Vicious Memories

Chapter 98

We moved the prisoners to the clearing carefully, alert to any looming tricks or escape attempts, but as the rest of the villagers kept their focus inward, I kept my attention on the darkness around us.

Gloom hung over everything in thick black strands. The ground squished softly underfoot. Unease rippled through us all like a plague. The rain had all but stopped as the stars poked through the sky and the bugs left their hiding places. Arun sent a few runners to gather dry wood from the caves, and in short order the bonfire sprang to life, covering us in a warm bubble of light.

The Strangers kept their eyes on the ground, their hands tied with short lengths of rope. Mads and Mohammed gathered the injured in Arun's cabin, setting up a makeshift infirmary. I left Box panting happily inside.

As acrid tendrils of smoke wafting through the air, Tana started the argument dancing on the tip of everyone's tongue.

"So what do we do with them?"

Three people answered at once.

"Interrogate them."

"Kill them."

"Trial."

Frowns. A short scream of pain came from the direction of the cabin and I flinched. My eyes closed for a quick moment and I took a breath, thinking as quickly as I could. What had this all been for? What were we meant to do next?

Alice and I were in unfair positions, and I could tell it made her uncomfortable as she refused to meet anyone's gaze. We were the only two who knew who knew about Bev's involvement in everything; the only two who knew about my involvement.

"We need to know what they know," Gabriel said. The firelight failed to erase the lines and shadows marring his face. "They've been running around the island getting the better of us for two years. We need to know where their village is, where they came from, and why they've been attacking us."

"Does that really matter?" Arun shook his head slowly. "This is all of them. If we kill them now, it's over. But if we let one escape, the whole nightmare could start again."

Lightning continued to flash far to the north, picking out the monkeypod tree standing solemnly nearby. Looking in that direction, I could barely discern the irregular bumps in the dirt that marked the graves lying beneath its branches. Fully half of the bodies lying there had been put in the ground by Felix and Bev, and the former already shared the earth next to them. Those that the Strangers had recently killed were still strewn across the village, the last vestiges of warmth draining from their corpses, waiting for us to put them beside their friends.

The Strangers watched us with guarded eyes, entirely silent.

"Everything we do matters." Gabriel's face looked angry. "This isn't a game, and it's not over. What we decide has consequences. What if we kill them all and there are more out there? What if there's something in their village that will get us off the island?"

"There isn't," Arun said.

"And how do you know that?"

"Because I know! These aren't civilized people. They've been stalking and killing us for two years. Death is what they deserve. If they had a way off the island they would have used it already."

"Then how did they get here?"

"How did any of us get here?" Finn limped forward, his young face still damp with rainwater and sweat. "Shipwreck, plane crash, I don't know... a submarine? It makes no difference. But they've been here longer than we have, so if there's even a chance... don't you want to get off this island?