DPV

"Go away." Oh, god. Not an audience to this. I was going to contort and throw up and maybe scream if this pain got worse. No one could see this.

She stepped closer. "Simon's gone. I convinced him to go ahead while I found you."

Ah. Thank god for small miracles. If Simon found me, there would be no chance of getting him to leave. With Chloe, the fear should have her running soon. I hoped. Another spasm hit me, causing me to grip the grass and dirt hard. My back seemed to twist and a small moan escaped before I cut it off. She had to go. Now. "You found me. Now go."

"Do you really think I'd leave you like this?" She stepped forward again, now firmly behind the shed. I kept my head down, not sure if my muscles had been moving enough to cause changes that would show, but not wanting to chance it. "If you're throwing up, that's more than a fever. You need-"

Fuck. She wouldn't leave if she thought I was sick. If she knew what I was, she'd run, but I'd prefer if she left before I had to show her. "Go!" I said, cutting her off. I felt the muscles bunching again, preparing for the next onslaught of pain. She staggered back, shocked by my inhuman snarl.

Pain ripped through me, muscles turning and moving. The pain increased and I moaned again. A sharp twist in my back caused a whimper. If I wasn't too far gone, I would have been embarrassed. I stared down at my arms and watched the hairs on them grow and shrink in waves, like the rings in a lake when you drop a stone in it, except they were all over my body, in random patterns.

"Derek, I-" I could here her start, but my back stretched, spine joining the foray. It stretched and slide, pain racing up my back. When it subsided, I relaxed. My body was mostly quiet, a sign of impending doom for me.

I tried to regain my breath so I could tell her to leave. "Please. Go." My voice was not my own. My vocal cords must have moved and lengthened.

"You need help-"

"No!" Leave, please leave.

"Simon, then. I'm getting Simon. I'll be right-"

"No!" This time, I almost shouted. I looked up at her. Her eyes widened as she saw my face, and fear danced across her face. Shit.

I pushed my head down as my body sprang back into action with no warning. My lungs were shifting now and I coughed, body trying to clear an airway. Then, my back screamed, pain slicing through me faster than a knife. My bones seemed to jump away from each other, causing my body to rise and every part of me to stiffen. I could hear the bones cracking, trying to move and change. My hair was growing and then shrinking back below my skin, echoing the pain. My fingers had started to change. I could see they had elongated and nails had grown. I clawed into the dirt, pain screeching through me.

I threw my head back as a new pain burned my shoulders and neck. The muscle was shifting completely forward, then it moved back. I moaned through my teeth, trying to quiet the howl that was trying to escape. As it twisted back, my body gagged once again, and I dry heaved towards the grass.

"Derek?" She waited until the gagging subsided, then inched towards me. "Is there anything I can do?" I purposefully turned my head away.

My body shook and I barely gasped out a, "Go away." My breath was ragged and everything hurt. Natural, my ass.

I was shaking and I couldn't be sure if it was from being freaked out or just from the convulsions and fatigue. I slid my eyes towards Chloe. I didn't want her to leave me here in the grass, hardly able to keep from screaming. I felt so alone and dammit, I was scared. I was not prepared for this. It hurt and it was torturous and it wasn't stopping. "Dont." My arms convulsed, making me pause mid-sentence. "Go."

"I can't leave you here. If there's anything I can do..."

Please don't leave me here alone. "Don't." Don't leave. I wasn't asking that anymore. "Don't go."

I lifted my head just a little, trying to gauge her reaction. She was freaked out, eyes wide. I could smell her sweating and could smell her fear.

Suddenly, everything came crushingly back. The nausea, the muscle-spasms, and the shifting of my insides resumed as if it had never taken a pause. It consumed all of me and I would have screamed if my stomach hadn't started rejecting what was left in it. It spilled from my lips and I'm sad to say I shook from exhaustion and pain as I tried to allow my body to do what it needed to. My throat ached and screamed with every wave. I felt like I would choke if I heaved one more time, but my body kept shoving it up and out.

Near the end, I felt a cool hand on my arm. I stiffened in surprise, but the muscle contractions and heaving hid it. My entire body rioted. I could feel my arms banding and separating under Chloe's hand. My body was shifting, shoulders tearing themselves forward, arms twisting, hips shifting, the bones of my my upper legs and hips colliding with each other as they tried to move into the correct position. This torture was complete.

My body kept riding the waves. There was no way there was anything left in my stomach, but still it came. I just wanted to die already. Shoot me. Please. This was not natural.

Then, with one last heave, my stomach was emptied and the nausea subsided. My body stopped its change. I could feel my limbs in their wrong places, my body part-wolf, but I was too exhausted to really give it much thought. I test my arms, slowly releasing the grass from under me. I tried to catch my breath.

Then, I couldn't take it any longer. I slumped to the side, careful to drop to the side with no vomit, and curled up. Chloe's hand fell away. God, I hurt. Every part of me was strained and uncomfortable. I covered my face from Chloe and moaned low as I felt my muscles relax for what was really the first time all night.

"Should I-?" She stopped trying of something. "Should I get Simon? Will he know what to-"

"No." I said, stopping her. He couldn't know. My voice came out growled, the vocal cords in my throat had elongated and grown. I laid there for a moment. Then I said, "It's over. I think. Pretty sure." I rubbed my face, feeling the features where they shouldn't be under my hands. Why did this happen now? "Shouldn't have happened. Not yet. Not for years." Chloe was silent watching me. She had to get out of here. Go find Simon. "Go. I'll be fine now."

"I'm not-"

"Chloe," I said sternly. She had to listen. "Go. Help Simon. Tell him I'm fine."

Instead of risking being cut off again, she simply replied, "No."

Annoyance whipped through me. Why did she never listen? "Chloe..."

"Five minutes. I want to make sure you're okay."

I didn't like it, but it made sense. I allowed my body to relax again. God, that was awful. Completely. I cannot believe that Chloe just saw all that.

And yet, I was glad she was here. It would have been somehow even worse if I had been alone.

Chloe's voice came out from in front of me. "See you did rip out of your clothes. Hope you didn't like that shirt 'cause it's toast."

I smiled, grateful she was trying to cheer me up. "Least I didn't turn green."

"No, just..." She let her voice fade away. I opened one eye and saw her face lost, not understanding what had just happened.

The back door was thrown open in the house. I sat up fast, my muscles screaming at me for it after. Chloe started to crawl towards the house, angling for the corner of the shed. I grabbed her leg, unwilling to let her get caught.

"I'll be careful." She assured me. "I'm just getting a look."

I kept my hand on her leg, unwilling to let go. She crawled forward as low as she could. She peeked around the corner of the shed. "A woman." She whispered softly. "I think it's Rae- no, too skinny. Ms. Abdo, maybe?"

I tugged her lightly back. Her skin was warm under the leg of her jeans.

"Go. I'll boost you over the fence. Climb the next one and-"

"Who's out there?" called Dr. Gill.

"Dr. Gill." Chloe whispered to me. "What's she-?"

I shook my head. She had to go before she was found and couldn't escape. "Never mind. Go!"

"I know someone's out here. I heard you." Dr. Gill's voice rang out over the yard.

Chloe looked down at me and a look crossed her face. It was her determined look.

Chloe grabbed one of the shoes I had taken off and kicked off one of hers. She then pulled from my grasp as I tried to figure out what the hell she was doing. She darted to the fence next to the shed and started through the narrow opening. I tried to scramble up and catch her, but she was through before I got anywhere near. Shit.

"Chloe!" I whispered as loud as I dared. "Get back here! Don't you dare-"

Chloe didn't even slow.