Chapter 391: Nobody Move
Colt staggered out of the water, boots slipping on the wet rocks as the last wave rolled off his back. He didn’t notice the blood on his hands until Sadie grabbed his wrist and stared at it.
"It’s not mine," he muttered, yanking free before she could ask. "Come on. We need to get everyone up here before nightfall."
They had been trapped where they had landed from the waterfall for the better part of a night and a day, and now he was more than dreaming of dry land and something hot to eat. The water was teeming with predators, and he hadn’t dared to close his eyes for more than a few seconds.
Now that they were on land, it was time to regroup and form a plan.
Behind them, the remaining survivors were dragging themselves onto the shore, soaked and shivering, their hands red from clinging to the broken pieces of what was left of the lifeboats. Some cried quietly while others stared, hollow-eyed, like they’d left something behind in the water—something they could never get back.
Sadie didn’t speak. She was too busy listening.
The air smelled wrong. Sharp and sweet, thick with something rotting beneath the perfume of strange flowers. But worse than the smell was the sound.
Or the lack of it.
The jungle ahead of them was massive, towering trees, vines as thick as limbs, plants they didn’t have names for. And it was silent. Not like the quiet of the wilderness that, no matter the time, buzzed with life. Not like the quiet of a dead city. This was the kind of silence that waited.
A living hush, like the world itself had just stopped to listen.
"Do you hear that?" she whispered.