Chasing Derek

It was already late into the night, the school environs were beginning to get scanty. People were returning back to their hostels, hotel rooms or wherever it was they were spending the night.

Chuck had already taken off, he whispered something into Derek's ear about having eaten the wrong thing and having to go. Derek was now left with the two girls but it was already late enough and they decided to retire for the night.

Derek was feeling quite uncomfortable as they walked back to the hotel, at intervals he would run his hand through his hair or take a wrong step. The girls were beginning to notice the irregularities in his movement.

He was walking with his head facing downwards and he had put a little distance between him and them. They exchanged confused looks and increased their pace to catch up with him.

"Are you okay?" Maya asked and proceeded to feel his temple for signs of increased temperature, she retracted her hand in shock when it made contact with his head.

"You're burning up" Maya blurted out.

"What's going on?" Arya asked as she saw Maya's reaction.

Maya ignored the question and moved to stop Derek, she put her hand on his shoulder and spun him around. She took two steps backwards and Arya froze in her tracks as they saw the look on his face.

Derek's eyes shone bright yellow, he suddenly had facial hairs, they were not profound on his face but they were visible.

His mouth hung open and there was spittle dropping from every corner of his mouth, his canines looked longer than that a normal human.

His eyes looked distant, he was facing the two girls but he wasn't looking at them. His gaze was distant. Derek grunted in pain and turned back around.

Throwing back his head, he looked up into the distance and took off. Within a moment, he had covered quite a distance.

"Let's go" Maya quickly regained her composure and took off after him. "I had my suspicions but I didn't expect them to be completely right" Maya commented under her breath.

"What?" Arya asked "what is wrong with him?" she asked

"We have to catch him" Maya replied and increased her pace.

Arya was surprised, Maya didn't look it but she was terribly fast. Just when she thought that was her max, Maya moved even faster. Arya had a feeling that she hadn't seen the last of surprises she would encounter tonight.

Arya was no pushover either, even though Maya was faster she had no problem keeping up with her. But the main problem was Derek, he was getting further and further with each passing moment.

Arya always felt he was hiding something, but this was totally unreal. They had been together on a mission and she was definitely sure he wasn't faster than her.

With every passing moment, the distance between Derek and the girls increased, he leaped off the floor effortlessly and vaulted over any obstacle in the way with flair and precision.

Arya knew that very soon, they wouldn't be able to see him again, with the thought in mind she looked front again and saw that the distance between her and Maya and slightly increased.

Maya knew what would happen if they lost sight of Derek, so she utilized every muscle in her body to move faster than she was already moving.

Arya could barely believe her eyes, it was usually other students having trouble keeping up with her, but here were first years just like her and she could barely keep up.

Derek had no idea why he was running, but he kept on running. It was what his body wanted to do and he didn't have the will to fight it. He gave in to his instincts.

His vision was blurry, everything within a few feet looked hazy but he somehow managed to evade every obstacle in his way.

He could barely control his body; he could feel the pain slowly sliding in as the changes in his body began to materialize. He was rapidly losing consciousness.

Trying to hold on to his consciousness was like trying to grasp a rope and climb to safety while bathed in a tub of oil, it was futile.

Raising his hands to his face, he could see his hairs gradually growing. The pain emanating from different parts of his body was driving him in and out of consciousness.

Somewhere in his head, he could hear the sound of footsteps chasing after him. His body told him that whoever they were, they weren't meant to see him.

Turning at almost every corner, he started to change directions aiming to throw his pursuers off his tail.

Maya was barely keeping up, it was just as Arya had feared. With the speed at which he was going, she knew he would soon be out of sight.

"Keep up" Maya shouted behind her. Maya didn't look to be fazed, even though Derek was rapidly disappearing from her sight, she was unconcerned. She had a few tricks up her sleeve, as long as he didn't stray too far, she knew she could still find him.

She hated dragging Arya into this, she didn't even really like her. But she didn't have any other options, she couldn't do what she was about to do alone.

She was only slightly less bothered because she felt Arya was a friend of Derek.

At the next corner Derek had vanished from sight, Maya kept running like she knew where exactly Derek had run to.

Arya didn't complain and kept running after Maya, she had to save as much energy as possible, she didn't know how much longer they had to run.

After turning at a few more corners, Maya began to slow down enabling Arya to catch up with her.

"What happened to him? why are his eyes yellow? Why did he take off like that?" the questions rapidly poured out as Arya struggled to catch her breath.

"Shhhhh" Maya put one finger over her lip, hushing her questions. "follow me"