( ELEVEN )
the last chimera

"You made a move on Lydia yet?" Alex questioned as her gaze was on the road, the girl driving. Her phone was on speaker, the girl talking to Lucas.

"No." Lucas responded from his position back at their house. "I just broke up with Malia."

"I'm aware of that, thank you." Alex responded sarcastically. "I was just asking."

"Plus, I think she's with that cop." Lucas added annoyedly.

"Parrish?" Alex frowned as she continued to drive.

"Yeah, him." Lucas replied, the boy jealous.

A message popped up on Alex's phone from Melissa. It read 'Noah's here and injured. Come quick'.

Alex widened her eyes as she glanced at the road again, the girl changing her route so she was heading towards the hospital. "I've gotta go, I'll call you back later."

With that, Alex hung up the phone.

Fuck it. Alex thought to herself as she sped up.

••••

"Stiles." Alex started as she quickly approached Stiles, who was at the front desk.

Stiles's attention shifted to her, the boy still stressed out about his father, but also relieved that Alex was there.

"Who's this?" The nurse behind the desk asked, the woman catching Stiles's attention.

"She's my girlfriend." Stiles responded, the boy more focused on his father's wellbeing. "Look, we can talk about Alex all day, but right now I'm more concerned about my dad, alright?"

"You said his insurance was with the county? He's a deputy?" The nurse started.

"No, he's the sheriff, he's the county sheriff, okay? He's covered." Stiles replied, his tone rising in impatience. "He should be covered."

Alex glanced at Stiles in sympathy, the girl feeling his anxiety.

"I'll take care of it." Melissa interrupted, the nurse at the desk nodding. Melissa gently escorted the two teens along with her as she continued. "Thanks for coming, Alex."

"Of course." Alex nodded as she glanced at Melissa.

"I texted Scott." Melissa added, the woman glancing between Alex and Stiles. "He's coming as soon as he can."

Stiles nodded.

"Is there anyone else we need to notify?" The nurse at the desk caught the group's attention. "A next of kin?"

"No, it's me." Stiles shook his head, the boy feeling tears sting his eyes. "It's just me."

••••

Silent tears slid down Stiles's cheeks, his hand never leaving Alex's.

Alex's arm was wrapped around Stiles's bicep, the girl trying to comfort Stiles as much as she could at that moment.

After a moment, Stiles rested his head on Alex's shoulder, the boy closing his eyes and soon falling into a restless sleep.

He squeezed Alex's hand from time to time for reassurance.

••••

Stiles inhaled a sharp breath as he woke up, his head raising from Alex's shoulder, Alex gently rubbing his bicep.

"Hey, hey." Alex spoke softly as Melissa approached the two.

"He's okay." Melissa started, Stiles releasing a relieved breath, Alex smiling softly.

"Doctor Geyer is stitching him up right now." Melissa added.

"Okay, I wanna see him." Stiles immediately responded, the boy beginning to stand up, however, Melissa gently guided him back down.

"Okay, okay..." Melissa spoke softly. "The anaesthesia needs to wear off. It's gonna be at least two hours."

"Okay, yeah, but everything's gonna be okay, though, I mean, he's okay?" Stiles asked desperately.

Melissa nodded with a smile. "Mhm. He's gonna be just fine."

Stiles released a relieved breath as he slumped back in his seat, the boy tearing up again. "Thank god."

Alex smiled at Melissa, the girl removing her arm from Stiles's bicep, her hand still holding Stiles's.

Melissa sent the two a small smile before leaving them, the woman needing to help someone else.

"You're gonna stay, right?" Stiles started as he glanced at Alex, who nodded.

"Of course I will." Alex replied as her gaze flickered between Stiles's teary eyes.

"I'm sorry for how I reacted about the whole Donovan thing." Stiles spoke up after a moment, the boy glancing down at his hands. "I guess I just panicked."

"It's okay, Stiles." Alex responded as she caught Stiles's gaze. "Don't apologise."

"We're okay, right?" Stiles asked, his voice quiet as he began to tear up again. "Everything's gonna be okay?"

Alex nodded as a small, reassuring smile overtook her features. "Everything's gonna be okay."

••••

"What do you mean 'you don't know'?" Stiles frowned at the doctor, his voice raising in anger. "Two hours ago, he was fine, now it looks like somebody took a baseball bat to his neck."

"There could've been some minor internal." The doctor responded, Alex frowning.

"Did you say 'minor internal'?!" Stiles exclaimed. "Since when is anything internal minor?!"

