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

| Ep 24 |

First Main Objective:

Gunshop

Ashlyn stands in front of the board as we all stare blankly at the black ink words written at the top of it, "We need some better weapons."

I bite my inner cheek, my mind finally catching up with the reality of this situation. We need better weapons? I mean, we're just a group of teenagers trying to get through high school, and now we're drawing out a plan to survive some apocalyptic hell.

"Okay..." Tyler narrows his eyes from beside me, "How are we going to get there?"

"Well, we'll need to do two things first," Ashlyn spins around and writes down on the whiteboard;

- Fortify graveyard walls
- Bring jeep into graveyard

"We need a vehicle to drive to the gunshop. My parent's jeep is the closest so we'll need to bring it to the graveyard."

Ashlyn's house was on the street in front of the graveyard, so that aspect made the first bullet point a lot easier to mark off. She then moves onto the second half of the plan,

"However, the phantom got over the walls last time. I'm not sure how, but we need to figure out a way to stop it from happening again," She pauses, "So when we get the jeep, any phantoms that follow us won't be able to get in."

The group then opens up for suggestions on how we could accomplish this. I stare out the window, struggling to come up with something. Tyler's frustrated expression tells me I'm not the only one having a rough time.

Then, Ben, who's been keeping to himself for the entirety of this discussion, suddenly stands up and walks over to his duffel bag. He kneels down and rummages through it, taking out his sketch book and jotting something down. He turns the book over to us, showing a rough sketch of what appears to be his idea.

He planned to connect a layer of barbed wire at the top of the walls, stretching throughout the entire perimeter of the graveyard. I thought it seemed solid and possible. As we all lean in to take a closer look, Tyler crosses his arms and mutters,

"If they were normal humans, that might work..." He glances over at us and adds, "But I feel like it wouldn't really bother them to grab and climb the wire regardless."

I sigh, knowing that Tyler's realization would completely scratch the one plan we had going for us. But, he was right, we aren't dealing with any regular forest animal.

Aiden speaks up too, "Since their body doesn't react well to light, why don't we just have some large light fixtures on the wall?"

I shift my body to look over at him, "Hm, do we even have enough power to keep 'em running all night? I mean, these lights are going to be huge, right?"

Ashlyn shakes her head, "No, the generator won't have enough power to keep the lights on. Most of the power goes toward the door..." I nod as she confirms my assumption, "If the lights went off every time we opened the door, it wouldn't be that helpful."

"Then...solar lights? Maybe?" Logan suggests.

"That...could work," Ashlyn approvingly nods, "But how are we going to get them?"

"Ah, you can leave that to me," Aiden raises a hand and grins, "I haven't been using my allowance lately so it's built up a bit."

Ashlyn raises a brow, "Allowance? How much do you have?"

"About ---?"

My jaw drops.

"Anyway," He shrugs off his wealth like its normal, "I have a card, so we can order the lights online and have them shipped here."

"Alright, then we'll do that tomorrow..." Ashlyn is about to wrap up the discussion when her eyes widen suddenly, "Oh. Before I forget, can I borrow your knife, Aiden?"

He nods simply, "Sure."

I watch as he hands it over to the redhead and he asks curiously, "What do you need it for-"

I smack a hand over my mouth when Ashlyn grabs her hair in a fist and slices most of it off with the knife. Chunks of her hair fall to the ground, leaving her with enough to reach just above her shoulders. She's lucky the length suited her.

"These need to go."

---

The bell rings and I throw my school bag over my shoulders, leaving class as soon as we are excused. I walk out into the crowded hallway and check any missed messages on my phone. I turn the corner and bump my head into someone's chest by accident. I rub my forehead and glance up to find one of Tyler's old baseball buddies standing before me.

"Shit, sorry, Barron. I wasn't looking-"

"Yeah, I can tell!" He raises his voice at me. I put my phone in my pocket and cross my arms, already knowing how this is going to play out.

"I said I was sorry, alright? No need to get all pressed." My words only seem to anger him more.

He reaches over for the collar of my shirt, shoving me against the wall of lockers. I feel the wind knock out of me for a second before I regain my composure. I furrow my brows and grasp onto the fist holding my shirt.

"Let go, asshole!" I shout, trying to pry his hand off.

"Should've been watching where you're going, Y/N!" His hold on me tightens and now I'm growing angry too.

"Hey." I hear a small voice speak up from behind Barron. I tilt my head to the side and widen my eyes when Logan comes into view. Barron also turns his head and scoffs at the sight of him.

"Logan, no. I got it-" I begin, not wanting to get him involved in this.

"Let her go." He orders, though his tone sounds very unconfident. I can see his knuckles turn white from how tight he was holding onto the straps of his backpack.

Barron then turns his attention back to me and laughs in my face, "You two know each other or something? Wow, did not see that coming-"

I swing a hand across his face, leaving him stunned and speechless for a couple of seconds. His jaw drops open, likely not expecting me to get physical with him.

"Leave Logan out of this." I warn, eyeing the boy in front of me closely.

Tyler and Barron used to be close and he'd be over the twins' house often the same time I was. We never got along and now that Ty and him grew apart, he's shaped into an even bigger asshole than he was before.

"I know you did not just do that. I swear, I am going to-"

"Going to what, Barron?" Tyler comes into view from down the hallway, along with the rest of the Savannah group trailing behind him.

Barron's hold is still tight around my collar as we both shoot our heads over at my best friend. Logan is shakily standing behind Barron, unsure of what to do.

Well, shit.