Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Kaitlyn... run-" Dylan was straining trying to keep control of himself. Digging his fingers into the chair, he whimpered. "Please run away-"

Kaitlyn could feel her hands shaking. "No-...No I'm not leaving you." she knelt down beside him and tried to reach the out to him. 

"GET AWAY! FUCKING RUN!" his voice was quavering between desperate and pleading and beastial. His eyes practically glowing yellow and his teeth sharpened into points.

Kaitlyn felt her eyes burning, she wasnt sure if it was from the cold air, the tears threatening the fall or a mix of both. She managed to get to the bottom of the stairs on the crane before Dylans strangled scream turned howl. Echoing in her ears. 

Her body was moving on autopilot. She needed to do what they came here for. She got down to the car and froze for half a second. The werewolf Dylan dropped the car on was gone. She gripped the gun and quickly looked around, not seeing much in the dark, but hearing claws scratching on metal and frantic clanging noises from above her. 

She opened the bonnet of the car and grabbed the rotor arm before she sprinted off, not stopping to look to see where Dylan was. The cold air was absolutely burning her lungs but she wasn't feeling tired, whe was too determined to stay alive and unbitten to be tired.

She wasn't sure how long she has been running for. Not like it was safe anywhere really. Nick was out there somewhere, and this other werewolf for all she knew, was Jacob or Emma. And now Dylan too. The only one she could be fairly certain was safe was Abi in the storm shelter. Since Ryan had gone off with Miss eyepatch werewolf hunter to stop her from killing Mr H.

Once she had a moment, she took a deep shaky breath. Dylan had protected her. He pushed her out of the way and got bitten. He was scared, he was halfway to wolfing out and fought off another one with the crane, all with one hand. She would have been torn apart if it wasn't for him. And she'll be damned if shes letting all that hard work go to waste. She's fixing this if its the last thing she does.

If what Laura said was true. Killing Chris will fix her boyfriend, sure. But there's no guarantee it'll fix the others. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the single silver bullet. She couldn't just fire it at any werewolf she saw. She had to be certain.

If the curse works like a chain, there has to be a first. Remove the first link to set the others free.

~

Laura pushed as much furniture as she could find in front of the door, wiping her hands together. She could get used to this strength. If only it didn't have any quickly impending dark sides.

"There. No one's getting through that anytime soon." She said to herself more than Ryan who was supporting himself on a crate, holding his side. "Now to find Chris Hackett." She scanned the large, almost warehouse-like room that was somehow in this family home. Was this an attic or something?

"Or. We could find a way out of here? I'm pretty tired of being chased and stabbed." He took an experimental step, the pain in his side was in fact dwindling somewhat. Not that it was calming news exactly... considering what it meant. 

"You'll start to feel better soon." She attempted to add some optimism to the life of this terminal negative nancy. He hummed in response and she kept going. "I feel pretty great." Her senses had heightened, she had so much energy, she felt faster and stronger. She thought it would be overwhelming but it felt right. It felt good.

She blinked and shook her head. Snap out of it girl. Not yet. Not yet... 

She bounced on the spot to...well she wasn't sure. Keep her focus on something so her brain didn't take a downward spiral to werewolf town. Keep her clarity in check. Or maybe she just wanted to bounce and run and jump and climb- Stop.

"What are you doing? Stop it." Ryan's monotonous voice failed to express his emotions as per usual. But her twitchy, sporadic movements were unnerving to say the least.

Laura had to force herself not to roll her eyes. This guy is absolutely no fun. "Would you lighten up?" She wasn't sure if it was the curse talking or if this dude just always had a stick up his butt. "We're close, I can feel it "

Ryan glowered, not at her but in general. "I think I'm perfectly valid not lightening up given our situation."

Laura sighed loudly, putting on a feigned beaming smile. "I'm so glad we're getting along. I'm pretty sure as soon as our boyfriends meet they're going to be inseperable, so it's for their benefit that we can co-exist." She was being sarcastic at first but after the short interaction with Dylan she knew him and Max would get along like a house on fire.

Ryan instantly tensed up. "Boy...friend? I don't-... have one..." 

Laura had never heard someone stammer that slowly before. She raised an eyebrow. "Really? You and the tall guy aren't an item? Why does he look at you like that then?" She put her hands on her hips. She could smell how nervous he was getting, even if he wasn't showing it. It was pretty cool being a human lie detector. Or maybe a half wolf lie detector.

Ryan felt his face heat up. "...Like what?"

She let out a short chuckle, smiling at the boy. "The way Max looks at me."

Ryan didn't say anything, just turned away and kept walking through the large room. Though Laura could see the little smile that grew on his face.

As much as she enjoyed helping this socially averse counselor identify when someone genuinely likes him. A strong scent hit her nose. She froze in place, her eyes scanning the room. "Do you smell that?"

Ryan looked at her warily then glanced around the dark room. "Uh...No? What is it?"

Instead of replying, she walked deeper into the dark room, every footstep on the old wooden floorboards creaking under her weight. She wasn't sure what she was expecting when she found what her nose was leading her to. But she knew what she had to do.

Standing up once it had acknowledged their presence. Larger than the ones she had seen so far. Another one of those monsters, chained by its hands and feet to the wall. 

"I think we just found Chris Hackett." Laura was buzzing. She knew her mind and her body were betraying her. Because in that moment she didn't see him as something to kill, even though it was the entire reason she was here. The creature ripped a chain from the wall with one arm movement, the snap of wood and metal clattering across the ground. 

"This whole time..." Ryan's eyes were shimmering. "You kept this from us... this whole time."

Hearing the tremble in his voice was enough to bring her back to her senses. For the moment. But she could feel her grip on herself slipping. Another chain broke from the wall, then another. Laura put a hand on Ryan's arm, backing them both up. As the final chain snapped. 

Laura couldn't make heads or tails of her thoughts. She just stood there staring. Her new instincts conflicting with her common sense.

As the creature, Chris Hackett, walked forward, the floor creaked, creaked...creaked.

and snapped. 

In a second, the floor beneath the creature and the floor beneath them crumbled out from under them, sending them all falling to the floor below. Laura landed surprisingly well, rolling and gracefully getting to her feet. Ryan however, fell right beside Chris, managing to scramble away before the creature got it's bearings. 

Luckily for him, and unluckily for Bobby who just so happened to be in the room below them. Chris picked his target, lunging at Bobby and pinning him to the ground, flailing his head wildly and snapping his teeth down at his brother. Bobby was actually strong enough to keep him from taking a chunk out of his face, wrestling the massive creature.

Laura was about to grab for the gun she dropped when she felt something snap inside her. Something boiling and bubbling over in her soul, steaming her brain.

She smacked the side of her head over and over. "No, No...not now. C'mon, not now." She still had a job to do, she could make it. Chris is right there. She just needs another minute. Focus girl, think of Max, he needs you.

She hadn't noticed Travis walk in. She made eye contact with him, losing focus for half a second.

Ryan watched as Laura exploded into blood and viscera. Everything felt like it was going in slow motion. Laura, now a werewolf, launched herself at Travis and sending his gun flying across the room. Ryan could feel his heart beating in his ears. He knew what he was supposed to do. Everything Laura had told them was true. Chris was a werewolf and he had to die to save the others. 

"Bobby! The gun!" Travis yelled while beign assailed by Laura. But it was too late for Bobby. Ryan dragged himself to his feet just in time to see Chris standing up over the bloodied, beaten corpse of his brother. 

Ryan grabbed the gun with numb fingers, raising it at Chris, right as he turned around face him. He gulped, hands shaking. Memories with the Hackett's flashing across his mind as he pulled the trigger.

The shot rang in his ears and the recoil hurt his shoulder but the second the silver bullet brought Chris to his knees and he collapsed dead on the ground, everything went quiet.

Laura gasped, feeling like she had just blacked out. The first thing she was able to process was Travis holding a shard of mirror, matching the look of someone who hadn't yet processed the situation.

Hands trembling around the gun. Ryan closed his eyes. 

~

"Why am I in a tree!?" Were Max's first coherent thoughts all night, his next were feelings of panic as he tumbled out of the tree and hit the ground. 

He groaned in pain. "Son of a...krabby patty..."

Why was he out here? The orchestrated their very good plan where he stayed in the attic on an island so he couldn't hurt anyone and Laura took out Chris Hackett.

Wait. 

He looked up and saw the moon. It was still night, which meant Laura did it.
Of course she did, He's not even surprised but it's nice and he's proud nonetheless.

Feeling flutters in his chest thinking about Laura, he headed back up to the lodge to find his clothes, only to find they weren't there. There were clothes! Just not what he'd typically pick for himself. 

He decided better something than nothing and pulled on the pink and blue tracksuit after wiping off as much of the werewolf gunk as he could. He stood out on the wooden balcony connecting to the stairwell and looked out over the mainland. It wasn't a long boat ride with the canoes but swimming was a whole different level of effort. 

His eyes zeroed in on something dwelling by the little pier, which would be his only way of getting onto land if he were to swim. Something big and mean was stalking along the edge of the woods.

A lot of thoughts went through Max's head in that moment. One being, uh oh. There's still werewolves. but the one he verbalised was. "Well no way am I swimming..." 

Max looked around for a boat, a big piece of wood, anything that would get him off the island. He let out a frustrated grunt, spinning on his heel to pace angrily when he saw the zipline. In the light of the full moon he could just barely see the zipline cable going all the way to the mainland.

He nodded slowly to himself, then with more vigor. "Yeah. Yeah that'll work." 

One sprint later, and some time to catch his breath cranking the zipline to reset it. He took a deep breath, reached up to grab the bars, shimmying his shoulder to pump himself up. "Alright... Let's go." He leaned back.

"I'm coming baby."

~

Ryan kept his eyes closed. If he kept them closed he wouldn't have to see what he did. 

He could hear Laura and Travis talking. Quietly thanking the other for not killing them. Laura was back to normal, which meant it worked. The job was done. His side where he was stabbed was stinging but nothing unbearable. He wondered how long it was appropriate to just stand there and breathe. 

"Dude? Dude, you good?" Laura said uncertainly, fumbling to her feet. Ryan gulped and nodded. Eyes still shut. "Yeah...Yeah. I'm good."

Laura eyed him sceptically though he couldn't see it. Travis sighed heavily behind him. Laura switched her stare to the cop, shrugging at him. "What? Whats wrong? We won, its over." Max was ok, she had her eye back and five out of seven of the creepy hunting family were either incapacitated or dead. A successful night as far as she was concerned.

Travis looked at her like she was standing on her head. "Oh you think it's over?" He said tiredly though not tired enough to eliminate the mocking tone. He shook his head. "No, no this isn't over."

Ryan felt the hairs on his neck standing up. Laura furrowed her brow. "What do you mean? We got Chris-" 

"Chris wasn't the first." He groaned as he pulled himself to his feet. "Any of your friends that were bitten by Caleb or each other will still be cursed."

That made Ryan turn around, opening his eyes to stare defeated at the policeman. He knew it didn't matter. If he hadn't shot Chris then and there, he would have killed him. Chris would have torn him to shreds. No doubt about it. But knowing it didn't need to happen still made his heart ache in his chest. 

Travis sighed again. "That's why we were hunting. To find the first. So we could end it without..." He looked past Ryan to the corpse of his brother behind him then averted his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It doesn't matter now, we need to find Silas."

"Silas..." She repeated to herself. Something about that name triggered a memory for Laura. Travis grabbed his head, pulling his hand away and looking at it to check for blood.

He glanced at Laura and gestured down the hall. "C'mere, this way. Kaylee's room is down here...clean yourself up and find some clothes." 

Laura paused for a few moments before cooperating, making her way out of the room. What Laura really wanted to do was to find Max go. Some selfish part of her brain wanted to go grab her boyfriend and leave. But she couldn't. She wouldn't. She was in it now, she had to see it through and get rid of this werewolf curse for good. 

Ryan was avoiding looking anyone in the eye. He didn't want to have to acknowledge anyone else at the moment. But Travis was there, making a variation of dad noises while he straightened himself up.

"You're Ryan right?" Travis's voice startled him out of his disassociation. He wasn't expecting the cop to start a casual conversation with him.

"I...yeah?" Ryans discomfort was palpable.

Travis nodded slowly "Figured."

Ryan was tempted to ask why but his confused expression was enough for Travis to elaborate.

"Chris mentioned you quite a bit."

Ryan stiffened his lips. "Oh."

"Yeah." The cop picked up his gun and checked the barrel. "Alright. How many of you are there?"

Ryan look a second to process what he meant. "Ah-...Uh there's me, Dylan, Kaitlyn, Emma, Nick, Jacob and Abi." the cops stern look deepened as the list of counselors got longer.

"For fucks sake." He muttered, rubbing the back of his head, Ryan gritted his teeth.

"We don't exactly wanna be here either! It's not our fault the car broke down." Ryan never realised how quick he was to get worked up until tonight. But he wasn't gonna stand here and listen to this guy judge them for being in trouble.

Travis held up a hand. "Cool it kid, just trying to get a handle on the situation." 

Ryan and the policeman stood in silence for a while. Ryan fidgeting with the hem on his shirt, trying to think about anything else other than what was going on right now. Travis was deep in thought, an arm up on the wall, just thinking.

Laura returned in some fresh clothes, managed to wipe as much blood off her as she could without access to water. "Ok so what do we do?" Laura shrugged, hoping the cop had some decent answers.

Travis stood up straight, rubbing his chin. "I'm gonna level with you kids. I've got no damn clue where Silas is. If I did, we wouldnt be here right now." He said matter-of-factly, not waiting for either of them to react or respond. "Usually protocol would determine I assess the situation and checked on the other counselors, but since we're on a time limit, the priority is finding the big bad wolf." He went over the room, collecting anything of use, discarded by his brothers.

Throwing her arms out to the side, Laura retorted. "How are we supposed to find someone in two hours that you couldn't find in six years?" 

The cop scoffed. "When I figure it out, I'll let you know." Travis uttered, tossing the gun on its strap over his shoulder.

Ryan needed to sit down. The lives of the others hinged on them finding Silas and they had absolutely no leads. This place was so much bigger than he thought it was. The camp itself is one of the biggest this side of the country, the land owned by the Hacketts stretched out even further and that didn't even include the quarry and the rum tunnels...

Ryan paused. He thought back to his and Laura's trip through the crumpling, abandoned quarry. They hadn't even scratched the surface of that place. Maybe.

"What about down in the rum tunnels?" Ryan spoke without thinking, stammering to explain himself when the other two in the room stared him down with shared judgement and confusion.

"That place was... pretty decrepit. It was falling apart all over the place." Ryan started, recalling how they very nearly died multiple times just trying to walk through. "Maybe the reason you haven't been able to find him in six years is because... he's trapped somewhere?"

Silence hung over the room. Travis was staring through him. Ryan feared he was about to be cussed out but that's not at all what happened.

