Chapter Thirty: Hide And Seek

(The Matriarch, Part 3)

***

Allison's heart thundered in her chest as she raced down the hallway. Her footsteps pounded across the carpet as she just kept running until she came to a staircase.

Without hesitating, Allison ran up the stairs, ignoring the pain screaming from her wounded leg as she took the stairs two at a time until she came out on the landing. Panting heavily, Allison leaned against the wall, eyes closed and grimacing in pain from her leg. But that pain seemed mild compared to what she'd just witnessed happen to Ryan.

God, Ryan.

Allison's eyes snapped open. She had to find Ryan. Laura was fine, but Ryan had a knife sticking out of him. She needed to find him and help him. If that knife came out... if he died...

No. Allison wouldn't let that happen. She could fix it.

She just had to find Ryan before any of the Hacketts did—or before they found her.

Pushing herself off the wall, Allison limped down the hallway. It looked the same as the hallway down below, with the exception of there being rooms up here, with some closed,  some that were open. Allison limped down the hall and peered into the rooms one by one, simply looking into the ones already opened and opening the doors of the ones that weren't, looking for any sign of Ryan in them. Her progress was slow, and a part of her mind screamed at her to hurry up and find him, but if she sped up, that might put her and Ryan in greater danger.

She had to keep using her method, and pray it worked before she was found.

As she was opening the door to the fifth room, footsteps sounded, loud and heavy. Without hesitating, Allison threw the door open and rushed inside, closing it immediately as her heart pounded in her chest, panting heavily.

"Allison?"

Allison turned and saw Ryan.

"Oh thank God," she breathed, barely restraining herself from hugging him as she walked up to him, her relief switching over to concern and fear as she saw the knife sticking out of his side.

"Are you okay, Ryan?" she asked.

"Never... better," he gasped out, wincing in pain as his hand moved to the knife.

"Don't!" Allison hissed. 

Ryan's hand dropped as she explained, "That knife is the only thing keeping you alive right now. You take that out, you'll bleed out and die. And I don't know if I can just bandage it up—it looks like it needs stitches. Fuck..."

Allison pushed her hair back, mind racing, until she remembered the footsteps. The footsteps that would be coming this way.

"Ryan," she whispered but her friend was already peering through the peep hole. When he saw their pursuer, he stumbled back and grabbed her arm, whispering, "This way."

Tugging her to a cabinet at the end of the room, he opened it as Allison went inside first and Ryan followed, closing the door—and just in time, as Bobby entered the room, locking the door as he walked around, including near their hiding spot.

Allison clutched Ryan's arm tightly, heart thumping in her chest as she held her breath, trying desperately not to make any noise as Ryan did the same, watching through the crack in the door as Bobby walked around, straying dangerously near the cabinet, before he moved on and further into the room.

Allison let out her breath in a quiet gasp, squeezing Ryan's arm. He nodded and opened the door a fraction, and he and Allison slipped out and made their way across the room to another door Allison hadn't noticed, Ryan leading the way as he held her hand, slipping through and into another corridor.

There, Allison and Ryan heard Bobby say, "I'm close. Stand by. Over," before Ryan tugged her away and to another door, opening it into some unconstructed part of the house. Ryan groaned in pain as Allison held him, trying to steady him while also trying not to jostle the knife in his side or make it go in deeper and puncture his lung.

"You okay?" she mouthed. Ryan nodded, before he turned and ran down the left side of the corridor, Allison close behind and unable to be by his side due to the narrow space. Their footsteps and panting breaths echoed as they ran down and came to another door, the duo pausing to see Bobby walk out. Allison's mouth went dry and she wondered if she could risk an arrow before Ryan grabbed her hand and pulled her through a doorway into another room, looking just as rough as the corridor they just ran through.

Spying a cabinet next to the door, Allison and Ryan worked together in pushing it in front of the door, grunting and heaving with the effort. Once it was in place, Allison looked around for somewhere they could hide in or another way to escape the room–until she heard Bobby roar, "YOU TWO CAN'T HIDE FROM ME IN MY OWN HOUSE FUCKERS!"

"You're a fucker!" Ryan shouted back.

"Come on," Allison hissed, grabbing Ryan's arm and tugging him away from the door. "We need to find another way out and not be killed."

Ryan let her, as they looked around the room, desperately trying to find a way out or even a place to hide. But so far, Allison could see nothing.

This room was a dead end.

"Fuck," she whispered as she released his arm, running a hand through her hair. "There's no way out. Fuck, I should have just stayed quiet back in that cage room. I should have... fuck."

