DEAD MAN!
CHAPTER FIVE.
you up for some digging?

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LYDIA HAD FORCED ADRIAN OUT OF THE HOUSE, DEMANDING HE PAY JACKSON A VISIT AS HE GETS HIS SHOULDER CHECKED IN HOSPITAL. This led the two siblings to sit in the waiting room, Lydia playing with her strawberry blonde hair with earplugs in as Adrian watched people pass by with drooping eyes. He was so bored he could fall asleep!

A certain mutter caught his attention. Turning his head, Adrien saw Stiles standing by the desk, acting as if he hadn't seen the two as his eyes darted everywhere. When his eyes met Adrian's, he smiled and he walked over. "Hey Adrian, Lydia!" He greeted, unaware the girl was listening to music and couldn't hear him.

"What do you want, Stilinski?" Adrian said before the boy could go on any further. Sure, he knew Scott's mum worked at the hospital, but surely that wouldn't be a good enough reason for him to be here.

"Me? I-I don't- I'm not here for anything . . . definitely not something." Stiles staggered, his tongue peeking out to wet his lips as his hands went to his pockets. He kept looking over at Lydia almost alarmingly.

"She can't hear you." Adrian stated.

"W-What?" The boy took a short pause, eyebrows raising.

"She can't hear you. She's listening to music." Gesturing to the earplugs in her ears, the Martin sibling sighed before he spoke again. "Why are you here, Stilinski?"

Stiles got closer to the red head, sitting in the seat beside him. Their shoulders brushed as Adrian shifted, tilting his head to hear better. "Scott found something. Somethings buried at Derek Hales', Scott smelt blood."

"You sure it wasn't just a dead animal?" Adrian suggested, trying his best to seem not interested when in reality his minds' first reaction was to jump into the clues.

Stiles gave him a look. "This is Derek Hale we're talking about. I wouldn't be surprised if the guy ate dead animals." When Adrian shot him a unhappy look, Stiles got back on topic. "Okay, Scott's in the morgue; looking at the body, trying to get a scent."

The redhead's eyes widened, giving Stiles an 'are you serious look' which was caught with a nod. Eventually, the boy calmed down and went back to slumping in his seat, the act made by the tanned boy slowly not surprising him.

Stiles wasn't looking away from the boy and his sister, a certain glint that could not be placed in his eyes. When Adrian turned, Stiles' gaze was shifted towards Lydia, who was walking over to an approaching Jackson.

"Ya know, maybe if you actually stopped staring at her and talk to her, you might have a chance." Adrian's voice cut through Stiles' ears, snapping him back to reality.

Stiles looked taken back. "W-What?"

"My sister. You really don't know how to talk to woman, do you, Stilinski?" Adrian's lips perked up. As soon as he smirked, his chest filled with an empty feeling, one that almost made him lose the joy he was getting from teasing the teen.

Stiles grumbled under his breath while looking away, his eyes staying focused on the hospital floor. "Yeah . . . Something like that."

"Did they do it?" The silence between the pair allowed them to hear Lydia's voice. Turning his head round the corner, Adrian saw Lydia standing with Jackson in front of her.

Jackson rubbed his shoulder as he came closer to his girlfriend. "He said not to make a habit out of it, but one cortisone shot won't kill me."

Lydia pursed her lips through the boys explanation, eyeing her boyfriend's shoulder. "You should get one before the game too." With an offended look, Jackson glared which made Lydia sigh. "The pros do it all the time. You want to be a high school amateur? Or . . . do you want to go pro?" She explained, grabbing him closely to kiss him. Adrian's nose scrunched up the minute he saw tongue in the middle of the make out.

"Gross." Adrian muttered, turning his head as Stiles read a menstrual leaflet unawaredly. Scott suddenly appeared in front of them, almost making the two boys jump out of their skins. "Jesus Christ." Adrian clutched his chest, his hand latching onto his chair.

What he didn't see was Stiles' hand already on the arm of his chair, meaning his hand was now clutching on top of Stiles'. Adrian didn't see it, but his cheeks tinged pink as the two boys pulled away flustered.

Scott grinned at the pair. "The scents are the same." He commented.

Stiles' mouth dropped open, part of his mind still trying to catch up to what just happened. ". . . you sure?"

