Chapter 22: Survival Protocol
The warehouse is a maze of shipping containers and metal scaffolding.
I'm running on fumes. My Nen is depleted. My ribs throb where the bolt grazed me—the wound is closed now, but the pain lingers.
My Haki tracks the hunters. Kate is moving toward my position with predatory focus. She's not hunting the werewolves anymore.
She's hunting me.
I duck behind a container, pressing my back against the cold metal. Slow my breathing. Extend my Haki as far as it'll go.
Kate is twenty feet away. Moving methodically. Checking corners.
"I've hunted a lot of creatures," her voice echoes. "Werewolves. Chimeras. Things with no names. But you're different. What are you? Failed werewolf bite? Some kind of experiment?"
I don't answer. Shift my position, moving silently toward the back exit.
"Peter said you were void-touched. That you've been to the space between dimensions. Is that true?"
My hand tightens on a piece of metal pipe I grabbed. Not much of a weapon, but better than nothing.
"I wonder," Kate continues, "if you regenerate from brain death. Or if you're just playing pretend."
I reach the skylight. Freedom. A ladder leads up.
I climb.
Kate steps out from the shadows below. Crossbow aimed at my head.
"Got you."
Before she fires, Chris appears behind her. Knocks the crossbow aside. The bolt goes wide, embedding in the wall inches from my face.
"What are you doing?" Kate snaps.
"Stopping you from murdering a teenager."
"He's—"
"A kid. With abilities he probably doesn't understand. That doesn't make him a monster."
"He's helping werewolves."
"So am I. Right now."
They stare at each other. Father and daughter. Hunter and... something else.
I use the distraction.
My Nen flares—one last desperate push. I project a blast at the wall beside the skylight. Crude. Unfocused. But it works.
The wall cracks. Collapses outward.
I fall through, landing hard in the alley below.
My ankle snaps on impact. Pain lances up my leg. But my regeneration kicks in immediately—bone realigning, tissue repairing. Within seconds, I can put weight on it.
Phase 2. Fully active.
I limp-run down the alley, using my Haki to track the others.
Scott and Stiles are east. Derek is west. All moving away from the warehouse.
I head toward Scott.
We regroup three blocks away, behind an abandoned gas station.
Scott is breathing hard, eyes still gold. Stiles is shaking, bat clutched in white-knuckled hands. Derek emerges from the shadows, human form, covered in blood.
"Everyone alive?" Derek asks.
"Barely," Stiles says.
Derek looks at me. "You're bleeding."
I glance down. My shirt is soaked, but the wound underneath is closed. Just pink scar tissue now.
"I'm fine."
"That's not fine. You took a crossbow bolt."
"And I healed. See?"
Derek's expression is unreadable. "You should be dead."
"I get that a lot."
Scott's phone rings. Allison. He steps away to answer.
Stiles collapses against the wall. "That was insane. We almost DIED."
"We've almost died before," I say.
"This felt different."
"Because it was." Derek crosses his arms. "Kate's not playing games anymore. She's hunting to kill."
"Then we stop her."
"How?"
Good question.
Scott returns, face pale. "Allison didn't know. She's furious. Says her family lied to her about tonight."
"She choosing sides?" Derek asks.
"I think so. But it's hard for her."
"It's going to get harder."
We stand in silence. Exhausted. Injured. But alive.
"We need a plan," Stiles says. "A real one."
"We have one," Derek says. "We use Kate to lure Peter out. Then we end this."
"That's not a plan. That's a death wish."
"You have a better idea?"
Silence.
"Then we move forward. Tomorrow night. The Hale house. Kate and Peter. We end it there."
Derek's loft is cold and industrial.
We collapse onto whatever furniture is available. I slump against the wall, vision swimming. The Nen depletion is catching up. My body is shutting down, forcing me to rest.
"You need food," Derek says. "And water. You're crashing."
"I'm fine."
"Adam."
I open my eyes. Derek is holding out a protein bar and a water bottle.
"Eat. Or I'm calling Coach."
I eat.
Scott is on the phone with Allison. Stiles is stress-eating while researching on his laptop. Derek watches me like I'm a puzzle he's trying to solve.
"You're void-touched," he says quietly. "Peter wasn't lying."
"I know."
"What does that mean? For you?"
"I don't know. I'm still figuring it out."
"You heal like a werewolf. Fight like something else. Sense things no one should be able to sense." He leans forward. "What are you?"
"Human enough."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I have."
Derek studies me for a long moment. Then nods. "Alright. But when this is over, we're having a longer conversation."
"If we survive."
"When we survive."
I close my eyes. Let exhaustion drag me under.
The last thing I hear is Scott's voice: "Then we make sure we're worth saving."
And for the first time in weeks, I believe we might be.
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