My laptop broke so I had to borrow one to write this chapter and also I have a final exam on Monday

...

Here's the next chapter, AYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!


Egg 1.6


Taylor groaned as she lay on the hard concrete ground.

Pushing herself off of the ground, she took a quick second to glare at Lisa, who was now staring at what was at the end of the alleyway before Taylor herself belatedly turned her head as well, already knowing what was there. She had seen the ABB members first after all, right before Lisa had barrelled over onto the ground.

The day had... not gone well so far. Lisa was... an interesting person? Personally, Taylor didn't like her much on account of her nosiness however the other girl had bought her clothing for some reason.

Which definitely wasn't suspicious at all, and Taylor had half a mind to put her in the same category as the Trio but then she had thought about it a bit and realized that Lisa had done nothing to deserve that kind of categorization. So far at least.

All that being said, while Taylor did wish she could have a few moments to figure out what Lisa's deal was, she had been too busy trying to find, and then subsequently getting found by the goose.

The worst part about all of it was that the goose repellant hadn't worked. It had been a long shot, she would be the first to admit that, but it was disheartening all the same.

Then of course there was her current situation.

Sitting on the ground facing a dozen ABB members with actual weapons with no one but another teenage girl at her side.

Par for the course I guess...

Yet despite all her experiences in the last... week? Taylor was momentarily distracted by the fact that it had only been a week since the locker incident, but before long, her mind was dragged right back into her current situation.

As bad as the goose was, as much as it had made her life a living hell for the past few days, it had never done any serious harm. It seemed to strive for chaos over brutality and as the "master," of the goose projection, Taylor was mostly sure that it wouldn't kill her. It had had plenty of opportunity to do so after all and yet it had never taken any of those chances, preferring instead to make her life more difficult instead.

Here... there was no guarantee of any of that. The ABB members looked out of it, and Taylor found herself flinching away at the look in their eyes. They were all in some state of intoxication, which wasn't surprising considering what they had been doing when Lisa and she had stumbled into their alleyway, however it also added an extra uncontrollable element to the situation.

There was no telling what they would do, what they would decide to do in the heat of the moment in states like that. It was one of the many reasons why she hated, hated drugs. In Winslow, many students took them, which again, not much of a surprise, however whenever she was near one of them, it had made her feel anxious. There was always the lurking threat of danger there, of a sudden lack of control or a short lapse in judgement.

Now, here in this alleyway, all her worst fears were confirmed.

Beside her, Lisa shifted in place, eyes wide.

For the first time since they had met, Taylor felt that they on the same page.

Then Lisa stepped forward with her hands up.

"Hey, hey no need for violence."

Taylor looked on in disbelief as Lisa stretched herself up as far as she could, standing tall against the weapon-wielding gang members as a small confident smile replaced her shocked expression.

Is she insane?

That was just her luck. Lisa was mentally touched. And she was tied to her in the situation by virtue of having arrived in it together.

She's going to get us both killed...oh god this is where I die.

Taylor started to hesitantly step back away from the alleyway, still watching as Lisa approached the gang members, eyes flicking from the scene to the exit of the alleyway even as the gang members pressed closer.

She needed to get out, but she doubted that she could outrun the gang members, even in their intoxicated state. And she doubted that the police would get to the scene in time to save her if someone did call them. Of course she couldn't do so herself because she didn't have a damn phone.

Taylor vowed in that moment that if she lived the day, then she would get a phone, her dad's wishes be damned.

"Look, we were just passing by. But if it's a fight you're looking for, I'd be happy to give you one."

What the fuck.

Taylor watched in horror as Lisa pulled out what looked to be a hidden combat knife from her waist before staring down the gang members in the alleyway.

Then, the ABB members visibly hesitated, as the one closest to Lisa looked her up and down before stumbling to the side a bit with an unfocused gaze. Behind him, the one with a gun looked to be similarly hesitant.

Holy shit.

"Alright, then we'll just part ways here."

Lisa started to back away, putting one foot behind another in a smooth easy motion, as if she wasn't walking away from several people who could kill her, before she eventually stood beside Taylor.

"Come on, lets go."

It was more a whisper than anything but Taylor gave the smallest of nods in return before following Lisa's lead. While she had no clue how Lisa had managed to pull that off, she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

She began to take her first step back with Lisa beside her, tension now choking the air as the gang members looked back at them, still unmoving with hazed gazes. Taylor felt her heart beating in her chest as she resisted the urge to swallow her spit.

Lisa still had that same smile on her face, and her entire body portrayed quiet confidence, the opposite of what Taylor was feeling.

The silence dragged on, interrupted only by the sound of soft footsteps as Lisa and Taylor made their way to the end of the alleyway, right in front of the corner to the rest of the street.

Taylor hid her internal panicking as best she could, and eventually the pair of teenagers stood in front of the corner, still within sight of the gang members but also in sight of the street around the corner.

