Chapter Text
The Kill - 30 Seconds to Mars
Erica
It was strange, Erica thought to herself as she tugged on the buckle of her boot, that when you were terrified over a long period of time, there was a point you finally reached when it just seemed to stop. You weren't in any less danger, you weren't even truly any less afraid, but everything just sort of seemed to go numb to it. She leaned back against the wall and stared at the bars caging her.
"It's just a different kind of cage," she murmured.
Boyd raised his head, confusion written clearly on his face. "What?"
Erica nodded at the bars. "Those. All of this. When I let Derek bite me, I thought I was escaping from my prison, the trap my epilepsy made of my body. But really all I did was exchange one cage for another."
Boyd sighed and moved to the wall, sinking down next to her. "Someone will find us."
"You think they will?" Erica shook her head. "Derek won't. We left him. Why would he look for us? For all he knows, we're in Las Vegas living it up."
"Stiles knows."
"Stiles knows the Argents had us. If anything, he'll tell Scott to look for us there." Her voice dropped. "After what Gerard did to him, he might not tell anyone anything."
"They'll find out eventually, even if Stiles doesn't say anything," Boyd said. "These alphas, they wouldn't have taken us without some kind of reason. They want to use us, and to do that, they're going to have to eventually tell someone they have us."
Erica shrugged. "Maybe. Or maybe we're going to have to get ourselves out."
Boyd frowned. "Erica, don't do anything stupid, okay?"
"I'm just saying -"
"I'm serious," Boyd interrupted, staring at her intently. "Don't give them a reason to hurt you. I don't..." His voice trailed off as he took her hand and threaded their fingers together. "I can't do this without you, Erica. I don't want to do this without you."
Erica blew out a breath and nestled closer. "Okay," she whispered in apparent agreement, but in her mind Erica promised herself that she wasn't going to be an easy target, no matter what. Odds were that neither of them were making it out of this nightmare alive, and she wasn't going to let them take her down without a fight.