[Y/N] - Your Name
[M/N] - Middle Name
[L/N] - Last Name
I
["Talking"]
["SCREAMING"]
["Whispering"]
["Thinking"]

[==========================]

-> [ARTISTS / SERIES USED]

- lilredbeany.
- CJ Entertainment (Oldboy)
- ???
- Polygon Pictures (Ajin: Demi-Human)
- Off_Pay_

<<<<<< I >[---]< I >>>>>>

Tyler: ["What the?! That was Aiden, right?"]

Upon hearing the scream from outside, he froze in place. Clutching harder the baseball bat in his hand, he glared at the door while Taylor, just a few steps behind him, also tightened her knuckles around the axe she was carrying. Glancing up at her brother, and then down at the entrance where the scream came from again, she just nodded her head, approaching Tyler and resting a calming hand on his left shoulder.

Taylor: ["I'll go check-"]

Tyler: ["No, you keep looking for the key — I'll go"]

She did not much other than look at him with a concerned, and rather nervous, gaze. Biting her lower lip, she just shook away the bad thoughts and concentrated on the task ahead, and rapidly made her way upstairs while Tyler hurriedly went outside — Only to be greeted with the sight of Aiden on the ground, Y/N seemingly-passed out on the steps, and Ashlyn hurriedly kicked herself to her feet and pulling out her gun.

Tyler: ["What the fuck happ-"]

Ashlyn: ["PHANTOM!"]

Tyler's eyes immediately snapped forward as he saw the dark creature leaping from the roof — Though missing an arm, it hardly seemed to care. Instead, just turning to face the group, the Phantom was immediately met with Tyler's blade-attached baseball blade to its face, not only pushing it down, but also allowing Tyler to finish it off by bringing down the weapon again towards its head, cleaving it cleanly in half.

Turning towards the group again, he saw Aiden slowly getting to his feet, but with clearly some struggle and a pained gaze on his eyes. Ashlyn kneeled over Y/N, calling for him as her hands shook him around gently. His indigo eyes fluted, weakly opening and closing as he sat up and groaned — His eyes were stinging. Everything came and went out of focus, and as he stood up, he immediately needed to be caught by Aiden.

Y/N: ["How long was I out for?"]

Ashlyn: ["Just a couple of seconds. It looks bad"] The girl kneeled again by his side as both he and Aiden sat down ["You're definitely concussed... You're going to come with-"]

Y/N: ["No"]

Ashlyn, Tyler, and Aiden found themselves surprised as Y/N stood up, and cracked his neck from side-to-side. His eyes focused ahead at the mass of Phantoms standing just outside the ring of light around the house — He picked up his shotgun again and strapped it over his shoulder. It was a bit bothersome, but just a wipe from his knuckle was enough to clean the blood running down from the top of his head.

Y/N: ["We'll keep the original plan. You guys search the house, I stand guard"] Y/N sat down on the steps again, closing both eyes for a moment, and taking a deep, deep breath and exhaling very calmly ["It's just a minor concussion, I can handle it. Go"]

Tyler: ["What?! Dude! You can't expect that, with a concussion, you can-"]

Ashlyn: ["Are you sure?"]

The girl's emerald eyes were locked, and dead-serious as they stared into Y/N's irises. All he did was give the girl a nod as he reached for his pack of cigarettes — Aiden hung back, and never once spoke up. As if to really put emphasis on how serious she was, Ashlyn grabbed Y/N by the chin, forcing his head to turn and face her's. He didn't seem too bothered. Instead, all he did was narrow his eyes, and nod again.

Y/N: ["Yes — Now go"]

Tyler: ["Oh, come on. Ashlyn!"] He turned to face her, eyes sharpened ["You can't-"]

Ashlyn: ["Y/N made his choice. He wants to stay, he stays — I trust him"] She stood up and turned to face Aiden, offering a hand to help him stand up ["We'll go in and search for the keys. He'll stay behind and be aided by Logan in dispatching any Phantoms around"]

Tyler: ["Tsc... Fine. Don't get yourself killed"]

Y/N didn't reply, and just flipped him off over his shoulder without facing to spare Tyler a glance. He puffed out some smoke after lighting his cigarette, feeling the wave of nicotine hit his brain like a freight truck after such an accident — Not like he really seemed to mind. Aiden was the last one to go in, hesitating for a moment as he still faced Y/N, who turned to look over his shoulder, and dismissed him with a nod.

Aiden went inside, and Y/N hummed as his ears licked to pick up the faint song that played in the distance, meaning that the Phantoms had completely destroyed the sound trap — In other words: More are coming. In other words: He's fucked. An annoyed groan, a sigh, a puff off his smoke, he just laid back and closed his eyes for a moment, breathing in, and out, and looking as unworried as he very commonly did.

