figure despite the fact he is so close to me. 

It's pissing rain right now, the once hot summer night that was present only a few minutes ago seems like a long-forgotten dream now. I'm cold, with the water's weight making my movements lethargic and slow. And as I'm trying to get Scott back to my side I end up slipping down the hill, slamming into a tree trunk on my way down, and dragging Scott with me all the way to the bottom.

The pain is agonizing, spreading across my back and head in a spider web-like fashion. Dazed, I feel Scott begin to move underneath me. Sitting up and moving off of him, I take a moment to cradle my head, hopefully easing the headache I've now acquired. 

Time passes in a blur, I don't know how long I stayed like that, but I don't believe it was very long before Scott pulled me to my feet asking me "Are you okay!"

"I'm good!" I yell, hoping it reaches his ears. Opening my eyes back up I try to look around but I don't see much. Scott is right in front of me but the only reason I know that is because we're holding onto each other. "I lost my flashlight!" I tell him, defeated.

He breathes heavily, wincing in pain with every breath, trying to find a way out of this situation. I have a sudden epiphany, my phone is on me. The light won't work well, but it's something. "Use your phone!" I tell him, my voice hoarse. He laughs a little before wincing once more.

We promptly pull out our phones and begin walking in a random direction away from the hill. The inhaler is long forgotten.

We hold on tight to one another, afraid that if we let go one more time, we might lose each other in this brutal storm.

After about a minute of walking, I need to take a break, the pain in my back and head becoming too strong to bear. I direct Scott over to a stump we came across and lay over it. "We need to leave!" Scott yells to me, but his voice sounds murky like he's underwater or something akin to it.

"Just one minute" I slur out, sleepy. All I need is one minute of rest and then we can continue back home. My phone slides out of my grip and onto the sludge we once called the earth.

"Stiles! We have to -" His scream and sudden movement off me brings me back to life. Wiping my face to try and remove the water currently drowning me I reach around for my downed phone. Sliding off the trunk and getting ahold of it I scan for him and it only takes me a second to find out what happened to him.

Peter has arrived.

A huge beast is currently crouched over my friend, biting into his leg with a ferocity I've never seen in anyone ever.

I am terrified.

No training I could have done, no simulations, no calculations. Nothing I have done would have ever been enough for me to push past my fear in that moment.

Except for love.

That's my brother, my best friend.

I can't let him die like this!

Mustering all the might I can, I charge towards this monster screaming to the heavens while doing so.

"Get off him!"

Peter barely moved, my limping rush probably amused him more than anything, and as he turned to me and Scott screamed my name the world flipped.

Pain. Scorching hot, unlike anything I've ever experienced before emanates from my right shoulder. Peter is biting me, his claws holding my arms in place as everything hurts.

My back against the branches, my head against the mud, my arms being pierced by his claws, and my right shoulder currently being ridden with tooth marks in hopes that I take to the bite.

I fight back, at least I attempt to, but it's apparently unneeded as Peter gets off me a moment later and flees the area. 

I scramble to my feet, slipping a couple of times and eventually colliding into Scott at the end of it.

"What the Fuck was that thing! It bit me! It bit us!" Scott is scared shitless, his sentences a ramble. We never stop running, our phones are secured tightly in our grips but we never use them to check our surroundings. We just run. 

Eventually, we arrive on the road, the only reason I can immediately tell it's one is because of the change in material. My feet aren't sinking into the concrete like they were with the mud. 

Taking as large of breaths as I can, I lean on Scott, half because the pain I'm in right now is unlike anything I've ever experienced before, but also because I know he is going through something similar and I want to comfort him.

"We need to keep moving," I whisper to him as loudly as I can. The rain is still pounding us, but I just can't find the strength to yell anymore.

Scott doesn't say anything, simply nodding his head and beginning to move. The sound of a car horn makes us both jump, as we quickly try to move to one side of the road. We don't move fast enough in the end, because the car is forced to swerve into the other lane in order to not hit us.

Tonight is just full of surprises.

After taking a second to recover from the shock we keep on receiving, we begin hobbling down the road and hear an ominous howling in the distance, a wolf howl.

Peter, I hate you for doing this to me.

But. . .thank you for this gift.

(Sorry for the year-long Hiatus, but I'm getting back into writing. I'm finding my passion for it again. Unedited).