I'm sorry to see no reviews, but here's hoping this chapter does a little better. I love hearing what you guys think of the story and the ideas of what you want to see. I've been on a writing kick and I've got plenty of chapters to post!

I do not own anything in this chapter, besides Laci, everything else belongs to their rightful owners.

Chapter 17

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The next morning, Laci and Isaac traveled out into the woods. Stiles was meeting with Theo to see if he could get a cure out of him for his dad. While Laci was worried about the sheriff, there was nothing they could do for Stiles. He had to do this on his own. Theo would never believe he was there with good intentions if Isaac or Scott, who was supposed to be dead, showed up. Maybe Laci, but not anyone left in Scott's pack.

Scott didn't need them either so it was the best time to start training.

Once they found a good spot to stop, they unloaded their bags. Laci dressed in her old work out gear. It was a little loose, but she'd make it work. At least the sports bra still fit right. She felt nervous wearing so little in front of Isaac. Not because she was embarrassed, but because he could see how really bad she'd gotten.

He could see her ribs through her skin. Her arms had lost some muscle tone as well as her legs. She didn't look healthy. It was why she always wore baggy clothes, in attempt to cover up just how bad off she looked.

Laci blushed when she saw Isaac staring. She knew it wasn't in a checking out sort of way. She would have been fine with that. At least that was normal. The way he was looking at her wasn't normal. She could see anger in his eyes, and guilt too. She wasn't sure what he had to be guilty over, but it was there.

"The side effects of coming back from the dead. It use to be worse, but I've been working out with Lydia whenever we get the chance. I've been able to get some of the muscle tones back, but I've still got a long way to go." She explained, hoping it made him stop his gawking.

It did.

He looked embarrassed for a moment before he cleared his throat and looked away. If anything, it just made him hate Theo more. He'd done this to her. He'd let her body rot away until she became useful to him. He could see she didn't want to talk about it anymore though, so he took a deep breath and let it go.

"I was just going to say nice tattoo." He said, nodding his head to her back where her old number 14 tattoo rested.

She blushed, having forgotten about it. She forgot that he never saw it before when they were together. "I've had it for a while." She said as she brushed her hair back behind her ear.

He nodded, his eyes giving her another once over to see if he missed anything else. A part of him was smug about the fact she had his old jersey number on her. It meant a lot to him that she'd do that for him, even if it was years ago when they were dating. Clearing his throat, he knew it was time to get to business. "What do you remember from before?" He asked, getting his supplies out of his bag.

She grabbed a hair elastic from her bag and pulled her hair up. Biting her lip, she tried to remember back to when she trained before with Isaac. Her memory was still a little blurry, but she remembered bits and pieces. "A few things of the basics. Not much." She confessed, knowing better than to lie.

He nodded, looking around before he moved. His hand grabbed her, spinning her around as he pressed her to his chest. She grunted in pain as he twisted her arm behind her back. "Do you remember how to get out of this?" He asked, his breath hot on her neck.

"Besides stepping on your foot?" She asked, wincing at his grip.

He chuckled, nodding his head. "Yeah, besides that."

Her mind raced as she tried to remember. Without warning, she threw her head back, bashing his nose. With a groan, he let her go to hold his nose. She didn't stop as she turned and shoved him back. The move backfired on her as he grabbed her wrist. She brought her knee up between his legs, hitting him dead on. Isaac gasped in pain, holding himself as he fell to his knees with a low groan.

"Good. Th-that was g-good." He squeaked out.

Laci looked surprised, not having meant to react like that. Guilt hit her as she knelt down in front of him. She touched his cheek, raising his chin up. "I'm so sorry." She immediately apologized.

Before she knew what was happening, he grabbed her wrist and yanked her forward. She gasped as she fell forward, twisting as she landed on her back. Isaac straddled her, holding up his claws to her throat. "And you're dead. I win. Never give your opponent the opening like that. You never know who you might be fighting." He warned her, his mind going back to when their enemy had looked like Stiles.

Laci grunted, trying to get loose from his grip. She got the point. Isaac retracted his claws and slipped off of her. He got to his feet first, holding out his hand to help her up. She hesitated, before laying up and taking his hand. He pulled her up just as her phone started to ring from her bag. "I should check that." She said before heading over.