Logan (through radio): ["There is a large wave of Phantoms heading your way!"]

Y/N: ["..."] He raised the walkie-talkie to his mouth ["Any idea how many?"]

Logan (through radio): ["From what I can see, there's about 20!"]

Y/N: ["... Alright ..."]

Y/N stood up and cracked his knuckles, sighing as he felt a bit light on the head, and dizzy on his legs. Nonetheless, nothing that a good smack to his own face didn't wake him up, and made his eyes glare forward. He reached for the shotgun with his right hand, with the left one, he picked the switch-blade from his pocket, and made his way down the small, wooden steps while humming to himself a quiet tone.

His eyes locked against the incoming wave of Phantoms, but remained unshaking. The only thing trembling were his knuckles as he tightened them around the shotgun, and narrowed his eyes further. Every step he took, he was closer to the Phantoms standing outside the ring of light built around the house, and at one point, so close that one of them immediately reached towards him — Y/N didn't flinch.

Even as the Phantom's fingertip grazed his nose, Y/N just stared the creature right in the eye. His fierce glare betrayed his shaky exhale when he saw the approaching Phantoms — He was scared. Still, he raised his hand from his hips where he picked up one of his guns, and blasted the Phantom that stood in front of him, watching him fall back-first into the grass, and slowly melt into that black-colored puddle.

◁━━━━━━━━◈━━━━━━━━▷

Taylor: ["A gunshot?!"]

Both her and Ben inside the house turned to face the outside when the loud bang echoed through the night. A few seconds later, Aiden, Ashlyn, and Tyler came rushing in through the door — The first mentioned, particularly, seemingly struggling to walk properly. They just shut the door behind them as soon as they entered the room, and let out a very relieved sigh when they saw the key dangling in the hands of Ben.

Taylor: ["What was that gunshot just now?"]

Ashlyn: ["Y/N, probably. We need to hurry, he is concussed and there are Phantoms coming"] The girl turned to face out the window as she spoke ["The shot is sure to have attracted even more Phantoms, so the sooner we get out of here, the better"] She turned to face Ben, taking the keys from his palm ["Aiden is in no condition to walk, so Ben, you carry him. When we reach downstairs we'll get in, and I will drive us back to-"]

BANG

◁━━━━━━━━◈━━━━━━━━▷

As Y/N faced forward he only saw the Phantoms coming. He, again, inhaled and exhaled, pushing out the cigarette from his mouth, and stomping against it. Facing the incoming horde, he gave a few steps back until he was deep inside the ring of light — Which didn't seem to work out to his favor. One of the Phantoms just leaped over the small garden lights, but did not have time to properly stand up again.

Y/N kicked the creature right in the face, sending him down and back-first into the light with a horrifying would-be screech, had the Phantom produced any sound. Its body served as a cover long enough so that other Phantom stepped on its chest and leaped towards Y/N, who waved to the side right before being struck, and with the revolver still in his hand, pushed the barrel of the thing against the Phantom's head.

A pull of the trigger brought the Phantom down, and with its head practically turning to goop, it also served to blind the Phantom that came right behind it — Y/N had no time to dispatch of it. Another one of the creatures had leaped through, and barely missed a swipe against Y/N, cutting bits of his shirt off as he narrowly avoided the attack by stepping back, and letting the monster pass through, and glare at him.

The boy gave a few steps back, losing a bit of the ground he had to work on as yet another Phantom came from the other side. His eyes just moved from one creature to the other as he picked up his switchblade, and put his shotgun away — "3 Shots" he thought to himself while he readied his arms. The two Phantoms continued smiling as they dashed right towards him, and Y/N, in all his generosity, did the same thing.

As the Phantoms approached, the mindless creature in the front swung at Y/N, who dodged the swipe by ducking, using the momentum of his run to also twirl around and keep carrying himself forward. Thanks to it, he was able to deliver a precise strike to the knee of the Phantom just behind the one that tried to attack and bring him down — As he stood up, he kicked away the Phantom that was blinded by the black goo.

His revolver, again, came into play as a quick pull of the trigger dispatched the Phantom at his feet — "3. 17 to go" he thought while facing ahead again. The Phantoms kept on coming, and his space was getting shorter, and he had no choice but to start backing away quickly as the creatures kept on flooding. He passed through the Phantom that had missed its strike, again dodging under its large swing, and stabbing the creature on the back of its legs as he rapidly ran by its side.