Travis was breathless, glass shattering realisation behind his eyes. "The fucking quarry..."

Laura was whipping her head back and fourth between the other two. "Wait. What about it?"

Travis raised a hand and placed it over his forehead, his eyes unfocused. "There's a-..a section of it that was closed down because of a cave in." He was wracking his brain to remember details. "It happened maybe a year after the fire...it's the only place we haven't looked because we couldn't."

The policeman looked like his entire world was caving in around him. He was completely on edge in comparison to his previously brooding, stoic way of existing. Ryan was getting impatient. "Ok where? Is there a way to get in?" Time was absolutely of the essence.

Travis raised his head. "That old entrance isn't too far away. it's..." He paused, looking to Laura with a dumbfounded expression. She raised her eyebrows expectantly. "What?"

When he spoke it was quiet and disbleieving. "Where you and Max went off the road."

Suddenly Laura remembered why the name Silas sounded familiar. It was what she had heard in the forest after their crash. That woman calling for "Silas" over and over. It had scared the crap out of her. 

Laura's eyes went wide. "I heard an old woman's voice saying the name Silas!" holding her hands up like she was mind mapping in her head. "I got all turned around in the forest and this lady kept saying things to me."

Ryan tagged on, pointing at Laura. "I heard that too! But it was down in the rum tunnels." 

"An old woman..?" Travis contemplated that for a few seconds, shaking his head and steeling his expression. "No time, we need to get moving."

~

Being alone was something Abi was usually totally comfortable with. It put her mind at ease. She could be completely and totally herself, no need to perform for anyone to reach social standards. 

But at this moment, alone in the lodge, she really wished she had some company. She couldn't bare staying in the storm shelter, it was dank and smelt really bad so she cautiously made her way under the lodge, climbed the biggest ladder she's ever seen with her own eyes and wound up in Mr H's office. 

It still wasn't properly going through her head that Mr H was one of those things. He's always been such a sweet guy. A little dorky but in a fun camp leader way. She felt bad snooping around but she felt so useless. There had to be something in here that would help. Give them some kind of clue that could lead them to how to fix all of this. 

She found a lot of paper. Newspaper article cut outs and police reports that Mr H had collected over the years. As old as six years.

Abi found a little pamphlet. "Harum Scarums presents: Silas the wolf boy" she read out loud. 

She noted the newspaper articles from six years ago talking about a traveling circus that got set on fire, killing nearly everyone in attendence. Abi gulped, recalling how she had to excuse herself from the campfire when Ryan was telling his ghost stories about The Hag of Hacketts Quarry.

Ryan's ghost stories definitely got to her, but she wouldn't say she believed in ghosts. 

She bumped the desk and a pencil rolled off the table and clattered on the ground, she yelped and turned around, heart thumping out of her chest. Then immediately feeling embarrassed. 

Looking around like there was someone to witness her, she looked down at the pamphlet in her hands that she had accidentally crumpled up in her fist in fear. As she flattened it out with her fingers, she let her mind wander.

"Silas the wolf boy..."

She repeated the name to herself. These hunters looking for something or someone. It all seemed too coincidental to not be connected. That is, if you're looking at it from the perspective of someone who's been getting chased around by werewolves all night and who watched her crush turn into a werewolf. Was Mr H the wolf boy? No that doesn't line up... Maybe his kid Caleb?

Pondering the possibilities, she felt a chill in the air. 

"Abigail..." the disembodied voice sent a cold shiver up her spine. Abi whimpered, holding her hands in front of her chest.

What...The hell?

Dylan had mentioned hearing someone say his name but she thought he was messing with her. Is she going crazy? Is she just totally losing the plot? Oh god she's gonna get killed by a ghost before she can apologize to Nick for shooting him. 

She backed up against the door, the chill never fading, only seeming like it was increasing, getting colder. 

"Abi?" 

That's her name again, it sounded kinda different but she had accepted she was moments away from being possessed or dying or both. She clamped her hands over her ears, panic overwhelming her when the door she was leaning on opened.

Abi screamed and someone...Kaitlyn, put a hand over her mouth, giving her a sympathetic but exhausted look. "C'mon girl..." She chastised gently and most importantly, quietly. "There's werewolves and shit. Try not to tell them all where we are."

Abi, who still had her shoulders hunched in her instinctive fear position gave a meek smile "Sorry."

Abi looked past Kaitlyn, through the doorway she had entered through, eyebrows furrowing together. "Wait. Where's Dylan?"

Kaitlyn bit the inside of her cheek. "He turned. But we got a rotor arm so I can fix the van. We need to go find the others."

Abi got the same feeling of her heart dropping into her stomach that she did when she saw Nick turn right in front of her. Emma and Jacob were missing and now Dylan was a werewolf too. It happens so quickly. They get attacked, they start acting weird, then they turn and that's it. How are they supposed to fight against them.

Abi relalised she needed to vocalise her thoughts. "Bu-...How?"

Kaitlyn shrugged. "Figured if we drive around it'll catch someone's attention." She looked to the timid girl, recognising that did nothing to instill her with confidence.

Kaitlyn tried again, "Look. That Laura chick was talking about killing Mr H, so we just need to find wherever Mr H hid himself away and we'll find where Ryan and Laura are. Maybe Emma and Jacob too." She adjusted her grip on the gun, looking over her shoulder, making sure to keep an eye on her surroundings. No way in hell was she gonna let something sneak up on her.

She recalled the mess left in the van by the werewolf that attacked her and Dylan. "Though.. not both of them. Pretty sure one of them is the thing from earlier."

While Abi was internally debating whether she should tell Kaitlyn about her mini paranormal experience that she interrupted. She glanced down at the creased pamphlet still in her hand. 

Was wolf boy really just a coincidence? 

Abi hesitantly grabbed Kaitlyn's shoulder as the other girl peered around the corner.

"H-...Hey...Hear me out...What if...Silas..." She showed her the pamphlet. "What if this kid was...is...a werewolf...And bit Mr H...or Kaylee... or Caleb! It cant have been Kaylee because she's... dead..." You could hear the cogs turning in Abi's head as she formed her theory.

Kaitlyn blinked at her then at the pamphlet. "You're gonna have to start at the beginning babe."

"Right, right ok." She flustered trying to get her thoughts in order.

Abi took a deep breath. "Laura was saying she needed to kill Mr H to save her boyfriend who had been bitten. And that for the last two months, she and him were being held prisoner by Mr H's brother." She was explaining it for herself as well at Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn nodded along. "Right, right...kill the one who bit you to cure yourself...or however that stupid fuckin poem put it."

Abi directed attention to the articles outlining the events of the fire and the disappearances in the area. "What if they're all involved? What if that's why those hunters are out here? They're trying to find Silas to cure Mr H." She put the pamphlet down and started rooting through the various articles covering the fire and the deaths and the disappearances. "What if these missing people were just like Max and Laura? They accidentally got mixed up in all this and the Hackett family hid them away. Or maybe."

Kaitlyn waited expectantly. Abi tried not to fidget and start folding the articles nervously. "Or maybe Silas was responsible for some of them."

The shorter of the girls picked up the crinkled pamphlet. "You're saying you think Silas the wolf boy is the first in the chain?" Kaitlyn didn't sound outright judgemental but she also didn't sound convinced.

Abi shrugged helplessly "Maybe! A-and maybe If we go to where the travelling circus burnt down...We can get a lead on where to... find... Silas..." Abi felt hysterical. This was crazy. She was basing all of this off stupid theories, a six year old cold case and a ghost story. She was just waiting for Kaitlyn to call her an idiot when the other girl nodded.

"Ok."

 Abi blinked "Huh?"

Kaitlyn kept nodding like she was affirming something in her head. "I said ok. Let's go. I have a silver bullet, lets go kill the mother fucker."

Abi was frozen in place while Kaitlyn left for the front door, gun in one hand and the pamphlet in the other. She didn't even need to look back to know Abi wasn't following yet. "C'mon girl, move your ass!"

"Right! coming!" Abi bundled up the articles in her hands for as much cross examination information as she could gather and sped out after Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn unlocked the van, opened the bonnet and put the new rotor arm in place. Abi hopped into the passenger side, fumbling around with her various pieces of important paper. There has to be a vague location on here somewhere.

With the car as good as new, with the exception of the splatters of blood from the previous werewolf passenger. Kaitlyn climbed into the drivers seat, muttering as she pulled the seat right forward as close to the steering wheel as it could get.

She turned the key, the engine rumbled, and the girls set out.

~

Max admitted his situation wasn't ideal.

He got so caught up in the euphoria of that giant zipline that he forgot about the copious amount of danger he was currently in.

He was alone with only very basic context for the current vibes of this camp and no weapon. Even if he had a silver bullet, any kind of silver weapons. He would be hesitant to make use of them, considering, y'know...he knows what it feels like to be in their shoes. 

The trapdoor Laura left him behind wasn't broken. Which must mean someone opened it rather than wolf-Max breaking out of it. Which means he potentially bit someone. But then that would mean they're ok now if that was the case. Unless he killed them.

The point he was trying to make to himself is that someone else other than Laura must have been around to open it and there might be more. Camp was supposed to end yesterday but he guessed it wasn't impossible if someone stayed an extra night. 

He was briskly moving in the opposite direction to where he saw the movement from the island, hoping to see a trail sign or a quirky little camp map with "You are here!" and an arrow on it.

It would help if he knew where he was going. Camps for kids were designed to make it as impossible as they could for a kid to get lost, as long as they knew how to read. Eventually he'd stumble across signs and a path to lead him to the camp. But is that even where he wanted to go? Chris Hackett was in the storm shelter two months ago, is that were he was hidden tonight?

He slowed down when she saw what looked like...traps. Yep. Definitely traps. Although they looked...used? As in not live. Whatever these traps wanted to trap had already been trapped. He nodded to himself, walking cautiously nonetheless. He was watching his feet for ropes or bear traps and what he found was blood. He was no wilderness expert tracker by any means but the ground definitely looked like something had happened here.

 Within the blood splattered leaves, he saw a phone, lying face down. Max puffed the air out of his cheeks. Well that answers one of his questions. He picked it up and it was open and taking a video. Max clicked the stop button and the video went to start previewing the video that had just been recorded.

Max stared at the woman vlogging. Wait a minute? She looks familiar. He skipped to the end. She hadn't stopped recording while she was hiding from a pair of hunters. They had caught another werewolf, she ran away, and got attacked by a different werewolf.

Max stared at the footage. "Is that Emma Mountebank? Did Emma Mountebank get bitten by a werewolf?" Max recognised the influencer and had to take a few minutes to process this new information. 

Not important right now Max. He pocketed the phone which had a decent amount of battery life, figuring he could at the very least use it as a flashlight if he was desperate. But the moon was bright enough for now.

~

Laura found her gun and picked it up, looking it over to check the barrel for damage. "So what's the deal with whatever happened six years ago." She side-eyed Travis who somehow looked more closed off than usual.

Without looking at her, keeping his eyes on his own gun. "There was a fire, people died. Pretty straight forward." 

Laura glared a hole through him. "You're really gonna pull that shit? Now?"

Travis gritted his teeth, meeting her eyes with a glare of his own. "You're gonna tell me what to do? After what you did?"

Laura was a little taken aback but held her ground. She did what she had to do.

Travis did not feel the same way. "You killed Kaylee, she sweetest, kindest girl in the world...She just wanted to help him." He took a step forward and Laura's grip on her gun tightened.

Ryan jumped in, if not only to try and diffuse the tension. "Help who?"

Travis stared Laura down. Ryan wasn't sure who was gonna be the first to break the intense eye contact but it was Travis. He grunted and turned the Ryan, icy glare defrosting only a little. "The Wolf Boy...Silas."

Laura folded her arms as he explained. "His mother kept him in a cage...At least I think she was his mother." He grimaced. The two kids shared a look, neither saying anything, hoping the cop would just keep talking.

Travis sat on the edge of a desk that had gone untouched in the carnage, running a hand over the top of his head. "There was a woman named Eliza, she ran a traveling freak show called Harums Scarums. Kaylee and Caleb came up with a plan to free Silas. Caleb was gonna set a small fire, distract the security away from Silas." He sighed, his expression darkening recalling the events that lead to where his family is today.

"Kaylee managed to get him out but Caleb got bit in the process. Not the mention the whole place went up in flames. You ever seen how fast hay burns?" He posed the rhetorical question to the room with a sardonic smile, it fading almost instantly.

"As far as I'm aware. Silas is the only member of the freakshow that lived."

Ryan felt like two wires in his brain just connected.
"Wait. Is Eliza..." He started. Thinking about the voice he heard and Laura talking about the same voice and Dylan mentioning hearing a voice. "The Hag of Hackett's Quarry is real! It's Eliza and she's been looking for Silas too! Holy shit..." He put a hand to his forehead. It's not everyday you realise a ghost story might actually be an honest to god real ghost situation.

Laura stepped forward. "Ok great, so we know where we're going and we have some lore and some fun facts. Let's get moving."

Travis looked like he agreed with Laura for maybe the first time. He turned to Ryan. "How many of you did you say there were again?"

Ryan did some quick counting in his head. "Seven including me but...Nick..."

"Got turned?" Travis finished for him.

Ryan slumped his shoulders. "Yeah..." 

The cop nodded, looking off to the side. "That makes sense. I couldn't see any identifiers on the one that Bobby and dad brought in."

Ryans eyes went wide. "Wait what?"

Nonchalantly, Travis threw a thumb over his shoulder, pointing out of the room. "They put one in the cages downstairs. I'm assuming that's your friend."

Travis thought back to earlier in the night. "Pretty sure another one of your friends might be in there too." He stroked his chin like he was recounting a shopping list and not talking about a kid in a cage.

Ryan moved forward eagerly. "What? Who?"

Travis shrugged. "Don't know, but they're safe in the cage so lets go-"

The counselor was steadily growing irritated with the cops general attitude. "I'm not leaving them in a cage!? Are you crazy?" Ryan stormed past him, ignoring the way Travis sighed. Laura followed in tow, helping him navigate the giant home.

~

Jacob regretted a lot of things.

He regretted letting his mom pick his suit for senior prom, he regretted eating that mystery meat burger from an inviting-looking food truck that had him leaning over the toilet for half a day. 

And he definitely regretted his decision to take and then promptly lose an important part of the van. 

He obviously didn't intend for this to happen, give him a break.

However he realised that didn't make his motives any less not ok...

Now his punishment is sitting in his underwear in an electrical cage next to a literal demon creature. 

It had calmed down thankfully, apparently being smart enough to recognise it couldn't do anything, but that didn't make it any more pleasant to look at. The creepiest part about that this was the longer he looked at it... it almost looked familiar. Like tiny details of its horrifying monster face was something he had seen before. Someone he had seen before.

But that was crazy... 

Jacob side eyed the creature as it squatted in a corner, hunched over, breathing quietly. The clothes it was wearing looked familiar too. Or should he say the torn tattered remains of clothes.

