Vicious Memories

Chapter 40

The alarming swish of footsteps woke me.

I opened my eyes to a ghostly night, dark clouds covering the stars. Box rumbled quietly in protest as I clambered to my feet, but I scratched his head until he settled. My cave was further north than any of the others, the closest exit just a few steps away.

I set out on light feet and reached open grass in a breath. Only the faintest hint of pale light managed to filter down from the heavens and illuminate this part of the village. The green field had turned white, a slightly unnerving sight that made me feel like I'd stepped through a curtain and into a demented underworld. Wind whined through the branches of the monkeypod tree in the distance.

Past the tree, a human shadow walked calmly toward the jungle.

I set after it without a second thought. Heart in my throat, driven by the suspicion and hope that I would finally figure something out, I doubled my pace as quietly as I could. Just before the shadow slipped through the tree line the clouds overhead shifted. A sliver of moonlight, fine as a solitary sheet of paper, lit up the village.

Tightly braided blonde hair disappeared from view.

Ten seconds later I drifted into the jungle.

Stalking Bev through the trees wasn't particularly difficult, but it still made my heart beat in crashing waves. My mind raced faster than a horse around a track, my nerves jangled like tripwires, my hand drifted to the hunting knife tucked into my waistband.

Tracking was a subtle activity, but trailing a live subject was even subtler. I focused on keeping my footfalls quiet, moving only when she did, shifting the angle of my pursuit regularly. More than anything I focused on keeping my distance; the mistake most people made was getting nervous about losing their target and getting too close. Nobody could follow directly on another person's heels for an extended length of time and stay unnoticed.

My steps counted out the seconds of the night as we moved through the northern section of the jungle, swung east to walk around the open field below the cliffs, then looped south. I frowned. Bev paused several times to stare up at the underside of the canopy, a collage of black leaves with barely any openings through which to see the cloudy sky. She seemed to be thinking heavily.

Soon we swung west. My frown deepened. The only thing in that direction was the southern entrance to the village.

Bev stopped dead in her tracks.

I froze as she tilted her head. My blood thumped like a bass drum.

Bev's shadowed face shifted, seemed to smile. She turned further and her shadowed eyes stared directly at a patch of shadow five feet to my right.

"I know you're out there," Bev called. "Who is it? Arun? Alice? No... Alice is too good to be spotted." Her smile widened. "Ollie?"

I did my best to fix a properly embarrassed look on my face and stepped forward.

"Hi, Bev."

"Out for a midnight stroll?"

"You could say that. You?"

Now that I was only a few feet away, the scattered white light allowed me to make out the specifics of her expression. She seemed amused. Her eyes sparkled.

"Actually, I am," she said. "I do it often. Helps me clear my mind. Kind of like meditation."

"Smart."

"Thank you."

A lazy breeze rippled the leaves around us, making the jungle whisper. Secrets tumbled through the air in the forgotten language of swaying trees and shifting branches.

"So," I said to fill the pause, "how long have you known I was following you?"

She put a finger to her lips, as if thinking hard, not looking the least bit put out that I'd been following her. "About five minutes. The wind died down but the shrubs behind me kept moving for a few seconds. I looked up and saw your silhouette in the corner of my eye."

"You know it's dangerous out here. There could be Strangers around."

"Could there?" she asked. "I'm not entirely sure about that. There haven't actually been any Stranger attacks at night before. Not in the two years we've been here. Besides, I'm pretty quick. I could always run for help. I'd offer to race you back to the village right now if I thought you'd take me up on it."

I chuckled a bit. "I bet you would."

"And," she added, "we're so limited in what we can do around here. There's the constant threat of the Strangers, the ever present need to survive without help from the rest of the world, the added danger of wild animals and lack of medical facilities... I like having something that's mine, you know? Some way to say screw it, I'm going to do what I want to do, because I can. Danger be damned."

I'm going to do what I want to do, because I can. Her words reverberated their way down my entire body, resonating through every bone. That, I thought, is something I can understand.

Standing just the two of us in the middle of the jungle didn't feel uncomfortable at all - on the contrary, it felt entirely normal, which paradoxically was the part that felt wrong. The way she looked at me gave me chills; I could see the compassion in her gaze, the keen sense of curiosity underneath it.

Time ticked. A night creature cried out int he distance.

I broke eye contact first, wanting suddenly to get away, to return to the village.

"Satisfied with your detective work?" Bev asked.

"Not entirely," I said. "I was kind of hoping you were the murderer, leading me to your secret lair. It would have made everything a lot easier."

"Maybe I am," she teased. She paused then, her expression turning sour. "It's a terrible thing. I don't want to have to examine any more dead bodies, but I'm afraid I'll be forced to before this is all over."

"I'll do everything I can to prevent that from happening."

"I know you will."

I nodded over my shoulder, back toward the village. "Shall we?"

"Yes," she said, her smile returning, "we shall."