Chapter Text
Fleeing the country was not the original plan.
It hadn’t even been a backup plan. None of the group wanted to go so far from their families while they were comatose, even less so while they were in that facility. Getting to New York and getting help had been the priority.
But then they’d been separated. Not for long, luckily. Aiden and Tyler had managed to bust open the luggage compartment of that bus and escape onto the side of the road. Taylor and Logan woke up––which Logan thinks might be a sign of everyone’s metabolic rates increasing––and crashed the car driving them back. Ashlyn and Ben had stayed in town, making sure the motel room was still safe before going back in. All in all, it was a rare stroke of luck: everyone wound up back at the motel within the day.
Well. A stroke of luck if you don’t count that now the whole country thought they were some kind of freaky zombie murderers(which Ashlyn does). It made the process of getting to New York significantly more difficult. As Aiden brought up, it might have been pointless in the first place. The facility they’d been at may have gone rogue, but they’d still control the narrative when their superiors came knocking. With the group already discredited publicly, it’d take next to nothing for Maverick to pass an inspection.
That was around the point in the despair spiral when the Magnus Institute came up, thanks to Taylor.
The Institute was an idea they’d put off for the future. Aiden’s parents had brought it up, an organization based in London that recorded and researched ‘supernatural’ phenomena. They apparently had a massive library open to the public, along with some artefacts and an archive.
It was the first place they’d heard of that might contain information about the phantom dimension, or at least anything similar. Logan had brightened immediately. Taylor asked when they could go, pulling Tyler in on her enthusiasm from the facetime call he’d been listening in with. Obviously, everyone had school and work, but apparently Aiden’s parents kept a flat in London(rich people, Ashlyn thought), and it wouldn’t be too hard to arrange a trip during summer vacation.
It had been a point of hope for them to look forward to; something between the endless panic of survival and their return to Savannah next year. Sitting in a circle in the woods, bruised and frustrated, Taylor suggested it as a new plan. The fake story about the group probably wouldn’t go out internationally, and going somewhere that could actually know something about the phantoms might be the best way to save their parents in time. No one else had a better plan. Aiden agreed enthusiastically, though that was probably for the thrill of it, but in the end everyone agreed.
Getting out of the country wasn’t actually that hard. Apparently Logan’s crime family ties extended to him knowing a couple safehouses and people who could forge travel documents. Within a few days, they were all eighteen year old high school graduates going on a last trip together before college. Aiden, who apparently had various card and bank account details from his parents memorized, managed to get them plane tickets. By some miracle, a week later they were hailing a taxi at Heathrow.
Everyone, including Ashlyn, had wanted to get to the Institute as soon as possible. At the same time, they all agreed they had to get to the flat and make sure it would be safe by midnight.
Which leads to now.
The flat––predictably––was big, tastefully decorated, and completely devoid of food or any heavy duty first aid supplies. Since no one wants to split up again any time soon, they’re all meandering through the candy aisle of a supermarket with seven hours to midnight. Ben is pushing the cart while Aiden jumps around, snagging cookies and candy until Ashlyn finally gets fed up and snatches half of them out of his arms.
“Hey!” Aiden whines. He tries to snatch them back, but only succeeds in dropping more bags.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“No.”
“But I’m paying!”
“And we don’t know how long it’ll take the bank to send you the new card, so until then all we’ve got is the cash,” Ashlyn says, already halfway through reshelving the candy. ‘The cash’ being the max amount Aiden was able to get out of an ATM at the airport with his parents’ pin. “We need to make sure we have what we need.”
The cart is already filling up with food and medical supplies. They’ll need another taxi to get it back to the flat at this rate.
Just as the thought comes to Ashlyn’s mind, Taylor and Tyler reappear with their arms full of flashlights and batteries to add to the pile.
“The cashier’s gonna think we’re crazy,” Tyler says. “Why do you have so much chocolate?”
