Weaponized

I feel my phone vibrate from under my pillow. I pull my phone out. Liam. I answer. "Hello?"


"Hey, Scarlett. Can you meet me in my backyard in five minutes?"


I look over at my sleeping brother, his back toward me. "Yeah, is something wrong?"


He laughs. "Just dress nice."


I sigh and jump up. I change into my yellow sundress that stops above my knees. I curl my hair and pin the side back with a gold pin Scott gave me for my sixteenth birthday. I sneak into my mom's room and borrow her silver sandals. I wear my gold locket and my gold bracelet, also from my sixteenth birthday. As I look for my keys, Scott turns over. "Scar, where are you going?"


"A potential funeral."


He jumps up. "What? Who's dying?"


"My social life, if I don't go where I'm going." He sighs and lies back in bed, covering himself with a blanket. "I still love you, Scott," I whisper.


I quickly kiss him on his cheek with a giggle. I sneak out the door and drive my motorcycle to Liam's house. I walk to the back and see Liam waiting in black jeans and a black blouse. He has a few lit candles around his yard and a small radio on the ground. I feel myself blushing as I smile. He takes hold of my hand and pulls me to the center of his yard. "You look amazing."


"Thank you and you look rather dashing. What's all this for?"


He looks up and back at me. "I got...bored."


I roll my eyes with a laugh. He walks over to the radio and clicks a button. Soft music begins to play. He walks back to me and wraps my arms around his neck, as he takes hold of my waist. I take a second to read his eyes. There was something in his eyes that made me want to stay in his arms forever, where I belonged. Liam's eyes told me that I could trust him and I could feel safe with him. My dream about Derek was pushed to the back of my mind because Liam was something Derek wasn't: Mine. I couldn't lie to myself. I started to notice Derek's relationship with Braeden. Of course, he said it was just business. Bullshit. I push that to the back of mind, too. Me and Liam start to sway side to side. "You know, I never knew I would date an older woman," Liam jokes.


I smile. I almost forgot I was a junior and Liam is a freshman because it didn't matter to me. "Well, I didn't know there were so many perks to dating a younger guy. I would've done it a long time ago."


He laughs. He spins me around and pulls me against his chest. I laugh, too. We resume swaying. I rest my head against his shoulder, closing my eyes to enjoy the moment. I feel him bury his head in my hair. "Scarlett?"


"Hm?"


"Why didn't you leave me when you found out the truth about what happened at my school?"


I think about my answer. I press more into his shoulder. "I've made my own bad decisions, nothing compared to what you did. No puedo comenzar un nuevo capítulo de mi vida, si yo manteniendo la lectura de la última."


He pulls me back so he could look me eye to eye. "What?"


"I can't start a new chapter of my life, if I keeping reading the last one. As in, what you did was in past was the past. We're gonna move on from that. Beacon Hills High is your new chapter and you're mine."


Liam just stares at me. "I love you, Scarlett McCall."


"I love you, too, Liam Dunbar."


I blush again. "Maybe going to lacrosse practice with my brother and my best friend was the very start of something special."


I feel the moon shining on us, shining where it really mattered. The next day, things changed. It all happened so fast. I didn't know I might have died, again, in a vault. It started off normal:


Me, Scott, Stiles, Malia and Kira arrive at school on a Saturday, for the four of them to take SATs. I took my in my freshman year, like Lydia. Since we came in my Jeep, I have to sit around and wait for Scott. I'm feeling a little weird but I just tell myself that it's because I'm nervous for Scott. Kira glances up and down the hallway.  "Where's Lydia?" Kira asks.


"She also took it her freshman year," Stiles replies.


"Does that mean I could've taken it, some other time?" Malia snaps.


I take hold of her hand. "Malia, you've studies ten times harder than any of us."


"Doesn't mean I'll do good and why are your hands so cold?"


I quickly snatch away and pull my hoodie up to hands. "Well," Stiles corrects.


"Well...what?"


"Just do well, not good."


"Malia, you're doing this," Scott says.


"Scott has a point," I add. "While we're trying not to be killed, we still need to live. I don't know about any of you, but I'd like to go to college, a good one."


Scott and Kira nod in agreement. "It's only three hours. We can survive three hours, right?"


"Yeah, but it only took a dark spirit twenty minutes to kill me," I mumble.


Scott hears me and elbows me in the arm. They're about to make their way into the classroom but I grab Scott by the arm. "Scott," I whisper. "I've had this weird feeling all morning. Like something is going to happen."


He takes hold of my hand. "Come on, we'll be fine."


I nod. "Okay, I'll be out here when you're done."


He nods and walks in the classroom. I sit on the floor with headphones in my ears while reading a book. Only thirty minutes go by when I look up to see Ms. Martin running down the hall. I snatch out my headphones and see her yelling at some teenage boys that were entering the building. "Get back! No! Do not come in here! Get back! Now! Go back outside!"


Everyone who was taking the test comes rushing out into the hallway. Ms. Martin locks the entrance. She turns to us. "Get back to your seats, please. Scarlett, you too."