The more he stared the less he could ignore it. If he didn't know better. He'd say it almost looked like-

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of approaching footsteps. If it was that guy in the overalls, Jacob had some choice words for him. But to his relief and delight, it was Ryan and some random girl. 

Ryan entered to room, halting a few feet away from the cage to take in the scene. "Jacob?!"

"Dude! Holy shit am I glad to see you." His eyes darted to a third figure that appeared behind them.

Wait that's a cop

"Oh hey! Uh, Mr...Officer? Sir? There's a bunch of crazy people here! They caught me in an animal trap and put me in a cage!" Jacob waved a hand to flag down the cop who narrowed his eyes in exhaustion.

"Uh yeah. The crazy people are his family." Ryan said succinctly, like Jacob was supposed to know that somehow.

"Aaaand by crazy, I meant...uh...it was nice that they didn't murder me? I got nothing." Jacob gave up trying to save face and just accepted the glare from the cop. Although it didn't carry as much scorn as he'd expected. More tired than angry.

While Ryan examined the cage and the switches on the wall, Laura slowly walked up to the neighbouring cage. Jacob, after standing up, waved down Ryan to get his attention.

"Dude. This is gonna sound crazy but hear me out." He paused, waiting till he had the other boys full attention. He held up a hand to the side of his mouth, keeping his other hand close to his chest, pointing to the creature.

"I think that's Nick."

He was waiting for a wide eyed surprise or to be called nuts or something but Ryan, as per usual, just stared back with the same vacant expression Jacob usually saw on him. 

Ryan glanced at the other cage then back to Jacob. "Yeah probably." 

Jacob was dumbfounded. "Huh?"

Ryan shrugged. "I'm saying you're right, it makes sense that it's Nick."

Was Jacob going crazy? Was he dreaming? He had been wrestling with this realisation for hours and Ryan's acting like this is public knowledge.

This conversation was going about as well as any interaction between the two of them went all summer. Jacob could usually count on Kaitlyn or Dylan to provide a buffer for the blank wall that automatically formed inbetween Jacob and Ryan when they attempted to speak one to one. Jacob used to think he was being a little harsh when he avoided contact but now he felt validation.

"...Am I taking crazy pills or...?" Jacob looked to Laura and she looked over at him with a hint of sympathy. "You've been in there for a little while huh?" she replied. Jacob tried to resist the urge to yell at the new person.

"Yeah." He said more tersely than intended. "Yeah I've been in here for a little bit." he had his teeth gritted, thinking back on the past few hours.

Ryan had turned back to the control panel on the wall, looking from it to the cages, making note of the cage numbers. He waved a hand at the cop. "Hey how do we get him out?"

To Jacob's disdain, the cop shrugged flippantly. "Dunno. Bobby and Pa always handled this part."

"Are you kidding me?!" Jacob hissed. The cop's expression didn't budge. He met Jacobs eye's with a complete lack of sympathy. "Yeah I'm kidding. I lie for fun." the deadpan sarcasm did not fall short for Jacob, who just groaned, shifting from foot to foot. 

"C'mon, can you just get me out of here already? I'm cold and...Nick... is freaking me out." He side eyed his werewolf'd co-worker warily. Now that there was new people in the room, he had started stalking the boundaries of the cage again, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Jacob gulped. 

"And while you're at it... could someone explain what in the ever loving fuck is going on?"

~

"Abi spit it out." 

The girl in question let out a tiny yelp, not expecting to be spoken to so directly. "W-What?" She asked, looking to the driver.

Kaitlyn, keeping her eyes on the way ahead, gave her a quick narrow-eyed glance. "You've been fidgeting and looking at me since we got in the car. What is it?" the driver spoke impatiently, taking a corner in such a way that made Abi instinctively reach for the handle above her door.

"I-...Uh." She began, feeling embarrassed about being called out. "It's just. I'm feeling... a little nervous? I wasn't expecting you to just agree to this. I'm not even sure if this is gonna get us anywhere." She admitted sincerely. Kaitlyn's chest puffed out and deflated with a full body sigh. 

"Honestly dude, what else do we have to go on? It's as good a plan as any." She shrugged and Abi tucked her free hand not grasping the handle, between her legs. 

"I...guess?" She still wasn't sure but they really didn't have any other leads. With any luck they'll end up in kind of the right area.

"Following the lore of a stupid ghost story isn't the craziest thing we've done tonight." Kaitlyn smiled. Abi didn't understand how she could do that. Dylan and Emma too. Even when they're sad or scared they still smile and joke around. Was it for their own comfort or the comfort of everyone around them?

Whatever it was, it certainly made her feel a little more at ease. Once she got over the initial amazement at how they aren't plagued by anxiety.

She was about to settle back into her seat when a figure came across her vision, the headlights making them known for a split second. She surged upright, pointing out the window. "Wait stop!"

Kaitlyn immediately slammed on the breaks. Abi was thankful she was wearing her seatbelt. She whipped her head over to Abi. "What?!" She was glancing around, the only visibility really being in the light of the headlights. Abi turned around in her chair to see out the side window, unclicked her seatbelt and got out.

"Abi?!"

Kaitlyns voice was half muffled by Abi closing the door behind her, taking a few steps towards where she definitely saw a human person and not a monster. "Hello?" She called out. Kaitlyn was voicing her concerns in the background but Abi's attention was on the young man turning around and peering out from beyond the treeline.

"Uh...Hello?"

Kaitlyn walked around the car, pointing the light of her gun at a figure in a pink and blue tracksuit. He covered his eyes with one arm to shield them from the light and waved with the other. "Hi...?" He repeated. "I don't suppose...either of you have seen my girlfriend?"

Kaitlyn didn't lower her gun at first. A friendly looking boy with a friendly voice seemed too good to be true right now. But then it clicked.

"Are you Max? Max Brinly?" She dropped the light to his feet and let herself relax a little. The boy smiled brightly, adjusting the cap on his head. "Yeah! That's me- Wait so you've met Laura right? Is she ok?" He took a few steps forward, looking between the two of them.

Kaitlyn sighed. "We met her yeah. Don't know about the second part." She looked him over, noting that he was no longer wolfy.

 Max frowned, rubbing the back of his neck. "So I take it you don't know where she is?"

Kaitlyn scanned the surrounding area while they conversed. "We know where she was headed but that's all."

Abi reached out and grabbed Kaitlyn's shoulder. "If Max is back to normal, maybe Nick and Dylan are too!" Abi said sounding a mix between scared and hopeful. 

Kaitlyn twisted her lips. "I wouldn't get your hopes up." she began, thinking over the events of the night. "There were two of those things roaming around at the start. One was Kaylee but I don't think the other was Chris. It never left the camp." 

"One of them might have been Emma Mountebank." Max raised a hand like he had a question. Kaitlyn and Abi turned to stare in unison.

Max fished into his pocket and held up a phone. Emma's phone. "She was filming a video and it looks like she got bit. And if it wasn't by me then she's probably still all wolfy." He held out the phone to Abi who hesitated before grabbing it, feeling her body deflate at the news.

More puzzle pieces fell into place in Kaitlyn's head. "She must have been the wolf that was in the van..." She groaned, closing her eyes.

And bit Dylan. She finished the sentence in her head, chewing on the inside of her cheek. But that still leaves one wolf unidentified. Putting a hand over her face, pinching her temples, Kaitlyn huffed. 

"Ok. Shitty news but we gotta roll with it. So bad news. Four definitive werewolves. Three of which are our friends." Kaitlyn held up three fingers, slinging the gun on its harness over her shoulder.

She pointed to Max with her other hand. "You're normal again, which means Mr H is dead." She felt a pang in her chest but did her best to ignore it. "But what that means... hopefully... is that Ryan and Laura are ok. Can't imagine the Hackett's were responsible for it." 

Kaitlyn knew two things about Max, one that he was Laura's boyfriend, and two, that he wore his heart on his sleeve. Everything Kaitlyn said, he emoted to so visibly. Especially when she mentioned Laura. It was hard to focus on what she was saying with this guy hanging onto her every word. He was doing the facial human equivalent of wagging his tail.

Kaitlyn let her hands drop to her sides. "Worst case scenario. There are five werewolves running around. One for each one of our friends that are currently unaccounted for and one for the fucker that started all of this."

 Kaitlyn couldnt help her mind drifting to Jacob. The last she had heard of him was when he ran off looking for Emma. Now they know what happened to Emma and Jacob's fate is unknown. She tried to bite back her worry from showing on her face. She's always been protective of that idiot. But previously she's only had to worry about his emotional state, not his life. The thought of his body being torn apart, lying lifeless in the woods flashed intrusively across her mind. She tried to wipe the thoughts away and force herself to focus. 

"Alright well, get in Max. Ignore the blood explosion." Kaitlyn walked around the van and got into the drivers seat. Max waited for Abi to get in before he hopped into the back. "Oh! Thank you!" He smiled gratefully and Kaitlyn was trying to decide whether it was weird, or if it made perfect sense that this guy was dating the badass werewolf hunter.

~

After some deliberation, Ryan eventually worked out the needlessly complicated cage controls. Out of everything he was prepared to do, a puzzle was not one of them.

The doors leading to Jacob's freedom opened up, the other boy sighing with relief. "God, thank you..." He said mid sigh. Laura had gone to fetch him some clothes, coming back with a pair of overalls. 

She handed them to Jacob. "Sorry, that's all I could find."

Jacob took them. "Pants are pants." he held them up like he was making a toast 

Travis was pinching the bridge of his nose while Jacob slid on the overalls. "If we're satisfied with the amount of time we've wasted, can we get a move on?" 

It was at that moment when there was the distinct sound of a generator powering down. The ambient noise of electrical humming ceased and the lights went out, leaving them in silence and darkness.

Breath caught in their throats, the next sound they heard was one of the cages creaking open. A red emergency light of some kind flickered on, illuminating Nick, investigating the lack of electricity pulsing through the cage. 

A low growl came from the cursed counselor and in some sort of adrenaline, panic-filled feat of strength, Jacob grabbed the half open cage door, reeled back and slammed it closed on Nick's face. The werewolf's head flinched back, momentarily stunning it, the cage latching closed again.

"That ain't gonna hold him." Travis warned as Jacob sprinted past him.

 "Why do you think I'm running!?" Jacob's voice trailed off as he ran with a surprising level of speed.

The other three followed in suit. Travis bringing up the rear, his gun not loaded with silver at the ready. Even from a distance, they could hear metal scraping and tearing as claws ripped the door off its hinges or maybe just tore a hole right through the cage.

Travis did his best to shout directions to the kids while staying alert to the danger behind them. He made sure to close every door he could to slow Nick down as much as possible. Every second counted.

Once they reached the bottom floor, Travis reached into his pocket, pulling out his car keys and tossing them to Laura. "My car's out the front!" Was all he said, gradually falling behind everytime he stopped to create even a minor blockade. 

Laura nodded once, keeping her mind focused on finding what she assumed would be a police car. She and the boys rounded a few more corners, burst out through the front door, laying eyes on a car parked in the driveway. Laura pointed the keys towards the car and pressed the button to unlock it. The lights blinked and a smidge of hope rose in her chest that they weren't about to be massacred. 

Ryan and Jacob climbed into the backseats and Laura stopped in her tracks, looking over her shoulder. Travis was nowhere to be seen. Her heart was hammering half from nerves and half from how hard she had been sprinting. Should they wait? How long should they wait for?

Did she care enough to wait?

Regardless of how she felt, she stopped. Even if it was only for a few seconds until she tuned back into the sound of Ryan telling her to get in the car. She did. 

Slamming the door and turning on the engine, Laura put her foot on the gas but didn't turn towards the road.

"What are you doing?!" Jacob squealed, holding onto his seatbelt. 

She built up speed, braking and swinging the car around so the passenger side was facing the front door. 

Laura reached across to open the passenger side door, pushing it open. She clenched her fist around the steering wheel, counting down in her head. She heard a gutteral growl coming from within and the sound of something pounding on wood. She could taste blood in her mouth from biting her cheek, slowly pressing her foot on the acceleration. Right when she was about to give in, Travis emerged from the house, something charging through in the darkness behind him. 

Travis grabbed the door of the moving car and managed to essentially swing himself into his seat, though he couldn't get the door closed in the same movement. Once he was in, Laura floored it. She didn't need to look in the mirror to know what was behind them. She just kept flooring it.

No one did or said anything but breath heavily for a solid minute. Ryan and Jacob staring out the back window, trying to see through the fog and praying to not see were-Nick galloping after them. 

Once they were relatively sure they had put some distance between them and the werewolf, an apprehensive silence fell over the four of them. 

The cop rughted himslef in his seat, clicking on his seatbelt. "Good work." Travis let his shoulders slump. Laura gulped to try and sooth her cracked throat. 

"Thanks."

~

"The Hacketts live out here?" Max peered out the window as they drove through the campgrounds and the surrounding forest. Kaitlyn was trying to see signs that would give her at least an idea of where they were.

"According to Ryan yeah. That's where him and your girl went." Kaitlyn made a mental note that they were definitely beyond the campgrounds. They must be close to the Hacketts house by now.

Max hummed. Popping his lips a few times. "So who's this Ryan guy?"

Kaitlyn glanced at his reflection in the rear view mirror. "He's one of the other counselors."

Max nodded, looking out the windshield from the backseats. "Right I figured." He was clearly leading up to something. Kaitlyn and Abi were just waiting for him to spit it out. They glanced at each other from the front seats and Abi shrugged.

Max popped his lips again. Sitting in silence for a moment. "So is he like... handsome or?"

"Oh my god." Kaitlyn tried not to laugh.

Max grabbed the headrests of the front seat. "What?! I know Laura's her own woman and she can make her own decisions but I'm not gonna pretend I like the idea of her running around with some brave, heroic, handsome stranger." Kaitlyn could see him pouring in the rearview mirror

Kaitlyn had to resist the urge to pull over and turn around to look at him. "Where did you get brave and heroic from?" she bit her lip, debating messing with him for a split second. "I mean yeah he's super hot but you don't know him."

Max shrugged helplessly. "You said he offered to go with her to find Chris Hackett."

Kaitlyn figured she should put the poor boy out of his misery "The only reason Ryan went with her was to try and convince her not to kill Chris Hackett. Which obviously did not work." her voice trailed off, murmuring the last half of her sentence. She wasn't saying Ryan isn't brave or anything but his intentions of going with Laura were not at all chivalrous.

When Max's pout didnt go away, Kaitlyn laughed in disbelief. "Dude you don't need to worry. She's like...obsessed with you. She became a fucking werewolf hunter literally just for you." The obsessed part was clearly mutual. 

Max was starting to look embarrassed as Kaitlyn explained away his worries. "Also even if that wasn't the case, Ryan's mad crushing on Dylan." 

"Wait really?" Abi chimed in with a bright smile and Kaitlyn laughed.

