"I do have a plan." I started. "In case I haven't told you, or if you just don't remember, we have about 49 weeks to evacuate everyone in town."

Alice sat down next to Craig, "This is the leg you hurt? Tell me what happened?" She asked, keeping her voice hushed so as not to interrupt.

"Alright, I'll bite; what happens in 49 weeks?" Anderson asked.

Craig was quietly telling Alice what happened and where it hurt, but his eyes watched me, listening for my answer.

"One way or another, I'll be leaving. I won't have much of a choice. Anybody left behind will be stuck in the time loop forever, but without even partial memories of the loop, just the same last day over and over with no ability to make any real change."

"Shit." several voices said at once, along with more colorful expletives.

"Can I tear this hole a wider to get a better look at your knee?" Alice asked.

I nodded my agreement to the expletives. "Exactly. And there's only one exit that can really only be used by one or two people at a time. Out there, I'm a monster. It doesn't matter what I know; it doesn't matter that I'm trying to help; most people will never listen to me, at least not in the time I have to convince them. I can't let people leave as I find them. Satoshi, I know you especially are eager to leave to find your family. But if I did things that way, I'd be lucky to evacuate more than a hundred people. I don't know how many people are still in town, but it could be as much as a thousand times that many. So here's the deal: Anybody who wants to use my exit needs to recruit 10 people to the cause of evacuation. That's 10 people who can be quickly brought up to speed and given the same task of recruiting 10 people."

While I spoke, Alice widened the tear in Craig's jeans and gently prodded his swollen knee.

"We'd have to recruit all 10 in a single day to be sure you weren't taking advantage of our spotty memories," Satoshi said. "Besides, how will you keep the recruits from forgetting, making the whole effort pointless?"

"I've got plans for that—instruction manuals and explanations that can persist across the loops with some effort. Alice and I are also working to better understand how memories are retained. The plan to recruit 10 people in one day actually works in our favor. As best as we can tell, groups of people working together retain more memories, which will be key with any recruits."

"Well, ordinarily, I'd want to take an x-ray, and we still can if you like, but I think your friend is right. We'll get you some ice and Tylenol and keep you off of it for the rest of the day. Ten hours from now, you'll be back on your feet, no problem." Alice said pleasantly in her doctor-voice.

"is it just me, or does this sound like a pyramid scheme?" Jessica asked. "Not the rest and pain relievers, the other thing." She clarified.

"It does, and in a way it is," I agreed. "On the other hand, it's not like I'm handing out escape bucks that will be pool disproportionately at the peak. Once we get started and have some momentum, we could have the entire town lined up to leave in less than a week."

"And, how set in stone is this? After all, what about children? Are you expecting a five-year-old to convince 10 people to go along with this? Blind people? Sick people? Who decides?" Trevor asked. "I'm not trying to argue, just to understand."

I nodded. "This plan is really just a starting point. It won't help everyone, and I'm happy to listen to other ideas for evacuation. The short answer is that we'll be as patient and empathetic as we can be while getting people out. Additionally, as we approach our deadline, we'll necessarily have to end recruitment efforts to evacuate the people we've recruited, so even if someone does have trouble recruiting 10, they won't be left behind; they just won't get out early. Some of them, especially the children and others who might need special consideration, they'll be brought into another not-place like this. One of my allies—sort of, anyway—has an ethereal space like my Ship, but his is more like a commune. He'll take in the children especially, but I'll make sure he also accepts those others who need accommodation."

"Parents aren't going to be happy being separated from their children," Luke noted.

"I know, and unless it's necessary, we won't force it on them," I answered. "Dependents can stick with their caregivers, even if the caregivers earn their exit. We'll try to be flexible enough that we avoid any unnecessary cruelty."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Why not just let minors and such use the exit right away," Luke pressed.

"I'd really like to avoid a Lord of the Flies situation," I joked darkly. "In all seriousness, though, we don't know what the world is like on the outside. Society was collapsing even before we got trapped in Forest Lake. Even if no time has passed, I don't have faith that the country is in any kind of shape to suddenly help thousands, maybe tens of thousands of dependents with just a smattering of caregivers."

"And you trust Hands enough to take care of a college-campus-worth of children?" Alice asked, fully engaged in the topic now that she'd finished her examination.

"I think you probably know him better than me at this point; what do you think?"

Alice thought for a second, biting her lip. "I don't think he'd hurt them intentionally, but he's also not fully human. Even if he were, that would be a lot of trust to give a stranger."

"Again, I'm open to suggestions. This is what I've got so far, so this is where we'll start. At this point, I've burned three weeks just getting this group together; no one has been rescued yet. If we don't get started with an imperfect plan, I don't think we'll get started at all."