We file back in, Scott being the one to close the door. While we're sitting around, Scott and Stiles look at me for reassurance. "You can feel danger, right? What do you feel now?"


I shrug. "Nothing. I don't have any abilities anymore. Whatever happened to me, took away all the 'gifts' I had."


"Okay, you can still try," Stiles says. "You get the feelings through touch, right?"


He grabs one of the testing pencils and puts it in my hand. I huff and close my eyes. I do try to get a vision. But nothing comes. I re-open my eyes and shake my head. "Nothing. I usually comes to me without even trying." I start toward the door when I start to feel light headed. I slowly turn. "Scott," I whisper.


By the time he turned around, I'm already on the ground. I wake up in the hallway, in Stiles' arms. I see CDC everywhere. I jump up and open my mouth to speak but I start to feel my transformation kicking, but more...harsh. I lean against the locker and look away from the ground. I growl, baring my fangs. "Stiles...I need to go."


He covers for me as I slip into the girls bathroom. I lean against the door and slide down. I try to focus but all the sounds around me become louder, especially Mr. Yukimura knocking on the door. "Scarlett? Are you alright in there? Scarlett? You should be out here with the others." I bury my head in my hands. The noise becomes unbearable. I was now going in and out of my shift. I let out a medium loud growl, to drown out the noise. I hear Mr. Yukimura sigh. "Scarlett, what's wrong?"


"Get...Scott."


After that, I start feeling light headed again. Me, Scott, Stiles, Kira and Malia regroup in the locker room with Mr. Yukimura. My eyes flash red before they go back to normal. It was happening to Scott, too, a well as Malia. I look into Mr. Yukimura's eyes and he says, my in and out of transformation, was still happening.


Malia holds up her claws. "I can't make them go back."


"The virus is effecting the three of you more than it would any human being," Mr. Yukimura says.


"We need to go somewhere else. We can't be out in the open like this," I say.


"What if they get violent, like on the full moon?" Kira asks.


"Not in a locker room," Scott says.


"A locker room is not gonna hold us," Malia adds.


"The basement?"


I shake my head. "We need to find somewhere secure, where no one can..."


I black out, again. The sun, the moon, the truth. It was the usual voice in my head. I wake up in a room, in Scott's arms. I look recognize the room. Hale vault. Scott holds me in his arms, securely. He was sweating and his eyes look irritated underneath. I cough, my throat sore. Scott looks down at me. I get closer to Scott for warmth. "Scott, I'm freezing."


He holds me closer. I cough again, groaning in pain. I felt weak before but not like this since...I died. I hear Scott sniffle. "You know the meaning of, 'The sun, the moon, the truth?'" I ask, my eyes still closed.


"Yeah, why?"


I cough again, the pain getting worse. "Well, three things that can't long be hidden. We know the truth, Scott. I've never felt this much pain since I...died. We're dying, Scott. Especially me. I know you know. I know you feel it."


He sniffles again and pulls me even closer. "We'll find a way."


I look around the room. "Where's Stiles?"


"He's upstairs."


I get up to my feet, struggling a bit. "I need to find him."


I leave the fault and run through the hallways, avoiding CDC. I finally find him in the locker room. The guy from the testing area is holding a gun to his head. "What the hell?"


He slowly turns without moving the gun. "There you are. One down, three to go."


I try to control my shift enough to save Stiles but my eyes keep going back and forth between yellow and normal. "Leave him alone."


"Fine," he replies, pointing the gun to me. "I have you. I don't even have to kill you. They just want you."


He grabs me by the arm and forces me next to Stiles. Stiles pushes me a little behind him, as if to shield me from the bullet. "You'll have to kill me to get to her."


"Stiles," I whisper.


The man has no problem with it at all. He puts the barrel back to his forehead and begins to count. Once he counts to '2', a shot goes of but not to kill either of us. The man falls to the floor, dead. A CDC suited man comes in. He removes his helmet and reveals to be my dad. I sigh. "I've never been happier to see you, dad."


He explains to us that the cure for what's happening us is mushrooms in the Hale vault. Me and Stiles both run to the vault to tell Scott. On the way, I trip. My vision is blurry and I can't really see. "Stiles!"


I feel him pick me up to my feet. "Scarlett? You alright?"


I put my hand on what I think is his shoulder. "I..."


"What? Is it a vision?"


"No, I won't be able to see visions at this point."


"Why?"


"Stiles, I...I can't see!"


My vision goes completely black and I fall to the ground. Everything is falling around me. Death is nothing new to me. I snap awake in the hospital. I see a cup of tea next to me. Scott is sleep next to me. I pick up tea but I quickly put it back down because of its horrible smell. Scott wakes and jumps up when he sees me. He holds me in his arms. "But...how?"


He gestures to the tea. "The tea was the antidote."


"It stinks."


"Well, it saved our lives. Everything turned out fine, almost everything."


I look up at him. "What do you mean?"


"Malia knows."


I sigh. I just rest in his arms. I would talk to her, as soon as I could find the words to say and regain my strength.

Comment