Survival
Chapter 21
Monstrous Naked Dog Boy
...
Liz ran blindly through the forest, crashing through underbrush, tripping over roots and fallen limbs.
She didn't dare look back.
She couldn't.
Tom. Pete. Samantha.
He'd taken them all.
Why?
All they'd done was come down to Beacon Hills to make a video about the 'Werewolves' supposed to roam the area.
One thing was for sure, He was no Werewolf.
At least the screaming had stopped.
Hopefully, that meant they weren't suffering any more.
She saw a break in the trees.
Her car!
Adrenaline surging, she cursed His name as she flung herself out of the forest.
And into His waiting arms.
...
"Okay, guys, try not to think about the fact that we're probably going to end up wrestling with a butt-naked 15 year-old boy."
"Thank you Stiles, for that wonderful visual aid." Sean's sarcasm was laced with concern. He was as worried about the boy as anyone else.
"If you have gymnophobia, how are you going to handle this?" Stiles asked.
"I don't have gymnophobia, not any more than most people. I just don't like the idea, and I'd rather avoid it, but if Liam's in trouble I'll have to push that aside. I can't let anything happen to him."
Maybe it wasn't Liam. Maybe it was another 'Monstrous Naked Dog Boy' terrorizing Beacon Hills.
When he came out of his wolfed-out state, poor Liam was going to be embarrassed as Hell, and the others would never let him live this down.
"Over there!" Scott shouted as a blurry figure rushed across the residential street.
The scent was unmistakable.
It was Liam alright.
Stiles parked his jeep awkwardly 'parallel', (half on the sidewalk, half off), and the chase was on.
Sean quickly realized his gymnastic skills were helpful in avoiding suburban hazards like fences and lawn chairs. Leaping, twisting, balancing instead of stumbling around like he would have if not for his training.
Stiles wasn't so fortunate. He was lagging behind.
"Liam!" Scott shouted.
"Do you want to wake the whole neighborhood up!?" Sean hissed, "He has enhanced hearing. He clearly doesn't want to come to us."
"Why" Stiles finally caught up, "Why should he? You tried to eat him and threw him off a building, and you bit him."
There was a growl behind them.
Liam stood there, stark naked, fangs and claws on the ready, crouched to attack.
Three things were immediately obvious to Sean:
1. Liam was really out of it.
2. Brett had lied about Liam's size. He was NOT puny or small in the downstairs area.
And
3. Liam was not happy to see them.
Scott used his red Alpha eyes and commanding Alpha voice to force Liam to back down.
"Liam." He said sternly.
The boy whimpered and fell to his knees as Sean wrapped the blanket they'd brought in Stiles' backpack around him. He began to revert and come to his senses, only to find that he was naked in some stranger's backyard with only a blanket covering him.
He turned the color of a ripe tomato.
"Oh, crap."
...
Liam was sitting on the couch wearing some of Sean's clothes which were only slightly too big, looking highly uncomfortable.
"And why were you naked?" Scott asked.
Liam shrugged, "It was hot..."
Stiles broke out laughing as Sean face-palmed and Liam blushed.
Then came the question they were all dreading.
Except, perhaps, Stiles.
"Did anybody see me?"
Stiles smirked, "Tomorrow morning you'll probably be on the front page. I bet you're all over Youtube by now. A million hits-"
Before Sean's fist could connect with Stiles' jaw, Liam was sobbing.
...
"How was I supposed to know he'd breakdown like that?" Stiles was rubbing the painful bruise on his jaw.
"How do you think someone, especially a kid, is going to react when you tell him every pervert on earth with a computer or cell phone can see him completely naked whenever they want?" Sean was livid. He knew Stiles had a problem controlling his mouth, but this too much.
"It's dark out and most people are asleep. I doubt anyone got any pictures."
"You'd better hope so, and not just for Liam's sake."
"Is that a threat, Sean?"
Sean flashed his silver eyes, "Yes. Yes it is Stiles."
"This isn't my fault!"
"No. It's not. You just made it a million times worse. Other people do have feelings, Stiles. How would you react to what you said?"
"Don't give me that empathy crap, Sean. You're not the only person on earth who's suffered! Yeah, sometimes I screw up like this, but I'm not intentionally trying to drive anybody crazy! Don't tell me you've never said anything you regret!" There were tears in his eyes, "You can't imagine what I've done, what I've been through. I killed my friend's girlfriend! I killed Allison! And I killed Aiden! I killed those people at the hospital! Everything Nogitsune did, everyone he hurt, he did it with my body, so don't you dare talk to me about not caring! And now I've hurt Liam! Do you know how hard it is to just keep on living after all I've done?"
Sean paled and put his hands on Stiles' shoulders, but he pushed him away, "That wasn't you. You're not Nogitsune, you're Stiles Stilinski. You're a first-class pain in the butt, you're not a mass-murdering demon. You had no more control over what he made you do than a man has over... I don't know. It's like someone stole a car and intentionally hit someone. Is that the car's fault? The owner's fault? No. Nogitsune was driving you, Stiles. It's on his hands."
"You don't know what it was like, Sean. As a crazy Wendigo, you were still just a Wendigo. You were overcome by instinct. I was literally possessed by a demon. It taunted me, mocked me, made me smile as my friends suffered and died at my own hands. And it's plans, what it intended to do to everyone... I wanted to die so badly, but he wouldn't let me. He feeds off of pain and fear. I'm surprised I'm not totally insane." He sat down at the kitchen table, "I'm sorry for what I said. But it can't be undone. I just don't think, or I think too much, I'm not sure which. All I know is that I'm probably the biggest smart-ass on earth."
