Chapter 07 - Riding in Jeeps with Boys
It was pitch dark out and theoretically she shouldn't be able to see anything, but as Carrie ran, the wind whipping around her, she could see everything - even better than usual too. It was as if she was seeing things through heightened eyesight. But Carrie didn't have any heightened sense at all. Yet that was quickly forgotten when she jumped over a cement barrier and landed in a crouch. She felt the ground absorb her landing, staying firm as she thumped down hard. Her head snapping up and she scanned the darkness for her prey. In a heartbeat she was running again, pushing herself to the max, and when she jumped, she grabbed onto the ledge of the roof at precisely the right moment. After scaling the side of the building, Carrie was on the roof, chest rising as falling with each heavy intake of air.
Then a large, black figure caught her attention. There he was, The Alpha. Wait, how did I know that, Carrie thought. The Alpha was slinking along the roof tops, and she follow, racing along the roof line. With her right foot she pushed off and leapt across the gap between the two buildings. As She moved through the air, getting ready to roll with the impact, but just then she felt something hit her left arm with a horrible sting that started to burn almost instantaneously. The force was so strong, that it projected her backwards - her arms cartwheeling around her. There was nothing for her to grab onto and when Carrie realized this, she was instantly afraid of death. "I don't want to die," she whispered, feeling tears roll down her cheek.
Just before she hit the ground, Carrie snapped her eyes shut. She waited for the impact, bracing herself the inevitable death that would come from hitting the ground, but it never came. When she realized this, She slowly cracked open an eye, scanning her surroundings. Carrie was baffled to say the least. How could she be standing firmly on the ground when she had just been falling from the top of the building. She glanced upwards but noticed that she was surrounded by some very different brick buildings. Had she teleported? She looked down at herself to see if there was any injuries, but only noticed her lack of clothing. "And that's even better. Here I am standing in nothing but a pair of booty-shorts and a tight Mickey Mouse t-shirt," she threw up her hands, "And no damn socks!"
She walked forward, after noticing someone standing a short distance in front of her, and she called out, "Scott?" She tapped his shoulder but he didn't move or give a response. She tapped again but a little harder, still no response. Carrie stepped around and waved her hands back and forth in front of his face, no response. She let out an audible sigh and threw her hands up again, "Great!"
She looked around. They seemed to be in down an alleyway in some sort of industrial area. She had never been here before, at least she didn't think she had. For that matter, Carrie wasn't even sure if she was in Beacon Hills still, maybe she was many towns away and her mom had a search party looking for her. She turned back to Scott, desperate to get some reaction out of him. "Earth to Scott. Hello! Do you hear me?" Once again, nothing; dead silence.
She noticed that Scott was looking behind her, staring intensely at something. "What are you looking at," she asked and glanced over her shoulder. She followed his gaze, scanning the area for anything out of the ordinary. She caught sight of a pair standing in front of a large black SUV. Carrie immediately recognised Allison's father, but she didn't recognise the blonde hair woman at his side. And what scared Carrie the most was that both of them were hold large guns. Why would they be out here with those kinds of guns? Somehow, even though she was standing far away, she could see and hear them perfectly fine - crystal clear. Carrie focused on their conversation, and it was as if they were standing right beside Chris Argent and the mysterious blonde. "The Alpha?" Chris Argent asked the blonde in a quizzing tone.
She rolled her head, "I don't know, but one of them-"
"One of them is gonna lead us to the other. He can't do that if he's dead."
"Well, I can't help kill either of them if one of them kills me first."
Chris looked around for a moment, thinking about what the blonde had just said. He turned back to her and asked,"How long will it take?"
"Give him 48 hours," She answered, then shrugged, her response sounding dangerously confident, "If that."
As she watched the two exchange words, Carries stomach dropped. They were hunting Scott and Derek. She had to do something, she at least had to protect Scott, but how? She turned, grabbed Scott's grey hoodie and shook him. "Scott, listening to me. You have to go to Derek and stay safe. Hide as best as you can. Don't go see Allison, her father and this crazy blonde will hurt you. You can't die on me!"
Carrie shot up in bed, clenching the front of her shirt. Her forehead was drenched with sweat, her breathing labored, and her throat was raw from screaming. Lacey threw open the door to Carrie's room, "Carrie, are you alright?"
Lacey came and sat on the edge of the bed, putting a comforting hand on Carrie's back. Tears formed at the corners of Carrie's eyes, stinking as the pooled. Carrie shook her head, trying to get the voices out, and she wrapped her arms around Lacey's neck, cleaning on to her for support. "I... I dreamed that someone was after my friend," she cried out, "and that they couldn't hear me, couldn't hear my warning. I couldn't warn him… I can't save him..."
Lacey shushed while one hand rubbed Carrie's back and the other patted down her hair. "It's going to be okay, Carrie. I'll help you."
"But they're changing, mom. These visions are getting worse, they're more intense," she squeaked out.
Lacey placed her hands on either side of Carrie's face, gently lifting it so that Carrie was looking up at her. "I'll help you Carrie. Don't worry. I'm here for you." That's all I ever wanted, she thought to herself.
Carrie nodded, her lower lip still quivering. Carrie wasn't just reacting to the threat that Chris Argent and this blonde imposed, but also the idea of losing someone else. She it had only been a month to the date since her dad passed, and it was still a sore subject for Carrie. She never wanted anyone to die before her ever again. She'd rather die young, then die old and watch her loved ones pass away. It was selfish but she wasn't sure if she would be strong enough to handle losing anyone else. And Carrie knew that she had something's that still needed to discuss with Lacey, about why she left her when she was a baby, but maybe this was a chance for them to move forward. Lacey shifted so that she could lie beside Carrie, and she pulled her daught towards her, and Carrie responded by curling into her mom. Once again, in the protection of Lacey's arms, sleep eventually found Carrie.
