Our Darkest Memories

7. When Past Promises Take Over

5 weeks after forgetting

The car that we were driving in smelled horrible. The scent of old socks and expired food made me feel sick, and so we had opened the windows of the Jeep to let fresh air in. Whoever the former owner was, he did not like cleaning and I could guess that he was probably also not very happy that his car was missing.

After walking to a nearby village after the crash, we quickly stole the car and now Buz was sitting behind the steering wheel. I had wanted to argue with that but decided that they hated me enough as it was. Arguing with them would only make them want to kill me faster.

So now I was sitting next to Aaron in the back seat. He hadn't said anything since we got in, but neither did the rest. The only thing that was directed at me was the occasional sneers of Mitchel and the commanding voice of Buz who wanted me to tell where we were going.

I tried to focus the conversation I had with the Yellow and remembered that he at some point mentioned the name of a village that they had been close to when he left the Red. That, together with my calculations on how far the Red would have walked made me think that we were close.

"Take a right here and then stop alongside the road."

The car stopped when it was hidden from the road by some bushes. We were standing in the middle of an open field that was surrounded by trees.

"This is where the red is?" Buz asked with narrowed eyes. His voice sounded suspicious, as if he thought I was leading him into a trap.

"No. We are probably gonna have to walk for a while. I don't have the specific location of the red, so we're gonna have to search."

I walked towards the car and looked at the compass on the dashboard. The 'W' was pointing straight at the trees in front of us and I pointed to them.

"She is somewhere over there. She is supposed to walk in a straight line to the west. I'm assuming that she also has a compass, so she'll probably not deviate from that line. I propose we split up so that we cover more grounds."

Already walking towards the trunk to get my bag, I was stopped by a low voice.

"Absolutely not. Split up? So that you can walk away from us? Not gonna happen. Someone is gonna go with you. I suggest that-"

"I'll do it," Aaron interrupted Buz, who gave him an angry look.

"Fine," he eventually gave in after a lot of consideration.

Quickly, everyone got their backpack, and the three guns that I had seen before were handed to Buz, Mitchel, and Aaron. Everyone took a compass and started walking, Buz from our right, Mitchel from our left, making Aaron and me the middle.

Soon, Aaron and I were walking alone through the trees. There was a little tention, considering Aaron kept opening and closing his mouth, as if he needed to get something from his chest. I honesly didn't care to hear it, though.

"Aren't you gonna ask why I volunteered to take you?"

I peered back to where Aaron was walking and then shrugged my shoulders.

"Neh, not realy. Why? Do you wanna explain?"

He caught up with me and he gave me an expectant look. He quickly noticed that I really didn't care, but that didn't stop him.