"Wait, slow down… Your plan is to lure the hunters to that shitty old zoo and then… What? Blow up Gerard's armory?" I asked.
Scott nodded. "That's the general idea."
"And Mason and I are… What? Bait?"
He nodded again. "Yeah, kind of. Liam and Theo are going to be at the zoo, you and Mason need to make sure that Nolan sees you rounding up supplies to take there. He should follow you and tell Monroe or whoever that we're still in town. The hunters leave, the armory is empty, we destroy all of their weapons."
"How are we going to make sure Nolan sees us? He'll be in school?" Mason said.
I tapped my fingers against the metal tabletop. "Well, we could always grab some stuff from the lost and found."
"I don't think an ugly backpack and someone's nasty gym shoes are going to really work." Liam said.
"Have you seen how much stuff the office has in the lost and found? People always bring sleeping bags and blankets to keep warm during lacrosse games and I swear, nearly half of them get left behind."
"Don't you think the secretary might get a little bit suspicious if we take all of the blankets?" Mason asked.
I laughed and shook my head. "Please, Gayle is nearly blind. You could probably steal her desk and she wouldn't notice."
Scott chuckled. "How do you know all of this?"
"Being an office assistant has its perks." I shrugged. "Anyway, we need more than just blankets and shit. We need food too."
"I don't think the lost and found has food." Liam pointed out.
I nodded. "Correct. Which is why I'm sneaking into the kitchen. Mason, all you have to do is go into the office, tell Gayle that you found a bag or something, you don't know who it belongs to and that you want to place it into the lost and found. Then just go in and rob them blind. While you're doing that, I'll go into the kitchen and grab some of the bags of apples and a package of the bottled water."
"I still don't know how Nolan will see us." Mason said.
"We'll walk past whatever class he's in on our way out. Do something to draw just enough attention." I looked down at my watch. "If we go now, he'll probably be in math by the time we're ready to head out."
"How do you know his schedule?"
I sighed. "He was my friend before this. Besides, I don't have much to offer as far as it goes for physicality, so I compensate by knowing things. Including what classes our enemy agents will be in at all times during the day. While Nolan's in math, Gabe should be in French."
"Impressive." Theo noted from his spot in the corner.
"I almost forgot you were still here. I'm not used to you being quiet for more than 48 seconds." I teased.
He rolled his eyes but smiled.
"Okay, one last run through. Scott, Lydia, and Malia are going to the armory with Argent. Theo and Liam are going to be at the zoo. Mason and I are the bait. And Corey, what are you doing?" I asked.
"Espionage activity." He responded. "I'll be at school to keep an eye on things there but I'll be invisible."
I nodded. "Right, okay, got it."
"So if we all know what we're doing, why are we still sitting around here?" Theo Asked.
"He has a good point. We need to move now. Mason and I will head to school, pretending everything's normal. As soon as everyone else is in position, let us know and we'll move onto the next stage." I rushed. "I have to go home, change, and get my knives."
"Why do you have to change?" Corey asked.
I looked down at the sweatpants and sneakers I had on. "This outfit doesn't give me enough places to hide my knives."
Liam cut me off. "Wait, why do you need knives? You're just going to school."
"For when we're at the zoo and the hunters show up." I said, as though it should've been obvious.
He shook his head. "No, you're not staying. Neither of you are staying. You're dropping off the fake supplies and getting out of there."
I rolled my eyes. "Bullshit. Mason can go if he wants but I'm staying."
"Liam's right. It's too dangerous for you to be there." Theo said.
I glared at him. "Don't you start with me. Either the two of you can accept the fact that I'm going to be there and have my back, just as I will have yours, or you can wonder if I'm safe wandering about the zoo on my own when the hunters show up. Take your pick."
With that, I turned and walked out of the room in a huff. However, I returned a moment later. "I can't go anywhere. Mason drove me."
Liam laughed as Mason pulled out his – well, technically Lydia's – car keys and followed me out of the clinic.
"Do you need me to wait for you?" He asked when we pulled up in front of my house.
I shook my head as I pushed the car door open. "No, I'll drive myself. Theo will have his truck but depending on how things go at the zoo, it wouldn't hurt to have a second car. I'll meet you at school soon, okay?"
He nodded, and I shut the door, rushing up to the porch and into the house.
When I walked into my room, all I wanted to do was collapse onto my bed and sleep for a day. Coming up with the plan and getting everything sorted out had taken up most of the night. I'd only slept for twenty minutes when I accidentally fell asleep on the exam table in the clinic and I was exhausted.
But there was too much that needed to be done. I could sleep later, maybe. Hopefully.
