My jaw was clenched, and blood rushed to my canine ears and cheeks as I wrestled with my anger.

Is it too much to ask for the benefit of the doubt? I asked myself. I'd made some tough calls, but I still believed they were the right calls to make. Alice could talk about 'informed consent' all she wanted, but if someone was bleeding out and unresponsive, I was pretty sure that went out the window. Sometimes, a call has to be made, and sometimes, there's no time for anything about immediate action. A year should be enough time for emergency measures not to be needed. Unfortunately, when every single person was essentially an amnesiac who remembered next to nothing of the past months, there was no time at all.

How could I tell people who went to work or school 'yesterday' that there were monsters, and magic, and time loops, and chromed eldritch eyes, and all kinds of things they wouldn't understand even if they believed. It was impossible. And it was the wrong choice.

I would never disagree that autocracy was dangerous, but it also had its place. Teachers didn't take a vote when creating their lesson plans, and firefighters didn't wait for permission before rescuing the unconscious. I was sure Alice would agree if she was thinking it through.

I had to wonder if my appearance was to blame. I couldn't really even be mad about it—or at least, I probably shouldn't have been. In any case, I could understand. I was scary-looking, and everything happening around me was also scary. Even if it was unconscious, it would be all too easy for a seed of distrust to spoil things.

I sighed, breathing deeply to try to clear my head. Anger was easy, but it wouldn't help. "I am genuinely grateful that those kids aren't in harm's way. I just wish I was sure that the price was worth it. I tried my hardest to save them." I wrote in a speech bubble. "Yes, I could have asked for help. But I need more help than just yours. While trying to help on my own, I accidentally engineered a situation where some people were willing to listen. Besides, I did ask for help, just not from you. The Gremlins 'tamed' the bunny monster because I went to them for help."

"I know," Alice said with her own sigh. "And that's a fair point. I'm not trying to say I think you're a bad guy, but-"

I pointed a finger aggressively up at my speech bubble. I wasn't done. "The group at Luke's bar was a promising group of potential allies,"

"And still can be."

Pointing again, I continue. "But I wonder if Craig will keep going there if he's not trying to drown out that memory. I wonder if others will be inspired by compassion to stand against the dangers of this place. I wonder if Luke will even keep the bar open if he's got a brother to look after. I wonder if your new allies will even be around in a few loops."

"You think I shouldn't have saved them?"

"I think you're not thinking far enough ahead. I think prioritizing a few immediate problems while creating new problems or eliminating promising solutions doesn't help anyone. It's taking out a loan you can't repay and blaming an impulse buy for being expensive."

Whatever Alice thought, I wasn't power-hungry. I'd love to be in her position, with enough power to make a difference, but not so much that I had to make all the difference. I was envious that she got to just go around treating the symptoms, seeing immediate relief. Because of my appearance, even when I did get to save people, I didn't get to see appreciation or relief. Just more fear and uncertainty. In the end, however, I knew that just treating the symptoms would end up with mounds of dead. If I didn't do everything I could to get people out of town, those deaths were on me. Or so it felt. It would be irresponsible to do anything else.

It was frustrating and a definite setback, but Luke's bar was far from the only gathering place. Besides, Alice said she was going to the hospital downtown to help people who would need the same help over and over. She wouldn't exactly be taking over Luke's bar. I wondered if I could just ignore her attempt to fire me—assuming the group didn't just dissolve after Alice's interference.

Then again, she said she'd discovered something about the memories. If it was enough to keep the bar patrons working together across loops without either of us being involved, it could be useful.

"Alice, I don't agree with almost anything you've said. Even saying you aren't trying to exile me feels the same as it did back then. You don't know all the information, and you're jumping to conclusions, happy to be suspicious of me rather than offer me the tiniest benefit of the doubt. Well fuck, whatever. It's a punch to the gut, but I doubt that surprises you."

"Sam-" Alice started, but I glared at her and harshly pointed at my speech bubble again. It was extremely inconvenient not being able to actually interrupt, but thankfully, she let me continue.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Just—Just tell me what you figured out about memories."

"Sam. You're being an ass. An over-dramatic ass."

I tilted my head sarcastically, "Oh, am I? Sorry, I guess being undermined while trying to save one hundred thousand people has me frustrated. If we manage to salvage a court system from this apocalypse, you can sue me."

It was Alice's turn to clench her jaw. "Oh, how stupid of me. Why would I ever have doubts about someone so capable under pressure?"

I started to craft a reply, but she continued before I could. "Christ. Alright, fine. It's only the whole reason I even brought any of this up. There are four types of memories, Semantic, Episodic, Procedural, and Emotionally conditioned. From what I can tell, everyone retains at least 1 of these types of memory when the day loops. Working together, people can piece their partial memories together."

Other than there being four types of memories, this wasn't new. It was part of the reason the bar patrons were so valuable. As a group, they'd been able to figure out a lot, making it easier to retain their help.

