A Broken Prophet Without A Message

Chapter Four - New Year's Day

If Andy had been hyperventilating before he was now taking it to a new level. He knew that they were an even bigger target now. He knew that as soon as guards managed to discover it and spread the news there would more than a mere few of them. He new that the settlement was under grave threat. And he knew that it was all his fault.
The others looked at each other, they were probably about to try and figure out how to calm down Andy before he killed himself accidentally. But then they saw it too.
"Dude! Your face! It's got some weird-ass markings on it!" CC exclaimed
"So does yours..." Jinxx murmured trying to make sense of the situation. CC kept babbling but Andy couldn't listen. He needed to keep his thoughts hidden because he knew exactly what each of their markings meant, he didn't want Jinxx to feel the burden as well.
Andy could feel Jinxx exploring the corners of his mind. It was nothing he couldn't manage until he began to delve into his experiences with FEAR.
Andy didn't want to show any more of his weakness so he calmly stood up, walked the few dozen yards necessary and lent against a scorched tree, his back facing the others. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he was forced to relive some of the worst experiences of his life. If it had been anyone other than Jinxx, Andy would have stabbed them to death. But Jinxx...he knew that Jinxx hadn't meant to do any harm and that was enough to earn him forgiveness. Possibly the worst thing was that he was almost considering staying back at that camp. Hell, he even recognised a couple of the people, not that they would ever have remembered him. The one thing keeping him from doing it though was the danger he would instantly put everyone in.
Someone tapped Andy on his shoulder but he was so emotionally drained that he ended up slamming CC against a tree and nearly staking him with a piece of wing bone before he noticed who it was.
"Shit. S-sorry, I didn't see you there..." Andy said apologetically, wiping away his tears and lowering the bloodstained piece of bone and re-pocketing it.
"It's fine dude, I just came to tell ya we're gonna set off back to camp. We'd be grateful if you came with us...hell, Jinxx hadn't ever raised his voice before he met you." CC replied, dusting himself off, "You look like it would do you some good too, I don't want to think about how little time you'd last out here in the desert..." CC continued, his voice becoming strangely serious.
"I spent ten years of my life here, I spent the next ten here no problem." Andy mumbled, failing to convince even himself. It was clear that even if his body held up, either he would lose the little emotional strength he had left or he would be overwhelmed by guards.
"Pal, when was the last time you slept, or ate, or even had a drink?!" Andy shuddered, his previous lacks at conformation costing him those privileges in a healthy quantity for as long as he could remember.
"C'mon, Jinxx is waiting." CC said gleefully, smug in the knowledge that he had persuaded...whoever this guy was, to join their group.
Jinxx mumbled something about being sorry for prying but Andy had his mind on other things, like how to stop the guards from noticing five "fallen angels" as he called them. He didn't need to guess who the other two craters belonged to. He could even guess exactly what instruments they each played.
The walk didn't last long enough and Andy found himself walking into a post in a daze of fatigue and quiet contemplation. He rubbed his head,
"Fucking stupid place to put a pole..." He muttered, he'd been having a shit life.
"Sure it is honey." A familiar voice called out from behind him, he had to force himself not to attack them from instinct, "I've seen you wandering around the deserts for a while now, we met about six years ago, the name's Ashley." He added, noticing the faint confusion on Andy's face.
"Yeah...I remember you. Well, you and the whiskey..." Andy replied slowly, chuckling slightly at the memory of all the good times they'd had together. He had been absentmindedly fiddling in his pocket but when his fingers clasped around a small ring of metal his eyes lit up with joy.
"I've got to go and do something...It was nice to see you again though, Deviant." Andy called, turning and running to a deserted part of the camp.
"No problem, Prophet." Was the reply. They had both been together when they were struck, Ashley had just managed to escape his foster family before it was too late.
Andy found a sort of cliff edge about half mile away and managed to find an abandoned shard of mirror. Sitting down with his legs dangling over the edge, he then set to work psycing himself up before stabbing the ring through his lip. He smiled, his black hair was incapable of staying a short length and he almost looked like himself again. He smelt burning and knew exactly who the cause was.
"Hey Deviant, what did you want?"
Well...you..." Ashley began, unsure of how to phrase the question, "how did you do that to Jinxx and CC? Do they have their powers yet?!"
"Well, I know Jinxx does. He managed to find some fucked up memories from about a year ago they even I didn't know existed. I'm not sure about CC though, but it cooled down a fair bit when Jinxx mentioned it was too hot so..." Andy replied, Ashley winced at the mention of Jinxx's discoveries.
"Listen, I'm sorry I couldn't get-" Ashley began, truly sorry for not breaking him out. Andy turned to face him and patted him on the shoulder, a sad smile playing across his face.
"Don't worry about it. If anything, I'm glad you didn't. There's no way you'd be able to get past the gates without setting off the alarms, so you'd just be stuck with me." Andy replied, a hint of pain in his voice, "Besides, I got out eventually..."
"But you had to try TWICE!," Ashley exclaimed, exasperation heavy in his voice.
"I'm..here....now" Andy gasped, stumbling back and sliding down the tree.
"Andy! What's wrong! What-oh fuck..."Ashley cried before he noticed the black substance oozing through Andy's chest, "When the hell did you get into another fight with a guard?!"
"One...then three...don't know how...many of...the last three..." Andy replied, struggling to get the words through the pain and coldness traveling through his body.
"Shit. Okay, okay okay."Ashley mumbled before a plan formed in his mind. "On the count of three, call out with your mind and voice for Jinxx- okay?" Andy nodded weakly before Ashley started counting.
"One...Two...Three!"
"JINXX" Ashley yelled. Andy knowing that he couldn't do so, allowed his entire being to call out for Jinxx. He clenched his fists in an effort to increase the power. When Ashley spotted a small figure running towards them in a panicked way, releif flashed across his face.
"It'll be okay." He said, more to himself than Andy. But Andy couldn't hear him.
The static in his mind was rising.