☾THE MECHANIC☽

8. Continued

You feel dizzy and you open your eyes to see nothing there. "Duck" Ashlyn whispers. You sit in front of Tyler, leaning against the seat as he questions Ashlyn, "Still here?". Ashlyn nods, confirming the phantom is still here. "What do we do?" Taylor questions. "We'll have to try and kill it" Ashlyn answers. "Finally, some action" You grin. "We've got action non-stop" Tyler glances at you, his eyebrows furrowed. "Not like this" You don't glance at him. Tyler sighs, "How are we going to kill it?".

"We could have Logan shoot it through the window?" Aiden suggests. You notice Logan's tense figure, "No, the gun is for emergencies only". "This is an emergency!" Tyler raises his voice a notch. Ashlyn glares at him, "An emergency is a swarm or one of us is about to die". "We don't have many bullets so we need to try and kill it with our weapons first and have Logan as backup" She adds. You notice Ashlyn's eyes widen, "What is it?". She puts a finger to her lips. It's silent for a moment until Ashlyn speaks up again, "Hide under the seats". You all hide under the seats quickly and quietly. You hide under the seat with Ashlyn as you listen to the footsteps of the phantom walking up the stairs of the bus and down the aisle. You watch as the feet of the phantom reach the seat you and Ashlyn are hiding under. Your breath hitches when you hear Ashlyn shift. You don't move an inch as you watch its feet go past your seat.

Ashlyn looks behind the two of you to see if the phantom is there. Your eyes widen as you feel someone's breath hit your cheek. You slowly turn to be met with white eyes and a huge ass smile. It spins around to be right-side up. "[Y/N]!" You hear Tyler shout. "Ashlyn!" Taylor shouts. "Move!" You shove Ashlyn to the wall the best you can as the phantom's arm reaches for you. You go to roll out the way but the phantom gets ahold of the back of your shirt. It drags you out from under your seat as Ashlyn shouts to get the weapons. The phantom stands up, its hand around your neck and you're unable to touch anything with your feet as you gasp for air. "Hurry!" Ashlyn shouts.

Your grip on the phantom's wrists tightens as you prepare yourself for one powerful kick. With all your strength, you send your foot to its jaw, earning a loud crack. The phantom tumbles back, dropping you in the process. You scurry toward the front and feel a pair of arms wrap around you, helping you up. "You okay?" Tyler questions. You nod, focusing on Aiden as he grabs onto the phantom, swinging it around. "Aiden?!" Taylor shouts as he falls backward. "Close the window!" Aiden shouts as the phantom's head is stuck out the window. Ashlyn and Logan are quick to follow his demand and shut the window on the phantom. You notice the phantom's arm reach up for Logan.

"Logan!" You shout breaking out of Tyler's hold as the phantom slashes into the boy's side. Logan falls into the seat beside him and you rush to his side. "Hey, hey. Look at me. I'm going to move you to the back, okay?" Your voice is soft as if all the chaos around you isn't happening. Logan nods and you carefully pick him up and move him to the back. The twins grab the phantom's legs and Ben stabs it with a pair of bush trimmers. Logan would be in shock that you can carry him but he's in too much pain to react to anything.

"We need to patch you up," You say to Logan before glancing at Ben, "Can you bandage him up?". Ben nods as he walks to retrieve The medkit. "Hey, we need to take this off" You gently tug at his sweater. He nods as he slowly takes off his sweater. He stops with a sharp breath when he tries to lift the other side. "May I help you?" You ask. He nods and you gently lift the sweater off the wound and lift the neckpiece from over his head. "Lift your arm a little," You say. Logan does as he's told and you slide off his sweater without it rubbing against the wound on his arm.

"How— How bad is it?" Logan cries. No one says anything as they look at his wound. "Why aren't you guys saying anything? It's bad, isn't it? It hurts! I'm scared!" Logan panics. You place a hand on his cheek, turning his head to look at you, "It's okay. Ben is going to assist your wound now". You feel eyes on the back of your head but you ignore them, focusing on the main problem. You sit beside Logan as Ashlyn hands him some pain meds. Ben begins cleaning Logan's wounds. Logan winces as Ben touches his wound with rubbing alcohol. You intertwine your fingers with Logan's, "Squeeze my hand when it hurts". You close your eyes, leaning against the wall of the bus as Logan squeezes your hand the whole time.

