▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 ━︎━︎ 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞 ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐑𝐔𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 late. Her alarm hadn't went off and her brother didn't wake her. Elaine was panicking. She sped into the school parking lot, checking the time on her phone and cursing under her breath before jumping out of the car and running inside. When she spotted Stiles, Scott, Kira, and Malia, she quickly ran up to them, roughly sending a punching to Scott's shoulder causing the wolf to jump in pain, placing a hand on his now hurt shoulder. He looked at Elaine with wide eyes.

     "What was that for?" Scott asked in disbelief, rubbing his arm.

     "You didn't wake me up, you asshole." Elaine grumbled, clenching her jaw and crossing her arms over her chest.

     "I tried." Scott defended himself. "I even got Stiles and Malia to try and wake you up, but you wouldn't budge."

     "I thought you were dead." Stiles nodded in confirmation. Elaine looked between the three of them and closed her eyes, sighing. Stiles smiled, swinging an arm around her shoulders. "It's alright, Laney. You're here now. You get to retake this test with us so that you can be better than Lydia."

     Elaine's mouth dropped slightly. "Hey! That is not why I'm retaking it."

     Stiles narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't lie to me."

     Elaine turned her head to look at him. "I'm not lying. . . not completely."

     Stiles snapped his fingers. "Hah! I knew it."

     Elaine rolled her eyes. "Listen, there's no way in hell that I'm getting a better score than Lydia. But my self esteem would appreciate it if I tried better and got my score just a little closer to hers."

     "At least it's only three hours." Kira sighed, trying to be optimistic. "We can survive three hours." She received looks from all of them, causing her to shrink slightly under there gazes.

They all entered the classroom, Elaine silently thanking God that they were all in the same class together. They all put their fingerprints onto their papers, handing their phones in and taking their collective seats. Elaine was ready, determined to get a higher score than last time. She knew that she could do it. She may not be Lydia smart, but she was pretty intelligent. She smiled at Stiles as he took a seat beside of her.

     "Hey," Stiles whispered. "You're going to do great. You got this, Laney."

     Elaine smiled. "Thank you, Stiles. You got this too."

     Stiles smiled and nodded before turning to his test booklet, placing his pencil in his mouth and opening up the booklet. Elaine couldn't help but silently chuckle at the boys antics, shaking her head slightly in amusement when the teacher said not to open the test booklet until they were instructed to do so.

     "This test is two hours and fifteen minutes." The teacher told them. "There will be two twenty-five minute critical reading sections, two twenty-five minute math sections and an essay writing portion that will last thirty minutes. There are supposed to be two teachers monitoring this exam." He looked over at Lydia's mother whilst saying this.

     Ms. Martin nodded. "I know. It's Coach. He's not exactly punctual. Um, let me just try him again." She grabbed her phone before walking out of the room. A few minutes later she came back in, shaking her head. "I can't find him, but Mr. Yukimura is upstairs grading papers. Do you want me to try him?"

     "We have to start. We can ask for his assistance during the first break." He started his watch. "You may now open your test booklets and begin."

She was so focused, answering them as quickly and correctly as she possibly could. Her knee was bouncing up and down constantly, anxiety starting to fill her veins. She was so focused until a loud crashing sound came from behind her. She looked up and turned her head to see one of the students had fallen over onto the floor.

     "Sydney!" Ms. Martin quickly made her way over to the girl, helping her sit up. "Are you alright?"

     "I'm okay. I just got kind of dizzy."

     Ms. Martin looked at her wrist, a frown forming on the woman's face. "Sydney, how long have you had this?"

     Sydney shook her head. "I don't know."

     "Ms. Martin, do I need to stop the test?"

     Ms. Martin looked at him, shaking her head. "No, um, it's fine." Sydney sat back down and Ms. Martin went back to the front of the room. Elaine and Stiles exchanged a look with each other. "Everybody stay in your seat, I'll, um, be right back." She grabs her phone and looks at the teacher saying quietly, "No one leaves the room." When she walked out, Scott turned around to look at Elaine, silently wondering if she'd heard the same thing to which Elaine nodded.

     The sound of yelling in the hall a few minutes later made all of the students file outside of the classroom. They looked at Ms. Martin who stood at the entrance, having locked the door. Elaine swallowed thickly in worry, glancing at Stiles before looking back at Lydia's mom. "Back to your seats. Now. Please." They did as she asked and Elaine came to a stop beside of her brother, pausing to listen. "I need the number of the CDC. Yes, the Center for Disease Control."

     "Scotty," Elaine softly said, "what's happening?"

     Scott looked at Elaine before shaking his head. "I don't know, but whatever it is it can't be good." He put a hand on the small of Elaine's back, gently pushing her in front of him as she walked back to her seat, Scott sitting in the one right in front of her.

The next thing Elaine knew, people were walking in with yellow hazmat suits, quickly setting up a contamination area. Elaine couldn't help the fear that burned in her stomach, a bad feeling mixing with it. She reached for Stiles, wrapping her hands around his arm. Stiles placed a protective hand over hers, pushing her slightly behind him as if the CDC were dangerous. Elaine stood there, listening as Ms. Martin explained to Scott what was to happen a few rooms away.

     "We isolate the sick and then we wait for instructions. If I'm wrong, they'll be out of here pretty quickly, and then I'm the crazy biology teacher who panicked for nothing."

     Elaine let out a deep breath, her nerves eating away at her. She was sitting on top of a desk, Stiles standing right in front of her. He watched as her worry grew, shaking his head as he grabbed her hand. Elaine looked up at him and he sent her the best smile that he could. "It's okay. I'm sure it's nothing." Elaine forced herself to nod, leaning into him and closing her eyes in comfort as he placed a kiss onto the top of her head.

