Vicious Memories

Chapter 51

Box pawed my shoulder, whining and growling. A rough tongue licked my face. My eyelids felt heavy as boulders, but I cracked them open and sat up, pulling the dog into my lap.

His sides expanded and contracted rapidly. A ridge on his spine stood on end.

"What's wrong?"

He whined and forced his way off my lap. Large furry paws carried him to the entrance of my cave. He barked.

When I heard it I shot to my feet immediately, leaving Box behind with a forceful "Stay" and a nod of gratitude.

Above the sound of the buzzing insects buzzing, above the steady drip-drip of leftover storm water falling from rock, above the sound of rustling leaves in the distance, I heard it. Footsteps. Light, quiet, and quick. Footsteps where there should be silence.

Jutting rocks flashed past to my left and right. I trailed a hand across this ancient brail, breathing deeply of the clear night air while trying to calm my tumultuous heart. Clouds rolled toward the moon, threatening to eliminate my light. My dilated pupils picked out the shadowed path before me.

Only one cave lay near mine.

I heard the first warning from twenty feet away, the sound just barely audible over the rush of blood in my ears. It was a wet slap, like a hand against stone, followed by a grunt.

Just like that I became the wind, sprinting the final ten feet in the darkness, crashing off the cave walls twice without slowing.

"Alice!"

My feet tangled on themselves and nearly took me down, but I managed to catch myself at the last second.

"Alice!" My voice was too loud, earth-shattering in the silent night.

I exploded into the cave but pulled up short, furious at my own eyes for taking so long to adjust. I tried to process everything as quickly as possible.

"Where are you?"

"Here," someone shouted.

I stumbled forward, barely able to differentiate between walls and open spaces.

In the center of Alice's sleeping quarters - an area half open to the night sky and half covered by a protruding slab of rock - two shadows rolled around on the ground. Something flashed a shade brighter than the rest. A knife.

"Which one is you?"

The shadows twirled like dancers in a teacup, pressed together.

"I'm here," Alice managed in a strained voice.

They circled once, twice more, then separated with a low grunt. I heard a sharp intake of breath that I recognized as Alice.

Then the other shadow took flight, gone as quickly as my dream earlier that night. The whole thing took no more than five seconds.

"Alice." I faced the shadow I thought was her, squaring my body, ready to defend myself.

"It's me," she said. Her breath hitched in a way I didn't like. "Stop with the screaming, you sound like a banshee."

I let out a massive sigh, my whole body shaking with the force of it. All at once the rest of the world rushed back at me like water filling a void. Harsh breathing; the scent of fresh flowers; sweat on the back of my neck. I closed my eyes briefly.

When I opened them again the moon peeked timidly through a break in the clouds.

Alice continued to pant, the echoes distorting off the walls. In the near distance the sounds of footsteps and shouting floated toward us. My heart returned to its customary place in my ribcage and slowed its battering attempt to break free.

The white light revealed all the details of Alice's cave: bright flowers against a wall, their sharp colors slightly washed out by the monochromatic shine of the moon, tangled blankets on the ground, shoes and a stack of clothes in one corner, Alice down on one knee in the center of the space. A silvery smell threaded the air.

"You're hurt," I said, taking two steps forward and dropping into a crouch. I took her face between my hands and looked into her dark eyes. "What happened?"

I gave her a swift once-over, looking for injuries. A long shallow cut ran cross her left cheek and a thin line of red dripped down to the corner of her mouth. A much deeper cut scored her right shoulder, and I examined it with concern.

"It's not bad," she said, finally getting her breathing under control. "Really."

She reached up and gently pried my hands away from her injuries, pulling them down, but not letting them go.

"Who was it?" I asked.

Shake of the head.

"You don't know?"

"I couldn't see anything. I was still half-asleep. I woke up to a knife in my face and dove out of the way. I got an elbow into their stomach and you showed up a second later. How did you get here so quickly?"

"Box woke me up."

"I knew I liked that dog." She felt toward her face gingerly. "You saw the rest. I don't know. I think it was a large man? But then my elbow sank so easily into their stomach and they staggered way back, which made me think it was someone smaller. My eyes hadn't adjusted. The knife flew around so wildly I couldn't see it. The whole thing was just a blur of dark outlines."

I rubbed my eyes with the palms of my hands, trying not to panic. This was it. The killer was back, and now they were targeting Alice. Something dark and ugly reared up inside of me. This had to end. Now.

Several people spilled into the cave at once. Arun had thought to bring a torch and warm orange light suffused the air, bringing our faces into such sharp relief that I had to squint.

"We need to gather up the entire village. Right now." My voice came out authoritative, urgent. "Alice was attacked. Bring everyone to the bonfire in the clearing and do a headcount. Make a note of anyone who isn't where they're supposed to be. No excuses or delays from anyone. Say it's an emergency."

Tana, Finn, and Gabriel turned and set off at once, no questions asked. I hoped they would be quick enough to find the answers we desperately needed. Arun lingered for a moment, favoring me with a hard stare. He looked to Alice for a while, too, making sure she really was okay with his own two eyes. Then he melted back into the night.

I helped Alice to her feet. We lit a torch and searched for anything the attacker might have dropped. All we found were confused scuff marks, smudged footprints, and a hand print pressed firmly into a fine layer of dirt left behind by recent rains.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked.

"I'm sure." Her voice shook, but only slightly.

"You need to see Bev."

"I will. After."

I knew better than to argue the point. "Then let's go."