Kaitlyn was so close to slamming on the brakes. "Where have you been? How did you not notice?"

Abi shrugged meekly "I didn't wanna assume... he's seemed kinda indifferent whenever I paid attention.*

Kaitlyn grinned smugly, adjusting her grip on the steering wheel. "I've known enough men in my life to know when one is emotionally stunted." Ryan was the perfect example of a dude who doesn't understand his own emotions enough to acknowledge them. Meanwhile Dylan understands his own emotions too well and represses the hell out of them. Perfect match in her opinion.

Max sat back in his chair, swiping his fingers through his hair with a hint of frustration. "Ok I'm sorry for being weird. It's just we had a kind of stressful past two months and we haven't really had a chance to just... exist together not stressed for...well, two months." He murmured the last part.

Kaitlyn still had some trouble processing the fact that they were being held captive for the two months they were having a fun lil summer camp experience. She recalled how Mr H had told them Laura called up to say they had to pull out last minute. He had lied to them so casually. Guess he's had a lot of practice.

Despite everything he's been through Max seemed like a sweet, cheerful guy. If not a little clingy. Would have been cool to hang out with him not under fear of death.

"Do you unload your current emotional state onto everyone you meet?" Kaitlyn said with a small grin, peering into the rear view mirror.

"Yeah pretty much." Max scratched his ear with a single finger. 

Abi squeaked, slowly sliding down onto the floor of the van. "Guys..." She pointed a shaking hand. Kaitlyn and Max looked to where she was pointing and instinctively held their breath. She slammed on the brakes.

A huge werewolf stalked out from the treeline ahead, sniffing the air, form illuminated by the moonlight. 

The other two dropped, Kaitlyn immediately shutting off the engine and the headlights, hoping it was quick enough.

"That thing is huge! Was I that big? Not important-"

"Shut. up." Kaitlyn hissed. 

The creature was in clear view. Moving like a predator whose prey just mananged to sneak away but they were still on its trail. It was looking for something. As it sniffed the air it started turning their way. The three of them sunk lower into the car so they no longer had line of vision. All Kaitlyn could hear was Abi's hasty breathing and the sound of her own heartbeat. 

That's when they heard another car. Engine full throttle, speeding out in the distance ahead of them.

Kaitlyn sat up just enough to peer over the dashboard. She gasped when the creature was right in front of the car, looming over the bonnet. But it's head was turned, looking behind it in the direction of the other car. 

Immediately it sped off with frightening speed, disappearing into the darkness ahead. They all let out a breath, Max had his head raised like a dog who heard the mailman pull up out front of his house. "Was that another car?" His eyes lit up. "You think that's Laura?"

Kaitlyn couldn't think of anyone else who might be out here. Unless it was one of the Hacketts. Either way they were heading in the direction they already were. "Well if it is, she's about to have a big unfriendly visitor."

Abi was gasping for air and trying to speak. "Oh god. That was one of them wasn't it? Emma, Dylan, Nick...Oh god..." 

Kaitlyn put a hand on her back, patting gently but also a little impatiently.

"We gotta go after it!" Max's impulsive urge to get to Laura conflicted with his common sense. "...I don't know what we're gonna do but we gotta do something."

Kaitlyn was about to suggest hanging back so it didn't notice them but honestly she wasn't sure if they would even be able to catch up with it if they tried. She rolled her shoulders and turned the car back on. She already committed to ending this. Just gotta go through with it.

"Ok. Let's do this." 

Chapter Text

The drive to where Laura and Max went off the road two months ago was a quiet one. Laura and Travis had switched spots once they were relatively sure nothing was following them, although they couldn't escape the feeling that they were absolutely being stalked. 

To make it worse, Travis was certain they were being stalked. He's seen how these things act. He's witnessed the way they follow and inevitably attack their prey. Their goal is to eat and spread the curse and they're terrifyingly efficient at doing so. It wasn't a matter of if they would be attacked, simply a matter of when.

Ryan hadn't spoken for a while, he just sat in the back with his arms folded over his chest until he couldn't hold back the question that was burning his tongue. "So all the missing people from around here over the past few years... Chris, Caleb and Kaylee were responsible for all of them?" He phrased it like a question but he knew the answer. Travis kept his eyes on the road.

"Maybe."

Ryan rolled his eyes "What do you mean maybe?" 

Travis was surprisingly calm. "It's hard to say. Sure we've caught them in the act a couple times. It's easy to assume they were fault for all of them but it's not like we could ever ask them since they have no memory of what they do when they've turned."

Laura turned her head to the driver, one eyebrow raised in suspicion. She suspected Travis was willing to do or say anything to defend his family out of misguided loyalty but she really thought he had reconised the bad his family had done. That was unless he genuinely thought they might be partly innocent. "You think Silas did the rest?"

Travis just shrugged weakly, never taking his eyes off the road. "All I know is there's people we never found. Not bodies, not remains. Nothing."

Jacob was still trying desperately to get a handle on this whole situation. "But wait. If this Silas kid has been trapped somewhere all this time, how would he be killing anyone?"

Travis hummed. "Good question."

The car slowly came to the stop. Out the window, Laura could see a car-shaped gap in the flora and fauna that worked its way deeper into the forest. This was where it happened. Laura was explaining it for the boys. "There was a woman in the middle of the road. I thought we hit her but..." Laura closed the car door and walked to the edge where the road met dirt. 

"...It was the ghost?" Jacob offered, shutting his door as quietly as he could.

"The Hag of Hackett's Quarry." Ryan affirmed, still mystified by the realisation that the ghost story was real and so much more fucked up than the campfire story.

Laura sighed. "Yeah her."

Jacob scratched the back of his head "What's she doing out here? Is this where she died?" He was pretty wigged out by how fast he accept the whole Ghosts are Real thing.

Travis was moving ahead, flashlight out, scanning the area with the beam of light. "I've...never gone outta my way to find it. But it must be out here somewhere." He was talking about where the fire happened all those years ago. You'd think it would have been cleaned up. But when they got to the end of the carnage caused by Max and Laura's car and walked just a little further, they found it. Seems like all they bothered doing was cleaning up the bodies. 

The places the fire had touched were still evident years later. Not to mention the scattered, burnt remains of carts and trailers overgrown with vines. Ryan tried to go over everything they knew at this point.

Silas bit Caleb, Caleb bit Kaylee and Chris. Silas went missing. Hikers and campers start going missing, some found dead with strange animal wounds, others disappeared completely. Eliza, aka Silas' mom, aka the Hag of Hackett's Quarry starts haunting the Hackett's land. But why? He supposed it was a pretty fitting origin for a vengeful spirit-type ghost. The fact that shes haunting the scene of the fire and also down in the rum tunnels tells Ryan that there's more connection than just revenge. He walked by Travis so he could fill in any blanks. 

"Wait how did you lose Silas in the first place? He woulda been with Kaylee and Caleb after the fire right? And newly motherless." 

Travis seemed preoccupied but answered anyway. "He stayed with us for a couple weeks. Until the next full moon of course." 

Travis was ignoring almost everything in the area, except the occasional thing he had to swerve around or step over. "He ran off and obviously by the time the moon came out, we were too distracted to go find him." He tightened his jaw, recalling the first time Caleb turned and bit Kaylee and Chris. "Haven't seen him since."

Laura played with the strap on her gun over her shoulder. "Ryan has to be onto something. There's no way he could just disappear for six years. He must be stuck somewhere." Her eyes landed on the remains of a large, rusty, burn marked cage.

Travis agreed, pointing to the side. "And I think I know where." 

A little bit away, within eyesight of the scene of the fire, was what looked to be a little hole in a small hill. It was person sized, though Travis might have to duck to walk through it. It was overgrown with bushes and vines around it and hanging over it. Wouldn't know it was there unless you were looking for it.

Without waiting for the questions to start, Travis explained. "It's an alternative exit. Emergencies only. In the event of a cave in. It's main use was for air flow. Not really to travel through." Travis was panting a little from the exertion of clearing a path inside.

Ryan smacked his lips. "So...What are the odds little Silas came here to find a place to hide and...got stuck?" 

Travis looked to him with a hint of something other than outright dislike. "Since literally every other alternative has been thoroughly crossed off? Pretty damn likely." 

Laura shined her light into the cave but it just revealed more darkness. "It...makes sense if he had been hiding down here for a year and then got stuck after the cave in."

Jacob was standing off to the side, looking from the pitch black tunnel entrance and back to his companions. "Oh cool, cool, creepy cave time. Awesome. The only thing that would make it better is if there was a monster in there- oh wait!"

"Do you just bitch all the time?" Laura looked over her shoulder at the boy and Jacob responded by repeating what she said in a shrill voice.

"Shh." Travis held out a hand, lowering himself.

 Laura glared at him "I wasn't even the one-"

"Shush." He hissed more insistently. That made all three of them pay closer attention. Travis had half squatted down, slowly reaching for his gun. Now that there was silence among them, the three counselors tuned into what had gotten Travis so concerned.

The sound of movement. Something heavy, moving quietly. Stealthily. 

"Get down." Travis' urgency was clear in his voice. They all dropped, using the bushes as camoflauge from whatever was out there.

In the distance, entering the clearing, following the same path they had used minutes earlier. Was one of them. Their immediate thought was that it was Nick. But once it got closer, it was glaringly obvious how much bigger this one was.

"That's a big boy." Travis uttered as the massive werewolf stalked through the woods. It sniffed the ground, walking on all fours, its horrifying skeletal body coming into direct view. 

Travis backed up, keeping the kids behind him. It rivalled Chris' werewolf form in size, maybe even a bit bigger. Something at the back of Ryan's brain was needling him. It was definitely bigger than Nick, so who was it? Ryan was looking for any identifiers, but the clothes were too torn and bloody to see what they used to look like. However there was one thing that Ryan only caught sight of when it turned around, snapping at a bird as it flew away. The light of the full moon lluminating a deformed, stretched-out tattoo on its left bicep.

Ryan went cold, feeling tears of frustration threatening to fall. "Fuck- It's Dylan." he all but whimpered, reaching out for something to lean on so he wouldn't fall over. He felt Laura put a firm hand on the middle of his back. But how? Ryan chopped off his hand! Did it not work? Did he get bitten again? His heart started hammering against his ribcage.

"Why's he so big?" Laura's eyes were wide and set on the approaching monster.

"Is he tall when he's human?" Travis quizzed the three kids.

"Yeah..." Jacob was forced to process information at record speed for his brain.

"There's your reason." Travis was working quickly to swap out the rounds in his shotgun. Ryan sighed in relief that was immediately snuffed out when were-Dylan started sniffing the air, slowly coming to face their hiding spot. Travis nudged them back, getting inbetween them and it. "Get moving."

"What about you?" Laura whispered.

"I'll be right behind you." Travis's voice did not sound certain. But he was resolute nonetheless. Even when were-Dylan snarled, meeting his eyes.

Ryan, Laura and Jacob prepared to descend into the quarry when something else caught their attention.

An engine revving, headlights appeared in the distance, casting shadows all around, paired with the echoing sound of music and someone absolutely laying on the horn. 

The creature wasn't distracted, continuing its path to Travis, moving like a lion in tall grass. The engine got closer and the music got louder and it was only when the mini van breached the clearing, barreling towards the werewolf, did it take notice.

 Kaitlyn threw on the handbrake, swinging the van around and throwing the full weight of the van into it.

Were-Dylan went flying, crashing into and through a few skinny trees. Crumpling in a heap on the ground. The car turned sharply to the left, skidding to the side, the car groaning until it came to a halt a few yards from the tunnel entrance.

"Sorry buddy!" Kaitlyn called out the window. "I'm assuming that was either Dyl, Nick or Emma right?" she threw out the question to everyone present, hanging her arm out the window like a trucker.

"Emma's one of those things?!" Jacob shrieked, face controrted in horror. 

Kaitlyn waved a hand flippantly. "Yeah? Keep up would you Jacob?"

"I've been in a cage!!" He snapped petulantly at his childhood friend who was unphased but couldn't help smiling, seeing that he was alive and unharmed.

The back door of the van slid open and Max leapt out, running full sprint at Laura, who had already started moving before Ryan and Travis even noticed. 

They crashed together in the tightest embrace they could muster. Laura only pulling back to hold his face, taking in the beautiful non-werewolf features.

"You're ok! What... are you wearing?" She giggled, running her thumbs over his cheekbones. He shrugged, grinning from ear to ear. 

"Just something I threw together." He reached up and touched her face. "Your eye is looking better."

Laura just held his hand to her face and nuzzled into the warmth. Ryan walked past the reunion to his friends. "That's... definitely Dylan, But Emma too?" Ryan glanced at the giant creature still slumped, unmoving under the fallen remnants of the tree. He tried to ignore the way his chest ached. Kaitlyn hopped out of the van. "Yeah. Max found her phone and like the true influencer she is, she vlogged her werewolf attack." She held up the phone. Abi knew the password so they were able to use it as they wanted.

"Would absolutely go viral." Max said with his face buried in Laura's hair, feeling at home in the middle of this burnt up crime scene as long as he was with Laura.

"How did you guys know to come here?" Laura propped her chin up on Max's shoulder to look at the other's who had just arrived.

Abi piped up. "We were...uh... following a hunch to be honest..." She admitted meekly, playing with her fingers.

"Hey the hunch got you here. Don't sell yourself short." Travis gave her a nod that actually bordered on impressed, relaxing his grip on his gun, seeing the temporarily incapacitated werewolf.

Max furrowed his brow with a slight pout. "Why am I kinda jealous she got a respect nod from him?" he whispered into Laura's ear and she gently patted his back.

"But since these guys are here too, that means you were right! Nice work Abi!" Kaitlyn punched her shoulder and Abi made a series of bashful, nervous noises rather than forming a sentence.

"Where is here though? We know about the fire but what's with the cave...thingy?" Max still had an arm around Laura, pointing at the tunnel, immediately looking to Travis for an explanation.

"It's the end of our last trail on Silas. If he's anywhere, it's in there. It leads into the rum tunnels and the quarry." The cop was now trying to mentally factor in three extra teenagers into his plan when Jacob let out a quiet whine again, sounding akin to an injured dog for a moment.

"Uh guys? He's gone." Jacob took a few steps back to stand behind Kaitlyn, looking over to were there was previously a wolfed up Dylan lying. It had slinked away quietly without them noticing. 

Travis didn't look too concerned. "When they get injured enough, they run away to heal. Lick their wounds, so to speak." Travis explained to the council of children in front of him. He got busy changing his rounds back to the silver ones.

"He'll be back. The others are probably on their way too. Considering all the noise." He side eyed Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn shrugged "Had to blast the beats for my main boy Dylan."

The other counselors gave confused glances and Kaitlyn stared back nonchalantly. "We bonded. You wouldn't understand."

His gun clicked as he closed it, slipping the regular ammo back into his pocket. "Alright we need to get a move on. We're in the final hour before sunrise." Travis was absolutely not willing to drag this out for another month. Not after tonight..