I walked to my closet to find a different outfit. I figured that in order to keep my knives hidden – and in the event that I needed to fight – jeans, a tank top, boots, and my bomber jacket would be sensible enough. And, for the time that I needed to be at school, it wouldn't stand out much.
Once I had changed, I got to work on getting my knives put away. Three throwing knives were tucked into the left side of my waistband, my butterfly knife and regular pocketknife were tucked into the right side, and I had two military-grade fixed blade knives – gifts from Argent – slipped into my boots.
I pulled my hair up into a ponytail before grabbing my backpack and keys and heading out the door.
Mason was waiting for me in the parking lot when I pulled up and we walked inside together. We parted ways once we made it to the office, Mason headed inside to talk to Gayle while I walked towards the cafeteria.
I was nearly there when two people suddenly turned the corner in front of me and blocked my path. Gabe and Aaron.
"What do you want? I'm kind of busy." I sighed.
"Aren't you forgetting it's test day?" Gabe said.
I squinted up at him. "What the fuck are you talking about?"
Aaron nodded his head in the direction of a classroom across the hall and I walked over to look in through the small window on the door. Every single student in the room had one hand wrapped in a bloody bandage.
"Like what Nolan did to Corey." I said, turning back to the face them. That was when I noticed the bloody scalpel in Gabe's hand. "Gabe, you know damn well that I'm human."
He cocked his head to the side slightly, his dark eyes focusing on my blue ones. "I'm not so sure about that. We'll need to test you anyway."
Aaron reached out to grab my wrist but before he could even touch me, I slammed my palms into his chest. He stumbled back a few feet and I noticed that it knocked the breath out of him. "Don't fucking touch me. If you think I'm letting you near me with that blade then you're both fucking delusional. I mean, are you seriously cutting everyone with the same dirty blade? Are you that fucking stupid? Someone's going to end up with a fucking infection because, not only are you assholes, but you're unsanitary assholes."
"Everyone has to get tested." Aaron said.
"Fine." I smirked and pulled my pocket knife out of my waistband and flicking it open. I held my left hand out, palm down. Both boys watched as I dragged the sharp blade across the back of my hand, hissing slightly at the pain. I continued holding my hand out to show them that it wasn't healing before grabbing a package of tissues from my bag and pulling a few out. I wiped off my knife before folding it and sticking it back into my waistband.
I wiped some of the blood from my skin to show them that the wound was still bleeding. "See? Human. So, are we done here?"
Gabe nodded.
"Good. Then fuck off." I said, shoving past him.
I stepped around the corner and leaned against the wall, examining the cut on the back of my hand. It was still bleeding but not as much. Since I didn't have any bandages, I fished an extra hair tie out of my bag and wrapped it around my hand to hold the tissues in place so that I wouldn't be bleeding all over everything.
When Gabe and Aaron disappeared, I set off again towards the cafeteria. Since it was still early in the day, all of the cooks were working on preparing lunches for a few hundred students; they would all be too preoccupied to notice me sneaking around.
The door to the kitchen was usually closed and locked but I knew that while they were preparing lunch, the cooks kept it propped open to let some of the heat out.
Making it to the door was the easy part but making it into the pantry would be harder. Once I reached the doorway, the kitchen was to the right and the pantry was to the left. But I knew that if any of the cooks looked towards the doorway, they would be able to see me in the pantry. I knew that I was going to have to be quick.
When all of the cooks were looking away from my general area and seemed to focused on their own tasks, I quickly tiptoed into the massive pantry. There were a few cases of bottled water stacked in the corner and a bag full of apples lying on one shelf. I stacked the bag of apples onto one of the cases of water and lifted the goods into my arms.
The bundle was heavier than I had anticipated and the cut on my hand was throbbing. I ran as fast as I could out of the pantry and towards the hallway where I had run into Gabe and Aaron. This time, there was a much friendlier face in their place. Mason was standing there holding a mountain of sleeping bags and blankets.
"Okay, listen, it's…" I paused and spun around to find a clock on the wall. "10:05 so Nolan will be in room 127 for math. But we need to avoid running into Gabe and Aaron who are running around somewhere assaulting students with a dirty scalpel."
He made a horrified face.
"Yeah, it's disgusting. I'll explain more later. We just need to get past 127, make sure Nolan sees us, and get out of here within ten minutes before class gets out. If not, who knows how many people we might have to deal with."
We made our way towards the hall where Nolan's class was and slowly walked past the room. He didn't notice us the first time so we backed up to try again.
"Drop something." I whispered.
"What?"
"Drop some of the stuff."
Mason nodded. "Right, got it."
