⠀⠀⠀⠀"Anything!" Scott pleads. I scoff, moving my hand away from the door handlebars to gesture at the hall. "There's literally nothing, Scott."
⠀⠀⠀⠀Then I pause, grumbling softly, "Nothing except for the pliers that I dropped outside."
⠀⠀⠀⠀Stiles and Scott both stare at me wide-eyed. I look down, feeling incredibly stupid. From the corner of my eye, I watch Stiles scramble to his feet and peer out one of the two windows in the doors.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Hey, the Alpha could see you, Stiles," I whisper-yell, scrambling to my feet and joining Stiles at the window. The narrow six-inch window forces me to press against Stiles to get a view. When our shoulders brush, I shudder. Stiles looks down at me, and in the faint glow of the waning gibbous, I see his cheeks redden.
⠀⠀⠀⠀After a moment, Stiles clears his throat. "He's gone," he tells me, still whispering.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"For now," I add, and I hear Scott stand up beside me, peering through his own window.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Stiles' gaze shifts from me to the pliers outside, and I feel my breath catch.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"No," I mutter, widening my eyes. This is my mess. I'm the one who dropped the damn thing.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Yes," Stiles nods with conviction, but I notice his hands trembling slightly.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Stiles, no! Don't—!" Scott calls out just as I do, "Stiles, I'll do it."
⠀⠀⠀⠀Stiles doesn't listen to any of us. He opens one of the doors and slips through, closing it behind him. Pressing up against the door, he obscures my view from the window I was looking through.
⠀⠀⠀⠀I shuffle over to Scott, pressing against his side to see what Stiles is doing. I inhale sharply when I feel Scott's breath against my neck, the cool breath igniting goosebumps along my spine.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Not the time, Brie.
⠀⠀⠀⠀I clear my throat and focus on Stiles, who's crouching down on the ground, his arm outstretched. He looks around at his surroundings, and when he catches no movement in sight, he looks down.
⠀⠀⠀⠀My blood runs cold when I catch sight of movement behind Stiles' Jeep.
⠀⠀⠀⠀The Alpha emerges from behind his Jeep, eyes locked on Stiles.
⠀⠀⠀⠀When the Alpha lets out a near-ground-shaking growl, I don't waste another second.
⠀⠀⠀⠀I open the door and scurry down the steps, aiming for Stiles. Just as Stiles grabs the pliers, I grasp onto his jacket and pull him back into the building.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Scott pulls the doors shut as soon as we get inside, and Stiles pulls out of my grip, scrambling to the door. He opens the pliers and puts both handles on each of the handlebars on the doors.
⠀⠀⠀⠀If the Alpha tries to open the doors, they'll struggle, but they'll get through.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Scott flashes his flashlight through the windows, and his eyebrows shoot up, "Where is it?" Stiles and I scramble to the window, and it's like the Alpha was never there. "Where'd it go?"
⠀⠀⠀⠀Is it playing with us? Like a predator to its prey.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"That won't hold, will it?" Scott asks as we all step away from the doors.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Against a literal Alpha who has enhanced strength and wants to kill us?" I breathe out and shrug a little, "Definitely not."
⠀⠀⠀⠀We all share a look, and then we're running to the nearest classroom.