Chapter Thirty-One: The Scrapyard

(The Matriarch, Part 4)

***

The scrapyard was unnervingly silent as Hayden, Dylan and Kaitlyn walked up to the fence. The only sound was the gentle sound of the rain, but other than that, it was dead silent as Dylan opened the gate to lead into the scrapyard.

Hayden didn't know if she could take comfort in the silence or not.

"These guys never throw anything out, huh?" Kaitlyn remarked as she walked into the scrapyard, Hayden right behind her as Dylan brought up the rear, closing the gate behind him.

"I'll say," Hayden murmured, looking at the piles of metal, stripped-down vehicles and other bits and pieces of vehicles like miniature mountains in the depths of the scrapyard. 

Once they were all inside, Dylan asked, "So, do you wanna give me and Hayden some direction on what we're looking for specifically?"

Kaitlyn sighed, before answering, "Well, most of these cars look like they've already been pretty stripped for parts. Just empty frames and chassis, which doesn't help us much."

"Okay, so we're looking for... engines?" Dylan asked.

"And the Most Obvious Award goes to Dylan Lenivy," Hayden quipped. Dylan gave her a look that Hayden returned with a sweet smile.

"Well anything relatively intact," Kaitlyn said in regards to Dylan's question.

"Got it."

Hayden sighed. "Great. This is gonna be like a needle in a haystack."

"Yeah well, let's get to work on finding the needle," Kaitlyn replied.

A harsh sound rang out following Kaitlyn's words. The trio turned, but there was nothing there.

"Probably just some metal falling down, right?" Hayden said, trying to shake off her jumpiness.

"Probably," Kaitlyn agreed, before adding, "Let's try to be quick about finding what we need and not stay here longer than we have to."

"Yes ma'am," Dylan snarked with a  salute. Hayden rolled her eyes and jabbed him in the ribs before they walked into the scrapyard, trying to look for anything that could be what they needed, going through alleys of cars, metal and tyres that surrounded them, reaching high and tall. Motion sensor lights buzzed overhead, flooding the scrapyard with bright light Hayden's night-adjusted eyes squinted at, lighting up their surroundings even more than the full moon did. They passed by a building that Dylan entered, walking up the stairs as Hayden and Kaitlyn followed close behind, entering what looked like a workshop area with tyres, tools, and what looked to be a control panel on a wall along with several tables—one in the centre, one in the far corner of the room.

Dylan gravitated to the one in the far corner, looking down at what was on it as Hayden walked up behind him and whistled at what she saw.

"That's pushing all sorts of legality," Hayden commented, looking at the note claiming to keep whatever vehicle was being scrapped off the books.

Dylan nodded in agreement before he asked, "Who's T?"

Kaitlyn shrugged as Hayden thought it over before suggesting, "Wait, would T be that cop Nora mentioned? Sheriff Travis?"

At that, her best friend and Kaitlyn just shrugged again as Dylan looked back at the note and observed, "Looks like these guys were cooking the books a little."

"Agreed. It looks extremely shady," Hayden agreed.

"Dodgy," Kaitlyn commented from behind her and Dylan.

"You said it," Dylan replied.

Hayden patted his shoulder. "Come on, let's go. I don't think we'll find what we need here."

Dylan nodded and they turned to head back downstairs. As they did, they looked around before Hayden noticed a button, tapping Dylan on the arm and pointing it out.

Dylan noticed, commenting, "Huh," before pushing it.

When he did, the gates to the next part of the scrapyard creaked open automatically as lights burned to life with their opening.

"And the haystack gets larger," Hayden muttered.

Dylan sighed, before inquiring, "Are we going to end up in a documentary?"

Kaitlyn and Hayden looked at Dylan incredulously and said in unison, "No."

"Shut up. Let's go," Kaitlyn added on as the lights turned off and they left the workshop, heading to the now-open part of the scrapyard.

Hayden and Dylan went inside, the lights burning with their movements as the friends trekked through the mounds of scrap, Hayden going slower than Dylan as she peered around at the piles, trying to find anything that might look like a rotor arm, feeling her own metaphor keenly. The piles of scrap loomed ominously over her head, and Hayden couldn't help but think aside from the lights, they'd have no idea if a werewolf entered the scrapyard until it was too late. The thought had her clutch her knife just a bit tighter as she looked at a promising bit of metal parts.