Right as we were about to pass the door again, Mason let a few of the sleeping bags drop from his arms with a hushed but audible "shit!"
Nolan looked out through the open door to see Mason scrambling to pick up the sleeping bags and me pretending to rush him with an armful of stolen goods.
When we got out to the parking lot, we stuffed everything into the trunk of Lydia's car. We pretended not to notice Nolan getting into his own car which was parked just a few spots over.
"You leave first. I'll follow you." I told Mason as we got into our cars.
Mason pulled out of his spot and I followed a moment later. Nolan barely hesitated before driving after us.
"Wow, he's bad at this." I muttered to myself when I saw how closely he was following us.
Soon after, Mason and I pulled up to the abandoned Hill Valley Zoo. Liam and Theo got out of the truck as we approached.
I parked my car next to Theo's truck before helping Theo unload everything from the trunk of Lydia's car.
Once everything was unpacked, Mason called out to me. "Hey, be careful!"
I smiled and waved. "Always! Bye, Mason!"
"What happened to your hand?" Theo asked when he saw my makeshift bandage.
"It's just a cut." I shrugged. "Gabe and Aaron are testing everyone at school."
"Gabe did this to you?!" Liam's eyes flickered yellow.
I shook my head. "No, calm down. I did it to myself."
"Why the hell would you do that?" Theo asked.
I almost laughed. "To prove to them that I'm human while also not giving Gabe the satisfaction of hurting me. I also told him to fuck off so… Anyway, I'm fine. We just need to keep moving. Where are we supposed to take all of this stuff?"
"There's this secluded area over by where they used to keep the lions. We can put everything in there, make it look like a hideout." Liam explained.
"Alright, great. You lead the way because I suck at navigating in this place." I said, moving to pick up as many of the supplies as I could carry.
Theo and I followed Liam through the zoo for a few minutes before arriving at the place he had described. We laid out the sleeping bags before setting the water and food off to the corner.
Once that was set up, we walked back towards the zoo's entrance where Nolan had parked his car. We were positioned up on a ledge where we could hear and see everything.
Within minutes, a truck pulled up and two men got out. The driver spoke to Nolan. "Where are they?"
"Inside the zoo. They're all here." He said and I could tell that he was nervous. He was always nervous. "It's not just the two of you, is it?"
"What do you mean, 'just?'" The driver asked cockily.
"It's not just a pack, okay?" Nolan explained. "There's an Alpha and a Banshee. They're all here."
"I don't see all of them." The second man said.
"I don't see anyone." The driver followed up as they both looked around.
Nolan was getting more and more worked up. "I… I saw Theo and Liam and Lauren bringing a car full of food and supplies right here. There were at least six sleeping bags, okay? They're here, they're all here!"
"It's just Nolan and two other guys." Liam said quietly. "This isn't gonna work."
"Where's the backup?" Theo asked. "I mean, shouldn't there be like 20 of them?"
I crouched down next to them. "Still at the armory, I bet. They only saw us. And as far as I know, Nolan's not exactly a high-ranking member of their little army. I'm not 100 percent sure anyone's even going to listen to him."
"Okay." Theo muttered.
I looked towards him and could see that he was deep in thought.
A small smirk appeared on his face. "Then they have to believe us."
"What are you talking about?" I whispered.
"Isn't that right?" He shouted.
I rushed to cover his mouth.
"Why are you yelling?" Liam asked.
"You got a problem? Oh, that's right, you always have a problem.!" Theo continued yelling as he pushed my hand away from his mouth.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Shut up!"
Liam looked offended and I admit that I kind of felt the same way. But that's when I realized what he was trying to do.
"Theo, leave him alone!" I shouted back. "You're the one who's always starting trouble."
Theo punched Liam in the face and my brother groaned loudly.
"Dude, what the fuck?" I yelled, that reaction being entirely genuine.
"Yeah, you see that, Scott? Little Beta can't even take a punch! And what do you think, Malia? What, you think he can take me?"
"Okay, I get it. But did you actually have to punch me?" Liam asked.
I moved closer to the ledge and I could hear the guys talking. I whispered "wait, it's working. Keep going."
Theo punched Liam again, knocking him to the ground.
"That's not what I meant." I snapped, helping him to his feet.
They continued fighting and I wanted to break it up but I knew better than to get in between them.
"See what I mean, Lauren? He's only good in a fight when he's angry. So, let's see just how angry he gets."
"Let's not." I suggested but neither of them were listening to me anymore.
Eventually, they stopped.
"Are you done?" I asked. "Or are you just gonna keep going? Forget the mission, just kill each other?"
One of the hunters announced that they were calling for backup, so Theo agreed to stop the fight.
