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"FUCK!" Logan yelled. It was strange to hear, he was usually the quiet type, very timid. You wouldn't expect him to outburst like that. Unless it was bad. Oh shit. It must be really bad.
Taylor cocked her rifle, ready to defend Logan -or whoever it was- with her life. She shuffled around the corner of the school corridor, turning to the entrance to the gym.
She waved her flashlight to the left, to the right. Coast looked clear. Taylor crept through the entrance trying to not make a sound to not attract any phantoms.
"Logan?" She whispered. She took another step forward. "Logan, where are you?" Her voice cracked.
Wait. She thought. She saw a glimmer of light from his glasses. Taylor moved the flashlight onto the glasses. He was lying on the floor, a massive gash on his right calf and arm.
"Taylor..." He let out a weak sigh.
"Logan, you're hurt!" She started to jog through the doorframe towards him.
"Wait," He grunted. "Above you!"
Before she could stop, a phantom dropped on her from above the door.
"AGH!" Taylor's knees buckled underneath her from the weight of the heavy phantom and she fell onto her back. The rifle she thought. She walloped it against its head but it dug its claw into her abdomen and scraped it right down to her knee.
"FUCK!" Her sight blurred. God, did that have to be so painful? Her vision fixed itself on Logan, who now sat upright -shaking violently- with his gun cocked and ready to fire.
Taylor tried to kick the phantom away from her to create an opening for Logan. Not that she didn't trust him without one but she needed to try. An excruciating pain flared through her thigh, so bad she nearly blacked out. She decided it would be easier for Logan to hit it if she wasn't moving, right? But she had to fight it or else it would hurt her again. She looked at Logan and nodded. He fired.
He missed. The bullet barely grazed its head. "Shit."
So what else could she do but punch it in the face? She heard multiple sickening cracks in her hand -something definitely snapped- it hurt like hell, but it got it off her at least for a second. Taylor pushed herself up against a wall, and reached for her gun -readily cocked- and shot a bullet through its head. My fingers hurt so much, I think I broke something punching the phantom. Yet she shot it again. And again. It fell down, dead.
She took a sigh of relief, the adrenaline -once numbing the pain- was now gone leaving her with only the pain. Taylor had a look at the wound on her stomach -properly this time-, and noticed red liquid pooling below her. She felt something foul coming up her throat.
"Blegh." She turned to her side so she wouldn't puke all over herself.
"Taylor!" She heard someone say but it was muffled. She felt her vision go blurry again, barely seeing someone coming towards her -Tyler maybe?- and she passed out.
She woke with a start, gasping, relieved to find herself in her own bed but not too long before the pain kicked in. It didn't feel as bad as it did in the phantom dimension but it still hurt like crazy.
Taylor winced and clutched her stomach as she sat up, hearing her brother shuffling in the bed above her.
"Tay, are you okay?" He asked her.
"Better. What happened after I blacked out?" She rubbed her tired eyes.
"Well, Logan filled us in on what happened when we took you guys back to the base, so Ben and Carrot-Top stitched you both up." He climbed down the ladder. "And you just didn't wake up for the rest of the night. I was really scared." He sat on the bed beside her and gave her a side hug. "Do you want any painkillers? I'm gonna get you some painkillers, I'll be right back."
"Thanks." She muttered before lying back down. Her phone vibrated on her bedside table. She picked it up. It was the group chat.
Ben: Taylor are you okay??
Taylor: yeah, kinda sore everywhere tho :(
Taylor: Logan, how are you feeling?
Logan: not too bad.
Logan: For now.
Logan: How's everyone else?
Ashlyn: I'm fine. That was a real scare though, Taylor, don't do that again.
Ashlyn: Please.
Taylor: lol I'll try
Aiden: I'm good :D
Ben: 👍
Taylor: Tyler's good too
Tyler walked back into their room with a glass of water and a box of Tylenol.
"In case you need more during the night." Taylor gave him a weak smile. She took a sip of water and two painkillers.
"Thank you, Ty."
He smiled at her. "I was really scared, Taylor. You didn't wake up. And I didn't do anything- I just went into shock and hoped you'd be okay, and now, looking back on it I feel useless, I should've done something, i could've done anything to stop this from happening, I could've gone with Logan and prevented that whole mess, I could've stopped him from getting injured, I could've gone with you and-" Taylor cut him off.
"Hey! Tyler, stop blaming yourself! It's not your fault. It's no-ones fault. If anything, it's mine. I should've stuck with Logan instead of staying that far behind him. And he did warn me but I went in anyways. So don't blame yourself. Please." She saw tears welling up in his eyes.