Isaac watched as she grabbed the phone and answered it. It was Scott telling them to meet him and Stiles at the school as soon as they could. Laci glanced back at Isaac briefly before nodding, telling him they'd be there as soon as they could. Once she was off the phone, Isaac grabbed their bags and looked over. "Good thing we packed extra clothes." He joked, trying to ease the tension that had fallen over them.

Laci rolled her eyes, taking her bag from him. "Just take me to school, Lahey."

He chuckled, shaking his head as he followed her. Today was off to a good start.

$#%%^#

When they changed and got to school, Laci and Isaac found Scott and Stiles breaking open someone else's lock to their locker. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but him pulling out the locker's owner's clothes was not it. "Now we can catch his scent." Scott said, tossing one of the articles of clothing to Isaac and the other to Malia, who had showed up behind them.

"You called them?" Stiles asked, obviously not having known Scott called them about meeting them at the school

Scott nodded, knowing they couldn't do this on their own. Isaac and Malia were pretty decent trackers. He knew Isaac would be with Laci so that was why he called her. Plus, it wouldn't hurt to have someone Stiles didn't hate right now around. "We need all the help we can get. I should be calling everyone else." He said, glancing back.

"And I know what this kid looks like." Malia added in.

Stiles seemed to give in, though he was relunctent to do so. Laci felt bad for him. She knew he was feeling like he was all alone, but he wasn't. He still had friends who cared about him whether he liked it or not.

The clothes ended up taking them to an old railroad station. Malia led the way inside and down onto the tracks with the others following behind her. Malia and Scott jogged up ahead to see if they could see any sign of Noah, the last chimera, but there was no sign of him. Laci and Isaac hung back with Stiles as they looked around.

Laci looked up ahead to see Scott and Malia talking and knew they needed a moment. Scott was trying to repair his pack as best he could. Looking over at Stiles, she wasn't sure how easy that was going to be. "How's Lydia doing?" She asked, breaking the silence.

Stiles looked surprised she'd asked that. Not that he should be, she and Lydia were still friends and had been for a few years now. Maybe he was just in his own world and was startled when she said something. "Uh, I'm not sure. Her mom kicked me out of the room." He confessed. He looked conflicted for a second before speaking again. "She's catatombic after what Theo did to her and he just sees it as collateral damage."

Before she could make a comment, Isaac nudged her, motioning toward Scott and Malia. "She's taking off."

The three caught up to Scott as they turned to the right to follow Malia. She ended up going underground into one of the tunnels, the guys and Laci not far behind her. A breeze of wind hit them, causing Malia to smile in triumph. "I got it. I got his scent." She said, glancing back at the other four behind her before taking off toward the scent.

As they traveled down the tunnel, they found blood smeared alone the pipes. "This is Noah's. He was here. I think he's close."

"Guys . . ." Scott said as he looked down one of the tunnels. "I think we've been down tunnels like this before like when we were trying to find Liam and Hayden."

Stiles and the others turned to see what he was talking about. "Okay, so what?"

Scott seemed to think it was a major clue. He was hoping it led them to wherever the dread doctors were hiding. If they could find the doctors, they could maybe try and put an end to all of this. "Maybe it means we're closer than we think. Maybe there's something else down here. Something that we haven't found yet." He said, glancing back at the others.

"Yeah, nothing that helps my dad." Stiles said, his tone sharp and impatient.

"Stiles," Laci scolded him.

He shot her a look. He was right and she knew it. This was getting them no closer to saving his dad and they were running out of time. "It's true. Look, we can't just keep standing around here waiting for something to . . ." Stiles was cut off as something jumped out growling, knocking him into the wall behind them.

Laci gasped in surprie as Isaac pushed her back behind him. "Stiles!" She called, only to get no answer in return.

Malia and Isaac transformed as Scott and Laci hurried to Stiles' side, both trying to coax him awake. After a minute, he came to. "You okay?" Scott asked him as he and Laci both grabbed onto Stiles' arms and help him to his feet.