"Stiles-"

"I need to know what's going on with him, okay?" Stiles cut Melissa off. "Someone needs to tell me what's happening. Somebody needs to tell me what's happening to him!"

"It's the least you can do." Alex glanced at the doctor in charge of Noah's recovery.

"We don't know." Melissa spoke softly, the woman catching both Alex and Stiles's attention.

"Is he in pain?" Alex questioned, the girl hoping to help in some way by taking his pain.

Stiles noticed Scott outside the door, the boy growing angrier by the second. He approached him and grabbed his collar, the boy throwing Scott to the ground.

"You trusted him, right? Where were you, huh?" Stiles grabbed Scott's collar again as he stood over him.

Alex widened her eyes as she ran up to the two. "Stiles!"

"Where the hell were you?!" Stiles yelled as Alex pulled him away from Scott, Melissa and the doctor running up to them hurriedly.

"Stop it!" Melissa exclaimed as another doctor helped Scott up.

Alex held Stiles back as the boy began to thrash in her arms. "Stiles, calm down."

"Okay, okay, alright." Stiles spoke as he began to catch his breath, Alex still holding him back just in case.

"Your dad's not the only one who got hurt." Scott breathed, catching Alex and Stiles's attention.

"Oh, you'll heal." Stiles scoffed.

Alex frowned as she glanced between the two, the girl wondering why Stiles was so aggressive towards Scott.

Scott glanced down at his shirt, which had a blood stain on it, the boy shrugging his jacket over it. "I'm not talking about me."

Alex and Stiles's furrowed their eyebrows in confusion.

Scott was referring to Lydia.

••••

"It could be a sign of shock." Parrish started, glancing between the group.

"Whatever it is, she's gotta be okay." Lucas added, the boy worried about Lydia.

"Not trying to be pessimistic here, but she's catatonic." Stiles responded, Lucas frowning at the words.

"It was Theo digging his way through her mind." Alex added as she crossed her arms. "Fucking asshole."

"Why would he do that?" Melissa frowned. "What is he looking for?"

"The same thing he's always looking for. An advantage." Scott answered.

"So what did he gain by trying to kill Stilinski?" Parrish frowned in confusion.

Scott glanced at him as he spoke. "It left me alone with Liam. Theo wanted to make sure that no one would be there to stop him from killing me."

"Okay, so he gutted my dad as a distraction." Stiles added angrily.

"We need to find this kid." Lucas crossed his arms as he glanced between the group.

"I agree. We need to find him now, before anyone else gets hurt." Parrish agreed with Lucas.

"Isn't that a little dangerous, considering the fact that you almost killed my kid?" Melissa glared at Parrish.

"Wait, he said he didn't want my dad to die." Stiles frowned as he changed the subject, the boy glancing between the group.

"And you believe him?" Parrish narrowed his eyes at Stiles.

"He told me where to find him." Stiles responded. "So maybe he knows how to save him."

"He wouldn't tell Stiles where to find Noah if he wanted him dead." Alex added as she caught the group's attention, the girl glancing between them. "Theo's clever. He knows exactly how to get his way. I don't think he's lying about this."

"What do you wanna do?" Melissa asked, the woman glancing at Stiles with raised eyebrows. "Talk to him?"

"If it saves my dad, then yes." Stiles nodded.

"I'll come with you." Scott added, catching Stiles's attention. "He doesn't know I'm alive, maybe that gives us an advantage."

"He'll know you're there." Alex replied as she caught Scott's attention.

"I just need to talk to him, not fight him." Stiles added as he began to walk towards the door.

"You really expect this guy to reason with you?" Lucas raised his eyebrows, the boy stopping Stiles.

Stiles turned around and glanced at Lucas. "I have to try."

"You can't go alone." Melissa added, catching Stiles's attention.

"Does anyone even know how to find him?" Parrish frowned, referring to Theo.

"We don't have to find him." Stiles responded. "He'll come to me."

••••

After Stiles talked to Theo, Alex went over to Stiles's place to help out with the plan.

"There was a call a few hours ago about a sophomore from Beacon High who never came home last night." Stiles started as he read from his phone, the boy glancing between Alex and Scott.

"What's his name?" Scott frowned.

"Noah Patrick." Stiles answered.

Scott pointed to a sheet of paper with a list of names of potential victims on it.

Alex took a pen and crossed out the sophomore's name.

••••

Scott tore off Noah Patrick's lock from his locker door, the boy opening the locker and taking out a jumper that belonged to Noah.

"Now we can catch his scent." Scott gestured to himself and Alex as he sniffed the jumper, Alex sniffing it too.

