Chapter Forty-Three
THIRD POV:
Beacon Hills Woods, 2005
A strange, rhythmic pulsing rises over a barren section of woods on the outskirts of Beacon Hills.
Feet-pounding across the arid ground, a teenage boy runs blindly through the darkness, almost like he's trying to outrun the sound. But he stumbles on an exposed tree root and crashes to the ground.
A cloud of dust settles to reveal the boy kneeling, hands held to his ears—15-year-old Derek Hale. He peers up to focus on the source of his pain. A Hunter's ultrasonic emitter stuck in the ground.
Gunshots had been fired behind him. Rising up, Derek charges off again. But another emitter piercing the side of a tree pushes him in the opposite direction.
Everywhere the young boy turns, another Emitter and its intolerable screeching propel him in a new direction, pushing him, corralling him.
Racing into a clearing, Derek slams into another young man. They whirl about to face each other. The Young man's eyes glow, causing Derek's eyes to brighten in response, surging a brilliant yellow.
"You're a Hale. Aren't you?" The young man states to Derek.
Before Derek can respond, an arrow pierces the young man's throat. His mouth opens in shock. Derek stares in horror as the young man collapses. As he hits the ground, the glow recedes from his eyes.
Hearing a mechanical click and a weapon reloading, Derek spins around. A hunter steps out of the darkness, raising a massive crossbow and aiming it right at the 15-year-old boy. Derek seemed to be frozen in time almost.
The hunter fires. But a hand snatches the arrow right out of the air. A young Peter Hale snarls in response, fangs bared and snaps the arrow in half.
The Hunter drops the crossbow, and a gun instantly appears in his hand. Peter grabs the still-stunned Derek and drags him into the darkness as gunfire blasts through the night.
Black boots kicking up dust, several other hunters rush out of the shadows to surround the body of the Young Man. Gerard Argent glances at it and looks at his son, Chris.
"Is this the one?" Gerard questions his son.
Chris nods in confirmation. "Killed two of ours." Chris turns to the gathered hunters. "Find the others. Bring them back alive." Noticing one hunter sneer at the suggestion, Chris stares at him. "Alive. We go by the code."
The wind carries his voice up into the trees and over the Hunters as they fan out, flashlight beams cutting through the dark and passing by a grove of trees. Their powerful branches reach out impossibly far while below, brush and leaves conceal a secret entrance.
Below, a dirt-covered stairwell leads down to a root cellar, long overtaken by unchecked growth. At the same time, the shouts and footsteps of Hunters echo down from above. Peter holds a terrified Derek in his arms, keeping him still.
Derek's loft, present day
"They stayed there for two days. Hiding and waiting." Cora Hale explains as she peers out the windows, watching a steady rain wash away the Alpha's Triskele painted on the window. "It's what we were taught to do when Hunters found us. Hide and heal."
She glances to Stiles and Paige, Stiles who looks about the loft, unsatisfied, and Paige just standing there with her arms crossed.
"So is two days standard? Or are we thinking Derek's on an extended getaway?" Stiles asks, genuinely serious.
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LYCANTHROPY 》𝒮𝓉𝒾𝓁𝑒𝓈 𝒮𝓉𝒾𝓁𝒾𝓃𝓈𝓀𝒾
Werewolf❝Lycanthropy, so it means werewolf, right?❞ High School student Paige Madden had mistakenly discovered the supernatural with her two old friends, Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski. Scott McCall gets bitten; and his two friends are by his side to wor...