"Yeah, fine." He said, brushing them off.

Laci turned to the sound of fighting. Malia had the boy pinned to the ground, her teeth bared as she growled. "Let me go, please! Please!" He begged, looking between the five of them. "They're coming."

The sound of crackling caught their attention. Looking down the tunnel, Scott, Isaac, and Malia could all hear the dead doctors on their way. Malia hesitated before letting Noah up. He hurried to his feet, making a break for it, but Stiles was faster. He grabbed him and shoved him into the wall before he could get very far. "You're not going anywhere." He snarled, shoving him again.

"I said I don't remember." He said, panicked as he looked around for help.

"You don't remember anything?"

"No! Not when it happens. Not when I change." He confessed.

Stiles wasn't buying it. "You clawed my dad half to death, okay, and now it's posioning him. You're gonna start remembering every detail right now."

"Scott, I can hear them." Isaac warned the alpha.

"I can too." Malia said, sounding panicked.

Scott knew they were worried more about the dread doctors. They'd tried to take them on before and every time had ended with them getting their asses handed to them. This time would be no different. "Yeah, I know." He said before turning his attention to Stiles. "Hey, Stiles, get him out of here. Take Laci with you and go to the hospital. Figure out a way to save your dad." He said, motioning for Laci to go.

"We're not going to be able to stop them." Malia pointed out.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious." Isaac said, giving her a look.

"But we can slow them down." Scott said, stopping their bickering as he looked to his sister. "Stiles, Laci, go."

Stiles hesitated another moment before giving in and pushing Noah forward. Laci was close behind him as the three took off down the tunnel. They three raced down the tunnel as if their lives depended on it, which they kind of did. They could hear gun fire behind them, but didn't stop to look back as they got to a dead end. It was blocked off by a locked gate. Stiles rattled the gate, trying to get it open but it was no use.

"Step back. I think I can break through it." Noah said, breathing hard as he looked between them. "It's just sometimes, most of the time, I lose control. So you better step back."

Stiles didn't hesitate before he pulled Laci away from the gate and Noah moved forward. He clenched his fists, gritting his teeth together. He groaned in pain as the spikes came out from his hands. Stiles and Laci watched as he broke the chain and pulled the doors apart. It wasn't what Stiles was watching though. He was noticing the broken spike on one of his hands.

"Let's go."

Stiles looked at Laci before following after him. "Call your mom. Tell her they need to get the splinters out. That's what's poisoning him."

Laci looked confused before nodding. She pulled her phone out and called her mom, passing along the message. As she hung up, she just hoped Stiles was right and her mom could get to the doctor in time.

#$#%^$%$

Laci was talking to her mom when Scott and the others showed up. Malia and Isaac followed in behind him. Chris Argent was with them now. That explained the shooting they heard back in the tunnels. Scott looked terrfied as he looked at his mom for some kind of sign. She nodded her head, telling him they'd done it. They saved the sheriff. Relief flooded him. He let loose a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

Isaac slipped passed him and over to Laci. She was happy to see him in one piece. She greeted him with a quick hug, letting him know she was okay too. As she pulled back, she turned to her brother and Malia. "Stiles is down with his dad. He hasn't left the room since they let him in." She said, filling them in on what had happened since they got to the hospital.

Scott nodded, glancing back at the others. As much as he wanted to check on the sheriff himself, he knew Stiles needed some time alone with his dad.

Melissa shared a look with Chris before turning her attention to the teenagers. "You should all be heading home. It's been a long night."

Scott looked relunctent, but nodded as he glanced around his group. His pack might be broken, but at least he still had Malia, Isaac, and Laci. He was hoping he could include Stiles on that list soon, but he knew he was still pretty upset.

Laci grabbed her jacket from the nurse's station and turned to Isaac. "You driving or are you gonna let me drive this time?"

He chuckled, shaking his head. "No way. I've seen how you drive."

Scott smiled weakly watching them. It was like old times and he missed when it was that simple. He missed when Laci and Isaac went into their own world and got along. They might not be together, and they've lost friends along the way, but it was that little bit of normal that told him things were going to work themselves out. He just had to keep the hope alive.