SAHLO FOLINA < tyler joseph x reader >

< 7 >

We made it to Dema after another day of trekking through Trench, complaining all the way. When we got close enough - when the flowers stopping growing - we put up our yellow bandanas and hoods - our protection.

It was night as we approached the city. Everyone's faces were grim, remembering our time inside those walls. I looked over at Josh, and his eyes were watering. Debby put a hand on his shoulder, so I left him alone.

I never knew how to comfort him; he was always the one comforting me.

"Ready to go inside?" Graham asked. I wasn't sure who he was talking to; the whole group was in a horizontal line behind him. He was directly in front of Clancy and me. He glanced back.

Clancy answered him. "As ready as I can be."

"That's the spirt," Graham replied. He looked at me, and I understood wordlessly that he was asking me the same question.

I sighed. "I guess I am."

He smiled - I could see it through the bandana. "Good. Because you two are the ones going inside."

<><><>

"Careful; there's a ledge," Clancy whispered. We were picking our way up through the underground, no torch to guide us; we didn't use torches unless we were smuggling somebody out. It drew too much attention when we didn't want it.

I had two messages in my hand for the escapee. Clancy had his letters. We planned to enter Keons' district to plant one or two of Clancy's letters, then drop a few in Lisben's and Andre's on our way to Nico's, where we'd plant the messages.

Graham wouldn't say why he chose the two of us to go, no matter how many times I asked (three, but who's counting). As we made our way to the surface, I formed some theories.

For one thing, Clancy was in Dema most recently, and it was only fitting that he planted his own letters. But that didn't explain why he chose me.

Peter was a newer escapee, so that's why he wasn't chosen. Caroline was good at scouting out hidden areas to set up camp for the night, so that might've been why she wasn't chosen.

Josh was emotional - more so than the rest of us - so that's probably why Graham didn't chose him. And, though it was a stretch, he probably didn't chose Debby so she could stay with Josh.

I was the best choice out of the group, and I also assumed a factor was that he wouldn't have to go inside if he chose me. He trusted me; I had experience and a reliable guide.

"We made it," Clancy whispered. I looked ahead and saw moonlight shining down into the tunnel, though just barely.

We climbed to the surface, hiding the mouth of the tunnel once we were out.

We came out outside - inside the walls but outside the buildings - and I saw a distant glow behind the living quarters.

"The cemetery," I whispered. Clancy walked past me wordlessly, heading toward it. I followed.

When we made it there, I looked out onto the tombstones. A lot of them were gray, fading into the obscurity of the dull world around them.

But the rest were bright, neon blue.

Clancy walked through them as if by habit - it probably was - and stopped in front of one of the glowing tombstones. I read the name.

Echo Carter

Clancy crouched in front of it and buried one of his letters in the dirt. A tiny part of the corner was sticking out. He looked at the tombstone silently for a few moments then, as if explaining himself, whispered, "So she'll find it this time."

I felt myself getting choked up, so I didn't say anything. Instead, I placed a hand on his shoulder, he stood, and we started to walk away.

I looked back, finding two specific graves almost immediately.

Their tombstones weren't lit up, but I remembered where they were. In the back, bunched up with some other gray ones. I didn't stop. I didn't crouch. I'd done that almost perpetually from the moment they died to the moment Josh and I left.

I turned and kept walking.

••••
•RUST AROUND THE RIM, DRINK IT ANYWAYS, I CUT MY LIP•
-Jay