Ch. 30 - MOTEL CALIFORNIA

Sawyer's outfit:

โ–ช๏ธŽ ๐Ÿ–ค ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿ•ฏโ–ช๏ธŽ

Chapter Thirty
โŠš Motel California โŠš


A school bus rumbles into the parking lot of the Glen Capri motel, doors swinging open and Coach and his Cross Country team disembark. An exhausted Scott, Stiles, Sawyer and Anakin step out, followed by Allison and Lydia. "I've seen worse." Scott shrugged and he glanced around making Stiles and Sawyer look at him crazy, "Where have you seen worse?" They both asked.ย 

A whistle blows and Coach holds up a handful of room keys in front of the gathering students. "Listen up! The meet's been pushed 'til tomorrow. This is the closest motel with the most vacancies and the least amount of good judgment when it comes to accepting a bunch of degenerates like yourselves! You'll be pairing up- choose wisely. And I'll have no sexual perversions perpetrated by you little deviants! Got that? Keep your dirty little hands to your dirty little selves!"ย 

Sawyer stood next to Lydia as they both looked up at the motel with a concerned look. Both of them had a bad feeling about the place. "Lydia? Sawyer?" Allison asked, looking at them with raised eyebrows, "I don't like this place." Lydia said and Sawyer nodded in agreement.ย 

"I don't think the people who own this place like this place. It's just for a night." Allison chuckled and Sawyer shook her head slightly. "A lot can happen in one night." Sawyer mumbled before she and Lydia glanced at each other for a moment.ย 

โŠšย 

"All right, so I have four." Stiles said as he, Scott, Sawyer and Anakin laid on a couple beds in a room. "Four? You have four suspects?" Scott asked as he looked over at Stiles with raised eyebrows, "Yeah, it was originally ten. Well, nine, technically, I guess- I had Derek on there twice." He said.ย 

"So, who's number one? Harris?" Sawyer asked and Stiles nodded, "Just because he's missing, doesn't mean he's dead." Stiles said, making Scott furrow his brows. "So, if he's not dead, our chemistry teacher is out secretly committing human sacrifices...?" Scott asked and Stiles pursed his lips slightly, "Yeah, I guess that just sounded way better in my head." He said.ย 

"Well, what if it's someone else from school? Like, you remember Matt? We didn't know that he was killing people." Scott said, making Stiles and Sawyer both look at him as they stood up. "Excuse me? I'm sorry, what? I- Yes, we did! Stiles and I called that from day one, actually." Sawyer said.ย 

'Yeah, but we never really thought that it was Matt." Scott said, making the twins look at him crazy, "We were serious! We were quite serious, actually! Deadly serious! No one listened to us!" Stiles said and Sawyer dramatically nodded in agreement.ย 

"Who were the other three?" Scott asked, "Derek's sister, Cora- no one knows anything about her, and she's Derek's sister. Next, your boss." Stiles said, pointing at Scott making Scott raise his eyebrows. "My boss?" Scott asked and Stiles nodded, "Yeah, your boss. I don't really like the whole Obi-Wan-thing he's got going on, you know? It freaks me out." Stiles said and Scott didn't say anything as he just seemed confused, making the twins squint slightly.ย 

"Oh, my God! Have you still not seen Star Wars?" They both asked at the same time, "I swear, if we make it back alive, I will watch the movie." Scott said and Sawyer shook her head slightly. "I hate you so much because I know you won't." She said and Scott gave her a look, "Who was the last one?" He asked and Stiles sighed.ย 

"Lydia." He said, making Sawyer quickly turn to look at him crazy, "She was totally controlled by Peter, and she had no idea, so." Stiles said and Sawyer scoffed and shook her head slightly. "This is so offensive." She said before she, Stiles and Scott fell back onto the beds.ย 

โŠšย 

Sawyer and Anakin walked out of their's and the boy's room at the same time that Lydia walked out of her and Allison's room, carrying a stack of towels. "Hey, what are you doing?" Sawyer asked as they walked up to Lydia, "Seeing if we can replace these, the reek of nicotine." Lydia said and Sawyer cringed slightly.ย 

