Ch. 98 - GENOTYPE

Sawyer's outfit:

โ–ช๏ธŽ ๐Ÿ–ค ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿ•ฏโ–ช๏ธŽ

Chapter Ninety-Eight
โš” Genotype โš”


Malia, Sawyer and Lydia walked into the hospital morgue and Sawyer instantly walked over and opened the cubby that contained Halwyn's body in a black body bag. She glanced at Malia and Lydia before unzipping the bag to reveal Halwyn's body.

"Well, it's still here. Still dead. What else were we supposed to do?" Malia asked and Lydia sighed, "Figure out how a Hellhound led us into the woods to find another faceless body while being technically dead." Lydia said and Malia raised her eyebrows.

"Technically?" She asked and Sawyer nodded, "I don't think we would have been led out there if he was fully dead. Well, maybe I would have since I can see ghosts but Lydia, no." Sawyer said and Malia made a face as she glanced down at the body. "I don't think we should be hanging out here waiting for him to spring back to life." She said.

"We don't have to wait if we can figure out how he was able to reach us." Lydia said and Malia raised an eyebrow, "How do we do that?" She asked and Sawyer looked down at him and shrugged slightly, "We're just going to have to ask him."

Lydia laid still on a steel autopsy table with her eyes closed and her hands folded over her abdomen. Her head is inches away from Halwyn's in his autopsy cubby while Sawyer sat on the ground next to Halwyn with her eyes closed.

After a moment, Malia, who was crouched down in front of Sawyer, peeked her head up near Lydia and Halwyn's heads. "Anything yet?" She asked, making Lydia's eyes open, she rolled her eyes irritably, "As opposed to when you asked three minutes ago? No." She said before groaning and standing to her feet.

"Ugh. It's not working." Lydia said, "This kind of thing takes time." Sawyer said, finally opening her eyes but not getting up. "Maybe you should touch him?" Malia suggested and Lydia scoffed and rolled her eyes again, "That's ridiculous. There's no way-" She started to say but Malia grabbed her hand and planted it on Halwyn's arm making Sawyer cringe slightly before standing up.

"Anything?" Malia asked and Lydia made a face, clearly not happy about touching a corpse, "Nothing." She said. Malia grabbed Lydia's hand and placed it on Halwyn's clawed-up chest, "What about now?" She asked. Lydia made a noise of disgust, clearly grossed out as Malia held her hand down, "Nope."

Malia took Lydia's hand and placed it on Halwyn's chin this time, much to Lydia's exasperation, "Now?" She asked as Sawyer chuckled when Lydia gave her a look. Lydia, who clearly had enough, yanked her hand away and gave Malia a look, "Okay, stop."

Malia made an equally grossed-out face as she gently turnee Halwyn's head to the left, exposing the back of his neck to them. She then looks at Lydia and Sawyer, "I could try it?" She said and Sawyer instantly shook her head.

"You could damage his brain, probably more than that bullet already has." Sawyer said and Lydia nodded making Malia look slightly relieved by this answer and gingerly returned Halwyn to the prone position before beginning to pace around the room.

"How did it work last time?" Malia asked and Lydia sighed, "Last time, I was unconscious and Sawyer was asleep." Lydia said and Malia nodded slowly. "Unconscious..." She mumbled as she looked around the room, eventually finding a large steel surgical hammer and smiling. "Okay, we can work with that!" She said, making Sawyer's eyes widen and look at her horrified as Malia banged it against the autopsy exam table to emphasize her point after explaining her idea.

"See? It will be quick!" Malia said and Sawyer and Lydia shook their heads, "No. Mmm-mmm. Not like that." Lydia said, making Malia frown. "You want me to knock you guys out, right?" Malia asked and Sawyer shook her head, "Render unconscious." Sawyer said and Lydia nodded, "Preferably without pain." She said and Sawyer looked down at Hawlyn in thought.

Sawyer stared at the body for a moment before the whispers got louder before holding her hand out. "What are you doing?" Lydia asked and Sawyer glanced at her, "Listening to the voices." She said before placing her hand on Halwyn's shoulder. Almost instantly Sawyer's eyes clouded over and she seemed like she was in a trance.

"Okay, I guess touching him works for her." Malia said and Lydia sighed and looked away from Sawyer then down at Halwyn's motionless body for a moment before she finally got an idea.

