Just as a reminder to all of those who are reading: When the text is written in bold and italicized lettering "like this," that is the part of the conversation had in sign language.

I've got to give it up for my one review on that last chapter! Emergency70 you are so awesome. Thanks so much for the compliment. It means a lot. It's why this chapter is getting out quicker than normal. Thanks!

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf. I also have no claim on any pop culture references that I may use throughout my writings. I only own my OCs. Enjoy the read.

(o.o)

Chapter 1.14

I ran into the hospital after parking my car against the sidewalk that led to the emergency room. Parking tickets be damned. Finding out the truth was important. Finding out what the fuck was going on in this town was important.

The rush inside the hospital was crazy. Everyone was running in different directions trying to get to some semblance of safety. The harsh winds from the storm were quickly seeping into the emergency room lobby of the hospital. The only reason that I was able to get through everyone was that I was so small. I kept to the walls looking for the room number Derek had texted me earlier.

When I found the room, Derek wasn't inside. I saw a girl lying in the hospital bed and an older man standing over her. I studied them both, trying to figure out who they were. The girl was unconscious, and the man probably hadn't noticed my presence yet.

The man turned towards me with a furrowed, angry brow.

I jumped backward one step, recognizing his features. I was confident that shock, then confusion, quickly passed over my face. "String Bean?"

Peter rolled his eyes. "Runt." He grumbled, turning back to the girl.

I pinched my brow together and hurried towards him, grabbing his arm and turning him back towards me. "Derek told me you were still barbeque."

Peter smirked. "Apparently not."

My head shook subconsciously, trying to get answers from his expressions.

"You're missing a few pieces of the puzzle, there, Shortcake."

"Obviously."

Peter rolled his eyes and looked back down at the girl on the bed.

I finally looked at her up close. "Hold on," I asked, recognizing her. "That's the girl who was at my school the other day with my friend, Stiles. Is she okay?"

"She will be if we ever leave this death trap." Peter looked to the door I entered through. "Hey! Anyone want to tell me when they're getting my niece out of here?"

"Your niece?" I looked from Peter to the girl. "Oh, my God. Cora." I put my hand over my mouth, shocked at seeing my best friend alive. I looked at Peter but noticed that a nurse had appeared in the doorway.

The woman looked shocked. "You're supposed to be dead."

"I get that a lot actually." Peter looked down at me and shrugged. Both of the adults looked at Cora anxiously.

Before I could turn and look at what they saw, Peter grabbed me and pulled me to him. Doing so made me avoid being vomited on by Cora. The vomit was black and had white spherical chunks in it, unlike anything I'd ever seen before. I pulled out of Peter's grasp and carefully walked around the puke on the floor.

Cora laid back in the bed and struggled to breathe.

I looked back towards the doorway and saw that the nurse had disappeared. I looked up at Peter. "What the hell is going on?"

Peter opened his mouth to answer, but he stopped. He looked away from me and pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Hello?"

I rolled my eyes. Of course, Peter would get a phone call while I was trying to figure out what was actually happening in Beacon Hills and why Cora was alive. During the time that Peter was on the phone, two nurses came in and dressed Cora in her regular clothes and left.

Peter hung up the cell phone and returned it to his pocket. "Cora?" He asked, looking to his niece and trying to wake her. "We need to go."

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"We have to move." Peter informed, "Derek thinks trouble's coming." He picked up Cora with one arm under her shoulders and the other under her knees and walked out of the room.

"What kind of trouble? Cops?" I asked, narrowing my eyes. "Werewolves?" The word coming out of my mouth was strange.

Peter stopped his steps and turned to face me with Cora in his arms. "Yes, Runt. Werewolves."

I looked past Peter when I saw the movement, but the actual sight made me freeze. The beast at the end of the hall was huge. "You mean, like that one?"

Peter turned his head, seeing the giant werewolf with what looked like stitches directly down the middle of his body. "Oh, shit," he said, looking back at me. Peter walked over to me and set Cora up to stand, wrapping one of her arms around my shoulders. "I'll distract him." The man said. "The way to the stairs is through him. Get around him, and run."

"You're joking?" I questioned, struggling to hold Cora's half-conscious body up.

Peter didn't say anything else, but he charged the giant wolf. Easily, the beast had Peter pinned to the wall with its hand around Peter's neck.

Even though Peter was playing the losing game, I still did as he said and quickly tried to move around the two of them. I wasn't able to get too far. It was like the monster was able to pay attention to both of us at the same time.