"You're right. I don't know, and I pray I never do. I wasn't there, I didn't see what happened, I didn't know Allison or Aiden or Ethan. But from what I know of you, you would never willingly harm someone. This... Parasite that took over your body is responsible. You're just the car he drove."
"What kind of car?"
"I don't know. You're like that jeep of yours, you've been through a lot, dented, scratched, damaged but you're still running strong."
Stiles arched a brow, "Thanks. I think..."
"It was a compliment. You're resilient. If I had been through what you went through I would never have recovered. I'd be in Eichen House playing cards with Patrick and Garrett... Look, I'm pretty well along the road of hypocrisy, Stiles," Sean admitted, "I should never have hit you, or threatened you. But Liam is my responsibility. He's the result of my crimes. He is the monument to my sins."
"You're paraphrasing the Gravemind from Halo 2?" Stile did his best imitation of the character's voice, 'I am a monument to all your sins.'"
"I thought it was The Primordial? No? Or were the they merely different appendages of the same gestalt macrocosmic organism?." He shook his head "But that's beside the point. The fact is I screwed up Liam's entire life. I ruined his future. I took him hostage, I threw him off the roof so that Scott had to bite down on his arm to save him. I'm responsible for everything that happens to that boy because of The Bite. I never had as much control as David, he was the social one. The strong one. I often wonder how things would have happened if it was David who'd lived instead of me."
"And the reason you were in the hospital in the first place, the reason you were starving, insane with grief and had just lost your entire family was The Mute." Stiles let his eyes fall slightly, "I'm responsible for what happened to Liam. Me and Malia encouraged Scott to use a little of his wolfie-powers on the kid. And he did, and Liam ended up in the hospital with a broken ankle. If I, Scott and Malia had just accepted Liam was a good player and played fair, he wouldn't have been in the hospital in the first place for you to kidnap. We ruined his life. And now we're trying to help him put his life back together. But now he'll probably never achieve most of his dreams, for fear of being found out. Paparazzi can find out anything, get info on anyone, he'd be outed first full moon."
"Then we all ruined his life together. Who knew packs could be this dysfunctional?"
"No one here is just one person's responsibility. That's why we're called a pack, we don't just run through the woods fighting evil freaky monsters/dark druids/hunters. We bond. We become a family, and we all look out for each other." He touched his sore jaw, "Even if they happen to sucker-punch you in the face."
They walked back into the living room to find that Scott had managed to calm Liam down enough to avoid having the furniture shredded by an adolescent Werewolf with anger issues and a deep-seated inferiority complex.
"Liam. I'm sorry man. I was acting like a real ass. I shouldn't have said that-"
"But it's true." Liam said softly, 'Everyone carries a cell phone, anyone could have filmed me."
"I'm a master hacker, you know. If anything surfaces, I'll squash it like a bug."
"Whatever you put online is online forever. And people can download videos in seconds. Every sick pervert in the world will see my junk..." He sniffled and shuddered.
"You were moving really fast, you should be pretty blurry if anyone did see you." Sean said soothingly, "Did you see anyone with a camera or a phone?"
"No, but I was a crazy wolf and not really paying attention."
Sean put an arm around Liam's shoulder, "If anything did happen, and someone gives you trouble about it, I'll hunt them down and eat them."
Liam smiled. "I know. And thanks for punching Stiles."
"HEY! Is this Pick on Stiles Day or something?"
"Yes."
...
The scientist was listening to the police frequencies, among many others. Apparently one of the Werewolves was running around naked through Beacon Hills. His lip curled up in a small smile. Probably the new pup, Liam Dunbar. He had trouble controlling his Wolf.
How have they managed to stay undetected for all these centuries when they're literally running naked through the streets.
Suddenly there was talk of something else, something infinitely more interesting than a pitiful child streaking.
The discovery of four bodies.
It was highly unlikely the culprit was the 'Monstrous Naked Dog Boy' as one resident had so eloquently named him. This had happened in the forest outside of town, the report was just breaking, but the deputy mentioned the bodies being 'arranged in a pattern, like a big triangle'.
So, he'd finally come back.
The experiment could finally begin.
...
Fortunately, it seemed the few people who'd encountered Liam apparently hadn't had time to take any pictures or videos. If they had, nothing turned up on social media about it. Of course, the incident was in the back of people's minds due to the bizarre deaths just outside of town. Bizarre deaths were becoming increasingly common in Beacon Hills, but this one had come with a message.
A note clutched in a girl's cold hand.
How can he see us when he has no face?
...
To be continued...
Notes
Sean punched Stiles to shut him and try to protect Liam. Yes, I had him hit the most popular character on the show. If you want to hate me, do it. I'm sure a lot of people do.
I hate people who take hidden cameras and tape people in the school/public showers or locker room or whatever. That kind of humiliation can scar someone for life. It's even worse when parents intentionally humiliate their children online. That's one of those things I find unforgivable.
A poem, by me:
He has no face,
Yet he sees you.
You can quicken your pace,
But he'll eventually seize you.
You can try and hide,
But he's waiting inside.
It does no good to fight,
When The Slender Man stalks through the night.