Vicious Memories

Chapter 91

Thunder crashed ferociously into the unsettling void left by Bev's departure. It sounded like the entire island would split apart and fall into the sea below. The animals all around us held their breath in the charged air, anticipating the rain and lightning that would soon rip through their home.

I rushed over to Alice. She worked her jaw a few times as I pushed the gag down around her neck. When I finally untangled the knots around her wrists they snaked away easily.

"Are you okay?" I took her face between my hands gently.

She groaned as her shoulders protested against being moved into a normal position, winced when my fingers softly brushed the cuts on her face.

"I'm fine," she said softly, "other than my pride. Ollie. I'm so sorry. I'm an idiot. I saw her disappear into the woods and followed her. Nobody's ever been able to track me in the jungle, I didn't think she would be able to either. I was on her trail when someone hit me on the back of the head. I didn't wake up until I was out here."

I quickly checked over the rest of her body, careful not to jostle her from her position on top of the pressure mine. When I looked back up, her golden eyes bored into me.

"What did she say when you walked away?"

I chewed my cheek for a moment. "She wanted me to abandon the rest of the village."

"What did you say?"

"No, of course," I replied, making another snap decision. Consequences be damned.

Bev had made some very persuasive points. She had all of the power right now, and I couldn't risk telling Alice anything else. If this whole thing was an experiment then there could be cameras everywhere.

Alice looked up at the leaden sky. "It's so late. You need to go help the others. We're out of time."

"No," I said firmly. "Not a chance. I'm not leaving you."

"This is my mess. I got myself into it, and I'll have to get out of it. You need to get back to the village as quickly as you can. The Strangers will be there soon, and our friends are going to die."

"No," I repeated.

Alice's gold halos turned to fire, but I looked away before she could argue any more.

The pressure mine was wedged into the dirt like a tiny green manhole cover. It was perfectly round, two sections jutting out of either end, a deceivingly simple device considering the capacity it held to kill. Alice's knees were red and raw where she'd been forced on kneel on the metal.

A hand found my chin and lifted it up.

"They need you," she pleaded. "I was responsible for their protection as Fist, and I failed. I compound that failure by depriving them of your protection, too. I promise I'll be okay. If my spirit has to join Jessica and the others, then that's what's meant to happen."

The clifftop blurred for a moment. I shook my head doggedly. "I'm not leaving anyone behind ever again, especially not you. We had a good plan to defend the village. They'll be okay. Besides, they need both of us. I wouldn't make much of a difference alone, but together we might be able to help."

I stood up and looked around. The distant symphony of waves and wind mingled like lovers on a dance floor. I strode toward the nearest tree, the grass bending out of my way almost before I put my feet down. That was the way it went when you were presented with an impossible situation: either something took over, you knew exactly what to do, and the world go out of your way, or you froze and watched your life dissolve around you in a brilliant explosion. I wasn't the type of person to go to pieces at a time like this.