The following morning, Carrie rolled over as she started to wake, but instantly she started flailing. With a loud thump, Carrie ended up of on the floor, staring up at the ceiling with her limbs spread out on the floor like a star fish. She ran her hand down her face. This was not her prefered way of waking up or starting her morning. Carrie pushed herself up, rested on her elbows, and looked around. She thought back to what had happened last night: both parts of the dream, and Lacey coming in to comfort her. Carrie let out a huff of frustration, and pushed her hand through her hair. She stood up and padded into the bathroom.
Before closing the bathroom door with her foot, Carrie looked over her shoulder to see if Lacey was still in her bed. The bed was vacant. Turning away from her empty bedroom, Carrie shut the door and started her morning routine. She fixed her hair, brushed her teeth, and did her minimal make up. Once she was satisfied with how she looked, Carrie opened the bathroom door and stepped out.
"Morning."
Lacey's voice startled Carrie, and she placed a dramatic hand over her heart, "Don't sneak up on people like that."
She was sitting on the edge of Carrie's bed, and Carrie wondered how long she had been wait, since she wasn't in the room before Carrie shut the door. Lacey flash a small smile, "Sorry dear." Carrie pulled her lips in and looked down, before walking over to the closet and searching for something to wear. Lacey cleared her throat, "Are we going to talk about last night."
Carrie stopped shuffling her clothing, her hands still holding onto a dress, and took a deep breath. She chewed on the side of her cheek, then turned around to face her mom. "When?" she asked, her voice weak.
"I have to go into the hospital this afternoon; but tonight when I get home. Okay?"
Carrie nodded, "That's fine." She turned back to hercloset, and started rifling through her clothing, waiting for Lacey to leave. Without another word, Lacey stood up from the bed and went to the open door. "Thank you Carrie," She thanked quietly, then shut the door. Carrie peaked out from the closet and frowned, chewing on her bottom lip.
She shook her head, pushing any thoughts of this impending conversation out of her head, and went back to finding an outfit for the day. She grabbed a pair of black leggings, a grey tank top, and a blue oversized t-shirt. She threw a blue wire-filled bandana into her wild hair, so that she could try and tame it. After dressing, she slipped on her black, wedged sneakers, and grabbed a light wash jean jacket from the chair beside her bed, and her backpack. As she walked out the door, she grabbed her keys from the top of the dresser, and left.
The radio remained off as Carrie drove to school, she wanted to actually hear her thoughts as on the drive to school. She chewed on the inside of her cheek, and lightly tapped the steering wheel with her pointer fingers as the thoughts started to flow. "So, first part I was someone else but I was in their head," she said out loud to herself, "but was it the past, the present, or the future? Second part was me, in my own body. Which is strange because I've never been physically in the dream, or vision, if it wasn't about me. But I was there literally there, I think, but Scott couldn't see me."
Carrie let out a large groan, "Great now I'm the crazy lady who talks to herself..."
She pulled into the school parking lot, killed the engine, and headed inside. First she stopped at her locker, grabbing the class textbook and greeted Allison and Lydia good morning, then race to class, eager to see Scott. She stepped into the bustling classroom searched for him. The images of last nights vision were still stuck in her head, and she needed to see Scott that he was was okay to put her mind at ease. She spotted him and Stiles sitting together, along with a free seat beside Stiles. She wasn't going to be apart from them today, so she ran to the desk and claimed it, barely beating another girl. Carrie gave the girl a winning smile, then turned to the boys. Carrie debated if she was going to mention her vision to Scott, since she still wasn't sure when it would happen, or if it already had.
Scott and Stiles turned to Carrie, each saying hey, while Stiles gave her an extra head nod, and she waved back at them. Stiles leaned forward, "If Derek isn't the Alpha, if he's not the one who bit you, then who did?"
Scott shrugged, "I don't know."
"Did the Alpha kill the bus driver?"
Scott shrugged again, "I don't know."
Carrie half-heartedly listened to Stiles question Scott some more, and she watched the teacher hand back the classes tests. Carrie accepted hers and muttered a thank you. She flipped it over and saw the bright red 'A' at the top right corner of the paper. She let out a hushed 'yes' and turned to Stiles. Carrie showed him her paper and he did the same. "Grade twinsies," she whispered.
Stiles shook his head and chuckled, "You're such a dork." Then he leaned forward and peered over Scott's shoulder to check his grad out. Carrie did the same. Scotts paper had a large, circled 'D' on it, and the intimidating red marker didn't help at all. "Dude, you need to study more." Scott slammed his paper down onto the desk. "It's a joke,Scott. It's one test. You're gonna make it up. Hey, do you want to study together."
Carrie nodded, "We could form a study group. Muffins and all. I make some mean blueberry muffins!" She glanced over at Stiles who was shaking his head and glaring at her. She shot him a big smile as a response.
Scott shook his head, "Can't. I'm studying with Allison after school today."
A huge grin appear on Stiles' face. "That's my boy," he cheered, patting Scott on the shoulder, and Carrie just shook her head.
Scott turned around and sighed. "We're just studying."
"Uh, no, you're not."
Scott cocked an eyebrow and looked at Carrie. She shrugged. "I'm not?" he asked.
"Not if I'm forced to live vicariously through you," Stiles said matter-of-factly.
Carrie rolled her eyes and groaned, "You're such a guy."
Stiles turned his attention to Carrie and crossed his arms. "Oh really? Do you have a problem with that?" he taunted.
"Why yes. Stop complaining about having no experience and do something about it. Stop pining over a girl who barely looks at you. It's getting you nowhere," she snapped, and crossed her arms. Carrie sat back, feeling slightly satisfied that she told Stiles' of. Just because you hoped and fantasized that something would happen, doesn't mean that it would actually happen, and Stiles needed to hear that. Lydia, at least the Lydia she was now, was never going to give Stiles' the time of day, it would take a great character shift for her to bat her eyelashes at someone like Stiles. Carrie wasn't sure why she felt like arguing about this with Stiles, really, she didn't care what he did, but she considered him a friend, and even though she hadn't known him long, she didn't want to see him get hurt.
