Someone has picked up the other end of the line.
“This is Asher,” I say after a moment, my voice trembling with anger, “calling from the island. Do you hear me?”
I wait, but there’s no reply. I know someone is listening, though, and I’m pretty sure it’s someone on the mainland.
“I know what you did,” I continue. “I know about the people you sent to disrupt our lives here. I know you wanted to make sure towns couldn’t grow and prosper. I know you sent thugs with guns and other weapons, and you taught them to spread disease, and you broke every goddamn rule you—”
Catching myself just in time, I realize that I’m in danger of going on a long rant.
“It didn’t work,” I add after a moment. “Leanne and Ben are dead, and Harold’s about to join them. It’s over.” I glance around, to make sure that there’s no chance he might jump me, and then I look back down at the device. “The same thing will happen to anyone you send to interfere in the life of the island,” I continue. “A lot of people have died today. Good people, people who suffered at the hands of your agents, people who came here because you promised that they’d be left alone. I want you to know that it doesn’t matter who or what you send next, we’ll fight them. We’ll fight anything you try to do, so the best solution would be for you to respect the idea of the island and leave us alone. Do you understand?”
Again I wait, but the only reply is the hiss of the line. After a moment, however, I hear a faint clicking sound, and I know that there’s someone listening to me. Just a coward who won’t even speak up.
“Steadfall will always be defended,” I say firmly. “The island, too. So if you want to try something, maybe—”
Suddenly I realize I can hear a sound in the distance, thumping through the air. When I turn and look between the trees, I immediately start to worry that maybe I’m having another flashback, but a moment later I realize that it’s actually the sound of a helicopter approaching the island. They never usually make drops so early in the morning, so I figure there’s only one reason it could be here.
Harold called for help, and now he’s being evacuated. He’s running like a coward.
“Not so fast,” I mutter, tossing the communication device aside and then hurrying through the forest, heading toward the sound of the helicopter in the distance. I almost trip and fall several times, but I manage to keep going until I see the ocean glittering under the morning sun, just a few hundred feet ahead. I make my way forward cautiously, constantly looking around in case I spot Harold, but finally I get to the edge of the forest and look down at the beach. A moment later I hear the helicopter getting closer, and I duck back to make sure they can’t see me as they soar high above the tops of the trees.
Hearing a rushing sound, I turn just in time to see a red flare launching into the sky from nearby, which I guess must be Harold’s way of letting them know where to find him. With the gun still in my right hand, I hurry between the trees, desperate to get to him before he has a chance to be rescued, and finally I spot him up ahead, standing on the beach and waving at the helicopter with his remaining good arm. When he turns to look up toward the sky, I see that I got a good shot when I hit his shoulder, and he’s clearly badly hurt.
Checking the gun, I see that I definitely have one shot left, but probably no more than that.
I have to make it count.
As I make my way along the edge of the beach, I stay low so that Harold won’t see me approaching. I could probably take him out from here, but I want to be absolutely certain that I don’t miss. I can hear the helicopter getting closer as the flare continues to burn in the sand, and I know I don’t have long left before he’ll be rescued. Finally I scramble down onto the beach and aim at his back, but at the last moment I realize I want him to see me before I pull the trigger. Somehow, deep down, I feel a strong sense that I can’t shoot a man in the back. He still has a gun in his hand, but I know I can fire before he has a chance to threaten me. I take a few steps closer, and slowly he turns around as if he’s sensed my presence.
“You took your time,” he says with a faint smile, his voice sounding much more frail now, as if he’s in immense pain from the wound on his shoulder. “I was actually starting to think that you weren’t coming after me.”
“We were supposed to be left alone,” I say firmly, with the gun aimed directly at his face. The wind is picking up all around us now, and I can hear the helicopter getting closer over the tops of the trees. “That was the deal! We came to the island to get away from the rest of the world!”
“The rest of the world wanted to keep an eye on you,” he says with a smile.
“The rest of the world promised—”
“The rest of the world lied!”
I pause, resisting the urge to pull the trigger and end his miserable life right now.
“Do you want me to explain it to you?” he asks. “Is that why you haven’t finished me off yet? Or is there some other, deeper reason you can’t quite explain? Do you want me to tell you exactly why they sent me, and why I worked with such slow, painful precision?”
I adjust my finger on the trigger, ready to fire if he tries anything.
“This was all for you, Asher,” he continues. “I persuaded a reformist branch of the government to send me here, I told them we needed to crush any attempts to build a new society on the island, but that was really just a cover story. I enjoyed the work, of course, but I was always keeping an eye out, waiting for the inevitable day when I found you. Every time I walked into another town, I wondered if I was finally going to see your face again. I knew, I just knew, that you’d still be alive somewhere in this miserable place.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask, convinced that he’s trying to distract me. “We never met before you came to Steadfall!”
“Didn’t we?” His smile grows. “Come on, Asher, you were right all those years ago. It really is possible to recover the memories they wiped after the war. I managed it, and you were always smarter and stronger than me.”
I open my mouth to tell him he’s lying, but deep down I can feel something clawing at my gut.
“We fought so long and so hard, Asher,” he continues. “You, me, Collins… Mads. Do you remember Mads? We fought in one of the most successful units the army has ever seen, and what was our reward? Beached alone due to a tactical error, and left to be slaughtered. The others all died, Asher, but you and I survived. We should have been treated like heroes, but instead they just wiped our minds and shoved us back out into society.” Slowly, cautiously, he takes a limping step toward me. “It took a while, Asher, but finally it all came back to me. And I can see from the look in your eyes that it’s coming back to you, too. Everything we went through… No-one can take that away!”
He’s wrong, he has to be.
At the same time, I can hear a voice calling to me from far away. Mads is crying out, terrified and in pain, on some distant battlefield. This time, however, there’s another voice, telling me to give him cover.
“You remember,” Harold says finally.