REBEL CLOTHES ✓

MY BLOOD

At first, everything was dark. The last thing he remembered seeing was Josh's blood on his hands, then he must've lost consciousness.

He could hear was a distorted scream, his heartbeat thumping rhythmically in his head. It was hard to discern if it was him or someone else screaming.

All he could see now was red, red, red. Everything, his mind, his body, his soul- all of it was pure red.

Keons' voice echoed through him, rumbling in his chest and leaving his mouth without him meaning to. His body moved like a puppet on strings, being directed by an unknown force.

A voice broke through the fog of his mind.

"My love. Can you hear me?"

Tyler felt someone push him from behind, and he fell face first into the water, rocks shredding the skin on his knees and hands. A Bishop slowed to a stop in front of him and hopped off the horse, the hood and veil pushed away from his face.

"Shit," someone behind him swore.

"There were only eight Bishops," another whispered. "We'd forgotten about him."

His eyes were blood red, and his wavy hair was slicked back and greasy. The grey skin of his neck was stained with black oil, as was his arms all the way up to his elbow. He grinned, revealing crooked white teeth, his lips bloodied around the edges. It took Tyler a moment to recognize him as Nico.

Tyler sat back in his butt and hands, staring up in frozen horror as the Bishop approached him, icy tendrils racing up his arm to envelop in a giant, clawed glove. The air around them felt warmer, somehow. He had a horrible thought. Nico is a fire breather, just like Josh.

"Please," Tyler pleaded. "Please, don't hurt me."

Of course, he only laughed back. Nico raised his hand. Tyler flinched, squeezing his eyes shut, and waited for him to strike. Before he could reach him, a wave of heat washed over Tyler, not the bringing kind, but one made of pure warmth, and he opened his eyes to see Josh standing over him, one hand raised and the other behind his back. He was covered in blood. Tyler knew it was his fault.

"Josh," he gasped.

Josh smiled with relief. "It didn't take much to break you out of his grip."

"He didn't. Spooks did," Rose said, pointing at Spooks.

He stood behind her, staring at the ground while mumbling, "they know that it's almost over. Life in the shadows. It's almost over. The fire's going out."

Nico laughed. "This idiot? He's crazy. This one, however..."

"Don't you dare touch him," Josh said in a warning tone.

The Bishop grinned, and he pulled one of his black gloves off. "I see you've gotten stronger, Joshua. But not stronger than me."

Suddenly, it felt like any inch of warmth had been wrenched out of Tyler's body and into the air, created a bubble of suffocation. A harsh gasp left his throat, and Tyler was now frozen in fear and cold on the ground, a thin layer of frost covering his skin. Despite the air around him feeling hot, he was shivering.

Josh turned and looked at him, distressed, dropping his head in defeat. "Wait, stop! Don't- don't hurt him. Please, just... Take me instead."

That caught the Bishop off guard. "What?"

"It's me who you want, isn't it, Nico? That's why you took him. You don't need another Empath. What you need is another fire- breather."

"No," Tyler croaked. He felt like stone, his vision was turning blueish gray around the edges. His lungs felt like ice, he couldn't breathe...

Then, as quickly as the ice overwhelmed him, heat enveloped Tyler, making him choke on the air he was trying to take in. He stuttered, trying to stop shaking enough to beg Josh not to do it.

"As you wish," Nico said. He waved Josh to stand straight, and Tyler noticed flickers of light around Josh's hidden hand.

Josh thrust his hand forward, aiming directly at Nico's face, but Nico avoided it easily with a simple side step. A large burst of flames exploded from Josh's hand, narrowly missing Nico's head.

It happened so fast that for a moment, Tyler was hopeful Josh had succeeded. His hope died as the fire shrunk in on itself, being replaced by the steadfast crackling of growing ice. Nico grabbed Josh's wrist and pinned it behind his back, making Josh grunt in pain.

"Tyler, run!" He yelled weakly, kicking and fighting against Nico's iron grip on his arm. Blood pushed down his chest and stomach, creating dark lines in the dirt as Nico started to drag him away.

By that time, other Banditos had arrived and had helped Tyler to his feet. They kept pulling him back as Nico dragged Josh in the opposite direction. Tyler couldn't stop screaming.

"No, stop! We need to save him! Josh!"

He pushed the Banditos away from him and took off into a dead sprint. Tyler didn't get far because someone tackled him from behind, throwing him into the dirt. Jenna rolled Tyler to his back, pinning him down by his shoulders.

"Tyler, focus!" She snapped. "We can't help him if we're all dead. There's only so many of us left. We need to leave or we'll lose more."

"B-but it's my fault, I need to save him," He crowed, on the verge of crying.

Her eyes softened, and she moved off of him enough so he could sit up but not run away. She gave him a short, tight hug that he reciprocated. "It's not your fault, Ty. You didn't know Keons was in your head. None of us did."

Tyler opened his mouth to rebuttal and say they did know, they just didn't want to believe it, but he was interrupted by a loud, ear shattering scream.

Rose was on the ground, cradling Clancy's broken body. Blood spilled everywhere, the earth turning muddy around them. She had her head hidden in the crook of his neck, sobbing so loud that everyone heard it. Clancy's head was lolled to the side, the dark sockets where his eyes should've been staring lifelessly at the sky. Jason ran to her side, putting an arm around her before she shoved him away.

"Don't touch me!" She yelled. Her voice turned quiet. "I don't want to hurt you."

Jason turned to what remained of the Banditos. His face was scratched all over, his skin smiling from the heat of Nico's fire.

"We..." his voice cracked with the one word, and he cleared his throat before continuing. "We need to leave now. Josh has been taking by the Bishops, along with a handful of other Banditos. I won't leave them there to rot."

"I'm going to kill them with my bare hands," Tyler growled, clenching his fists.

Rose looked up, tears and blood streamed across her face. She wiped her face with her sleeve and gently set Clancy's body down, standing up to face the rest of the Banditos.

"Since I was Clancy's second in command, I will be the new leader of the Banditos. Jason will be my new second in command, and Nicole will take Jason's spot as our new medic. If there's any objections, say so now, because we won't have time to go back and change our leadership dynamic."

Nobody said a word.

Rose nodded and looked at Tyler, her face stern. "I will also be appointing Tyler, Hayley, and Jenna as the new senior recruits. They'll be leading the group to save Josh and the others as Jason and I lead the others to the promised land. Any questions?"

Again, silence.

Jason limped to Rose's side and put his arm on her shoulder. "Alright, let's get this party started!"