Yet still, she kept her eyes on the ABB members. There was no telling if they would stay standing there, and she wasn't about to risk turning away from them.

Even as something appeared in her peripheral vision, she ignored it. Now was no time to be distracted by a white ball.

A white ball.

A... white ball.

A... white... ball.

Suddenly, her entire world was white.

Then it was pain.

Taylor felt ringing in her ears as the familiar cold of the pavement greeted her sense of touch. Yet that was not where the pain originated, instead it was from her shoulder, which now throbbed with hurt.

She could hear distant yelling around her, however the ringing drowned out everything for a few moments as she struggled to get her bearings before she eventually shakily lifted her head and blinked, trying to see what was going on.

When her eyes finally cleared, she froze, the scene in front of her suddenly overwhelming the dizziness that she felt.

In front of her, Lisa stood fighting one of the gang members, dodging away from his brass knuckle bound fists as the gang member roared out a challenge and chased her down.

Then Taylor noticed the body. It took a second or two to recognize who it was, but eventually she figured out that it was the gang member who had wielded the gun. Yet now he was clearly down and out on the ground, arms and legs splayed wide over the pavement.

She looked down at the gang member. Then she looked over at her shoulder before looking back to the entrance of the alleyway.

...ah.

She turned back to the scene in front of her, right before the ringing in her ears finally cleared and the distant screaming now became very, very close.

In front of her, a familiar white shape was wrapped around the face of one of the ABB members as the goose tried its best to peck the man's face off as the man tried his best to get the goose off of him with limited success.

Even as Taylor watched, the man grabbed the goose with both hands and tried to pry it away from his face. The goose resisted, wings latched onto the man's ears yet after a moment, the man finally got the goose off. Yet as he did so, the goose turned and bit his hand, causing the man to shriek in pain, suddenly letting go of the goose while it was still in motion.

Carried by momentum, the goose flew through the air, wings unfurling to their full length before the goose swerved mid air and slammed its entire body into another of the gang member's pelvic region, causing him to collapse to the ground instantly in pain as the goose stepped over the man's head as he fell to get a jumping start into its next flight.

At this point Taylor finally pushed herself off of the ground, now sitting instead of kissing the pavement, just as one of the gang members noticed that she wasn't dead.

With a knife in hand, the ABB member broke out into a run over to her, knife flashing dangerously from the light in the alleyway.

Taylor raised her arms in front of her face instinctively as she tried her best to shove herself backwards yet it proved futile as the ABB girl reached her in seconds, knife swinging toward her arms as a cold chill and terror ran down Taylor's spine as her entire body screamed while bracing for pain.

Then, impact.

Taylor felt herself getting thrown to the ground from her sitting position, instinct causing her arms to swing to hit the ground first instead of her face, causing her to yell in pain as the pavement and her arms hit.

Thankfully her hoodie served as a barrier between her bare arms and the concrete but it still hurt all the same before she suddenly felt something hitting her side as something fell over her, an object impacting her entire back before being sent off of it and into the wall beside her.

Taylor groaned as she pushed herself off the ground for what felt like the tenth time as she came face to face with the unconscious figure of the ABB girl now lying on the ground beside her, with what looked to be a small amount of blood coming out of the side of her head.

Turning her head over to the side, she spotted the goose, now standing on the ground facing her.

Taylor didn't know how she could tell, but smugness radiated off of the waterfowl in waves.

Then, she came to a realization.

The goose... saved me? No, that can't be right..."

She looked back at the unconscious body beside her. The ABB girl had clearly been about to strike her when Taylor had been hit by something, presumably the goose, sending her to the ground. So from that, she assumed that the feeling of something hitting her side then her back must have been the gang member tripping over her body, not having expected for Taylor to suddenly get sent to the ground by something the ABB girl couldn't see.

The goose saved me... by attacking me...

Taylor didn't know what to think about that.

"AH!"

She whipped her head around at the sudden scream as Lisa tumbled to the ground as another ABB member stood over her, reaching down with a knife to inflict a fatal blow.

Before Taylor knew what she was doing, she reached out her hands to grab the goose, however a split second before she touched it, a veil of darkness suddenly extended down into the alleyway, sending everything and everyone into it without discrimination.

Yet even as Taylor was surprised at the sudden darkness, she managed to grab onto the goose, which let out an affronted honk right before Taylor tossed it blindly into the darkness in the general direction of where Lisa had been.

For a second, the sounds of confused yelling and angry honks filled the pitch black alleyway before a sudden sharp distorted yell of pain echoed out as the unmistakable sound of a collision rang out. The next seconds, two clear thuds resonated through the pavement and Taylor sat frozen in place as the fight continued without her, the sharp sounds of pain interspersed with grunts, groans and the sound of people being hit and knocked to the ground.

"THIS WASN'T THE PLAN!"