"You ripped my tshirt." Liam said.
"I bought him that tshirt." I frowned.
"Yeah, you broke my nose. Twice. It healed, you broke it again. Two times!" Theo panted.
After only a second of hesitation, Liam reached out and punched Theo again. "Three times."
I rolled my eyes before walking away to find a better vantage point.
We ended up splitting up to check the other exits the zoo had but we found no new hunters.
When we met up again, I wasn't so sure that the plan was going to work at all.
"It's just the three of them and it's been half an hour." Liam said.
Theo shrugged. "Don't blame me. You're the one who picked the abandoned zoo. What the hell are we doing in this place anyway?"
"Because it's like Mykonos."
My eyebrows furrowed. "The Greek island?"
He nodded. "In the city they build these long, narrow, winding streets that all meet up with each other. Invaders would get lost in them like they were in a maze trying to figure our which was to go."
Theo half smiled and looked over at me.
"The only subject he ever liked in school was history. He's pretty damn good at it too." I explained.
"I'm impressed." Theo admitted. "It's a good idea."
"Yeah, only if invaders actually show up."
Right after Liam said that, I could hear cars in the distance and we looked out to see black SUVs pull up.
"Looks like they're here." I said, watching people with weapons load out of the vehicles.
"Okay, let's go. We're supposed to be decoys, not target practice."
I moved to follow Theo out of there but Liam hesitated.
"You still working on that anger?" Theo asked.
"I'm fine." He responded.
"Okay, then. Let's go." I encouraged.
Theo grabbed Liam's shoulder and tugged. "Well, you can angry at Nolan and stay alive. Come on."
Liam brushed his hand off and ignored him.
"Fine, get caught." Theo walked away.
I sighed. "Liam, come on. We really do need to go."
"Just give me a minute." Liam snapped.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "No. It's time for us to get out of here. We've done everything we're supposed to do. They're not actually supposed to catch us. It's too…"
When I suddenly trailed off, my brother turned to face me. "What? What's wrong?"
"This isn't just dangerous for us." I said. "It is for Nolan, too. Come on, we have to get Theo."
I ran off and Liam followed quickly.
"How is it dangerous for Nolan?" He asked as we ran.
"It's like I said earlier, he's not exactly a high-ranking member. And Lydia has told me that Gerard isn't afraid to kill his own men. I can only assume Monroe feels the same way. Everyone's out here because of Nolan. If they don't find us, they could go after him. They could kill him." I paused to take a breath. "I know you don't like him and I don't blame you for that, I don't like him very much right now either. But Liam, he's just a kid. He's younger than us by a month. Aren't we supposed to save him too?"
Liam grumbled something in response but I couldn't understand what he said.
We didn't stop running until we finally found Theo.
I groaned, clutching at my side and taking a few deep breaths. There was a light sheen of sweat covering my forehead.
"What's going on?" Theo asked.
"We can't leave. We've gotta make sure someone sees us." Liam said.
Theo's eyes went wide. "That wasn't part of the plan."
I nodded. "Trust me. Everything will be fine. We'll all make it out of here unscathed. But if we leave without someone seeing us – at least one of us – Nolan might be in danger. I don't know what Gerard and Monroe might do to him."
"What are we supposed to do?"
I leaned up against rock wall as I thought about it. "I can leave the same way we came in while the two of you sneak out the back. If they see me, they'll know that Nolan wasn't lying, right?"
"Fuck no." Liam said. "That's not happening. You're not running off by yourself. What if they hurt you?"
"I'm human. They won't touch me." I said, bending down and pulling the knives out of my boots to show them. "I think I'll be okay."
Their eyes went wide and I just stuck the blades back into my boots.
Theo smirked. "How many of those did you bring?"
"Of those specific knives, two. But I have seven knives in total. Those, my pocket knife, butterfly knife, and three throwing knives. I don't like walking into situations like this unarmed. And like I told Liam, Argent wouldn't let me have a gun."
Liam shushed me a moment later. "Wait, I can hear something."
He peered around the corner of the stone wall I was leaned up against and when I fell silent, I could hear footsteps approaching.
I leaned around Liam, looking in the same direction he was.
Nolan was walking nervously towards where we were, armed with a crossbow.
"If you keep looking, he's going to see you. Get back." Theo warned.
We both continued watching to see where Nolan was going to be headed.
I didn't know if he was going to turn in our direction or follow a different path.
Theo tugged Liam's arm. "I'm not dying out here because you want payback against some kid who kicked you ass, okay?"
"Shut up, Theo." I muttered.