"Oh, and you have all this experience?" he sassed back. Where was this coming from, Stiles thought, when did Carrie start to care about who I liked?
Carrie shrugged, cocked her head and eyes slowly closing and then opening, "That's really none of your business. We're not dating so you're not entitled to that information. But, still, you gotta move on man. It's getting old."
Stiles scrunched his nose and silently mocked Carrie. She huffed and turned back to her test, trying to distract herself from Stiles by looking over the answers. "We're just studying, really." Scott said and turned to face forward.
"If you go to her house today and squander that colossal opportunity, I swear to God I'll have you de-balled."
"Okay. Just stop with the questions, man," Scott said angrily.
Stiles nodded. "Done. No more questions. No more talk about the Alpha or Derek, especially Derek, who still scares me."
Carrie rolled her eyes and turned to face Stiles, "Well I don't see why you two are so scared of him. He doesn't seem all that scary. A little mean and totally needs to go to a 'how to interact nicely with people' class, but he isn't terrifying." Initially Carrie was a bit frightened, but after her encounter with Derek two days ago, she just thought that he was a bit of a bully.
Stiles snorted, "He's scary as hell. You're probably just blinded by his stupid good looks. He's got that whole tall dark and handsome thing going on. It pisses me off."
Carrie stifled a laugh and stuck out her tongue in a mocking way, "You're just jealous."
"I so am not," Stiles whispered to himself. Carrie shook her head and laughed quietly, and turned her attention to the teacher as he started to speak.
The day rushed by, all classes blending together as Carrie's thoughts constantly returned to her vision from last night. At lunch she was uncharacteristically quiet, and a few times Scott and Stiles had to yell her name before she realized that they were talking. They could tell that something had happened and that Carrie wasn't sharing. She denied their inquiries as to what was wrong, just saying that she had a bad sleep; which was partially true, it was a half truth. The fact that Scott and Stiles could tell that something was wrong with her, made Carrie happy. It meant that they were growing closer and they were becoming good friends. Though the tiny blip of happiness was not enough to was overcome the left over feeling from her vision, and it dampened her day.
At the end of the day, Carrie was walking from her last class with Lydia and Allison and they were heading towards their lockers. Carrie pretended to follow along with their conversation, giving a few nods and smiles at various times, but never really contributing or saying anything. "Just studying never ends with just studying. Aren't I right Carrie?" Lydia asked.
"Huh, oh yeah. I guess." Carrie gave another smile.
"You okay?" Allison asked, "You seem... weird and kind of distant today."
Carrie nodded and tried to give a genuine smile, "I'm okay. Hey, I'll talk to you two tomorrow. I have to go meet my mom."
Lydia tilted her head, "Oh, are you two getting along now?"
She stopped just before the stairs, "Something like that. Enjoy your study session with Scott. You'll have to tell me all about it tomorrow."
Carrie waved goodbye and quickly scurried up the stairs, leaving Lydia and Allison behind to discuss how Allison's study session with Scott wasn't really a study session. Apparently Stiles wasn't the only one thinking along those lines. Carrie walked down the hall and jumped as the bell rang. Dismissing the unusual second dismissal bell, Carrie walked past a row of lockers, but something caught her attention. She stopped for a moment, tilted her head, and walked backwards. She wrinkled her brows and turned to the left, "Derek?"
Huddled in the space between the wall and the end of a locker row was Derek, gripping at the side of his head. Carrie took a few steps forward and placed a hand on his arm. "Hey, Derek. Are you okay? Hey, come on Derek, what's wrong?"
Derek snarled in response and his hand shot out, fingers wrapping around Carrie's neck and claws digging in. Her feet left the ground as Derek raised his hand, and her textbooks and binder dropped to the floor when Carrie's hands shot up to grab at Derek's wrists. She let out a few coughs and tried to form words, but Derek's hold started to tighten. "Derek... Derek... Please..."
Derek snarled again but didn't let go. Carrie tried to looked down, starting to panic when she noticed sparks appearing in her line of sight, indicating that her lungs were crying for air. Derek had now lifted her high off the ground, and she was high enough that her foot might just reach... With the last strength that she had, she pulled her foot back and swung it forward, connecting it with his groin. Instantly Derek let go and Carrie dropped to the floor, gasping for air. Her head hit the ground and the sparks came back, but for different reasons. She rolled over onto her back, groaning and trying to get her lungs working again, and her limbs sprawled out and went limp.
"Carrie?" Derek choked out, shaking his head, "W-what happened?"
"You. Tell. Me." she said between big inhales of air, "You were the one. Who was... Choking. Me."
Derek quickly composed himself, his usual scowl returning to his face, and he got to his feet. "I need to find Scott. Do you know where he is?" he asked, looking down at Carrie.
Carrie rolled onto her side once her breathing returned to normal, and glared up at him, "First, you could help a girl up." Derek held out his hand and Carrie grabbed it, pulling Herself up. Something caught her attention, she felt the weird warmth run up her arm as she did with Scott when they were at the bus trying to get Scott's memories back. Was this just a werewolf thing, she wondered, because she didn't get the sensation when she held Stiles' hand. She pushed that aside and returned to her rant, "Second, I don't know where Scott is, but I suspect that he's outside, if he hasn't already left for Allison's. Why?"
Derek stepped towards Carrie, towering over her, "Help me find him and I'll answer some of your questions about clairvoyants."
Carrie was weary of helping him, and she squinted at him, judging what he was offering. After a few seconds of just staring at him, she nodded, "Alright, this way." She stepped out of his shadow and walked down the hallway. When she didn't hear Derek coming behind her, she turned back around. Derek was back on the ground, face first. She sighed and walked back to him, "You're really in no shape to be wandering around by yourself. It's a good thing that I came along, even though you almost killed me. So after this I expect a proper thank you."