He found himself in quite the predicament as the creatures kept swarming him, but unable to get too close as he went up the wooden steps, and near the house. Since there was only one way to get to him, they only flooded and practically made a queue where only a select few could actually swing at him — Of course, Y/N took full advantage of it, especially when he heard another gunshot echo not too far away.

One of the creatures on the back fell, and the Phantoms were distracted just long enough to where Y/N could aim his gun, and dump the two other bullets he had. A click after the third pull was enough to make him groan internally, and just literally chuck the pistol at the Phantoms, who recoiled also thanks to this gunfire. He stepped ahead, kicking them down and, since they were so clumped, most fell.

He took the opportunity to leap over them, stomping a few as he made his way over the fallen horde and back at the front of the garden again, and ran through the lights. The wave of Phantoms now stood up again, a bit clumsy since so many were together, which gave Y/N just enough time to pick up his Brixia 1911. The creatures were still as mindless, and again, the horde rushed at him — Now free to disperse.

Though, since he was so close to the lights, they had little space to move and jump over before being met with a bullet, or a knife, to the body — And Y/N took full advantage of it. A perfect choke point where he was in front, and the lights on the back, and the Phantoms were caught right in the middle. So many of them together that they had to disperse instead of attacking, which allowed him to strike back.

As he caught one of their strikes, going a bit too close and using his arm to stop the creature's own by pushing their forearms together, Y/N brought his knife to the being's chest, and pushed it away and on top of the lights — 5. One of the creatures with a bullet hole through its chest also came in swinging wildly, giving Y/N just enough room to step back, but not enough time to see the Phantom behind him.

The thin line he had to work with had already been breached as the Phantoms poured through the side, and one of them slashed at his back. He recoiled a bit due to the stinging sensation, but no pain washed over as he rapidly turned around to smack the creature in the jaw with the pummel of his blade. Of course, now he had to move away from the horde, so he went low, ducking over the many claws on top.

He brought his arms around one of the Phantom's legs, and thanks to them being so skinny, it was no trouble for him to push it forward and away from him. Thanks to a clump of them having been formed, one brought down many as he shoved them away. It also gave Y/N just enough time to turn around, picking up his knife and using it to stab another Phantom that wildly came swinging, right against the thing's chest.

He again side-stepped a strike, turning around and running over the mass of Phantoms he had just shoved down, and jumping over them, and into the protection of the lights once more. Since the Phantoms had to leap over the thing, it gave Y/N enough time to bring his gun out, and as they landed, dispatch of another two — 7. He again ran towards the stairs, allowing the Phantoms to come running at him.

Just like before, he kicked the first one down, causing him to fall and shove away a few others. Though a couple came swinging right at him, leaping over their fallen comrades and taking a strike towards Y/N. He was vastly outnumbered, so even if he managed to block the strike, attacking again would just result in him getting hit once more. The blood dripped from his back as he made his way inside the living room.

He used the running momentum to kick a potted plant towards the Phantom in the front, stunning it just long enough so that Y/N could wrap his arms around its waist, and run with it in his arms to block off the door. Just like before, they were all clumped up, which allowed him to bring down many of them by pushing away the one he had just struck — And now, killed by pushing his knife into the creature's neck.

Though it wasn't all free, as the creature still managed to puncture Y/N's thigh with its hand that flailed around wildly when Y/N mounted it and, by consequence of the creature being atop them, the rest of the Phantoms. Y/N just hissed at the pinching feeling that he felt, but thanks to all the adrenaline being shot in his system, he had no time to register it as he backed away again — The door was practically blocked.

There were so many of them standing guard, that all he could do was hang back inside the living room, watching as the creatures failed to find a proper footing thanks to the huge mounds of them that were pushed together. Y/N took this time to catch his breath, resting his hands against his knees as everything began to spin, and lose focus — The concussion and its effects were starting to come back.

He just turned around, vomiting out thanks to the dizziness he felt, and through a blur, he could only see the Phantoms starting to get proper standing as he lost his balance. He fell ass-first into the staircase that led to the room of Ashlyn and her parents, and even if not actually there, Y/N could feel it — Cold, shivering rain. His eyes flashed white, everything made him shiver, and all he heard was a scream.

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A car.

And then a crash.

A smile through bloodied lips.

["We-... -Amage-... -Permament..."]

...Y/N...

["Who-...-you?"]

... ...-ke up!

["She-....-Alright"]

... Pha-...-Irst flo-... -Y/N-...-Ssed out-...-Gain!

◁━━━━━━━━◈━━━━━━━━▷

His eyes flustered for a moment again, barely able to compose themselves before his instincts immediately kicked in again — He narrowly avoided getting stabbed right in the face. The Phantom's claws dug so close to his face that they left a cut on his cheek, barely avoiding his eye. With this close of a distance, Y/N struggled a bit, but was able to bring both knees up to his chest in order to kick the Phantom atop him.

