The gym was packed with people from on and off-campus. Home VS Away, 31 to 12. They were winning by a landslide, and the game had just begun. Taylor watched from the rows, cheering with the rest of the crowd. He wasn’t usually a sports person, but August made everything seem a little more alive.

“Get the ball, get the ball!” August screamed at the top of his lungs, unhappily stamping his foot as the other team took control of the court.

“Is he always this...ah…” Taylor searched for the appropriate term, but Anna cut in.

“Violently supportive? Oh hell yes, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She grinned, leaning back on the bench and letting out a loud ‘whoop’.

Taylor looked back at the court, and out of the corner of his eye he spotted Kent making his way through the pews with snacks and drinks. Him and Christopher had gone to the bathroom, although he couldn’t see the blonde through the crowd.

“What the hell! Is this the first time you’ve played?” August’s voice cracked from exertion, and Anna rolled her eyes. She gently took his arm and pulled his sleeve, and August conceded downwards into his seat with a huff. “It’s not fair, they play better than this!”

Kent had managed to return with all of the snacks intact, and he handed August a cup of soda that he greedily began to chug. 

“Are we still winning?” Kent asked, handing off snacks to Anna and Taylor, “Please tell me we’re still winning.”

August shook his head, “Read the scoreboard you idiot, we aren’t gonna be winning for long at-”

For a brief moment, Anna, Kent and August looked at each other with no words. Then, Kent grabbed Taylor’s arm, and started pulling him towards the bathroom. Taylor dropped his hotdog, and looked up with annoyance to say something, but the look on Kent’s face stopped him. 

“There’s something wrong.” Kent called over his shoulder to the shorter man, “We’re gonna get you-”

The main door to the auditorium slammed open. The game halted, and the players on the court saw the danger before the people in the stands. They put their hands up and moved backwards, bringing the danger into view.

Masked gunmen, each with a rifle or pistol in their hands, surrounded the edges of the court. They pointed their guns at the watchers, and ordered everyone to sit down with their hands in the air. A man stepped into the center of the room, and began to speak in a voice that was somehow amplified through the speakers. 

Taylor, however, didn’t see any of this. Kent had pulled both of them to the ground, before releasing Taylor’s arm and looking straight ahead. Frightened people seemed not to notice the crouching figures, and Kent’s eyes looked straight through Taylor.

“We’re here for the members of the Arrival. Come quietly and none will be hurt.” The man blasted through the speakers. “Please give yourselves up, and no harm will come to any of you.”

The seconds ticked by, as people began to see Kent, crouched in his corner.

“Kent, we have to move.” Taylor hissed.

Kent didn’t move, or blink...or even breathe. His eyes were glazed over, and he looked lost in his own body.

“Kent, what the hell!” Taylor grabbed Kent’s shoulders.

A strange sensation shot through his body. 

Kent looked up at him, blinking for the first time in too many seconds. Someone had started moving, past where they were badly hidden. Anna and August calmly walked down the aisle past them, and Kent stood to move.

And although none of their mouths moved, Taylor heard voices as clearly as if they were being spoken in his ear.

Anna’s voice echoed through his head. “Taylor, you are posing as Christopher Kline. You’ll answer to his name, and you’ll say you are him. This will create enough of a distraction for us to do what we need to do.”

August spoke next, as Kent led them to join the line they were forming. “Don’t fuck this up for us, bro...straighten up, knock the fear out of your eyes. Anna ain’t gonna let nothin’ happen to you, I can promise you that.”

“None of us are. Just take a deep breath, and follow our movements. Try to be as synced with our movements as possible.” Collin seemed to appear out of nowhere, entering the front of the line with his head held high.

“You can do this, Taylor. We’re almost there. Stay between August and I at all times, and be prepared to move quickly.” Kent reassured him gently, dropping his wrist and matching the beat of his steps to the others, now almost at the bottom of the steps.

Taylor had no choice but to do exactly what they were telling him to do. He stood straighter, numbed his face to an empty shell. He lined his footsteps with August’s, and kept his head lined up with the curly-haired man speaking through his mind.

Christopher’s voice ran through his head as he reached the bottom. “Remember Taylor, you’re me. You are Christopher Kline, and as long as you believe it, they won’t have any reason to. I’ll be using you as an audit, answering any questions that you wouldn’t know through your head. Just try and repeat after me as clearly as possible.”

The masked man whose voice echoed through the speakers turned to look at the line in front of him. He ran his eyes over all of their faces. “Names?”

Collin spoke without hesitation. “Collin Green.”

It was happening so quickly- “Augustus Quinten.” 

Christopher Kline. “Annalise Harvard.”

His name was, “Christopher Kline.”

The voices in his head exploded into cheers. Anna ‘whooped’, August swore excitedly, and as Kent answered the man with his body, the Kent in Taylor’s head laughed with glee.

“Kent Wendell.”

The man nodded with each name, never once suspecting a thing. He didn’t suspect a thing, that is, until Taylor smiled from all the excitement happening in his head.

“Something funny, Christopher Kline?”

Oh shit, oh shit oh shit, how was he supposed to-

“Not really, sir.” Christopher’s voice echoed through his brain, and it was the only coherent thought in his brain.

“Not really, sir.” Taylor mimicked Christopher’s flippant tone as best he could.

