JOSH DUN VS THE WORLD ✓

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: I'VE GOT A BRENDON TO KILL

SAVING...

SAVING...

SAVING...

SAVING COMPLETE!

People are running for the exits. Josh can't hear his own thinking over the screaming. The neon lights cut out, this time plunging the whole fraternity house into darkness. While on his frantic search, he knocks someone to the ground and stops to help them up.

"Shit, my bad-"

"Josh!" Young Ryan yelps, clinging to Josh's arm like a koala. His hands are wet and sticky. He must've spilled a drink on himself. "Holy shit, thank god you're okay. We thought Brendon had killed you."

That's the second time in months that Josh has heard him swear. "Halsey got me out. What's wrong? Where's Max and Hayley?"

"They- they went upstairs. Hayley, she was hurt bad, and- and there was just so much blood. Max told me to come and find you, make sure you were okay."

That's when Josh realizes that Young Ryan isn't covered in soda. "Go and find Halsey. Tell her I'm going to help them," he says over the screams, shoving his friend away from the chaos and towards the doors.

Josh blindly runs through the house, hearing ambulance sirens somewhere in the distance getting closer. He eventually finds the stairs and flies up them, slamming through every upstairs room until he finally finds Max.

A light from a phone light illuminates the two in the middle of a bedroom. Hayley lies across his lap, eyes rolled back and unconscious, and Max cradles her bloody head, sobbing.

"What happened?" Josh falls to her side, grabbing the phone and looking for where the blood was coming from.

There's a bleeding cut on her forehead, which isn't bad in and of itself, but then he sees where Max's hand is wrapped in a jacket. It's pressed against a large gash across Hayley's chest, like someone had sliced her with the broken end of a guitar.

"Aft- after everything started and Tyler fell into her, I was trying to help Dallon up, and then- then Brendon just attacked her," Max manages, hiccuping as he speaks. "Tyler and Dallon, they got away when Brendon went after you, but I- I couldn't leave her."

"Oh, fuck. Okay, um, there's an ambulance coming, alright? She's going to be fine. Remember when I almost out? I survived. Hayley's much tougher than me. She won't die before she kills me first."

Max chuckles softly, brushing her hair away from her face. "She always was a stubborn asshole."

Hayley's head tilts softly to the side, a groan escaping her lips. "J... Josh?"

"Hey, hey, I'm here, Hayl," he whispers, grabbing her hand. "You're gonna be fine. Do you remember what happened?"

"Yeah. Fuckin'-" she coughs violently, more blood gushing from her wound. "Fuckin' Brendon. He got me good. You owe me a life, pal."

"If I had one left, I'd give it to you," he smiles softly.

Max, who's carefully hiding her serious injury from Hayley so she doesn't freak out, laughs. "I guess you'll just keep on living."

She makes a brief face of disgust. "Gross." Then, she promptly passes out again.

"See? She's okay." Josh rests Hayley's hand on her side and stands up, tossing Max the phone. "Call Tyler, find out where he is, and make sure the others are out and safe."

"Wait, where are you going?" Max calls out.

"I've got a Brendon to kill."

Josh makes it to the ground floor when he hears the ambulance pull up to the front, and narrowly misses seeing Brendon sneak out the back.

"Hey, asshole!" He shouts, grabbing a fire poker from the unlit fireplace. "This is for Hayley!"

He catches Brendon off guard, getting a good his to his stomach. Just as he pulls the poke back, Brendon grabs him by the shoulders and sends him hurtling for a wall like a rag doll. So, he's a lot strong than Josh anticipated. No big deal.

"You've got balls, I'll admit that. But not enough to fight your own battles," Brendon taunts.

Josh takes the bait and goes at him against, this time being intercepted before he could strike. Brendon grabs the poker, wrenches it from Josh's hand, and kicks his legs out from under him.

Luckily, Josh has become an expert on not falling ever since these evil exes started showing up, and regains his balance before he hits the ground. "Shut up! I'm not taking threats from a guy who can't even get some without having to use mind control."

"I'm sorry, which one of us is still dating Radio Rebel?" Brendon smiles coyly.

All Josh sees is red.

"Her name is Debby!"

He makes a run for the open back door, ducking when Brendon tries to hit him. The fire poker lodged itself into the wall. While he tries to pull the weapon free, Josh grabs the back of Brendon's head and slams it into the doorframe over and over and over and over and-

Poof.

Brendon explodes into a huge pile of coins, the blast tossing Josh out into the backyard. He hits ice cold water- he'd forgotten they added a pool- and his body immediately goes rigid with shock.

Josh instinctively gasps, sending freezing chlorine water into his mouth and nose. He struggles to see whether he's facing up or down because he keeps spinning in circles.

This can't be where he dies. There's so much he wants to do left. He still hasn't seen Shazam.

After a bit of half-conscious scrambling, Josh's fingers brush against what feels like a ladder, and he grabs blindly, pulling himself out of the pool with a gasp, coughing up water the whole time he's crawling onto the lawn. He flips onto his back, trying to catch his breath, and sees a flashlight over his eyes.

"Sir, are you alright?" It's a police officer standing above him, hand on his holster.

Josh grimaces from the bright light and covers it with one hand. "Yeah. Just nearly drowned. Can I get one of those shock blankets?"

The officer helps him to the ambulance, where he sees a nurse inside patching up Hayley. Max is talking to another cop. Young Ryan and Halsey sit on the curb, Halsey crying loud enough for Josh to hear even from the backyard fence.

He breaks away from the officer and runs up to them. "Halsey!" ya the sound of her name, she stands to greet him with a bone crushing hug.

"Oh, my god, you're wet," she says as she pushes him back. "What happened?"

"I defeated Brendon, but landed in the pool. How're you guys? Is Hayley okay?"

The cop comes up to them and hands Josh a shock blanket and dry patient clothes. He thanks him and Halsey holds the blanket in front of him as he starts to strip. She looks up, her face hot red.

"Hayley's fine. She took a good hit. If you hadn't defeated Brendon, I would've done it myself."

"That's good." Josh tosses his wet underwear off to the side and slips on the white patient pants. They're paper thin but better than cold, wet jeans. "What about Tyler? Did he make it out? Please don't tell me he's in that ambulance too."

Halsey's face falls. When she does respond after he finishes getting dressed, Josh gets worried.

"Hals, where's Tyler?"