When I got back to the basement, Isaac, Boyd, and Erica were all in the subway car, talking to one another. I followed Derek's scent to his room, knocking softly before entering. He sat on the edge of his bed, his head between his hands. He looked way past exhausted. "Hey." I said, watching as his head snapped up and his eyes met mine. "Are you okay?" I asked, moving to sit next to him. He looked up at me with a slight nod. "What is it?" I asked. He sighed. "I don't think… Jackson can be saved." He said. I bit my bottom lip, taking it in. "I've checked every possible legend in my family's history, and while it mentions the Kanima's existence, it doesn't say it can be fixed." I ground my teeth together in frustration at the next thought that entered my mind. "Jackson might not make it out of this alive." I said softly. I glanced at him as he nodded. "Yeah. He might not."
I thought for a moment; there had to be some way to fix this. To fix Jackson. I mean, sure he wasn't my favorite person in the world-cocky attitude an all- but that didn't mean he deserved this. Suddenly I heard a small voice. "Hello? Is anyone there?" I looked up the same time Derek did. He heard it too. We both stood, following the sound of the voice. We walked into the main room to find the rest of the pack standing and listening. "Hello?" It called again- tiny, and fractured. I walked up the stairs and into the decreasing light of the day to find a girl, lying nearly naked minus her bra and underwear, in the alley. She was covered in so much blood I could barely smell anything else-her hair matted with a mix between the red coppery substance she was practically drowning in, and a thick layer of mud. She lay there, on the verge of what I assumed in her horrid case would be death, covering herself as best she could. "Holy- Erica!" I yelled, kneeling by the girl's side. I could smell something else in her blood- werewolf. She was like us. An omega most definitely. "Erica!" I yelled again, glancing back to see her sprinting up the steps. "What the-" She paused mid-sentence as she took a good look at the girl before us. "What is it?" Isaac called. "Stay there!" I yelled, hoping to spare what was left of the poor girl's dignity by keeping those of the opposite gender away from her long enough to get her clothed.
Erica kneeled beside me, as I stripped out of my leather jacket. Erica helped her up long enough for me to get the jacket around her shoulders. Thankfully she was slightly shorter than me, and the bottom hem of the jacket came down just barely to her mid thigh. I helped her to her feet, seeing that there was no way for her to walk in a condition like this. I swung my arm under the backs of her knees and lifted her easily, making quick business of carrying her into the basement. "What the hell?" Isaac said, his eyes widening in shock. "She's one of us- I can smell it in her blood." There was so much of it I wasn't sure where the wound was- until we got her cleaned up, there was no way of telling exactly. If she lived that long. My guess was that the wound was infected with wolfs bane- it was the only thing I could think of that would explain why she wasn't healing.
"Derek, tell me you have running water?" I said, looking over at him as a slightly shocked, and obviously concerned expression lingered in his face. He nodded, leading me into his room. He opened I a door I had ceased to notice until now on the far wall, leading me into a small bathroom. He quickly turned on the shower, before making his exit from the bathroom. I removed my now blood soaked jacket to examine the damage. Looking closely, I could see that there were three major cuts on her abdomen, along with smaller cuts on her sides, and legs. Her feet were cut up from what looked like hours of walking or running, and small rocks were lodged in their soles. I took the detaching shower head and went to work washing the blood and the mud from her hair and body, thankful she had lost consciousness for now. Were she awake this would have been much more painful. At least now she wouldn't feel anything.
As the multiple layers of blood, mud, and grime washed away, I took a good look at her face. She was my age. Her nose was small- button like. Her lips were set in what appeared to be both a smile and a scowl. Now that I could distinguish what was blood, mud, and her actually hair, I saw that it was in fact brown with red highlights. After having done the best I could to clean her of the blood, and the dirt from outside, I shut off the water and reached into the cabinet, pulling out a towel. I wrapped it around her, lifting her carefully, as she began to regain consciousness. She opened her eyes, and I saw that they were a dark, dark brown. I allowed her to stand on her own two feet, but made sure to hold her steady, as she looked around the room for a moment, obviously trying to gather her bearings. "What's your name?" I asked gently, drawing her attention to me. "Amy." She said quietly. I nodded. "Your… not human, are you Amy?" I asked, and she shook her head. "Neither are you." She said. She still seemed to be in a slight state of shock though. "No, I'm not. Do you know where you are?" I asked. She nodded. "Beacon Hills. Hunters… they… attacked me. I came into town looking for a pack." She explained, wincing at a momentary bought of pain. "I think we'd better get you wrapped up." I said, watching her as she looked around the room again. She nodded once, carefully sitting on the edge of the tub. Well- she had some explaining to do.