Finally, we get here. The climax, the grand finale. Yes, this is going to be the last chapter. Enjoy it!

"Chloe, wait-" Like hell I was going to wait.

Rounding the corner I skidded to a stop for a nanosecond, absorbing the scene in front of me.

May piggy-backing an armed guard, fighting to steal his gun

Simon, hands outstretched, alternating between knocking two guards back

Derek picking himself off the floor, limping to a standing position, an ugly gash on his forehead

Instantly I was at his side, straining on my tip-toes to study his face. "Derek, what-"

"My god, Chloe," he put gripped my uninjured shoulder and spun around, putting himself between me and the bad guys. It was fortunate they were now all occupied with fighting the others, as Derek kept his back to them. "Your arm…"

"Are you ok?" I demanded, looking him up and down. "What happened? What did they do to you? Is my dad-"

"Shit, shit, shit…" he was muttering under his breath, ignoring me completely. A strip of cloth was torn from the hem of his rumpled t-shirt. He began tying it around my arm, increasing the pain pounding through it exponentially.

Unable to fight it, I staggered back against the wall, swaying on my feet. "We've got to get you out of here," Derek wrapped an arm around me and whirled to survey the room.

Simon was still working on two of the guards, Tori was occupying two more, and May was just now wrestling the guy's gun from his gloved grip. Glancing back into Derek's face, I saw naked panic. Sure he could grab me and run right now, no one was paying much attention to us, but that would mean leaving the others behind, and that obviously wasn't an option.

After a moment's hesitation, Derek jumped back into the fray, grabbing onto the back of one of Simon's guards' jackets and slamming him into a wall. The man slumped to the ground, unconscious or dead? Either way, it didn't matter to Derek. Not this time, at least.

I wished I had armed myself before this crazy rescue attempt. What had I been thinking? I would have given anything even for that flimsy pocket knife I used to have…

Simon was still battling the one guard, Derek was helping Tori…May was losing. The man had managed to grab the gun and slammed it down upon her head, knocking her to the ground. Blood began to trickle out of her skull. She didn't make a sound.

Vision pulsing in and out of focus, I ran to her side, knowing only that I had to help. The guard leveled the gun at me.

It was too late to duck, too late to do anything, and no one was paying attention as he pulled the trigger…

I had forgotten how fast werewolves moved. There was a brown streak and a body hit the floor with a light thud. The bullet never made contact with me, having hit a new target instead.

Foolishly ignoring the guard, who was reloading the gun to try again to kill me, I knelt beside May, flipping her onto her back. Syrupy crimson blood pulsed from the wound in her chest. Her eyes, so much like Derek's that it hurt, were wide open yet sightless. Feeling an unexplainable grief crushing my chest, I turned away. May Souza was dead.

Only now were the others starting to realize this. One of Tori's guards was lying in a heap, and the other was fleeing down the hallway, slapping at the flames on the back of his jacket. Simon's other guard had joined the first on the floor, leaving the only threat the one who had shot May, and right now he was busy.

"Chloe?" Derek's voice was small, smaller than I had ever heard it before. It sounded like it was coming from a young child, innocent and vulnerable. "Is she…"

I followed his confused gaze to his mother. "I'm sorry, Derek." I was. Guilt constricted my chest so I couldn't breathe, tears further hindering my fading vision. She had died saving me. It was my fault…

He took a deep breath, fighting his emotion. I knew he hadn't really known or cared for his mother, but still. She was his mom.

Simon was standing open-mouthed, staring. Tori, too. None of us could quite believe that she was just…gone.

So lost in our grieving were we that I was the first to notice the sole remaining guard had managed to reload his gun. By that point, it was too late for anyone else to stop him.

He aimed, this time at Derek. I cried out but he was, for the first time ever, frozen with a combination of fear, surprise, and sorrow. Gone was his quick thinking, tossed out the window was his predator's instinct. He was paralyzed.

I knew what I had to do with a sickening certainty. There was no time to knock him to the side, and besides- I doubted I would be able to knock over Derek. As the bullet burst from confinement, I was there, doing the same for Derek that his mother had done for me mere moments ago.

Please don't actually kill me, I thought, before the world exploded in pain, so much worse than before. I had been shot before- twice- but this time it was a direct hit. I felt something inside me burst…a lung, appendix, heart, I didn't know. Couldn't tell. Everything hurt…

A distant roar, thick with more fury than I had ever heard in a single syllable before, rang out. I couldn't see anything but red, but I knew Derek would be taking out the last guard. He would be so, so angry. Not just at the guard, but at me. I almost hoped this thing would kill me so I wouldn't have to endure Derek's wrath later.

It hurt enough to kill me, for sure.

"Chloe." My name. "Chloe." That was all I could make out in the stream of voices filling my ears.

The ground swung away, the world tilting beneath me. There was a rhythm in my ear, a steady pounding beat. I clung to that noise, willing my own heart to match it, to not give up.

Whether I lived or died now didn't really matter. We had Derek back. That in itself was enough to fulfill my every wish.

The cold I suddenly felt signaled that we had reached the outside. We had made it.

I blacked out.

THE END

Thanks so much for reading this! I hope you enjoyed it! Even though I'm sure some of you right now are probably like 'WTH, that's the end? What's going to happen to Chloe?' right now, but this way I can write a sequel ;D For now, they are more or less safe (well, other than Chloe…) so I figured it was a good stopping point. Rant in your reviews if it really bothers you that much.

Toodlz for now!

-CaitieCat78