Friends With Time ⌛ (Tyler Galpin x Reader)

Day 141

Day 141:

And just like that, everything you know, everything you thought you knew, spikes into a fever pitch.

"They're not here to rescue us," I say, frozen on the couch, gripping the blanket on my lap. "They're here to kill us. They're going to pin my death on you."

He looks at you like you're crazy. "How do you know?"

"They have an assassin on that boat. They've done it before." You hold up your father's book with the empty, torn last page in the journal. The pages where USOAT was coming. The pages where he succeeded.

The pages they ripped out after they killed him.

A icy chill shivers though your bones. Was your mom there? Did she know? Did she choose USOAT over him? Did he beg he not to?

Was she the one who killed him?

Tyler is scrambling around, looking for a way out. "Shoot, Y/N," he shouts, gripping his hair. "What can we do? What are we supposed to do?"

You snap into gear, the white walls of the Bubble snapping into hypergear around you. There's nowhere to go. Nowhere to swim, nowhere even close to here.

You still feel so numb, even as you run around.

"Text your friends," Tyler says, grapping the iPad.

"Don't, they'll kill them, too," you say, head spinning, plugging in coordinates as the lights shudder over us. "They'd rather kill us than let you out. Why? Why?"

An alarm suddenly blares over head, the overhead speakers erupting jarbled warnings in a blaring language. EUOAT spotted. EUOAT spotted, move anchor and move immediately. If you stay here, this close to the border, they will kill you. If you stay here, you will die.

"Shoot!" You curse, swearing and jumping up. Your whole body shakes.

"Can I move the anchor?" Tyler asks, glancing up at the door that leads up top.

EUOAT spotted. EUOAT spotted, move anchor and move immediately. If you stay here, this close to the border, they will kill you. If you stay here, you will die.

You grab his arm. "No, we don't have time. They'll be here in minutes. Tyler, we're going to die in a couple of minutes."

The realization drops on you like the ocean crushing you, thousands of pounds of fear surging into you like water.

"We're going to... we're going to..." you say, lips paralyzed, frozen as you say the words.

He's saying something, but you barely hear him, the alarms turning the lights of the Bubble red.

EUOAT spotted. EUOAT spotted, move anchor and move immediately. If you stay here, this close to the border, they will kill you. If you stay here, you will die.

And you know what you have to do. You jump up, running almost to Tyler's submarine door before yanking the emergency hatch open. The light blinks green. It's on. You shove Tyler inside.

"This tube sends you to the mainland in case of an emergency," you shout. "You're going to emerge in USOAT headquarters, you're going to run, and you're going to get out."

Tyler frowns and tries to shove you aside. "And leave you here? Are you crazy?"

"I'm going to text EUOAT our coordinates. They'll get here at the same time, Deion said they might be sympathetic to rehab-"

"Y/N, no-"

You ignore him, continuing. "And they'll get me out of here."

"If they arrive before USOAT, which is-"

"If they arrive before USOAT," you say like a prayer. "If not, you're going to tell everyone what happened. You're going to tell them the truth about USOAT. You're going to get safe. You're going to... you're going to get home."

The world seems to slow down around us, Tyler squashed into the tube, me watching the door. The lights are red and blinding. The warning blares over and over again. If you stay here, you will die. If you stay here, you will die.

The clock beeps, another minute closer to USOAT, their arrival, their assassins.

You get ready to push the button that sends Tyler out when he muscles his way out of it. "No," he says, "you're going to get in there. You're going home. Tell them I attacked you. They'll believe that."

"Are you insane?" You say, trying to push him back into the tube. "Get in the tube! It's you or neither of us, and you're going to get in there right now-"

"Coordinates sent to nearest EUOAT vehicle," the computer chirps, and I look at him.

"Get in. Go."

"No," Tyler says, pulling off his coat and sliding it over me. "No. I won't. But... but you will."

You shake your head, and Tyler shakes his head, eyes widening.

"Get in, Y/N," he repeats, holding you at arm's length like he's backing away. "You're going to get in or I'm going... going to have to force you."

"No," you say, shaking your head, tears springing to your eyes. "You can't make me. Tyler, don't do it. Don't do it. Please."

"I have to," he says, squeezing his eyes shut, looking away, breathing heavily, so heavily. "It's the only way. You have to get safe, okay? You have to get to Paris-"

You wrap your arms around him, shuddering. "Tyler, don't do it," you beg him, pulling him closer like you can stop him. He pushes away, sending you stumbling back.

"Get off me, Warden, I'm going to transform," he says with clenched teeth, and then, like in slow motion, it happens. IT HAPPENS.

You hear the sound of skin ripping.

He screams, and his hands, growing claws now, push you into the tube, the metal slamming against your back, the monster running to the other side of the Bubble, before whirling around, eyes red and angry.

It whirls towards you, roaring, and you jab the button that takes you back to the mainland, trying to project all the love you feel at Tyler's gray and swollen body, hoping he can feel it as the door seals closed.

For a moment, all is silent except for the monster's roars.

Then you drop.

Your stomach plummets as the tube drops, your hands pressed against the door. The small space presses in on you, stealing your breath. It's like you can't even think, hands against the walls as your heart pounds in the dark, throwing you this way and that as the tube jolts down. You fall for what feels like forever, then come to a jittery, jerky stop.

For a minute, all is silent except for shaking, jerky sobs. That's me, you realize dimly, shaking in the dark as the tube cracks open. The sliver of light is blinding as you climb out, your feet touching the soft grass.

Ground. The first earth you've felt in months.

You stand outside of the Academy, its stone walls towering over you.

White clouds drift lazily overhead.

"So he did attack you," one of the board members says, offering you a hand.

You stare at it. Those are the hands that just killed Tyler.

Killed. The word makes you shudder violently, shaking, staring, frozen.

The board member nods sympathetically, helping you up and bringing you inside the Academy. Your very bones seem to cry out against the evil in that place you once called home. You feel like the marrow in them is peeling away, struggling to get away from your blood as he pulls you inside, the copper halls, the students in uniform walking to their next class.

To their next class.

"You must be in shock," the man is telling you. "I'm sure you didn't expect that. I guess that's why we can't make friends with time."