This is the last chapter of this book. It took a long ass time to get here, but here we are. ENJOY!

Derek's POV

The yard was covered in debris and odd assortments of things. Moving quickly, I began to cross through, forced to pick a quick pace by the people behind us. Chloe was having a hard time of following behind and after the forth time she smacked some part of her body into whatever was lying around, I slowed as much as we could. It wasn't enough to keep her from rapping her limbs on stuff, but it was now less frequent.

Finally, after 27 (No idea why I counted) hits, I smelled Simon and then after some concentration, recognized Rae's scent, both covered in cigarette smoke. "Got him," and I pointed to where it was coming from. As we neared, Simon leaned out, then seeing us, pulled back.

A second later, Rae stepped out into the open and started to wave her arms as if we weren't already bee-lining to them. Then Simon pulled her back in.

Seeing Simon released a tension in me. They were safe. And now, I supposed, we would be sticking together. I hadn't realized before how being left alone was stressing me out. I only had two people in the world and now one of them was MIA and here I was sending the other off to find the first. No matter how good the reasoning was, the stress had been there, and now, it was gone. Not that there wasn't a hell of a lot of other stress now. What with the people after us, the tranq guns in those people's hands, and let's not even mention the small fact that we were now homeless with two girls we hardly knew.

As Chloe and I stepped into the alcove, the first thing out of anyone's mouth was Rae saying, "What are you doing here?" The harsh question was directed at me. Her voice was a whisper, but the alarmed tone and the discomfort on her face screamed at me. "You're supposed to be-"

"Change of plans."

Simon had one of his easy smiles on his face. "Good to see you, bro." He slapped my back, and I was grateful for at least the one happy face. "I was worried Chloe'd never find us. There's a whole bunch of people looking for us."
"I know."

Simon did another one of his lean outs to check the courtyard outside the building. Then he walked over to Chloe, giving her the backpack that she had packed.

"You okay?"

She nodded. "They have guns."

Rae's mouth dropped open and looked like a perfect circle. "What? No way. They'd never-"

To ease the girl's face and to prevent a meltdown, I interrupted. "Tranq guns."

"Oh.' Rae nodded.

"Who've you seen?" I said, turning to Simon.

"Van Dop, Davidoff, and, I think, Talbot, but I'm not sure. No sign of Gill." No, there wouldn't be after I almost broke her head open.

"She's back at the house." Chloe explained. "But there are two more we didn't recognize. A man and a woman." She looked at me. "Undercover cops, you think?"

"No idea. We'll worry about that later. Right now, we're sitting ducks. We need to get out of here."

I crept to the side of the alcove and looked out into the night.

Behind me, I heard Simon's murmur, "Thanks. For finding him. Was everything okay?"

"Later," I said, not wanting to get caught having to lie to him because of Rae's presence. "There's another warehouse father back, with broken windows. It's probably abandoned. If we can get to that-"

"Chloe? What's all over your sleeve?" I turned. Fuck. I had forgotten about her arm in trying to get to safety. "It looks like..." She reached her arm out and touched the bandage. "Oh, my god. You're bleeding. You're really bleeding."

Simon ducked around to the side that was injured. "It's soaked." It was true. In just a ten minutes, the bandage had bled through to the top of the fabric."What-"

"Just a cut." She said, trying to wave it off.

"It's deep. She needs stitches." I told them.

"I don't-"

"She needs stitches. I'll figure something out." Sure, I would. Like what? We can't let her bleed anymore and where would I find someone to do stitches? "For now-" The sound of approaching footsteps interrupted me and made me jump back from the opening of the alcove. "Shit. They're coming." I looked around the alcove. It was deep enough for shadows, but not big enough to hide in and lacked anything to hide behind or in. It was such an obvious hiding spot for someone to choose. "This is the lousiest hiding place."

"I know." Simon said. "I wanted to find a better one, but..." He looked at Rae, telling a story of how the girl thought she knew best.

"What's wrong with here? It's completely dark. They won't see me."

"Until they shine a flashlight on you."

"Oh."

There was one door leading into the building. I grabbed it and tried to pull it open. Locked. Of course. Well, if I had to be a big, bad werewolf...

