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Ashlyn's heart was pumping in her ears as they fastened the ropes, checking yet again that they would sustain them. They were doing this, after all these months of preparation.
Okay. No big deal.
Except, it hadn't seemed real until now. Ash knew this was the plan, she'd made it herself. But it didn’t quite sink in, what they were about to do, until now. They could die.
"Alright," Ashlyn said, more to herself than everyone else. "Let's do this."
"Hell yeah!" Aiden grinned, stretching. His eyes were feral, looking like he would be more than glad to jump down on his own now rather than wait for the rest of them.
"Get down!" Ashlyn hissed. Aiden got down.
Ash sighed, rubbing her temples. "Okay. Real quick, Logan."
Logan piped up, meeting Ashlyn's eyes.
"You sure your injury is okay?" She asked. "I don’t want you to push yourself tonight, this is going to be really dangerous."
"Oh! Yeah, it’s pretty much healed now, it’s weird." He pulled his shirt up as if to prove it. He was right, the skin had almost completely healed, leaving long, dark scars across his torso. "It’s just sore now like I've been doing a lot of curl-ups."
My arm also healed strangely fast, Ash thought, eyes fleeting to her arm where the black fabric hid the claw marks from her first phantom encounter in the Sorrel Weed House.
"Everyone else is okay, right?" Everyone nodded, Aiden's eyes twitching from his lack of patience, excitement bordering on insane written all over his body. "Okay, let’s get into positions then."
"Now?" Aiden asked, finger hovering over the button that would be their distraction
Ashlyn looked over the army of phantoms that grew each night. White, pearly eyes stared back, some fighting to hold onto their humanoid forms where they stood by the lights. From up here, Ash noticed for the first time that they all varied in size. Some were double Ben’s height and others stood eye-to-eye with Ashlyn. Doesn’t matter , Ash thought. These things were deadly, they would kill them given the chance. But we can’t stay here forever a voice whispered in her mind.
Gulping and taking a deep breath, Ashlyn met his eyes. Something in her chest stuttered when she saw a hint of concern in his eyes. But it was gone as soon as Ash opened her mouth.
“Now.”
Aiden wasted no time in pressing the button on his phone. As soon as he did, the speakers they’d planted a couple of miles away began to roar with music. The phantoms’ long necks snapped to the source of the sound and began to screech and sprint away. The sound was sickening as always, hungry and high-pitched.
But it was hard to be too scared with Party Walkers playing at full blast.
“Party walkers? Seriously?” Tyler snorted.
“What?” Aiden asked, standing up. “It’s a good song!”
“Alright! Let’s go– Aiden! ” Ashlyn yelled as the blond ran and jumped off the wall, a feral grin stretching across his face.
“The rope, Aiden! The rope!”
A hard thud was heard from below them, followed by Aiden’s chipper voice reassuring them it’s okay, I’m durable!
“Aaah, we’re doing this!” Taylor laughed nervously. “We’re really doing this! Okay, this is fine, go team!”
Ashlyn was grateful for the gloves as they slid down the rope. They were able to get down quicker without running the risk of rope-burn.
They all hit the ground in a run, Aiden hesitating to follow them for a split second. Ashlyn was about to ask if something was wrong when Tyler grunted.
“Ashlyn…” She followed his line of vision to a group of stragglers running straight for them. Sweat dripped down her face as she pushed the fear down, letting the adrenaline carry her.
“It’s okay, It’ll work,” She said. “Just keep running!”
And as if the gods were on her side today, the yard lights Ash planted earlier today clicked on. The phantoms screamed as they were caught in the bright white light. Ashlyn just barely contained a grin of victory. Just an hour before midnight, she’d climbed out of her window to set the lights up. If her parents asked why they all of a sudden had yard lights facing the completely wrong way, Ash couldn’t exactly tell them that it would be saving their child’s life tonight.
They successfully made it to the jeep, relief flooding their systems. It was almost over. “It worked!” Taylor laughed, her eyes glossy. “We’re not going to die!”