Taylor took a moment to recognize the voice as Lisa's, which was good because that meant Lisa wasn't dead but on the other hand...

What plan? Threatening the gang members with violence when it was only two of us and ten of them? With only one of us having a weapon and one of the gang members having a gun?

Still, as much as Lisa's plan had been godawful on paper, the thing was it had almost worked. Almost being the operative word there.

If it hadn't been for the damn goose, they could have escaped this situation entirely. Now she was stuck unable to see anything with a fight going on around her that she wanted no part of.

Taylor sighed before laying down on the alleyway floor, which was now just as familiar as her home was.

She hadn't been able to do much to help in the situation in the first place and the darkness had only made the issue worse. She would just have to wait and see what happened. It was pretty clear that the darkness was a result of a cape, and if they wanted to harm her, there wasn't a whole lot she could do about it.

Of course, that was exactly when someone backed up into her, falling over her in an oomph that had Taylor scrambling to get as far away in the darkness as possible.

Her heart started to race in her chest again as she heard the person fumbling around in the dark, cursing under their breath before the voice turned toward her general direction.

"Hey, you wouldn't happen to be asian, would you?"

Taylor blinked, stunned by the uninterested and lackadaisical question, so much so that she responded without thinking.

"Uhh... no?"

"Good. I'm just going to relax over here then until the fight ends."

Taylor considered the statement for a moment. If he had asked if she was asian or not, and didn't attack her when she had responded negatively, it was pretty clear that the person was likely with the cape instead of the ABB. Which still wasn't ideal of course as she had no clue who they were and what they wanted due to the darkness, so she started to inch further from where the person's voice had last come from before the person spoke again.

"Oh right, would you happen to know who took out the guy in the skull mask?"

"Who?"

"Right, the darkness. Well, I guess it doesn't really matter that much, I'm sure the others have this handled."

Taylor almost asked who the others were, before stopping herself, figuring it probably wasn't a good idea.

Suddenly, barks began to echo out from the alleyway, causing Taylor's hairs to stand on end before the sound of yelling increased exponentially, even as the unknown person in front of her started to mutter under his breath again. The only thing Taylor caught were a few swears before all of a sudden, the darkness receded, the alleyway clearing up as the sunlight shined down on the concrete pavement.

Taylor was blinded by the sudden change in lighting, causing her to close her eyes and bring her hands in front of them to stop the light before she eventually opened them again, blinking rapidly to clear out the spots of darkness in her eyes.

The first thing she noticed were the unconscious bodies all across the floor, and as she raised her head Taylor realized that no ABB members had been left standing from the fight, as they were now all on the ground. Then, her attention was quickly stolen by the sight around her.

Is that a skull mask?

Taylor watched as a man with a skull mask lifted himself off of the floor while clutching his head, groaning in pain. Beside him was the body of the ABB member that Taylor remembered as the one who had attacked Lisa before the darkness had spread across the alleyway.

Wait, didn't that gu-holy shit.

Sitting next to her was a person decked out in full renaissance clothing, with a matching theatre mask on his face. From his location, Taylor very quickly realized that the mask wearing person was the very same guy who had tripped over her and talked to her only moments prior.

Then she noticed the dogs. They were... massive, more monster than animal and Taylor could only watch in horror as they turned to her, each sniffing the air while growling.

"Stand down Bitch. The fight is over. She's not a threat.

"...fine."

Taylor looked over at the source of the voice, to see a person in what looked to be a dog mask turning away while waving at the dogs. To Taylor's surprise, the dogs actually listened and backed away from her. Then she looked back at skull mask, who had spoken first, now standing up despite his apparent injuries.

Wait did that guy just call her a bitch?

Yet before she could reason out the ramifications of that, she finally noticed the last standing person in the alleyway, Lisa, who was leaning against one of the walls of the alleyway taking deep breaths. She looked to be in pain as she was clutching one of her arms, and her head was down with her blonde hair cascading over her head to form a curtain that hid her face from view.

There was only one thing missing from the scene, and that, more so than the capes, for what else could they be, in front of her, filled her with dread.

The goose was gone.

"...fuck."

"What was that?"

Taylor returned her attention back to the capes, and stared at the skull mask guy who had just spoken and was now looking at her.

"O-Oh, uh, nothing?"

"...right."

He turned to look at Lisa, who was still in the same position as before, before turning back to Taylor.

"You're both coming with us."

Taylor thought about what he said for a moment as exhaustion, both mental and physical started to catch up to her. After a short moment, she gave him a small absent nod.

"Y-yea, that... sounds about right..."


A/N:

Writing all the misunderstands and confusion in this chapter filled me with great joy.

Anyways, not much to say here, like I said in the intro, my laptop broke so I had to borrow one to write this chapter. Also final exam season is coming up quickly as well, so I might miss a chapter or two, we'll see though.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!