"Get a move on doing what? What's the plan?" Kaitlyn eyed the cop sceptically. The only info she had on this guy was that he was Mr H's brother and kept Max and Laura prisoners. So she felt it was valid to stay on her toes.

"Going in there, killing Silas and curing your buddies." Travis nodded to the tunnel and starting to walk to it without waiting for a response.

Kaitlyn raised an eyebrow. "Not much of a plan. You said it yourself, the cursed counselor gang is gonna show up any minute and you want us all the cram into that lil space?" She folded her arms. "Pretty sure it's a horror movie rule that you never put yourself in a situation where you have to rely on the person in front of you to move quickly." 

Travis stopped in his tracks and pinched the bridge of his nose again for what felt like the hundredth time that night. Slowly, he turned around to speak to the shortest of the group. "Do you have any suggestions?"

"We'll stay out here." Kaitlyn announced firmly, gesturing to her friends. "We'll drive around and keep the were-counselors distracted. Make sure they don't try to follow you into the quarry."

Travis switched up from being annoyed to giving Kaitlyn his full attention. Makes sense that she wouldn't have a hard time earning the grizzly police officers respect. "That... Ain't a bad idea." He considered it for a few seconds and definitely liked it over the alternatives. He gave her a firm nod then looked to the others with less certainty. "Are you sure you're up to this?"

"Absolutely not, this is crazy and we're gonna get torn to shreds by our werewolf friends." Jacob said matter of factly, like it had already been decided by fate. Abi was using all of her willpower to not shake. "We'll be ok! We have the van and a full tank of gas..."

"Aaannd four werewolves to keep busy." Ryan folded his arms, debating which plan was stupider or more dangerous. Staying out of the quarry or going in.

Max reached out and grabbed Laura's hand. She turned to him, asking him a question. "What about you? Are you team werewolf hunter or werewolf distractor?"

"I'm whatever team youre on." He looked deep into her eyes "Like you could keep me away from you now." Max kissed her hand. Laura let her gaze drift to the tunnel entrance.

"Well seems like you and me are going hunting then."

Ryan caught her attention. "That...seems like the best option honestly." He rubbed the back of his neck. "If we have Kaitlyn out here, the next most useful gun user should probably go with Travis."

Abi gave Laura the most heartfelt look Laura had seen on another human being. "The fact that you're going in there to help our friends means so much. You're really cool." she finished with a sweet smile.

Laura tried her best to take the compliment in stride but she couldn't help feeling responsible for certain events that are taking place. She smiled back, scratching an invisible itch on her arm. "Ah... it's nothing. Your job isn't exactly gonna be a cake walk." 

Kaitlyn put her hands on her hips. "We can do it. You guys better get going. Like you said. Final hour." She gave Travis a grin and the cop didn't look annoyed.

Kaitlyn reached into her pocket and handed something to Laura. "Here, take our silver shells. We don't need them."

This was the first thing Kaitlyn said that Travis didnt agree with. He held up a hand between them, looking her square in the eyes. "Keep a few anyway."

She narrowed her eyes. "I sure hope you're not suggesting I kill my cursed friends."

Travis stared back with a pitiless look. "You may not have a choice if things go bad."

She stood her ground. "Not happening. You go kill the king wolf and turn our friends back to normal. We'll keep them busy." Travis could see he wasn't winni g an argument with this one. Just when he thought she was done, she topped off her point.

"Besides. One of them is your nephew right?"

That made Travis still. Staring down the firery five foot girl with growing look of respect. He nodded once. "Alright. Keep em busy."

With that. Travis, Laura and Max headed down into the quarry. Ryan, Kaitlyn, Abi and Jacob waited for the other counselors and rogue camper to join the party.

"So! How's everyone feeling?" Kaitlyn bounced on her heels, looking around at her friends who she had successfully roped into her plan.

"Like this is insane and is way too likely to go horribly wrong?" Ryan shook out his shoulders, still feeling a sharp pain in his side.

"And yet here you are." Kaitlyn grinned proudly, patting his back. He didnt try very hard to force back the smile that formed on his face. It was a grim situation for sure but his work friends had definitely rubbed off on him in one way or another in terms of enthusiastic optimism.

Jacob stared at the two of them like they'd grown extra heads. He softened his face, feigning calm, putting his hands together like he was about to start praying. "Hey so...I couldn't help wondering just what in the fuck the plan is?" His eyes went wide, staring at the remaining counselors. "Drive around?" He mocked Kaitlyn's idea from earlier. "How's that supposed to protect us from four fucking werewolves?" 

Kaitlyn sucked in her bottom lip and released it with a pop, scratching the side of her face. "Honestly I was hoping something would have come to me by now."

Jacob turned around, rubbing a hand over the top of his head. "We're all dead. Werewolf Emma is gonna rip my throat out."

"No... No, that's not gonna happen." Abi's voice shook as she tried her best to be positive. "We just have to keep them busy and trust that the others can find Silas soon."

Jacob wasn't on the positivity train. "What if he's not in there?!" Has anyone considered that?" His frantic glare darted to each one of them.

"There's no where else he could be." Ryan said firmly. "They've been searching for six years and no sign of him. It's the only place left." 

For someone who had been in a cage all night and was thrown into this situation with little to no context, he thought he was handling all this pretty well. Even if he wasn't. It wasn't gonna stop Jacob now. "What if he's not even around here anymore? He only turns in full moons right? What if he just skedaddled to some other place?"

"Skedaddled?" Ryan repeated slowly. Staying on topic, Abi shook her head. "He's...only young. Not sure how young but he wouldn't be old enough to purchase a place to hide himself away on full moons or the means to keep himself restrained." She bit her lip, feeling very bad for Silas all of a sudden. "He has to still be here."

"I've got it!" Kaitlyn announced suddenly and ran over to the car, jumping into the front seat. The others slowly moved to crowd around the open door. Kaitlyn turned on the engine and the radio and started messing around with the stereo settings. Ryan's eyes lit up when he realised what she was doing. Jacob and Abi required some explanation.

"Back at the radio shack Dylan made this crazy feedback loop and it scared one of those things off. If we can work out how to make the stereo sound like that-"

"It might do the same." Ryan finished her sentence.

"Thank you Dylan you beautiful genius." Kaitlyn said and started testing how each mode sounded maxed out.  

"So we can maybe get them to run away?" Abi's hopefulness was near contagious. 

"That's the idea." Pressing the stereo buttons until the music noticably changed pitch. "Any options that remove the possibility of being torn into pieces is the ideal option." She just hoped it wouldn't require trial and error. This was a one shot type of situation.

Between them, they had two guns, the van and the radio to use as means of defense.

Lets hope that's enough.

~

Once they made it through the initial tunnel, side-stepping and ducking. It eventually widened into crafted corridors. There were stacks of wood and construction materials long discarded and covered in dust and cobwebs lining the walls. The only light sources were from the dim light on Laura's gun and Travis's flashlight. 

Max understood they were in a tense situation but he also felt the overhanging sense of discomfort in the air. Max wasn't used to people not liking him but Travis didn't exactly get the prime Max Brinly experience after the whole kidnapping fiasco. He was certain he could charm his way into his good books. He was more curious about how things were going between him and Laura.

The silence was deafening. With no one else to use as a conversation barrier, Max was forced to deal with being the only one attempting any kind of small talk. They came across a set of stairs going down and Max decided to break the ice in a more direct way.

"So... I get that you two never really got along...A lot of tension." He gestured vaguely, looking at the backs of both of their heads from where he trailed a few feet behind. "But that's why I'm here! Now I'm back to normal I can mediate the energy of this werewolf hunting party." grinning and jogging for a few steps to keep pace with the two speedwalkers.

"It's hard to take you seriously when you're wearing a pink tracksuit." Travis ducked under a low ceiling brace and kept his flashlight on it to point it out to the others.

Light that Max prompty shimmied into. "What's wrong old man? You have a problem with high fashion?" Max couldn't see the cops face but he could imagine the scowl.

Laura chimes in, sounding a little more chipper. "You do pull it off. I know what I'm getting you for Christmas." Laura exaggerated looking him up and down and Max did a spin. Travis' sigh echoed.

Descending deeper into the quarry, being careful not to kick up any dirt and dust that would just hang in the air around them. No need to further ruin the air quality down here. The place is a maze. They had checked walkway after walkway that lead to a dead end. According to Travis they had one more passage left that might lead them to the cave in and they had to walk all the way back up.

Max, still trailing behind, matching Lauras steps to avoid any obstructions. "Laura would you still love me if I was a dog boy forever?" 

 "Of course baby. I'd put you on a leash in the backyard." Laura non chalance was a sign of how used to questions like this she is.

Max frowned. "What? You wouldn't even let me inside?"

Laura half turned around, shining her light at the wall to dimly illuminate both of them. "Oh hell no, you haven't seen yourself babe, it's nasty as fuck."

"Wow."

"Would you two please shut up." When did Travis walk that far ahead?

They found the final path. Ain't that just always how it works. The right one is the last one you try. 

Once they got around the first corner it was abundantly clear to them that this was the one leading them to the cave in. Max had been trailing his hand along the walls since they arrived and was now anxiously aware of every cracked and broken beam. It had held up for this long. What were the chances of it caving in again now that they're down here. 

Max had a series of things running through his head to comfort himself.

The stale, dusty air was getting steadily more difficult to breath but not impossible. Though Max felt like he was getting a look into what it's like to be asthmatic.

Travis's footsteps came to a halt up ahead. The corridor opened up into a large room. As Max and Laura approached, they flinched, their noses assualted by a putrid smell hanging in the still air. They caught up to Travis and the teens felt their stomachs curdling.

Leaning against the wall was a corpse. A skeleton mostly but still had bits of flesh hanging off it. Max covered his mouth and turned around, trying not to gag, Laura just stood and stared, blood draining from her face. Travis spoke but both were too stunned to hear. Laura managed to tear her eyes away and look to Travis. "H-Huh? Sorry?" 

The cops while demeanor softened at the unexpected timid tone. He forgets how young she is sometimes. He took a deep breath and repeated himself. "It's one of the missing persons."

Now Laura had looked away she couldn't being herself to look back, she just kept her eyes on Travis. "How can you tell?"

Travis pointed to the skeleton. "I recognise the parka from the missing photos. The description of the last thing they were seen wearing before they disappeared." The stuff that he had carved into his memory for six years. Silently hoping maybe he would come across one of them alive and unharmed. 

 Laura, wanting to get her mind off what she just saw, shined her light at where the roof had completely caved in. It looked like it was formerly a staircase which had fully collapsed, the space where it used to be filled with rocks and debris from above. Laura exhaled "He's gotta be behind there right?"

Travis followed the flashlight. "God I hope so."

"Oh god."

Travis and Laura turned to the sound of Max behind them, he was quickly walking backwards, stumbling but managing to not fall over. "There's more."

Laura immediately saw what he meant. More bodies. All at various stages of decomposition. Scattered around the room. Upon closer inspection, as Travis expected, they were more of the missing people. All of them had disappeared at different times. All had ended up here.

"Why are they..." Laura restarted her thoughts. "Why are they all here? How did they all end up here?" she pulled the collar of her shirt up to cover her nose, not knowing where to shine her light.

"It's... possible they sought refuge in the quarry...an escape from the weather...maybe" Travis didn't sound at all convinced by his own explanation. He was trying to make sense of it too.

Laura shook her head. What are the chances of that? One or two was believable as a coincidence, but all of them? Her mind trailed off to thinking about this area. How it was right below where they crashed. The entrance was probably so close to where she was running around in the woods listening to the voice of that woman.

...Wait.

"Oh my god..." The realisation hit Laura like a freight train.

When they crashed two months ago. When she got lost in that crazy fog, hearing that womans voice. What if she's not the only one that happened to? What if that's exactly what happened to these people? 

"What if Eliza did it." Laura was thinking out loud. Max gulped and Travis furrowed his eyebrows, looking at the oldest of the remains. Laura tried to get her thoughts in order before continuing. "When we crashed. She was speaking to me. What if Eliza was trying to lure me down here... Just like the rest of them." She knew it sounded nuts but no more nuts than everything else that had happened tonight. 

"Wait wait... so you think the ghost of that lady's been...luring people down here with her kid?" Max sounded steadily more traumatized the more he was forced to process this information.

She shrugged weakly. "How else would they all end up here."

Max stepped up beside Laura, angling himself so he couldn't see any of the bodies, keeping her vision full of Laura and nothing else. "I'd like to think she was trying to get Silas help but...You don't think she was trying to...feed him or something?"

Laura's stomach churned at the suggestion.

 Travis didn't comment. Maybe he didn't have an opinion or maybe he was just laser focused on the task at hand. 

Travis had pictured this moment. For years he had imagined the day he rid his family of this curse. Finding the one who started it all and putting an end to it. He honestly didn't care all that much about the ifs, buts and the whys. He just wanted it to be over.

Max sighed, trying to imagine how this kind was living every other day that wasn't a full moon. "God...the kids probably like...feral or something by now. Full on little wolf boy." He remembered those folklore stories about kids raised by wolves.

Laura sighed, a little disturbed by how quickly she was becoming desensitized to their surroundings. "Six years down here by himself with nothing but his ghost mom to keep him company? I dont see much hope for him being normal."

Max shook his head. "How did this even happen to him? Did...his mom... turn him into a werewolf somehow?" He looked to Travis, who finally replied. It was a question he's had himself for quite a while.

"I...try not to think about it." Travis said grimly, inspecting the cave in.

Laura narrowed her eyes. Every third thing out of this guys mouth pisses her off. "Hard to think about hunting a little boy who was probably apart of some witchy voodoo experiment by his 'mom'?" She really didn't care that she was antagonising him. She understood some of his motives but his execution fucking sucked.

Travis didn't even bother looking at her. "If you're having second thoughts, better start heading back now."

Her tone switched up to outright taunting. "I just wanna make sure you've got your horse blinders off and you're seeing everything you've done for the sake of your fucked up family in 4k."

Max raised his hands. "O...Ok, ok, let's not do this right now guys." Only to be ignored by the other two.

Travis snapped his head around to face her. "Can you actually say you would do anything different?"

Laura tightened her grip around the strap on her gun. "I get that you didn't exactly have all the choices in the world but at least fucking acknowledge what you're doing. No putting your head in the sand and ignoring the reality of what we're here to do to make yourself feel better about it."

Travis pressed his lips into a thin line and broke the intense stare. 

Of course he's thought about that little boy. He's spent night after night thinking about that poor kid out on his own with nothing and no one. "Family is more important than anything". He repeats his parents words in his head like it's gospel but he's not sure if he ever truly believed in it. Baseless loyalty held up by nothing except blood. Even so, he did as he was told. Maybe he lost something of himself somewhere along the line. Maybe he could have tried harder to save Silas too.