“Told you,” Ashlyn said, letting a small smile dawn her face, but it was immediately washed away when she pulled on the handle of the jeep and it didn’t open. Instead, it gave a defiant thunk. “It’s locked?!” She could feel the color draining from her face as Tyler yelled.
“I thought you said you made sure it was unlocked with the keys inside!” The relief was replaced by anger. Ash would admit, he had every right to be upset. Ash had somehow messed up the plan they’d spent months preparing for. They were so close.
“I’m sorry! One of my parents must have grabbed it or something!” Ash pushed her hand through her hair, a stressful habit. “I know I put it inside after I finished setting up the lights!”
“Well, clearly not!” Tyler’s voice began to rise.
Everyone looked at them nervously as they exchanged angry whispers, getting deja vu to just an hour earlier when the two had fought over the plan.
Taylor was about to step in when Ash growled in frustration as she commed Logan. “Logan, we can’t find the keys! Stay there, we’re gonna run in the house and get them!”
“Wait, but I thought you put them in the jeep?” Logan’s crackly voice questioned, worry evident in his voice.
“ I did! ” Ashlyn yelled before quieting her voice. “Sorry, just– stay there and keep watch!”
“Okay, be careful…” Logan answered.
Ben signed frantically as they hurried toward the house. When no one could understand what he was trying to say, Aiden began to speak. “Do you know where your parents could have put them?” Aiden asked, translating what Ben had signed.
Right, we really need to start learning how to sign, Ashlyn thought guiltily, noting that for later. They’d all meant to have group sessions so they could understand Ben better without having to use his phone, but they’d all been so caught up in surviving every night that it totally slipped their mind.
“It must be in their room. I can’t think of anywhere else they’d put it,” Ashlyn answered. Everyone nodded as they began to file into the house. Ash halted, almost crashing into Aiden when she heard a sickening pop and he audibly winced and dropped to the ground. “Woah!”
Aiden hovered his hands around his ankle. “What are you–” Ashlyn stopped herself. If the pained smile didn’t give it away, the swollen purple ankle that Aiden was doing a horrible job at hiding did.
It looks swollen, but when could that have happened, she thought as she heard herself point out his ankle. But then, her mind helpfully supplied herself with the memory of Aiden jumping off the wall just a few minutes ago. “You sprung it after you jumped, didn’t you, ‘Mr. Durable’!?”
Aiden looked away guiltily, sweat dripping from his face.
“You ran all the way here with it like that? You should’ve just–” Ashlyn stopped. The familiar ringing of phantom noises sent a chill through her body. Ash hadn’t realized it was there until it grew louder, but it was too late.
“Aiden, Move!” In a futile attempt, Ash grabbed her flashlight to defend herself just as sharp, jagged claws found the collar of her shirt and pulled. She dropped her flashlight as her stomach plummeted.
Aiden turned to look at her, confused when he heard the flashlight drop. His eyes widened in fear as he was confronted with a long, gangly black limp dragging Ashlyn off the porch and up, up, up to the roof.
“Ash!” He yelled, jumping up to grab ahold of her.
SLAM!
Sharp, strong, tendrils of pain exploded from her head as the phantom slammed her into the ceiling. She could feel blood dripping from her face and creeping down her cheeks as her eyes widened in shock. From above? She heard herself think before she felt her consciousness escaping her. She tried to stay awake, force her body to do what she wanted. But not a moment later, darkness consumed her vision. Not…Good…
Aiden turned too quickly as his hand just barely grazed Ashlyn’s boot. He heard another pop and Aiden slipped, his arm slamming into the wood. He looked up just in time to see Ashlyn’s legs disappear from above. A blood-curdling feeling of dread pooled in his gut. Ashlyn was gone. She was gone and she was going to die because he was stupid and reckless and– “ Ashlyn! ”
—
“What the hell?” Tyler said, stopping mid-step. “Why is he yelling? The phantoms are going to hear him, that idiot!”
“He sounded…scared,” Taylor said, gripping her hatchet. “I’ll go check it out–”
“No,” Tyler said automatically. “I will, you and Ben keep looking for the key.” And like that, her brother was rushing down the stairs, his baseball bat tossed over his shoulder.