"Yeah, I can smell them from here." She said and Lydia looked at her, "What are you doing?" She asked and Sawyer glanced down at Anakin. "Thought I'd take him on another walk since he hasn't really walked much today with the bus ride." She said before looking up at Lydia for a moment and raising her eyebrows.ย 

"Want us to come with you?" Sawyer asked and Lydia looked at her before glancing around slightly, "Please." She said. Sawyer smiled and nodded slightly before taking the stack of towels to carry for her, making Lydia look at her for a moment before smiling softly.ย 

They started to walk down the stairs and Sawyer occasionally gave nervous glances at Lydia. "So uh... What's going on with you and Aiden?" Sawyer asked awkwardly, making Lydia stop and turn to her at the bottom of the stairs. "Did Allison make you ask me that?" Lydia asked and Sawyer furrowed her brows slightly, "No, I was just wondering cause you know, the whole Alpha Pack thing." Sawyer said and Lydia sighed.ย 

"It's nothing serious, just a hookup once or twice." Lydia said and Sawyer nodded slightly as they walked over to the front desk. Sawyer set the stack of towels on the counter before they looked at an older woman, who was turned towards a TV.ย 

"Excuse me? The card on the dresser says we have a non-smoking room, but somehow all our towels reek of nicotine." Lydia said, making the lady turn around revealing a permanent tracheostomy tube in her throat, "Sorry about that, sweethearts." She said.ย 

Now trying to look at anything but the Desk Clerk's throat as she grabs the towels, Lydia's eyes dart to the walls, noticing something odd. "What's that? That number?" Lydia asked making Sawyer follow her gaze at the wall that had a frame with the numbers 198 inside. "It's kind of an inside thing for the motel. My husband insists on keeping it up." The lady said making Sawyer furrow her brows.ย 

"What do you mean?" She asked, "It's a little bit morbid, to be honest... You sure you want to know?" The lady asked and Lydia nodded. "Tell us." She said and the lady leaned in closer, "We're not gonna make the top of anyone's list when it comes to customer satisfaction..."ย 

"Obviously."ย 

"But we are number one in California when it comes to one disturbing little detail- since opening, more than any other motel in California, we have the most guest suicides." She said, making the girl's eyes widen as they glanced at each other, "One hundred and ninety-eight?" Sawyer asked and the lady smiled.ย 

"And counting!"ย 

โŠšย 

"How many?" Allison asked as she got dressed while Lydia sat at the edge of one of the beds with Sawyer sitting next to her and Anakin sitting in front of her. "One hundred and ninety-eight. And we're talking forty years. On average, that's... four-point-nine-five a year, which is... actually expected. But who commemorates that with a framed number? Who does that? Who?" Lydia asked.ย 

"All suicides?" Allison asked and Lydia nodded, "Yes- hanging, throat cutting, pill popping, both barrels of a shotgun in the mouth suicides. I don't know about you but me, I-" Lydia stressed.ย 

"Which... which one do you want?" A voice says making Lydia stop before she cocked her head slightly to listen, Sawyer doing the same as she had heard the same thing. "Did you hear that?" Lydia asked, making Allison look at her confused. "Hear what?" Allison asked while Sawyer nodded, "I heard it."ย 

"I don't know. The smaller one, I guess..."ย 

"It's okay. Smaller's better- there's less kick." A man said and Sawyer and Lydia slowly turned to the vent over the bed. "I'll chamber the round." He said as Lydia climbed onto the bed, Sawyer doing the same. "All right, so.."ย 

"Wait, wait! When do I... I mean, do you count?"ย 

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll... I'll... I'll count to three."ย 

"So after three or on three?"ย 

"You tell me."ย 

"Guys?" Allison asked worriedly as Lydia grabbed Sawyer's arm as she started to breathe heavily, "Oh, my God, oh, my God."ย 

"One... two...Then pull the trigger."ย 

"I love you."ย 

"I love you, too."ย 

"One... two." Gunshots blast through the vent, sending Lydia staggering off the bed, hands to her mouth while Sawyer flinched and stared at the vent in shock. "Lydia? Sawyer? Guy, what happened?" Allison asked as Sawyer got off the bed, "Did you hear that?" Lydia asked and Allison looked at them in confusion and worry. "Hear what?"ย 