     Kira and Malia walked over to the two, sitting on top of desks as well. Elaine turned her body to face them and Stiles kept an arm around her shoulders. "Bet they're thinking it's smallpox," Stiles said.

     "Probably not." The sound of their teachers voice grabbed their attention. "Smallpox was eradicated in 1979. We've only managed to completely eradicate two viruses in history. The other was rinderpest. It killed cows."

     Stiles looked at him expectantly, "So we should be comforted by that, right?"

     "Unless it's something worse."

     "Well, he's an optimistic one isn't he?" Elaine muttered.

     Malia's shoulder straightened slightly. "Whatever it is they're taking pretty seriously. There's a lot of cars and trucks out there." She paused for a moment before looking at Stiles. "Your dad's with them."

     Stiles stood up. "I should probably call him." He walked over to the bin filled with the phones, going through each package in search for his.

     "Don't bother." Stiles stopped and looked at the teacher. "They would've shut off any access to all outside communication by now. No cell service, no Wi-Fi. No one starting a panic. Looks like we're all going to have to wait here and see what happens."

     Elaine narrowed her eyes at the teacher before standing up. "I'll be back." She walked out of the classroom and made her way to the bathroom. She used it and then stood over the sink, washing her hands only for a searing pain to shoot through her head causing her to cry out. "Aah! What the fuck." It happened again, causing another cry to escape her lips. Her hand tightened around the sink as the other flew up to her temple, eyes squeezing shut. A wave of power shot from her body, making the lights flicker.

     "What's happening?" She looked in the mirror, frowning when her eyes were glowing not only purple, but blue as well. She opened her mouth, watching as her fangs started poking through. "Oh, something's not right. Something's not―︎aah." She let out a cry again, another wave of power pulsating through her body.

On the other side of the school, Scott, Stiles, Malia, Kira, and Mr. Yukimura stood. They looked up when the lights started flickering, all of them exchanging looks with one another. Scotts eyes wouldn't stop changing color, Malia's claws wouldn't go away, Kira's power of electricity was dancing within her hands. Which left Stiles to stand there in worry.

     "Stiles, where's Elaine?" Mr. Yukimura asked.

     "I don't know. She said she would be right back." He glanced up as the lights flickered again. "Something tells me that's her."

     "Stiles, go." Scott urged. "Get El."

     Stiles looked at Mr. Yukimura who nodded at him before he went running from the boys locker room. He made his way to the girls bathroom, not even bothering to look to see if anyone was watching as he barged in. Sure enough, there was Elaine. "Laney." She looked at him and he stopped when he saw her eyes.

     Scared tears were in her eyes. "Stiles, stay away. I can't control it."

     "Laney, it's okay."

     "Stiles, please."

     Stiles walked up to her, grabbing her hands and looking her in the eyes. "Hey, I'm not leaving you here alone." He moved her hair so that it was covering most of her face. "It's not just you. It's happening to the others too." Stiles interlaced their fingers. "Hold my hand, don't let go. And whatever you do, don't look at anyone."

     Elaine swallowed thickly, trying her best not to let her fear of losing control consume her.

     "Hey," Stiles' voice softened. "I've got you." She opened her mouth to say something, but Stiles beat her to it. "You're not going to hurt me. It's going to be okay. We'll figure this out." Without letting her say another word, Stiles pulled her close and walked out of the bathroom, bringing them back to the locker room.

     "El," Scott sat up a little straighter when he saw her, frowning when he saw her eyes, her teeth and claws managing to go back to normal.

     "I can't control it," Elaine softly spoke. "My powers. I can't be in here with you all."

     "Well you're not leaving." Stiles stated, not giving her the choice to argue.

     "Stiles―︎"

     "I'm not letting you out of my sight." His voice was firm as he spoke.

     "Obviously the virus is affecting the three of you in a way it won't hit any human being." Mr. Yukimura told them.

     "You guys have to stay out of sight. We have to quarantine you from the quarantine." Stiles said, grabbing Elaine's hand.

     "Yeah, but where?" Kira asked. "I mean, what if they get violent? Like on a full moon."

     "We shouldn't stay in here. Not in the locker room." Scott shook his head.

     "A classroom is not going to hold us," said Malia.

     "What about the basement?" Kira suggested.

     "Too many ways out." Elaine shook her head.

     "We need something secure. Somewhere nobody can find us."

     "The vault." Stiles nodded his head. "The Hale vault."

     "The Hales always have an escape route. Like their house. There has to be another way in." Quickly they found an outline of the school, rolling it out onto the table. "This is where the school sign is, so the vault's got to be right about here."

     Mr. Yukimura nodded his head. "I suppose if there's a second entrance, it would probably be accessible from the basement."

     Stiles pointed at the lay out. "It's probably somewhere in this hallway. Or this corridor"

     Elaine took a step back as a groan fell from her lips. The group all looked at her and she clenched her jaw, shaking her head. Suddenly Stiles fell down and despite the pounding in her head, Elaine quickly grabbed onto him to steady him. "Stiles, you okay?" Stiles pulled up his sleeve slightly, revealing the infection on his wrist.

     "It's happening to you too. You're getting sick. You all are." Mr. Yukimura turned his head to look at his daughter.

     Kira shook her head. "I don't feel sick."

     "I think it's affecting you differently, neurologically." He pulled out a paper. "I found your test answers here in a pile with the others." He showed them to her, revealing that all of the answers she'd bubbled in weren't even in a bubble period.

     Another muffled cry fell from Elaine as another wave of power shot out. She stumbled, Stiles quickly catching her before she could fall. He held onto her tightly as he looked at the others. "We need to go. Now." They all nodded in agreement before heading towards the basement.