She kneeled next to Derek's left side, and helped him wrap an arm around her shoulder. This time, she noticed that Derek had gone really pale, "Okay, come on, get up," she helped to hoist Derek up and onto his feet, "Hey, you sure you're okay? You're kinda pale, like pale as in you don't go out into the sun. Ever."
Derek grimaced and nodded, "Yeah, just as long as we get to Scott. Come to the other side and help. I can't use my left arm for anything." Carrie nodded and shifted to the other side. She grabbed his hand, fingers linking, and brought his arm to rest across her shoulders, and she wrapped her hand around his waist. For a moment Carrie was distracted by the warmth pumping from their interlocked fingers. It had to be her powers, or something, reacting to the werewolf part of Derek and Scott. Stiles was human so of course it wouldn't go off. She shifted under Derek's arm and braced herself under his weight. "If you collapse again, I'm going down with you. And if that happens, I won't able to drag you to Scott."
"If I collapse it will be because I'm dead." Derek coughed out, a tiny splatter of dark good coming out from his mouth and onto his hand.
Carrie's nose crinkled in disgust. "Alright there mister optimistic, let's go find Scott."
The unlikely pair shuffled out the school doors at a speed that was as slow as a turtle. Carrie was starting to sweat under Derek's weight as she started to practically drag him. "At this rate it will be tomorrow morning, Scott will be back at school and he'll come to us."
"Shut up and just keep going," Derek barked.
"Sheesh. That's all a girl get's for helping a GUY that previously insulted her, saying she smelt, and I quote 'You smell different. You're not a normal human, there's something about you that's different.' You're a piece of work Derek Hale..."
"Hey," Derek planted his feet and looked down at Carrie, "I tried to explain, you just don't want to listen to me."
She rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Of course not. It's a little offensive to hear that you stink."
Derek inhaled deeply, and Carrie swore she could see a vein twitch. "Like I said, I didn't mean it like that. Everyone has a smell, and usually supernatural people have a different smell than humans. And I've only ever smelt something like you once before, a long time ago."
Carrie nodded her head and rolled her eyes again, "Yeah, yeah, okay. I get it. Now let's hurry because you're a heavy dude." Derek grumbled as they slowly moved along. With each step he felt heavier and heavier, and then suddenly the literal weight was gone from Carrie's shoulders. She looked around, searching for the injured man. "He couldn't get too far... could he?" she said and spun around in a frantic panic. The honk of a horn caught her attention and Carrie turned to the parking lot.
Stiles jeep was stopped in the middle of the aisle, and standing in front of the jeep was Derek. Carrie gasped when he dropped to the ground once again, and she took off, running across the lawn. She skidded to a stop and crouched down beside him. "Derek, I was taking you to Scott!" Carrie said harshly, "You should have waited."
Carrie helped to prop Derek up, and Stiles climbed out of his Jeep and walked towards the two. Carrie looked up and Scott was crouching at their side. "What are you doing here?" Scott asked frantically, and he looked between Derek and Carrie. Stiles stood frowning behind Scott.
"I was shot." Derek answered, his voice hoarse.
Carrie frowned. "I found him huddled in a corner."
"He doesn't look good dude," Stiles stated.
"No shit Sherlock," Carrie snot back.
Scott looked Derek over, "Why aren't you healing?"
Derek coughed. "I can't. It was-it was a different kind of bullet." Scott looked at Carrie and she shrugged.
"A silver bullet?" Stiles asked.
Derek sighed, "No, you idiot."
"Wait, wait. That's what she meant when she said you had 48 hours." Carrie's heart stopped. What she had seen was recent, it had to have happened last night as she was watching. So Mr. Argent and the lady were really after Scott and Derek, and they were going to come after them. Carrie chewed on the side of her cheek, unsure if she should speak up about this.
"What? Who-who said 48 hours?" Derek questioned and he tried to push himself up.
"The one who shot you," answered Scott.
"Scott, you have to be careful. They're after you, or rather the Alpha. They think you two will lead them to it," Carrie said suddenly, not realizing what she was saying.
"How do you know this?" Stiles asked.
I looked up at him, and pursed her lips. Then she answered, "I just had a little vision, nothing important"
Scott raised an eyebrow, "Nothing important?"
"Okay, well… Ugh! I'll explain it later. I just know that they're searching for you guys. You have to be careful. Mr. Argent and a lady are after you, I don't know who she is but she's dangerous. She seemed like she was out for a kill."
Scott nodded and turned to Derek, "What are you doing?" Stiles and Carrie looked at Derek, his eyes glowing blue. "Stop that!" Scott snapped.
Derek shifted in Carries arms, "I'm trying to tell you, I can't!"
Things weren't looking good for Derek and them just sitting there wasn't going to help him. Carrie was the first to become aware of the horns blaring from behind Stiles' jeep, and the crowd slowly forming around them. Carrie scanned crowd, students were creeping toward us toward the group of four, trying to see what the hold-up was. Scott moved to Derek's other side and helped Carrie pick him up, "Come on, lets get him into the van."
Carrie nodded and did her best to help, but she was already worn out from carrying him out from the school. If it was at all possible, it seemed as if Derek weighed even more than he did moments ago.
"I'm going to put him in your car," Scott said to Stiles. Carrie stepped aside as Derek climbed into the passenger's seat, and she quickly ran to the other side, climbing into the back seat. Stiles followed after her. Carrie leaned forward and looked at Scott through the open car window.
Derek shifted uncomfortably in the front seat, "I need you to find out what kind of bullet they used."
Scott's brows furrowed, "How the hell am I supposed to do that?"
"Cause she's an Argent. She's one of them," Derek answered, and then groaned in pain.
"Why should I help you?" Scott questioned.
"Now's not the time, Scott. He's dying," Carrie said, stressing the word dying.