"Hey, it's okay. We're gonna get out of here alive, okay?" Ryan assured, holding her awkwardly.

Allison eyed the knife sticking out of Ryan's side. "Says the one with the knife in him."

"You can patch me up when we're out of here," Ryan told her, but even he sounded unsure.

Still, Allison chose to believe in the comfort of the lie as she murmured, "Yeah. When we're out of here."

That spurred their determination to get out as they kept searching for a way out of there or at least a place to hide if Bobby somehow came into the room. As they searched, Bobby yelled, "This isn't gonna be too pleasant for you two, I promise you that!"

"We gathered that already! Tonight hasn't been much of a picnic for us!" Allison shouted, before looking around as she muttered, "Come on, come on, there's gotta be a way out of here..."

"Allison," Ryan said, and Allison turned and saw what he saw—a door.

Allison didn't hesitate, rushing over to the door as Ryan opened it and slipped through, Allison following in his footsteps and closing it as they saw they were in another room. Exchanging a look, Allison noticing with concern how Ryan seemed to be fading, they stumbled across to the door across from them, opening it and getting through just as the door they went through prior opened—Bobby, somehow, getting through the door they blocked earlier.

"Doe he have super strength or something?" Allison muttered as she moved to Ryan's uninjured side, supporting him as they look around the room before Ryan pointed and croaked, "There."

Allison looked and saw a crack in the wall, big enough for them to slip into.

Exchanging another look, they stumbled toward it, Allison letting go so Ryan could go in first, Allison right behind him as they slowly shuffled behind it, inching across until they came to a stop. And just in time, as Allison heard footsteps.

Holding her breath, she and Ryan held hands tightly as Bobby walked across the wall, trying to hear for them before he stopped just where they were. Seconds passed before he moved away and Allison could breathe again, her and Ryan letting go as they crawled back to the crack and slipped out, rushing to the door just across from it.

Allison closed it behind her and Ryan, before she heard a pained groan and saw Ryan on the ground, panting heavily, colour draining from his face, his shirt dark and wet with blood.

"No, no. Ryan, come on, stay awake. Just stay awake a little longer, we're almost through," Allison begged as she crouched beside him, every part of her screaming to take the knife out and wrap up the wound, but she had no physical way to do that and Ryan would bleed out and die, yet she wanted to do something and save Ryan's life.

The choice was taken from her hands when Allison heard a quiet creak and she looked behind her to see Bobby.

Immediately she was on her feet, bow sliding off her and arrow drawn as Ryan crawled away, begging to Bobby, "Come on, man. You gotta help me and Allison."

"I do?" he asked as he stepped closer. At that, Allison pointed the arrow at him and threatened "Stay back or I'll shoot!"

He hesitated as Ryan yelled, "Yeah! I promise we won't tell anyone anything."

"No man. Family first. Besides, I'll get in trouble," Bobby said, as he looked at her added, "And I'm not afraid of you, girl."

Then he stepped forward purposefully, like he was calling out on her bluff—her willingness to shoot.

Allison proved him otherwise.

Bobby grunted with pain as an arrow stuck out of his leg, the string still quivering as Allison redraw and snarled, "That was a warning. Get the fuck away from us or this one will go into your fucking heart? You hear me, bastard? Get the fuck away from us!"

Bobby groaned with pain as he lumbered forward and towered over Ryan, but before Allison could fire, Ryan pulled the knife out and thrust upwards, stabbing Bobby in the chest.

Allison lowered the bow in shock as Bobby staggered back and yelled, "Ow! You stabbed me! And you shot me!"

"Yeah, fuckin' hurts, don't it?" Ryan shouted.

Allison nodded as she raised her bow and threatened, "And I'll do it again, motherfucker! Get the hell away from us!"

"I ain't never been stabbed or shot before," Bobby said, as if he hadn't heard Allison.

Ryan crawled back as Allison did the same, grunting, "Leave us alone."

"Before I shoot you again," Allison added lowly.

"Ow it... really hurts!" Bobby whined, before he yelled, "DAD!", and lumbered away from them.

Lowering her bow, Allison put the arrow back and dropped the bow as she crouched by Ryan's side, seeing blood pour out, staining the knees of her cargo pants.

"Oh shit. Oh fuck. No, no, no," she whispered, putting her hands against the wound and putting pressure on it as Ryan grunted in pain, trying desperately to stop the bleeding even though it wouldn't, but she had to try, she couldn't lose Ryan, she couldn't lose her friend, she had to save him, she had to try.