"Okay, this is what we're gonna do. You're going to press against my chest- hard- constricting the flow of blood and oxygen to my brain. It'll drop my blood pressure and render me unconscious." Lydia explained and Malia looked at her wide eyed, "That sounds totally unsafe." She said and Lydia nodded in agreement.

"Oh, extremely." Lydia said and Malia raised her eyebrows, "Are you sure? You know Sawyer would probably kill me or drive me insane if something happens to you." She said. Lydia sighed clearly conflicted about this plan, "She'd say she will, but she won't. Now let's go." She said before clearing her throat and taking several deep breaths to psychologically prepare herself.

She flattened her back against the wall next to Sawyer as Malia stood in front of her and placed her hands on each of her collarbones. She pressed against Lydia's chest causing Lydia to gasp for breath. Lydia clutched onto Malia's wrists as Malia cringed slightly until after a long moment, Lydia slowly lost consciousness and sunk to the ground.

"Welcome, my love. I see you figured out a way." Sawyer said, making Lydia's head shoot up to see Sawyer standing in front of her, holding her hand out to Lydia. "Now that you're here, there's something you gotta see." Sawyer said as she helped Lydia stand up. Lydia glanced around to see the walls of Eichen were dripping with melted silver as a fire burned inside of Halwyn's cell.

"It started happening when I got here. Take a look at this." Sawyer said before leading Lydia down the hall to Halwyn's cell. They looked through the foggy window on the door, which was glowing with orange light. Inside, Halwyn, in his fossilized volcanic ash form, was suddenly surrounded by a cloud of cold air from the freezer components.

However, the cold is no match for Halwyn's Hellhound as he bursts out of his rock shell with such force that the pieces explode, scaring Lydia to the point where she ducks and covers her ears to protect herself from the blast while Sawyer flinched slightly before turning to Lydia.

Sawyer helped Lydia stand up before looking back into the window, to see Halwyn, with his claws and fangs out, roaring in front of the door and slamming against it with his hands making them jump back.

Halwyn is suddenly pulled back into the cold fog by an invisible force making the girls furrow their brows as they squint slightly due to the bright light emitting from his body.

Lydia walks toward the door while Sawyer stands behind her with her arm around her waist. Halwyn began bashing his head against the window making Lydia jump back again and Sawyer pulled her closer.

Confused, they watched with concern as Halwyn once again backed away from the door, taking deep breaths as the cloud of cold fog was sucked back into the components. The lock on the outside of the door suddenly unlocks and the door slowly cracks open.

The couple looked at each other in shock until Halwyn suddenly launched himself toward them, holding onto them protectively as the three flew through the cement wall behind them, as though they had phased through it.

Sawyer gasped awake first as her eyes and face went back to normal and she quickly stepped away from the body as Lydia gasped awake. "He's not dead!" Lydia said then pauses briefly to catch her breath as Sawyer nodded in agreement, "Halwyn's not dead..." She said as she helped Lydia up.

Lydia leaned on the autopsy table for support as she looked down at Halwyn's motionless body. "And we know how to save him." Lydia said, glancing over at Sawyer who nodded.

โš”

Sawyer, Lydia and Malia, in navy blue scrubs, masks and cap, wheel Halwyn on a gurney into the radiology wing. When they made it into the room where the MRI machine was located, they removed their masks and caps while Sawyer checked the hall before giving them a thumbs up to signal no one suspected them.

"Step one, complete." Sawyer said as she walked over to Lydia and Malia, "Now, how do we turn this thing on?" Malia asked. Lydia pulled out her phone and held it out so that Malia and Sawyer could see the screen, which reads "MRI Technical Operations Manual". "We read the manual." She said and Sawyer nodded, "That works."

After a few minutes they move to the observation room, where Lydia typed something into the computer. Malia and Sawyer watch over Lydia's shoulder as she uses the controls to put Halwyn's body into the MRI machine. After a moment, an imaging of his brain came up on the screen, which Lydia used to show them the bullet.

"Look- see that image artifacting? That means the bullet is ferromagnetic. Probably steel. It'll react in the MRI. We'll increase the magnet's power, and the machine will pull the bullet right out." She said and then turned to look at them wide eyed, "Ready? It could get messy." She asked and Sawyer chuckled.

"I think we've all seen messy." Sawyer said and Malia nodded, "Go for it." She said. Lydia was about to hit the start button when Sawyer noticed something on the screen that made her grab Lydia's hand. "We can't do this." She said, making them look at her.

