The fire crackled softly as Lila stared into the flames, her voice steady but haunted. "I met Jeremiah at the inn first. He'd just arrived in the settlement- lost, confused, like the rest of us. But he kept coming back. After a week, he started visiting me at the brothel."
Jake leaned forward, his hands clasped tightly. "Why?"
Lila's lips quirked into a faint, bitter smile. "He said I reminded him of someone. A sister, maybe. Or a ghost. We'd talk. He'd ask questions. About the settlers, the canyon, the things we couldn't remember."
Samuel sat cross-legged, his notebook open. "And then?"
Lila's gaze drifted. "A month later, he stormed into the brothel one night. He was different..... focused, angry. He pinned me to the wall and dug that damned device out of my ear. Said he'd met someone at the bar, a stranger who'd done the same for him. When the fog lifted, we ran back to find the stranger… but they were gone. Vanished."
Jake's brow furrowed. "The stranger....was it you? Or Samuel?"
Lila shook her head. "No. Whoever it was, they weren't from our time. The loop… it folds in on itself. Moments repeat, but not always the same."
Samuel snapped his notebook shut, eyes alight. "That's it. The loop's weakness. If we can intercept Jeremiah before he meets Lila in the past, remove his device early, the chain reaction could reset everything."
Jake frowned. "But Lila's younger self is still in the settlement. If they meet...."
"....it may create a paradox," Samuel finished. "Which is why I have to go. Or you. Someone Jeremiah hasn't met yet in his timeline."
Lila stiffened. "It's too dangerous. The watchers will see you. They'll change the loop again."
Samuel stood, pacing. "We don't have a choice. If we don't act, the loop tightens. Miya stays lost. Jeremiah stays trapped. We have to break the cycle inside the cycle."
****
The Brothel
The brothel was dim, the air thick with smoke and the clink of glasses. Lila leaned against the bar, her dress frayed, her mind numb. The device in her ear hummed softly, blurring the edges of her thoughts.
Jeremiah stumbled in, his eyes wild. He grabbed her arm, his breath reeking of whiskey. "You're not real. None of this is real."
Lila tried to pull away. "Let go....."
He pinned her to the wall, his fingers digging into her ear. Pain seared her skull as he ripped the device free. The world snapped into focus- the stench of sweat, the cracks in the ceiling, the memory of a life before.
"They're controlling us," Jeremiah hissed. "I met someone- a man at the bar. He showed me."
They ran through the settlement, past staring settlers, to the inn. The bar was empty. The stranger was gone.
Present Day
As dusk settled over the canyon, Jake's resolve only grew sharper. He waited in the scrub near the road, watching the horizon for the telltale dust cloud of the supply truck. The sun dipped lower, painting the sky in streaks of orange and violet, and the settlement's torches flickered to life beyond the palisade. He kept replaying Samuel's warning in his mind- about paradoxes, about the risk to himself and everyone else- but the memory of Miya's lost face, her eyes searching for something she couldn't name, drowned out his fear.
At last, the rumble of the truck echoed through the quiet. Jake crouched low as it slowed at the gate. The guards exchanged a few words with the driver, who seemed to be a new face- another sign of how the loop was shifting. Jake slipped into the shadow of the truck as it passed through the heavy wooden doors, heart pounding, every sense alert.
Inside the settlement, the world felt both familiar and alien. The huts and lanterns, the narrow lanes, the muted voices of settlers- he knew them all, yet they seemed to shimmer, as if the canyon itself was holding its breath. Jake kept to the edges, moving with practiced ease, careful to avoid anyone who might recognize him or his younger self, if the loop truly was folding in on itself.
Meanwhile, outside, Samuel paced anxiously, notebook in hand. He muttered to himself, recalculating timelines and probabilities. "It doesn't make sense," he said to Lila, who watched the settlement's gate from their hidden camp. "When I was inside, the supply truck only came once a month. Now it's here every day. The frequency is all wrong."
Lila frowned, her gaze never leaving the palisade. "Maybe the loop is collapsing. Maybe time's unraveling faster than we thought."
Samuel shook his head, frustration etched deep in his features. "Or the watchers are accelerating things- testing new variables, seeing how we react. If Jake isn't careful, he could end up in a loop where nothing is stable. He could be lost."
Inside, Jake pressed on, searching for the inn and the bar where he hoped to find the younger Jeremiah. The settlement's pulse beat around him: laughter from a distant fire, the clang of a blacksmith's hammer, the low murmur of a story being told. He felt the weight of every step, the risk of every glance.
He reminded himself why he was here- why he was risking everything. For Miya. For all of them. For the hope that, somewhere in the shifting maze of the canyon, there was still a way out.
As night deepened, Settlement faded into silence, and Jake slipped deeper into the heart of the settlement, the loop tightening around him with every breath.