As she looked, one of the lights shattered and Dylan screamed.

Immediately Hayden was running to his side, knife raised as she yelled, "What?! What's going on?! Where's the werewolf?!"

But her best friend looked fine, if a little freaked out and sheepish, and Hayden realised he'd screamed because of the light randomly breaking.

At that, the adrenaline seeped out as Hayden lowered the knife and said, "Dylan."

"Sorry, that was, scary," Dylan apologised.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Hayden shouted, punching him in the arm. Dylan rubbed it with his remaining hand, wincing in apology.

He looked at the lights and complained, "That's so annoying."

Hayden gave him a look, then punched him in the arm again.

"Ow, Hay!" Dylan exclaimed, rubbing the afflicted spot.

"We are being hunted by literal monsters and this is what bothers you?" Kaitlyn questioned in disbelief—Hayden hadn't even noticed her arrival.

"Yeah, both are bad," Dylan reasoned.

Hayden rolled her eyes. "Oh my God, Dylan. This isn't nearly half as bad as that."

Dylan shrugged and Hayden only groaned before they continued on, leaving the piles of scrap as another motion sensor light burned to life as they came across a set of shipping containers and walked up a set of stairs and onto it. In the distance, a crow cawed and Hayden looked around uneasily, even though the height gave a better viewing range than on the ground, the shipping containers clanking under her feet as she walked across them. Noticing Dylan had stopped, she asked quietly, "You okay?"

Dylan shrugged. "Fine."

He looked at her arm in concern. "You okay?"

Hayden shrugged. "I'm fine. Doesn't hurt much now—and not in the way I'm about to turn into a monster and maul your face off."

Dylan cracked a grin. "Same feeling over here, and not in that way either. Guess I dodged a bullet with that."

"Don't you mean a silver bullet?" Hayden asked, grinning.

Dylan chuckled. "Touche."

The friends grinned, before Hayden murmured, "Come on, let's keep moving."

Dylan nodded and they kept moving, Kaitlyn behind them, scanning warily for werewolves. A motion sensor snapped on as they came to the end and another set of stairs, walking down them and into another part of the scrapyard, following the path between the mounds of metal and tyres. Another motion sensor was tripped as Hayden continued to walk, before Dylan nudged her with his shoulder and pointed with his right hand.

Hayden looked, and saw the sign, rusted with age but the bright green paint and the image of the fortune teller lady was still visible.

"What's this?" Dylan asked out loud as he leaned in to get a closer look. Hayden bent down, squinting to try and pick out the words amidst the rust.

"'Harum Scarum'," she and Dylan read out in unison, giving each other perplexed looks over it before Dylan asked, "You seeing this, Kaitlyn?"

Kaitlyn didn't respond, and Hayden only shrugged when Dylan gave her a questioning look, before deciding to forget about the weird sign and continue with finding what they needed, heading deeper into the scrapyard. Hayden brushed some rainwater out of her eyes, squinting and ignoring the sounds of the motion sensor lights being tripped, looking at the mounds of scrap in slight despair.

This was going to take them all night to find the rotor arm. By the time they found it, dawn would arrive.

Or they'd be killed.

"Look!" Dylan exclaimed, tearing Hayden out of her despondent thoughts as she and Kaitlyn turned and saw it.

An intact car attached to a magnet, dangling high above in the air thanks to the crane it was attached to.

Hayden grinned. What they were looking for had to be in there, in that car.

"Nice spotting, Dylan!" Hayden congratulated, thumping him on the shoulder as he grinned.

Turning to Kaitlyn, she asked, "Think what we need will be in there?"

Kaitlyn scrutinised it, before nodding. "Yeah, it would be."

Looking to Dylan and Hayden, the shorter girl asked, "So... you ever operated a crane before? Either of you?"

Hayden laughed. "No. Not once in my life have I done that."

"No," Dylan replied, before he mused, "You know, I actually used to be pretty, pretty good at the claw game at my local arcade. The kids used to call me 'The Grabber'."

Hayden winced. "Dylan, what did we talk about word choice earlier?"

"Yeah, no. Nope. Uh-huh," Kaitlyn said, shaking her head.

