Chapter 39

Looking at Nate with weary, bored eyes, Hayden replied.

“I’d say that’s better than the sound of you having sex with a snake.”

Nate shut his mouth, looking as though he had just been caught committing a shameful act. At that moment, Isu, who had been standing a short distance away, stepped up right behind Hayden’s back.

From a single person’s perspective, it was an eyesore of a sight, but Dehart merely shot them a casual glance before asking Manuel.

“What if we set fire to the place blindly and the owner of this island slaps us with a massive lawsuit for damages? Manuel, how much is a single pine tree worth anyway?”

Manuel rolled his eyes upward as if trying to guess the value of a pine tree.

“Well, at least a few hundred pounds each, wouldn’t they?”

Hayden narrowed his brow and checked his watch. One in the morning. If the night grew any deeper, the rescue team would stop their nighttime operations, so they had to hurry.

Hayden said briefly,

“I’ll take responsibility for that.”

Dehart’s eyes widened.

“Responsibility? You’re that rich?”

Hayden’s answer was exceedingly simple.

“Rich enough that counting it is pointless.”

A brief silence settled over them. Each of them was likely calculating the pros and cons in their heads.

And most of them would come to a similar conclusion: if this operation succeeded, they could escape this island.

Even if they had terrible luck and failed, as long as they relocated their quarters deeper into the island, they probably wouldn’t die. As if on cue, Nate was the first to spin around and show enthusiasm.

“I’m in.”

“Me too.”

“Count me in.”

“Guess we don’t have much choice.”

A little while later, preparing for the worst-case scenario where the rescue team didn’t show up, they returned to the quarters to grab water, food, and the roe deer. There were plenty of fish in the sea, so they didn’t strictly need to eat the roe deer, but if they set it free right now, the poor creature might get trapped in the burning forest.

Though the roe deer screamed as horrifyingly as a human woman, it surprisingly followed along obediently. Holding the rope tied around the roe deer’s neck, Isu watched the men holding their tactical meeting.

Using a tree branch, Hayden drew a rough map of the pine forest on the white sand and divided it into zones. Then, he explained the fire-starting method to the football players.

“Everyone tear off a piece of your shirt and soak it in the oil. Place that shirt somewhere suitable on a tree branch and use a torch to set it on fire. Since we never know when the rescue team will arrive, Isu will stay right here.”

Everyone nodded, looking like they understood the instructions. Nate patted his friends on the backs to encourage them.

“Keep your wits about you. If you mess around and get fire on your hands, your life might actually end right here.”

Manuel added nervously.

“The pine forest is shaped like a half-moon, sitting only on the hill between the beach and the lakeside. As long as we don’t make any mistakes, the fire won’t spread outside.”

There was no way of knowing how many days it would take for the fire to burn out naturally, but as long as it didn’t spread past the forest bounds, they’d find a way to survive even if they weren’t rescued. Once again, everyone double-checked their assigned zones to ensure they wouldn’t make any mistakes.

After soothing the roe deer, which kept shrieking and trying to escape, Isu asked Hayden.

“Hayden, um… I know you’ve got a lot on your mind, but could you check just once to make sure Declan or Jenna didn’t fall into the pit?”

She figured there was no way the tall Declan would fall into a pit, but Jenna was a different story.

Nodding as if to say he understood, Hayden tore off a long strip of his white shirt.

It was unavoidable if they wanted to start a fire, but it was a shame to see a good shirt reduced to a rag. It was a shirt with sentimental value by now; if she had known it would come to this, she would have grabbed a blanket from the cabin. Isu muttered to herself,

“What a waste…”

Soaking the piece of shirt in the bowl of oil, Hayden coaxed Isu.

“There are plenty of shirts for you to wear back home. Besides, I’ll keep one piece as a souvenir.”

Receiving the handkerchief-sized piece of shirt from Hayden, Isu replied,

“I’ll have to treasure it, then.”

The football players grumbled among themselves as they listened to the conversation of the sweet-smelling couple.

Only Manuel kept his brow furrowed, making his discomfort painfully obvious. No one bothered to ask him why.

Unwilling to waste any more time, Hayden crafted a torch first and ignited it using the bonfire.

Though the smell of oil was overpowering, Isu didn’t show it as she helped with the preparations. Watching her, Hayden left a brief parting remark and headed toward the pine forest.

“I’ll be right back.”

The football players also scattered toward various points in the pine forest. Only Isu and the roe deer remained on the noisy beach.

Sitting alone in front of the bonfire, Isu felt a strange mix of emotions. A helicopter appearing on an island where no one was ever supposed to come… If luck was on their side, they might find themselves in a city just a few hours from now.

Simply imagining it made her want to jump for joy, yet a corner of her heart felt deeply uneasy. Heading to the city would bring her that much closer to Graham. Catching wind of the news, Graham might even come looking for her.

She couldn’t rely on Hayden for everything, especially since she still didn’t fully know how dangerous a figure Graham truly was. Even so, if only she could get help from the police, she would have been willing to face him head-on…

Just as she was lost in thought, a spark ignited far away in the pine forest. At first, it shone as small as a supernova in the night sky, but before long, it grew massive enough to threaten and annihilate everything on earth.

She had been the one to suggest setting fire to the forest, but seeing the flames swell as vast as a cosmic nebula, a sudden wave of terror gripped her. What if the rescue team didn’t show up? If the fire spread to the wrong places, disaster would surely follow.

