When we return to the camp, it's starting to get dark. Liam goes over to the others. They must have tons of questions about what happened earlier. I just hope Liam doesn't say things he shouldn't.
From a distance, I watch the people. The idea that someone among us could be working for Helix bothers me a lot, but there's no other explanation for why I've never heard about this before. I start looking at people with suspicion now. I watch their movements.
When the men said the notebook belonged to them, I expected them to ask for it back. But they didn't. They looked at each other and then said it would make more sense if the notebook stayed with us for a few days. They didn't say it openly, but the reason is obvious. They're trying not to attract too much attention in the camp. If they're found with the notebook, it's not hard to guess that an autonomous unit would execute them. I don't think anyone would suspect Liam or me. People already look at us like we're weird because we're always wandering around the forest. Nobody expects anything serious from us. That's why it works in their favor if the notebook stays with us. And if we get caught with it… Well, I'll think about that if we get caught.
Before they left, they said one more thing. If we had questions, we could find them near the rocks on the northern side of the beach, but we shouldn't come to them at night. The expression of fear on their faces when they said "don't come at night" was actually funny, but since I was in no position to laugh, I didn't.
From what I can see from here, Liam seems to be in a good mood. He returned to normal incredibly fast. I'm honestly amazed by that about him. It's like we didn't just learn that everything we know might be a lie, yet he's over there laughing out loud. Then again, he still doesn't know that someone among us might be working for Helix. Unless Liam himself is the one working for them. But I really don't think it's him. He's not smart enough, and this isn't something you could fake with acting. If Liam were one of them, he would definitely have slipped up while drinking one day.
I try to picture everything the men told us. The autonomous units secretly coming to the beach at night, people being taken from inside the camp, and no one noticing anything in the morning. There's a lot to think about.
I decide to go into my tent. The first thing I do after entering is stick my head outside and look around one last time. I'm getting paranoid.
I close my eyes for a moment, but the speed of my brain processing everything can't keep up with the speed of my thoughts. My mind becomes a mess. I stand up, walk behind the tent, take two steps, and start digging. I find the plastic bag I buried.
I take out the notebook and start looking through it. I scan the pages, look at the numbers. At that moment I lift my head and look toward the beach. I look at my friends. Everything looks the same, but nothing feels normal anymore.
While examining the notebook, hours pass. I step outside again. As night settles over the camp, the fires start to glow brighter. As people's voices fade, the sound of the waves becomes easier to hear. In the distance, between the tents, I see a few human silhouettes walking, but most people have already retreated into their tents.
Suddenly I hear a sound from our camp. Liam has come out of the tent and is walking toward me. I think he must have heard me. I expect him to say something, but he just sits down next to me. He's holding a half-empty bottle of water. He doesn't even look at me. He stares at the sea, takes a sip, and keeps staring at the sea. I can guess what he's thinking. After everything we learned today, it's impossible not to think about it.
After a while he turns to me.
"Riley…" he says. "Do you think I'll see her when we leave this place?"
My eyes widen and I look at Liam."Riley? That seriously cannot be what you're thinking about right now, Liam!"
"Why not?" he asks. "Ohh, the notebook thing. Don't worry, Cole. We'll figure it out somehow."
I pause for a moment. Such carelessness…"I know how we'll figure it out."
"How?"
"Come with me," I say. "We're going to the beach."
Liam looks reluctant, but he comes with me anyway. We try not to step on anything that might make noise. Most of the campfires around us have gone out. I see two small fires in the distance, but no one is sitting by them anymore. They must have gone to sleep.
We climb the rocks rising from the beach so we can watch from a higher point. At the very top the rocks get smaller. We wouldn't be able to hide there, so we settle behind some large rocks two levels down. We can see the beach clearly, but it's hard for anyone to see us.
"Do you think they'll take someone?" Liam asks.
"We'll see," I say.
Some time passes, but nothing happens. Liam isn't even watching anymore. He looks like he's about to fall asleep.
"Maybe they made it up," Liam says.
"If they made it up, nothing will happen and we won't have to think about this again during the days we stay here. But we have to learn the truth tonight," I say.
Liam rolls his eyes."Fine…"
There's been no movement since we arrived, and Liam has fallen asleep. I start to relax and become more convinced with every passing minute that the men lied. I'd rather have been fooled than learn that someone I know is a traitor.
Then something catches my eye.
A man comes out of his tent.
I wake Liam up and we watch the man together. First he walks toward the trees. We can't see that area. Then he returns to the camp, but he doesn't go back to his own tent. Instead he walks to another tent closer to us and goes inside. Right after that two people come out of the tent and walk toward the trees again. We still can't see that part, but for a brief moment a light flashes where they're standing.
Liam and I look at each other because there's no doubt that light came from an autonomous unit.
At the same time, other lights flash on and off in different places. There's no sound except the waves. I count twelve different lights, but from here I can't see the whole island or all the camps.
The first man returns to the camp again and this time walks back into his own tent like nothing happened.
My guesses were right. There's one of them in every camp, and every night they quietly take people because of it.
"What the fuck just happened?" Liam asks. There's anxiety in his voice.
I keep looking toward the trees and don't answer.
Liam can't stand it."Cole?"
He's very nervous and needs to calm down.
"First, take a deep breath," I say, and I explain my theory that there might be a traitor in every camp. I also tell him that I didn't want to say anything before being sure, but what we just saw proves it.
"Then who in our camp…?"
"I don't know," I say. "But tomorrow we need to look into this more closely. I also want to find out if all the people they took were actually brought into the facility."
Everything calms down again. The man from earlier has returned to his tent, and the autonomous units must already be gone. Everything becomes normal again, as if what we saw never happened.
I try to organize what happened and make sense of it, but I can't explain why they take people at night instead of during the day.
Tomorrow I need to learn more about this.