"What are you talking about?" She asked and Sawyer shook her head slightly, "The bullet- it's not just steel." She said then pointed at one of the images on the screen. "Those fragments around it. That's silver. The bullet was coated with it. Silver won't react in the MRI. We pull that bullet out and he'll start to heal." Sawyer explained and Malia nodded, "Healing is good!" She said and Sawyer shook her head.

"The exact opposite. He's a Hellhound, he'll heat up. When he does, that silver is going to melt." Sawyer said and realization crossed over Lydia's face as she slowly nodded, "And seep right into his brain." She said. "So, what's a little silver?" Malia asked and Lydia sighed softly, "Argyria. Silver poisoning. And we have no way of getting it out." Lydia said and Malia looked at Halwyn with a defeated expression. "So, if we take out the bullets, he dies again." She said and Sawyer nodded.

Malia anxiously looked out of the small window in the door to the MRI room to ensure that there was no one coming. After a moment of seeing nothing, she walked back over to the observation room with Lydia and Sawyer, who both are clearly conflicted by their dilemma.

"There has to be another way." Lydia said and Malia nodded, "Yeah... If we had more time, I'm sure we could figure something out, but we don't. Someone is gonna come through that door any second now and bust us. Our last shot at figuring out how to beat the Anuk-ite might be laying on that table, so we need to make a decision right now." Malia said.

Lydia rolled her eyes and gave Malia an exhausted but exasperated look, "You don't mean decide- you mean do it." She said and brushed past Malia and began pacing as they talked. "Yeah, I think it's the right decision. If it were Parrish, he'd want us to do it. He would sacrifice himself for everyone in Beacon Hills." Malia said and Sawyer sighed.

"But Jordan would be able to make the decision himself. We don't know what Halwyn would do." Sawyer said and Malia thought for a brief moment, "We kind of do." She said, making them look at her with raised eyebrows.

"He built Eichen. He froze himself for years so that he could be ready to fight the Anuk-ite. The first thing he does when he's unfrozen is start hunting the thing. If that's the only thing he's ever cared about... Then he'd want us to do this." Malia said and Sawyer thought for a moment before nodding slowly, "She's got a point." She said looking over at her girlfriend.

Lydia sighed, knowing Malia was right, and walked toward her. She hesitated as she reached for the sliding switches to the magnetic component, eventually getting the nerve to slide them up all the way to increase the magnetism and remove the bullet.

The girls watched as the MRI machine began to revive Halwyn by pulling the bullet out of his brain. After a moment, Malia frowned worriedly, "Something's wrong." She said, making Lydia and Sawyer look at her, "What is it?" Sawyer asked and Malia focused on her hearing.

"His heartbeat... it's too fast, and erratic." Malia said and then suddenly, Halwyn began seizing, his muscles spasming painfully as the MRI continued to do its work. The girls all looked at each other with alarm as Sawyer anxiously tapped Lydia's shoulder, "Turn it off! Turn it off!" She said.

Lydia wastes no time hitting the buttons on the keyboard in an attempt to turn off the machine, "Hurry!" Malia said. Though Lydia managed to successfully turn the MRI machine off, it took a few more moments to fully power down, which was just enough time for it to forcibly yank the bullet out of Halwyn's brain.

Halwyn, now conscious, stopped seizing and instead roared in pain at the top of his voice, his eyes blazing with fire and his fangs extended. The lights flickered for a moment before completely shutting off, sending the whole hospital into a blackout a brief moment until the back-up generator kicked in.

The girls ran into the next room as Halwyn weakly stood to his feet, stern coming from his wounds as he started to heal. Halwyn turned towards them and growled under his breath.

"Where is it?" He asked before trying to lunge toward them, but ended up getting woozy and fell into them, making them gently lower him to the ground, leaning his back against the wall. Panting for breath, he frowned in confusion, "What's happening?" He asked as the girls glanced at each other.

"The Anuk-ite is destroying our city, that's what's happening. And we need you to tell us how to kill it." Malia said and Halwyn looked overwhelmed by this news. Sawyer got a devastated look on her face as she tried to get Lydia and Malia's attention, "Guys..."

Malia ignored her as she continued to question him, "Does it have any weaknesses? Is there a weapon that we can use?" Malia asked. "Guys!" Sawyer said louder, making Malia finally stop talking as she and Lydia looked at Sawyer, who nodded to Halwyn's face.

They all look alarmed when they see molten silver trailing out of his nose. Halwyn brought his hand up to his face and wiped some of it off before looking down at his finger then back at the girls with wide eyes, "What did you do to me?"