Liam and I turned to continue watching Nolan when Theo grabbed us and hauled us away. I could tell that our footsteps were too loud and Nolan was sure to have heard us.
Theo pulled us up to a ledge. It was similar to the one we were on before but I knew we were on the opposite side of the zoo.
"Let go." Liam said, pulling his arm away.
"Calm down!" Theo nearly yelled.
"I said let go." Liam's eyes glowed yellow and I quickly pulled my arm from Theo's grasp and placed my hand on my brother's shoulder.
I spoke softly. "Deep breath, Li. It's okay."
"What's going on with you? This cant just be Nolan. Something around here is triggering you." Theo said to him.
"I'm fine."
I rolled my eyes at Liam's words but kept my hand on his shoulder.
"What is it? The hunters? You don't like cages, scared of heights?" Theo asked.
"It's the same place." I whispered, remembering something Liam had told me a couple of years before. "The same zoo."
"I said I'm fine." Liam said.
"They're up here!"
I immediately recognized the yell from behind me. Nolan had found us.
When I spun around, he still had the crossbow in his hand. But before I could react, Liam growled loudly and lunged towards him. Both boys went over the small ledge and I ran over to look, seeing them both on the ground below.
"Shit. We have to get down there." I said, running off in the direction we'd come before finding the right path to follow to get to them.
Theo was right behind me the whole time.
"What's going on with him?" He asked.
I shook my head, tears threatening my eyes. "It's a long story. But something happened here, something bad. It still upsets him. I didn't… I didn't even realize this was the same zoo until a minute ago."
Neither of the boys were in sight yet but I could hear Liam's low growls and Nolan talking.
"She wants me to kill you." There was a short pause. "She'll kill me if I don't."
He sounded terrified.
I rounded a small corner and saw both of them.
The sound of my footsteps drew Nolan's attention. He turned, the crossbow no longer aimed at my brother, but at me.
I froze, tears threatening my eyes. I wondered if he would actually shoot me.
When Theo saw it, he quickly pushed me behind him. I clutched the back of his shirt with one of my hands while I peeked around his shoulder.
Suddenly Liam knocked the crossbow from Nolan's hands and pushed him against the stone wall.
Nolan was crying, his face contorted with fear.
Liam's hand curled in his fist, his claws probably digging into his palms.
I watched in horror, wondering if he was going to kill Nolan.
"Liam, don't hurt him!" I shouted, trying to rush towards him.
Theo reached out with one arm and pulled me back, keeping his arm looped around my waist.
I was crying. "Liam, listen to me! Don't hurt him! You're better than this. You aren't a monster."
Liam's fist slammed into the rock next to Nolan's head, the sound of the bones in his hand breaking made me cringe and I slumped against Theo, feeling overwhelmed.
My brother kept slamming his fist into the rock, blood pouring from his knuckles.
Suddenly he stopped, his fist opened up to reveal his claws.
When Nolan saw them, his eyes fluttered shut. He thought he was going to die. And I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything.
Theo let go of me and moved towards them.
Liam roared and I covered my mouth with my hand, ready to the muffle the scream that was sure to escape when he killed Nolan.
But before he could do that, Theo ran up behind him and knocked my brother out with a single blow.
Theo looked down at a still horrified Nolan. "Run."
Nolan took off as fast as possible and my hand fell from my mouth as I dropped to ground on my hands and knees, tears running down my face faster than I thought possible.
Theo rushed towards me, kneeling on the ground next to me while one of his hands rubbed my back gently. "Hey, it's okay. Just take a deep breath. We're going to get out of here, okay?"
I sat on my feet, my hands resting on my knees as I tried to catch my breath. My brother was still knocked out on the ground but I could see his chest moving when he breathed so I didn't panic.
I brushed dirt from my hands before wiping tears from my face and letting Theo pull me to my feet. "Listen, we still have to stick to the plan. You take Liam out the back and I'll head out the front. Maybe if people see me, they'll be too distracted to keep looking for you."
"Lauren, are you sure? That kid just pointed a crossbow at you." He asked.
"He didn't mean to. He wasn't going to shoot me. I think I just scared him and he overreacted. Theo, I'm not scared of Nolan. I'm not scared of any of these guys." I said.
"Really? Because I am. Liam is. You should be scared of them."
I shook my head. "If they're only interested in killing supernaturals, then I'm fine. I'm human. For once, that might actually work to my advantage. Do you know how long it's been since we've been up against something that I might actually have a shot against?"
Before Theo could say anything else, I spoke again.
"Listen, I'll be fine, okay? I appreciate the concern but please just worry about getting Liam out of here right now. I'll take care of myself. Please just keep him safe. I'll meet up with you later."
