“Richard?”

  He barely heard Marcus talking. Instead, he rubbed his head over and over to get rid of the ghost of the tingling sensation in his head. The way the locusts carved into his skull and started eating his brain.

  He took a deep breath, then another. His breathing became more erratic as he touched his fingers, remembering how the locusts had gnawed them off.

  “Lucy!” Marcus called.

  The locusts hadn’t come in here. They were still outside. He’d jumped into another timeline again. A ten percent curse.

  “Again?” Lucy asked, folding her arms in front of Richard. How did she get in front of him already? She ran her eyes down him. “Alright, panic attack. If this were any other situation, I would give you tips and tricks to calm yourself down, but we don’t have the time, and I don’t know how well the locusts can hear.” She was saying this all calmly, and all Richard could do was glance up at her. “Amrynn?”

  The shock of hearing that name caused Richard’s brow to furrow. “But she’s…” He trailed off as the water nymph potion master sloshed forward. Richard’s jaw dropped. Had he slipped into a timeline where Amrynn had survived?

  “Do you have night night?” Lucy asked.

  Amrynn sighed, then pulled out a potion and handed it to Lucy. “Do you really think you can just put to sleep the patients you don’t want to deal with?”

  Richard’s mouth was still hanging open, so he didn’t even notice Lucy splashing the potion on his face. Which was apparently Lucy’s answer to Amrynn.

  “What the he—” Richard stopped short, the potion working in an instant. He could feel his body shutting down. Arms grabbed him as he fought to keep his eyes open. He needed another look. He needed to know that he had somehow stumbled into a timeline where Amrynn was alive.

  Instead, he slowly opened his eyes to find himself on the floor, someone’s backpack under his head for a makeshift pillow. He couldn’t tell for sure, but he could have sworn the roar of the locusts was a lot quieter. That had to be a good sign.

  They had practically left him where he fell. He wasn’t sure how long he was out, but it had to be a while. The guards were taking turns watching over the staircase while everyone else was sitting on the ground. Richard rubbed his eyes, feeling a makeshift blanket of some sort slide off him.

  “Oh, hey. Glad you’re awake.”

  Richard glanced up to see Marcus walking over to him without his overcoat. Richard realized it was because it was Richard’s makeshift blanket. He gathered it up and handed it over to Marcus before studying his surroundings. He needed to know what this ten percent curse had given him. Was it just Amrynn who had come back from the dead? Or had never died in the first place?

  Marcus put on his coat again. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I… think so.”

  Marcus paused, then slid down until he was sitting next to Richard. It wasn’t crowded because there weren’t many survivors. Richard ran his mind through the list of people he knew were supposed to be here. He first started with the newbies, the three of them sitting in the back huddled together. He then checked his own group of newbies. Claw and Amber were talking with Felix, and Richard saw Leylah talking quietly with Shrub.

  Kendra was gone, and there were two more farmers he wasn’t sure of their names. One woman he recognized her face from before the attack on the wall. He had never seen the other man before in his life.

  “What happened to Dmitri?” Richard was afraid of the answer, but also needed to know it at the same time. The thing was, Richard couldn’t be sure if Dmitri was still alive in this timeline.

  “He made sure the silo door sank into the ground before going into the other one.”

  Richard took this in. That meant Dmitri was alive in this timeline. At least… for now. “So the other silo isn’t as hidden?”

  “No,” Marcus said, not looking him in the eye.

  Richard’s heart sank into his stomach. “Dmitri…”

  “Is doing his best to survive, just like the rest of us,” Marcus said.

  Richard thought it was hard enough in a room of about twenty people trying to remain calm as the locusts roared above him. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be completely alone. He had been checking the other groups. Everyone in the scavenger class was accounted for, which Richard found a little annoying. If there was anyone he would not feel bad if they died, it would be Elias. But he was there alone, brooding in a corner.

  “Is Dmitri… is he going to…”

  “He has always been a leader who puts his people first,” Marcus said. “It is a trait I aspire to have myself, walking that balance of still taking care of yourself. But when push comes to shove, he will make sure we survive, even if it puts himself in more danger to do it.”

  Richard glanced at the ceiling again. The roar wasn’t nearly as loud, which he was grateful for, but the constant noise was something he couldn’t help but be annoyed by. His eyes darted over again to the people with more specialized gifts. Lucy, Amrynn, and… and…

  Richard’s heart plopped into his stomach, and his chest tightened. There was no sign of Timick anywhere. He would have seen that centaur here. It would have been impossible to hide him.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “It’ll be alright.” Marcus handed Richard a bunch of grapes. “I honestly think Dmitri is still alive.”

  “Yeah.” Richard didn’t know what else to say. He touched his chest, feeling the ache like it were an actual physical pain. When he died before, the only thing different was that some people had different hair or names. This time, some people were now alive who should have been dead. And some were now dead that he had talked to not that long ago.

  Richard gazed at the guard group. He knew Leylah was still alive, but he stared with wide eyes as he saw Reggie and Shrub. He searched for Izzy and Evan, but they were nowhere to be seen. The guard class had three people, and one of them was Leylah. Richard thought four would be small, but three?

  “Are you okay?” Marcus asked.

  He glanced at the scavenger leader, realizing his face was showing emotions that made little sense.

  “It’s just a lot, you know?” It had to be one of the lamest things he’d ever said, but how could he even begin to describe what was happening to him? He still wasn’t sure what was happening to him. Somehow, Chaos was playing with timelines and was shoving him into ones where he survived, even if that meant other people didn’t. He wasn’t even sure how to feel about this. Timick, Izzy, and Evan? Kali, Britanny, and Kendra? Were they gone forever? Or would another near-death experience bring them back? But then, would the others here go back to being dead? It was like his emotions couldn’t even comprehend whether to mourn or have hope, so he felt heavy instead.

