The bed before Scott was empty, the blanket bearing a few slash marks. The tubes that had been attached to my face had been cut into several small pieces, the loop that went across and around my face now missing a piece. The window in the room had cracks splintered across it and was open slightly, to where a slight breeze was pouring into the room. Scott jerked in his sleep and was suddenly sitting up, like he had woken up from a falling dream. The constant and blaring beep of the heart monitor filled the room, boring into his ears. At first, he had though I had actually died, and a pit of sorrow formed in his stomach. But when he noticed the slash marks on the sheets, the plastic bits of the oxygen tubes and the slightly ajar window, the sorrow was quickly replaced with worry and dread. He jumped out of the seat, rushing over to check the door to see if it had been opened at all. It was still locked, like it had been the night before. No one had come in during the night. Good, no one had noticed that I was missing from the room, besides Scott. Honestly, they all probably thought I had flat-lined, and I wouldn't blame them. I mean, who expects a near-dead patient to just spring out of their bed and jump out the window? Probably no one. Maybe people who believe in zombies.

Scott pulled out his phone, quickly dialing Stiles' number and pacing around the room, like the phone wasn't trying to connect to Stiles' fast enough.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon." He ran a shaky hand over his face, knowing that each minute I could be getting farther and farther away, diminishing the chance of him finding me.

Stiles picked up, sounding grumpy and disgruntled as he spoke.

"Scott, it's two o'clock in the morning. What do you want?"

"It's Natalie. She's missing."

"How-"

"I don't know. Call Isaac, and meet me at the hospital entrance."

Scott hung up the phone quickly, keeping it in his hand and unlocking the door, stepping out of the room. After he shut the door he glanced around briefly, checking to see if anyone was around or there were any doors open. My room had been in a particularly vacant section of the hospital, so not many people came back here unless they were visiting loved ones on the verge of death. That's right, the hospital had a little designated section for those near death, close to the morgue, which I thought was kind of gross. After checking to make sure the cost was clear, his kicked in the bottom corner of the door with enough force to get it jammed; jammed enough that you'd need to undo the door hinges and get a crowbar to open it. And the hinges were on the inside of the room, so that'd be a bit difficult for the hospital staff. He began walking towards the front the hospital, dialing his mother to let her know what the situation was.

. . . . .

I was running. Running way faster than I ever had before, and way faster than I should be able to. I was cold...and hungry. When had I eaten last? My vision was all weird, like it was bending around a mirror and someone had put a black and white filter over my face. I was hearing noises all at once, but I could separate all of them, hearing one at a time or over the other sounds; crunches of leaves, twigs snapping, the fluttering of wings above me, the sound of dirt moving, and no more than a dozen heartbeats all pumping. It was all strange, but it felt...natural somehow.

. . . . .

I woke up laying on the forest floor. It was hard to tell what time it was, but there were a few streams of light showing through the trees, barely enough to see. So it must be early morning, or somewhere around that time. I could hear noises coming from all over, even hearing some things I couldn't see. This was strange. A slight breeze weaved through the trees and hit me, goosebumps raising up on my skin all over. And then I realized, I was naked. I was naked. The only thing on me was the bandage that had been taped onto my side, and I had no idea where that had come from, but it was over where I had been bitten. The thing itself looked a bit black, like the blood that was most likely inside of the thing had gone all crusty and was showing through. I instantly sat up, crossing my arms over my chest and arranging my legs so I couldn't flash anybody, if anybody happened to come by. A wave of exhaustion hit me, that kind that you usually get when you wake up on a school morning, where you know you need to stay awake but can hardly keep your eyes open. My brain was feeling a bit scrambled, the exhaustion making it even worse. I couldn't remember how I got to the place I was or even where I was at. Then the smell hit me; it was coppery, and instantly I knew it was blood. I could feel it on my hands and my face, the dry crusty feeling making my skin crawl.

I was just about to get up and start looking around when I heard some leaves crunching behind me. I whipped my head around to see the stranger who had been in my hospital room a few hours ago. Wait. Was that right? That didn't seem right. He continued walking towards me and had something gathered up in his hands and hanging over his shoulder. I looked like a blanket from where I was sitting on the ground, but I couldn't be too sure. When he came within a few feet of me, he tossed the blanket at me, which was way heavier than I had assumed and had the texture of slightly softened burlap. Overall, the thing was rough, but warm from his radiating body heat. He averted his eyes, shoving his hands in his pockets, allowing me to cover myself up. I unfolded the blanket, and threw it around myself, holding the edges of the blanket tightly so it wouldn't fall as I stood up. I coughed, a combination of clearing my throat and getting his attention. He turned to look at me, a hard look on his face while his eyes were dotted with concern, although it was clear he was trying to hide it.