With Peter being held up against the wall, the beast took his free hand and grabbed my shoulder. It threw Cora and me down the hallway.

I slid along the floor and knocked hard into the wall with a groan. Cora's body did the same, but she hit me, delivering a second blow, beating my head into the wall. I took in a deep breath and tried to push both of us up, but I quickly got dizzy and fell back against the wall.

Peter glanced at me, and I quickly nodded, telling him that I was fine. He attacked the beast again, but this time he was thrown the opposite direction from Cora and me.

On the other side of the double doors Peter slid through was a group of people. My vision focused. "Derek." I sighed in relief before coming to see the others. Ms. Blake, Stiles, and Scott were there, too. I glanced hurriedly between all four of them, confused by their presence. "What the - "

The room shook, telling me that the beast in front of me was roaring.

I trembled, trying to push myself further into the wall.

Derek and Scott's faces changed right before my eyes. Both had glowing eyes and fangs. They were both werewolves. Derek was the first of the group to charge the beast and Scott joined shortly after. Still, they were barely an even fight, and the three of them were slowly pushing their way towards me.

I tried to stand again, but my head was still pounding. I groaned and closed my eyes, trying to get the pain to go away. I pushed my hair out of my face then covered it with my hand. "Stiles!" I shouted, getting his attention. I uncovered my face and his eyes met mine.

Stiles hadn't noticed that I was there before that moment because his eyes widened. He quickly bent down to Peter and grabbed his shoulder trying to help him up. "Help me." The pair rushed towards Cora and me.

Peter went for Cora and Stiles came to my aide.

I wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

Stiles made sure that I was looking at his face before he spoke. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Having a tea party," I said sarcastically, "What the hell does it look like?"

Stiles shook his head but laughed at my attempt at humor. He held onto me tight as we ran, making sure I wasn't going to fall.

Peter led the four of us into a surgical room.

Derek and Scott must have gotten away from the giant monster because when I looked behind me, they were both there. Derek was waving for us to continue.

Stiles stopped, looking to the bat in the hand not helping to hold me up. His grip loosened on me, and I fell against one of the tables.

I looked back at him and noticed his curious glance at the piece of sporting equipment. "Stiles?" I questioned, trying to get his attention away from the bat. "That's not a good idea."

Derek finally looked back at us, seeing me, then Stiles.

Stiles moved to hide to the left of the door we came through and wait for the beast.

Derek grabbed my arm and pulled me along before pushing me behind him, hiding me from the animal.

We all waited to see what would happen, but when the werewolf burst through the door and Stiles hit it over the head with the bat, the bat only splintered into tiny pieces. Stiles looked at the bat in disbelief and then shrugged away from the animal.

"Stiles!" I shouted for him and he ran back towards us.

Stiles ran behind Derek and it was a good thing because Derek gave me a good shove away from him. Stiles caught me, almost making both of us fall to the ground.

I saw the lights flicker before I saw what happened next.

Scott grabbed one of the overhead lights and slammed it into the face of the creature.

"Holy shit." I gasped, watching the sparks fly. A hand wrapped around my wrist and I looked down to see Stiles trying to pull me along. We ran after Peter, still holding Cora, holding to find somewhere safe. My heart was beating hard in my chest with every step that I took.

When we got to another room far enough away, Peter set Cora down on an exam table. With the break, I tried to catch my breath, but before I could, Scott and Derek burst through the door.

Stiles looked out the door in the back that we hadn't come through. "Where's the big guy?"

Derek was closing us in the door, but he looked back for a split second. "He's close."

"What about Ms. Blake?" Both Stiles and I looked to Scott wondering the same thing.

Scott shook his head.

"What do you mean?" Stiles asked. "What does that mean? Like, she's gone? Scott, are you kidding me?"

I could feel the tension in the room and it made me uncomfortable. It seemed like Stiles was getting riled up and if we were trying to hide from a supernatural beast, now was not the time to have a moment.

Derek shushed Stiles.

Stiles snapped his head towards Derek. "Me be quiet? Me, huh?" Stiles took angry steps towards Derek who'd met him halfway across the room.

Derek was apparently just as angry as Stiles was.

"Are you telling me what to do now? When your psychotic, mass murdering girlfriend, the second one, you've dated, by the way, has got my dad somewhere, tied up, waiting to be ritually sacrificed?"

"Derek, what's going on?" I asked but didn't get an answer.

Scott took a step towards all of us. "Stiles, they're still out there." He warned.

They? I thought there was only one.