He managed to send the creature back enough so that he could hurry to his feet and pull out the shotgun from his back — His arms were shaking more than usual. It was only after the Phantom stood up from being kicked, hissed at him, and dashed towards him again, that Y/N managed to hit a shot, one that almost cost him an eye. The Phantom had a massive hole in its chest, and Y/N a gashing wound on his brow.

He just wiped it away with his forearm, kicking up to his feet and trying to see past the red not of anger, but of his own blood. The taste of iron was surprisingly strong as he turned to cough a few more crimson droplets, likely a side effect of whatever that concussion was doing to him — Still, he steeled up his nerves and took a deep breath. Finding his arms starting to stabilize again, he watched the living room door.

The Phantoms were still struggling to get inside, and some even stopped completely when another shot killed a second one — 9. Y/N made a mental note to thank Logan for all the support, and turned towards the upper floor for a moment. If he went there now, he would risk everyone also being fucked over with the amount of Phantoms waiting for them, so maybe clearing out one or two more was the right call, no?

Surely in his state he could take a few more, even as he had to wipe out some more blood from his eye. Keeping the other eye open is what allowed Y/N to notice when one second Phantom broke through the wave, and dashed right at him. Just like before, Y/N met the Phantom's speed, and ducked under its swing. Though, instead of a knife to the knee, he pushed the shotgun and carried the creature on its barrel.

As he pushed them back to the line of Phantoms, a pull of the trigger sent its back blown away — 10. 11. 12. 13. Y/N just kept pulling the trigger repeatedly as wildly as he could in a very blind manner, though with the amassed blob of Phantoms, it was no surprise that wherever he fired, some would die. With only a few remaining, he had no choice but to back off as they began to pour through with the huge amounts now deceased. Of course, that didn't stop him from taking out two more as he moved.

He ran upstairs, crashing through the door and closing it as he went in, pushing his back against it. Breathing in and out rather heavily thanks to the amount of stamina depleted, and the fact that the adrenaline pumping through his veins was starting to wear off, everyone yelped when he came in like a bull, but calmed down rather quickly. Ashlyn was about to speak when Y/N's legs gave out, and he dropped.

He coughed violently, barely able to contain himself or the drops of scarlet blood from his lips, or dropping from his wounds. At that moment, Ashlyn noticed the terrible state he was in — His back had a gash across it, his brow was cut, and he had a small wound on his cheek as well. She did not hesitate, and rapidly dropped to one knee, and wrapped one of his arms around her shoulders to help him stand up.

Ashlyn: ["He's losing a lot of blood. We need to go-"] A loud crash of glass shattering came from downstairs ["Oh motherf-... Logan! Any idea of what was that just now?!"]

Logan (through radio): ["A lot more Phantoms. Probably a couple dozen of them, they were likely attracted by all the gunfire!"] Ashlyn groaned again as she picked up one of her many flashlights upon turning on the headlight on her forehead ["Y/N managed to clear a path, though — The dead ones are blocking a few more from entering completely"]

Ashlyn: ["... Let's go"]

Taylor: ["Wait! Shouldn't we take care of Y/N first?!"]

Y/N: ["Do it on the car or when we get to the graveyard"] He used his free hand to cover his mouth as he coughed ["Let's get out of here already — I'm tired of this place..."]

Ashlyn: ["You heard the man — Y/N, you stick close to me, can you hold a flashlight?"] He gave her a weak nod, prompting the girl to hand the flashlight to him ["You're gonna keep this active, and-"] She clicked the headlight on his forehead ["This, too. We'll walk on a circle, everyone got each other's back, and we'll keep a light shining on any Phantoms"] Everyone gathered around, even Y/N who kept his free hand with the flashlight, gave a few, weak steps in support with Ashlyn ["We'll walk like this to the car, and then we'll-"]

The girl went quiet as a sudden force pulled her. Y/N, twisting his body around, took Ashlyn away from where she was standing, and the only thing she could see was a dark claw swiping at where her face was. Immediately everyone turned to shine a light at the Phantom that had broken through the window, but a squeal from Taylor prompted her to aim her own light at a Phantom that was crawling on the ceiling.

Aiden and Ben kept their lights aimed at two Phantoms that crawled in from the other window — The taller which carried the blonde on his shoulders. He still had his same crazed smile as usual, and Ashlyn just pushed her body a bit against Y/N to keep him up when he coughed up some more blood. Ashlyn glanced around, narrowing her eyes for a moment before inhaling and exhaling, steeling her nerves with a nod.