The boy ends up falling asleep and nods off, his head falling into your lap. Your hands run through the boy's soft hair as you take in his features. "We should probably let him rest for a bit" Taylor speaks up. "Guess that means the Savannah conversation is on hold," Ashlyn says, earning a scoff from Tyler. You finally glance at the boy to see him already looking at you. His head rests on his hand as his eyes bore into yours. You start feeling nervous as his eyes trail down your body. "Ben, [Y/N] has a cut on her neck" Tyler stands. Ben glances at you, noticing the cut in your bruising neck. Ben walks over to you with a medkit. "What do we do with the phantom?" Tyler pokes it with his weapon. "Good question..." Ashlyn sighs. "Maybe we could experiment with it? See what is most effective in dealing damage to the body?" Taylor suggests. "Just be careful not to put any—" You start but Aiden shines his phone light on it. You notice the panic on their faces as Tyler shouts at Aiden to turn it off. "Light causes the phantom's skin to react... Like it melts the skin" You inform, sighing. "How did you figure this out?" Taylor questions. "When I was attacked in my room the night of the field trip" You answer. "You've known that long?!" Tyler glares. You nod, "It slowed the phantom down then so maybe it could stop them if we find light sources".

The group continues to look at the phantom while you stay in the back with a passed-out Logan on your lap. Speaking of, the boy starts to stir awake. "Hey, how are you feeling?" You whisper. "It still hurts" He mutters, realizing you let him lay on you. "You stayed?" He questions. "Six people don't need to surround a dead phantom" You eye him. "Thanks... Wait what?" Logan's eyes widen. You stand, offering him a hand to help him up. The both of you walk over to the rest of the group, Taylor is the first to recognize the two of you. "You're awake," She says to Logan, "Feeling any better?". "Not really—" Logan's eyes widen seeing the dead phantom. "When did it do that?" You're also aware of the new look of the phantom. It has eyes all over its body. "Turns out when they're exposed to light for too long, they start to wig out and turn to goop" Aiden answers, "Their body starts to twist, bubble, and spaz—". "Okay, stop" Tyler interrupts. "I think they get the picture. Now quit before you make them sick" Tyler notices the disgusted looks on your and Logan's faces. "Now that he's awake, let's talk about Savannah" Tyler glances at Ashlyn.

You sigh as you watch Tyler and Ashlyn go back and forth. "We can't keep hoping that things will go back to normal on their own" Tyler glares at Ashlyn. "And we can't risk getting stuck here permanently" She retorts. The two glare at each other as the rest of you grow awkward. "Going back doesn't mean we have to go back to the house again or interact with the phantom right?" Taylor questions, "Maybe we can just search around for someone who might know something? The locals are bound to know something". "We've been reading myths, lore, and watched who-knows-how-many investigations about Savannah for the past two weeks and still haven't found anything useful" You remind her. "I agree to avoiding that place and only searching for local information. That way we don't have to risk anything" Tyler says. "I-if we don't go back to the Sorrel Weed House, then I'm not against... Going back to Savannah," Logan votes. Ashlyn looks at Ben, "Ben, what about you?". Ben types out his thoughts, 'I'll go with whatever Aiden decides'. Aiden hums, "I don't care either way. Both options seem fun".

"What about you, [Y/N]?" Ashlyn asks. "I don't mind if we go back to Savannah" You reply. Ashlyn's silent for a moment as she thinks to herself. "I don't think this was an accident. There's the possibility that lady did this on purpose and we could run into her again. There might even be others like her" Ashlyn starts. "So you're still against going?!" Tyler argues. "No. But it'll go if we wait a year" Ashlyn states. Tyler becomes angry, "A year?! You want to be stuck here for a year?!". "Calm down, there's no guarantee that even if we go back, we'll find a way out of here. Plus, none of us have a car or license" Ashlyn states. "Aside from finding a way down there, I think a year would give us time to prepare for the worst outcome" Ashlyn sighs. "Worst outcome..?" Logan raises an eyebrow. "Even with all our precautions, we could still somehow get stuck permanently or have another encounter with that woman. So for a year, we should train ourselves, research, and turn this place into a reliable stronghold to survive in". "If we have to leave for an emergency then I can drive us to Savannah" You inform. "You can drive?" Taylor questions. "I don't have a license or car... but I know how to drive".

"It's time we start taking this seriously," Ashlyn stands up. Ashlyn walks off the bus leaving the six of you there. She comes back a minute later with a whiteboard. You help her carry it up the stairs and roll it to an open area. "Did we really need this?" Tyler questions. Ashlyn ignores him as she walks over to the whiteboard, picking up a marker. "This should be our first goal" She begins to write something on the board. "How are we going to do that?" Tyler asks.