Amity and Enmity

Chapter 62

Day: 1502

Days Left: 3978

Lives Saved: 8

Stretching his arms out, Bam flopped on the ground, gazing up at the grey sky, sighing pleasantly as he listened to his friends talk and ramble on about meaningless things. He remembered before when they were under Annika, how the days would go by so slowly with nothing to do, how dreer everything was but now their camp grew into a little village full of laughter, something always happening.

With all the warm houses, delicious food, running water, and strong defences, they could all relax. Or so he thought as someone approached his group of friends with stomping footsteps.

"What are you all doing!" snapped Ruth, hands on her hips as she blocked Bam's view of the sky.

Bam grumbled and sat up. "What does it look like? We're chilling-"

"There is work to be done!"

"What?" Bam looked around, confused as to why people were still making bricks and carrying heavy loads collected from the Land of the Lost. "We've already made everyone a house and beds, and then made a river all the way from the Raining Marshes." Bam flipped his hands up in frustration. "And then working showers and baths, a safe staircase down to the Land of the Lost, all those defences and traps, and farmland for the Abyss Fruit!" Bam was almost breathless as he continued to list off everything else that they had made in the year. "What else is there to do? We've made everything that we need to live the rest of our miserable sentences. We can now finally just relax and enjoy ourselves."

"No, there are still improvements left to make! There's still some stuff to work out, but we're working out how to make heaters and install fireplaces in each house and your own private toilet and roads-"

Bam scoffed. "Roads? Why do we need roads? We're not going anywhere."

"It's to make the carts travel easier when they head to the forest to collect wood."

"We're making carts now?"

"Would you rather have to carry everything?"

"Look," Bam sighed, waving his hand in dismissal. "We've all been working for over a year now and only have two days off a week. It's time we all had a break-"

"You've been having this break for four days now!" Ruth looked to the rest of Bam's friends. "It's unfair that we've been working all this time, improving the roofs to your houses and farming and collecting water and wood whilst you all have been lazying around!"

"Hey, it's your own choice to do that! We didn't ask you to!"

"If you're going to keep using the facilities that we made, and eat the food that we grew, then it is only fair that you worked for it! You just need to follow orders-"

"Orders!" Bam finally stood up. "No one takes orders or gives them! Annika is gone, no one is ordering me about-"

"Corinna may have been too lenient with all of you, hoping that you will return to work soon after your 'break', but the rest of us aren't standing for it."

"What's Corinna got to do with this?"

Ruth frowned in confusion. "Because she's our leader?"

There was a pause.

"We don't have a leader," Bam sighed, his voice gentle. "Look, Ruth, I know you've lost your memories, so you might not know the whole group dynamic we've got at the moment. But we do not have a leader; we don't want to repeat what happened with Annika. She got crazy with all the power and control. We have been working fine without a leader."