EIGHT LETTERS || Liam Dunbar [2]

FOURTY ONE

Traveling through dark tunnels was difficult at the best of times, but when you're working with a clumsy high school senior, a destabilizing banshee and a traumatized sixteen year old, it was nearly impossible. Lydia kept stumbling because she was more focused on keeping her screams in, and Katherine was trying to refrain from going into shock before they made it back to the Jeep, though she wasn't entirely sure how well that was working out.

"Okay," Stiles grunted as they tripped around another corner. "You gotta try and stay on your feet." Lydia groaned and stumbled into him, pulling Katherine with her. She just let go and clung to Stiles the most stable out of the three of them. "The plan didn't work out too well, so I'm gonna need your help, okay?" He continued to ramble.

"You had a plan?" Lydia whimpered out.

"Yeah. It was good on paper...not too much in reality." He glanced over at her. "You okay, Kat?"

"His brain — his brain was — out — it was out, his brain was out" She choked, and though she had them clenched into fists, her hands were trembling.

She heard Stiles sigh. "I know it was, KitKat, but we have to keep moving, okay?"

"Mhm," she nodded numbly.

They tumbled though a doorway, and Lydia fell to her knees and clamped her hands over her ears, forcing Stiles to let go of her.

"I can't hold it," she choked out.

"Lydia—"

"—Stiles, run!" She screamed.

Before either of them even had the chance to move, a strong hand clamped down on her shoulder and she was thrown backwards along with Stiles, only to feel a familiar pair of arms catch her before she could actually hit the ground. "Liam—" she sobbed out, but the force of Lydia's scream sent the entire system of tunnels into a shudder so vicious it could easily have been mistaken for earthquake.

Something muffled it, though, which she knew because her ears weren't ringing nearly as much as they had at the first scream. Her face was turned into his shoulder as they stumbled back away from the opening of that particular turn, debris flying out the end of the hall and spraying out as far as it could.

"Is she okay? Aside from the obvious trauma?" She heard Stiles demand, and then two sets of hands were gently tugging her face out of Liam's shoulder.

Not the time not the time not the time not the time—

But she couldn't stop shaking.

Her skin felt clammy.

Her stomach was rolling.

"I think so," Liam muttered back, his hands on her cheeks like he was trying to get her to focus on something...on him; he was trying to get her to focus on him.

"I'm okay," she uttered, and forced herself to pay attention. But in the back of her mind, she was still unable to get rid of the snapshot her brain had taken of Doctor Valak—

Not the time not the time not the time not the time—

Then a dwindling glow was visible through the dust at the end of the hall Lydia had been in, and the only thing Katherine could see was Parrish, now without his glowing eyes, carrying a shaking and whimpering Lydia. "Where to?" he panted.

Scott took action. "This way. Come on."

With Liam's arm hooked around her waist, Katherine stumbled after the four of them, blinking blearily as she tried to keep herself from throwing up again. She wasn't sure how long they were moving through the tunnels again because she was so focused on staying on her feet.