cøver me: a trench støry

_07_themissiøn_

[location: the banditø camp]

the fire crackles quietly in the night. josh looks around the quiet camp from his spot on the log around the fire. he sighs, the place hasn't been the same since tyler was taken. it's been about a year since he was first taken, ten months since he was stolen a second and third time, nine months since the fourth time, and eight months since his last disappearance in the valley. josh has tried to keep faith that he'll return, but this is the longest he's been gone. his hope is starting to wither away.

the sounds of shoes crunching the leaves on the ground gets closer. josh looks away from the flames at the cheerful blonde approaching with her arms crossed over her chest.

she sits down on one of the logs nearby. "you thinkin' about him again?" josh looks back over at the fire sadly, nodding a couple times. she gives a sad smile. "i miss him too." he nods at her sentence. "i just keep replaying the last time we saw him out in the valley by the river." he says reflectively.

she nods in agreement. "me too. he seemed confident about his decision but...god, it just makes me wonder if he's okay." "hey, he's okay. he's still out there. if something had happened to him we'd know."

suddenly they hear some very loud calls of a wild bird. they look out into the sky to see one of the vultures landing on the ground by the campsite. jenna gasps and looks over at josh, who's equally as thrilled as she is. they get up almost simultaneously, rushing immediately over to the bird.

clifford, one of the vultures, struts over to them and keeps squawking loudly. clifford was tyler's vulture, and he hasn't been seen around the camp since tyler's last disappearance. one thing that separates him from the other vultures is that he's smart- smarter than any other vulture on the campground; he knows how to communicate with humans. tyler had befriended the bird early on and formed a bond with it no one had ever quite seen before. they still don't know how he did it, but he'd taught clifford how to communicate with humans.

clifford flew away to the city when tyler was last taken, and never returned. they assumed he just built a nest down there and settled, but he's back now, and it could only mean a few possible things.

"hey, hey, what is it?" josh says in a rush. the vulture squawks, turning and motioning with his wings toward the city, the sun setting behind the large, grey walls.

jenna looks up from the bird to josh, laughing with excitement. josh holds up a finger before her excitement gets carried away. "wait, look." he tells her, pointing back to clifford, who's scratching something into the dirt with his talon.

they watch and wait anxiously for the word to be finalized. clifford finally scratches the last mark and motions again back toward the city with a fearful squawk.

josh and jenna are staring at the letters this bird has managed to make in the ground with fear filling their hearts.

"DANGER"

they look up at each other, both knowing what the next move is. "jenna you need to stay here-" "josh please, i want to help-" "no, i need you here. i promise we'll bring him back safely i just need you here. okay?" he says with all seriousness in his eyes.

jenna presses her lips together to keep them from quivering. josh sighs. "i need you to trust me on this one." he tells her. she doesn't say anything, tears in her eyes. josh offers her a meaningful smile.

"i'll bring him back to you. i promise."

she nods after a couple seconds before running to inform everyone of what's about to happen.

josh rounds up his eight best bandito troopers and informs them of the mission at hand. they gather their gear and light their torches, waving goodbye to their fellow banditos.

they set off down the mountainside and on the path back to the city, the rest of the banditos standing together and watching as the brave nine go on their way.

••||-//••