Meet Me at Midnight | Tyler x Reader | School Bus Graveyard

| Ep 14 |

I lean against the wall with my hands on my knees. I lower my head down to cover the immense fear on my face. I've never been good at thinking on the spot, especially in stressful situations. The last thing I need is for these people I hardly know to think of me as a coward.

I feel a hand on my shoulder and I look up to see Logan and Taylor staring down at me with concerned faces. Out of habit, Taylor kneels down to my level and places a hand over my rapidly beating heart. She whispers so only I could hear,

"Are you-"

"No. No, no- I'm not having- no I'm not." I assure her frantically, gently lowering her hand from my chest. Not a panic attack, is what I keep repeating to myself in my head.

"I'm going to tie the door to the pole over there," Ashlyn begins from a few feet away. I stand up straight and peer over at her tying up strings together. I shake off the nerves and try my best to pay attention, knowing that whatever she had planned was our best chance of getting out of this mess.

Tyler is standing in front of us, glancing over at the pole behind me, "Two weak strings and a shabby pole?!"

I let out an audible sigh at his criticism. I understand his doubts, but what other choice do we have right now? He locks his eyes on me at my reaction to his outburst, "What? I'm just saying, there's no way that's gonna keep it closed-!"

"Enough, Ty!" I take a step forward, looking up to meet his gaze, "This is what we've got to work with, alright?"

His eyes flicker over my face, showing obvious signs of surprise at my raised tone. He opens his mouth to respond, his features softening for a split second.

"Tyler might be right," Ashlyn adds, "But it'll stay closed long enough for me and Ben to make a run for it! You guys go!"

Tyler and I haven't moved when she began to speak, our eyes still glued on each other with a mixture of irritation and guilt. I purse my lips, glaring up at him. No one responds to Ashlyn's order and she shouts, "I said go!!"

Tyler's eyes flick away from me and he grunts, running a hand through his hair. He's about to reach for my hand when I pull away. He shoots daggers down at me before turning to pull his sister away with him. Logan makes a run for it too.

I linger behind and watch as Ashlyn hands one end of the string to Ben, "Ben, tie this to the door handle."

His entire body trembles before he reluctantly takes the string from her hand. I walk up to him and reach my hand out,

"Here, let me." He eyes me with terrified eyes, his hands shaking. I take the string from him and tie it to the handle, just how Ashlyn had asked him to. Ben smiles down at me gratefully, no longer shaking as much.

I tap my foot impatiently, waiting for Aiden and Ashlyn to finish up the knots. I help out with the last one, tying it as tightly as possible. I try my best to reduce the tremble of my hands as I work on the string. I then step back beside Aiden and wait for Ashlyn's call,

"Whenever you're ready-"

"Run!!"

I jump up and break into a run, glancing back for a moment to catch a glimpse of the horde of dark creatures tripping up the stairs. The sounds of their quick footsteps echoed through the open motel hallway as we sprinted down.

The string attached to our room's door snaps and the creature we encountered earlier bursts out, hungry for flesh. I grit my teeth, not having the guts to look back anymore.

I'm trailing behind the three, there being very little distance between us. We pass by a few more rooms when I feel long, slender fingers wrap around my wrist, yanking me back,

"Woah-!" I gasp as I'm pulled back. But, Ashlyn quickly reacts, shouting for the boys to move out of the way. I feel her yank me away from the creature's hold, shoving me over to Ben. He barely manages to catch me as I stumble into him.

Ashlyn grabs ahold of a cleaning cart resting by one of the doors and swings it around, shoving it toward the creature. It shrieks as it gets trapped in between the cart and the wall. My eyes widen, watching it squirm to free itself, nearly succeeding.

"Ha-!" Aiden maniacally from in front of Ben and I. Ben's hold around me tightens when the blonde rushes over to the cart, picking up a spray bottle.

The creature's about to grip onto Ashlyn's hand when Aiden intervenes, pulling its hand away and aiming the spray bottle at its head, "Y'know..."

"...This could be fun." He smiles down at the creature, excitedly watching it struggle under his hold. I attempt to run over to him, not liking how up close and personal he was getting. Ben pulls back toward him and shakes his head.