Twenty minutes before sunrise.

"What's happening? " mumbled Braden, her vision still blurry, she struggled to rise back to her feet.

She slowly lifted her head, everything around her sounded surreal, the screams of agony, the gunshots and explosions were blaring loudly in the background, brutalizing her brain. Her vision had finally cleared only for her to lay eyes on Nolan, right as he shot a longtail that was approaching them threateningly through its heart.

He turned his head towards her when he heard her words, "Finally awake?"

"Where are Scott and Chris?" she asked as she stood up.

"Out, there's someone out there that they knew, they asked me to stay here with you,"

"Well, I am awake now, thanks for having my back. We should go, they probably need us," she added.

She held her weapon up, ready to shoot as she exited the mansion, Nolan walked closely behind her. Chaos was still unfolding outside; more and more patroller vehicles were showing up, the door would fly open, and the deputies would immediately begin emptying their chambers in the creatures before them. Most of them only got to fire a small number of shots before they were rendered dead, too slow to rival with the speed of the longtails.

Braden shot one through the heart, right on time to save a deputy from imminent death, "This is turning into a blood bath," she uttered.

"I think it already is one," the response came from Nolan.

"We need to find Scott, and fast," she said. Nolan Pulled a small devise from his pocket, pushed on a button only for the screen to light up, he swiped on it a few with his thumb, Braden's curiosity awakened," What are you doing?"

"It's a tracker, it links me to Chris, Mason and Corey. This way," he answered before dashing forward, leaving no choice for Braden but to follow.

Chris wasn't very far; it was time that appeared to be his enemy in that situation. He was surrounded by three longtails, determined to erase him before moving on. He was fast enough to take one down as it was closing in on him, but not enough to dodge the hit he received from the one behind him.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He dropped to the floor, leaving an opening for the second longtail to act, but right before he could sink his monstruous claws deep into Chris's chest, he was stopped by the shot fired from Nolan's gun and Braden quickly took care of the other monster.

"Are you alright?" Nolan hastened to his side, worried.

"Yeah, I'll live," Chris said.

"Where is Scott?" Braden asked.

"He ran after the creature that controls these monsters," he said.

"He wouldn't just leave you here like that,"

"Well, he didn't really have a choice, it was either that or I die,"

"The one that controls these is a lot stronger than the rest, isn't he? Otherwise, you would have just shot him," said Nolan.

"I did shoot him, right through the heart... It did nothing to him," Chris sounded like he couldn't fathom or believe his own words.

"We can't just let him deal with it alone," added Braden.

"I'm not sure we can do anything to help him," said Chris, his head bowed down.

"I think we'll hold him back more than help," stated Nolan.

Not much cogitation was necessary for Braden to agree with both men, all they had were their guns, and if those didn't work against the leader of the longtails then... There was no place for them in that fight, they would truly just stand in Scott's way.

Scott would have agreed too, had he been with them; he hoped that Chris found a way to save himself, as he ran through that dark forest. There wasn't much hope to cling on to at that time, all he could do was run after Matt.

Matt kept mocking and teasing him all the way through, Scott could catch a glimpse of him upfront from times to times, then he would disappear for a while, before showing up again.

He just kept on darting forward, doubts creeping in through the cracks of his mind, an intrusion he couldn't push away. He wondered how he was going to deal with Matt once he caught up to him, he pondered on a way to neutralise him or at worst take him down. He wasn't going to hide sunlight with a fishnet, he'd always doubted his powers as an alpha. When it came to brute force, he wasn't sure he could stand in the same league as Deucalion or the beast of Gevaudan. He'd always, in a way admired their raw power from afar, even though they had been enemies in the past, he could never deny the truth of it.

He was afraid to faulter, he feared his determination wouldn't suffice, he dreaded the idea that his burning desire to protect his friends and loved ones would never be enough, not this time around.

"What is the point of being true alpha, if you can't beat one miserable manmade creature? Tell me that, I need to know," Matt interrupted his thoughts in the middle.

Scott immediately stopped, realizing he'd arrived in a clearing, Matt still in the shadows.

"Don't have an answer? Thought so really, can't say I expected much from you either," he spoke again.

Scott preferred to remain silent, to focus on his environnement, to listen... But most importantly, think. Matt was playing on his weakness, his doubts and fears. Unfortunately, that wasn't his only weapon, he had the powers to back up the talk.