Where The Wild Things Go (Joshler AU)

Chapter 4- Nightmare

Trigger Warning: Mentions of blood

~Tyler~

Tyler stares at the azure sky, he was surrounded by trees clumped together. A word comes to mind, the forest. He tries to pull himself into a sitting position. His chest was stinging and every movement sent a sharp pain through his whole body. He collapses back on the ground, he was too weak to get up. Tyler lets his hands relax by his side, and as he sets them down a cold fluid pours over it. 

Tyler averts his head to his left side, and notices a crimson colour pouring from his stomach, onto the floor and over his hands. BLOOD. He was bleeding. But how? What happened? Suddenly, a tall figure looms over Tyler. His vision was becoming black at the edges, he could hardly recognize what was in front of him. He feels a soft warm hand touch his stomach, and flinches. 

"No, you're okay. I've got you." A calm voice whispers. Tyler closes his eyes, and lets the voice repeat itself inside his head. "NO! You can't do this! You can't leave me. I won't lose you too..." The voice trails off. That voice, Tyler thinks. That voice sounded familiar, it was... he forces himself to remember.

"Mom," Tyler mutters, and everything goes black.

Tyler jolts up, sitting on his bed, which was originally a bench that he unfolded. He was safe; he was alive. He rubs his eyes, and watches the trees move past him from his window, he was currently riding on the train. Tyler takes a deep breath and walks over to his bags, pulling out his Monster Finder and switching it on. The time on the screen changes from 4:59 to 5:00. A loud a bell goes off- signaling that food was ready, which happened every four hours. 

Allie rubs his eyes, clearly just waking up. Tyler slips into his shoes, and does up the laces. While, Allie pulls his blanket off of him, and grabs his shirt which had fallen on the floor. Tyler notices a tattoo on his right arm. There were seven strips, each matching the colour of the rainbow. Tyler realized that it was a flag, similar to the one his moms had framed in their room.

Someone knocks on the door, and Tyler walks over to answer it. He is greeted by a guy carrying two trays. He hands one over to Tyler and another to Allie. Tyler nods, as a thanks, and then the guy smiles before leaving the room. He walks back to his bed, and sets the tray in front of him. On it was garlic bread, and some mashed potatoes. 

"Attention passengers, we will be heading through the Zone Three forcefield in five minutes, please stay seated inside your section." Someone informs over the intercom. Halfway there. Tyler stares out the window, as they pass Zone Two. He folds his hands together as he thinks about Ben. He could be hurt or worse. Tyler had waited until it was time to drop him off, he needed to say goodbye, and when the train had come to a hault, he ran down the hall to his section and wrapped his arms around him. He didn't want to let go but he had to. Tyler takes a deep breath, and tries to think about something else.

He wasn't afraid of dying, he was afraid of living without the ones he cared about. Or the other way around. The train stops, to let the next monster hunter off. Tyler shoves a spoonful of mashed potatoes in his mouth. 

"Hey," Allie calls out to Tyler, and takes a bite of his garlic bread. "How long do you think it will take for us to get to Zone 6?" 

Tyler pauses, calculating the answer in his head, before responding with "Around nine hours." Allie sighs, and sinks into his seat, he scoops up some potatoes with his spoon and places it in his mouth. "Do you want some of my garlic bread? I don't like it." Tyler offers, and Allie nods, he reaches over and takes the two slices from Tyler's hand. 

"Garlic bread is so good." Allie scoffs. Closing his eyes as he takes a bite, savouring the taste in his mouth. 

"I'll have to disagree on that one." Tyler comments. He takes another serving of his mashed potatoes. "The potatoes are so bland, but I'm going to be eating beans for what's probably the rest of my life, so I can't really complain." 

Allie laughs a little, and Tyler looks at him. He wanted to ask about the tattoo on his back, but he didn't seem like a very open person, and probably didn't want Tyler knowing something so personal. Tyler finishes up the rest of his food, and sets his tray aside. He pulls out his notebook and Monster Finder from his suitcase. He turns on the device, and the time pops up on the screen. 5:20. 

He opens up his book, and begins writing about his dream. He places the date and time under his entry from yesterday. As he begins writing Tyler's mind drifts off to Pierre- how was he doing? What about Ben? Or his moms? He felt a small twinge of guilt in his chest at the thought of his mom. It must have been so hard to watch her only son leave. 

"Did you have any other family?" Allie wonders, "you know, other than your grandma." Tyler glances over at him, he was sitting with his feet hanging off the edge, and his hands folded behind his head. 

Tyler shifts, so he is facing Allie, while lying on his side. "I have my moms, and Ben. He was the Zone Three monster hunter, and technically he wasn't my blood family, but I loved him like I would love my brother." Allie smiles, and then Tyler asks him the same question. "What about you? Do you have any family?"

"Well, let's just say I had very narrow minded parents, who refused to like anyone different than them." Allie explains. Tyler pouts a little, that must have sucked. "Yeah," Allie says, reading Tyler's mind. "That's why I left."

"Left?" Tyler repeats, confused. 

"Oh, yeah. That's why I took my job. I needed to leave my parents." Allie informs. Tyler nods, he couldn't relate to him, because his moms were kind and caring. But, growing up like that probably wasn't fun. At least, Allie isn't like his parents.