"The two people in the other room- they shot each other!" Lydia said then ran out the room making Sawyer grab Anakin's leash before they and Allison followed her. Lydia hurries to the next room and as they caught up behind her, she tries the knob. The door swings open to show darkness, "Hello?" Lydia called out and fumbles for the light switch but it clicks uselessly under her finger.ย 

Inching their way in, Lydia reaches about in the darkness. An industrial floor lap clicks on and Lydia lowers her hand and finds the room is not only empty but in a state of renovation. Plastic sheets cover the furniture. Paint cans surround a work bench on which lies a hand saw and other tools, and a heater that sits in the middle of the floor.ย 

"It had to be right here. It was a guy and a girl, and, I mean, they sounded younger, but... they were here." Lydia said and Sawyer nodded, "I heard it too." She said as they looked at Allison. "I believe you. After everything we've been through, I believe you." Allison said as she nodded slightly.ย 

Not looking at all relieved, however, Lydia and Sawyer's eyes caught the wood paneling on the wall. They stepped closer, noticing patterns in the grooves of the wood. Like faces... faces screaming.ย 

โŠšย 

Allison, Sawyer and Anakin watched Lydia quickly pack up her bag, "You know, there is something seriously wrong with this place. Guys we need to leave." Lydia stressed, making Allison sigh. "But they were suicides, not murders, and it's not like this place is haunted, right?" Allison asked and Sawyer pursed her lips slightly, "I wouldn't be surprised." She said.ย 

"You know, I bet that couple made their suicide pact in that very room! Maybe that's why they're renovating- maybe they've been scraping brain matter off the wood paneling." Lydia said. "Maybe we should find out." Allison said and Sawyer stood up before they all walked out.ย 

A sign on the front desk reads "BACK AT 6AM". Lydia turns to Allison and Sawyer with a defeated shrug, "There goes that." She sighed. Allison looked around and noticed the plaque that they were talking about earlier but something was different. "Didn't you guys say the sign said one-ninety-eight?" She asked making Lydia and Sawyer glance up to the number on the wall, which now read 201.ย 

"It was one-ninety-eight. I swear to God it was one-ninety-eight."ย 

"Okay, what does that mean? That there's been three more suicides?" Allison asked and Sawyer sighed, "No... Three more are gonna happen."ย 

โŠšย 

Allison turns from the window to face everyone, Stiles has now joined them. "The last time I saw Scott act like that was during the full moon." Allison said and Stiles nodded, "Yeah, I know... He was definitely a little off with me, too. But actually, it was Boyd who was really off- I watched him put his fist through the vending machine." He said.ย 

"See, it's the motel." Lydia said as she yanks open the night table drawer, she pulls out the room's copy of the Bible. "Either we need to get out of here right now, or... someone needs to learn how to do an exorcism ASAP, before the Werewolves go crazy and kill us." She muttered.ย 

"Okay, just hold on, all right? What if it's not just the motel? The number in the office went up by three, right?" Stiles asked. "You mean three sacrifices?" Sawyer asked and he nodded, "What if this time, it's three Werewolves?" He asked and she nodded slightly.

"Scott, Isaac, Boyd or Ethan."ย 

"Maybe we were meant to come here." Stiles said, "Exactly! So, can we get the hell out of here now? Please?" Lydia said hysterically but Stiles didn't respond, eyes caught by the Bible. "Wait, hang on. Let me see this..." He takes the book from her hands. With the girls, and Anakin watching, he carefully pulls a newspaper clipping out from between the pages.

"Twenty-eight-year-old man hangs himself at the infamous Glen Capri." Stiles read, he turns a few pages in the Bible and finds another clipping. Then another. Pulling them out one-by-one, he discovers seven in all and places each on one of the beds.ย 

"Look at these two. They both mention room two-seventeen. These are probably all the suicides that happened in this room." Sawyer said as she read a couple articles. "So, if every room has a Bible." Allison said and Lydia nodded, "There could be articles in all the rooms."ย 

"That's a beautiful thing. Most places leave a mint under the pillow- this one leaves a record of all the horrible deaths that occurred."ย 

