Chapter Text
Not a single heartbeat could be found in the ghost town he once knew as Beacon Hills. Liam had tried; he’d spent hours looking for someone, a survivor - even a body would be fine. Anything to signal that people used to live here.
At first, he’d thought he lost his mind...that he didn’t know where Beacon Hills was located and that he’d just arrived at the wrong coordinates. But he’d seen the town. There were still houses there, even if they were abandoned! He’d check the signs saying “Welcome to Beacon Hills”. He knew he was in the right place.
Yet, when he looked around, all he could see was dust and sand, light winds blowing at the hanging signs, houses looking empty. The small amounts of food he found were decaying, seemingly after lying there for years.
Could it be the Ghost Riders? Liam remembered the chaos the Riders of the Storm brought with them, but he also knew that you wouldn’t be able to remember the town if the Ghost Riders had come.
So what the hell happened to Beacon Hills?
After deciding that he wasn’t going to find anything (or should he say, anyone) in the town, he packed a small bag of necessities and locked his ship up. After all, he could very well need it in the near future. That is, if he couldn’t find any civilization.
‘Maybe everyone just moved!’ He thought optimistically, but Liam Dunbar wasn’t very much of an optimist, especially after many years away from his home. After about a half hour of walking north, he started panicking.
‘What if they’re all dead?’
‘What if something came and destroyed them all?’
‘What if Monroe came back and destroyed them all?’
‘What if his friends were all dead?’
‘What if Theo was dead?’
He could hear his heartbeat pickup faster, the thoughts crossing his mind making him empty and disgusted in himself. He should have been there. He should have been the one to save them. Scott wasn’t there to help; Scott was dead! And Liam should have been there to help his friends, instead of running away from his duties and responsibilities.
Scott would have been so disappointed with him. His mom would have been so disappointed. His family, his friends, his life was all gone.
Liam didn’t even notice that he was crying until he started seeing the sun go down. Quickly wiping away the wetness at his cheeks, he shivered. The entire area he was in was desert, the few abandoned towns empty and deteriorating. Liam could vaguely remember that in the desert, while it was hot in the day, the night was freezing. He was pretty sure Lydia had told him it had to do with water vapor.
No matter the case, Liam knew the night would be cold. He had to rest. So, he did. He took a spot next to a few rocks, got into his sleeping bag, and tried to fall asleep.
He was in the woods, the night Scott was kidnapped. He was running, the wind whipping at his face. Growls could be heard in the distance, as well as gunshots. He had to get there. His pack was fighting off the hunters; Liam had to be there.
All of a sudden, something came up from behind and pushed him down. He rolled over, his eyes flashing and his claws extended. He growled, but then pain shot up in his shoulder.
An arrow, more specifically an arrow laced with wolfsbane, had pierced his shoulder. The hunter who’d shot him placed their boot on his chest, pushing down as he groaned in pain. She had a smirk on her face, like she’d won and she knew it.
‘Hi darling! You feeling alright?’ She said, a false sense of sweetness.
‘Just great, you?’ Liam said sarcastically, his fangs lowered and ready to rip her throat if she tried to do anything. Yet he wasn’t in the best situation to fight a puppy, let alone a woman with a ton more wolfsbane arrows.
‘Alright. Liam, right? Well Liam, I need you to know something before I kill you. Something important, okay?’ Liam stilled, his shoulder screaming in pain, ‘Scott McCall will be dead by the end of tonight. And there will be nothing you can do to stop it. All your friends, your pack, (this she said venomously) they won’t be able to do anything. Especially you. You’re his beta, right? His first beta. And even you, even the boy he considers a little brother, will be unable to stop him. You want to know why? Because you’ll all be dead too. You, your friends, your family, everyone. Mark my words, Liam Dunbar, your pack will be dead.’ Liam growled at her, his eyes flashing gold again.
‘You wanna kill me? Come down here and I’ll show you killing.’ His heart was racing though his cocky demeanor.
‘Oh but honey, I was thinking, maybe I won’t kill you. Maybe I’ll kill everyone but you! I know you Liam Dunbar. I know that you’d do anything for your friends’ safety, just like your alpha. And yet, that’s your downfall! I think we should kill everyone. In front of you! Yes, yes!’ She giggled in delight, as though murdering a mass of people was funny. ‘I’ll kill Scott first, or maybe Mason! Yes! Mason, your dearest best friend! And then Mason’s boyfriend, of course, and then everyone else! I’ll save Scott for last, Scott or Theo. Oh yes, I know about you and Theo. God, the two of you! You’d be devastated, huh, little beta?’
‘I swear to god, get off of me, you bitch!’ Liam said angrily, not thinking about the words she just said. His hands came up to try and push her foot off his chest, but she just pushed on it harder.
‘No, no, no Liam. Don’t.’ She raised her gun next to his stomach. ‘Here’s what gonna happen. I’m going to shoot you, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. Then, as you lie here helplessly, I’m going to kill all of your pack and leave you here to die alone. Okay?’
No.
Liam couldn’t die like this. It wasn’t fair.
No.
She pressed her gun to the trigger as he lay helpless on the ground.
No.