"While you were missing for a week," Alice went on pointedly, "Luke and I sorted his regulars into small groups of four and even changed the spawn points for eight of them so they spawned together in two groups of four. It doesn't fix anything, but it's already showing impressive results. There's enough overlap with the memory types that, in short order, four people can do a decent job of piecing together their memories to figure out what's going on. As important, trust and reliance on one another comes much faster than anyone would expect."

"What do you mean?"

"Think of my surgery team, for example. Before merging with my trauma, I had semantic memory. Anderson keeps episodic memories, and Jessica keeps her emotionally conditioned memories. I think the same was true of Denis, but I wasn't going to visit him in the chapel to find out. At the beginning of the time loop, I didn't notice anything had changed. Anderson, however, said he felt off—like he'd lost time. He also expected something to pop out, just like when watching a generic thriller movie and knowing a jump scare was coming. Jessica and Denis didn't know what to expect, but they felt like they were having panic attacks. Their odd reactions made me ask what was wrong, and it was like I was remembering something I forgot I knew."

I remembered. I'd been impressed and confused by most of their reactions. Only Denis had never been able to overcome his fear. If Alice was right, I had to wonder if Denis and I had more bad blood in our history than either of us remembered. I'd also wondered how Alice had figured out how to use Memory Crystals to keep her notes to herself intact. For that matter, I'd wondered how she'd even thought to do so in the first place.

"It was meeting Dalia from Luke's that made it all fit," Alice said, some excitement filling her voice despite the tension between us. "She has incredible accuracy with thrown darts and knives. Dalia said she was terrible at darts before the Vortex fell and that she'd never thrown a knife in her life. She found out about her skill accidentally when she decided to play darts to pass the time, having no idea what else to do. If she's spent the last couple months throwing darts and knives, and if that skill was retained somehow across the time loops, the result would be the same."

Alice was getting animated, and I could tell that she had been excited to share this with me. I knew that she meant well by trying to take the responsibility off my shoulders. And I understood that it was hard to trust another with so much control. I wanted to be excited with her. I wanted to let go of my frustration and anger, but they seemed like the only shield I had left to protect myself—and, by extension—the people depending on me.

"Well, I remembered hearing about this guy before the apocalypse who had a type of amnesia. He'd swear he had never had coffee before and didn't know how to make it, but if you asked him to try to make it, he knew exactly where to find it in the cupboards and exactly how to make it. He couldn't consciously remember that the next day, but he still retained the procedural memory. So, Luke and I tested this with Dalia. He showed her how to make some cocktails she'd never heard of. The next loop, he asked her to make it, and even though she claimed not to know what it was, she still managed to make it. From there, it was just some trial and error to figure out people all seem to keep exactly 1 type of memory across loops."

"Let me make sure I understand," I manifested in my speech bubble. I wasn't concerned about the Wisps coming from this kind of illusion, though I couldn't really say why. Based on what Alice and Sori said, it seemed like the Wisps had taken my episodic memories and replaced them. It could mean that if I sat down and asked myself the right questions, I'd be able to flesh out my understanding of illusions more. For the moment, I'd just have to rely on my instinct, or procedural memory.

The Wisps might have a different effect than the time loops, but the memory games at least confirmed they were related—not that I'd ever doubted. "Episodic memory is how things are connected or relate to each other. It's knowing it's dangerous to accept food from strangers. Semantic memory is knowing the facts that episodic memory connects. It's knowing Snow White is the fairest and that the evil queen is a vain witch who makes poisoned apples. Procedural memory is knowing what to do without knowing why. It's automatically washing off your fruit even when you don't know the fruit is poisoned. Emotional Conditioning is being afraid of apples after choking on one, even if you don't remember eating it and passing out. Or something."

Alice huffed out a small laugh. "Yeah, more or less. And by grouping people up so they have at least one person with each type of memory, they instinctively work together to recreate their missing memories and even just make decisions. It's good news, Sam. It means it doesn't have to be all on your shoulders. Saving everyone was never your responsibility alone, but now we can really create a community with a real chance of making a difference, not just in here, but when we make it out too. Even if the time loops and memory loss end, we'll still have a community that's gotten used to working together. We have a chance to build something. I know you feel like I'm, I don't know, betraying you, or undermining you, or whatever. But, I'm trying to help, and not just you."

There was hope in Alice's voice as she spoke, but I couldn't help but wince at her sleight. She'd apparently already had doubts about my ability to save the town. I couldn't really blame her since I had those doubts myself. Still, it felt like she wasn't giving me enough credit. Worse, I didn't agree with her optimism.

Shaking my head in annoyance, I pointed at my speech bubble. "I don't have the same trust in people as you, Alice. People are selfish idiots at the best of times, and even more so when they're scared. Right now, people are looking for any chance. Doing this will end with factions and misinformation and everyone fighting for control. It'll mean compromise, which will mean lives lost. Democracy is important for a healthy society, but not the solution to every problem. I think you know that. And I think you're proof of exactly what I'm saying. You want more control over your future, and you don't care that that means taking it from the one person who can actually help."