I took off before he could argue with me, making my way towards the main entrance at a light jog.
Surprisingly, I didn't run into many hunters. I avoided them and almost made it out of there without incident.
I was following one of the main paths, walking past an exhibit that used to house monkeys when I was a kid. It had been one of my favorite parts of the zoo. I knew that I was close to the entrance when one of the hunters stopped me.
He shouted at me to stop, a rifle pointed at my chest.
My feet stopped and I held my hands up. "I'm an unarmed human. I would appreciate it tremendously if you would lower the automatic weapon."
I noticed him look at the bloody bandage on my hand before lowering the weapon, using the strap to hang it from his shoulder.
"What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Leaving." I said, as though it should be obvious.
When he walked closer to me, I realized that he wasn't much older than I was, maybe 23 tops.
He smirked and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "What are you doing trying to help them?"
"They're my friends." I shrugged. "Whatever it is that you think you know about them, you're wrong. They aren't bad people."
"They aren't even people."
I rolled my eyes. "I don't even know why I try reasoning with you."
I tried to move past him but he blocked my path.
"Excuse me." I said.
He still didn't move.
I groaned. "Dude, listen, I really don't feel like doing this right now. I am just trying to go home and get some sleep. I slept twenty minutes last night and I hope you would understand that people need sleep."
"Shouldn't you be in school right now?" He asked, ignoring everything I said.
"Shouldn't you be jerking off to lesbian porn in your mom's basement?" I retorted.
His nostrils flared.
"I'm not the kind of person to be fucked with." I warned, shoving past him.
I thought he was going to let me go but he grabbed my wrist tightly and pulled me back. I tried to push him away but he just held my wrist with one hand and the material of my jacket with the other and I couldn't wriggle away.
I lifted my foot from the ground and pulled the knife from my boot with my free hand. Before he knew what I was doing, I made a slashing motion towards him.
The blade didn't cut him but it tore the shirt he was wearing.
He managed to get ahold of my wrist but I didn't let him get the knife from my hand. "I could use a little help over here!"
Within seconds of him shouting, another hunter came running over. He didn't hold a gun but he was running directly at me.
A surge of adrenaline coursed through me and I pulled my hand away. The handle of my knife had a small raised point at the end, it was one of the main reasons I'd wanted it. I knew that the handle was just as much of a weapon as the blade.
I swung behind me, the end of the handle and the side of my fist slammed into the side of the guy's head. Unconscious, he crumpled to the ground.
The first guy came up behind me, his chest pressed against my back and his hands latching onto my wrists.
"Let go of me!" I growled, unsuccessfully trying to pull away from him.
After a minute of that, I decided to try a new tactic.
I remembered something I had done with Argent while he was helping me with different self-defense techniques. It wasn't something he'd taught me, exactly, but something I had figured out myself when I made a mistake and he had me trapped in a similar position.
I adjusted my stance – my feet between his – and pushed my hands as far away from my body as I could.
I swiveled my hips to the right and moved my right leg back. The top of my foot touched the outside of his left ankle and I forced my leg forward again, successfully sweeping his legs out from my underneath him.
My success was short lived because when he pulled me down with him, I landed on his chest and I could feel white hot pain pierce through my abdomen, just inches below my breast.
The guy moved out from underneath me but I remained on the ground. My knife was laying somewhere next to me. My hands went to my abdomen, where I could feel the pain.
I lifted my right hand, surprised to see it coated in blood. I looked down, seeing a tear in my shirt and a deep cut that ran from my left side all the way to the middle of my abdomen.
"Oh fuck." I groaned, applying pressure to the wound.
The guy I had been fighting with looked horrified and took off running.
I was alone. I was alone and I couldn't get up and I was bleeding and I thought I was going to die.
The pain was unbelievable. And I wasn't sure exactly how it had happened.
I felt like I was going to pass out.
Moments later, I heard footsteps approaching. I turned my head to the side to see the hunter returning with Gerard.
I tried to ask for help but I couldn't.
"It was an accident." The young hunter said to Gerard. "I didn't know what to do so I found you."
Gerard stepped closer, looking down at me. He was smiling. "It's fine. Just leave her there to bleed out."
With that, he walked away and the guy followed after him after hesitating for only a moment.
I sobbed loudly, still trying to slow the bleeding. I moved my right hand away from the wound, fishing around in my pocket for my phone.
When I finally got it out, I was met with more disappointment. I tried to turn it on several times but the battery was clearly dead.
"Fuck!" I shouted and dropped it to the ground.
The sky above me was growing dark and I was still bleeding heavily. I needed help.