“When in Rome, halfwit.” Aiden drops his assortment of British candy into the cart. “And Ash already stole half my haul.”
“She should’ve stolen more,” Tyler says.
“Actually, I want to try some of this.” Taylor picks up a Cadbury egg. “I’ve never had British candy before.”
Tyler rolls his eyes as Logan checks the lights and batteries off their list. “Do you think we’ll have time to find the generator?” he asks. “Do you think they look the same as American ones?”
“Probably, but we’ll need adaptors if we want to plug anything in.” Ashlyn leans over his shoulder to look for the next thing. “Do we want to try sporting goods or kitchen utensils for weapons?”
“Both,” Tyler says.
“Both is good,” Taylor adds.
“Great. You guys go kitchen, we’ll do sports.”
“I’m going with them,” Aiden immediately adds. Obviously, he’ll want to choose a few knives. Ashlyn just nods as he and the twins head off, and she, Ben, and Logan turn towards the sporting goods section.
They grab a few bats, a few different braces for various limbs, and meet again for Aiden to put way more knives than they actually need into the cart. After a short stop for adaptors, they go through checkout, where the cashier does, in fact, look at them like they’re insane. Ashlyn figures they’re probably upholding some of the more disturbing American stereotypes, especially with Aiden’s fuckass grin.
When they get back to the flat, there’s five hours left. Ben and Logan go out to find out if the building has a generator while everyone else starts setting up the living room as headquarters.
“Hey, guys?” Taylor looks out the window, pausing her setup of their intended blanket nest. “You don’t think being in a bigger city’s going to change how many phantoms there are, do you?”
Ashlyn wishes she didn’t feel the cold realization as it settled over the four of them. Even Aiden’s smile dimmed for a moment where he was putting away groceries. Pausing his own work on the blankets, Tyler and Ashlyn shared a grim look.
Well. If the city would make it riskier at night, there was no point lying to themselves about it. “If their populations are proportional to humans, probably,” Ashlyn says. She snaps the battery compartment of another flashlight closed. “But there probably won’t be a huge wave in here either way.”
“Since we’re so high up,” Aiden adds, “At least we’ve got a decent vantage point. We can try to see how crowded it is on the ground, maybe figure out a way to the Institute.”
“Maybe, but we’re definitely not getting there tonight,” Tyler says.
“Not with that attitude.”
Tyler’s scowl deepens. “What, do you want to wade through armies of phantoms with no idea where we’re going?”
Aiden grins wider. “We know where we’re going. To the Institute.”
“Which is three miles away!” Tyler throws down the pillow he’s holding to turn the full force of his glare on Aiden. Taylor gives Ashlyn a worried look, which she returns with exhaustion. “We don’t know what we’re dealing with. We don’t have any long range weapons––which, by the way, how the hell are we gonna get guns in fucking England––we barely have any light, there’s no way we could drive anywhere with the amount of cars that’ll be on the street, and––”
“Wait a minute.” Taylor goes back to the window, eyes sharpening the way they do when she’s had an idea.
Tyler startles a little. He’d been locked on Aiden and working himself into a decent rage that Ashlyn wasn’t looking forward to intervening in––not for the first time, she quietly acknowledges that Taylor is her hero. “What?”
“The cars on the street,” Taylor says, pointing. Ashlyn and the others join her at the window to look upon the clusterfuck of London’s streets. “The ones on the street’ll be still in the phantom dimension, right? But someone would have to be driving them, so the keys will be there. If we turn them on, then we get the headlights on––”
“We’d be able to light a path!” Aiden finishes.
Taylor beams at him. “Exactly!” They grin at each other with way more excitement than the situation warrants. Sometimes, Ashlyn swears Taylor’s just as much of an adrenaline junkie as Aiden, especially if she wants to try an idea.
This one, though, she agrees with. “We’ll have to clear the building first,” she says, squinting down at the roads. “It’s got to be a safe base before we do anything. And I’d like to try and get some better lights before we go outside at all. But it could work.”
