Leave The City - A Trench Story (tøp)

Cut My Lip

Apparently that first night was very awkward. Tyler mostly just sat there trying not to fall asleep trying to keep watch, Josh asking the occasional question trying to break the silence, only receiving a vague, unattentive answer. However, over the next few days, Tyler seemed to warm up to Josh, and they got along quite well. Josh told us all about the others who wanted to escape. He explained how him and a few others from his district has become intrigued by the stories of old escapees, and eventually gathered enough reports together to figure out that there was still an accessible escape route somewhere in the city. They also learned that the bishops collected all suspicious possessions and kept them somewhere in the towers. That was why Josh got caught, as he had previously told us. Although we didn't speak about it much together, I figured that Tyler and I were thinking the same thing. We had to find a way to help the others. Josh obviously missed them, and it would definitely better if we had others here, they might be able to bring more supplies too. I decided that I needed to audibly bring this up with Tyler, so that we could begin planning what to do.

One day, when we were going out to look for more food, I volunteered to go with Tyler and have Josh stay at the camp. Once we were out a few minutes walk, I started the conversation. "Tyler, about the others..." I wasn't sure what to say, but luckily Tyler seemed to read my mind. "I know. We have to find a way to find them." He said. "To help them escape." I added, and he nodded. "But how?" I asked. "Well, Josh said that they were from Andre, which is right beside Nico, so maybe if they could make it to Nico, they could get through there?" He suggested. "But Josh escaped from a tunnel in Andre, so they could go through there." I reminded him. "Right. Well then we could all go through there, Josh must know the way, since that's how he got out in the first place." He thought aloud. "Okay, but we also have to make sure that they bring stuff. We could use some bread and properly prepared food." I said. "Hey! You don't like my authentic wilderness cooking?" He teased. I smiled a little bit. "No, I mean-" His mouth dropped and his eyes widened jokingly. "No! I mean, YES. I do like your cooking." I said, trying to clarify what I meant. "What I mean... is that I could use some... food that we didn't have to catch with our bare hands and cook over a crappy fire that's basically only embers so it takes half an hour and then eat in the freezing cold while trying to tell yourself that this is better than... because you remember how bad it felt to be back there...but I still..." I didn't realize what was coming out of my mouth until it was too late. I could feel my voice starting to give out and I had to close my eyes and take a deep breath in fear that I meant end up crying. When I opened my eyes, however, Tyler's arms were around me, and I could hear him telling me it was okay. I was too embarrassed to say anything, so I just stayed there, eyes closed, following his breathing pattern. After a minute or so, he pulled back and I opened my eyes to see him looking at me, concerned, his arms still holding mine. "Are you alright?" He asked. I inhaled and nodded. "I'm sorry, I just get..." I thought for a moment as I stepped back. Tyler took my hand and gently pulled me down so that we were both sitting on the grass. "Sometimes I just miss it... the structure I guess, like you said before. It's just, different, out here. Alone. And there's nothing to know. Nothing to tell time by, no one to see, I don't think I can be out here forever. It seems so... endless." I tried to explain to him. He just sat there listening. "I know how you feel. I feel like that everyday." He said. "Really?" I questioned. "Yeah. Really, the only thing that keeps me going is you." He told me. My eyes met his. "And now Josh too." He added. "Yeah." I agreed. "And that's why we need to help the others." He said. "I don't think that we're meant to be alone. We must have been made for other people." He explained. "Otherwise we'd go crazy." said Tyler. "I think you're right." I said. "So how are we are gonna help them escape DEMA?" I asked with a smile.

When we got back, we cooked the couple fish that we had caught afterwards, and told Josh about our plan. He seemed ecstatic that we wanted to help his friends, and gladly went along and added to our ideas with everything he knew. Once we were done discussing, it was getting dark, but we had a plan. The day after tomorrow, we would journey back to DEMA and enter through the tunnels into Andre. Josh would sneak into one of the buildings, inform his group where the tunnels were, and tell them to collect everything they could carry. He would then bring them back to the tunnels, and we would all run as fast as we could back out the tunnels and hope that no one followed us. It wasn't flawless, but it was the best we could do.