Time dragged on anxiously. The pine forest turned into utter chaos, like a village pillaged by pirates.

Watching the terrifying blaze grow in size, she could no longer stay seated. Springing to her feet, Isu stared at the ocean just a few paces away.

For now, only the crashing waves and a half-moon were visible. She tried imagining a helicopter flying across the vast, violet sky.

Around that time, the football players returned one by one. Isu said to Nate, who was dripping with sweat:

“Good work. I’m glad you made it back safely.”

“Whew, that was literally a crossroads between life and death. I was sweating bullets trying to stay sharp just in case my body caught fire.”

Nate immediately plunged his feet into the seawater and splashed his upper body with water. Manuel and Dehart did the same. Jan, who had sweated comparatively less, nervously scratched his side and asked:

“By the way, why isn’t he back yet?”

Isu looked toward the pine forest. Hayden had set out first, so by now it should have been more than enough time for him to return—ah, why wasn’t he coming back?

An ominous thought brushed against her heart, but she shook her head. The pit wasn’t terribly far away, so at worst he should be back in a few minutes. Isu desperately tried to squash down her creeping anxiety and replied:

“Won’t he be here soon? No, he’ll be back right away.”

Jan’s face, turned toward hers, was dyed in a yellowish firelight. Biting down hard on her fingernails, Isu stared out at the flames, which swelled large enough to swallow a person before shrinking back down.

Her palms began to grow damp with cold sweat. She scoured the entrance of the pine forest up on the hill with her eyes, but not a single human silhouette was anywhere to be seen. Surely nothing had gone wrong…

The flames, which had been scattered sparsely at first, were merging into a single massive wall of fire.

Her lips grew bone-dry. Why, why wasn’t Hayden coming back? Was she just supposed to stand here wringing her hands and waiting like this?

She figured it would be better to run into the forest and search for him herself instead of wasting time like this. But what if they ended up missing each other in the process…?

Tormented by the choice between the two options, she felt her blood run dry. At that exact moment, a steady, humming mechanical drone echoed from afar.

Nate shouted with wide eyes:

“A helicopter! It’s a helicopter!”

Dehart wiped his sweat-drenched body and leaped into the air.

“It really is a helicopter! Wave your hands! Wave!”

“Over here! We’re right here!”

Just as Nate had said, a helicopter was approaching from across the sky, flashing bright white lights. For a split second, her heart pounded as if it might explode, and a thrilling chill raced down her spine.

Even so, she couldn’t simply rejoice. In her mind’s eye, she kept picturing Hayden, trapped somewhere inside the blazing pine forest.

Isu stared back at the forest entrance. There was no sign of Hayden anywhere.

It didn’t make sense. The others who had set out with him had all returned—why was Hayden the only one missing? Even if he had gone to check whether Jenna had fallen into the pit, by now it was more than enough time for him to have made it back…

Reflected in Isu’s anxiety-ridden pupils was the sea of fire. Between the oil sprayed on the trees, the fire set, and the fierce winds, it was only natural for the blaze to grow, but it was spreading far too fast.

Then, an ominous thought flashed across her mind. Could he have been injured by a burning, falling branch while walking toward the pit? And had he panicked and lost his way for a moment? Sweeping her eyes desperately across the forest, she looked toward the spot where the pit was located.

That section of the hillside was already engulfed in flames. She kept believing he would appear if she waited just a little longer, but her anxiety refused to subside.

Perhaps he had accidentally run into Declan in the forest. He might be locked in a physical struggle with Declan right now, or he could have been bitten by a venomous snake fleeing the flames.

If Hayden didn’t return after a little longer, she planned to ask the rescue team or the football players for help.

She looked back toward the beach. The football players were too frantic waving at the helicopter to notice anything else.

Naturally, they were each busy trying to save themselves. Would anyone be willing to go into the forest and search for Hayden if she asked? Wouldn’t it be better to go rescue him herself before the fire spread any further?

She couldn’t just keep waiting anymore. Running down to the shoreline, Isu soaked herself from head to toe in seawater and muttered in a daze:

“It’s all my fault. Because I, because I asked him to go check the pit… Because of the pit, the pit… No, because I suggested setting fire to the forest… It’s all, all my fault…”

If she hadn’t suggested setting fire to the forest, she wouldn’t have been separated from him. No, if the helicopter hadn’t appeared, they’d probably be sleeping soundly right now in the cabin on the cliff…

“Damn it… Damn it, damn it!”

Soaking a piece of the shirt Hayden had left behind in water, she gripped it tightly in her hand. Without a second thought, she sprinted at full speed toward the pine forest.

The slippers she had been wearing the whole time flew off her feet one by one, but she didn’t even feel the sting against the soles of her feet.

Manuel’s voice, shouting her name like a madman from behind, grazed her eardrums faintly. Instead, the words Hayden had spoken once before echoed much louder in her mind.

“The feeling of your blood running dry. Do you know it?”

If he were to ask her that again right now, she could answer him clearly: she knew that feeling of blood running dry all too well. A piercing ache in her chest and a sickening nausea in her stomach. Standing completely still, her hands and feet were growing so ice-cold she felt like she might die—she was experiencing that torment to a degree that felt agonizing.

“Hayden, Hayden!”

Crying out at the top of her lungs, she plunged into the forest. The acrid, choking smell of burning thrust deep into her lungs.