No, please!
Liam’s body shot up as he awoke, his heart beating and his throat closing in.
‘It’s just a dream,’ He told himself, just like always, ‘Breathe.’
He slowly got up, glancing at his surroundings. He seemed to be shielded by a rock, but the sun was beating down around him. Desert spanned for miles and miles on end, not a single heartbeat.
Wait a second.
There were heartbeats.
Many of them!
Liam strained his ears to listen to the heartbeats getting closer to where he was. After many years alone, he’d taken to just using his human senses, so his other senses were a bit rough.
But even he could tell that people were coming closer. So, he packed his bags quickly and peeked out to where he had heard the heartbeats and footsteps.
‘Oh my god.’
People with guns, machetes, weapons, were walking towards him, angry yet determined faces and heavy steps. They didn’t look too friendly; as a matter of fact, they looked to be hunters.
Liam turned as fast as he could and took off in the opposite direction. Now, he knew it was a stupid decision looking back, yet all he could think of when he saw the group was ‘run, run like your life depends on it’.
But as said before, it was a stupid decision, running into the middle of the desert. He was an excellent target practice, but sadly, that wasn’t his goal. The hunters immediately lifted their guns and shot at him. One shot (and a painful one at that) was all it took for him to fall down. And after that, when he laid writhing on the ground because of the wolfsbane, the hunters simply knocked him out. The final thought he had before black dots filled his vision was ‘Damn, I’ve gotten rusty.’
Icy water splashed into his face, waking him up in a second. He groaned, trying to move his limbs. But they seemed to be attached to something, more specifically, a chain wall. He was chained to a wall.
God, why did he always get stuck in these situations?
“Hello there,” A man’s voice, silky sweet like honey, “How are you doing this fine day?”
Liam groggily opened his eyes, taking in his surroundings. He seemed to be inside a cell, maybe inside of a bunker. The man who spoke to him stood up, lean, handsome, but with a terrifying glint in his eyes. His black hair was slicked back, a whip in his hand.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Evan. I know you’re kind of out of it, and I apologize for the water, but it’s necessary, you see!”
“What do you want?” Liam’s voice croaked out, dry and sandpapery.
“What I want? You don’t know?” Evan seemed slightly surprised. “Oh, acting clueless, perhaps! Well we can deal with that, right?’
“Go fuck yourself.”
“Oh, feisty? Come on, let me in on your little secrets,” He pulled his teeth back into a fake grin. “Don’t you just want to betray your leader? Come on! I’m here to listen!”
“What are you talking about?” Liam was absolutely confused. “What leader?”
“No, no, really! I’m here to listen, darling! Please do tell! Any girlfriend issues? Boyfriend issues, perhaps? Maybe your parents didn’t want to accept your wolfy abilities?”
“Listen, sir, I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking-” He was cut off by electricity coursing through his body, a scream clawing its way out of his throat.
“Darling, look! I don’t like this clueless-ness. I just want you to answer a few questions!” Liam wearily pulled his head up from where he hung, weakly nodding. He knew that this man just wanted some questions; maybe after that he’d let him go.
“Fine. What do you want to know?” Evan giggled at delight at this, his hands clapping together.
“Okay! So,” He clasped his hands together like a teenage girl ready to spill the beans, “Where is your base located?”
“My base?” Liam’s confusion scale went up even higher.
“Yes, your base. You know, the place where you hide the goods...the people perhaps?”
“What the fuck?”
“Darling answer my question please, or I will have to shock you again!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about - how can I answer y-” Just as Liam’s frustration started to bubble up and he started to get mad, Evan shocked him.
Screams and growls filled the room, echoing right back into Liam’s ears as the pain coursed through his body and he could feel himself shift. His body started to seize up as he began to see stars. Black dots filled his vision once again, and he could feel himself losing sense of reality.
Evan was insistent.
He was a good torturer though; Liam would give him that.
Over the next few days, (though it seemed like years), Liam was subject to constant electric shock, whipping, ice cold water, and various other torture methods. He would spend the nights chained up to the wall with a buzz of electricity in his system; his mornings with Evan and torches; and his afternoons with whips of all sorts. He was beginning to lose his mind, alone except for Evan and his chit-chatting.
At the same time, Liam was utterly puzzled as to why they had kidnapped him. He literally just arrived on Earth...was Earth overrun with kinky bastards and hateful hunters? What did he miss that was so important to his planet’s downfall?
One afternoon, after Evan had packed his things and left, Liam heard crashing in a nearby room. He looked up quickly, straining to hear what was happening. All he could tell was that something was coming closer to him, and that he was chained to a wall so he couldn’t run.
He started panicking, his breath coming up in shallow, slow motions. His heart felt heavy. ‘So this is how I’m going to die,’ He thought to himself, ‘A terrible death, no way out. I’ll never be able to see my pack, to see Mason, to see Theo.’
He was close to tears when the door burst from its hinges and a man walked in, his face completely shield from viewing it and his clothes covered in dust. The man walked in, checking his surroundings and reaching for his gun, before his eyes settled on Liam.
He paused.
His hand went up to his mask, lifting it slowly.
“Liam?”