She didn't realize how severe this situation must have been until she saw her brother cry. Taylor pulled him in for a hug. The last time she saw him cry was when he died and they reunited in the hospital. The time before that was...
Tyler sniffled a little, embracing her hug, yet not letting any tears fall. "It's okay Tyler, we'll be fine. We'll be okay."
11.59pm. One minute left until the shift. Taylor had taken some more painkillers about 20 minutes ago, hoping the numbness would transfer to the phantom dimension. Should be any second now.
SHIFT
A small wave of nausea washed over her but was quickly replaced with a searing pain down her abdomen and thigh. She inhaled sharply, as she tried to readjust herself. The entirety of her left hand hurt too. She thought it was broken. It seemed to be just as bad as it looked when she hurt it. She figured that the others had been too busy stitching up her leg and guts to notice her crooked hand.
"Logan, Taylor, are you guys okay?" Ashlyn asked.
"Yeah." Logan squeaked. He didn't sound very okay.
Ashlyn shook her head disapprovingly and Ben stood up and walked to the front of the bus where the medical supplies were kept. He signed "I'll get him some painkillers."
Taylor stayed silent. "Tay, what's wrong?" Ashlyn squatted beside her, a worried expression on her face.
"I- uh- my hand. I think its broken." In the background, Ben gave Logan two painkillers and a glass of water. He then walked up to Taylor to have a look at her hand. Ben picked it up softly and Taylor flinched. "Sorry." He signed.
Don't worry 'bout it." She looked at his face and saw him grimace. "it's that bad?" Ben nodded.
He signed to Aiden: "get me the first aid kit. I'm gonna have to reset her hand."
"oh, fuck." She murmured.
"OH, FUCK!!" Taylor shrieked. Even through the amount of painkillers she had taken, it still hurt like a motherfucker. She squeezed Tyler's hand so hard it nearly broke his hand, and her teeth grinded against each other. Ashlyn squirmed, covering her ears at Taylors screams. "Are you nearly done yet?" Taylor pleaded.
"Almost. One or two more." Ben signed.
Taylor groaned. "UGHHH!! Wait, wait, wait, Can you pause for a minute? I need a quick break." Ben nodded, but didn't let go of her clammy hand.
Aiden took off his shirt. "Aiden, what the hell..?" Ashlyn's sentence died in her mouth as she looked at Aiden shirtless. Taylor suddenly felt giddy, noticing Ashlyn checking him out. Still, she held in her giggle.
"A gag. So she doesn't crush her teeth." He stated like it was obvious. "Or Tyler's hand but I don't care so much for him." He winked and smiled at Tyler. He didn't smile back.
"Ohhhh, good idea." Ashlyn complimented.
She freed her hand from her brothers and took the shirt gratefully. "Thank you, Aiden." She tried to smile at him but she really wasn't feeling it today. Taylor stuffed it into her mouth and nodded at Ben, grabbing Tyler's hand again. She glanced at Ashlyn and saw she was still checking him out. She smirked -first positive expression in a while!- only to be cut short by Ben snapping her hand again.
"HNGHHHHH!!" she squeezed her jaw as shut as it would let her. As if that would magically make the pain go away. It didn't. A cold sweat flushed over her and she felt feverish. Taylor made eye contact with Ben and she saw a pained look on his face. She could tell he really didn't want to be doing this to her. Suddenly, she felt her cheeks go hot. Was she blushing? For now she'd just blame it on the cool flush. She unclenched her jaw and the shirt fell out of her mouth. She started to breathe really heavily, waiting for Ben to do it again.
"One more, okay?" Ben signed.
"Okay." A soft mumble escaped her lips. Three. Taylor counted down in her head. Two. One- "AGHHHH!!" Shit! She thought. She had forgot to put the gag back in and she doubled over in pain, forgetting that -but not for long- the phantom from last night had torn open her stomach. "AUGH!" She clutched her stomach with the hand she'd just yanked back from Tyler and puked down her front but luckily Aiden's shirt was there to catch it all.
"Ohohoh, shit." She heard someone say.
"Aiden, that's not helpful at all, why don't you help her clean herself up?" It all sounded ridiculously muffled.
"...Ew. but I'm a nice person so fine, I will." Someone else scoffed at that.
Taylor's senses restored themselves and her cool temperature went up a bit. She noticed someone touching her shoulder. It was Tyler. "Hey. You're okay." She shrugged. "I'm gonna clean you up. Kay?" She nodded, because what else could she do?