"... Oh. I hear that now," Dylan realised, wincing as well.

"Yeah, it sounds very wrong," Hayden muttered.

"I didn't know that at the ti—"

"Look, why don't you see if you can lower it down so we can take a look under the hood," Kaitlyn offered.

Dylan looked at the crane, before replying, "Sure, yeah. Sure thing. Um... just uh... watch my back guys, yeah?"

"Yeah," Kaitlyn responded.

"Of course," Hayden said without hesitation. "Just watch our backs as well."

Dylan nodded as he walked up the stairs to the crane.

Hayden bit her lip before saying, "Dylan?"

Dylan turned. "Yeah?"

Hayden hesitated, before she walked up and hugged him, ignoring the throb of pain in her left arm at the movement, just holding her best friend fiercely. 

"Be careful, okay? Don't get hurt," Hayden said, before amending, "More."

Dylan hesitated, before his arms wrapped around, the stump feeling as comforting as Dylan's remaining hand pressed against her back as he assured, "I will be. As long as you don't get hurt more and be careful as well."

"With you watching our backs, I'm sure I will be," Hayden said as she pulled away, adding, "Go do your thing, Arcade Man."

Dylan gave her the finger as Hayden just smiled, but there was concern in her face as well as in Dylan's, before he turned and walked up the stairs to the crane. 

Hayden walked back down, rejoining with Kaitlyn as she tugged at her arm.

"Come on," she murmured, the two of them heading to where the car would be lowered and Kaitlyn could look under the hood while Hayden watched her back.

Once the two of them were in position, they entered the waiting game of Dylan lowering the car onto the ground, Hayden watching his dark silhouette in the crane's cabin. Logically, she knew he was fine and safer than her and Kaitlyn inside there, but her heart still twisted with worry. After all, she'd assumed he would be safe at the radio hut, and when they next met, his hand had been lost and much, much later did they all learn he'd been spared a worser fate than his hand being cut off.

Kaitlyn, sensing her worry, nudged her. "Hey. He's gonna be okay up there."

"We said that earlier, before he and Ryan left to get a message out. And..." Hayden countered, the words slipping off as concern lay heavy over her.

"I know, but he's up there and we're down here. I'm more worried for us," Kaitlyn pointed out. At seeing the look on Hayden's face, she assured, "He'll be fine. And he'll make sure we're not eaten or anything."

Hayden choked out a laugh. "Yeah. That'd be bad."

Kaitlyn smiled, before they turned to the crane, waiting for the car to be lowered. As they did, a groaning noise came from the crane—right before heavy metal music started blasting and the light on top spun orange light around the cabin.

"What the hell is going on?" Kaitlyn demanded.

"My bad!" Dylan called back down.

Hayden winced, and shouted, "Dylan! Turn the music off!"

"Working on it!" Dylan shouted back before, mercifully, the music turned off.

Turning to Kaitlyn, she asked, "You think any werewolves heard that?"

Kaitlyn shrugged, but she and Hayden eyed their surroundings more warily and held their weapons more tightly than they did before.

They looked back as another groaning noise came and the crane started moving, the car swaying with it as Dylan manoeuvred it into position before lowering it. Hayden grinned, giving a thumbs up to her friend as the car lowered further until it was on the ground.

"You did it!" Kaitlyn cheered, a grin on her face.

"Nice job, Dylan!" Hayden shouted, grinning as well.

"Yeah, uh, I think I've found my calling!" Dylan yelled back.

"About time!" Kaitlyn and Hayden both shouted up, before Hayden turned to her and asked, "Do you think we should grab that rotor arm and book it out of here?"

"Hold that thought," Kaitlyn said, looking at the car before inquiring, "Well, maybe we can see if we can... try and get this thing running?"

Hayden frowned, looking at the car. "I thought we just needed the rotor arm?"

"Yeah, but this looks pretty intact. If we can get it started—" Kaitlyn said before Hayden finished, "Then we have a working car we can use to get out of here."

Kaitlyn nodded.

"Okay, let's go with that," Hayden decided as she and Kaitlyn moved to the car, Kaitlyn touching it as she grinned and exclaimed, "Score!"

Hayden, however, opened the door and climbed in, asking, "Should I hot wire it?"