Scott nodded. "Yes."

"So Derek Hale did bury half of a body outside his house." Adrian stated, getting up so he was level with the teens.

"Which means we have proof he killed the girl." Scott finished, as if the last piece of a puzzle was coming together.

"I say we use it." Stiles stated as he walked down the hallway, Adrian and Scott not far behind him.

"How?"

Scott's question went ignored as Stiles exhaled and turned back round. "Tell me something first." Stiles and Scott were staring each other dead in the eye. "Are you doing this because you want to stop Derek or because you want to play in the game and he said you couldn't?"

"There were bite marks on the legs, Stiles. Bite marks." Scott avoided the question, but Adrian guesses it was good enough for Stiles with the grossed out answer.

With a nod, Stiles patted his back. "Okay, then we're going to need a shovel." He looked over Scott's shoulder towards Adrian who had been mostly silent. "You up for some digging?"

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Darkness surrounded the teens as Stiles pulled up in front of Derek Hales run down house. Seeing it for the first time ever, Adrian gaped at it. It clearly was a beautiful house before the damage, Adrian wondered how someone could live in a place like this so damagef with hurtful memories no doubt. It was broken beyond repair, yet Derek didn't seem to mind.

Scott grabbed two shovels, handing one off to Adrian while Stiles held the torch to be on lookout. The buzzcut teen made one of his many strange noises, his look offended. "Wha- Why does Adrian get the other shovel?!"

"Because I'm more muscular." Adrian boasted with a smirk, giving the boy a short wink as he and Scott approached where the body was supposedly buried.

Scott stopped and sniffed the air, his face becoming confused. "Wait. Something's different."

"Different?" Adrian repeated. "Different how? Like bad different?"

"I don't know." Scott honestly answered. He hesitated. "Let's just get this over with." They set off to the side of the house, beginning their journey in discovering a dead body for the police.

They had been digging for roughly half an hour now, and were making slight progress. Scott and Adrian's breaths were slightly laboured, the tanned boy looking around the silent woods. "This is taking way too long."

"Just keep going." Stiles instructed the pair.

"Says you, the one holding a freaking torch!" Adrian shot to the boy, Stiles not seeming affected by the words as Scott looked panicked.

"What if he comes back?"

"Then we get the hell out of here." Stiles replied as if it were the obvious answer. To be fair, it was pretty obvious . . . just hard to accomplish if need be.

"What if he catches us?" Scott worries.

"I have a plan for that." Stiles stopped digging to share with them his plan. "You run one way, Adrian and I run the other- I may even throw him as a sacrifice. Whoever he catches first, too bad."

Adrian chuckled to himself as Scott's face scrunched up, stopping digging too. "I hate that plan."

Stiles didn't reply, allowing the two boys to start digging again. When their shovels finally hit something, Adrian raises his eyebrows as he cautiously bent down to start digging with his bare hands. Scott joined in too, digging out some ropes.

"Hurry." Scott warned as Adrian tried to untie the knotted rope.

"I'm doing my best, Scott!" Adrian grunted. "This thing has like nine hundred knots!"

Scott sighed. "I'll do it." Together, they quickly got the knots undone. They pulled way as they ripped away whatever material was covering what was in the ground.

The three screamed loudly when a dead body was discovered for their youthful eyes to see. Only . . . this wasn't a dead body of a human, but one of a black wolf.

"What the hell is that?" Stiles yelled.

"It's a wolf, idiot!" Adrian yelled back, his eyes wide at the nightmare inducing sight. "You said you could smell blood! Like human blood!"

"I told you something was different." Scott claimed.

Stiles blinked, probably hoping if he did so enough times, the wolf would vanish. "This doesn't make sense."

"Either way, we better get out of here." Adrian ran a hand through his hair, looking between the body and the two idiots.

Stiles agreed with him, telling Scott to assist him in covering the body up. When the rest of the wolf started to get covered again, Adrian noticed something in the darkness. It was a flower. One single purple flower growing out the ground.

"What's with the flower? Derek into gardening or something?" Adrian questioned, Scott coming by his side.

"I think that's wolfsbane." Stiles was the one to speak up, his gaze dead set on the flower.

Interested, Scott looked at Stiles for a further explanation on the plant. "What's that?"

