Vicious Memories

Chapter 31

Everything was about to get much, much worse.

We hiked the short distance to the first village quickly. We're going to Atlantis.

"Because it flooded, obviously," Cooper had explained. "We weren't too smart when we picked the spot. It was upstream past the farmland, where a river runs out from the hills. We built the village near the fork, back when it was a strangely dry period for the island. We didn't get our first hard rain for about two months. The storm flooded the river and destroyed the whole village."

As Atlantis drew nearer I dwelled on the purpose of the expedition. Dark questions hid behind our locked lips, held back by gritted teeth, waiting to tear us apart. Where was Mads? Who took her? Was the killer really among the villagers, or was there someone else out here in the jungle? How could we let people be kidnapped and murdered right under our noses?

My thoughts invariably returned to the shadow from last night. Clearly there were people besides the Strangers out there watching us. And if real people were out here, there was a lifeline back to reality, a way to find out about our pasts.

We hiked through brambles and thorns, stepping over roots and ducking under leafy branches, always staying within sight of one another. The rush of the creek grew louder as we neared the fork. A breeze off the water held the rising heat of the day at bay, the sun flecking the dirt at our feet through the forest canopy.

"Not such a beauty anymore, is she?" Cooper asked.

"Oh, I dunno," Tana said, pulling up as the forest cleared, "she's still got a little charm. What do you think, Ollie?"

I stopped and surveyed the ruins. "I don't want to call you baby ugly, but..."

We all laughed, Cooper slapping his thigh a couple of times. Even this small amount of happiness lifted our moods, let us relax a bit more. Let us be a little less vigilant.

There wasn't much left of Atlantis; the villagers hadn't lived here in eighteen months. We stood at the southern entrance, looking down at an abandoned attempt at life. A large expanse of mud showcased broken wood buildings and the foundations of a dozen cabins, only a handful retaining even a single one of their four walls. Nature had taken the rest away through flooding, heavy rains, and wind. The destroyed cabins were all situated around a clear center, the precursor to today's meeting space.

Cooper kept up a steady stream of words as I took in the rotting wood graveyard.

"...and over there was Gabriel's cabin. I remember staying up nights in there worrying about how to protect this place. That wall right there took Felix two whole weeks to put up, the ground kept shifting and it would fall down at night... and over there was where we brought the first boar we caught. Mads cooked it up for us and we had a party like you wouldn't believe... boar for brekky, lunch, and dinner every day for a week... Arun would not shut up about the damn tree line being too close..."

On our left, to the west, a river three times as wide as the creek by our village flowed quickly, white rapids churning the reflected sun into a yellow scramble. It continued on all the way to a huge spike of rocks that cleaved it in two. The vast majority of it turned right and flowed off into the distance. The rest continued on to become our creek.

"You're boring him," Tana said.

"Hey," Cooper replied, "he's not bored. You're not bored, are you Ollie?"

"Not at all." I started after Tana. "Riveting history."

We wasted close to four hours searching the old village, looking for any sign of recent habitation, any clue that might indicate someone had been through it, any hint that Mads had traversed the area. We combed through every inch of ground, then moved on to the banks of the river and the two forks below it. The trees watched our futile efforts from afar, a fortress of hostility.

"There's nowhere else to look," I said eventually, my spirits sinking. "We should go back."

They agreed.

The toe of my shoe caught on a rock and I stumbled. Quick as ever, Cooper stepped swiftly in front of me. He cursed at the exact same time as he caught my arm. His free hand slapped against the side of his neck.

As I straightened up he turned around, searching the jungle behind him, then spun toward me. He looked at me with a confused expression, as if asking whether I knew what was going on. A soft wind blew his long hair off his forehead.

We stood still for several heartbeats. I could heard Tana's heavy breathing behind us.

Cooper collapsed.

No sound, no flailing of limbs, no change in expression. He just dropped.

Tana cried out. I lunged forward.

"Cooper!"

We rolled him over together, careful not to hit his head on any of the rocks lying in the dirt. Tana's face showed the horror I felt. She looked down at Cooper's limp form, speechless.

"What happened?"

"I don't know," I said. "He just collapsed." I put my hands on either side of his head. "Cooper. Hey. Cooper. Can you hear me?"

The silence grated against my nerves, passing like needles across my skin. Cooper began to convulse, his shoulders shaking, his body jerking twice in quick succession.

He opened his eyes.

I could feel my pulse beating in the hollow at the base of my throat. I had never looked too hard at Cooper's eyes before. They were brown and narrow, set under heavy eyebrows, bright and sometimes wild. And at this moment, as he looked up at me, they were completely empty.

Before we could say anything more, Cooper let out a shout of surprise, scrambling backward to get out from under me and Tana.

"Cooper," Tana said.

A few feet away, he stopped.

"Cooper?" Tana repeated.

"It's okay," I said to him.

His eyes flicked back and forth between us. Back and forth. Back and forth. A solitary green leaf spiraled down from above and landed between the three of us.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Cooper finally asked.

"It's okay," I repeated as calmly as I could, "you passed out and collapsed. Are you feeling alright? We should get back to the village. Have Bev take a look at you."

A lock of curly brown hair had come free from his headband during the fall, and he reached up to push it out of his eyes, seeming surprised to find it there. The look he gave us afterward was blank.

"Who's Bev?" he asked. "What village?

The questions stretched between us with quiet malice.

"Who are you?"