Taylor tried not to feel too upset. He knew she could handle herself, she wasn’t helpless. But given their childhood, it was his nature to take on the danger for her.
Ben put his hand on her shoulder, smiling reassuringly. Reluctantly, Taylor followed him upstairs.
Ashlyn groaned, her head pounding severely. She could faintly feel something being pulled off her forehead, getting caught in her hair for a second before being forcibly torn away. Distantly, she heard a thump as something was tossed off the roof– wait, the roof.
Forcing her eyes open, she blinked as she took in her surroundings. She was on her roof, how did she get here? Then, her body was suddenly dragged further up. What’s going on? Did I pass out? Grabbing onto the hand yanking her, she flipped herself up.
Just barely keeping her footing on the roof tiles, she tried to force herself out of the phantom’s hold, hazy memories flooding back. That’s right, a phantom came from behind and pulled me up! Digging her gloved fingers into the phantom’s tangy black flesh, she felt her migraine getting worse. I must’ve hit my head pretty hard.
The phantom– a pretty tall one at that– shrieked and shoved her down onto the roof once more. Her head slammed back down and she coughed violently in return, gasping desperately for air. Black claws were closing around her throat, piercing her pale, freckled skin. Fuck, she thought. Everything is spinning, I can’t fight back properly!
Somewhere on the other side of the roof, she heard voices arguing. But before she could spend too much time thinking about who it might be and if they would get here in time, the phantom lifted her and slammed her body into the roof again.
Can Logan see what’s going on? The phantom crept closer, disturbing grin seemingly growing bigger with each passing second. Or maybe she was blacking out again. She had to get this thing off of her if she could somehow give Logan a clear shot...just the smallest opening!
She kicked her foot out, the familiar shing of a knife was lost in the chaos of the night. The phantom must’ve heard it, but Ashlyn had already stabbed it in the ankle. It screamed in agony, that sound like nails on a chalkboard.
Aiden looked up when he heard the noise, cursing as his ankle throbbed painfully on Tyler’s shoulder. “Can you tell me what’s going on now? What was the heck was that!”
“A phantom stole Ashlyn,” Aiden growled. “And I’m gonna get her back.” It wasn’t a question, even Tyler could hear it. He was going to get her back one way or another, no matter what.
“From the roof?” He asked incredulously, glancing behind them. He was met with the sight of wandering phantoms just down the street, stalking ever closer to them. It doesn’t look like they know we’re here yet but… ”You might want to hurry.”
The claws tightened around her tenfold. Ashlyn choked and gagged, her head thump, thump, thumping fast and fierce. She could barely think, all she knew was that she couldn’t get free and that wasn’t good.
Am I going to die?
The monster straddling her seemed to be bored with toying with his prey now. It raised its talons, ready to see what this new creature that had invaded its world would look like when its claws dug into its pale flesh. Would it thrash and scream? What would its insides look like when they splattered across the roof? Would it be red like the sky and the liquid trickling down its face and staining its red hair? Would it–
"Let me go!"
It stopped. The phantom tilted its head, just barely lowering its hand when a loud BANG shot out into the night. Then, suddenly, the phantom had a perfect hole right in the middle of its skull. Ash clamped her mouth shut as the black goop that made up its body splattered her face.
It hit the roof with a thud and it was over. Ash sat there, hands still around the phantom's own where they were wrapped around her throat. Tears she hadn’t known were there trickled down. Her eyes stung as she slowly sat up, wiping the black residue from her face.
The phantom…it stopped , She thought distantly back to the strange look of understanding on its face. The slight tilt as it lowered its claws. Did it understand her?
She flinched violently as someone yelled her name desperately. The voice from earlier… “Aiden?” She croaked.
As if on cue, Aiden’s mess of bleached curls popped up. It might have been the concussion she was sure she had now, but when they met each other's eye, she couldn’t have sworn his whole body slouched in relief. His eyes were still wide with horror, but his smile seemed just a little more real than the feral grin he always wore when searching for a new thrill.