"Haven't you ever seen The Wolf Man?" Stiles sighed heavier than before when Scott shook his head. "Lon Chaney Jr? Claude Rains? The original classic werewolf movie?"

"No, what?" Scott was clearly getting fustrated.

"No one has time for old movie references, Stilinski." Adrian deadpanned.

Stiles huffed. "You both are so unprepared for this." Creeping over to the flower, he began to pull it from the ground, stopping when he realised that the roots were attached to a rope.

As the boy continued to pull carefully, more and more rope came up from the leaves. It led all the way back to the buried wolf. When the teens looked back in the whole, Adrian's heart skipped away when the body wolf's body was no longer there . . . but replaced by the human body. "Oh my god. Guys!"

The two came by the boys side, having pretty much the same reaction as he did. It was a girl who didn't look any older than them, just staring at them with her lifeless eyes. It sent sent shivers down Adrian's spine, backing closer to Stiles' side unconsciously.

"I think it's time to give Sheriff Stilinski a call."

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Adrian had no choice the next morning but to get in Stiles' jeep at six in the morning with Scott so they could witness the arrest of Derek Hale. Adrian couldn't help but feel a thrill of excitement. He had never done anything like this and probably never will. He felt like he was in some strange supernatural Forensic Files episode.

The police had been contacted of the body and waited for Derek to come back all night. And Stiles being Stiles, overheard the police station radio that the man was just home now.

As soon as they were on the scene, police officers and their cars lined the Hale house with a ruckus. Adrian couldn't help but feel out of place, shifting awkwardly in his graphic t-shirt and plaid shirt.

Derek's house door suddenly opened, the man himself stepping out in handcuffs with a policeman clutching his arm. Stiles' dad followed behind them, a tired look on his face. Being the towns sheriff must be stressful enough and now this? Adrian couldn't even comprehend.

Derek's eyes were trained on Scott and Adrien as the police guided him towards the car where he would be taken to the station. Adrien gulped, the werewolf's stare making even him uncomfortable.

Most of the station had to be in the woods right now, accompanied by detectives; some that even lived out of state. Pictures were being taking by the hole, most likely evidence of where the body was found by three teenagers.

Stiles whistled his way through as he stalked towards the car Derek was in. With their eyes widening in alarm, Scott and Adrien shook their heads. The Stilinski boy quickly shot them a look, climbing into the police car.

Face palming, Adrien sighed as Scott shook his head. "Remind me why we're friends with him?"

"Correction: you're friends with him." Adrien immediately reinformed, his lips pursed as he looked around uneasily at all the ruckus. It was too early for all this.

"Still not keen on us, eh?" Scott was smiling slightly at the redheads denial, knowing the boy's popularity was still too important to him.

"Yep. And I would just like to let you know if this situation lands us in a position where I can save myself or any of you, I will not hesitate to leave you to your death." Adrien's tone held no joking manner as he stared at the car Stiles was in, secretly timing how long the boy was in there for just in case.

Scott huffed, the easy smile still on his face with a small nod. "That reassuring."

Stiles was yanked out of the car by none other than his father. The boy yelled as his dad grabbed his arm and closed the door once he was out. Stiles received a stern look; a look the boy probably knew too well at this point. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"I'm just trying to help." Stiles attempted to defend himself against his father, using his usual hand gestures.

The Sheriff didn't look convinced. "Uh-huh. Well, how about you help me understand exactly how you came across this?"

Adrien was a bit worried Stiles would give something away, but he boy lied straight through his teeth. "We were looking for Scott's inhaler." He sighed convincingly. So far, so good. Adrian thought, impressed by the boys acting.

"Which he dropped when?"

"The other night." Stiles replied with zero thought. Adrian cursed under his breath, looking at the leafy ground.

"The other night when you were out here looking for the first half of the body?" Sheriff asked.

"Yes!" Stiles nodded, his mouth running faster than his mind now.

"The night that you told me you were in the woods alone and Scott was at home?"

"Yes!" Stiles exclaimed before realisation hit him and his face fell. "No! Oh, crap." his head dropped, knowing he was busted.

Noah wore a look of satisfaction. "So you lied to me?"

"That depends on how you define lying." Stiles told him, pointing a finger in one last attempt to save himself.