"And they want her, right?" Stiles questioned. "Which means now we don't have her, so my dad and Cora are both dead!"

The lights in the room flickered, making my heart jump.

"Not yet," Scott stressed.

Stiles scoffed and turned away from his friend. He was stressed, and I wanted to try and make it better.

I followed after him and put a hand on his arm trying to calm him.

At the touch, Stiles took a deep breath and looked down at my hand. He shook his head, meeting my eyes. "How are you not freaking out right now?"

"Trust me, Stiles. I'm freaking out." I promised. "But we need to get out of here. Alive. We do that, and it might all catch up with me."

The doors we came through burst open, making me jump back into Stiles. Ms. Blake pushed her way through. "You can't." She'd said. "Only I can. I can save her, and I can tell you where Sheriff Stilinski is. But there is a pack of alphas in this hospital who want me dead. So I'll help you, but only when I'm out of here safe." Ms. Blake took a deep breath. "Only then."

Derek knocked a table to the ground, making Stiles and I take another step back. Derek charged at Ms. Blake, but Scott held him back from attacking her.

"Derek, wait." Scott tried.

Derek pointed at Ms. Blake, but I couldn't tell what he was saying to her. I groaned. I was missing so much information.

"I was trying to keep from getting killed. You can't blame me for that." Ms. Blake insisted.

Stiles stepped forward and my eyes followed him. "If you want to show you're one of the good guys, then heal her."

Blake shook her head. "Not until I'm safe."

There was more conversation between the group, but I was already so far behind, I didn't know if trying to keep up was worth it. That and taking steps closer to my teacher to try and stay in the conversation made me anxious. She wasn't friendly Ms. Blake anymore.

Derek lunged at the teacher again, but still, Scott stopped him. Then the room came to a pause, heads tilted up like they were listening for something not in the room.

I glanced curiously at Stiles and tapped his arm.

Stiles looked down at me. "Scott's mom is on the intercom. The bad guys have her."

My eyes darted to Scott, seeing the fear written plainly on his face. I furrowed my brow and glared at my teacher angrily. This all had something to do with her.

"He's not gonna hurt her." The teacher said.

Derek pointed to Blake.

"He won't!" She stressed. "Scott, you know why. Tell them it's true."

Derek faced Scott and I got a better look at the words he spoke. "What does she mean?"

Blake answered. "You're not the only one he wants in his pack."

Scott would say anything, making the entire room sit on edge.

"Could someone explain what that means?" Stiles begged.

Blake rolled her eyes. "Deucalion doesn't just want an Alpha Pack. He wants perfection. That means adding the rarest of alphas to his ranks."

The terminology was utterly lost on me.

Peter was talking, but I couldn't see his words with his back to me.

"It doesn't matter."

I watched Stiles curiously, hoping he'd try and explain to me what was going on, but he was too busy listening to what, hopefully, was Scott's gameplan.

"An advantage?" Stiles asked, "Like what? You mean like a weapon?"

"Well, something better than a baseball bat." Peter pointed out.

I cleared my throat. "If you're trying to find something to help you beat that monster, we're probably in the best place to look." I looked around at the different locked cabinets. "Offensive or defensive, this room is a medicinal goldmine."

Everyone's eyes were on me now, at least for a second, before they broke apart to search the room.

Blake had finally noticed that I was there. Her brow furrowed as everyone scattered going through the drawers and cabinets.

I stood there, confused as hell, glaring down the teacher that I used to trust. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Stiles pick up the paddles to the defibrillator and my eyes widened.

Stiles carefully put them back down seconds later.

Scott pulled out a huge syringe with an even larger needle. "Epinephrine?"

Derek looked towards Scott. "That's only gonna make him stronger."

Peter leaned away from the drawer he was digging through at those words. "How strong?"

I glanced towards Peter. "Strong enough for a good defense. Or at least a better one than before."

"We don't need the attitude, Runt." Peter walked over to Scott. "Stab me with it."

Scott looked at Peter in shock. "Are you serious? No."

I scoffed and took firm steps towards the pair. I grabbed the syringe from Scott's hands and stabbed it into Peter's chest, pushing down the plunger. I took a step back and Peter finally let out the breath he'd been holding. I glanced back at Stiles who carried a wide grin on his face. I laughed once. "That felt good."

Derek got my attention and waved me along before he reached to pick up Cora.

I sighed. We were getting out of here. I broke into a jog and followed Stiles out of the room. The group hurried down the stairs, taking multiple at a time to get to the basement garage area.

