The Banner Siblings (DISCONTINUED-REWRITTEN VERSION OUT!)

Chapter Eight: The Motels Part 2

Logan hid his face in his knees as he held his sisters hand. The creatures pounded on the door, and Logan flinched every time they did. His heart was pounding and he was petrified.
Ashlyn rubbed her brothers back, equally as scared. Aiden chuckled.
"Why are you laughing at a time like this?" Tyler snapped.
"It's like we're in a zombie movie," Aiden said, his grin manic and wide.
"And that's supposed to be funny?!" Tyler asked, irritated.
"Yeah," Aiden said.
"Is he insane or something?!" Tyler asked. Logan looked at Ashlyn who shrugged. That's when he noticed it.
"Ash your arm.." Logan said, grabbing Ashlyn's arm to inspect the scratches.
"I thought I got you out of the way in time?" Aiden asked.
Ashlyn hesitated. "No you did.." Ashlyn looked at her brother. "I think this is from the sorrel weed house,"
Logan paused. The sorrel weed house? Logan looked at Ashlyn, concerned. "Ashy—"
"You mean you knew it was real and you didn't tell us?!" Tyler accused, standing up.
Logan frowned. Who the hell was he of all people to blame Ash? Ashlyn frowned and glared at Tyler, her patience thinning.
"Your the one who left before I had the chance to say anything," Ashlyn thought.
"I didn't mention anything because I didn't think it was real. And anyways now really isn't a good time to talk about it. Shouldn't we come up with a plan or—" Ashlyn started, only to be interrupted by Tyler.
"And why should we listen to anything you say? This is probaly your fault to begin with!" Tyler yelled.
Logan felt his sisters patience snap as she stood up.
"Alright fine. I get where your coming from, maybe I should have said something. And if blaming me helps you deal with the situation better than so be it," Ashlyn said, her tone icy and cold. She grabbed Tyler's shirt and pulled him in close. "But if your not going to make yourself useful, make yourself scarce,"
Ashlyn sighed as she looked at the dumbfounded looks on her groupware's and brothers faces. Aiden whistled.
"We'll that was unexpected. Pop off queen."
Ashlyn glared at him. Aiden shivered.
"And YOU need to stop taking this so lightly!"
Aiden held up his hands. "Yes ma'am!"
Ashlyn sighed and looked at her brother, who looked terrified. She sighed.
"We need weapons. Gather up everything in this room and see what we can use."
Everyone agreed on that. The time ticked by as they pulled the legs off the chairs. Logan looked at his phone again. 12:00? It hadn't changed. Strange.

