𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐬 | Tyler Hernandez x Reader

| Ep 22 |

Tyler abandons my side to go assist the others and I feel helpless. Ashlyn orders the twins to grab onto the phantom's legs so Ben could get a jab at it. I shakily stand from my seat, gripping onto the backrest with one hand, the other holding my injured shoulder.

I turn away when Ben stabs the phantom's back with some metal pliers. The creature squirms and trembles before growing limp. I let out a sigh of relief and then rush over to Logan, kneeling before him.

With my free hand, I place it on his knee, hoping he'll turn to look at me. He has his arm wrapped over his stomach, hugging his side,

"Logan...?" I try to speak as softly as possible, not wanting to startle him. He finally looks down at me and I feel my heart shatter at his teary eyes.

"We should probably hurry and patch him up." Aiden pokes his head up from the seat in front of me. I tilt my head up at him and gasp when I see the black ink-like liquid splattered across his face. It must've been the blood from the phantom when Ben stabbed it.

---

I am resting on one of the bus seats with my knees propped up to my chest. I've been trying to ignore the excruciating pain my shoulder was causing, not wanting to make a scene when our priority should be helping Logan.

Everyone is anxiously huddled around the whimpering boy, who's too afraid to look at his own damage.

"How-How bad is it?" His voice comes out rough, the pain clearly evident in his tone. I turn to look at everyone when none of them answer. I wince at the sight of the blood on his side. It was pretty bad.

Logan cries out, "Why aren't you guys saying anything?? It's bad, isn't it?! It hurts! I'm scared!"

Ashlyn falls to her knees to comfort him quickly, likely worried his cries would attract more phantoms. I spin my head around to look out the window, not seeing any sign of life outside of this bus. Another wave of pain crashes onto me and I bite my inner cheek to refrain from whining.

I feel a shift in weight on the empty side of the seat next to me. I don't bother to see who invited themselves over, instead leaning my forehead on the glass. A hand rests on my shoulder, making my wound sting. I jerk back, accidentally bumping right into the window.

"Agh!" I groan, not knowing if I should hold my head or my shoulder first.

"Sorry!" Tyler's voice says quickly, retracting his hand. I shift my body around so my back was now to the wall and I was now directly facing him, "Forgot about that."

"Good, it isn't worth thinking about right now." I advise, dropping my hand from my shoulder. He sighs and drops the baseball bat he's being walking around with.

"Want me to check it? It's a good time to since Ben and Ashlyn have the first aid kit out right now."

I shake my head, glancing over at Logan, who's upper body was completely wrapped in layers of bandage, "No, it's fine-"

"Here, Tyler," Ashlyn calls out from the seat across the aisle, tossing him the first aid kit. He thanks her and props it open, taking some stuff out.

"Do you have anything under there?" He asks, gesturing toward my sweatshirt I had on. I nod and he helps me pull it up and over my head, leaving me in a tank top. I catch the way he grimaces at the clear sight of my injury and I look down at my shoulder.

It was not as bad as Logan's but still deep enough to leave scars once it heals. I feel myself grow sick just by looking at it and I start to fan myself, wondering why it was getting so warm all of a sudden.

"Hey," Tyler cups my cheek, turning my face away from my shoulder, "I got you, okay? Just breathe."

I nod and look down at my lap while he cleaned me up. He eventually had to beckon Ben over to help wrap me up, since he seemed to be the most skilled at that. Tyler lingers close behind, watching the tall boy work. I can feel his eyes burning into me, but he isn't looking directly at me.

"I shouldn't have left you on that side of the bus. I should've dragged you over with my sister." Tyler begins, playing the blame game with himself.

I frown up at him and reply, "Ty, come on. What happened wasn't your fault and you know it."

"I know, but I don't like that you got hurt anyway. If it were Tay-" He starts again, his cheeks displaying a subtle shade of pink. He was never one for expressing himself so publicly, even though the only one within earshot was Ben.

"I know."

We both fall silent for a moment, causing Ben to glance up from my shoulder to eye us skeptically. And for a second, he grinned.

"Ah!" Taylor shrieks from a few feet away. Ben flinches and stands straight up to see what was going on. Once he moves, I get a clearer view and see Logan now lying down with his head limp in Taylor's palm. She then adds as she lays his head down over someone's coat, "We should probably let him rest for a bit."

I frown and lock eyes with Ben once he focuses his attention back on me, "He's going to be fine, right?"

He nods.

Once Ben finished, I moved off of my seat, needing to stretch my legs. I pace up and down the bus aisle until Ashlyn grabs my wrist, stopping me so she could talk to us.

"Guess that means the Savannah conversation is on hold for now." Ashlyn voices her realization, making the lot of us groan in reply. It was not Logan's fault for getting injured and passing out, but it was still very unfortunate.

Tyler speaks up from his seat a few rows down, "Fine. Then let's decide what to do with the phantom."

We all glance over at the one they managed to kill earlier. Its body was still sprawled out the window, with its head barely hanging on after it was nearly decapitated.

"So, what do we do?" He asks, slinging his bat over his shoulder.

"...Good question." Ashlyn says, deep in thought.

"Maybe we could experiment with it? See what is most effective in dealing damage to the body?" Taylor suggests, though seeming unsure.

Aiden takes his phone out of his pocket, "Well, since it's dead, let's take a closer look!"

He turns the flashlight of his phone on and aims it at the phantom's body. I take a step toward Aiden and warn him,

"Be careful, it may still have some muscle reflex and try to take a swing-"

SHHKK!

We all jump back in surprise as the phantom's body begins to tear into itself and seemingly melt. Aiden pulls his phone up to his chest, accidentally elbowing my shoulder. I grimace and stumble back into Taylor and Ben.

"Turn it off!" Tyler yells to Aiden. He frantically taps a few buttons on his phone before the flashlight goes off.

As soon as it does, the phantom's body goes limp again. Aiden quickly glances over at me and apologizes for hitting me. We then all fall silent, staring blankly at the body.

"H-Hey, Y/N?" Taylor asks from behind me, "What was it you were saying about muscle reflex?"

I furrow my eyebrows, "I don't think that's whatit was..."