"What if the room next door has the one about the couple?" Lydia said and they all looked at each other before running out of the room. Stiles twisted the knob to Room 216 but the door wouldn't budge. "No, that was not locked before..." Lydia said and Allison just takes a deep breath and shakes her head, "Forget it. We need to get Scott, Isaac, and Boyd out of here."ย 

Stiles nods, starting to walk away but Sawyer paused slightly when she heard a surge of electricity and the odd sound of buzzing coming from behind the door. "I'm not the only one who heard that, am I?" Sawyer asked and Allison and Lydia listened for a moment, "It sounds like someone turned the handsaw on."ย 

"Handsaw???" Stiles exclaimed as he rushes back over to them, "Please let this work, I'll feel so bad ass." Sawyer mumbled, handing Lydia Anakin's leash before stepping back. Sawyer slammed her foot on the door a couple times before the lock finally broke. Stiles stumbles in and looks up to find Ethan raising the buzzing hand saw to his abdomen.ย 

"Ethan, don't-" Stiles said as he darted forward to stop him, but it's Lydia who thought the fastest. She grabs the power cord and yanks it from the wall. Stiles seizes Ethan by the arms and manages to wrestle the still spinning saw out of his hands. Slamming to the floor, however, Stiles comes face-to-face with the blade, mere millimeters from its razor sharp teeth as it jerks to a stop.ย 

Undeterred, Ethan opens his hands, claws unsheathed. But Sawyer grabbed onto one hand while Stiles grabbed the other, both trying to keep Ethan from literally gutting himself. Ethan yanks them back, all three tumbling to the floor as Ethan slams into the heater and instantly snaps his hands away as if touching a burning pot.ย 

He fell to the floor groaning in pain before shooting up looking at all of them, "What just happened?" He asked. None of them were able to answer him before he ran out of the room, making them run after him.ย 

Ethan hurries down the stairs to the first floor with Stiles, Sawyer, Anakin, Lydia and Allison trying to keep up. "Didn't you hear what I just said? I don't know how I got there, or what I was doing." Ethan said. "Okay, you could be a little more helpful, you know? We did just save your life." Sawyer said and Ethan looked at them.ย 

"And you probably shouldn't have." He said before walking away. " I'll find Scott- you guys grab Isaac and Boyd. The best thing we can do is get them out of this place." Allison said before hurting up the stairs.ย 

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Lydia asked making Sawyer look at her then at Stiles whose eyes wide, "Oh, no, I w-" He started to say but Lydia raised her eyebrows. "Stiles..." She said, making him sigh, "All right, Lydia. I didn't want to say anything, but this? Everything we're going through? We've kind of been through something like this before." He said, making her look at him confused.ย 

"What do you mean? When?"ย 

"Your birthday party... the night you poisoned everyone with wolfsbane." Stiles said and Lydia instantly got what he was hinting. Lydia scoffed and shook her head before grabbing Sawyer's hand before pulling her and Anakin away, making Sawyer glance back at her brother's wide eyes as he ran after them.ย 

"I'm sorry, okay? Look, I didn't mean that you're trying to kill people, okay? I just... I just meant that, maybe... maybe you're somehow involved in getting people to kill themselves, you know?" He said making Lydia stop and give him a look of disbelief while Sawyer shot him a look. "Dude." She said, making Stiles cringe, "Which, now that I say that out loud, it just sounds really terrible, so I'm just going to stop talking..."ย 

No longer listening to him, Lydia and Sawyer pauses at a sewer grate near their feet. A strange sound emanating from beneath it. "Sawyer? You hear it too right?" Lydia asked and Sawyer nodded as she heard the sound of a baby crying. Sawyer slowly walked over, Lydia following with a tight grasp on her hand while Anakin walked beside them.ย 

"Stop! Please, just stop. What do you want? I don't know what you want!"ย 

Stiles watches his sister slowly kneel down next to the grate, eyes locked on it. "Guys, what do you hear?" He asked and neither of them took their eyes off the grate, "A baby crying." Lydia answered.ย 

"Quiet!"ย 

"I hear... I hear water running."ย 

"We're both going to sleep now."ย 

Sawyer suddenly saw flashes of Boyd laying in a bathtub, underwater making her eyes widen slightly. "Boyd's drowning!" She said before running in a direction. Rushing into Boyd and Isaac's room, they raced over to the bathroom. There Boyd laid in the water filled bathtub. A safe half covers his body, keeping him completely submerged. Stiles dives his hand into the water, searching about for the drain.ย 