But it's too late for that now. Silas isn't the only kid in danger. He has nine of them to look after now.

He wasn't even thinking if a reply. Instead just letting her words roll around in her head.

"Guys?" Max's voice broke through the tension. They looked to him and he was pointing to a wall off to the side where there was a man-made hole. "Do you guys hear that?"

In smaller underground construction projects, rather than mine carts to take materials or debris from one level to another, they just have a slide. A straight up metal slide maybe a dozen or so feet long that was a simple, one-way means of getting materials to a lower level without having to carry them down stairs. 

Those same stairs had been crushed by the cave in. Meaning the space down below them had one entrance and no exit. Unless you could climb a sleek metal slide constantly covered in a thin layer of dirt.

Laura and Travis listened closely, the cop approaching the slide, pausing when he heard it.

Snarling. 

Something or someone had heard them speaking.

This had to be it. Travis peered down the slide. It was pitch black, he couldn't see a thing but he didn't exactly want to sline the flashlight down there and attract his attention.

"If we go down there we won't be able to get back up." Travis said grimly, noting the angle and the dust making the slide near impossible to climb.

Max shrugged, whispering. "Well yeah that's kinda the point." He peered over Travis's shoulder "He's down there right?"

The cop wasn't sure what emotion he was feeling at that moment. "Yeah."

Laura didn't know if it was adrenaline or pure determination she was feeling. "All we have to do is land one shot."

"Before getting torn apart..." Max murmured, backing up when Travis stood up. 

"You two stay up here." He ordered, deciding whether he should keep the gun in his hands for a quick fire or keep them free to help him with the landing. He wished he could just fire down from the top of the slide but the shotguns dont have the range.

He froze when Laura put an arm over his chest, between him and the slide. "No offense old man but the last thing we need is you popping a hip when you tumble down there." 

He twisted his lips, staring down the teenager once again. "Why is it so fucking hard to get you to stay somewhere safe and not get involved?" 

Laura shrugged. "I'm stubborn like that." She stepped up to the hole. Max squeezed her hand, knowing he wasn't going to be able to talk her out if it. "I'll be right behind you."

Travis silently acknowledged the same realisation. He wasn't getting down there before her without another argument.

She squeezed back, stepping into the slide, the metal cold on her skin. 

Here goes nothing.

Laura disappeared down the slide and Travis and Max waited for the sound of her landing at the bottom. Right as she left, a cold shiver ran down both of their spines.

"Leave..." 

Max and Travis looked at each other with the same wide eyed look.

She slid down, pressing her hands against the side to slow herself down a little but she didn't want to give Silas time to meet her at the bottom. She landed on her feet but fell forward with the momentum from the slide. She stood up, rubbing a knee, raising her head. 

This area, along every wall, it was covered in claw marks, big and small. There was a rotting smell and in the middle of the room. There he was.

Pale, ghostly white skin and piercing yellow eyes. Silas stood and turned to her, watching her almost curiously.  

She raised her gun, lining up the shot...

And she went cold.

Her hands went numb. Her breath caught in her throat, she blinked, and blinked again, squeezing her eyes shut to centre herself. When she opened her eyes, the visage of an old woman was in front of her, face contorted in a scream, pupil-less eyes boring into her, arm shooting out towards her.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE"

She yelped and stumbled back, fear overtaking her. In one swift movement. Silas lunged right at her.

~

Waiting was getting painful. Abi was hoping Laura, Max and Travis would return before they had to put their plan into action.

"So you think it'll mess with them?" Abi was peering over Kaitlyn's shoulder. The other girl shrugged, her shoulders tightening up from leaning over and focusing for so long. 

"I guess we'll figure that out when they show up..."

Abi let out a shaky "Oh boy..." and tried to not have a panic attack in the backseat of the van.

The stereo sounded like a garbled mess but there was only one real way to know if it was at the right frequency to work. Kaitlyn did a double take, noti g Abi's clear neevousness. She reached out her hands and grabbed her shoulders.

"Ok. Abi? Just stay in the van, you'll be safest in here."

Abi didn't offer any resistance. She nodded, trying to get her breathing under control.

Ryan was counting his bullets. He some but not a lot. He had to make them count. Just like Travis said, when they get injured enough, they run away to heal. All they have to do is hurt them and get them to fuck off for a bit. He scoffed to himself. He's making it sound easy.

His mind was torturing him with images of werewolf Dylan. He didn't understand this infection...curse...thing. How could anything turn someone so kind, loving and harmless into a monster.

He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to rid himself of the werewolf version plaguing his thoughts, and replace it with Dylan's actual face. Smiling and laughing. Smiling at him. Looking at him, smiling and looking away, biting his lip. 

He likes him. He wasn't sure before but it's clear to him now. He thinks some part of him was protecting himself from a potentially complicated situation. Trying to fit Dylan into his messed up family life. It felt wrong subjecting someone so sweet to the mess that was his home life.

Would have been nice to figure this out a month ago. Dylan would have talked it out with him. He's so good at cheering him up.

Jacob was beside him bouncing his knees. Ryan was avoiding getting into conversation but he was clearly struggling and it was probably more beneficial to try and alleviate any worries than leaving them to fester. 

Ryan wasn't exactly good at pep talks but he figured now was the time to try. "Dude it's ok. Just...drive the van in circles. Me and Kaitlyn will shoot them if they get too close. It's a plan that can work." His usual deadpan tone didnt do a whole lot to quell Jacob's worries. He side eyed Ryan, knee bouncing stopping abruptly. 

"Oh sure, cool, easy peasy amirite?" He sighed. He knew he was being irritating but he also didn't actually care. He needed to air his grievances or it would be at the forefront of his mind when he needed to be focusing. 

Ryan gave up trying to comfort Jacob and worked on settling his own nerves. "It'll work." He said to himself. It only had to work for a little while. 

The forest went quiet around them. The ambient noise of bugs and the wind blowing almost seemed to stop simultaneously. Ryan was hyper aware of the sound of his own breathing.

 That's when they heard them. A howl in the distance. Then another, and another, and another. 

"Showtime." Kaitlyn prepped her gun. 

They all piled into the van. Jacob in the drivers seat, Kaitlyn and Ryan in the middle and Abi had crawled over the backseat into the trunk to get out of their way.

"Shit, fuck, fucking shit balls..." Jacob muttered as he turned on the engine, clenching the steering wheel with white knuckles. Ryan and Kaitlyn held their guns to their chests, looking out the windows, watching for movement.

Kaitlyn peered out the window, a shiver running up her spine when she caught the sight of bushes moving and a pair of yellow eyes emerging from the shadows. 

Abi squeaked when she saw eyes out the back window, Jacob froze when a creature stalked out in front of the van and Ryan did his best to centre himself when one of them stalked around his side of the van, hidden in the treeline.

"Jacob now!" Kaitlyn called out and Jacob turned on the stereo. They all covered their ears. The noise was heinous. They couldn't even tell what song was playing it was so garbled. But was it enough? 

The creature that was approaching on Kaitlyn's side reeled back, scratching at it's ears, as did the others. All of them started screeching and backing up. Jacob was in disbelief, a short laugh escaping his lips. "I can't believe it's working..." He was breathless but wasn't letting his guard down yet. 

"What now?" Ryan shouted over the music and Kaitlyn watched the werewolves flailing around in the darkness. They weren't running away.

She leaned into the front and shouted for Jacob to hear. "Drive!" 

Jacob started driving in circles around the clearing, the creatures beastial screaming getting louder everytime they got closer. It was kind of working but how long would they be able to keep this up for? The idea was that they would hear it and run away but they're just distancing themselves. The sound of the fucked up stereo wasn't as good as the radio feedback look that Dylan had made.

Hypothetically this can still work. Those three just need to hurry up and find Silas. 

Darting out of the shadows, illuminated by the headlights, one of the creatures leapt at the windshield, landing on the bonnet. All four of them screamed, the van shaking on impact. Its eyes were wild and manic, drool dripping from its mouth, teeth bared, eyes darting around, scanning over the bonnet.

Jacob stared at it wide eyed. There's no way...

Screaming, it buried its claws in the bonnet, slashing at everything under the hood. Snarling rabidly, it hit something intergral and the stereo cut off abruptly. 

Just like that, the music was gone and the growling filled the air around them. 

Without missing a beat, the others charged towards the van and Jacob floored it, driving more frantically to try and disrupt the werewolves attacks. "Oh god, oh fuck oh fuck!" Jacob yelled, wishing this van handled easier, trying to see around the form looming over the windshield. 

Something heavy jumped onto the roof and another latched onto the back. The last was running alongside, looking for an opening.

Thankfully, it didn't seem like anything else got ruined besides from the radio. The van still worked so they could still get away. If everything went to shit, maybe they could drive away and keep them from any noises that might lure them into the quarry.

"Guys, Guys!" Abi screamed, pointing at the back window. The creature latched onto the back was doing its best to shatter the back window.

Kaitlyn and Ryan had the same thought. Firing through the van would work in theory but if Silas doesn't die soon, they'd just be making multiple openings for these things to claw their way into the van. 

"If they break through first, then we shoot through the van, deal?" Kaitlyn nodded to Ryan and he nodded back. "Deal."

The werewolf not on the van charged at them and bashed into the side. Jacob had to do some tricky maneuvers to stop the van from spinning out. It waited for them to drive away before it charged at them again, bashing into the side of the van, tipping the van onto two wheels for half a second. Those inside the van screamed and held onto anything they could to avoid being slammed around. 

On the roof, the creature up there was making dents in the ceiling, beating down on it. A single claw punctured the roof, ripping as the creature thrashed around trying to get it free. A full hand of claws ripped through the roof and Kaitlyn gritted her teeth, cocking her gun and pointing it up.

"Cover your ears."

Kaitlyn fired a round of shots through the roof, the creature squealing in pain, wailing louder with every shot that landed. It didn't jump off but at the very least it wasn't actively trying to kill them. 

Abi screamed when a clawed fist bashed against the back window, the glass bending and cracking with every pound. She curled into a ball against the back seats.

Ryan pointed his gun towards the wolf in the back but immediately lowered it. This wasn't gonna work. The larger of the werewolves climbed on top and dug its claws through the hole that Kaitlyn had made in the roof. Ryan backed up against the door. They needed to lure some of them away from the van or else they were going to tear it apart.

A stupid, impulsive idea came to his mind and he nodded to himself, taking a deep breath. It's better than nothing. 

"Keep it up" was all Ryan said before he opened the door and jumped out, rolling with accidental grace, getting his gun barrel in front of him. His landing got him turned around and he whipped his head over his shoulder, right when one of them lunged his way. 

BLAM. He landed a shot on its face and the creature stumbled back with a screech, rubbing the backs of its hands over its face like a big ugly cat. He took the time to stand up and back up. Readying another shot, waiting for it to lunge again. 

But it didn't. It stalked around him. Taking a few sharp steps forward as it circled him, as if it was trying to fake him out. Trying to trick him into firing a panicked shot when it wasn't close enough to do a decent amount of damage. Ryan kept his distance, backing up, lifting his feet so not to trip over anything.

Anxiety overtook his thoughts for a split second and he quickly looked over his shoulder, to check the status of the van and the other wolves. As soon as he took his eyes off it, the wolf lunged at him again. He let off another shot, hitting it in the chest. It wailed and stumbled back again, growling and staring him down.

Kaitlyn called after Ryan but immediately had to choose between jumping after him and closing the door so the other creatures couldn't get in. She grunted and chose the latter, they needed to keep the van somewhat secure.

Steeling himself, Jacob yanked the handbrake, turning sharply and throwing the creature off the roof. It rolled along the ground, leaves and sticks flying into the air behind it. Now they had to deal with the other two. 

Abi's scream paired with the back window giving in caught Jacob and Kaitlyn's attention. A long arm was fully through the window, grisly face pressed against the shattered glass, arm swiping wildly at Abi. 

Jacob took another sharp turn to throw them off balance. It worked momentarily, before they got right back to rabidly trying to break into the van. Jacob just kept doing it. Any amount of disruption was good. As long as he could keep them focusing on hanging onto the van rather than breaking through it, they had a chance.

Kaitlyn looked out the window. The one thrown off the roof that she filled with bullets was down for the count. But where's Ryan?

The wolf on the front of the car started slamming it's head against the windshield. Jacob took another sharp turn but it was holding on with its claws dug into the car, smacking its head down on the glass. "Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck-" Jacob was yelling while the glass shattered and bent. Kaitlyn climbed into the front seat and rolled down the passenger side window, she leaned out the window and got the gun barrel pointed around the front of the car. 

She fired and the creature wailed, pulling an arm back to hold its face. Jacob immediately tried to shake it off again, and the creature flopped backwards off the side of the car, claw still dug deeply into the side of the bonnet. The car lurched with the added weight and Kaitlyn felt herself lose her balance. Her brain was in slow motion when she started falling face first out the window. A hand grabbed the back of her shirt and yanked her back inside the van. She landed across the seat, too stunned to speak.

"Would you please be fucking careful you crazy person?!" Jacob said frantically, returning both of his hands to the wheel. He would deny how high pitched his voice was right now later. Kaitlyn sat herself up with a smile, blindly reaching for the window button. "I think things are going well don't you think?"

Just another cursed phrase. Kaitlyn regretted it as soon as it left her mouth. The van lurched, groaned and the engine stuttered. In a panic, Jacob started pressing anything and everything to get it going again but the van was dead. It rolled to a stop, hittitng a tree. 

Without the sound of the engine the growling was so much louder. It sounded like it was coming from all around them. Kaitlyn climbed into the backseat, pulling on Jacobs arm for him to follow when the creature they had thrown off the bonnet came back with a vengence, beating its claw into the drivers side window.

It wasn't as easy for Jacob to swiftly manevuer through the car but he did squeeze himself into the backseat before the glass broke and a massive arm swiped at his leg. He yelped when the claw came in contact with the back of his leg, quickly pulling it into the back with him. He got as low as he could on the floor of the car, Kaitlyn did the same, her gun pointed between the gaps in the front seats.

They heard glass breaking and metal creaking coming from the back and Abi's screams intensifying.

"Abi?!" Kaitlyn called out, but she couldn't bsee what was happening back there. The other werewolf had its arm and face through the glass, its long arm could swipe the top of the chair, but not the bottom by the floor, where Abi had curled into a ball. 

When the van rolled to a stop, Ryans heart sank in his chest. He couldn't stop himself from staring at it, the two remaining werewolves getting the opportunity to plant their feet on the ground and force their way in. 

It all happened so fast... and as soon as Ryan wasn't looking its way, the one he had been dueling lunged at him, tackling Ryan to the ground. 

He landed hard on his back, gasping when the wind was knocked out of him, his chest thumping and his throat refusing to open and give him air. Claws pierced his chest and he screamed in pain. He struggled to get the gun pointed in its direction, firing the gun with one hand, actually clipping its side. It was enough to give Ryan a moment to breathe when it reeled back with a screech. 