Stiles led us to it and held the door open for me and Derek to rush through.

I ran to the ambulance and opened the door so Stiles could get in to help Derek adjust Cora on the gurney inside.

Once Cora was situated, Derek offered me a hand to help me in the ambulance.

I furrowed a brow. "Are you coming? In the ambulance?"

Derek shook his head. "Not right now. There's some stuff I gotta do first."

"Then I'm coming with you." I insisted, looking at Ms. Blake behind him. "I'm not leaving you."

Derek followed my gaze and then looked to Stiles, before landing his eyes on me again. He raised his hands. "You'll be safe here." He signed quietly. "And when this is over, I promise I'll explain everything."

"Werewolves? What Blake's doing here? How you know Scott and Stiles?"

Derek nodded.

I swallowed a bit of fear. "Carter?"

"Everything."

I bit my lip, thinking about it, but ultimately I nodded. I got up into the ambulance and sat next to Stiles, watching Derek leave my sight.

Stiles quickly reached over me and closed the doors to the ambulance. The vehicle shook, and I looked to Stiles, asking what that was. "Another werewolf." A moment later, he let out a breath, and the height of his shoulders drastically went down. "Okay, okay." Stiles looked at me. "We're okay."

I nodded.

"We're alright." Stiles looked down at Cora on the gurney "You okay? How're you doing?" He paused, furrowing his brow. "Why do you look like you're not breathing?"

My eyes shot down to Cora. "That's because she's not breathing," I confirmed.

"Oh, no." Stiles started to panic. "Why are you not breathing?"

"Her body's probably shutting down." I insisted. "Holy shit. Do you know CPR?"

"Uh, well, uh sort of?" Stiles looked down at Cora. "Okay, uh, tilt the dead. Fingers on the chin." As he spoke, he did what he was saying. "Clear the throat. Great, nothing."

"Pinch the nose and blow!" I pressed, not wanting to waste another second with my best friend not breathing.

Stiles continued to give Cora mouth to mouth, but I wasn't sure if it was working.

I stopped him for just a second before lacing my fingers together and putting my hands to her chest. "Chest compressions work, too," I said, before putting in the force to get her heart beating again. I used everything I'd learned in health class trying to bring her back to life. Stopping, I looked to Stiles. "Try again."

Stiles gave her one big blow of air and Cora took in a sharp breath, relieving both me and Stiles. "You know, next time I put my lips to your mouth, you better be awake."

I felt a deep pang in my chest when I saw what Stiles had said. He'd wanted to kiss her. I licked my bottom lip anxiously and swallowed the lump in my throat. "So, Cora, huh?" I asked.

Stiles looked to me and nodded. "She told us she was your friend. Last week, when you recognized her at the school."

"If she told you, why didn't she tell me?" I questioned, "She was my best friend, Stiles. Not just a friend."

Stiles hesitated, seeing what had to be a frustrated look on my face. "You weren't supposed to be a part of all this."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes, asking my next question before thinking about it. "So how long have you two been a thing?"

"A thing?" Stiles's eyes were wide with shock at my query. "What? You mean like…? Oh, no. No, we're not - "

"You're not?" A sliver of something slowly wormed its way back into my chest.

"No. We're just - " Stiles thought for a second, trying to find the word. "Well, I don't know what we are, but it's nothing like that."

"Oh," I said, feeling foolish. "Sorry, I just thought…" I took in a deep breath, not sure how to cover for myself. "Can we just forget that happened?"

Stiles smiled a small smile before nodding.

I sighed. I'm an absolute idiot.

"Don't worry. We'll get out of here soon." Stiles promised. "Just hold on a little longer. Trust me if anyone's gonna get us out of this, it's Scott."

"Really?"

Stiles nodded. "Even though I can't believe I just said that."

"Why?" I asked.

"I actually...I'd come up with the plans. Well, or at least a Plan B. But lately," Stiles shook his head, "Cora said something that all we ever did was show up and find the bodies." He looked like he had more to say, but he couldn't get out the words.

"You don't want to find your father's body." I finished his thought for him.

Stiles looked to me and nodded his head telling me I was right.

Without thinking, I grabbed Stiles's shaking hand and held it still. "We'll find your dad. And he'll be alright."

"We?" Stiles asked, furrowing his brow.

I nodded. "I'm a part of this," I said, confidently. "I'm scared as hell, but I can't go back home and act like none of this is happening. Double checking that I locked my door at night won't do anything for me. I have to stop it."