TRENCH

Cut My Lip

25th of November, 3000
I'll keep on trying, might as well.
If you decide, all is well.

The winter breeze was aggressively cold, biting at my ears and nose with purpose.
Josh helped me buckle up my heavy coat as we packed our maps and fist aid supplies.
We set off bright and early.
Sharik, Skye, Ruby, Josh and myself would be the ones to travel.
The rest of the Banditos would stay behind to protect the camp.
We traveled at a quick pace, all my training with Skye had paid off, and I no longer found it difficult to keep up with them.
We traveled as animals, four legs carry you faster then two, and our thick coats kept us from the cold winter that was brewing underneath the mountains.
We didn't know exactly where the compass was leading us, our plan was the just follow it, believing blindly in the elders prophecy.
It was the only hope we had to hold onto.
Five vultures petroled the skies above us.
Somthing about the mountains in trench made my heart content.
The bird-calls and sounds of rumbling waterfalls persisted even during winter.

We walked silently, all lost in our own seprete bubbles of thought.
That night, as we slept under the stars, Josh was dead quiet.
Josh went silent when he was worried or scared.
I lay beside him, I was so small that there wasn't much I could do to help keep him warm, but I comferted him all I could anyway.
"We're in this together Josh." I told him.
"I know that Clancy, now go to sleep...we have a long day ahead."
"More like a long few WEEKS ahead."
"Goodight Clancy"
"Goodnight Josh"

1st of December, 3000
Rust around the rim, drink it anyway.
I cut my lip.
Isn't what I want, blood is on my tongue.
I cut my lip.

BlurryFace visits me every night.
Somtimes he doesn't even say anything, but I know he's there, I can hear the static that follows him everywhere.
We've been traveling for a week so far, up over the mountains and down into a valley of trees.
I'd never been in a forest before, but I could feel the life that flowed from it.
Evergreen Fir trees blanketed the land, I could hear the birds and small animals that rustled in the treetops, and I reveled in the feeling of the layer of soft pine needles that lay beneath my paws.
The forest was simply magical, and I longed to stay there forever.
That was until nightfall.
The darkness brought a new air of menace to the trees, fear of the unknown taking hold of all of us.
Mysterious sounds of strange animals and unusual shapes flashed in and out of our surroundings.
I could hear BlurryFace trying to say hello, and I did my best to block him out, I feared he would cloud my mind even more.
He loved the dark for the same reasons I hated it.
It was then that the lion struck.
There are many names used to describe this cat, couger, puma, mountain lion.
None of its names capture the sheer ferocity of the animal.
It knew it couldn't take out four wolves, but it knew it could take out one.
It leaped on Josh with a savage vengeance.
I heard him yelp as it sank it's claws into his pelt.
Skye ran at it, attempting to free Josh from it's grasp, but it pulled him away, disappearing into the dark before she could get to it.
I chased after it, there was no way it was going to get away with murdering my freind that easily.
I followed it trough the dark, listening out for the sound of its paws on the forest floor.
A Blackbird cried out into the night, diverting my attention.
I tried to gather myself, coming to a halt, but I had lost track of the lion.
I looked around the blackness that surrounded me.
I had lost track of everything.
I heared the sound of footsteps behind me, and I whipped around.
It was Sharik, Skye, and Ruby.
"We need to go after him!" I screamed at them.
"Did you not see the creatures eyes?" Skye asked.
I shook my head.
"They were red" Sharik growled, "one of the Bishops is in there."
"i thought the bishops couldn't seize animals?" I asked.
"Well it's not one of us..." he replied.
Skye cut us off, "The problom is they know where we are now, which means we need to get out of here as fast as possible-"
"But what about Josh!?"
"Forget about Josh! He's dead."
I looked at Skye with distain.
"We can't lose you Clancy, if we lose you, The bishops will have won." Sharik told me.
I lowered my head, my heart broken.
I followed the wolves as we ran up the forest slope, and as far away from the lion as possible.

We found refuge in a dried up creek, and Ruby curled up next to me, doing her best to comfert me.
"They don't care about Josh... Do they?" I asked her.
Ruby sighed.
"I'm sure Josh has told you about how Sharik and Skye took him in when his parents died... Well... I was also an Orophan, my parents were killed by the deathly winter that took so many of us out the year I wad born.
Sharik and Skye took me in and raised me as their own, and they did the exact same for Josh. Josh Is like a brother to me, I love him more then I love anyone else, even Skye.
Skye and Sharik had a duaghter once, but she was killed the year before I was born.
They understand how precious life is, and they love both myself and Josh with the same love a parent holds for their child.
But Josh is gone now, and going back there to try and rescue him would just end in more bloodshed, not to mention we can't lose you, because if we lose you our mission fails and our entire race is doomed."
"Do you think he's really dead?"
"Yes Clancy... I do."
Ruby fell asleep only minutes later.
BlurryFace spoke.
"He's not dead."
"Shut up and quit taunting me, I'm trying to sleep."
"He's not dead! He's not dead! Hahaha! " He sniggered at me as I tried to close my eyes.
Even without BlurryFaces Jeering, somthing inside me told me that Josh wasn't dead.
I just knew it.
I got up, and quietly snuck away into the night.
"OK BlurryFace" I said, "if Josh is alive... Show him to me."
The red eyes of BlurryFace appeared infront of me, and I followed him into the dark woods.

He led me to a dark carvern carved into the side of a cliff.
"That's where you'll find him" He told me.
I knew trusting BlurryFace was a bad idea, but it was my only hope.
I stepped into the cavern, And made my way down it.
It was the perfect size for a mountain lion.
I found Josh at the end of the tunnel, his fur was soaked in blood, but he was alive.
"Josh!" I told him, waking him up, "I've come to rescue you!"
"You really came back for me?"
He looked bewildered.
"Yes Josh of course... You're the most important person in the world to me."
"I love you."
"I love you too, now let's go before-"
Josh froze, he looked absolutely terrified.
I turned my head to look behind me, and there it was, the lion.
BlurryFace had lead me right into a trap, there was nowhere to run, and no option but to fight.
The lions blood red eyes shot right trough my soul, and it bore it's razor sharp teeth at me, threatening to sink them deep into my flesh.
If I set the thing on fire I would have risked burning Josh, I would have to kill it the old fashioned way.
It leaped at me, but I was too quick
I morphed to a human just as it leaped, and I ran my switch blade along the underside of it's stomach.
I felt the Bishop leave the body of the poor creature as it collapsed on top of me.
Myself and Josh ran as fast as we could back to the others, who were overjoyed beyond words to see him.
"That... Was the stubidest, most stubborn, bravest thing you could have done" Sharik told me, "Just... Thankyou Clancy... You're amazing."
Those last words he spoke filled my head that night, and I had my first peaceful sleep in a long time.

I don't mind at all, lean on my pride.
Lean on my pride, I'm a lion.
I keep on going back.
Even though it's me I abuse.
I keep on going back.
Even...
Though I am bruised, face of contusions.
Know I'll keep moving.