Welcome To Trench

Chapter Eighteen | The Calm Before The Storm

I fell asleep listening to a Dodie playlist and when I woke up I somehow ended up on the Trench album? Like, morph is a great song and all but how the actual fuc-

.

.

.

.

.

You lied awake, staring up at the ceiling. Your mind was an empty void yet loud thoughts clouded the inside of your head. Every few minutes you would drift off into a partial slumber, but the consciousness still remained.

Glancing around the room at the surrounding bodies, you wondered what everyone was dreaming of. Was anyone even dreaming at all? How could you in a world like this? Tyler's motionless body laid on its side, and his chest rose with each relaxed breath. However the sound of light snoring didn't arise from his quiet figure. He's probably not even asleep, you guessed.

A chaotic rustle from outside startled you, causing your head to turn towards the tent entrance. The sound was similar to the ruckus a raccoon might cause when rummaging through a garbage bin. You waited a few moments longer, but nothing happened. You decided you were just imagining things due to your half-asleep state, and rolled over with closed eyes.

After a minute or two, the sound reoccurred. At this point you were convinced it wasn't just your tired mind playing tricks on you, and that's when the paranoia started. Sitting up you stayed silent, ears sharp for any suspicious noise that lurked outside the tent.

Very light foot steps echoed in the night. Your eyes rounded in fear, and as soon as the movement passed your tent, you released a breath you didn't even know you had been holding.

"What about the others?" A high pitched voice whined.

Someone, a man, replied, his gruff tone unknown to you. "We will come back for them."

An unnerving chill raced down your spine and shook your every limb like a tree in a hailstorm. "What's wrong?" You glanced over at Tyler who fluttered open his eyes through the darkness.

With a quickened heart rate you swallowed down a knot in your throat. "I-I heard something." Your voice was barely above a whisper and you averted your fear-stricken gaze back to the entrance once again.

You heard the shuffling of blankets as Tyler moved from his position and crawled his way to your side. "I'm going to go take a look." Usually you would have objected, but at the moment fear possessed your whole being.

You watched as Tyler unzipped the curtain and peeked through the thin slit before cautiously stepping out. There you were, alone in a room with mindless bodies. You prayed silently that Tyler would return in one piece.

After what seemed like forever, Tyler soon came back. You were disappointed to see his expression matched yours. Something wasn't right. He hurried over to Josh and shook his shoulders frantically. "I need you to wake everyone up."

"What...?" Josh groaned as he sluggishly sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Why? What's going on?"

"Just do it. Now." Tyler gave his friend a hard stare as he spoke in a  serious tone.

By the time everyone was piled up outside of their dens, the sun had begun to rise. Its rays of light spilled over the mountain's curves, but everyone was in too much of a fright to admire the beautiful sight.

Clueless whispers and oblivious murmurs hovered above the crowd into a spiraling buzz. Meanwhile, Tyler situated himself on top of a broke down and molted vehicle. Josh may be in charge, but he wasn't one to speak in front of a mass of people.