welcome to trench

fourth

"until tomorrow"

the sunlight peeks through the small window and wakes me up, i yawn and sit up, i look around and find tyler sitting up already, writing in some sort of journal

he notices im up and stops writing immediately digging away the journal, "goodmorning" i say and smile "morning" he mumbles

and before i can say anything a loud groan from the bed forms "morning already" he groans, stretching on the bed

i stand up and tag out the air matress letting it release the air "afraid so, we heading out soon?" i ask

"mhm" tyler nods, tapping softly on his knee

"east right?" i ask again, and look up at him hes silent for a moment but nods again "hey joseph"

rowen says and tyler looks at him "where josh at huh" he says playfully and swings off the bed

i lean against the wall curious in the conversation, tyler picks his nail and sighs "somewhere i guess i don't know, we ready to go?" he shruggs

"so fast-

"can we just go?" he cuts off rowen and stands up more straight, well atleast i know hes not a talkative person to anyone

"yes sir" i say and pick up the backpack with a sigh

we take the east road and its a way of hiding for bishops and moving slowly, the burning sun is giving me a headache and i drag my feet forward

tyler is a few feet infront of me and rowen om the same line to the left, after some time he walks up closer to me "so, can you be more fun than mister up ahead" he nods to tyler

i raise my brow and look at him "im not sure what you mean by that" he sighs again, little more frustrated this time "you guys are such a bore, do you even know him? he doesn't seem to talk much to you either"

he spits, im taken aback by his rudeness "he has saved my life multiple times now rowen, so if he's a bore to you i simply dont care" i say back coldly

i can see his shocked face inthe corner of my eye and before he can talk back i jog up to tyler

"hey" i say bumping his arm "hey" he says back looking ahead "how are you holding up" i say trying to chat "fine"

i look back and see rowen is still pretty far off so i stop tyler forcing him to turn to me "okay what's up with the no talking again?" i say and cross my arms

nothing

"i just..." i stop, i dont know what to say and bite my lip softly

he shrugs and bounces on his feet "did i do something?" i say a little more distressed but before i can say more rowen runs over "bishops! quick hide!"

the fear shoots through me as i indeed see some red masses start to blur behind rowen and we start to run towards the closest building

my heart is pounding out of my chest and i dont know where to go,

when we finally reach a street that looks approachable i fling myself around the corner, and before i can reach the door rowen pulls me back by my shoulder harshly making me tumble backwards and hit the concrete

"hey!" i yell and he just storms off into the building

but before i can sit myself up i feel a familiair hand  pull me up by my arm and the other pulling me up by my waist, i cant help but feel some sort of relief fly through me

i look and see that same tattooed arm i saw when escaping first time, he swings me up and within a second

im back on my feet "fourth building go!" tyler yells and follows closeby

we reach the fourth building and i throw myself in there breathing heavily

when we're finally in tyler shuts the door and i sit down catching my breath "he- what- i dont-" i ramble still catching my breath

"hes a dick" tyler mumbles

i let out a laugh, he sits down beside me

"why the fourh building? testing my endurance" i giggle

"they cant see the building without light" he nods up to the broken light bulbs that litter the ceiling

"always take the fourth" i nod "noted"

i fidget with my fingers "so is rowen like-

but before i can continue the door flings open and rowen enters out of breath

tyler immediately stands up

"what was that huh" he says angrily, crossing his arms, i stay seated on the stairs quietly

"wha-what?" he says catching his breath "all for your own fucking good, haven't changed one goddamn bit" tyler spits

"she is slow! we should just ditch her joseph!" he yells back, i stay silent, maybe he's right and i am holding them back

"listen here you fuck!" tyler snaps, im taken aback by his reaction, he now stands only a few inches away from rowen "how about you leave?!"

rowen is angrily looking back at him "whatever man" he pushes beside tyler and reaches me at the stairs and grabs my by the colar of my shirt "dont slow me dont again, understood?"

anger flowed through his eyes and im scared looking in them

i choke up so just nod and he lets go and storms upstairs, i feel my eyes water and i look down still slung back on the stairs

its silent for a bit

tyler is still standing arms crossed against the wall gritting his teeth

im frozen on the spot still unable to think of something to say or do, after some time tyler moves and im reminded he's still here

he crouches infront of me "don't listen to whatever crap he says okay? ill talk with him"

im not looking in his eyes but i feel his burning, he gives me an akward pat and heads upstairs

i stay put for a while longer, silent tears flow down my cheeks, i let out a big breath thinking about all the things they both said, am i really slowing them down? tyler is still not saying anything about what happend and slipping back into his bubble, maybe they will ditch me, he's sick of me

i suddenly hear glass breaking on the floor and yelling, i snap out of my trance and run upstairs flinging open the door

i freeze in my place, theres a knife dug into tyler his side, rowen infront of him "what the.."