I was still crying silently when I heard more footsteps a few minutes later. My head swiveled around and I saw Nolan maybe 15 feet away.
My mouth was dry and I was so weak that I could barely get any words out. But I still tried. "Nolan! Nolan, please!"
He didn't hear me at first.
I noticed a fairly sizable rock laying inches from my head and I grabbed it. It took everything in me to throw it towards him.
It clattered to the ground next to his feet and he jumped slightly, looking in my direction.
When he saw me laying on the ground, his eyes went wide and he dropped his crossbow as he sprinted towards me.
He fell to his knees next to me when he saw all of the blood. It was staining my shirt, my hands, even soaking into the dirt beneath me. "Lauren, can you hear me?"
I nodded weakly.
"Okay. Just hold still, I'm going to get you out of here." His hands fumbled with his belt buckle but he managed to pull it from the loops. "I'm going to put this around you."
He gently slid it beneath me and slid the end back through the buckle. "Move your hands for me, Ren."
I slid my hands away from the cut and Nolan tightened the belt around me. The leather pressed against the cut and I nearly screamed at the pain.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He said, fastening the belt around me. "This should help though, okay? Just use one of your hands to keep more pressure on it."
I followed his instructions and pressed my right hand against it.
He spotted my phone on the ground and he picked it up, sliding it into his pocket.
One of his arms slid underneath my shoulders and the other under my knees.
I looped my left arm around his neck.
"This is going to hurt." He warned, tears threatening his blue eyes.
I nodded. "S'okay."
With that, he slowly lifted me from the ground.
I whimpered at the pain but bit my tongue to keep from screaming.
"I'm sorry." He said again. "But I have to get you out of here. You need to go to the hospital."
Nolan carried me with ease, walking towards the front of the zoo.
I began to feel increasingly weak. My head fell to his chest and my eyelids slid shut.
"Lauren?" Nolan asked. "Lauren, hey, keep your eyes open. You have to stay awake."
"'M tryin'." I muttered. "Tired."
"I know. I know you're tired and I know it hurts but you have to keep your eyes open."
I did my best to do what he said but there were a few times I nearly passed out, barely managing to keep myself awake. The adrenaline that was coursing through me when I was fighting had worn off and I was exhausted.
When we approached his car, I reached out, using the little bit of strength I had left to pull the door open.
It only opened a few inches but it was enough for Nolan to kick it open the rest of the way and gently lay me in the backseat before closing it and getting into the driver's seat.
Nolan continued talking to me during the entire drive to the hospital. Every few seconds, he glanced at me in the rearview mirror.
I didn't have the energy to respond or even process everything he was saying but his voice helped me stay calm.
When he pulled up to the ER, he quickly lifted me back into his arms and ran me inside.
A familiar voice reached my ears.
"Lauren? Oh my god, what happened?"
It was Melissa.
Nolan answered for me. "I think it was a fight. She's cut really bad. I think she needs stitches."
"Okay, let's get her to a bed."
Melissa showed Nolan where to take me and he gently lowered me onto a hospital bed while I heard her shout for a doctor.
Nolan sat next to me. "Hey, you're gonna be okay. Alright? You're gonna be just fine."
I tried to offer him a smile but I couldn't.
One of his hands slipped into mine and I gave a gentle squeeze.
Melissa came back into the room, one of her hands softly running over the top of my head. "Okay, Lauren, a doctor is coming. We're going to take care of you."
She looked at the belt wrapped around me before turning her attention to Nolan. "Did you do this?"
He nodded. "Is it okay? I didn't know what else to do. She was just bleeding so much."
Melissa silenced him. "It's fine. It's great, actually. Looks like it helped stop the bleeding."
A doctor I recognized walked into the room and offered me a smile. "Hi, Miss Dunbar. Let's get you taken care of."
Nolan moved out of the way and towards the foot of the bed. He watched as Melissa and the doctor removed the tourniquet from my waist.
I groaned, the release of pressure sent a wave of pain through my abdomen.
"Do you want something for the pain?" The doctor asked.
I shook my head. "Nothing strong, just lidocaine."
"Okay. We can do that." He said while examining the cut. "Good news is the cut doesn't go all the way through the subcutaneous tissue so you don't need surgery. But you do need some stitches and we might keep you a couple of hours to make sure the lido doesn't have any adverse effects. Okay?"
"Has anyone paged dad?" I asked.
Melissa nodded. "He's operating upstairs but a nurse paged him. He'll be down soon. Should we call your mom?"
"No, she's in bed by now." I explained, my voice not much more than a whisper.
"Okay, well, let's get you patched up. Melissa, I need lido and a suture kit."
When Melissa left the room to get the supplies, the doctor grabbed a few things that were already in the room.