"No, we should try to start it first. And how do you know how to hot wire?" Kaitlyn questioned as she peered in and searched for a way to turn it on.

"Youtube," Hayden answered, holding the knife as she looked at the dashboard, remembering that one tutorial she, Nick and Danny had watched a couple months ago. They'd never done it, watching it for fun like those lock-picking tutorials, but it looked easy enough to do. Just cut and bring together the right wires to get it started, right?

"Give me the go-ahead and I'll jump in," Hayden offered, Kaitlyn accepting with a nod as she kept searching for a more legal way to get it started.

But as she did and Hayden waited to see if she needed to hot wire the car, a loud, honking noise splintered the night.

"What the hell?" Hayden breathed as Kaitlyn leaned back out of the car, the honking still sounding as Dylan shouted, "There's—There's something coming!"

The honk beeped again as Kaitlyn shouted back, "What?"

"Hide!"

But Hayden was seeing what Dylan was trying to tell them—a dark, furry shape, darting between the mounds of scrap.

"Get back in the car, Kaitlyn! NOW!" Hayden yelled as she moved into the passenger seat, right as a now-familiar roar came.

Kaitlyn didn't hesitate, getting into the car and slamming the door closed just as the werewolf jumped on the shipping containers, the lights illuminating it. Hayden stared at it, heart in her throat as the car shook before it was lifted up, too slowly for her liking, as the werewolf lunged for the car but missed.

Kaitlyn yelped and Hayden clutched her knife tighter, holding onto Kaitlyn with one arm as they ascended up and Hayden wondered if they could make it to safety and just stay in the air.

The hope shattered when something latched on to the bottom of the car, making it shake violently.

"Oh fuck!" Kaitlyn cursed.

"Shit, oh shit, FUCK!" Hayden swore, eyes wide and the knife still held firmly in her hand.

The car shook and rattled as together, Hayden and Kaitlyn screamed, "DYLAN! GET THE DAMN WEREWOLF OFF THE DAMN CAR!"

But just as they yelled it, the girls saw the werewolf crawl up across the back window of the car, the both of them screaming as it stared at them, snarling, before moving to the side.

"Fuck, where the fuck did it go?! Fuck!" Hayden shouted, her and Kaitlyn looking around wildly.

"Hurry the fuck up!" Kaitlyn shouted at Dylan again.

"NOW!" Hayden screamed as the werewolf moved back in place, grunting.

The car shook before a loud honk blared, the werewolf grasping its head and snarling and shaking in pain. As it did, Hayden noticed the open door.

"OUT!" she screamed, pushing Kaitlyn out first before she followed suit. Kaitlyn landed in a pile of rubber tyres, and as Hayden free-fell, Kaitlyn caught her before she could break something, her body sending the both of them crashing down.

As Hayden moved off of the girl, she looked up and froze in terror as the werewolf leapt onto the crane and crawled toward the cabin—toward Dylan.

"NO!" she screamed, rushing forward and roaring, "DYLAN! GET OUT OF THERE! HURRY!"

But Dylan didn't listen to her, that maybe it was too late as Hayden stared in horror as the werewolf came closer and closer, and oh God, she was going to watch Dylan be torn apart, she was going to lose her best friend and she wouldn't save him like he saved her and Kaitlyn, she could not save him like she couldn't save Nick, she'd lose Dylan like she'd lost Nick all over again.

But as she watched the werewolf now be on the cabin and punch through the glass protecting Dylan, a bright light seared the night as flames scorched the werewolf, making it howl in pain as the stench of burned fur and meat met Hayden's nostrils, staring in shock as her best friend saved himself with some sort of handheld flamethrower, until the werewolf flung itself down... and onto the ground.

Where she and Kaitlyn currently were.

"Oh fuck," she whispered as the werewolf, recovering from being burned, stalked to her and Kaitlyn, crawling across the ground—stalking to Kaitlyn, the more vulnerable prey at the moment.

That wasn't going to happen. Hayden refused to let it touch her.

Charging with a battle cry, Hayden lunged at the werewolf and sunk her knife into its shoulder.

Stinking blood spurted out as the werewolf yowled in pain, Hayden pulling free the knife. But as she was about to strike it again, the werewolf flung its arm across her middle, knocking the wind out of her as Hayden was thrown back into a pile of tyres. Staggering to her feet, blinking stars out of her vision, Hayden rushed to Kaitlyn's side, holding the bloodstained knife out as Kaitlyn screamed, "Dylan! Help!"