"He blocked it. He blocked the drain with something, I can't get to it."ย 

"What do we do?" Lydia asked and Stiles grabbed the safe, "Here, help me." He said and Sawyer and Lydia grabbed a side, struggling to help but the safe was too heavy. "Is he dead? How long can a Werewolf stay underwater?" Lydia asked and they shook their heads slightly.ย 

Unable to even budge the safe an inch, they let go, Stiles steps back and his hand hits the hot radiator behind him. He yanks it away and then does a doubletake, "Wait a sec- the heater. Heater. Ethan came out of it when he touched the heater. It's heat- heat, fire... Heat does it, all right? We need something... We need fire."ย 

"He's under water!"ย 

"Yeah, I'm aware of that."ย 

"The bus." Sawyer said, making them look at her, "On the bus, they'll have emergency road flares. They have their own oxidizers. They can burn underwater." She said, making Stiles' eyes widen. "Are you serious?" He asked and she gave him a look, "Yes! Go!" She yelled and Stiles instantly ran out the room.ย 

Sawyer glanced down as Anakin suddenly walked away from her, making her look over as he crouched down next to the bed, sticking his head underneath. She furrowed her brows slightly before walking over, kneeling down to look under the bed to find Isaac. Curled up in a fetal position, he stares right back at her with wide terror-stricken eyes. Sawyer sighed softly before standing up, looking over at Lydia, "Found Isaac." She said just as Stiles hurtled into the room.ย 

Charging into the bathroom, he yanks the cap off and- nothing happens, "What do I do? How do I do this?" He asked. "The cap- it's like a match. The cap's a match." Lydia said and Stiles twists the flare around and sees the coarse burgundy surface of the cap is indeed just like a match. He rubs it against the end of the flare, trying to light it, "Stiles!"ย 

"Yeah, I'm trying." He said and then the flare ignited making him jump slightly before quickly dunking it into the bathtub until it touched Boyd's skin. The safe flys up as Boyd lurches out of the water, gasping for air. Eyes darting about as if just now realizing where he is, he grabs hold of the safe and lifts it up.ย 

With a metallic thud, the safe drops back onto the floor of the bathroom in front of Lydia, Sawyer, Anakin and Stiles. Breathless, they look up from the safe to Boyd now standing in the bathtub, dripping wet and pulling in deep breaths. After getting Isaac and making sure both boys are okay the three of them and Anakin rush down to the first floor to meet with Allison, "I can't find Scott anywhere."ย 

"It's happening to him, too, isn't it?" Stiles asked, none of them noticing Sawyer confused look as she heard the distant echo of a flare igniting. Her eyes clouded over for a moment as she saw flashes of Scott standing in a large puddle, holding a flair before seeing flashes of a fire.ย 

Her eyes went back to normal and she glanced around slightly before walking over to the large open parking lot. "It has to be." Lydia said and went to say something else but Sawyer spoke up. "I found him..." She said slowly, making them all run over to where she was.ย 

All eyes turn to find Scott standing in the middle of the parking lot, holding the flare in one hand. Just like in Sawyer's vision. He was dripping wet, literally soaked all over but the trail of liquid leading to a tell-tale red container nearby tells them it's not water.ย 

It's gasoline.ย 

Friends surrounding him as he holds the lit flare, Scott barely seems to notice Allison calling his name, "Scott?" In an odd trance-like haze, Scott slowly meets her eyes. "There's no hope." He said and Allison shook her head, "What do you mean, Scott? There's always hope." She said.ย 

"Not for me... Not for Derek..." He said and Sawyer rapidly shook her head, "Derek wasn't your fault. You know Derek wasn't your fault." She said. Staring at the sparks jumping off the edge of the flare, Scott shakes his head, "Every time I try to fight back, it just gets worse. People keep getting hurt. People keep getting killed."ย 

"Scott, listen to me, okay? This isn't you, alright? This is someone inside your head, telling you to do this. Okay? Now-"ย 