His heart was thumping in his ears, his head was pounding, he didn't have a second to check how deep the wounds on his chest were. He shuffled back in vain, the creature loomed over him, slamming one hand beside his head, and swinging the other back, ready to finish the job.

~

Silas was frighteningly fast. Laura panicked, reeling from what she just saw and dodged, rolling out of the way. She heard him crash into the pile of rocks behind her. Thank you gymnastics.

By the time Laura had righted herself and looked up after her roll, her throat tightened at the sight of Silas. Already lunging at her once again. She didn't have time to dodge again, how is he so fast? She tried to get her gun up but he tackled her to the ground, the two of them rolling a few feet, her gun flying out of her hands.

She put her arms up in front of her, trying to protect her chest and face, Silas bit down into her forearm. She gritted her teeth, wrestling with the creature trying to ignore the searing pain. Suddenly, arms appeared around Silas' neck. The creature released Laura's arm to look over its shoulder.

"Dont. You. Dare." Max shoved a crowbar as deep as he could into its shoulder, stabbing down with all his strength. Silas screamed, standing up and throwing his head back, giving Laura a chance to scramble out of his range. Max was still hanging onto its back, making sure Laura had all the time she needed to get away. She looked around frantically for her gun, right as Silas reached it's massive arm over its shoulder, grabbed Max by the back of his shirt and launched him with terrfying speed into the rock wall of the tunnel. 

Max hit the wall with a crack and crumpled to the ground unmoving. 

"Max!" Laura screamed, instinctively moving to run to his side, when a massive hand grabbed her leg, yanking her back. It pulled her along the ground and put them back in the position they were before.

Right then, Travis flew out of the chute, hitting Silas square in the legs with the force of his entire body, knocking him off his feet. Travis groaned, favouring keeping ahold of his gun over giving himself a sturdy landing. He struggled to his knees and Silas switched targets, speeding towards Travis. The cop got his gun up and fired, right as Silas' huge arm swiped up across his chest, knocking the barel upwards, firing over his head. 

Travis fell backwards and Silas sunk his teeth into his shoulder. Travis felt flesh tearing as he pushed against him with all his strength. One hand flat against Silas' chest and the other on the handle of his gun, he pulled up his gun and tried to ignore the blinding pain to get the barrel pointed where it needed to go. Silas was thrashing around, making it near impossible to get any kind of aim. Travis felt claws sinking into his side, blood pooling underneath him.

Laura didnt have time to look for where her gun fell. Travis was dead if she did. She took a page out of Max's book and grabbed the crowbar stuck in his shoulder and yanked back on it as hard as she could.

She felt cold again. The voice hanging in the air, Travis could hear it too.

"No..."

She let out a yell with the effort it took to leaver the creature off Travis, even just a little bit. Silas let out another blood curdling scream.

"No!"

Laura's efforts making just enough room for Travis to get his gun underneath the creature, against its chest.

And fire.

~

Fists and claws beat over and over again on the side of the car, long, skin stretched over skeletal arms swiping blindly into the van.

Abi, curled in a ball, hands over her tear-sodden face, praying for a miracle.

Kaitlyn's head was buzzing, trying to think of last minute ideas as the van shook violently. 

And then it stopped. 

A wet splattering sound hit metal. Kaitlyn slowly raised her head, poking her head up out of the backseat like a meerkat.

Pinned to the ground on his back, Ryan couldn't do anything but stare up in horror as his massive claw swung down, Ryan squeezed his eyes shut. 

Instead of more pain, all he felt was the familiar splatter of blood. A weight fell on top of him, strangely warm and covered in a thin layer of mud...maybe blood, likely both.

The weight gasped, two arms pushed up beside either side of Ryan's head. "Holy shit- Ryan I'm so sorry! Please don't be dead or dying!" Two warm hands cupped his face, one was immediately removed followed by a confused noise. 

Ryan's heart skipped a beat. He opened his eyes to see Dylan, half naked, covered in muck, staring at his re-grown left hand. He curled and unfurled a fist a few times. "Well fuck me, I guess there was one upside." 

Ryan was overcome with emotion for what may be the first time in his life. He shot up and wrapped an arm around Dylan's neck and the other under his arm, fingers gripping at his shoulder blade. He is not a huggy person but he really needed to hug specifically Dylan in that moment.

He stuffed his face into the crook of Dylan's neck, not caring about what he was getting all over his face. It took Dylan a few seconds to reciprocate, but soon wrapped his arm around Ryan while his other held him up, hovering over the other boy.

"Oh! This is nice...ahem-... A-Are you ok?" Dylan tightened his hold, hesitantly pressing his face to the side of Ryans head, feeling a little more confident when the other boy sighed deeply. Ryan nodded, breathing settled for the first time all night. "Yeah. Yeah I'm good... You?"

"Physically or emotionally?" Dylan's light and breezy tone never faltered. 

Ryan sighed, conceding. "Ok maybe that's a question for later." He moved a hand to the back of Dylans head, threading his fingers through his hair. Dylan pressed his lips together in a thin line and a spark of shivers ran up his spine at the contact. He was literally a werewolf a minute ago and now he has butterlfies in his stomach because his crush is being all cute and cuddly.

Ryan hadn't noticed the other boy's mild panic. He was in bliss. All that hard work paid off. "Thanks for not ripping my ribcage out of my chest or whatever." Ryan murmured into his neck. The claw wound in his chest painful but probably not life threatening. Dylan chuckled more uneasily than Ryan had heard from him. 

"I would never... right? I didn't brutally murder anyone?" Dylan stiffened, eyes snapping wide open.

Ryan opened his mouth to respond but didn't actually have an answer. "I don't...think so?" 

Dylan groaned quietly "Rad. Cool. I guess we'll find out soon enough" He reluctantly eased his hold on Ryan and sat up looking down at himself.

"I'm...so sorry."

Ryan blinked. "What? Why?

Dylan sounded stunned. "I didn't even check to see if my dick was out before I hugged you..." Ryan felt his eyes narrow instinctively. Dylan clicked his tongue. "That...woulda been awkward."

Ryan let out a short laugh, sitting up, putting the back of his hand over his mouth. "Well...In your defense, I hugged you."

The boy covered in muck shrugged. "That makes it slightly better."

Ryan managed to tear his eyes away from Dylan to look around at the scene of absolute carnage. Tire tracks and broken trees and branches. The remains if the travelling circus even more delapitated than it was before. Seeing the others back to normal, he now knew Emma was the one who had gotten thrown off the van, Nick was the one who put his arm and head through the back window and Caleb was the one who had torn a hole in the bonnet. 

Dylan stood up, holding a hand out to Ryan. Accepting the hand to help him stand, Ryan murmured a quiet "Be right back" to Dylan and ran over to the younger teen who had peeled himself away from the van and was curled in a ball, holding his head. Dylan left him to it. Ryan's probably the only person Caleb would feel comfortable with at this point.

Emma grabbed her head with one hand, coughing and groaning in pain. She pushed herself up to a sitting position with the other hand. "What the hecking fuck? Why do I feel like I got hit by a train?" 

Hopping out of the van, Kaitlyn jogged over. "I shot you a whole bunch of times." offering her hands to Emma. She stared at Kaitlyn with what was maybe the ghost of malice until it faded completely. "You owe me lunch for like a month." Emma declared, taking the hand and holding her side with the other. Kaitlyn considered it for a few moments. "That doesn't seem fair." She put a hand on her hip.

Emma scoffed. "You're the one who shot me."

"I'm pretty sure you're the one who bit Dylan." Kaitlyn fired back.

"Does that mean I'm the one who gets free lunch?" Dylan chimed in, peeling a remnant of his shirt off his shoulder that was just stuck to his skin like a wet piece of paper.

Emma pouted. "...You can't prove that." she looked down at herself. "And here I am, titties in the wind. If you'll excuse me." She walked past Kaitlyn to the van where she knew her bags were.

Kaitlyn wasted no time doing a running leap without warning, into Dylan's arms. He yelped and didn't hug back for a moment, spending some time being shocked with his hands hovering over the girl hanging off him.

"Thank you." Was all she said.

The sincerity plucked at his heart strings and he enveloped her in a hug, holdling the tiny girl up with very little effort.

"I didn't do all that much..." Dylan said with a hint of a lilt in his voice.

Kaitlyn wrapped her arms around his neck more securely, humming before speaking. "And yet without you I'd be a blood smear on the ground."

Dylan scoffed. "A vivid image." He sighed and his hands started fidgeting on her back. Kaitlyn turned her head a little, pressing the side of her face into his.

"What? Why are you being weird?" She slowly released her hold and Dylan gently eased her down.

He puffed the air out of his cheeks. "This is just... the second hug I uh... wasn't expecting is all..." He met her eyes for a second with a thin smile, lingering awkwardness behind the usually blasè persona.

Kaitlyn just tucked back in, wrapping her arms around his chest. "Well maybe you should start expecting them."

Dylan didn't have a funny quip for that one. He leaned down and hugged tighter.

"Oh my god Nick." the first thing Abi saw when she opened her eyes was Nick, bloody but back to normal. She panicked as Nick gently, painstakingly pulled his arm out of the window. Once he had freed himself, he opened the trunk, giving her a small nod. 

Shuffling to the edge of the van, she hesitated, her arms hovering uselessly in front of her watching Nick tenderly inspect his skin. She bit her lip and she threw her arms around him in a hug.

He immediately recoiled, yelping in pain, fresh glass cuts all over him. She pulled back, apologising profusely. "I'm so sorry! Are you ok?"

Nick was inspecting himself, moving like every slight movement was causing him pain. Because it probably was. Regardless he smiled meekly. "I'll be alright. I've fallen on a cactus once, it kinda feels like that." He tried to fake a cheery tone. It was enough to make Abi giggle breathlessly. 

She laser focused in on his fresh wounds and scrambled, looking around the backseat. She opened her bag and tore up one of her old shirts she didn't care all that much about and made some impromptu bandages. Nick objected to her tearing up her clothes but she just kept at it. Once she had a reasonable amount of pieces, she grabbed her water bottle from her back pack and patted beside her on the edge of the trunk. "Come here." 

Nick hesitantly stepped forward, sitting down but putting space between them, Abi blinked and moved closer so she could reach his arms. She started cleaning the parts that got cut up by the glass, giving him a piece to wipe his face as well. 

She quietly got to work, hyper focused on being useful when Nick spoke up.

"I'm so sorry Abi..." he was quiet, like he was desperately trying to keep the quavering out of his voice. Abi felt empathy tears welling up in her eyes, wrapping the fabric around his hands and wrists.

"You have nothing to apologize for. It wasn't your fault." This was the Nick she knew. Apologising for getting infected and turning into a werewolf.

He bit his lip, shaking his head weakly. "I said those awful things to you." He was blinking repeatedly and took a deep breath to try and get ahold of himself and give a respectable apology. "I've never felt anything like that before I-... I'm just so sorry.. I didn't mean any of it-"

Abi cut him off, gently holding his less injured hand. "You have nothing to apologize for." She repeated firmly, looking into his eyes, though he was staring at the ground. "That wasn't you. I just wish I realised something was obviously wrong sooner." She sighed, remembering how shocked and confused she was at Nick's sudden personality change. She knew deep down he would never act like that on purpose but in the moment, it was so easy to get swept up in feeling hurt and betrayed.

Nick swallowed thickly, hanging his head, silent until Abi finished wrapping him up. 

Nick couldn't help the crushing guilt settling in his soul. He knew she was right, that it wasn't him. But he still remembered it. Like a monster had taken over his body and he was seeing all the terrible things it did through his own eyes.

He couldn't even bring himself to look Abi in the eyes. The girl he liked so much he struggled to talk to her for two months. He fumbled so hard around her everytime he tried to take Dylan's advice and casually flirt. He travelled across the camp to the corner the art cabin was in just to see her in her element with the kids all covered in paint.

Abi had sat back, tucking her hands between her thighs like she did when she was nervous. He hadn't realised that she did that a lot around him. He knew she liked him, or at least she used to. But now Nick couldn't stop the intrusive thoughts burying into his head that it was the bad nervousness now. That he was making her uncomfortable.

He needed a minute to sort his brain out. Maybe several minutes. Several hundred minutes.

Abi was glancing from him to her lap and back to him, trying to think of something more comforting to say. There was so much she wanted to say but she couldn't think of an order to say it in or how to start.

"Could we...do the friend thing?" Nick said abruptly, Abi blinked, Nick finally met her eyes for a moment

 "We could... I dunno...send eachother tiktoks or something to keep in touch." Nick smiled weakly and Abi beamed, tears brimming her eyes.

 "I'd really like that." She quickly wiped away a stray tear that rolled down her cheek, still smiling. "My for you page is mostly dog videos."

Nick smiled, chuckling softly "Same."

~

A blood curdling scream echoed in their minds, the cold prickling the backs of their necks.

When Silas screamed, whined and fell back. Travis just stared at him. Memories of the little boy in the cage flashed in front of his vision as the creature slumped to the ground, still. His mind went blank.

Silas was dead. It was over.

"Max..." Laura whispered, her head snapping to where he still lay against the wall and running over. "Max! Max..." She whimpered, dropping to her knees beside him, pressing her fingers to the side of his neck under his jaw. Relief washed over her when she heard a steady heartbeat under her fingers. She wanted to pull him onto her lap and hold him but she didn't want to move him in case he was more injured than he looked. She just stroked his face with his thumb, willing him to wake up.

As if he could hear her thoughts, Max stirred, opening his eyes onto to snap them closed again, groaning in pain. "Ow, ow, ow." Max was missing the immaculate healing he had gotten used to over the past two months. Laura uttered for him to be careful while he sat up and leaned against the wall. Before he asked about what happened he just took her in. She's so pretty. Even covered in blood, sweat and gunk she's the most beautiful girl in the world.

She smiled at him, holding his face. "We did it... it's over for real this time."

Max closed his eyes. "Oh good because I'm so tired." 

Laura chuckled and ran her thumbs over his face, stroking his hair, pushing it back over his head.

He let his head lull to the side, opening his eyes and peering over at Travis. His eyes set in on him. "Hey...is he alright?"

Laura looked over her shoulder and her lips parted as she processed what she was seeing. "Shit." 

Blood was pooling underneath him where he lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Laura knelt beside him checking him over. He has the bite wound in his neck, claw marks along his chest and a deep gash in his side. She looked around for something to oress against the wound that was bleeding the most when Max appeared beside her, taking off his jacket with some struggle and applying pressure to the wound.

Travis sucked in a harsh breath but toughed it out. Max grinned down at the cop. "C'mon old man, you have retirement to enjoy!" He said brightly, trying to ignore the quickly dampening jacket. "You're definitely retiring after this right?"

Travis didn't hesitate to nod, letting out the first genuine laugh either of them had heard from him. "Oh absolutely. Fuck being a cop."