"Are you going to tell me your name now?" My voice came out hoarse, and I could feel the dried blood on my face stretch and crack as I spoke. He let out a curt, quiet laugh before speaking.

"Derek."

"What happened to me?"

"For starters, you're not human anymore."

"Oh." The word slipped out between my lips, short and quiet, sounding somewhere in between a "I must be dreaming and this can't actually be happening" oh and a "okay cool" oh. I stood there for a bit before he turned and began walking in the direction he had come from, like he was assuming I'd follow him. I went to follow him, but stumbled and fell over instead. I guess my legs didn't want to work, probably a combination of being cold, my feet and legs being unimaginably sore, and feeling absolutely exhausted. I would've caught myself, but I didn't want to potentiality flash Derek. He noticed that I had fallen over and turned around, and before I could stop him, he scooped me up off the ground and into his arms, bridal style. I didn't protest, mostly because my feet hurt and I would rather someone carry me than walk. Plus, I had no idea where we were going or how long it would take to get there. So I just complied, resting my head against his chest lightly. The swaying motion of his steps, and the steady rhythm of his breathing nearly put me to sleep, but I fought for consciousness behind closed eyes.

.

"Please tell me she didn't eat someone," a girl said, who was splayed out on a couch, as I followed Derek into the loft.

"Cora, please show her to the bathroom so she can wash up," Derek said with slight harshness, like he was tired of hearing the girl- Cora -Cora's sarcasm. They kind of looked similar, and I assumed that they were related. Cora sighed exaggeratedly and climbed over the back of the couch with grace, already walking down a hallway without waiting for me. "And if you would be so kind as to lend her some of your clothes." That sent out a groan from the girl as I quickly walked after her, my bare feet making slapping sounds on the floor.

Cora led me to the bathroom and then left, telling me that she was going to get some clothes. She came back shortly after with them and left, giving me no instructions whatsoever on how to work the shower or anything. I brought the clothes in the bathroom and set them on the toilet lid. I locked the door and dropped the blanket that had been around me, actually looking at myself in the mirror for the first time in a long while. There were slight bags under my eyes, way less visible than the ones that had been there before. My face seemed pinker and more full of life, but I attributed that to the blood that was around my mouth and nose, streaking slightly up my face in splotches. My hands, too, were covered in the crusty blood up to the wrists. I turned on the sink, wiping my hands and face vigorously until the blood was gone, leaving my face pink the intense cleaning and stains from the red liquid. I pulled a towel out of a cabinet that had been sitting off to the side of the room, setting it on top of the clothes Cora had given me, and approached the tub. I pulled the little knob on top of the spout up so the water would come out of the shower head and turned the water up until it was nearly scalding, jumping in when I couldn't stand standing in the cold air any longer. The water numbed up my back almost instantly, which felt nice. I ran my hands through my hair and tried to rid it of tangles and any other forest debris that might be caught in it. I stayed away from the soap because I had no where it had been, only using the shampoo and conditioner that I assumed was Cora's. After I had washed my hair, I stood under the water for a bit, hoping it would just was away my lingering exhaustion. It did nothing of the sort. In fact, it made me more tired than I was before. I hopped out of the shower and dried myself and my hair vigorously until both were dry, pulling on the clothes Cora had laid out for me and running my fingers through my hair again as a sort of comb. As I did, I noticed that my hair had gotten thicker, like it had been before I had went on the decline of life. It wasn't thin any longer. Huh. I put the wet towel on what I presumed was a towel rack and pulled the blanket back around me, since the water disappearing from my skin was cooling me down.

I walked back out into the "living room" area after I had gathered myself up in the blanket. Cora was missing from the room, but Derek had taken a seat at the dining table that was in the room, across from what looked like a little kitchen with an island.

"Better?"

I nodded, hovering indecisively near the couch before I laid down on it, waiting for a yell from Derek that I couldn't sit there, or lay down there. When nothing came from him, I settled down on the couch, wrapping the rough blanket around myself and tucking my legs up next to my chest. I tucked part of the blanket underneath my head to act as a sort of pillow. I fell asleep quickly, letting the sleepiness take me.

.

Scott and Isaac came in through the loft door, Stiles deciding to stay in his jeep. Scott rushed over to the couch where I was sleeping, before moving over to the table where Derek was. Isaac hung back behind Scott, staying near the couch.

"Is she okay?"

"Other than taking down a deer and eating the whole thing, yeah, she's great."

After a few moments, Scott went back to the couch, picking me up gently off of the couch. I stirred slightly, but other than that, I stayed sleeping. He ran a hand through my hair, brushing a few stray pieces that had fallen into my face out of the way. He began walking swiftly towards the exit, Isaac trailing after him.

"Isaac, get the door."