Odyssey Of Survival

Chapter 24 This Time We Survive

Ryder stared at the waves lapping at the beach as if they could wash away the horrors of the past week. Nate, standing next to him, folded his arms as he waited for Ryder to continue. The grim look on Ryder's face spoke volumes, but Nate needed to hear the details."At first, everything seemed fine when we left the beach," Ryder began, his voice low and strained. "The forest was... normal. Or at least as normal as it could be on this cursed island. We stuck together, stayed alert. But then, something strange happened."

Nate leaned closer. "What kind of strange?"

Ryder rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "One of us went missing. Just... gone. No screams, no signs of a struggle, nothing. We thought maybe they got cold feet and decided to head back to the beach, so we kept going."

Nate frowned. "And then?"

"And then it kept happening," Ryder said, his voice cracking slightly. "One by one, more people started disappearing. In a single day, we lost eight people. Eight!"

Nate's eyes widened. "Eight? And no one saw anything?"

Ryder nodded grimly. "Not a damn thing. We even set up lookouts, rotating shifts to make sure someone was always watching. But it didn't matter. People still vanished. One second, they were with us, and the next—gone."

Nate scanned the beach again, his analytical mind