Vicious Memories

Chapter 38

The hunters captured Lukas that afternoon.

I was due to set off into the southern jungle in twenty minutes. The sun was partway through its descent to the west, still covered by clouds that had thickened to the dark gray of a scratchy wool blanket.

Felix helped me carry the dirty lunch dishes down to the creek before I left. He was halfway through a story about the time he and Tana tried to build a set of windsurfing boards and his gestures had grown wild.

"...And I swear I didn't sleep for three days. I was so frustrated that I couldn't get the angles right, and the whole thing kept capsizing." He smiled as if this was the best problem in the world to have. "Mads had to bring us our meals down by the beach..."

I listened silently, bemused.

"...And the third time Tana ended up flipping headfirst into the water, flailing about like an old lady, I was almost laughing too hard to go fish her out... But man that one time we got it to work, you should have seen the two of us out there, flying over the waves... before the main tether snapped off and the tarp kite swept the whole thing out to sea... Gabriel was so mad that we had wasted his precious tarps, and we just couldn't stop laughing..."

I held up a hand suddenly, cutting Felix off.

"Sorry," I said. "Do you hear that?"

We both listened to the burble of water over rocks, the light tune Mads hummed as she rinsed the dishes, the rustling nylon sound of leaves brushing against each other in the breeze, the high-pitched cry of a swallow in the distance.

And something else.

"Shouting," Felix said, concerned.

We left the dishes in the grass and raced each other up the embankment, reaching the crest just in time to see a crowd of ten villagers moving in a group across the clearing. Anticipation built as I saw where they were headed: the cabin I'd been imprisoned in when I'd first arrived. The wind against my skin made me shiver.

"What's this?" I asked, reaching the group.

Arun stood in front of the closed tarp, his arms folded. He didn't answer.

Inside the tent I heard someone speak gruffly, and a second later Mohammed emerged. Salvador and Scott were also present, and I saw the latter's eyes flick over the fading bruises on my arms before looking away.

"I know everyone has questions," Arun said to the crowd, "but now isn't the time. It would be best if everyone got back to their jobs for the afternoon."

Nobody wanted to move, but Arun's glower was fierce. Eventually half the people turned to go. Scott jogged away, too.

"And don't," Arun called, "go into the jungle alone. Groups of two or three at the very least."

I imagined the solid wood logs morphing themselves into iron bars. Who was inside the cabin?

Alice arrived silently, peering at me curiously, and I responded with a shrug. Scott strode back across the clearing toward us, his hair immediately distinguishable. Gabriel followed right on his heels.

"Okay." Gabriel's voice was as crisp as biting into an apple. "Has anyone questioned him yet?"

"No."

"Has he said anything?"

"Just a bunch of curses."

"Speaks English, then?"

"Perfectly," Arun said. "Strange accent, though. Maybe German."

There was a pause, and I jumped into it gladly. "Is somebody going to explain what's going on, or are we going to play twenty questions?"