Ashlyn: ["Me and Aiden will watch the ceilings — The rest cover around us"]

There were no more words exchanged as they moved downstairs. Slowly but surely, with Y/N and Ashlyn remaining in last place and walking backwards. The girl guided him around properly and carefully with gentle tugs and whispers, making sure that he was moving slowly, especially when they descended the stairs — Peeking over her shoulder, she came to a grinding halt. It didn't help when Tyler groaned in fear.

Tyler: ["... You've got to be kidding me"]

Everyone stood still for a moment before Aiden chuckled, and with a gentle tug, made Ben start to step ahead. The two went in first, with Taylor and Tyler right behind, followed lastly by Y/N and Ashlyn. The former which just shared a quick nod with one another as, with one hand, Ashlyn also waved her flashlights around. Y/N had no regard when he spat some blood against the face of a Phantom as he walked.

Though the creature hissed at him, a simple point of the flashlight, and a middle finger, was enough for it to back off. Ashlyn, though kinda wanting to scold his move, just let it slide — This was the first she ever saw this much emotion from him. He was clearly exhausted, maybe pissed off and, who knows, perhaps pretty mad. Everyone kept a tight look, not saying a single word as they slowly moved through the wave.

Logan (through radio): ["Guys, there are Phantoms on the roof, be careful!"]

Ashlyn just hummed a reply as soon as they stepped out and into the porch, moving over the black goop of the various creatures — Aiden looked excitedly at the garden, seeing various of the puddles, he excitedly turned to face Y/N. Even hearing him breathe in, he just raised five fingers, closed his hand, five again, closed, and then five once more. He heard Aiden chuckling over his shoulder as the jeep beeped.

Upon pulling the door of the front seat open, Ashlyn let Y/N inside, and he thanked her with a quick nod, but still kept his flashlight raised. He aided Ben and Tyler who kept guard around the car while everyone went inside. A gunshot, and a Phantom dropping on top of the jeep was all Y/N needed to silently thank Logan in his mind. Still, he just reached down into his packet, and pulled out a cigarette for himself.

Taylor: ["Get in!"]

The girls' words were the only thing everyone needed to immediately hop in their seats. The moment the light no longer held them, the Phantoms leaped ahead with terrifying speed, crashing their claws through the windows. Ashlyn hissed at the sound of Y/N's gun being aimed over his shoulder and the trigger pulled as he shot all four Phantoms with a scary precision with each shot passing close by everyone.

Flooring the car like her life depended on it — Which it kinda did — Taylor shot off while everyone relaxed for a moment. Y/N just sunk into his seat, struggling to light himself the cigarette until two arms came from around his seat, took the lighter, and lit it for him. A glance over his shoulder revealed a smiling Aiden, who winked at him in a friendly expression, to which Y/N just nodded as a thanks, and took a drag.

Back in the graveyard, Logan hopped off of the bus he was, hurrying as he dropped his gun and ran to the gate. He leaped and pressed the button of the gates and watched them open slowly, in the not-so-far distance, the car came at high speeds. It swerved right in, and Logan tapped the button again to close the gates — Everything went silent. For a while, there was no sound, until the door of the car opened up.

Tyler muttered while stumbling out, falling to his knees and emptying out his guns into the ground. Everyone stepped off afterwards, with Aiden and Ashlyn helping out Y/N — Who put off his cigarette so as to not breathe it into their faces — and everyone gathered around. There were no words exchanged, only groans, sighs, and exhales. Every single person was clearly very much exhausted, tired beyond belief.

They shared glances. Quiet, slow, and monotonous — No one dared to break this oh-so-sacred quietness. Logan tightened his grip around his suit, silently wishing he could've done more to help. In disbelief, Taylor stared at the jeep keys in her hands. Tyler was still puking out his guts while Ben helped Aiden stand properly. Ashlyn was about to speak up, to see if she could try and lighten up the mood around, until...

Y/N: ["... Hum... You know what?"]

Y/N: ["I just might need to change my name to Oh Dae-Su after tonight"]

<<<<<< I >[---]< I >>>>>>

[Published in - 04/29/24]
[Word Count - 4.850]

Yeaaaaaah... That whole thing of "wrapping up before May"? Probably not gonna happen. Man, screw depression fucking me over when I wanted to write the most — Sorry this chapter took so damn long to release, y'all. Regardless, it is finally here, and I have nothing to talk about, so uh... Go read Gachiakuta, watch Mr. Robot, fuck the state, and the soil should be from 6.2 to 6.8 pH for regular-sized tomatoes.

If you didn't get the reference at the ending of the chapter...

Shame on you... Shame on you...