"I'm sorry... It was the only way to revive you." Lydia said and Halwyn chuckled darkly at her, "Revive me so I can die?" He asked. "No, so you could help us. Tell us how to stop it." Malia asked and Halwyn, who was now bleeding silver from his mouth as well, sighed defeatedly, "You can't stop it. You can't kill it." He said and Sawyer furrowed her brows. "But you did..." She said, making him look at her, "I trapped it." He corrected.

"Well, how do we do that?" Malia asked impatiently, "Don't let it find its other half." He said. "How do we know it hasn't found it already?" Lydia asked and he looked at her grimly, "Because you wouldn't be alive to tell me." He said before pausing to take a deep breath. "Keep them apart. It's still weak." He said, "One of them isn't so weak- it's supernatural." Lydia said, making Halwyn look at her with wide eyes. "A shapeshifter?" He asked and Sawyer nodded, "A Werewolf." She said, making him look at her.

"You can't let the two halves merge. If you do, you won't be able to catch it." He said and silver began to bleed from the gunshot wound in his forehead, and he groaned in pain as the silver poisoning spread throughout his body. The girls looked at each other with guilty expressions, clearly saddened by what they've done, "We shouldn't have done this. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry." Lydia said.

Silver poured out of both of his ears and his right eye as well as his mouth, nose, and open wounds. "Okay, listen to me. If it finds its other half... if the two become one... do not look at it." He asked and his eyes started to flicker orange-red as more molten silver trailed from his eyes like tears, and he started gasping for breath.

"You can't. It will kill you with a look." He said before taking one last raspy breath as his body went weak before his head lolled to the side slightly. The girls looked devastated by what happened to him and their role in it as they shared a grieving expression.

โš”

Sawyer suddenly pulled Liam out of the library through the double doors as Anuk-looked around. Liam looked at Sawyer wide eyes before noticing Lydia with her, "We have to run!" Lydia said and Sawyer nodded. The girls grabbed each other's hands while Sawyer grabbed Liam's shoulder and pulled him along with them.

"What are you doing? Quinn and Aaron merged. We have to stop them!" Liam said and Sawyer shook her head. "You can't." She said as they rushed past the adjacent hall, "You can't look at it. If you do, it'll kill you!" Lydia said.

A little while later, Sawyer, Lydia and Liam have reconvened in the hallway, where Sawyer was crouched down next to what seemed like statues of hunters. "How do we fight something we can't look at?" Liam said, making Lydia sigh, "I have no idea." She said as Scott and Malia walked up to them.

"We have to learn to fight without our eyes." He said, making Malia look at him incredulously, "Fight without seeing? That means..." She trailed off and Sawyer sighed, "Deucalion."

โš”

Sawyer sat against the headboard to Lydia's bed while Lydia leaned against Sawyer's chest. Neither of them were talking, just sitting in silence, holding each other's hands. "Do you think we're all gonna survive this?" Lydia asked and Sawyer sighed softly, "Only the lucky will survive." Sawyer said.

"I hope we're lucky." Lydia said and Sawyer slowly nodded in agreement as she thought for a moment. "A lot of us weren't lucky enough to make it to see graduation... We owe it to all of them to survive this... If we don't it might feel like their death meant nothing." Sawyer said and Lydia nodded slightly. Sawyer's phone went off, making her reach over and grab it to see a text.

"Who is it?" Lydia asked, making Sawyer glance at her as she texted the person back, "Uh- part of that plan I mentioned when you were in the hospital. So far it seems to be working out." She said and Lydia hummed slightly. "Hopefully your plan saves us all... Whatever your plan is." Lydia said and Sawyer looked down at Lydia for a moment before smiling softly.

She started to pull away from Lydia making Lydia sit up and look at her confused. "What are you doing?" Lydia asked as Sawyer put some music on before turning to Lydia, holding her hand out.

"Wanna dance?" Sawyer asked and Lydia raised her eyebrows, "Do you really think now is really the time for dancing?" Lydia asked Sawyer, smiling. "You kinda owe me a dance since you did ditch me at the winter formal." Sawyer said, making Lydia scoff playfully before grabbing her hand and getting up.

The moment Lydia stood up, Sawyer spun her, making Lydia laugh. Sawyer smiled at her as she pulled Lydia closer, making Lydia smile at her. "I love you." Sawyer said, and Lydia smiled softly, "I love you too." She said before pulling Sawyer down into a kiss.

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