𝐏ʜᴀɴᴛᴏᴍs || ᵗʸˡᵉʳ ʰᵉʳⁿᵃⁿᵈᵉᶻ ˣ ᶠ ! ʳᵉᵃᵈᵉʳ ⁽ˢˡⁱᵍʰᵗ ᵒᶜ⁾ || ˢᵇᵍ

(𝐒𝟐) 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝟏𝟗

𝟏ˢᵗ 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖.

"𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨??" Aiden then peeks his head from out the door way of the bathroom. I get a bit startled but, relieved when i see him.

"..What are you doing?" Taylor asked him.

"Ah.. well- i was getting bored so.. i asked them for some face paint." He says with a smile and shrug.

"You died.. and decided to spend your time recovering from death.. by face painting..?" Ashlyn questions him and his actions.

"Well i couldn't get out and i'd rather be in pain than bored." Aiden tells her.

"..How are your injuries?" Logan asks him.

Aiden does a peace sign and smiles. "All good." I notice he slightly shakes.

His peace sign flatters and slightly shakes. "Though, i probably shouldn't run or anything, i'm still woozy.." He says slightly mumbling.

I could tell he was unsteady. I'm pretty sure the others could too.

I slightly sigh and shake my head.

𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐊𝐈𝐏.

Open.

We enter the room in which Tyler was in. When we entered i saw Tyler on the bed, Ben beside him.

"...We're back.." Ashlyn says, tiredly.

I smile, relieved that all of us were back together. 'At least we're all back together..' I think to myself.

Taylor and Ashlyn lead me over to Tyler's bed. They sit me down on it. I smile, gratefully at them. Ashlyn nods back and Taylor gives me a small smile as she nods.

Ashlyn slides down to the floor, leaning against the wall. Logan comes up to me and hugs me. I smile and hug him back. As he lets go and Ashlyn asks us a question.

"..Have you guys seen the infected?" She asks us.

"I seen pictures.." Logan answers. I nod in response. "Same here." Taylor adds on.

Aiden walks to sit on the wheelchair. I felt a hand on my shoulder, i slightly jump in surprise. I look to the side and see that it was Tyler.

I smile at him and nod. I look over to Ben and give him a small smile as well. He gives me a small smile. "The real question none of us want to ask is.. if we think any of this is real. Are we really in front of each other like this?" Ashlyn asks.

"What our thoughts on the whole fungus thing?" Ashlyn asks us.

We all stay quiet for a moment and avoid eye contact with one another.

"I think we should just say, screw it." Taylor says before continuing.

"I mean, either way, our options suck.. right? At least this way through.. we're together." She tells us.

"..I agree. It's all too risky to assume this isn't real anyways." Logan says as he rubs the back of his neck.

"We should definitely look into it.. but continue  to treat this as our reality for now." Logan says.

For most of the night we went over what we knew and our options. After a debate, we decided that we'd snoop around the building. At least to find what the hell is going on in this building.

Luckily, i was right to not tell what our "hallucinations" were as no one has said anything as well. This, leaves us to an advantage.

Of course, we all plan to exploit it as much as possible.

Sadly enough,

Me, Tyler, and Aiden couldn't help the rest of the group due to.. our circumstances.

But, we were left to look over documents the rest of the group found. It was a bit bored, sure, and i almost fell asleep, but hey, it all worked out.

"...I can't do this anymore. I'd rather die again." Aiden said, whining. "Don't joke about that, idiot. Especially after what Ashlyn told us." Tyler tells him.

I softly sigh and lean against Tyler out of boredom. I had a few documents in my hand as he had the laptop in his lap.

One thing for sure, it has been difficult for them to find a card with high enough maintenance to get the important information.

Aiden created his own meme's out of sheer boredom which i slightly laughed at before reviving a scolding glare from Tyler.

But, another thing, we all got here with everything we had previously.

"..I don't feel any different though? Personality wise anyway." Aiden tells us as he types on the laptop and enters.

Aiden suddenly went quiet and quickly stood up, i looked at him, confused.

"Tyler- (Your name)- I found something." Aiden tells the both of us.

Me and Tyler look at each other, equally confused. But, Tyler's face turns a bit annoyed and he scoots over to Aiden slightly bringing me with him.

"What is it? I swear, if it's another meme you made because you're bored i'll-" Tyler says before he cuts himself off as his eyes widen.

I furrow my eyebrows and look over, my eyes widen as well and i felt my mouth go dry.

Tyler grabs his walkie-talkie.

"...Guys-"

"Our parents are here."

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Word count: 838
July 20ᵗʰ, 2024
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