Unbroken ▹ Teen Wolf [02]

37; limitless

Something about the shadowy forest made the night feel colder.

Rachel already had a chill, but as soon as she stepped foot in the forest it grew worse with every passing minute. She wasn't entirely sure if it was from the cold or her nerves, and she didn't care to find out. She was there for one reason, and one reason only, and as much as she liked to pretend that reason was Stiles, it wasn't. The only scent ghosting in the air was metallic and had no relation to Stiles.

She followed the scent despite knowing exactly where to go, as if she were holding a map in her hands rather than an image in her mind. Rachel couldn't picture a map capable of the detail that the image in her mind held. Every inch of the forest always looked the same on maps, whereas her mind could capture every little difference that a map overlooked.

Her gaze locked upon the hill ahead, her breathing heavy as her sprint slowed to a walk. Rachel ran the entire way there, just as she had before in her disturbingly vivid dream. Avoiding the same path as Isaac had required taking the longer route to get back to Scott's street, and exhaustion didn't even begin to describe her current state but she was too close to give up.

It was identical to what she had seen before. To some, every part of the forest looked identical but to someone who'd spent so much of their life wandering the woods, it was unmistakable. The large tree that sat atop the hill, the way moonlight pierced through the branches creating an intricate design on the forest floor.. it was without a doubt the exact place she'd been in her dream hours prior.

She approached the hill with caution, hesitating as she grew closer in fear of being caught once more, but as the other side of the hill slowly came into view she let herself relax a little. It was void of life, excluding an owl lurking somewhere in the trees. Though she had yet to see it, the occasional hoot alerted her of its lingering presence.

Rachel continued forwards towards the tree, keeping her distance from it until she could see the other side. No one was hiding there, waiting to catch her in a chokehold, but that brought her little comfort as her gaze fell to the ground. Her heart rate sped as she caught sight of something damp on the forest floor glistening in the moonlight.

Her worst fear was confirmed by the scent alone. The sight was just another coat of shit icing on the shit cake, which was seriously overloaded with shit icing at this point. She didn't need to come all the way out here to see what she already knew, but if she didn't she would've forever held onto the shred of hope that her sense of smell had tricked her. It hadn't.

The blood on the forest floor was hers.

When she'd fallen to the ground after being clotheslined, she hit her head— hell, she could even see the exact rock she'd hit it on. It still had her blood on it.

Rachel was hit with so many emotions all at once, she couldn't decide which one to feel. Horrified was a contender, but confused was tough to refuse; especially when Rachel recalled the feeling of her hair being damp upon waking up in bed.. but there was no blood on her pillow. She distinctly remembered hitting the back of her head.

There was no possible way she wouldn't have blood in her hair if the happenings of her dream were real. There was no possible way her blood would be out here in the woods if the happenings of her dream weren't real. There was no possible way she was ever going to be sane again.

The Dread Doctors were here, in Beacon Hills— here for her. That thought terrified her so much she didn't even stop for a moment to think how the name Dread Doctors had just conveniently come to mind at the thought of them. They weren't supposed to be here, not now. They couldn't be here now. Of all the times deranged pseudoscientists could've made a pit stop in Beacon Hills to collect the experiment they forgot, the time in which demons and a nogitsune also roamed the streets was most definitely the worst.