Time to blow down the door. Kinda.

I braced my feet, then put my hands on the door handle. Science tells us that an object is only as strong as it's weakest point. A door's is almost always the handle. I heaved my body against the door. My muscles all arched and flexed. Even with having had changed tonight, even with being exhausted to the point that I was, I felt the door start to give. Then all at once, it surrendered, flying open. The noise was loud, too loud.

I waved the others inside. "Find cover!"

We ran down a hallway filled with doors, some open, some closed, giving the building a creepy abandoned feeling. Rae, dumbass that she is, tried going into the first room she saw. I pushed her past it. "Keep going!"

I increased my speed so that I could be in the front. We soon came to a second hallway. As we did, I slowed, then stopped. I put my finger up so all would be quiet.

The door opened. Four people stepped inside, Two immediately coming our way and two calling back that the door had been already open and that this must be where we were.

"We've got to get out. Split up. Find an exit. Any exit. Then whistle, but softly. I'll hear you." With that, we rounded the corner and all went our own ways.

I had been searching for only minutes when I heard a shriek that was quickly cut off. It sounded like Chloe. Feet moving before I had a second to think, I was quickly running over to her.

I turned a corner and saw Simon and Chloe clutched together, his hands on her head, her face in his shoulder. A pain, most likely from running on such exhausted terms, ripped through me as I saw them. At least that was what I was telling myself.

"What happened?"

At my voice, Chloe pulled away from Simon. His eyes stayed on her, lingering lovingly.

"A ghost." Chloe looked down, abashed. "I'm sorry."

Any explanation would have to wait as I heard the footsteps heading closer. Human hearing couldn't tell exactly where we were, but the shriek had been loud enough to give them a general direction. "Someone heard. We gotta go."

Chloe turned to leave and stopped, staring at the wall intently. I looked to where she was mesmerized.

"It's r-repeating. Like a film loop." The fear in her eyes shot a feeling of unrest through me. "Nevermind. We-"

"Have to go" I finished, pushing her along so that she couldn't see the ghost anymore. "Move!" I said as I heard the footsteps even closer.

We started down the hallway and then a piercing whistle shot out in the dark. My ears rang form the noise.

"Did I say softly?"

We turned two corners until we were in the hallway that Rae had found. She was standing near a door marked EXIT. She lifted her hands to push it open upon seeing our group.

"Don't!" I hurried to reach her. Taking the door, I carefully opened it a crack listening for footsteps. I could hear none except the ones behind us. I opened it a little further and smelled the air. I smelled the warehouse smells mixed with cigarettes. No one was anywhere near. I pushed the door open and looked around. The warehouses were further away on this side of the factory.

"See that warehouse?" I said pointing to one that was in front of us.

"The one, like a mile back there?" Rae's voice clearly disapproved.

"Quarter mile, tops. Now go. We're right behind-" I heard footsteps running towards our hallway, too close and too fast. "They're coming. They heard the whistle. You guys go. I'll distract them, then follow.

"Uh-uh." Simon said. "I've got your back." He turned to Chloe and I winced. I could take care of it. "Chloe, take Rae and run." Rae looked irritated to have to be 'taken' to safety.

I started to argue, only managing to open my mouth before Simon cut me off.

"You want distractions?" He whispered the incantation for fog and I watched it rise uphappily. "I'm your guy" Turning back to Chloe, he said, "Go. We'll catch up."

Chloe looked at us, wanting to stay and help, wanting to say something, but instead she turned to Rae after a moment. Feeling like I had to say something, give some direction to calm her, I pushed past Simon until I was near her. "Get in the warehouse and don't leave. For one hour, don't even peek out. If we don't come, find a place to hole up. We'll be back."

"Count on it." Simon said.

"Don't stay in the warehouse if it's dangerous, but that'll be our rendezvous point. Keep checking in. If you can't stay, find a way to leave a note. We will meet you there. Got it?"

Chloe nodded numbly. I felt the strangest urge to touch her on her shoulder and tell her it would be okay.

We heard the searchers call out, "They must be back here. Search every room."

I pushed Chloe through the door and turned away, towards the voices. After a moment, Simon said, "Showtime." I heard Chloe run and I stepped toward the voices.