"Oh wow, Tyler's beaten me to it! what a shaaame!" Aiden dragged. Ashlyn glared at him. "Yikes, okay." He walked over to Tyler and Taylor.
"Hey, here's your shirt back!" Tyler handed it to him cheerfully. It dripped on the floor.
"Gee, thanks." Aiden went outside the bus to empty the contents of his shirt. Ben carefully bandaged her hand, and fashioned a makeshift splint.
"We'll find a proper one for tomorrow night." Ben had signed. She nodded gratefully at him, and she was far too exhausted to do much else.
Taylor closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She pulled her hand off her stomach and saw blood. I must've reopened the stitches when I bent over. She looked over at Ben again. She opened her mouth to talk but she paused and closed it again. what can I say to him? "thank you for rebreaking three of my bones"? She opened her mouth again, and committed to speaking this time.
"It must feel terrible." He paused what he was doing, and looked up at her, confused. "Y'know, having to do this? You looked like it was physically hurting you."
Ben let out a breath, almost relieved, as if he had been hiding this for a long time and someone finally noticed. He placed her hand down on his lap, and she felt her cheeks flush again. "I really hate seeing you in pain. Especially when I am the one causing it, it makes me feel horrible." he signed. Taylor noticed he was blushing as well.
"Hey, you're not causing it, you're fixing it." She gave him a sympathizing smile. "And... thank you. For helping me." Taylor raised her good hand to his face so she could hold him but he noticed the blood on her hand before she could reach.
He grabbed her wrist to stop her from moving and he looked down at her stomach. I was so, so close to him. If only I didn't reopen my wound. She scolded herself. Ben sighed and motioned "When did this happen?"
Taylor looked down, shamefully. "The third time. When I forgot the gag, I bent over because it hurt and I guess they opened. I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry. I'm really sorry we didn't have any sedatives to numb your hand, now I need to stitch your stomach up without them."
"Oh. Yeah." she realised. "Y- you don't have to if you don't want to, I'm sure Ashlyn wouldn't mind."
He shook his head. "No, no. I can do it. Just... hang in there? It won't be as bad as your hand, that's for sure." Ben signed. Taylor smiled a bit at the reassuring comment. He smiled back and leaned in closer to her. Was this it? Like, the big 'it'? Taylor leaned in as well. Butterflies fluttered around her stomach, her heart pounding. Their faces got closer, only inches apart. This is really happening, woah.
THUNK
They pulled away from each other quicker than the blink of an eye.
"Wha- what was that?" Logan asked nervously, shaking in his tyre. Ashlyn got up from her seat.
"I think it was a phantom." She whispered. "Aiden, Tyler, come with me. Ben, you finish up with Taylor. Try join us after, if we aren't back before." The boys nodded at her command and grabbed a weapon each, then headed to the exit.
"Wait, what about me?" Logan asked. "I can help too!"
Ashlyn raised an eyebrow at him. "no, you can't! your leg is fucked and-"
"I can shoot." He said bluntly.
"No way! Your arm is injured aswell, I don't want you to be a liability." Ashlyn said just before she got out the door. She paused and looked at Logan. "I- I'm sorry, we'll talk when we get back." She headed out the door and shut it behind her.
Logan looked down. "I hate feeling useless." He said.
"Me too. It's not your fault, Logan. She's just nervous." Taylor reassured him. She hardly realised she was doing it. Her brain was focused on what just happened between her and Ben. Its almost like it never happened.
"I'm gonna start stitching you up." He signed.
Just as Ben finished up the final stitch, the other three burst through the door, bruised, battered and gasping for air, but no major injuries visible.
"And? What was it?" Logan asked.
"A phantom. One of the light fixtures was down so it somehow maneuvered its way around the lights but we shot it down, then we fixed the light." Aiden panted. Tyler had a look closer at his twin sister. "More stitches, Tay? what happened?"
"It's nothing much, I just reopened them bending over." She said, monotone, as if there were other things on her mind.
Ashlyn apologized to Logan profusely, saying she didn't mean it in the way it came out, and that she just didn't want to see him hurt more than he is. But Taylor wasn't listening. She couldn't stop thinking about Ben.
If the phantom didn't make a noise, would they have kissed? She was ready. For the first time in her life, she felt that she was ready to feel this way with someone. And they got so close. All she could do for now was think, and hope. She figured she wouldn't have a chance that perfect for a while now. So she rested her head on his shoulder, and drifted to sleep.