Richard stood next to Marcus as Lucy finished checking Savannah and moved on to Shrub. Savannah downed the drink mixture Lucy gave her before slipping out of the healer’s building. Richard couldn’t help but study Dmitri the entire time. Every once in a while, his chest would rise and fall on its own. Death himself was only a few shades paler than Dmitri on the bed right now. But there was progress. Richard wondered just how many of his meals were helping, but Lucy was right. Ten percent wasn’t a lot. But it was a lot better than zero.

  Lucy handed Marcus a cup. “Drink this, and you’re free to go.”

  Marcus drained every drop, but remained in his spot, glancing at Richard. Lucy seemed to notice his hesitation.

  “What happened this time?” Lucy asked.

  “Do you want to tell her?” Marcus asked.

  Richard hesitated, not sure what he needed to say. Because when it all came down to it, he was still lying to save himself. He was already trying to figure out what he would tell Dmitri when the man woke up. Richard would know best by judging Dmitri’s reaction as he gave the information. Despite that, he was fully prepared to lie to Dmitri’s face if need be. No, he didn’t trust Chaos and Order, but he could not ignore that Dennison and Ike tried to murder him because he was different.

  Honestly, he just wanted to get his cup and leave to find Eddie.

  Marcus sighed, then told Lucy what had happened. Lucy listened, looking more annoyed as time went on until she was rubbing her temples and groaning.

  “This isn’t my job,” she said once Marcus finished talking.

  “He has a consistent memory problem. How is this not your job?”

  Lucy groaned again, then checked Richard with her glasses. It was only a few seconds later that she shrugged. “Same as always. Like last time.”

  Marcus frowned again, watching Richard. “But something has to be going on.”

  Yes, something was. But Richard wouldn’t tell anyone but Dmitri, and even that made him uncomfortable. Lucy handed Richard a cup.

  “You’re right. You know what we should do? We should tell everyone that Richard is suffering from memory problems. There’s no way someone might take that the wrong way. No, not this group of paranoid survivors on the brink of extinction. I’d hate for Richard to find himself dangling over the ocean as a virgin sacrifice to the squid to appease Order because everyone is now convinced he isn’t who he says he is. He is, in fact, a new monster in disguise, trying to blend in with the other survivors while infiltrating them and getting their secrets to sell to Chaos.”

  Richard stared at Lucy, wondering how long she’d been awake today. It was Marcus’s turn to rub his forehead. “Lucy… come on.”

  “You think that’s far-fetched? Do you treat people who get their brains fried during the summer as they work outside all day long?” Lucy raised a finger. “With little to no protection on their heads, by the way, despite me explicitly telling them that their brains are boiling. How rational a decision do you think these people will make?”

  “Ah,” Marcus said, as though it all clicked. “How many so far today came in for that?”

  “Three.” The word left Lucy’s mouth like she were spitting it out. “And it’s only getting hotter.” She then focused on Richard. “Are you a legendary shapeshifting monster who can turn into any person in this camp? And are you gathering intel to give back to Chaos to make the apocalypse worse?”

  Richard swallowed the drink down, not sure how this would look to Lucy or Marcus if he excused himself to go talk to Eddie and hear a story he should already know. “Uh… no.”

  Lucy shrugged, then looked at Marcus as though genuinely confused as to what he expected her to do at this point.

  “This is alarming me,” Marcus said.

  “And it’s something we would take up with Dmitri. But…” Lucy glanced at Dmitri on the bed. “If you are as frightened about it as you say, go take this up with the other class leaders.”

  Lucy went back to her workbench. Marcus sighed, then turned to leave. Richard stood for a moment alone with Dmitri and Lucy.

  “Uh, I’ll get you some more soup in… four and a half hours,” Richard said as he backed away.

  “I don’t actually care what secrets you’re hiding. Just as long as you don’t start killing anyone,” Lucy said.

  “Oh… yeah, uh. No, no plans. At all.” Did that make him sound like a psychopath?

  Lucy rolled her eyes and kept working. Richard slipped out of the room and headed straight for the orb. He placed his hand on it, and his bar stopped blinking. He had another ability point, and he contemplated what to do with it. Chaos told him that if he left it there, then Chaos would put it where he wanted. But the thought always came back to whether Richard trusted that higher being. And the answer was always no. It was why he was headed toward the farmlands now, searching the workers spread out sifting the soil to make it not so dead looking. Richard was careful walking over the farmland. Nothing had been planted yet, but he felt it was smart not to break the habit.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Claw as a bee buzzed around his head, and Richard couldn’t help but smile. “Hey, Claw.” The bee kept buzzing around until he flew away to another section of the farm. Richard found Eddie and headed toward him. There was purpose to his step as he made his way toward Eddie. This was the first clue in a while that he didn’t have to rely on Chaos for. The more he could figure out about chronomancy that wasn’t from Chaos, the better.

  “Hey, Eddie,” Richard said.

  Eddie glanced up, shielding his eyes. “You all get back from scavenging?”

  “Yep. We’ve got some free time now, so I wanted to ask you some questions, if that’s alright.”

  Eddie hesitated, then handed Richard the shovel. “If you want information now, that means you’ll have to help.”

  Richard took the shovel. “Yeah, alright.” He started digging in the dirt as Eddie gave a stretch. “So Annika. Did you know her?”

  Eddie stretched his arms. “I did, yeah. As best I could, anyway. She was a guard. I interacted with her some at dinner times or when everyone would help with farming. Times got tough back then, too.”