That was when Laura arrived, dropping out of fucking nowhere on all fours.

"HOLY FUCK!" Allison screamed, heart stuttering back into its normal rhythm at Laura's jumpscare-worthy arrival.

"Laura?" Ryan groaned, sounding less freaked out by her arrival than Allison did. Then again, he was bleeding out—no, he wasn't. Allison could still save him, she had to save him.

But as she looked at Laura, the danger bells went off in Allison's head at seeing Laura's yellow eyes, dark circles underneath them, and the grunting, snarling nosies she made as she moved to them, like she didn't recognise them anymore.

Just like Nick had before he turned.

Immediately Allison's hands lifted off Ryan's wound as she scrambled for her bow and an arrow as Laura stalked closer and Ryan yelled, "Woah, woah! Hey, hey, hey, it's us! It's us!"

At that, Laura breathed rapidly before the animalistic blankness disappeared as concern washed over her features at seeing Ryan as she asked, "What the fuck happened to you?"

At seeing Laura was still human—for now—Allison lowered the bow and arrow and pressed her hands against the wound again as Ryan answered, "Oh you know, nothing out  of the ordinary."

"He was stabbed," Allison elaborated. "I was too, on my leg earlier, but... not as bad as this."

Once she finished speaking, Ryan let out a pained groan.

"Oh, Ryan!" Laura exclaimed, coming to his side and kneeling by his side.

"Ugh... how bad is it?" he asked.

Laura was silent before she said, "I'm so sorry."

"That bad, huh?" Ryan replied, wincing.

Laura looked at Allison and asked, "You're a doctor. Can you fix this?"

Allison shook her head. "Not without medical supplies, and by supplies I mean the stuff that's in a hospital This type of wound needs stitches, and I don't have anything for that. I'm keeping pressure on it, but that knife he was stabbed with was the only thing keeping him alive, and now he's bleeding out and I don't know if it also punctured a lung or..."

A sob scraped out of Allison's throat as she lifted her bloodied hands, now realising it was futile as she wiped a hand across her face to clear away the tears, ignoring the blood smeared across as a result, lowering her hands as she took in a shuddering breath, to try and comprehend she was going to lose her friend.

She was going to watch Ryan die.

At Allison's response and reaction, Laura looked down and said remorsefully, "I keep trying to fix it... whatever this is... but people keep getting hurt. First Max, now you and Allison."

Allison bit back a harsh reply at hearing the remorse and guilt in Laura's words as Ryan said sympathetically, "It's not your fault. I didn't have to come here."

"Neither did I," Allison murmured as she looked at Laura. "You had no idea that werewolves existed or Chris was one when you got to Hackett's Quarry, just like we had no idea before Nick and Sarah were bitten and you told us. And it's something you—we—have been trying to fix and cure the ones we love ever since finding out and they've been turned. I think if I our positions were reversed... I'd act the same."

Laura looked at Allison, and again, understanding flowed between them. Except this time, Allison may think she'd like the other girl, if they got out of here alive.

But Laura looked away, guilt flashing, as she said, "I shouldn't have let you come—either of you."

"Uh, you're not the boss of me," Ryan retorted weakly.

"He's right. We would have come either way, if it meant saving Nick and Sarah," Allison agreed, not mentioning she'd also come to make sure Laura wouldn't kill either Nick or Sarah in her quest to cure Max.

Laura cracked a smile as a small laugh burst out at what Ryan had said.

"Sorry," Ryan apologised in a whisper.

"It's okay," Laura whispered back.

The impromptu good humour died as Ryan's face grew sombre as he asked, "Am I dying?"

Allison bit her lip, unable to answer as Laura did the honours, saying, "You've lost a lot of blood."

"But it'll... it'll heal though, right?" Ryan questioned.

Allison choked back a sob, because it wouldn't, nothing could save Ryan now, to heal that wound. She had to accept that, that there was nothing they could do to save him.

Until Laura said, "Wait... maybe it... maybe it will."

Allison looked at Laura, confusion ringing through and through Ryan as he asked, "What?"

"Laura, what are you talking about? That's a fatal wound," Allison reminded, gesturing to Ryan's injury.

Laura didn't say anything, taking in a shaky breath before she said, "Ryan, if you let me... bite... you—"

"What?!" Ryan and Allison exclaimed in unison.

"If you let me bite you," Laura continued, ignoring the stunned looks sent her way from Allison and Ryan, "it means you'll be infected, which means..."

"Which means it will heal," Ryan finished as Allison stared at Laura, at the eye that had regenerated courtesy of the quick healing the werewolf curse delivered.

