After finishing my MRI, I head out to the Dread Doctor's lair. They say they need me for a few more tests. While I'm driving, I can't help but think about Scott and Stiles. They still don't know about me lying to their faces while going against them behind their backs. I want to confess to them so much about what I've been doing but I'm scared of how they'll react. Not telling Scott, and continuing this lie, will eat at me.

Even telling Stiles is hard and I can usually tell him everything when I can't tell Scott right away. Every time I look at them, I want to break down crying. The great feeling of helping the Dread Doctors with chimeras is gone and I'm starting to snap back into who I'm supposed to be, who Talia Hale wanted me to be. I might be created by the Dread Doctors but Talia wanted me to be something greater, the Alpha I was bitten to be.

Once I meet with the Dread Doctors, I'm attached to some machine with a clear liquid bubbling in it. It makes me dizzy. I'm able to stay awake but my vision blurs occasionally and I can't really move. While I'm looking at the ceiling I hear someone say, "Scarlett?"

Liam. I look over and see Liam lying on the ground with Hayden. "Liam, you're okay. Thank God."

"What are you doing here?" he whispers.

"I...um... I don't remember."

Before we can continue the conversation, I black out. Press the button! Do it! I snap awake and I'm not in the original place I was in when I passed out. Me, Liam and Hayden are lying on the floor in front of a broken wall that's covered with a gate. Liam shakes Hayden awake. As we're sitting up, Hayden asks, "Where are we?"

"I don't know," Liam replies.

Liam slowly stands up and tries to break the gate. As soon as he touches it, it shocks him and sends him back to the floor. We all look back and see another teen in the shadows. He looks like he's been here for weeks, even months. "Sorry, I probably should've warned you."

I prop myself up on the wall and keep my eyes on him. "Who are you?" Liam asks.

"My name's Zach," he replies very calmly. "I think the better question is: What am I? It's okay. I'm just like you two." He's looking at me and Hayden. "One of the experiments. Hey! Maybe you can help me with something."

"What?" I ask.

He starts sliding towards us. "The guys, in the masks, they took something off my back. I don't know what it was but I can feel part of it still there."

"Want us to look?" Liam asks, his voice shaking a little.

"Is that okay?"

Liam looks to me and I look Zach up and down. He doesn't look like a threat. In fact, he looks just as innocent as Liam and Hayden. I slowly nod and look over to the wall opening. After a couple seconds, I hear Liam say, "Scar..."

I slowly turn and see something on Zach's back. There are bloody stumps sticking out of his shoulder blades. They twitch back and forth like hummingbird wings. Once that happens, a scream slips from my mouth. I let it all out. It's been awhile since I've been able to really scream like the banshee inside me. Once I stop, Zach rushes to pull his shirt back down. Hayden and Liam have their ears covered. "Sorry, I, um..."

"Wait, maybe Scott heard you," Liam suggests. "He can have a better chance of finding us."

I nod and lie down on the ground. My head hurts and that scream took almost everything I had left. Liam tries to gate again, only to be shocked. Zach laughs and sighs. "We're never getting out of here."

"You could try to be a little optimistic," Hayden snaps.

"It's hard to when you watch three people get dragged out of here, screaming."

"What happened to them?" Liam asks.

I look over to Zach and see the look on his face. I prop myself up on my elbow, my hair making a curtain over the left side of my face. "They were failures."

Zach nods and shrugs. "That's all they said. First, you forget. You don't know who you are or what you're doing. Then you get violent. I watched two of them almost kill each other. One of them had a nasty lookin' cut just like that." He gestures to Hayden who has black goo covering the cut on her side. "Don't worry, black is okay. It's only really over when you start bleeding other stuff when it starts turning silver."

"Mercury," me and Liam say.

"That's when they know you're really a failure."

"How many more failures is there suppose to be?"

"Who knows but doesn't make you wonder what the success is gonna look like?" I gulp and lie back down. This is no longer a conversation I need to be involved in. "I mean, what are we turning into? Something with claws and fangs?"

"Something with wings?" I hear Liam say.

"Something worse," Hayden says, finally speaking after so long of staying silent.

While we sit in silence, I start fading away to sleep. Suddenly I hear, "They're coming!"

I snap up and see Zach's nose begins dripping Mercury. When we look up, the Dread Doctors come and drag him away. Zach struggles and begs us to help him. I don't bother but Liam can't get up by an unseen force. I block out his screaming and turn the other cheek. Suddenly, I'm grabbed by the arm and a large needle is stuck through my neck by the Pathologist. I fall back to the ground, weaker than ever. The serum causes me to become dizzy again. I can barely see Liam and Hayden in the corner. We return to silence then I start to hear the doctors returning. I look over to see Liam and Hayden standing. They hold hands and prepare themselves. Instead, Theo comes. He goes right for the gates and shocks himself into unconsciousness. "Theo! Are you alright?"

He slowly stands up. "I'm fine."

"You think you can get help?" Liam asks.

"I am the help."

He grabs the gate with both hands, the electricity courses through his body but he manages to force the gate open in a shower of sparks. He picks me up in his arms and leads us all out. He drives us to my house. Once we're there, Liam and Hayden rest on the couch while Theo helps me upstairs to change into new clothes. He grabs a rag to wipe dirt from my face, arms, and hands. "You should know that they know you are having second thoughts." I'm still a little dizzy so I can't really reply. "They want me to inform you that they have a button. A button that shuts your body down completely. You betray them, they press it and you die. For good this time."

I get in fresh clothes and Theo helps me into my bed. Liam and Hayden are already asleep downstairs. I snuggle up with my pillow in my arms with another for my head. Anything I have to do with the Dread Doctors or Scott, I'll deal with it once I have my strength back.

Scott

I go back inside after saying goodbye. I will miss her, of course, but I have to also think about the problems I have on hand right now. I look to Theo. "Where's Scar?" I whisper so I don't wake up Liam and Hayden.

They have been trapped by the Dread Doctors and Hayden is going through some transformation. Theo gestures to the stairs. "She's asleep in her room. She's weak and has been through some hell herself. She needs the rest."

I nod and head up the stairs. When I go in our room, there she is. She is sound asleep in her bed. She isn't even tossing and turning. I haven't seen her sleep this peacefully in a long time. I carefully lift her up and cover her body with a blanket and kiss her on her temple. I quietly shut the door. I don't bother going down the stairs. I lean against the door and slide down. I can't lose Scarlett or anyone else again. I won't let these doctors and their experiments tear my family and pack apart.