Scott threw the jumper towards Malia, who caught it with ease as she approached the three.

Stiles glanced at Scott with raised eyebrows. He didn't want anyone else getting involved.

"We need all the help we can get." Scott started as he noticed the look. "I should be calling everyone."

"And I know what this kid looks like." Malia responded, the girl referring to Noah Patrick.

••••

"This is Noah's." Malia started as she referred to some blood on a pipe against the wall. "He was here. I think he's close."

"Guys..." Scott caught their attention, Stiles, Alex, and Malia approaching him. "I think we've been down tunnels like this before. Like when we were looking for Liam and Hayden."

Alex nodded, the girl remembering the occasion in which he was referring to.

"Okay, so what?" Stiles frowned in confusion.

"Maybe it means that we're closer than we think." Scott responded, the boy looking down the long tunnel ahead of him. "Maybe there's something else down here..."

"Something that we haven't found yet." Alex frowned, finishing his sentence for him, Scott nodding.

"Yeah, nothing that helps my dad." Stiles glanced between Scott and Alex. "Look, we can't just be standing around here waiting for something to-"

Suddenly, Stiles was grabbed and thrown towards the wall roughly, Alex and Scott widening their eyes.

"Stiles!" The two exclaimed at the same time.

As Stiles slid down the wall, the boy closed his eyes, Alex immediately running over to him.

••••

Stiles's eyes fluttered open a moment later, Alex helping him up.

"You okay?" Scott frowned at Stiles.

"Yeah, fine." Stiles nodded. The sound of Malia growling interrupted the three, all of them glancing at her.

She was choking Noah Patrick, the boy gasping for breath. "Let me go, please!" He glanced between the group as he spoke again. "They're coming."

As if on cue, the sound of heavy thudding was heard, metallic, almost grinding-like noises accompanying the footsteps.

"The Dread Doctors." Alex breathed.

Malia released Noah, Stiles quickly pinning him against the wall before he could run away. "You're not going anywhere."

"I said I don't remember!" Noah exclaimed.

"You don't remember anything?" Stiles raised his eyebrows as his grip against Noah tightened.

Alex's gaze flickered between Stiles and Noah, the girl sharing a glance with Scott.

"No." Noah shook his head, the boy groaning a little. "Not when it happens, not when I change."

"You clawed my dad half to death, okay? And now it's poisoning him." Stiles glared at the boy as he spoke angrily. "So you are gonna have to start remembering every detail, right now."

"Scott, I hear them." Malia started, referring to the Dread Doctors.

"Yeah, I do, too." Scott nodded.

"They're getting closer." Alex agreed with the two.

"Hey, Stiles, get him out of here." Scott added as he glanced at Stiles and Noah. "Go to the hospital, figure out a way to save your dad."

"We're not gonna be able to stop them." Malia widened her eyes at Scott.

"Yeah, but we can slow them down." Scott responded as he glanced at her. His gaze shifted to Stiles as he nodded. "Stiles, go."

"Now." Alex added with raised eyebrows.

Stiles glanced between Alex and Scott as he grabbed Noah roughly and began to quickly leave the tunnels.

Scott groaned as blood began to soak through his shirt.

"Scott, you okay?" Alex frowned at the boy.

Scott didn't have a chance to answer, as the Dread Doctors slowly began to approach the trio.

Alex felt her fear rise as the three Dread Doctors walked closer to the group.

"We're gonna be okay." Scott glanced between Alex and Malia, who returned his glance.

"Scott, we're gonna die down here." Malia replied almost immediately, her gaze shifting to the doctors again.

"That's really reassuring, Malia." Alex responded, her tone sarcastic.

"We're not gonna die." Scott spoke confidently, Alex and Malia frowning.

"How can you be so sure?" Malia questioned.

"Because you're not the only one that I called." Scott responded with a small smirk, Chris Argent appearing behind the three.

"Get down." He spoke, catching the trio's attention.

The werewolves got out of the way, Chris Argent cocking a machine gun and aiming it at the three Dread Doctors.

He shot at them, one of the doctors raising a hand and creating a force-field around them, Chris continuing to shoot at the doctors.

Alex, Scott, and Malia raised their hands to block the bright light that emitted from the gun, as Chris continued to shoot at the doctors.

"Run!" Chris exclaimed as he continued to shoot at the Dread Doctors.

The werewolves did as they were told, the three of them beginning to run out of the tunnels, Chris following them.

••••

Chris, Scott, Alex, and Malia entered the hospital, Melissa sending the four a nod, a small smile on her face.

The group released relieved breaths, all of them thrilled that Noah was okay.