Vicious Memories

Chapter 21

I woke to the sound of a scream.

Box was just a puddle of shadow next to me. The whine of the wind circled the village in little eddies of sound.

The scream repeated itself and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

"Stay here," I said, patting Box's fluffy head. "Go back to sleep."

The canvas tent-flap opened easily and I flew out into the starlight. The night was muggy and damp and smelled rotten. Midnight had clearly already come and gone. I ran across the clearing and past the hissing bonfire, dewy blades of grass tickling my bare feet like a lover's fingers.

Earlier today I had spent some time poring over my interview notes, my eyes trudging their way through lines of curly black letters. They marched across the pages, line after line, as insignificant as foot soldiers in a time of peace. I couldn't find any meaning in them.

Arun and Cooper had reported more of the same, and I reviewed their notes as well. A few leads to follow and stories to check. Nothing glaringly obvious. No inconsistent timelines. No obvious motives.

Up ahead the caves reached their shadowy fingers out of the earth, grasping at the night sky.

I plunged into one of the openings, unafraid.

The world within the caves was a messy tangle of white and black as starlight and darkness played tricks on my vision. Rocky corridors with jutting walls forked left and right. I heard the sound of voices and followed them whenever I was presented with a turn. Much of the area had no ceiling - the rocks simply ended at a certain height and allowed a wide swath of sky to peer inside, the moon looking like a child curiously peeking over the edges of a fort. Several of the villagers were awake, huddled together, whispering.

The caves were intimate. Everywhere I looked little touches of personalization poked through. I saw piles of blankets, salvaged posters on the walls, balls and dolls, a rare paperback book, neatly lined up shoes, drawings etched into the red rock itself. It felt like a home.

The illusion of safety broke when I came upon the bloody scene in the caves' center.

"Mads," Finn said, his voice cracking. "Mads."

Villagers crowded into this nook of the caves, blocking my line of sight. Gabriel, Arun, Cooper, Alice, and Tana were here. Somebody held a torch aloft. I didn't want to see what lay beyond the wall of bodies but was unable to stop myself.

"What happened?" I asked.

Gabriel and Cooper stepped aside, opening a path for me.

"Ollie?"

Finn knelt on the rocky floor in the center of what was clearly someone's living quarters. Two blankets, a pillow, spare clothes, and a sleeping mask lay around him. Off to the side I caught sight of three large cast-iron pans stacked on top of each other, mismatched and uneven.

"I heard the yells," I said.

Finn's eyes were red and puffy, his cheeks wet. Stray locks of hair matted his forehead and cheeks like tiny serpents. His bun had come undone. One of the blankets was twisted in his hands. A deep crimson stain sat in the middle of it, fresh enough that it had rubbed off on his fingers.

"What happened?"

"I just told them," Finn said quietly.

"Tell me again."

Finn swallowed, clearing his throat. His eyes darted to someone over my shoulder, and I turned around in time to see Gabriel nod. Finn shuddered.

"I just can't believe... I came here to meet up with her. I couldn't sleep... We talk at night sometimes. I came here and it was dark, so I sat down and reached for the blankets. They were all bunched up. I was thinking I'd just tap her to wake her up. But there was nothing there. And it was sticky. And my hands came away... they were covered in..."