Derek looked at Carrie for a moment, a look of disbelief on his face. It only lasted a quick second before he turned back to Scott. "Because you. Need. Me."
Scott sighed and turned to the lineup of cars. He shook his head, "Fine. I'll try. Get him out of here."
Stiles shook his head, grumbled, and started the jeep back up. "I hate you for this so much."
"Shut up Stiles and drive!" Carrie ordered. Stiles grumbled again, but drove off. Carrie turned in her seat and looked out the back window. Allison and Scott talking, and she silently prayed that Scott would find this bullet sooner than later. Definitely sooner. Carrie returned to facing forward. "Why is it that I always get stuck in the back of the jeep?" she complained with a sigh.
Stiles let out a satisfied laugh, "New girl sit in the back. It's the rules."
"Show me the rule book and I'll believe it," Carrie taunted.
"Can't do that. It's top secret."
"Would you two please shut up!" Derek snapped. Carrie frowned, watching Derek shift in his seat.
"Fine. Carrie, can't you just, like, vision when Scott will be back with this bullet?" Stiles asked, and glanced back at Carrie through the rear-view mirror.
She laughed, "My clairvoyance doesn't work like that, Stiles. It's not like I can just use it whenever I want, like some Pokémon thrown into a battle. It works when it wants to."
"Yeah but-"
"I'm not the Hulk, Stiles. I do not have an on-off switch or a trigger like anger. I am literally at its mercy." Carrie continued before slouching back against the seat. She crossed her arms in defiance and looked out the window. Was she really sure that she couldn't do it? No she wasn't. She had never tried to purposely cause a vision, they had always just happened at random, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to start doing that.
Derek turned around, his complexion seeming even paler than before, "Carrie, please try."
She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment before nodding, "Alright. Now don't get upset if nothing happens because I've never purposefully brought on a vision. And, I need complete and total silence." Carrie closed her eyes and tried to relax her body and mind.
Stiles tsked and muttered to himself, "Oh, so when he asks you do it, but when I do, you get all huffy and puffy."
Carrie popped one eye open, "I heard that." Stiles mimicked her again. After a sigh, she relaxed into the seat, trying to relax each part of her. She steadied her breathing to get her body to loosen up, and she tried focusing her mind, hoping that was where the clairvoyant part of her resided. Carrie thought back to previous visions, trying to stir up any possible sensations from them. She thought about how she felt in the moments before one came. Carrie even tried to do some yoga breathing to calm everything down, but nothing was forming. With an annoyed sigh, Carrie cracked opened her eyes, "Nothing."
"Well that's great, but did you really try?" Stiles replied.
Carrie raised an eyebrow, "What? what do you mean 'did I really try'? I totally tried, didn't you hear me doing yoga breathing?"
Stiles rolled his head and looked in the rear view mirror. "Sorry to burst your bubble there, but nope. You passed out hard, like dead asleep, for about forty five minutes."
"What? That doesn't make sense, I was only trying for like five minutes." Carrie started to panic, she didn't know what this mean. She was losing time and that was not making her feel safe.
"Yep, you've been out for a little while. Snoozing away back there while I've had to deal with the dying dog over here."
Carrie looked out the windows as a car rushed past the Jeep. "Why have we stopped?"
"I can't go to my house in the state I'm in," answered Derek. Carrie leaned forward and looked him over. Derek had started to sweat even more than before, and he had discarded his leather jacket. He was not looking good.
"We're trying to figure out where to go. I want to take him home and he refuses," Stiles explained.
"Fine. Take him to my house," Carrie ordered and looked at Stiles, "My mom's not home and won't be for a while. It will be safe, no one would guess that's where he'd go."
Derek growled with pain,"Do it."
Carrie looked down at Derek's arm. Since Derek had been wearing his jacket, she hadn't seen the bullet wound, but now she got a good look at it. The wound was festering and it looked horribly infected, dark lines were inching their way up and down his arm. "Goddammit, Derek. What the hell is with your arm?"
Stiles threw up his hands, "Thank you, that's what I asked."
"I'm not able to heal. Whatever was in that bullet is stopping the healing process. I need to be careful," Derek explained and pulled down his shirt sleeve. Carrie stopped a laugh, was Derek self conscious of the wound?
"Stiles, let's go. Go to my house." Carrie leaned back and reached for her purse. She pulled out her water bottle from lunch and grabbed the edge of her shirt. She lifted it and pulled it over her head, wadding it into a ball.
"What the hell are you doing? You don't need to strip and use your body heat to warm Derek up; he's not going into hypothermic shock," Stiles shrieked as he turned around in his seat.
"Stilinski, keep your eyes on the road!" Carrie yelled back and felt the jeep swerve. She wasn't worried about the shirt; she had a grey tank-top underneath it. It was a similar style to the one that she had been wearing when she accidentally flashed Stiles her bra, maybe he was recalling that. "And get your mind out of the gutter."
After unscrewing the top of the bottle, she placed it against the opening, tipping it so that the water soaked into the fabric. Carrie put the soaked shirt on the seat and closed the bottle. Grabbing the shirt again, she leaned forward and placed the shirt against Derek's forehead. Derek pulled away, startled by what Carrie was doing and he turned to look at her with a shocked expression. Carrie gave him a tender smile, "You're burning up. I hopefully this helps."
Derek closed his eyes and turned his head back, resting against the seat. Derek let out a low sigh, quiet enough that only Carrie heard him. It was Carrie's turn to be a bit surprised when Derek's hand touched her, holding the shirt in place, and surprisingly his hands were soft, something she would not have expected. Carrie swallowed and licked her lips, she was feeling the weird hand-touching warmth again. It was starting to creep her out.
"If you two, and Scott, manage to help me," Derek forced out in a whisper, "I promise I'll tell you everything that I know about people like you., and help as much as possible."
Carrie nodded slowly, "Okay."