  Richard hadn’t even noticed that Marcus had slipped away until he came back, sliding more food in his direction.

  “I think you’ll feel better once you’ve eaten. We’re pretty safe here. Amrynn poured a master protection potion over the silos before she entered, so the locusts can’t smell the food.”

  Richard tried to relax at that. The mention of locusts brought back the tingling sensation of what it felt like to have his body gnawed on by insects.

  “I’m glad she’s here,” Richard said.

  Marcus chuckled. “You have no idea. She’s never fully recovered from the wall breach, but… I’m pretty sure we’d all be dead now if it wasn’t for her potion.”

  Richard said nothing, watching Amrynn. Her eyes were heavy, as if the weight of the world was pulling down on her.

  “Why?” Richard asked before he could stop himself. “Why has she never fully recovered?”

  Marcus furrowed his brow. “It’s… Timick saved her life at the price of his own when the tree creature broke down the wall. She gets the feeling everyone would have rather had Timick alive than her. Which isn’t true, of course.”

  Richard stared at Marcus, then glanced at Amrynn.

  “Are you okay?” Marcus asked.

  “Yeah, yeah. Doing better. Just… needed a bit of sleep, is all,” Richard said.

  “No, I mean… you’re the one who told us all this.”

  Richard froze, unsure how to respond to something like that, but the longer Marcus studied him, the more he knew he would have to say something. “Huh?”

  Seemed as good a thing to say as anything. Richard forced himself not to wince. Marcus still said nothing, studying Richard close. He supposed it made sense that in this timeline, if he was choosing what class to take, he would work with Amrynn herself and ask many questions about potion making. Perhaps ate some sort of food with her because that was how he always got people to talk.

  “I don’t know how else to say this, so I’m just going to. This is concerning,” Marcus said. “I’m going to talk to Lucy and have her check for memory problems.”

  It seemed like a reasonable thing to do, but Richard knew his mind was fine. Instead, his consciousness had slipped into this body, living this timeline. Did that make him a murderer? He had none of the memories of past Richard, even as he waited for them to be unlocked for him. Would Marcus suspect something? Would he be a good enough ally to admit what was happening? There had to be a way to test it, because Richard could not keep this a secret much longer. It was too weird. Too strange. And clearly the Richard of this timeline did things that the Richard of the old timeline didn’t remember.

  “I don’t hear them,” Reggie said, staring at the ceiling. “We start counting.”

  Elwyndor nodded, then closed her eyes. Lucy walked up to him, and Richard climbed to his feet, forgetting he still had his bowl of food. Lucy tapped the side of her glasses.

  “Your brain is fine. Congratulations,” she said.

  “Uh, thanks?”

  Lucy nodded, then turned around and headed back to where she was. Marcus held out a hand. “Anything with his memories?”

  “I don’t know what to tell you, Marcus. With something that bad, there would be a sign somewhere, like scar tissue. He has a perfectly healthy brain. Don’t let that get to your head.” Lucy paused, then snorted. “That’s a bad joke.”

  Richard was confused about what to do, so instead he picked up a raspberry and ate it. Marcus pulled Lucy aside and started talking to her privately, and Richard tried his best not to think about it too much. Instead, he tried to imagine what might happen if he talked to Marcus about how he spoke with Chaos in the tent. How Chaos gave him a completely overpowered gift of immortality, sort of. Would they try to kill him? How deeply did they distrust Chaos? When he got the whip, they all pressured him into choosing the scavenger class just because they were afraid of what people might think if they even heard a hint about Chaos.

  Elwyndor opened her eyes. “That’s time.”

  Reggie nodded. Richard pulled himself out of his thoughts to focus on the present. He realized his ears had been so used to the roar that he was left with a weird echo of the ringing.

  “It’s still early enough that I will go alone.” Reggie pulled a sword from his inventory and nodded toward Shrub. “If I’m not back in ten, wait another ten.”

  Shrub nodded and looked nervous. Reggie picked up on this, too. “Amrynn’s protection is still working. It’s a master potion, so it works for a day, yes?” Amrynn nodded, though she didn’t look at anyone. “I haven’t heard the locusts. The rest of you stay inside, but I’ve got a feeling I know where Dmitri is, and he needs our help.”

  Reggie was already halfway up the stairs as he said this. He reached the ceiling and opened the door, scraping away dirt. It rained down before Reggie made a big enough hole to climb through. The light then disappeared, and the smaller lights under the shelves came back on. Shrub now closed his eyes, no doubt counting in his head.

  Richard walked over to Leylah, who had two small axes out.

  “Are you… preparing for something?” Richard asked.

  “A guard must always be prepared,” Leylah said.

  Richard said nothing, glancing around again at the group. Three guards for the entire base camp, and two of them hadn’t even been here six months. He hadn’t even thought about how hard that would be when there were four guards. This timeline clearly had what it took to survive, but it was still limping along.

  Richard took to pacing, worried about Reggie and Dmitri. He realized the devastating thing about locusts. With the breach on base two, there was at least a chance to level up and get stronger. To upgrade abilities and gain more experience points. Locusts, though? It was a cataclysmic event that they had to wait out and hope they survived. Richard didn’t gain any experience points; he couldn’t practice his punching or kicking skills. All the while, the locusts no doubt destroyed base camp two.

  The door was flung open, and everyone heard Reggie’s voice. “Lucy!”

  Richard spun around to see Reggie pushing himself inside the silo before dragging Dmitri inside. Richard’s heart dropped as he saw Dmitri’s body, his skin flushed, his lips tinged blue. He couldn’t help but think Reggie had brought in Dmitri’s dead body.