“They don’t want anyone to know who we’re fighting,” she replies. “They tell us they want to take away our bad memories, but really they just want to keep the identity of our enemy under wraps. I suppose it’s a type of control. This vast, all-consuming war has been going on for so long now, and still no-one outside the government knows who we’re fighting. Who knows? Maybe they’re right to do it that way.”
“We’re not children,” I point out, once again struggling to keep my temper. “We should be told! Whatever happens out there, I can handle it!”
“We’ll find out when we go to fight,” he continues. “We’ll see the enemy. We’ll even kill a load of them, hopefully. And then, if we survive, we’ll be forced to forget.”
I shake my head. “Not me.”
“You’ll resist?”
“Damn straight. I’ve started practicing techniques that’ll help me to hold onto all my memories.”
“Asher,” she continues cautiously, “I don’t mean to worry you, but you might not have time. There’s a rumor going round that we’ll get sent off to fight sooner than planned, maybe even within the next couple of weeks. If that happens—”
“I’ll be ready,” I tell her, even though the news is a shock. “It’s what I’ve been training for.”
“But if they wipe our memories when we get back—”
“They can’t actually do that,” I reply, interrupting her. “Not completely, anyway. I talked to a guy who works in the psych division and he told me it’s a hit-and-miss process. They might be able to make it so we don’t remember specific incidents during the war, but they can’t make us forget everything.”
She pauses, before smiling again. “You can be very confident sometimes. Almost arrogant.”
“I won’t forget the important things,” I tell her. “I’ve been teaching myself recall techniques so that I can bypass any attempt to wipe my mind. That guy I spoke to? I got him blind drunk and then I persuaded him to give me some tips. I know what to do, and I’ve been practicing.”
“And you don’t think they know you’ve been doing that? They monitor everything that happens in the barracks.”
“I don’t care. I’m strong enough.”
She stares at me for a moment. “You know what?” she says finally. “I truly believe that you believe what you’re saying. Whether you’re right or not, I don’t have a clue, but if anyone can beat a memory-wipe, I think it’s you so… Good luck.” She pauses. “Now come on,” she adds, taking a step back. “If we’re really getting shipped out soon, we need to make the most of our time here at base, whether we end up remembering it or not. How about we lose our memories the old-fashioned way with a trip to the bar?”
“I’ll catch up,” I tell her. “I just have a few things to do first.”
“Gonna sit around brooding?”
I shake my head.
“Sometimes I worry about you, Asher,” she continues. “You need to learn to let go and just operate on instinct. I’ve seen during training programs how you always pause to over-think everything. You take so long to make big decisions. Sometimes you’ve just got to do what feels right.”
“I’ll catch up,” I tell her again. “I promise.”
“Don’t take too long,” she replies, heading to the door. “I’ll have a drink waiting for you!”
Once she’s gone, I get to work. Taking the small plastic kit from a nearby cupboard, I open the lid and slip out a needle, along with a vial of black ink. Turning away from the mirror, I look over my shoulder as I dip the needle into the ink and get ready for the inevitable flashes of pain. I figure this is important, in case I need to jog my memory after the war. After all, if they take my memories – even the bad ones – I won’t really be myself anymore. The oncoming war is going to be a part of me. Slowly, carefully, I start tattooing a word into my flesh, a word that means more to me than any other in the world.
A word that’ll contain all my memories, and then give them back to me after this war is over.
Steadfall.
Coming soon
THE ABYSS
(THE ISLAND BOOK 3)
Facing the threat of an imminent invasion, the island’s inhabitants are forced to work together as they prepare to defend themselves. For Iris, this means taking charge of a disparate group of people, some of whom believe surrender might be a better course of action. Watching the skies day after day, and night after night, they all wait for government helicopters to appear. Finally, however, they come face to face with a much greater threat, and soon the island itself looks set to sink to the depths of the sea.
Also by Amy Cross
THE ISLAND
(THE ISLAND BOOK 1)
“The revolution never came. We all waited, but it didn’t happen. Eventually we just had to accept that the world was never going to change.”
In the near future, it’s not hard to end up on the wrong side of the law. Every lie counts, every minor mistake. Build up enough points, and you’ll be hauled off to work for the government. The only possible escape is the island, a remote wilderness with no rules and no laws. But if you choose to go to the island, you can never come back.
Everyone knows that only crazy people go to the island.
Arrested for a crime she didn’t commit, Iris soon discovers that she already has a long criminal record she never knew about. When her world comes crashing down, she makes the ultimate choice and invokes her right to be sent to the island. There, she quickly discovers the horrors of a land where anyone can do anything they want, free of all rules and laws. She also meets Asher, a mysterious girl with a dark past and a crazy plan to establish her own town in the midst of the island’s chaos. First, though, they both have to face a deadly group with a taste for human flesh.
The Island is the first book in a new series, about two people trying to establish their own order in a mad world, and about the horrors that take place when humanity is let off the leash.
THE FARM
No-one ever remembers what happens to them when they go into the barn at Bondalen farm. Some never come out again, and the rest… Something about them is different.
In 1979, the farm is home to three young girls. As winter fades to spring, Elizabeth, Kari and Sara each come to face the secrets of the barn, and they each emerge with their own injuries. But someone else is lurking nearby, a man who claims to be Death incarnate, and for these three girls the spring of 1979 is set to end in tragedy.
In the modern day, meanwhile, Bondalen farm has finally been sold to a new family. Dragged from London by her widowed father, Paula Ridley hates the idea of rural life. Soon, however, she starts to realize that her new home retains hints of its horrific past, while the darkness of the barn still awaits anyone who dares venture inside.
Set over the course of several decades, The Farm is a horror novel about people who live with no idea of the terror in their midst, and about a girl who finally has a chance to confront a source of great evil that has been feeding on the farm for generations.
ANNIE’S ROOM
1945 and 2015. Seventy years apart, two girls named Annie move into the same room of the same remote house. Their stories are very different, but tragedy is about to bring them crashing together.
Annie Riley has just broken both her legs. Unable to leave bed, she’s holed up in her new room and completely reliant upon her family for company. She’s also the first to notice a series of strange noises in the house, but her parents and brother think she’s just letting her imagination run overtime. And then, one night, dark forces start to make their presence more keenly felt, leading to a horrific discovery…