Stiles coughed and shot Carrie and Derek a glare. "She doesn't need your help Derek. None of us do. We'll figure it out on our own."
Carrie whipped around to glare back at Stiles, "Shut up, Stiles." She turned back to Derek, "Thank you."
Suddenly Stiles' phone started to ring. "It's Scott," he announced.
"Well answer it!" Carrie shouted.
Stiles scowled and hit the talk button, "Scott, buddy. Good of you to call. What is going on?"
Carrie could only vaguely hear Scott's voice. She smacked his arm to get his attention, "Hit the speaker button, Stilinski. I want to hear Scott."
Stiles groaned, but put the call on speaker. "Well what am I supposed to do with him?"
"I don't know. Take him somewhere, anywhere," said Scott through the phone.
"And, by the way, he's starting to smell," Stiles leaned towards his door and away from Derek.
"Like-like what?"
"Like death."
"Stiles, quit your whinnying," Carrie scolded, and Stiles turned to her with a straight face. "Okay maybe a little. It's not that bad." She turned to Derek who was glaring, and smiled innocently, raising her shoulders, and mouthed 'Sorry'.
"Okay, take him to the animal clinic," Scott suggested.
Stiles brows furrowed, "What about your boss?"
"He's gone by now. There's a spare key in the box behind the dumpster."
"You're not gonna believe where he's telling me to take you."
"We can hear the conversation perfectly fine, Stiles," Carrie replied tirelessly.
Derek rolled his eyes and grabbed the phone from Stiles, who let out a little whimper and flinched. "Did you find it?" He demanded.
"How am I supposed to find one bullet? They have a million." Scott complained. "This house is like the frickin Wal-Mart of guns."
"Look, if you don't find it, then I'm dead, all right?" Derek said, his breathing labored.
"I'm starting to think that wouldn't be such a bad thing."
"Then think about this," Derek started, his breathing getting worse. "The Alpha called you out against your will. He's gonna do it again. Next time you either kill with him or you get killed. So if you wanna stay alive, then you need me. Find. The. Bullet."
Carrie grabbed the phone and held it close to her mouth. "Scott. Listen to me."
"Carrie, what is it?"
"I had a vision. You find the bullet."
"Where?"
Carrie didn't look at anyone, but she could feel either questioning start drilling into the back of her head. She was surprised that neither Stiles nor Derek had asked what the hell she was talking about. "I don't know. All I know that you do and you come to us. I believe in you and you can do it."
Scott was silent for a second. "Alright. I gotta go. I'll meet you all at the animal hospital." Scott hung-up the phone and Carrie handed Stiles back his phone.
"When did you have a vision," he asked, grabbing her phone.
"I didn't," Carrie answered.
Stiles frowned, "Then why did you-"
"I was trying something. Like a placebo effect or like Liquid Luck in Harry Potter. You know when Harry pretends to put it in Ron's drink and he thinks he's got extra luck," Carrie explained. Sometimes all someone needs is to think that they'll succeed and it happens. Stiles nodded and she continued, "Well if he thinks that he does find it, then maybe he'll be more likely to find it."
Stiles smiled, "Okay, I get it. You're one sneaky person, Carrie Deveraux."
She smiled back, "Thank you. Now let's get to the animal hospital." Carrie turned back to Derek, "You surviving?"
Derek nodded, but she could tell underneath the smile that he was in some serious pain. "Barely," he muttered.
Carrie smiled supportively, "Scott will pull through. I believe in him. Now open the window and ring out the shirt." Derek complied, abet a bit slow, and Carrie took the shirt back. She grabbed the water bottle and put some more water on the shirt, handing it back to Derek. He placed it against his forehead. "I hope it's helping." Derek nodded with his eyes closed, and Carrie turned towards Stiles, "How much longer?"
"Just a little bit more," Stiles answered, a serious look on his face. Stiles parked at the back of the animal hospital, and got out, Carrie following immediately after him. She racing to the other side to help Derek, and Stiles found the spare key, opening the shipment loading door. Carrie threw Derek's arm over her shoulders and wrapped her arm around him. They walked in sync through the open door. Steps before the door, Derek caught his foot and stumbled forward, bring Carrie with him. They landed atop a pile of dog food bags.
Stiles stopped in front of the door and pulled out his phone, "Does Northern blue monkshood mean anything to you?"
Derek, while leaning into Carrie for support, looked up at Stiles. "It's a rare form of wolf's bane. He has to bring me the bullet."
Stiles turned around, and for a moment Carrie was sure that jealousy flashed across his face. "Why?" He questioned with a blank stare.
Derek groaned, "'Cause I'm gonna die without it."
Stiles sent Scott a response before looking up at us again. "Well you two sure look chummy," he commented sarcastically.
"God, Stiles. He's dying and I'm just trying to help," Carrie snapped, glaring back at him.
Stiles scrunched his nose and rolled his eyes, but he also turned around and opened the door into the actual building, dropping a bag of dog food in front of it to hold it open. With Carrie's help, Derek managed to stand up, but it was obvious that he was not sturdy. "Stiles come help me get him inside." Carrie yelled.
Stiles grumbled as he took Dereks other arm and they went inside. Once they were in the main room, Derek stumbled forward, collapsed against the metal table. He placed his infected arm on the metal table top and started to roll his sleeve up. "You know, that really doesn't look like anything some Echinacea and a good night of sleep couldn't take care of," Stiles tried suggesting.
Derek stood with his arm out, looking at the bullet hole. Carrie came up beside him and looked at his infected arm. The dark veins were crawling even further up and down his arm, and now black blood was flowing out of the hole, trickling down his arm. She crinkled her nose; She could really smell the funk that the wound was emanating. Carrie covered her nose with the back side of her hand. Derek's voice was labored as he spoke, "When the infection reaches my heart, it'll kill me."
"'Positivity' just isn't in your vocabulary, is it?" Stiles scoffed.
