Vicious Memories

Chapter 30

Gabriel spotted me before we left the next morning and yelled for us to stop.

"Oliver."

I cracked the knuckles on my left hand and picked at my nails, studiously avoiding his gaze. I didn't want to have this conversation. My long-sleeved shirt covered most of my cuts and bruises from the previous night.

Far more important than my scuffle with Arun was that I actually knew now what everyone in the village was dealing with.

Retrograde amnesia.

How and why it had happened to us was unknown, but my dream had reminded me of something that made me want to scream and run into the ocean until I drowned: in classic cases of retrograde amnesia, the subject almost never made a full recovery. Our time here would not have a happy ending.

"Oliver," Gabriel repeated. "What happened to your face?"

Half the village stood on the edge of the central clearing, gathered into groups of three and four. We were heading back out to search for Mads.

"I went to the bathroom and tripped in the dark," I said, repeating the same lie I'd used on Cooper and Tana, my group mates. "Bashed my head on a rock. It sucked."

"That's the worst lie I've heard since I woke up."

Nearby, Arun and Scott perked up.

"Seriously," I said, pitching my voice louder, "it's not a big deal."

"Tell me who did it."

"Who did what?"

"I won't accept fighting here." Gabriel's voice projected around the clearing for everyone to hear. "Tell me who did it. I'll have them punished and see it never happens again."

I looked Gabriel in the eye, willing him to understand what I was doing. This wasn't the way to settle my dispute with Arun; it would only depend the animosity between us. Besides, I didn't need a parent to look after me. I could handle myself.

"It won't happen again," I said. "Trust me. It won't. But I appreciate your concern."

At this point everyone was staring. A thin white cloud slipped in front the sun. I breathed deeply of the post-storm air, letting the scents of grass and distant saltwater fill my nostrils.

Gabriel stood there for another few seconds before nodding. "Good luck out there."

I looked over at Arun, allowing our eyes to lock. I didn't blink. Eventually he looked away.

A hard clap on my shoulder made me jump and wince.

"Time to go have a gander at Atlantis, mate," Cooper said.

"Right," I said. "Atlantis. If only."

"Oh, it'll be fun. You get to see our disastrous first attempt at building a village. Tons of good memories."

I smiled at the cheer with which he regarded our mission, unaware that it was one of the last things I would ever hear this Cooper say.