"What if it isn't? What if it is just me? What if doing this is actually the best thing that I could do for everyone else? It all started that night- the night I got bitten. You remember the way it was before that? You, Sawyer and me, we were... we were... we were nothing. We weren't popular. We weren't good at lacrosse. We weren't important. We were no one. Maybe I should just be no one again- no one at all."ย 

Sawyer held Anakin's leash out, making Allison grab it before Sawyer and Stiles took a step forward, an odd calm replacing the panic while Allison and Lydia watched cautiously. "Scott, just listen to me, okay? You're not no one. Okay? You're someone. You're- Scott, you're our best friend. Okay?" Sawyer said and Stiles nodded, "And we need you. Scott, you're our brother, all right?" Stiles said as they looked down at the line of gasoline leading toward the pool in which Scott stands.ย 

"So... So, if you're gonna do this, then..." Sawyer said as she and Stiles slowly stepped into the line of gasoline. One careful but deliberate step at a time, the twins slowly walk up to Scott. StStiles gently grabbed the flare and slowly pulled it from his hand. As the others breathe in relief, Stiles tosses the sparking flare aside.ย 

Sawyer furrowed her brows slightly, remembering seeing a fire, making her look over at the flare. She and Lydia both watch as it tumble across the pavement, until a strange gust of wind sends it rolling back, right toward the pool of gasoline. "No!" Lydia both yelled before rushing forward, Lydia grabbed Sawyer, while Sawyer grabbed Stiles and Scott's shirt before quickly pulling them out of the gasoline.ย 

The four of them fell to the ground while Allison pulled Anakin back as the gasoline burst into flames. Flames flickering toward the sky, both Sawyer and Lydia spots something within the black smoke. Something appeared out of the darkness, almost right out of hell. A face with severe lacerations scarring the ashen skin, as if it had been slashed over and over by claws. The creature bares rotted teeth at them with a hate-filled shriek before vanishing.ย 

โŠšย 

With the bright sunlight streaming in through its windows, the door of the bus yanks open and Coach steps inside as the cross country team stands outside. He was about to walk in but then noticed something odd.ย 

Scott, Stiles, Sawyer, Anakin, Lydia, Allison, Isaac and Boyd, all begin to wake up in their seats, clearly having spent the rest of the night on the bus. Scott and Stiles were sharing a seat with Allison and Lydia in the seat next to them. Sawyer sat in front of the boys with Anakin laying on her while Isaac and Boyd sat a little closer to the back of the bus.ย 

"I don't want to know. I really don't want to know. But, in case you missed the announcement, the meet's canceled, so we're heading home. Pack it in. Pack it in!" Coach yelled. While the team quickly fills the bus, Scott looks up to see Ethan approach. "I don't know what happened last night, but I'm pretty sure you saved my life."ย 

"Actually, we saved your life...But, not that it matters that much. It's just, it's a minor detail..." Sawyer and Stiles both said and Ethan just ignored them. "So, I'm going to give you something. We're pretty sure Derek's still alive." Ethan said, making everyone glance at each other, "But, he killed one of ours. That means one of two things can happen: either he joins our pack-"ย 

"And kills his own-"ย 

"Or Kali goes after him, and we kill him. That's the way it works." Ethan explained, "You know, your little code of ethics there is sort of barbaric, just FYI..." Stiles said and Ethan gave a final nod and walked away. Coach walked past and Lydia noticed something making her stand up.

"Coach, can I see your whistle for a second?" She asked but before he can respond, Lydia reaches for the whistle just below his neck. When she lifts it a stain of purple dust is revealed on his shirt. "I'm gonna need that back." He said and as he turns, Lydia puts her hand over the whistle's air vent and gives it a short breath. With all of them watching, she turns her palm up to show a bit of purple dust, "Wolfsbane."ย 

"So, every time the coach blew the whistle on the bus, Scott, Isaac, Boyd-"ย 

"And Ethan-"ย 

"We all inhaled it."ย 

"You were all poisoned by it."ย 

"So, that's how the Darach got in their heads. That's how he did it." Sawyer said before suddenly grabbing the whistle out of Lydia's hand. Sawyer quickly tossed it out the open window right as Coach turned back to them, "Lady Stilinski!"ย 

"I'll buy you a new one!"

Comment