Derek pushed away from the medical table and stumble do to the back counter, searching through the cupboards. "If he doesn't get here with the bullet in time. Last resort."
"Which is?" Stiles and Carrie asked at the same time.
Derek turned around and slammed a medical saw on the table, "One of you is gonna cut off my arm."
For a brief moment the room went still. Cut his arm off?, Carrie thought to herself then turned to Stiles. They locked eyes for a moment, and a shiver raced down her spine. She shook her head. "Oh, nope." she exclaimed, "I'm not having any part of this amature Saw Movie thing going on here. First you're told to saw a man's arm off to save your life, next you're put into a house with a bunch of strangers and then you're asked by a crazy puppet on a TV screen if you want to play a game. And finally some asshole pushes you into a pit of used needles. Nope, no thanks. Jigsaw can shove it!"
"You're not being threatened to do this," Stiles replied.
Carrie nodded her head in affirmation, "It's been decided, Stiles will do it."
Stiles gawked at her for a moment, eyes blinking rapidly, before shaking his head, "Wait, what? No! I veto the nomination of me."
Carrie put her hands on her hips, "You're the big tough man, you do it! I'm squeamish about blood."
Stiles came around the table and stood next to Carrie, "You're mothers a doctor. Aren't you immune to that kind of thing by blood, by relation?"
Carrie laughed, "Genetics don't work like that."
Derek slammed his hands onto the table, startling Stiles and Carrie. "Enough!" he growled.
Carrie frowned, crossed her arms, and leaned her hip against the table with an audible "humph". Stiles gulped as Derek pushed the saw towards him. He grabbed it and looked it over, turning it over in his hands. "Oh my god. What if you bleed to death?"
Carrie looked over at Derek and saw that he was trying to tie a tourniquet around his arm. She grabbed the ends and finished tying it for him. "It'll heal if it works," He stated.
Stiles shook his head, looking uncomfortably ill, "Ugh. Look I don't know if I can do this."
"Why not?"
Stiles swallowed hard. "Well, because of the cutting through the flesh, the sawing of the bone, and especially the blood!" he squawked.
"And you thought I was a sissy," Carrie commented quietly.
Derek stopped for a moment, one brow arched, "You faint at the sight of blood?"
Stiles shook his head, "No, but I might at the sight of a chopped-off arm!"
Derek sighed and placed his hands against the table, holding himself up. "All right, fine. How about this? Either you cut off my arm, or I'm gonna cut off your head."
"Okay, you know what, I'm so not buying your threats any-" Derek grabbed Stiles collar and pulled him over the table. "Oh my god."
"Stiles just do it!" Carrie shouted.
"Okay. All right, bought, sold. Totally. I'll do it. I'll do it, but Carrie you have to cover my eyes."
"Wait, what?" Carrie pulled her neck to her chest, and furrowed her brows. What the hell was Stiles thinking. "Nope no way. Besides, you wouldn't be able to see where you're cutting into!"
Stiles nodded, an evil smirk on his face, "Exactly, you get to guide me and watch as I sever his arm."
"No way. Not happening," She said.
Stiles tried to look as in need of help as possible, "Look, I'm the one doing the actual cutting. The least you could do is try helping to alleviate some of the nightmares I'll get from this."
Carrie rolled her eyes, "Fine, but I really don't see how this is going to work." Just then, Derek turned towards her, looking paler than he already was. "What, What are you doing? Holy God, what the hell is that?" she yelled, as Derek vomited up black liquid. She jumped back but wasn't quick enough to dodge the sudden splurge. The thick black liquid splattered against Carrie's chest, down the front of her tank top, and all over the front of her leggings. She looked down at her. Her tank top had gone from a light grey to a black instantly. "Oh, ew. Ew. Ew. Gross!" she cried, holding back the urge to vomit herself.
"I'm so happy I'm not you," Stiles teased while laughing.
She glared at him. "What do I do?"
Stiles shrugged and held up his hands, "Don't ask me, I'm not the one covered in black liquid death."
Carrie groaned and turned back to Derek, "What the hell was that?" She started pulling up the wet, sticky tank-top over her head, and threw it onto the side counter.
"Oh my god, Carrie. What are you doing?" Stiles was clearly staring at her chest.
She turned back around to face him and Derek. "Shut up. It doesn't matter; I'm going to be covering your eyes." She then pulled down her leggings and tossed them with her tank top. Taking a deep breath, Carrie squared her shoulders and placed her hands on her hips, desperately trying not to flinch when the boy's eyes ran down her body.
Stiles chuckled to himself as his eyes scanned Carrie's barely clothed body, "Well this isn't the situation I visioned I'd be in the first time I'd see you naked."
Carrie glared daggers at him. "You were thinking about me naked?" she questioned, a mix of surprise and disgust present in her voice.
"No. I mean. UGH." Stiles covered his face with his hands.
"Shut up you two. I can't handle your banter. And that's my body trying to heal itself," He answered, pointing at the puddle of black goop beside him.
"Well, it's not doing a very good job of it," Stiles sassed, and received a death stare from Derek.
"Now. You gotta do it now," Derek pleaded.
Stiles looked down at the saw and started shaking his head again, "Look, honestly, I don't think I can."
"Just do it!" yelled Derek.
"Oh, my God," whispered Stiles. Carrie walked around the table and stood to the side of him. She lifted her arms, one hand on each side of his head. "I'm going to place my hands over your eyes now."
Stiles nodded and started up the saw, "Okay, okay. Oh, my God."
"Now move the saw down," she directed, her heart beating against her chest. Carrie could feel Stiles hot breath on her hands, and she could tell that his heart beat was racing too. She winced away as Stiles started to lower the saw. She looked down and caught sight of a rather large shape straining against Stiles' jean. She pulled her head away from Stiles'. She did not want to know that he thought about her naked. She was going to have to do some serious brain-bleaching when she got home.
"All right, here we go!" Stiles said just before starting to lower the blade.