Tyler nods slowly. “It’d take time, but it could keep the path safe at night.” He shoves Taylor lightly. “Good idea.”
She nods, and they spend another moment looking out the window before Aiden pipes up.
“Do you think the phantoms are gonna sound British?”
**********
For how nice the Clark’s apartment is, the building it’s in isn’t actually that big. Logan and Ben make it through a cursory sweep of every floor pretty quickly and come up with nothing. The walls are pretty thin, though. They can hear people in the apartments. People eating dinner, watching TV, spending time with their families.
The sounds of normalcy are striking enough to form a lump in Logan’s throat. He imagines his grandparents––all of their families––back at the facility, physical bodies hooked up to machines while they fight to survive in the phantom dimension. One look at Ben, and he knows he’s thinking the same.
“I know we had to leave,” he says quietly, “but it still feels like we’re letting them die.”
Ben presses his lips together. “Won’t die,” he signs. “Will get back.”
“I hope so.” The pit in his stomach doesn’t leave much room for hope, but Logan can’t bear to act otherwise. “Would the generator be on the roof?”
Ben shrugs. They head back upstairs.
The roof access door, unfortunately, requires a key. Logan and Ben exchange looks.
“Me,” Ben signs, “or A-I-D-E-N?”
They both know Aiden’s got a set of lockpicks on him. Apparently he picked it up for fun a few years ago and now just keeps them around ‘in case the mood strikes him’, whatever that means.
“I think Aiden. We can’t start breaking stuff off the bat,” Logan says. Ben nods, and they begin to turn back for the stairs when a voice stops them.
“Why do you want to get on the roof?”
Freezing, Logan and Ben turn in sync to look at who found them. She’s a Black woman with her hair in a neat ponytail, wearing a soft orange sweater and jeans. Her arms are crossed, and she arches a brow at them.
“Uh.” Logan cringes at his own nerves, and her brow furrows.
“You're American. We don’t have any Americans living here.”
Ben pulls out their shared phone and types rapidly, then holds it out to the woman. She stretches her arm out to take it, not stepping any closer. “We’re visiting…one of the apartments on the fourth floor…trying to figure out if there’s a generator in case of power outages. Huh.” The suspicion stays on her face, but she hands the phone back. “Well, the building doesn’t have a backup generator, but we generally don’t have many power issues, so I doubt it’ll be a problem while you’re here. Which apartment?”
“Four sixteen,” Logan says.
The woman makes a surprised face. “Sounds like you’re right below me. I always figured I had quiet neighbors…” She makes an eh face. “Well, cool, I guess. I’m Georgie.”
“I’m Logan.”
“Ben,” Ben types out.
“Nice to meet you both, I guess. I doubt you’ll see me around much, but tell your parents to let me know if I’m being too loud at night, okay? I’ve got a guest over and he might pace at weird hours.”
“We will!” Logan smiles, maybe a bit too wide for the situation. Please don’t notice we don’t have parents. “Nice to meet you, Georgie. Uh––bye!”
Ben smiles at her, and they both book it back into the stairwell.
“At least she didn’t ask to meet them?” Logan asks.
Ben sighs heavily and nods. “No G-E-N-E-R-A-T-O-R.”
“Yeah.” Which means the only light they’ll have tonight will be the flashlights. “Hopefully Aiden can order us more of those solar lights? They wouldn’t be able to track us here with transactions, right?
Ben’s face is doubtful. “Maybe.”
Logan can imagine how the group will react to the news. Tyler will be frustrated. Taylor will start trying to figure out how to use the lights they have to keep the room safe. Ashlyn will try to pass her catastrophizing off as resignation. Aiden won’t stop smiling, but he’ll choose a longer knife when the time comes.
“Let’s head back,” Ben signs.
“Yeah.” Squaring his shoulders, Logan nods. “We’ve only got a few hours til midnight. We should stay close.”