Tabula Rasa ~TW/TO~ Lahey

Chapter 17: The Walking Dead

Not wanting to waste any more time than we already have by standing around here for a reunion, we leave the school premises and head straight for Derek's old home. Isaac and I go with Scott because there is no way I'm going to be anywhere near Derek or his uncle. I can only handle so much anger until it boils over. He has already experienced that once and shouldn't have to go through it again.

We drive through the endless woods for twenty minutes until reaching the destination of Derek's burnt down house. This is my first time experiencing anything remotely close to him, aside from Peter who had taken us by surprise, and I'm suddenly not disgusted by the train station anymore. As appalling as that place is, this is worse. Derek actually continued to live in this dump after it burnt down?

"They found Stiles," Scott sighs as we enter the dingy building. Luckily, there weren't any new owners after the signer of the house died in the fire years ago. Otherwise, I would be stuck out here while the others go inside and plan without me.

Stepping through the door frame, I take in the dark view surrounding me, and compared to the outside walls, the inside is even more horrendous. I'm a bit hesitant with every step I take because the house looks as if it will collapse if I step on the right spot.

I sigh too. At least there's one less thing to worry about now. Stiles is safe and our attention is able to be fully focused on Jackson, who's supposed to be dead, but apparently isn't. We're never going to catch a break.

I don't understand how Peter knows all of this, though. He was dead when Jackson was turned, and there's no way Derek explained everything to him with how bland he is with his words. He probably says thirty words a day. And if Derek knew next to nothing about the Kanima, how would Peter know any more than him?

"Look, I told you, I looked everywhere," Derek seethes as Peter continues his search for the data he had mentioned earlier.

Peter kneels down to the bottom of the staircase, "You didn't look here." He then yanks off a slab of wood and pulls out a metal box, blowing off the dust it has collected over the years.

"What is that, a book?" Derek questions.

Peter squints by his eyes at him questioningly, "No. It's a laptop. What century are you living in? A few days after I got out of the coma, I transferred everything that we had. Fortunately, the Argents aren't the only ones that keep records."

Peter and the rest of us walk into another much larger room where moonlight seeps through the walls a lot easier than the entrance hallway. Presuming by the chimney on the other side of the room, I would say this is the den where his family scowled together.

With the knowledge I have on Peter and Derek about their characteristics, I already know that his family wasn't a naturally happy-going family and that's why they'd need a large home; to separate themselves from one another. At least, that's my outtake on his family.

As Peter sets up his computer on the rotted wood placed in the middle of the room, my cellphone begins to vibrate in my back pocket. I reach for the small device to see who could possibly be calling me, but all that appears on my screen is 'unknown caller' and no one outside of this room has my number besides Erica and Boyd, and they wouldn't call me if I was the last person on Earth.

Curious as to who is on the other end of the call, I decide to answer even with being in the middle of all this chaos. They can catch me up on the details later.

Walking in the opposite direction of the group, I slide the green button on the screen over and place the phone to my ear, "Hello."

"Renee," I hear an all too familiar voice say on the other end of the line, and my heart sinks. This can't be. I must be hallucinating again. But I haven't been near wolfsbane or anything else that could cause my mind to go into a frenzy. "Hello? Renee?"