  Richard kept digging, his excitement growing. This is what he was here for. To talk to the man who had done the impossible in an apocalypse: lived through history.

  “So… so Annika, before she sacrificed herself…”

  “She was a quiet girl.” Eddie took off his hat and wiped his sweat. “Real quiet. Kept to herself. But damn, that girl was strong. One of the strongest guards at the time. Could have even given Jace a few tips.” Eddie placed his hat over his heart. “May Death be kind to that man’s soul.” Eddie replaced his hat and went to his waterskin. Richard dug more in the dirt before moving on to another patch. “But yes. I noticed Annika was getting quite erratic toward the end. Paranoid. It happens a lot to your kind. The scavengers and the guards. See, my class doesn’t deal much with outside the fence. We don’t see the horrors you all do. It affects your brain more than the sun does.”

  As Richard moved to another spot to dig, he realized Eddie was using him to do his work so he could take a break. A short break for information. Honestly, Richard didn’t mind.

  “Anyway, no one tells you this because they don’t want to worry you, but there are protocols for this sort of thing. When apocalypse shock morphs into apocalypse paranoia. Usually starts with a week off from duties, then it’s to us in the farmlands for another week. Another assessment, then a controlled duty run to see how you do.” Eddie stared right at Richard as he said this. Richard felt his stomach churning in horror as he thought about the implications of what Eddie wasn’t saying.

  “What?” Richard asked.

  “You already know what that means,” Eddie said.

  Richard stopped digging to stare at Eddie. What that sounded like was assisting Death in collecting souls. Was Eddie being serious? Somehow, with all his history, Richard couldn’t help but believe him. “They do that to the scavenger and guard classes?”

  “Mostly them. But anyone diagnosed with apocalypse paranoia. I’ve seen it a few times. Moreso now that the apocalypse is getting worse. Dmitri wouldn’t want me telling you this, but you did ask about Annika.”

  “Was she…”

  “Diagnosed with apocalypse paranoia? Absolutely. But what she did, she did to herself. I don’t know how she knew that creature would wake up from the depths of the lake, but she did. Was mumbling about uncontrollable monsters and cursing Chaos in the days leading up to her disappearance. They tied her to her bed because we didn’t have a healer back then.” Eddie took a large drink of water, not looking at Richard. “Anyway, she disappeared during the night. She was a guard, after all, and knew their schedule. That’s the only way they could figure she slipped out. What she did after, we have no idea, but the class leaders formed search parties once they discovered she was missing. Her sacrifice was discovered not long after. And it was a sacrifice. The apocalypse before was bad. Not our current level bad, but definitely in a position where we couldn’t sustain ourselves if it kept going. When she completed her sacrifice, the apocalypse noticeably calmed down so we could rebuild and prepare.”

  Richard mulled this over in his mind. Apocalypse paranoia. Was it paranoia, or just a woman cracking because she had taken Chaos’s gift instead of Order’s? Did Chaos get bored with Annika and trick her into this? It cemented in Richard’s mind that he needed to keep Chaos at a distance.

  “So… she had the power to freeze time?” Richard asked.

  “Yeah.” Eddie did not reach for the shovel. “A legendary power. Never seen one like it.”

  “Never?” Richard asked.

  Eddie studied him as though he had on a pair of Lucy’s glasses. “Not personally, no. Though I know the library has catalogues of all the gifts Order gives so people can study up on their power to help them.”

  Richard almost hit the dirt with his shovel when he froze, his head jerking toward Eddie. “Library? There’s a library here?” Richard almost couldn’t believe it. He would have known if there were such a valuable resource. That wasn’t something someone should hide.

  Eddie raised an eyebrow. “Right. You’re a young one. The library is at base camp one. There used to be a scholar class, but when base one fell, that class stopped being offered.”

  Richard’s heart sank. That was a resource he needed more than anything. A wealth of knowledge that didn’t come from Order or Chaos. Something he himself could look up so he wasn’t dependent on other beings that might kill him one day if they got bored. Did Chaos give him this power to fight back in the apocalypse? Or did he do it because he knew, eventually, Richard would die because of it. But if he would die, why did Chaos give him something like immortality?

  Richard really wanted that library.

  “Why all the sudden questions?” Eddie asked.

  Richard’s mouth went dry, so he went back to shoveling the dirt. “The apocalypse is getting worse. Makes you think.”

  Eddie said nothing as Richard kept working.

  “You’re not thinking of doing anything stupid like Annika, are you?” Eddie asked.

  The conversation had turned. Richard heard it in Eddie’s tone. The old farmer suspected something.

  “Isn’t Annika’s story supposed to bring hope? Comfort that Order had things under control?” Even as the words left Richard’s mouth, he heard how much of a lie it all was. Eddie paused, then reached forward to take the shovel back. Richard reluctantly did so. Eddie rested against the handle, still watching Richard closely.

  “Never saw you as much of a believer,” Eddie said.

  Richard sighed, brushing his hands off. “Then let’s look at the story factually. Order didn’t give us a miracle with Annika. Annika made the choice herself, despite how damaged her psyche was at the time.”

  Eddie shrugged. “Order takes the Chaos of things and brings about what we need.”

  “By taking a woman’s life?” Richard asked.

  “It was that, or Annika would have died anyway on a guided mission.”

  Richard shook his head, then turned to leave. “I’d rather not rely on those kinds of miracles.”

  The shovel hit the dirt as Richard walked away.

  “When higher powers give a miracle, you either be thankful or become paranoid,” Eddie said.

  Richard closed his eyes as he kept walking, hating how much that sentence terrified him.