"NOW!" Hayden roared, waving the knife. "Get back! I'll stab you again! Get the fuck back!"

The werewolf didn't heed her threats, prowling forward as it snarled, blood matting its fur from its now-healed wound.

"Dylan! Come on! Help! Please!" Kaitlyn shouted.

"Dylan! Help! It's going to kill us! Dylan, please!" Hayden screeched, fear pounding a staccato rhythm in her bones.

"DYLAN!" Hayden and Kaitlyn screamed in unison.

As they stepped back and the werewolf prowled, Hayden contemplating lunging forward and stabbing again, that was when she heard the groaning.

Hayden and Kaitlyn looked up, seeing the car hover over the werewolf, slowly descending as it remained in place over it—and the werewolf unsuspecting of it.

"NOW!" Kaitlyn and Hayden roared.

Dylan didn't hesitate, slamming a button as the car was released, crushing the werewolf just as it lunged for them.

Hayden and Kaitlyn panted, staring at the werewolf pinned and dazed beneath the car, at how close they came to being either bitten or killed, before looking up at the cabin, at Dylan.

Dylan, who was safe. Dylan, who hadn't been hurt further. Dylan, who was alive.

Helping Kaitlyn up, Hayden staggered to the stairs as Kaitlyn recovered the gun from the car, watching as Dylan walked down the stairs, before deciding to fuck walking as she ran to Dylan and tackled him in a hug. 

Dylan staggered back, not expecting it as Hayden held him tighter and breathed, "I was so scared that you... the werewolf almost got you..."

The next words ended in a sob and Hayden only clutched Dylan tighter before he embraced her, crushing her as tight as she was crushing him, murmuring, "I'm okay, Hay. It didn't touch me—not this time. I'm okay. Are you..."

"I'm okay," Hayden whispered. "I'm okay. We're both okay."

"We're both okay," Dylan echoed, the best friends holding each other so tightly they might crush each other but neither cared, both of them too relieved they got out of this alive to worry about bruised ribs.

Finally, they pulled apart, but remained close—the both of them needing to be close, to know they were okay, they were alive—as they walked back to Kaitlyn, who thanked, "Dylan, thank you. You actually saved our lives. For realsies."

Hayden nodded, slinging her arm across his shoulders. "Yeah, you were a real hero back there."

"Yeah, no sweat. I just can't wait to see who they choose," Dylan replied.

Hayden and Kaitlyn frowned at him, and asked in unison, "What?"

"To play me. In the movie about how brave I am," Dylan elaborated.

At that, Hayden pulled her arm to instead sharply elbow him in the ribs and mutter, "Asshole," as Kaitlyn said flatly, "Don't push it."

Dylan only smirked and said, "Kay."

Sighing and recuperating, Dylan commented, "So. So much for our brilliant escape plan."

Hayden looked at the car. "Yeah, I don't think we can salvage anything from that now."

"Okay. Back to the lodge," Kaitlyn declared.

As one, Hayden and Dylan looked at her as Dylan asked, "Are you nuts?"

"Yeah, are you sure we should head back to the lodge?" Hayden questioned.

"Better than being out in the open," Kaitlyn argued.

Hayden sighed. "Okay, that's a fair point. And I guess we can bunker down in there and wait for dawn or until Allison, Ryan and Laura succeed. Hold down the fort and all."

"Exactly. And Nora might be back and with Abi," Kaitlyn pointed out. "C'mon."

With that, Kaitlyn walked away and up the stairs of the shipping containers, making for the lodge, and after a moment, Hayden and Dylan followed her, leaving the werewolf—and the scrapyard and any chance of escape—behind them.

As Hayden hoped they might be able to just wait it out inside the lodge.

***

This was fun

But seriously, I loved writing the group in the scrapyard!! It was so much fun writing their interactions, especially when Caleb arrived. And yeah, Hayden finally got her chance to stab the werewolf after being terrified she was going to lose Dylan before he burned it with the fire (and writing their hug after they survived the attack made my heart go 🥺)

But yeah, they're going back to the lodge! Although, they won't be safe in there for long again >:)

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!