“Are you prepared to come with us quietly, Christopher Kline?” The man asked softly, despite the speakers blasting his words through the entire gym.

“Sure, why not, sir.” Christopher responded.

Holy shit, seriously Chris?

“Uh, sure, why not, sir.” Taylor cut back on the sarcasm as best he could.

“Keep matching it, Taylor...we’ve got it under control. Just be Christopher.” Anna’s soft voice was convincing enough, but Taylor was still utterly terrified. 

Surrounded by men with guns, barrels trained on the people he cared for most. If he screwed this up, that would be it. It would be my fault if they died. I’d be the reason.”

“I know, and that’s scary...but you’ve got to focus on being Christopher, and we’ll figure it out afterwards.”

The masked leader had begun barking orders in a language Taylor didn’t understand, his focus was elsewhere.

“Did he just respond to you?” Collin’s shocked voice was covered up, but Taylor got the impression that he shouldn’t be able to do this. Not that communicating with 5 other people mentally was possible at all. None of this should be possible.

“Where the hell is Chris anyways? He should be here by now.” August snapped. “We’re running out of time.”

Anna’s voice sounded much less comforting when talking to Augustus. “We’re running diagnostics, figuring out whose trick to use. Kent, are you ready for a switch?”

“Hurry.” Was Kent’s simple response.

“Get Taylor out of here for this, he doesn’t need to see it.” 

“He isn’t in the headspace like the rest of you-”

The man waved a hand in front of Collin’s blank face, “Collin, if you’d like to pay attention, it’s time for us to go now. My friends will be staying here until you’re all safely secured. Start walking.”

Collin blinked, and turned his glossy eyes towards the man in the black mask. “Which direction?” He asked in a snotty tone.

The man’s pistol pointed at Collin’s skull. “Don’t be smart with me, boy.”

“Collin, don’t do it.” Anna begged, “We’re almost done, it’s been a bit-”

Collin smirked, and took a step forward, out of line. The gun pushed against his forehead, and Collin looked wildly calm. “You didn’t tell me which way to start walking.”

“-since any of us have - Collin please wait, just- fuck - please!”

“Collin, stop-”

“Quit it, jackass-”

The voices were loud and angry, and Taylor felt like a living migraine was pushing at his head. He saw a color he hadn’t seen before, or maybe he had-

“On it.”

Christopher’s voice was the last one Taylor heard. They were gone, his head was empty. It was only Taylor.

The hand holding the pistol to Collin’s forehead began to shake. The man looked terrified, as it slipped out of his grasp. His legs crumpled, and he fell to the floor with a sheet white face. 

A guard to their left began to cough. All 6 of the men in the room followed suit one at a time. 

They coughed and they coughed, until they had lost the ability to hold their guns correctly. One of them kneeled over and threw up, something slick and dark coming out of his throat. Another coughed into his shoulder, and pulled back to find his mouth dripping with blood. All of them were bleeding now, out of their eyes, their ears, their noses, even their sweat was blood. The leader on the floor clutched at his heart and pounded at his chest, writhing on the floor with the rest of his men.

And then, they stopped.

Taylor felt like he couldn’t breathe. His chest tightened, he was cold and weighted, he wouldn’t breathe again, he was-

“Breathe, Taylor. You’re having a panic attack.” Kent’s voice was louder in this space, where everything was fear and confusion. He felt pulled in half, one half was sitting on the edge of a pool of blood, and another was standing in front of Kent.

“What’s happening...how did that just...I don’t understand.”

“Breathe.” Kent repeated, placing his hands on Taylor’s shoulders. He realized Kent was in front of both his halves, hands on the shoulders of his mind self and his body self. Faint screams echoed around him, other people were there too. 

August was here.

“We have to go, leave the guy here.” August said simply.

“I’m not leaving him like this, he’s too freaked out.” Kent replied with his mouth. In his mind, he breathed slowly, and Taylor began to calm. 

“Anna’s freaking out, Chris went all out on this and he isn’t used to the side effects. We need you to switch back.”

Kent looked torn for only a moment. Then, Taylor was alone in his body and his mind. Torn between two spaces, both as empty as the other. He had never seen a place so dark, yet he could still see.

“Taylor, hey, Taylor can you hear me?” David, one of the basketball players on the team, was shaking Taylor’s shoulders. “Come on man, the police are almost here.”

Taylor looked around. The rest of them were gone. He could see their bloody footprints after one man’s remains had been passed by. Christopher was hurt, he could remember August saying something to that extent. 

“I need to go.” He thought he had said it, but the thought echoed around his mind. How did he talk before this moment? Before this key had unlocked a hidden room way back in his mind?

“Taylor, can you hear me!” David looked frantic. Taylor forced his eyes to close. When they opened, he was completely in his body.

“I need to go.” His voice was raspy, had he been screaming? A lot of people had been screaming, a lot less were in the room now then they had been. Many had run out the door, others had left once the Arrival had started for the men’s bathroom. 

David took a step to the side as Taylor stood, getting blood on Taylor’s hands and David’s shoes in the process. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, bro...the police, shit man, they’re gonna want to talk to you...I’m sorry, I can’t…” David put a hand over his mouth, and ran for the trashcan a few feet away. He slipped on some blood on the way, and vomited on the floor. 

That’s fun.

END OF CHAPTER