In Trench I'm Not Alone

 Sand pressed into his face, the smell of it curling into his head. Water was swishing and sloshing all around him, and for a moment, he didn't know where he was.

And then he was cold, so so cold. Everything hurt and burned and he couldn't feel his legs or hands.

Tyler gasped and rolled over, blinking up at the cloudy sky, and even though it was dim it still hurt to look at. His lungs felt like they were filled with liquid, and he stood, his legs wobbling under him, almost sending him toppling back into the sand. His hand found the large rock next to him and steadied himself enough to take in a gasping breath, his body rocking with a coughing fit as he choked on the water in his lungs.

Everything tasted salty and fishy and he was cold and, "this is the worst," he muttered angrily. And where was Josh?

"Josh?" Tyler called, coughing more as he shouted.

"There you are!" Josh shouted back, running as best he could across the wet sand to Tyler. He looked dry and not at all like they had just swum miles to this island. "Come on," he urged, turning around once he was sure that Tyler was alright and trotting towards the tree line, ducking under a branch and disappearing.

Tyler jerked his head to the side angrily and followed, his legs heavy, his clothes still dripping.

"Slow down!" He shouted, his words burning in his throat as he gasped. His legs shook and he could feel that he would collapse at any moment. "Josh!"

But everything was silent. Leaves brushed against each other in the wind, branches creaked, the ocean roared behind him, sloshing onto the beach.

Tyler sighed and pushed himself to the trees, stumbling into one and pausing there for a moment. He was so so cold, his eyelashes felt like they were freezing and sticking together.

"Josh?" Tyler called again, his breath fogging in the air in front of him, sprinkling to the ground like shattered glass.

He forced himself to move, falling into trees every other step to steady himself. He honestly couldn't ever remember his legs being in so much pain before, and along with the pain they felt gelatinous, almost like they weren't even part of his body anymore.

The longer he stood, the steadier they felt. They still hurt after a few minutes, but he no longer felt on the verge of collapse. He picked up his pace, his walk turning to a trot as he chased after Josh.

He broke into a tiny clearing, all the trees close enough for him to touch, the sky covered by a canopy of icy branches, the ground coated in a thick, spongy layer of leaves that crunched and cracked with ice with each step.

A small, unused looking path covered in more leaves led up a hill in front of him, where Josh was waiting.

Tyler gave him a weak nod, and Josh returned it, spinning around and starting up the hill.

Tyler huffed out a cloudy breath and started up it, his legs shaking as he climbed it. But the exercise was helping the cold issue, he was starting to heat up, his skin burning under his wet clothes.

As he walked, he swore he kept seeing things moving out of the corners of his eyes, a hint of antlers and something gray, moving along the trail with them, hidden in the brush. Tyler didn't have the breath to bring anything up to Josh, so he held the question in his chest for the time being.

The movement in the distance was definitely the weirdest thing happening, but he kept seeing strange circles made of sticks woven together, and he wanted so badly to ask what they were about, it was bothering him so badly that he was so out of breath. Josh didn't seem surprised upon seeing them, which made Tyler think that he was aware of what was happening, which meant that he could explain all of Tyler's questions. But later. Right now he was trying not to fall over.

***

The sky was darkening, but at least his clothes were dry. His knees and hands were scraped from how many times he had fallen, blood smearing his pants from where he had wiped his hands off.

The ground was starting to finally level, and his breath was finally steady in his lungs. A small mountain built of exposed rocks stuck out of the earth in front of them, and as they approached, Tyler noticed that it was split in half to form a narrow cave.

Josh finally stopped, his breath curling gently into the evening, and he turned to look at Tyler. But Tyler didn't look at him, he was looking at the creature in the cave. It was small and gray, maybe furry. Disproportional antlers grew from its head, huge black eyes blinked wetly down at them. It looked like it was examining them as much as Tyler was examining it.

It turned and waddled into the darkness of the cave, disappearing from view, snapping Tyler out of his trance, causing him to finally turn and look at Josh.

"What was that?" He asked, his tone accusatory, because he knew that Josh was fully aware about what was happening. "Where are we?"

"I'll explain later, ok? I promise. But we have to hurry, they've been waiting for you." Josh nodded down at the ground, and Tyler looked down, his eyes widening in surprise when he saw two sets of clothes and woven baskets.

"They know about me? There's more than one?" Tyler asked in disbelief, bending down to pick up the clothes in front of him. There was a design on the front of the folded cloth, a skull on something that could have been a key.

"I knew about you, why wouldn't they?" Josh answered, ignoring the second question.

***

Smoke billowed up from the tallest tower in Dema as the blue fire ripped through it. The orange faded from his eyes, bringing him back to the beach, and finally Tyler knew that he was who he was supposed to be. He was Clancy, and the Bishops should be afraid of him. His grip on the antlers that the Neds had given him shifted as he turned to look at Josh.

Using psychokinesis was actually easier than he had initially thought, taking over Keons' body was simple, if not disturbing. The creatures, the Neds, had explained to him how it was done, and he had done it.

He could feel where the blades had gone into the Bishop's body, the ghosting pains of the gashes, oozing blood. It was startling to feel as if he was inhabiting a body without a heartbeat, and even more so to be one of the Bishops. But he couldn't say he didn't enjoy it, the only thing that gave him more satisfaction than infiltrating the Bishops' lair using their own body, was burning down the tower with them in it.

Nothing would happen to them or the building, everyone would come out unscathed and while that was disappointing, their perishing wasn't the point. It was so they would be aware of how dangeous Tyler could be.

The Bishops should be scared of him, because he wasn't done with them.