“You’re okay!” He said, like it was the only thing that mattered.
Ashlyn didn’t know what to do with that thought, so she drew out her sarcasm to mask what she was thinking. Right now wasn’t the time for this. “Define ‘okay’,” She said, touching the back of her scalp tenderly. “I think– no, I definitely have a concussion.”
Ashlyn’s radio crackled to life, Logan’s voice coming through the small black box. “The– The phantoms are heading back toward the Graveyard,” he said. “And there’s only seventeen bullets left now!”
Taylor’s voice came soon after, letting them know that they’d found the key in the first room to the right upstairs. My parent’s room, Ash thought. I knew it.
“Stay there, I’m coming up!” Tyler’s voice said.
“Looks like we need to hurry,” Aiden grinned nervously, shimming closer to Ashlyn, being surprisingly careful not to drop his pickaxe. Strange choice for a weapon, but it worked. “Here,” His voice dropped, reaching his hand out for Ash.
The ginger slowly reached out to grab him, but as soon as she got close, the phantom slid off her body. Unfortunately, even in death, the phantom had it out for her. Its foot snagged on her leg and began to drag her down with it. Aiden’s fist closed around empty air, panicking. “Ash!”
The phantom was holding me in place! Ash braced herself for the fall, her heart pounding in rhythm with her head.
Aiden jumped over the roof, quickly using the pickaxe to hold him in place. It caught the edge of the roof with a tak! Aiden’s hand snatched Ashlyn’s wrist, holding on painfully tight. He wasn’t going to lose her again.
“Haha,” he laughed breathily. “I got you this time…”
Ashlyn’s body rocked back and forth as Aiden’s headlight slipped off, thunking behind her. The boy's eyes were crazed as if daring anyone to try and fail to take Ash away again.
Steadily, Aiden used his leg as leverage to pull Ashlyn up. As soon as Ashlyn was beside him, he used his free arm to hug her close to his body. Her brain went quiet for a moment, unused to the affection. Aiden’s head dropped onto her shoulder gently, burying himself closer to her. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.
After a quick moment of not knowing what to do, Ashlyn spoke. “Aiden right now isn’t the time to–” She stopped. She could feel the hard trembling on her back. Aiden was holding her tightly as if to hide the shakes in his body, but Ashlyn noticed.
…Was he scared?
It seemed impossible. How could someone who barely knew her be so scared of losing her? It had only been a few months since Savannah. Just a few months since they began fighting for their lives every night. These people weren’t her friends. Aiden wasn’t her friend. But it was like her body disagreed as her own hand began to lift shakily. This was new. So, so, so new. But it wasn’t bad.
Her hand rested on Aiden’s back and gently she set her head on his shoulder. It felt nice, like an icepack for the painful pounding of drums in her head. Just for a second, she reasoned, decidedly ignoring how Aiden stilled before sinking further into her.
Just a second, Aiden mirrored.
Just a second.
—
The windows shattered, red, reflectionless glass littering their bodies, cutting through tender skin. Everyone screamed, Ben, Aiden, and Ashlyn huddling together. Aiden instinctively put his arm around Ash to shield her. Taylor stepped on the gas, swerving as black limbs were ripped away from the car.
“Logan!” Ashlyn yelled into the radio. “Go press the button!”
“O-okay!” Logan stuttered in response, quickly climbing down the ladder and off the bus. He sprinted as fast as his legs could take him to the button.
Taylor felt tears prickling her eyes, everyone's hearts thundering as they wondered if Logan would open the door in time, or if the phantoms would get to them first.
Logan whammed into the button by the door, his fist burning in pain.
Not a second later, the jeep sped inside. Logan slammed the button again, just a bit softer this time. The vehicle skidded to a stop, dirt pluming into the air.
Everyone heaved, catching their breath and trying to stop the bile rising in their throats. Tyler was the only one unsuccessful in that manner.
The team stumbled out, Tyler muttering something about being sick before vomiting onto the ground. Taylor winced, catching herself. She wobbled over to Ashlyn, putting her arm around her shoulder so she wouldn’t fall.
