thanatophobia // joshler [✓]

the night

dusk was beginning to set forth upon as we hit the trail. we finally had a plan that seemed to work in our heads, let's just hope it works in reality.

each of us had a weapon, even patrick. we planned on ambushing then attacking them when they least expected it.

i had a handgun, along with a knife hidden in my back pocket. patrick had a gun which he wasn't too familiar with but it worked anyway. brendon had his special and sharp knife, his "lucky knife" if you will. and tyler had a handgun and small pistol.

when we reached the halfway point of the trail, brendon caught up with my pace to walk with me.
"hey josh, can we talk?" he asked, losing his breath a bit.

"sure."
"great. well i wanted to say i was sorry. you were right, i was being a pessimistic asshole. through the planning you showed me how to not be a dick and how to work with my clique even though we're all hurt one way or another. so yeah... thanks..." he half smiled.

"no need to thank me, you already did when you stopped being so much of a dick. but you're welcome, don't worry too much about it, bud."
brendon let out a chuckle, "man you make this apologizing thing real easy, don't you?"

i shrugged, "i guess i do. but i do it coz i don't want any trouble when you're not the enemy."
"that's true," he agreed, "but how are you feeling about all this?"

"feeling good about it. if we just keep our sanity and our heads together we shouldn't have a problem." i explained in a rather simplistic way.
"sounds good enough to me, you seem to have this whole thing figured out." he praised.

"no need to kiss my ass, i already forgave you dude."
i joked.
"do you not like ass kissing, josh?" he faked getting offended.

"it just gets to be a little too much b." i continued.
"well shit sorry i'll go get some ass kissing lessons after we're done with this." he couldn't help but laugh at his own joke.

after our joke was over we went back into a more serious and sad discussion when brendon spoke again,
"how'd we end up here? we went from a group of 7 to a group of 4... shit really went wrong somewhere."

"we'll get the others back, and as for the ones we lost, we make them proud by kicking mcrs ass." i tried making light of the situation, brendon nodding in agreement.

there was time where the only sound that could be heard was gravel crunching beneath our feet as we walked along the dirt road. i looked around to see the city that was once full of life now be in ruins.

i now ponder about my life and how it was just a week ago. i had rich parents and i was close to my siblings. we would play pretend and think about what it was like growing up.

they never had a chance to grow up like i did. i knew i wasn't making them proud by killing and living a life like this, but they have to be proud that i stayed alive at all costs, since i did it for them.

i surged out of my thoughts when patrick regrouped us to point out that we were a building down from the warehouse.

"this is it... we're here."