Nolan moved to sit next to me, his hand finding mine again.
"Have you had stitches before?" The doctor asked.
I nodded once. "I used to get hurt a lot when I was a kid."
As he continued getting things ready, I turned back to Nolan. The hand that was holding mine was trembling.
"Thank you." I whispered.
He nodded, his thumb tracing over the back of my hand. "You're welcome. But I just… What were you even doing there, Lauren?"
"The right thing. I was doing the right thing, what I had to do. Why where you there? Why are you with them?"
His eyes dropped, staring at the cut on my side rather than meeting my eyes.
Melissa came back in a moment later while the doctor was cleaning out the cut.
My voice was still a whisper when I spoke again. "You don't have to do this, Nolan. You know that, right?"
"What if I want to?" He challenged.
I shook my head. "But you don't. I can tell. I know you. I know you a lot better than you think I do. And this isn't you, this isn't who you are."
"Okay, Lauren, a little pinch." The doctor warned before injecting lidocaine into my skin around the cut.
I didn't respond to him, I just kept talking to Nolan. "You're a good person. You're just scared right now and that's okay. It's okay to be scared. But I promise it's not going to be like this forever; there will come a time when things aren't as terrifying. But these people – Gerard and Monroe – are monsters. To me, they're worse than what we saw in the library. They scare me more than that."
He still didn't meet my eyes but his hand never left mine and I could tell he was listening to what I had to say.
My head fell back against the pillow and I sighed, watching as the doctor began to stitch me up.
He only had a few stitches done when my dad entered the room, panic etched across his face. "Lauren? Oh my god, what happened?"
Nolan left my side and my dad took his spot.
"Dad, I'm okay. It was just an accident. I'm fine, I just need a few stitches." I said, immediately trying to calm him.
He watched at the doctor continued sewing up the wound. "What were you doing?"
"It was accident. I was messing around and I shouldn't have."
He was barely hearing me. "Melissa, what happened?"
She shook her head. "Doctor Geyer, I only know what you know. But I think what really matters is that she's going to be just fine."
He nodded once and I reached out, squeezing one of his hands.
"Like I said, Dad, I'm okay."
Within another twenty minutes, I was all stitched up and the doctor was covering the stitches with gauze.
"Since this was pretty deep, I'm going to have you keep these in for about two weeks. Then you can come back in to get them removed, okay?" He said.
I nodded. "Sounds good. I already know the drill for taking care of them so you don't have to worry about that."
He smiled. "Well, alright then. We're going to have you stick around for another hour to make sure you don't react poorly to the lidocaine. Before you leave, I can write you a prescription for a mild pain killer."
"No." I shook my head. "No pain killers. I'll just take ibuprofen."
"Are you sure?" Dad asked. "You might need something a little stronger than that."
I shook my head again. "No, I don't want pain killers. I'll be fine. I want to at least try to stick it out for a few days. If I can't handle it, I'll get something else. Until then, I'm only taking ibuprofen."
His pager went off a second later and he glanced at it, muttering a quiet "shit" before turning it off.
"I have to go. Call your brother to take you home, okay? Love you." He said, kissing the top of my head before rushing out of the room.
The doctor who had stitched me up said goodbye before following him out.
"Do you want to tell me what really happened?" Melissa asked when the door shut.
I almost laughed. "I sort of inserted myself into Scott's plan in a way that I shouldn't have."
She rolled her eyes but smiled. "Why am I not surprised?"
"Because it's me." I sighed.
"Is Scott alright?" She asked.
I shrugged. "I don't really know. My phone's dead so I don't know about anyone but Liam and Theo."
She nodded. "Okay. Well, I'm going to call my son and find out what the hell is going on. And I'll call Liam to come pick you up. Until he gets here, you just need to relax, okay? Do you need anything before I go?"
"No, I'm okay. Thanks, Melissa."
She gave a smile before leaving the room.
Nolan was standing at the foot of the bed, looking unsure of what he was supposed to do.
"Do you really still want to be on their side after this? I thought we were friends but you're going to pick them after what they did to me?" My voice trembled when I spoke and I was already on the verge of crying.
"It's not that simple."
I thought back to something he'd said at the zoo. "You know what their like. When you had that crossbow pointed at Liam, you said you had to kill him. You said she would kill you if you didn't. You were talking about Monroe."
He nodded once.
I carefully repositioned myself on the bed. "Okay, listen, you probably need to get out of here before my brother shows up. But I'll figure something out."
"What do you mean?"
"Something to keep you safe." I said. "I'm not only trying to protect my pack, Nolan. I'm trying to protect everyone."