Ashlyn winced as Ben cleaned her wound with the first aid kit he found in the bathroom. She was in Spain without the s.
SHATTER.
Ashlyn looked over and saw Aiden had smashed half a bottle in. The idiot.
"Ay look another weapon!" Aiden said, holding it up proudly.
"Dumbass—you should've done that in the bathroom now there's glass everywhere!" Tyler yelled.
"I'll go get the broom," Logan said, leaving to get the broom.
Ashlyn watched him leave and her gazed drifted over to Tyler, who was focused on helping Taylor get the leg off the chair. Was she too harsh on him earlier? She got why he was upset. She might've accidentally trapped them here with these—whatever the fuck those things outside the door were. Which she had also might've had a connection to because she's been hearing them her entire life. So it wasn't surprising that Tyler got upset. Didn't make any less annoying though.
Ben began to disinfect her wound and she winced. Fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK.
It hurt like hell.
She knew she had a low pain tolerance but fuck!
Aiden chuckled. He grabbed a towel and gave it to Ashlyn, sitting down next to her.
"Here, wanna squeeze this?" He asked.
"Thanks," Ashlyn said, taking the towel and squeezing it.
"I never took you for the leader type," Aiden said, crouching down next to Ashlyn.
"I'm not, but my parents are." Ashlyn said.
"Your parents?" Aiden asked.
"They're both from the military," Ashlyn explained.
"Ah I get it. So you and your brother are used to being told what to do in a situation like this?"
"Well, not in a situation like this-"
"Then do you guys also know self defense?"
"I've took a few kick boxing classes, and our parents tried to teach Logan when he was younger but he wasn't really bad at it."
Ben shut the first aid kit, done with Ashlyn's arm. Ashlyn waved her arm and looked at Ben's handiwork.
"Thanks Ben, your pretty good at this." Ashlyn said.
Ben blushed, happy he got complimented.
"Yeah, he's used to patching me up." Aiden explained.
"From?"
"Mm, various things. Skateboard tricks, rock climbing, hiking, jumping off tall places, stuff like that?"
"So he likes thrills?" Ashlyn thought. "With how he's been acting, that's not surprising."
Ashlyn stood up, picking up one of the chair legs.
"How many of these do we have?" She asked.
"Uh, 8. Including the ones we're taking off now." Taylor said, her voice still shaky. "Um..it's been quiet for a while now. D-Do you think the monsters are gone?"
Ashlyn froze, the phantom noises outside the door hurt her ears. "Nope. Still there." She thought. "We actually have some items to protect ourselves, so we're in a better position to talk about this now."
"They're still outside the door," Ashlyn said. "I can hear them, but not in a normal way,"
Logan looked at the others worriedly, worried on how they(*cough cough* Tyler) would take this information.
"W-what do you mean?" Taylor asked.
"Remember how I said I have sensitive ears?" Ashlyn said, sitting down next to her brother.
"Ooh that's right! So you can hear them moving outside or something?" Aiden said.
"Sort of. They make a certain sound. I don't honk you guys can hear it."
"Can you get to the point?" Tyler snapped.
"I'm trying you dick. This isn't easy to explain," Ashlyn snapped. "The thing is, because of how loud everything is to me I hear...phantom noises as a side effect. Sounds that aren't really there. In the sorrel weed house I thought I was hearing a phantom noise and when I saw the monster I believed it was just a type of hallucination. But then it grabbed me."
Tyler scoffed. "A hallucination that grabbed you, injured you, and that all of us had seen? And you thought it wasn't real?"
Logan frowned. "Weren't you the one who thought it was a prank?"
Tyler glared at him and Logan shrunk in on himself. Ashlyn glared at Tyler.
"It doesn't matter right now," Ashlyn said.
"Control yourself control yourself. Don't whack him." Ashlyn thought to herself.
"What I'm getting at is, I can hear and locate the monsters when you guys can't." Ashlyn said.
"So what? We'll use your magic hearing to save the day?" Tyler said.
"No-" Ashlyn paused. "Well yes, but later. I think we should stay hear for now so we can rest and...prepare ourselves. Once we go outside there's no telling what we'll encounter. And let's not leave the living room. If something happens, I don't want to be split up." Ashlyn said as she squeezed her brothers hand. She wouldn't let anything happen to him. She might not've cared about anyone else in this room, but she cared about him. "There isn't much we can do right now, so do some mental exercises."
"Mental exercises?" Aiden asked.
"Imagining yourself in certain situations and seeing how you will react," Ashlyn explained.
"Like what Dad taught us?" Logan asked, and Ashlyn nodded. "Anytime we're not asleep, that's what we should be doing."
"Yeah, what a great plan!" Tyler said sarcastically. "Let's daydream and sleep with monsters outside the door!"
"We'll take turns keeping look out," Ashlyn said, standing up. "Logan, is the time still twelve?"
"O-oh um, I'll check," Logan said shakily, fumbling for his phone. "...it hasn't changed."
"Logan noticed the time stopped moving an hour ago," Ashlyn thought to herself. "If the time isn't moving then alarms won't work either,"
"Alright, we'll keep resetting a timer every hour then. I'll take the first shift, who wants to go after?"
"I-I'll stay up with you," Logan said shakily. Ashlyn scowled.
"Logan, no. I'll stay up. You need rest." Ashlyn said sternly.
"But—"
"No." Ashlyn said in that 'Im the big sister you listen to me right now,' tone.
Logan put his head down, knowing that it wasn't worth fighting a losing battle.
"Well if no one else is saying anything, then I'll take the next shift." Aiden said.
Ashlyn nodded. Logan set the timer on his phone, laying his head against the wall. Ashlyn grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders.
"Sleep Logan. You need it." She said sternly.
"But—"
"I'm not asking, I'm telling."
Logan put his face in his knees. Ashlyn sat next to him and wrapped a protective arm around him. Logan wrapped the blanket around her too and she gave him a small smile.

Ashlyn was dizzy as she woke up. Instead on curled up on the floor next to her brother, she was back in bed next to Taylor. She looked around, a little confused.
"Taylor? Are we...back in our room?" She thought to herself.
For a second, it felt like the world shifted. Ashlyn held her head in pain as it ached. She looked at her arm.
"No scratches? Was all of that, really just a nightmare? Or am I just dreaming right now? Gah, I'm starting to lose track of reality." Ashlyn thought as she held her head in pain. "Alright, calm down. What's the last thing you remember? We were taking turns keeping watch, and the clock wasn't working."
Ashlyn turned on her phone, the bright light blinding her for a second. The time read twelve o six. "But now the clocks changed?"
"Ashlyn?" Taylor asked groggily as she woke up, holding her head. "Are we...on the bed?"
Taylor gasped. "Where's the others?! Are the monsters still—"
"So it did happen— you remember right?!" Ashlyn asked, grabbing Taylor's shoulders.
"What do you—"
Taylor and Ashlyn paused as a wave of nausea washed over them. They ran to the bathroom and threw up, waking up the other girls.
"Ash? Taylor?! Are you in here?!" Ashlyn faintly registered Aidens voice. She winced, must he be so loud? Her head felt like it was splitting.
"Move!" Tyler shouted. He relaxed upon seeing his sister.
"Just what....is going on?" Ashlyn asked herself.