Laura looked over to the slide entrance, not wanting to look behind her and see Silas. She wasn't sure if she would be able to climb up there, let alone Max and Travis with their various injuries. They'd have to wait till the others came to find them.

She couldn't help but feel that cold hanging over her. Watching her.

She tried to shake it off. 

~

Ryan left Caleb in the van, cleaned him off as much as possible, gave him some of his clothes and wrapped him in a blanket. He didn't have the heart to tell him everything just yet. It could wait until Travis was back. If Travis was coming back. 

The former werewolves picked their clothes out of the bags packed in the van, everyone settling into a calm. The others explained the events of the night to the ones with no memory of it.

Emma gave up trying to pick the bits of... whatever it was...out of her hair. "I feel less mad at Laura for leaving me with a bigger crew of kids since she was kidnapped and all." she sighed, laying back on the ground in the leaves.

Dylan was contemplating what he'd just learnt. "So Travis is cool? He started off not being cool but now he's cool? I feel like I skipped to the final episode and missed all the character development." 

Ryan rubbed the back of his head. "Turns out Travis was the only one of the Hacketts who was really trying to fix... all this..." He put his arms around his knees. He kept his voice quiet for Calebs sake.

Nick cleared his throat, passing one of the water bottles to Jacob who just splashed it onto his face and went back to lying on the ground. "I've uh... already apolgised to Abi but I'm sorry for... literally going feral earlier." He was picking at his thumbs and Dylan clocked the nervous tick, moving closer to him.

"I wouldn't beat yourself up too much my dude." Dylan began, patting his shoulder. "Pretty sure the only reason I stayed somewhat normal was because I was hyper-aware of what was happening." Dylan's terminal overthinking came in handy for once. "I could like... resist the werewolf urges because I knew I was... turning into a werewolf." He stopped patting and rested his hand on Nicks back. It was his only theory. He definitely felt some weird impulsive thoughts, but it mostly manifested in a fierce protectiveness towards Kaitlyn.

Emma sat up and folded her arms. "None of you saw me. I was totally losing my cool. I've never felt that angry in my life." Emma recalled the hazy memory with and cringed. She's not an angry person. The total opposite. She doesn't yell and scream and swear when shes mad. She's never felt such intense, uncontrollable anger like that before. Her face was burning hot and her chest was bursting with...rage. She could kind of understand how Nick was feeling, though it was a little different. 

Kaitlyn tapped her chin, pointing towards the former werewolves. "Pretty sure the infection took surface level emotions and...like...twisted them into something animalistic." She waved her hands vaguely. "Emma's low-key annoyance at Jacob made her go agro and Nicks crush on Abi made him all possessive." She looked at her companions. "Makes sense right?"

Nick still looked downtrodden but he was feeling slightly better about it. Dylan hung his arm over his shoulders, knowing Nick would appreciate the contact.

Jacob stood up and sighed loudly. Everyone heard him but not everyone bothered to look his way even though they knew that's definitely what he wanted. Regardless, he started talking. 

"Ok well.. Now that everyone's here I need to tell you guys something." He took a deep breath, clearly very anxious but keeping his cool for the most part. "Before I say anything I just wanna make sure you guys know that I'm really sorry and I didn't want any of this to happen. I just wanted one more night with-" he stopped himself before he mentioned Emma, though he did meet her eyes which said all it needed to say. "...I didn't wanna go home yet so I-"

"You fucked with the car." Kaitlyn's deadpan voice cut him off. 

Jacob double taked, gaping at her. "Wha- You knew!?"

She rolled her eyes. "You literally asked me how to fuck up the car and then the car fucked up." Her judgmental stare bore through him. 

Jacob opened his mouth then shut it again. No one said anything for a bit until Abi awkwardly raised a hand. "I mean it's not like you meant for....all of this to happen..." She said quietly. She understood how bad he must be feeling right now.

"Out of all the confessions I've been quietly hoping for, this was not one of them." Dylan quipped, attempting to wipe some leftover gunk off his neck.

"I mean everything...worked out I guess." Nick started. "Glass half full..." 

Jacob was scanning everyone's faces, eyes like a sad puppy. "You guys are being... super cool about this." Jacobs voice was meeker than any of them had ever heard from the boisterous party boy.

"I think I'm too tired to be mad." Ryan felt his eyes closing as they sat there. This was the first time he had sat down in hours and he wasn't sure if he could get up again.

"I'm not. You're an idiot." Kaitlyn began, immediately cutting herself off with a yawn, covering her mouth. "Actually yes I am. The reckoning will have to wait until tomorrow then."

Emma didn't say anything. She averted her eyes when Jacob looked her way.

Feeling the urge to change the subject to something less awkward, Dylan popped his lips. "So...are those three ok? Shouldn't they have come out by now?" He gestured to the quarry entrance.

Ryan followed his gaze to the tunnel. "We should probably go check on them." Now that Ryan thought about it. If they were looking for a place that Silas got stuck for six years, its possible they were now also stuck.

He went to stand up, only for a firm hand to gently but firmly push him back down. "You. Sit down champ." Dylan had a hand on his shoulder. "You have holes in your chest." He looked from Ryans chest to his own hand that was responsible for the damage.

"I'll go." Nick offered, slipping out from under Dylans arm. "I feel way better with all this wrapped up." He gestured to the shirt-bandages Abi had fashioned for him around his arms. "...and more nimble than this one. Probably an ideal combo for underground tunnel traversing." He threw a thumb over at Dylan who just nodded in agreement.

 "I do be lanky." Dylan waggled an arm for emphasis.

"Right behind you my dude." Kaitlyn patted Nick on the back and the two of them headed into the tunnel.

Emma got up and walked over to the van, bee-lining for where Abi had left her phone in the trunk. Battery was still going strong. She wandered a little bit away from the van, sensing a certain someone was inevitably going to join her.

"So." Jacob started, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "How are you fee-"

"Jacob." She cut him off. "Don't."

The boy bit the inside of his cheek "Are you mad about the van? About uh...why I did it...?" He had some silent hipe that she would think it was romantic, but judging by her face, there was no chance of that.

"It's not about that." She sighed. "Yes it was stupid and weird but... not it." Emma shrugged, turning to face him. "All you can do is acknowledge your mistake, come to terms with it and try to be better tomorrow." 

When Jacob didn't say anything Emma let her hand holding her phone drop to her side. "Look. I'm sorry for just cutting you off. But it's not like I didn't tell you from day one that was just a summer fling." When Jacobs face somehow got even sadder she forced herself to leave her pride aside for a few minutes. 

"And I'm sorry for messing with you. I knew you liked me and that you were struggling with the break up. I treated it like a joke and I'm sorry." 

That made Jacob meet her eyes, only for a second but it was enough for Emma to see he appreciated it, though he was still obviously sad. 

Jacob fiddled with his fingers in his pockets. "So...this may be totally stupid but... I don't suppose you...changed your mind?" He couldn't help being a tiny bit hopeful. 

Emma's shoulders slumped with the force of the sigh that left her. "Jacob nothing has changed. I'm still not interested and I never will be. You... pulling something like that, even though this outcome was obviously not your intention. It's just confirmed it for me."

Jacob took a second to let that sink in. He knew he was terrible at taking no for an answer. He was always taught that girls loved to be chased and that if you just put the effort in, it would guarantee you the girl you wanted. But he obviously had a lot to learn about girls. 

He rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah... honestly I...think I needed to hear that." 

Emma tried not to be overly terse, settling on exhausted. "Better late than never."

The boy nodded, and kept nodding, not knowing what to say. He threw a thumb over his shoulder. "I'm gonna...uh... go sit down... so uh...Bye." With that he retreated and Emma closed her eyes, thinking about everything she could have done to prevent that interaction. She needed to know when to joke and when to take things seriously. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in something she thinks is funny, she forgets other people have feelings and don't necessarily have the same humor.

Well. Just something she needs to work on.

She wandered back over to the van, trying not to disturb poor Caleb. She saw Abi's belongings had been scattered across the van. Her eyes locked onto Abi's sketch book. Without really thinking, she picked it up and flipped through the pages, smiling at the scenery sketches and all of the little sketches of Nick. 

She paused on a page and stared at it. It was Emma, a full page detailed sketch of her. When did she even do this? Did she do it by memory? 

The thought of Abi sitting down, thinking about Emma and sketching her so perfectly. Something about that made her face go pink.

Nick and Kaitlyn found the others and reported back. They made a few trips back and fourth to gather things to create a rope to toss down the slide and people to help them up. Eventually with combination effort, Laura, Max and Travis were above ground once again. They managed to patch up Travis and slow the bleeding but they really needed that ambulance now. 

Travis joined Caleb in the van. The boy buried his face in his uncles chest. 

The others took the opportunity to rest. They'd work out what was wrong with the van in a minute. They would probably have to do two or so trips in Travis' car to get them back to the camp. 

The woods around them slowly started lighting up as the sun peaked over the horizon. Birds started tweeting and chirping in the early morning air. 

They were all sitting in a group on the ground. No one said much of anything until Kaitlyn posed a question to the group. "What the fuck are we gonna tell the cops?" She said casually, lying on her back next to Jacob. 

Laura shrugged. "There sure are a lot of human corpses scattered around." she said dryly, like she'd already accepted she was going to prison. 

Abi fidgeted with the strap on her bag. "There's gotta be some way to convince them of what really happened." Abi could feel frustrated tears prickling her eyes. 

Remembering something, Emma scrolled through the gallery on her phone and pulled up the photo she had taken of the werewolf on the island. She presented it to the group with a grin and explained how she got it. Max and Laura shared a look. "Wait that's me?" Max leaned closer to the screen and grimaced. "Ew, what the heck?"

"I told you so." Laura began, pulling him back so she could lean on him. "Nasty as fuck."

Emma tapped her phone until she got to the video she had taken, to see if she caught any more footage. "If we have enough evidence they can't ignore it." There was a real possibility they were going to get written off as a bunch of crazy teenagers who got high on drugs and slaughtered some random family. They needed everything they could get their hands on to prove otherwise.

Dylan's eyes widened and he slowly looked down at his brand new left hand. He slowly looked back to the group with a dazed smile on his face. "I'd like to see them try to ignore my extra hand in the radio shack."

Everyone's eyes went wide, especially those who had no idea what Dylan was talking about. But that was exactly the kind of irrefutable proof they needed that something werid was going on.

He inspected his hand closer. God it's weird. It's about two shades lighter than the rest of him, zero freckles and perfect nails. Like he's been wearing one glove his whole life.

Watching Dylan, Laura started putting a hand over each of her eyes, testing her vision. As expected, her left eye was significantly better than her right. Clearer, sharper, long distance vision. She scoffed. If she needed glasses after this because she grew a new immaculately perfect eye and the other has regular vision, she was gonna be so pissed.

They tried not to get their hopes up too much. There was a lot against them but they also had some key pieces of evidence that could save their butts. They agreed on just telling the truth. They could try to make up some elaborate story but with all of them here next to a van with giant claw marks all over it, combined with everything else they had done tonight. The truth seemed like the best option.

Once everyone had settled into silence again, Dylan stood up to stretch his legs. He couldn't sit on the ground for too long without his entire body cramping up. The trials of being tall. He walked a little bit away, not going anywhere in particular, just pacing and shaking out his partially numb feet. 

Hearing footsteps behind him, he glanced over his shoulder to see Ryan with a hand against a tree. He had put it there to lean on while he stepped over a big root on the ground, but when Dylan saw him he froze, mildly panicked and tried to look natural leaning against the tree.

"Uh...hi." Ryan started uneasily, mentally cursing himself, ripping his hand away from the tree and awkwardly stuffing it into his pocket. Dylan pursed his lips forcing back a chuckle. 

"Hi yourself." He put his hands on his hips, feeling oddly relaxed. He was considering picking a random topic to talk about but he got the feeling Ryan had something on his mind, so he waited for him to start.

Ryan cleared his throat, opening his mouth and closing it again. He averted his eyes, looking off to the side. "I uh..." He tried again, looking frustrated with himself for not being able to get this out. "So I've been thinking... a lot...about you." Ryan had to look away again. He wouldn't be able to focus if he saw Dylan's face.

He took a deep breath and exhaled. "When I found out you were a werewolf it...fully freaked me out. More than I thought it would. I just wanted to make sure we had the best chance of getting you guys turned back to normal." This was the longest span of time that Ryan had spoken and Dylan hadn't said a word.

Dylan slowly nodded along, questions burning the tip of his tongue but he kept them to himself for now.

Ryan let out a quiet, exasperated sigh. "What I'm trying to say is that... if anything had happened to you..." 

He groaned and gave up. He's never been good with words. He's spent two months dancing around Dylan, being uncertain if he wanted anything with him at all and not knowing how to talk to him. It sucks that it took almost losing him to make Ryan realise what he wanted.

 He walked up to the other boy, Dylan's eyes locked on him with interest and a hint of nervousness. Ryan leaned up, slightly raising onto his tip toes and kissed him. Softly pressing their lips together, settling a hand on Dylans chest and the other on his waist. 

Once the inital surprise wore off, Dylan leaned down so Ryan could stand flat on his feet, gently cupping his face with both hands.

 Dylan pulled back, if only to smile down at him and look at his handsome face. A smile that turned bashful when Ryan smiled back.

He really tried to let the romantic moment stay as it was but he was physically incapable of not making a joke when he was feeling emotionally vulnerable. 

"Does this mean you're gonna give me your number?" Dylan held back a goofy grin. He promised himself he wasn't gonna ask for his number again out of fear of looking desperate and/or annoying but since Ryan was initiating it, he didn't think he needed to abide by that rule anymore.

Ryan glanced to the side like he was thinking. "I'm considering it." 

Before Dylan could keep talking, Ryan closed the gap again, moving his hands up Dylan's chest and taking hold of either side of his neck. Pulling him down and tilting his head and taking the other boys bottom lip between his own. Dylan hummed into the kiss, sliding his hands down Ryans back, bringing him closer, pressing their chests together. 

Ryan didn't know where this was going to go but he knew he'd regret not trying at all. Dylan pulled back again, holding up a finger. "I just realised I don't know where my phone is so I'm gonna have to give you my number."

"Shut up." Ryan laughed and kissed him again.

Not far away, Laura relaxed back into Max's chest. He was aimlessly playing with her hair. His back hurt but he was pretty sure it wasn't anything more serious than a big bruise, maybe a cracked rib at worst. He gently untangled the ends of Laura's hair and she hummed, nuzzling her face into the side of his face. He kissed her head and dropped his hands to grab hers. Popping his lips.

"Do you think they'll let us come back and be counselors again next year?"

Laura sat and turned around to look him in the eyes, blinking at him incredulously. He shrugged. "What? We totally missed out and I was excited." he pouted, thinking about all the summer camp fun he didn't get to experience.

Laura laughed and let her head drop onto Max's chest. The sun was fully over the horizon now, the moon no where in sight. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"Yeah maybe."