"Yeah, but it also means—"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, big bag wolf," Ryan finished.

"Yeah."

Allison bit her lip. "It's risky. If we don't kill Chris, you'll be stuck with the curse, Ryan. But..."

Allison sighed and admitted quietly, "But it will save you."

Ryan was silent, thinking it over as Laura sighed and said urgently, "Ryan, I don't have much time. I can feel it like it's fighting to get out. If you let me bite you and you heal then—"

"Then either Allison or I will have to kill Chris," Ryan finished.

Allison didn't say anything—she'd understood that since Laura told them all that killing Chris meant Nick and Sarah would be cured. She was willing to do that, if it meant saving the boy she loved and her friend from a fate that seemed to be worse than death. But Ryan...

If Ryan killed Chris, that meant he had to kill someone he looked up to, someone who was like a father figure to him. He looked conflicted about that, even more than he already had this night after learning Chris' death would mean freedom for Nick, Sarah and Max.

Allison squeezed his shoulder in comfort as Laura reminded, "It's not killing Chris, it's killing a werewolf. It's saving your own life. And mine. And Max's and your friends too."

"And Nick and Sarah," Allison murmured.

Ryan contemplated it, saying, "Let you bite me... and live to kill Chris Hackett if Allison doesn't do it first... or bleed out and die."

"Pretty much, yeah," Laura affirmed.

Allison bit her lip, looking at Ryan and then at Laura as she sat back and said, "It's your call. For now. So, we doing this or no?"

Allison looked at Ryan, seeing the decision in her eyes as she saw the decision in his, though he looked resigned to it. Allison squeezed his shoulder comfortingly before she looked at Laura and said steadily, "We'll do it. Just... save my friend. Please."

At her answer, Ryan nodded and agreed, "Do it."

"Okay," Laura murmured, looking unsure about how to do that.

In response to that, Ryan offered up his arm to her, Laura taking it as he joked, "Nice and tender for ya."

Allison gave him a harsh look as Laura leaned down, face hovering over Ryan's arm as she got ready to bite down. Allison forced herself to stay put, resisting every urge to pull Ryan away by telling herself this would save his life, that if he was infected temporarily—and it would be temporary—then she wouldn't lose her friend as Laura breathed heavily before she bit down.

Ryan groaned in pain and Allison flinched, curling her fists tightly enough her nails pricked her palms as Laura kept biting Ryan's arm until he thrashed and yelled, "Okay, okay, okay, okay!"

At that, Allison got to her feet and grabbed Laura, saying, "That's enough, Laura!"

Before she could pull her away, Laura let go. Allison let go of Laura and hurried to the wound, seeing it slowly knit back together.

"That's still so freaky," she muttered, before she moved to Ryan and took his arm, seeing the bite mark that, just like the stab wound and like Nick's and Sarah's and Laura's bites, would heal soon.

"Allison, do you..." Laura questioned, and Allison knew she meant her leg.

Allison shook her head. "No. No, it should heal on its own. Besides, one of us to stay human, right?"

Ryan and Laura chuckled at that, before Laura looked at Ryan and told him, "You should start to feel better. Soon, I guess."

Allison looked at Laura gratefully. "Thank you. You saved his life."

Laura nodded, before a noise sounded.

They all turned to a door, Laura whispering, "Fuck!"

"We need to go. Right now," Allison said, snatching up her bow and sliding it across her body.

"Agreed," Laura replied before she grabbed Ryan, Allison moving to help.

"What?" Ryan said, before he groaned in pain as Allison and Laura worked together to help him up onto his feet, grunting and heaving until he was standing. The minute he was, Laura and Allison swung a respective arm around their shoulders as they walked away and up a staircase, escaping whoever was behind the door and up somewhere else.

And to whatever lay on the other end.

***

>:)

Yeah, tbh, this whole thing (especially with Ryan) felt like a dangerous game of hide and seek where if you're found, you're dead, hence the title XD

And yes, Allison found Ryan and they got through their encounter with Bobby alive!! I loved writing their interactions despite how they would be terrified and Ryan's slowly dying. And Allison finally got to shoot her arrow!! Trust me, she'll be shooting more in the future

And yeah, Allison had a breakdown over that Ryan might die :( Even though she didn't need to worry since Laura saved him by biting him, leaving Allison the only human (temporarily) among their trio :D

But now, they're off to another part of Hackett house (also, please excuse if I got my ideas of how this house works wrong, I'm just trying to guess here) and we're back with the scrapyard trio next chapter!! :D

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!