"Stiles! Carrie"
Carrie looked up just as Scott ran into the operating room, and she could just imagine what their situation looked like to an outsider. Carrie in nothing but her undergarment while she covered Stiles' eyes. Stiles holding a saw to Derek's arm, who was pretty much half dead. Stiles turned his head, Carrie's eyes still covering his face. "Scott?" he called out.
Scott stopped in the doorway, "What the hell are you doing?"
Carrie looked from Scott to Stiles, quickly dropped her hands and stepped away from Stiles, "It's not..."
Stiles cut her off, "Oh, you just prevented a lifetime of nightmares!"
Scott nodded his head very slowly, looking over everyone in the room. Carrie walked over to the back counter, trying not to think about the fact that her butt was exposed thanks to her choice of underwear, and grabbed the discarded tank-top and leggings. She held them up and examined the damage; the entire front of her shirt had turned black and well, the black vomit blended in with her legging, the only way she could tell that something had happened was by the fact that they were wet. Carrie sighed and pulled both pieces of clothing back on - She'd just have to deal with the grossness.
Once she was dressed she turned back around and watched as Derek immediately dropped to the ground. "What happened?" She shrieked, dropping to Derek's side. Carrie glanced up and saw Scott lying down too. "It's no time to lay down, Scott. No time for naps!"
"Carrie, shut up!" Stiles yelled, coming over to Derek and her. He started hitting the side of Derek's face. "Derek. Derek, come on, wake up."
Carrie looked up at Stiles, "It's not working!"
"I know!" Stiles groaned. "Scott, what the hell are we gonna do?"
"I don't know! I can't reach it," cried Scott from under the metal cabinet.
"He's not waking up! Come on. Oh god, I think he's dying," Stiles related, starting to freaking out. "I think he's dead!"
"No, he's not dead! He can't be!" Carrie demanded, and started shaking the unconscious man. "Come on Derek. Wake up!"
Stiles narrowed his eyes, "Why are you so concerned about Derek all of a sudden? The only time you two have ever interacted was when he insulted you. I didn't know that was how you created friendships. I should just start insulting every chance I get, then we'd be best friends in no time. Heck, we'd be dating!"
"He owes me some info-"
"Guys, shut up and just hold on!" Scott ordered and they quieted up. "I got it! I got it!"
Stiles looked down at the barely breathing Derek, "Please don't kill me for this." He pulled back his arm, hand curled into a fist, and swung- his fist contacting with Derek's jaw. "Ugh! Ow! God!"
Derek opened his eyes, blinking rapidly, and Carrie let out a happy squeal. He looked over at her, another shocked expression on his face. "Get me up!" he barked, and Scott came over, helping to pick Derek up; He was way heavier than anything Carrie could handle at that moment.
Stiles was dancing around and shaking his hand, "Ow! God. Oh my God."
Scott and Carrie stood on either side of Derek, both of watching as he opened the bullet with his teeth. He dumped the contents, a green dusty substance, onto the table before lighting it on fire. "Whoa," Carrie exclaimed, and took a small step back, "What are you doing with that?"
"I have to use it. I'm going to place it in the wound and hopefully my body will fix itself," Derek explained, scooping the scorched wolf's bane into his hand. The room became eerily quiet as they watched Derek. He lifted his hand, took a deep breath, and slammed his hand against the bullet wound. All three flinched in unison when Derek pushed the ashy dust into the hole, all the while holding back a scream of pain.
Carrie jumped out of Derek way when pushed past Her, wailing in pain. He bumped into Stiles before falling to the ground. Carrie stepped forward and stood beside Stiles, watching Derek. He was holding his arm while writhing in pain on the floor. Suddenly, before their eyes, the Black Death veins started retreating from his arm and the bullet wound began to close up.
"That. Was. Awesome! Yes!" Stiles yelled enthusiastically with a thrust of his hand.
"Totally out of a science fiction or horror movie!" Carrie chirped happily. Stiles and her turned to each other and high-fived, an enthused smile on both of their faces. Stiles gaze shot down Carrie's tank-top and back up. She was about to call him out when he shrugged out of his shirt and handed it to her.
"You can get out of that if you want," he offered.
She smiled and accepted the shirt. "Thanks," she said and turned back to Derek as he stood up.
"Are you okay?" Scott asked.
"Well, except for the agonizing pain."
"I'm guessing the ability to use sarcasm is a good sign of health." Stiles only received another death glare.
Carrie punched Stiles' arm for Derek, "Shut up, he's been through a lot. Derek doesn't need your sass right now." Stiles crossed his arms and grumbled.
"Okay, we saved your life, which means you're gonna leave us alone, you got that? And if you don't, I'm gonna go back to Allison's dad, and I'm gonna tell him everything-" Scott threatened.
Derek slowly stepped forward, and his eyes narrowed at Scott. "You're gonna trust them? You think they can help you?"
"Well, why not? They're a lot freaking nicer than you are," Scott snapped.
Derek turned and headed towards the door. "I can show you exactly how nice they are. Follow me. You too Carrie, you should see this since you'll eventually be in danger too." Carrie looked between Stiles and Scott. Scott shrugged and followed Derek. She swallowed before doing the same. Carrie grabbed Scotts hand and trailed a bit behind him, still holding onto Stiles' shirt. Just before they left the animal hospital, she glanced back at Stiles and frowned. She had a bad feeling about this.
AUTHORS NOTES:
Ah ha, this chapter is finally done! I had a little bit of a dry patch when it came to writing, but I managed to get this done in one week! I really enjoyed writing this chapter, it turned out to be a lot of fun once I found the inspiration/motivation. I'm thinking that the next chapter might be a bit smaller but we'll see. I hope you guys enjoy this! xoxo
EDITED 07/2014: I still think this is one of my favourite chapters. And personally, I feel like everything after this chapter has been my best stuff. Let me know what you think of these edited chapters. Enjoy!