Logan walked over, joining the battered, bloody teenagers. They all looked so tired. I wish I could’ve done more, Logan whispered in his mind. They’d all done so much, risked so much, while he was safe in the graveyard.
Taylor held the keys in her palm. It was such a small, insignificant thing in retrospect but they’d been fighting and planning for this for so long. But they’d finally done it. They got the key. “We did it,” Taylor whispered, like if she spoke too loud they’d disappear from her hands. “We did it!” Taylor cheered, lifting the keys into the air. They jingled, cheering alongside her.
Tyler wiped his mouth, smiling. “Yeah, we’re pretty great, huh?” He said.
“Great?” Aiden said. “We were awesome!”
“What do you mean ‘we’? You sprained your ankle and were basically useless from the get-go!” Tyler rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.
“I was not!” Aiden countered. “Did you see me dual-wielding those flashlights? Without me and Ash, you guys wouldn’t have stood a chance against those ceiling phantoms!”
Logan stood to the side awkwardly as they all celebrated. Ash noticed how hunched he was, like an outsider at their friend’s party. She didn’t know what to say, she wasn’t good with feelings, but Aiden beat her to it in any case.
“Logan was pretty cool too!” He smiled genuinely, a look that told him that he was grateful before switching to chaotic. “The phantom attacking Ash had a hole right in the middle of its head! Perfect shot, man!”
“I can actually agree with Aiden for once,” Tyler said begrudgingly. “He also took out the phantom that cornered me and Ben. Honestly, we probably wouldn’t all be here without him.”
Logan stepped back, maroon flooding his face. He wasn’t used to being given credit or praise ever since Barron. He felt like an imposter– like he didn’t deserve it. “U-uh not really– you guys did most of the work–”
Tyler, somehow, knew exactly why he was denying their applause and stopped him right there. “You’ve barely had any experience with a gun outside of Aiden’s airsoft, which I doubt comes anywhere close to the real thing.” He crossed his arms, giving Logan a meaningful look. “You should be proud.”
“They’re right,” Taylor smiled softly. “You’re really talented, Logan!”
Logan blinked, brushing away a stray tear before looking away as he twiddled with his fingers. “T-thanks, you guys.”
Ashlyn observed, too exhausted to speak with the others, but she agreed readily. He must’ve been pretty scared of shooting me, but he still followed through with such a tough decision. Without him…No–
Memories of the night resurfaced, one by one.
Aiden risking his life to climb after Ashlyn and save her. The twins keeping Ash on her feet when she was too injured to move because of her concussion. Everyone working together to use their lights and keep the phantoms at bay inside the house. Taylor’s soft, reassuring voice echoed in her mind.
…Because that’s how teams work, whether you’re the ‘leader’ or not!
The dingy school bus graveyard, basked in the gloomy red night somehow glowed with warmth in that moment. Aiden using Ben as his support as he relentlessly complimented Logan. Everyone was smiling and a familiar thought crept into Ashlyn’s mind.
Just for a second…they were teenagers. Kids.
Aiden watched Ashlyn space out and hum distractedly when Taylor attempted to get her attention. “Ashlyn, are you okay? You haven’t said anything, do you need to sit down?” Everyone’s gazes shifted to the shortest of their group, curious.
“...No,” She eventually answered.
Aiden’s body became as stiff as cardboard when Ashlyn lifted her head. The atmosphere was tender, Aiden’s heart began to pick up speed again as Ashlyn chuckled. And god why did it sound so right yet so wrong? No, unfamiliar. Not wrong, not at all.
“I’m alright,” Ashlyn smiled warmly, her face flushed red.
Aiden could get used to that look. The little monster in his brain that craved adrenaline and thrills nonstop, urging him to do dangerous stunt after dangerous stunt, purred at the sight. It latched onto it, and now Aiden didn’t have a choice. He would do whatever it took to see her smile like that, to laugh so brightly that it lit up the darkest room, to–
“Just a little,” Ashlyn wobbled. “...Dizzy–”
Thud!
“Ashlyn!”