Outlast (Twenty One Pilots)

Three

Song is Unborn the Prince of Lies! by Samuel Laflamme.

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Josh couldn't see, and his lungs were beginning to burn. It felt like they were down there for hours before Josh was being pulled out and as soon as he was out he was gasping for air, swimming to get out.

"Josh, stop. Hey, shh," Brendon pulled Josh back against his chest.

"No, I-I want o-out!"

"C'mon, other side." Dallon pulls Brendon to the other side of the pond where more woods reside.

Josh was still in Brendon's arms as the boy was being dragged back onto land. "Josh, it's okay, calm down." Brendon hovers over Josh who continues to panic and hyperventilate.

"If we don't get him quiet, we'll get caught." Tyler says.

"If we don't calm him down, pass out or die." Brendon seethes as he looks up at Tyler.

"Hey," then suddenly an unknown voice is behind them. They all turn, except for Josh, to see a man standing there. His arms were crossed in front of him and his brows looked to be permanently stuck in a scowl. His eyes on the other hand, held so much sorrow and pain it was unfathomable. "You them, ain't you? The outsiders?"

"They are, we're not." Tyler speaks and at that, Brendon picks up Josh, wrapping an arm around his waist then throwing one of Josh's arms around his shoulders.

The man motions to Josh. "Overseer's eyes, they killed you didn't they?"

"No--" Brendon begins to answers but Josh replies shortly after.

"Not yet." He says. Brendon looks at him, a surprised look on his face. Was he giving up?

"Well they'll do if they find you out here. Come on." The man then turns around then begins to walk down the trail he came from.

"Who are you?" Brendon asks.

"My names Seth."

"But I mean. . . Are you one of them? And which side are you on?" Brendon asks again and Tyler snickers at that.

"You mean why ain't I tryin' to kill you? I been. . . Unborn. Seen too much to keep the faith. Didn't say squat when my wife got scalled, had to get cast out. Didn't complain when Overseer. . . pressed himself on my Elizabeth. And she not but fifteen,"

"I'm sorry." Dallon speaks up.

Seth only shakes his head. "But when he said my grandson, the baby he'd put in her, was might the anti-Christ and I had to slit her belly open and kill the child. I gave her a chance to run. Spun them idiots some stories. I've been gifted with talk my whole life. You probably noticed" Seth turns as soon as he stops in front of a house just like any of the other ones. "You lot can stay here until that boy is healed. Ain't got much but a little bread left, I'll bring it down to the cellar after you all get settled."

From what Brendon noticed and took down, these people were living backwards. He's seen no technology or any modernized materials. Brendon pulls Josh along as he follows Tyler and Dallon into a cellar underneath the floor. Like the house they were hiding out in before, this house was falling apart just as well. The wooden flooring had tiles missing and in the far left corner of the one-roomed home, there was a crater large enough for all four of them to fit in.

As soon as they were all down there and Dallon had gotten the bread from Seth, Josh sat by Brendon, rocking himself back and forth as he rubs his hands up and down his arms to warm himself. "I-I stink, I w-wanna go home." Josh was exhausted, you could see it not just by his eyes but his voice.

Brendon takes a piece of bread from Dallon, holding it out to Josh. "Eat this then sleep, you'll feel better."

"I-I won't, Bee. You d-don't know what's in that a-and you don't k-know if he'll kill u-us or not." Josh was trying his hardest to fight back but he was exhausted. He had no energy left to do or say anything. Maybe he should eat that mystery bread and sleep. Josh sighs, taking the bread defeatedly. "F-Fine, but you're holding m-me while I sleep."

"I promise, thank you, J." Brendon smiles for the first time since he's woken up that day, watching Josh as the boy eats.

Ten minutes later and Josh was fast asleep. Like he had promised, Brendon's arms were wrapped tightly around Josh as they both laid on a single blanket. Josh's head was rested on Brendon's chest as even breaths came from him.

"You know he's extremely lucky to have you, right Brendon?" Tyler asks. "I've never felt or had anything like you and Josh."

"Well, how do you know Dallon?" Brendon gestures to the tall boy who's sat against one of the pillars, his head tilted to the side as he slept.

"Dallon came from up the mountains where most Heretics reside, whereas I ran away from home a long time ago. I walked around the camp, which wasn't a good idea. I broke my leg trying to crawl through one of the tunnels down in the mines. The Heretics and the Christians share the tunnels, they haven't conversed in years, so at the time Dallon was working in the tunnel I had gotten myself stuck in and he helped me free." Tyler explains, looking over at Dallon. Something in him flicked this time, though, as he stared at the boy who had rescued him. He'd never seen Dallon look so diminutive. He'd never realized how, ennoble and statuesque, the tall boy looked. They were both twenty when they met, now twenty-six. Spending all this time and all of these years with the other, Tyler should've realized this so long ago.

"I see the way you're looking at him right now. It's how I look at Josh," Brendon smiles lightly, turning his head to peek at the boy in his arms. "You're in love."

"In love?" Tyler was genuinely curious about the feeling but it took until just now to fully discern the whole concept. "Is that what I'm feeling?" He asks.

Brendon nuzzles his nose onto the back of Josh's neck. Stinky or not, he'll never get enough of feeling the boy against him. "Mhm, it feels good doesn't it,"

"It does, but it's foreign," Tyler looks over at Dallon again, smiling for the first time in days as the boy pulls his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs. "but I like it. How do you get it to stay?"

"You keep the person close to you like this," Brendon brings Josh closer to his chest, wrapping his arm tighter around Josh's body to which the boy subconsciously curled into, wrapping his legs with Brendon's. "and you never let go."

Tyler bites his lip nervously, looking over at Dallon once again. "But I've never done that, he'll think he's being attacked."

"Then reassure him. Whisper into his ear that everything is going to be okay and that he'll get out of this." Brendon places a kiss underneath Josh's ear, whispering an "I love you" to the boy.

"What if I just moved closer to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, would that work?"

"Anything to get him closer to you." Brendon finalizes, resting his head on top of Josh's. "I'm gonna try to get some sleep, goodnight, Ty." Brendon closes his eyes, not even realizing the nickname that just escaped his mouth.

At the name, Tyler blushes but he couldn't tell. He's never blushed before. He called me "Ty," and I really liked it. What's this feeling he's got now? He wishes Brendon hadn't of fallen asleep so quickly, he really needed more questions to be answered. But he's got more important things to worry about, like the Christians and the Overseer, getting Brendon and Josh away from here. Maybe Dallon is important, since that's how he feels. Dallon has saved his life before, countless times before actually. He should do something in return.

For now, he sleeps. They all sleep, trying to catch up on the energy they lost. When they wake up, hopefully it'd be a new day and they could get a fresh start on escaping alive.

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