"What about the Kaiju?" Luke asked. "You don't want to even evacuate the area it destroys?"

I sighed. "It's not that I don't want to help those people, but the price of helping them seems a lot higher than the price of leaving them be for now."

"Everything in me tells me the opposite, that it's important, maybe the most important thing ever," Luke said, holding my gaze.

"Obero-no- Sam, I'm with Luke on this," Alice said, her own eyes looking distant, haunted. "I've been where they are, trapped and helpless. We have to try."

My chest felt tight, my heart aching. "Of course, I've tried." My jaw clenched, anger filling my voice. "You think I haven't tried? You know how many died rather than listen to a strange werewolf? People are terrified over there; there's nothing I can do. I only make it worse. And then, the day restarts, and the only one who remembers the fear and the pain is me. How many times should I throw myself into that hell of powerlessness?"

"It's not all on you, man," Luke said, "We're all here."

"Cynthia, Franklin, Stan, Jamie, Dalia, all killed horribly," I shot back. "That's brand new nightmare material for me, and we didn't even get halfway there. Guess who gets to remember that with crystal clarity for the rest of his life and longer? Not you. For that matter, not the dead either."

"You know it's not that cut and dry, Oberon," Alice said, reverting to my apocalypse name after failing to garner the response she wanted by calling me Sam. "Even if they don't remember it well, it's unnerving to have partly-remembered traumas playing in the back of your head. There's no way living through that isn't creating more trauma monsters, too."

"I know that," I said, exacerbated. "That's just another thing that makes it too dangerous. The hospital was practically empty, but there were still monsters around every corner. It's worse there, much worse. Give me time. Sori owes me magic lessons, and I can probably talk him into helping in other ways, too. I know from experience he can create shield generators the size of a quarter. In the meantime, we'll build up our recruits. Either we'll go in with an army, or we'll go in with power. Just give me time."

Luke blew out a breath, "Sorry, Oberon, I just can't. I have to follow my instincts, and I know in my bones that's the wrong call. Alice, Doctors, thanks for taking care of Craig. I think I need to go. Anyone who wants to come is invited; we'll go to evacuate downtown."

Alice stood up from Craig. "It's not like there's anything we can really do here. Being a doctor has become 'take these pain meds and wait' even more than it already was. I'll get you a few different painkillers, Craig, and we'll get you out of the Ether, so you'll heal when time resets."

"One of us should stay with Craig—unless you're going to Oberon," Alejandra said, and everyone was standing or at least preparing to leave.

"Get me a wheelchair, I'm coming with," Craig said.

"That might be dangerous; you could end up trapped," Trevor said.

"I'll risk it. I've already seen hell today, twice. I won't give in to it." Craig said.

"You three should stay here," Alice said to Anderson, Jessica, and Maebe. "Just because the time loops make a joke out of being a doctor doesn't mean people won't come to the hospital looking for help."

"It's like you said," Anderson replied. "We'll mostly just be giving them pain meds and making them comfortable. We might as well put morphine in a bowl at the front desk with a 'help yourself.' sign."

"Guys," I said. "I'm not doing this again. There are better ways." I tried to interject. Jessica flashed me a sad smile and looked away, stepping in beside Alice in silent support.

"That's fine, Oberon," Alice said, her form rippling so the sclera of her eyes blackened and feathers sprouted along her arms and in places around her head. "I can be their memory and their muscle."

"Goddamn, if we got the Morrigan on our side, I guess I have to go." Maebe joked, but she clearly wasn't taken aback by Alice's appearance.

Luke was another story. "The fuck you do that?"

Surprisingly, Satoshi just nodded, "Hmm, another Yokai. Very well, I'll come with you. We'll gather our recruits from those with the most need."

"I don't know what that is, Satoshi, was it?" Alice said, "Either way, happy to have you along." In the next moment, her appearance returned to her human form. "Becoming a Rememberer has its perks, but it has its own risks as well. We can talk about it on the way. Oberon, you're sure you won't come?"

It was every single ally I'd gained in the last months just walking away.

I could go with them. They'd die, and probably soon, probably before evacuating a single person. I couldn't change that by going with.

Sighing, I shook my head. "I'm sorry. I want to, but this isn't the right way. You're all going to die pointlessly, and I guess that's fine for you. I'll check on you as I can. For what it's worth, good luck."

Alice bent down and picked up Criag like she was about to carry him across a threshold. She didn't break eye contact or say another word. She just hefted him up like he weighed next to nothing, turned, and, together with Luke, led the group out of the Ether.

I swore and knocked over the game of risk. I was going to have to start over. Time was running out. It might be time to do something desperate.