"Well I define it as not telling the truth. How do you define it?" Stiles seemed to be thinking of his answer carefully. Even Adrian had to laugh at his golden answer.

"Reclining your body in a . . . horizontal position?"

Noah didn't even break a smile "Get the hell out of here." He muttered.

"Absolutely," Stiles nodded before quickly scampering off to Adrian and Scott, scratching his head awkwardly as the redhead teased him.

❚ ❚ ❚

Stiles was sat in the drivers seat with Scott in the passenger side with Adrian in the back. He had told the pair to do some research on wolfsbane as he drove considering right now, it seemed pretty important. Like how it would affect Scott and why Derek would have a single one near his house.

"I can't find anything about wolfsbane being used for a burial." Scott groaned beside Stiles.

"Same here." Adrien admitted defeat, closing the internet tab and turning off his data. His eyes fell onto the green message app before he did so, seeing no notification that Toby had reached out. The two had been silent with each other ever since Adrian snapped, which made him feel bad ever so slightly.

Stiles didn't take his eyes off of the road as he drove down the path leading out of the woods. "Just keep looking." He was the most persistent out of the three. Scott huffed. "Maybe, it's like a ritual or something. Like, maybe they bury you as a wolf. Or maybe it's like a special skill. You know, like something you have to learn."

Scott rolled his dark- almost black- brown eyes. "I'll put it on my to-do list." He said sarcastically, looking out the window. "Right underneath, 'figure out how the hell I'm playing this game tonight.'."

Stiles chose to ignore him. "Maybe it's different for girl werewolves." He tried.

Scott suddenly snapped. "Okay, stop it."

Stiles frowned, Adrian joining in from the backseat. "Stop what?"

"Stop saying 'werewolves'. Stop enjoying this so much!" Scott yelled, his tone sounding strangled as he grunted, hunched over.

Getting flashbacks from the locker room situation, Adrian's posture straightened up. "Woah, Scott. You okay?" He inched closer, his hand grazing Scott's seat.

"No!" He yelled again, causing both Stiles and Adrian to collectively sit back a little. "No, I'm not! I'm so far from being okay."

The McCall boy began to wince, panting as he held his front in pain. Adrian noticed this, but Stiles didn't. Unaware of the rising issue, Stiles lectured on. "You know, you're gonna have to accept this, Scott. Sooner or later."

Scott panted, his pain getting more noticeable. "I can't."

"Well, you're going to have to!"

Scott groaned as Adrian watched in worry. "No." He seethed. "I can't breathe." The werewolf suddenly released his loudest growl, raising his hands to slam against the roof of Stiles' jeep.

With a Scott in agony and a shocked Adrian, Stiles topped it off with a swerving jeep; going off the road for a few moments and down the woods. Gripping onto the two seats in front of him, Adrian shouted. "Stiles! Stop the car!"

Luckily enough, Stiles got them steering back up onto the road. Once satisfied, he turned to Scott with a frantic look. "What's happening?!"

Scott didn't reply, launching for Stiles' bag. Pulling out the wolfsbane wrapped rope, he inspected it before turning to Stiles. He had a look of fury, and even Adrian had to admit he was shocked by the sheriff's son's actions.

Appalled, Adrian gaped. "You kept it?!"

Stiles winced as he tried to defend himself from the two, disliking the fact that Adrian wasn't on his side. "What was I supposed to do with it?!"

"Uh, throw it away! Give it to the cops! Not take it with you, numb-nuts!" Adrian listed, Scott's anger only growing.

When Scott's eyes opened again, his irises shined his werewolf golden yellow. The next words he spoke were in a low- almost demonic- voice. "Stop the car!"

When Stiles finally listened and hit the breaks, he quickly grabbed his bag and ran with it; throwing it as far away as he could. The lacrosse player couldn't help but admire his decent throw, noticing a slight improvement than some of his throws he made before summer.

Unfortunately, the redhead was too focused on the throw he didn't even notice the empty passenger seat and open door. When he did, it was too late and Scott McCall was gone.

A U T H O R. N O T E
it's now officially 2020! i gotta get used to saying that now.

hope you enjoyed this chapter! i have actually made more progress on this book than any of my other teen wolf fics and i'm only on episode one. god, help me.

GIF MADE BY ME !
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