The Disappearance of Taylor

Chapter 11

Cole and the other Rangers trekked back through the forest, unwilling to look at how Taylor had become. Alyssa could hardly stand and had to lean on Danny and Merrick for support whenever she felt like she couldn't take in the scene.

"I can't deal with this much longer," Merrick grumbled as Alyssa stumbled once more.

"Hey, you can't blame her, right, Merrick?" Danny replied solidly. "Taylor was one of Alyssa's best friends before she had even become a Ranger."
Merrick grunted again and was silent.

Cole stepped out in front of his friends in his morphed form, holding Taylor tight in his arms as he went ahead. He remained silent for as long as he could.

"What's up with Cole?" Max jumped out of the way as Cole pushed past him and Danny.

"You all know," Merrick replied crisply.

Soon, it started to get dark and Alyssa began to panic.

"We're not going to get back to the Animarium in time!" Alyssa wailed.

"Shh, relax," Cole whispered. With one hand, he put down his pack, unzipped it, and pulled out a towel different from the one he had once used for Alyssa. He unfolded and placed it on the ground. Gently, he laid Taylor down on it. Next, he took out a warm cloth from the first-aid kit and placed it slowly on the slash on Taylor's side. Taylor moaned as she felt the cloth press on the wound. Though she still hadn't regained consciousness, she could still feel things and she moved around as Cole tried to help her.

"Alyssa, please help me here," Cole called to her. "Taylor won't stop moving around and it's only making her wound more severe."

Alyssa shook her head. "Don't you see? We need to keep moving or she might die during the night."

Merrick began to protest, but Cole nodded in agreement. "She's right. We need to keep moving."

Cole began to pack the first-aid kit away and was about to get Taylor up as well. They were so close to the city and the Animarium; they couldn't stop now!

But suddenly, a dark shadow rose up behind Cole. Alyssa shouted a warning to him and he spun around, but it was too late. The shadowy figure pushed Cole aside and growled as it loomed over Taylor.

"I knew I'd find you again, Yellow Ranger."

"Taylor!" Cole yelled.

The figure glared at Cole before reaching down, picking up Taylor, and throwing her against a tree. Taylor moaned again as the figure approached him again.

"No!" Cole screamed. Because he had demorphed when the figure had pushed him aside, he stood up and shouted, "Wild Access!" Immediately, he morphed and flew and the mysterious figure. Surprisingly, the figure was pushed over easily when Cole hit them with a flying kick. The figure growled once again and fired a blast of blue energy. However, Cole soon realized that they weren't aiming for him and was very confused until he realized... it was aiming at Taylor. Cole ran at the beam to block it, but too late. The beam hit, sending sparks flying through the forest and at the Rangers. It hid Taylor inside a ball of blue and white. The Rangers hid their eyes from the blast. Smoke also flew through the forest, which would have blinded anyone there except for the Rangers. The smoke and blue light finally disappeared. Cole blinked a few times, then looked for Taylor. The figure had gone; there was no sign of him or her. Taylor's body was lying very still under a large evergreen tree. Cole and Merrick ran over to her and looked her over very carefully. Her face was very pale and covered in a mess of dirt, dust, and blood. Her wound, thankfully, had stopped bleeding, and her whole body glowed with a bluish-purplish light.

"Merrick, do you know why she's glowing like that?" Cole asked as Max, Alyssa, and Danny ran over.

"Yes," Merrick murmured. "And it's not good."