After closely following Mark for some time, the group still had no idea whether they were making any real progress.
Dan suddenly spoke up, his voice low but loud enough for everyone to hear.
"You know, how do we even know he's not leading us to our deaths?"
He glanced toward the others.
"The whole Chair could want us dead, and he'll be the catalyst."
Henry had to give it to him—Dan was brazen. In a good way, at least.
Henry stayed quiet. He wanted to see how Mark would respond.
Mark stopped and turned toward them, but for a moment, he seemed unable to find an answer.
Josh immediately seized the opportunity.
"Honestly, it's annoying. Whatever you're looking for in these trees, just tell all of us. I think it'd make things a lot faster."
He paused.
"Unless, of course, that dunce is right."
Theo scoffed.
"And that would certainly help, rather than having you look like a squirrel foraging for food."
His eyes shifted toward Samuel.
"We've already got a liability with us."
Samuel responded with nothing but a cold stare.
The forest suddenly felt a little quieter..
"We wouldn't be able to move any faster, you know," Liam said softly. "If we did, we could run into unwanted trouble."
The group fell silent. They all understood the severity of the situation, and despite their growing doubts, they continued moving.
After some distance—none of them knowing exactly how much time had passed—Calvin's phone light suddenly died.
One less light.
They were now down to three sources: one at the front, another at the rear, and a third conveniently hidden in Henry's pocket.
Henry kept his hand away from it.
For now, there was no reason for the others to know.
After passing through countless thorns and encountering all manner of disgusting forest creatures, the group continued deeper into the forest.
Every step seemed to bring a new obstacle. Branches snagged at their clothes, thorns scratched at their arms, and strange movements in the undergrowth kept them constantly on edge.
Yet Mark continued forward, seemingly certain of where he was going.
At first, it was barely noticeable.
Theo scratched his arm once and continued walking.
A few minutes later, he did it again.
Then again.
The itching grew more persistent, spreading across his arms and neck. He tried to ignore it, but soon he was scratching almost constantly.
Joah noticed.
"Are you okay?"
Theo stopped scratching for a moment.
"Yeah. It's nothing."
But judging by the way he immediately started scratching again, it clearly wasn't nothing.
"Holy shit! Were those disgusting rashes on you before?"
Henry heard Dan shout from the back, immediately causing the entire group to turn.
Dan was already moving away from Theo.
Theo stood there, visibly scratching at his arms. The rash had spread noticeably, appearing in places that hadn't been affected moments earlier. The sight was enough to make everyone uneasy.
Henry instinctively took a step back.
"What the hell is happening to him?" Josh asked.
Theo looked down at his arms, his expression slowly changing from irritation to concern.
Calvin remained remarkably calm.
"You must've touched a poisonous plant or something."
Theo looked down at his arms, visibly frightened now.
Calvin examined the rash from a short distance before continuing.
"I can't exactly tell what it is. And..." He paused, choosing his words carefully. "I'm not sure there's much we can do about it either."
Theo's expression tightened.
The group kept moving, this time with a constant reminder that something was lurking behind them.
As if on cue, a deep, guttural roar echoed through the forest.
It sounded distant, but close enough to raise concern.
"Shit!"
Someone shouted, but Henry barely registered it. The group had already increased their pace, and he had to make sure they were still heading in the right direction.
His thoughts were interrupted by another roar.
This one was much closer.
That was enough.
The group broke into a full-blown sprint.
For now, following Mark was good enough.
Then, as if to make their situation even worse, something changed ahead of them.
Mark suddenly slowed.
Henry noticed immediately.
"Why are you stopping?" Josh yelled from behind, barely able to catch his breath.
Mark didn't answer.
He was staring at something ahead, his expression slowly changing.
The others began to slow as well, their panic giving way to confusion.
Henry followed Mark's gaze.
Right in front of them, as if it had been patiently waiting to be served by a waiter, stood a jaguar.
Everyone froze.
Calvin stared at it, his voice coming out raspy.
"A black jaguar... of all things."
There was no discussion, no agreement, not even a shared glance.
They immediately bolted to the side.
Going back wasn't an option. There was another one somewhere behind them, possibly the very creature whose roars had been driving them forward.
And if, by some stroke of luck, the two jaguars were simply about to engage in a territorial dispute, Henry wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.
Whatever happened between them, he thought, had nothing to do with them.
They just had to get out of the way.
The sound of their ragged breathing and pounding feet filled the forest. Leaves crackled and branches snapped beneath them, drowning out almost everything else.
Then the ground changed.
Mark suddenly stumbled to a stop.
Ahead of them was a swamp.
Dark, murky water stretched across their path, broken only by patches of wet earth and tangled vegetation. There was no obvious way around it.
Behind them, the distant sounds of the forest still echoed.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
They had run straight from one danger into another."I think it stopped," Dan said.
As if to refute him, a low growl rumbled through the forest.
Calvin didn't stop.
He simply stepped into the swamp.
The others hesitated for barely a second before following.
The moment Henry stepped in, he realized they had seriously underestimated its depth.
The water rose to his chest.
"Move. Move. Move," Calvin said, his usually calm voice suddenly urgent.
He glanced back toward the forest.
"If it's big enough for us, other things can be in it too. And for fuck's sake, jaguars can swim."
It was like an alarm had gone off.
The group pushed forward with renewed urgency, splashing through the murky water as quickly as they could.
They had crossed almost a third of the swamp when Henry noticed something.
Something was wrong.
He counted them.
Once.
Twice.
His stomach dropped.
They were one man down.
"Samuel..." Henry managed between breaths.
He turned around.
Samuel was still there.
But he wasn't moving.
His legs were trapped beneath the water, caught in a mass of submerged roots that had wrapped themselves around him. He struggled against them, but every attempt only seemed to make things worse.
"Why the fuck didn't he say anything?" Liam shouted.
He immediately began moving back toward Samuel.
Mark grabbed him.
"We move."
Liam stared at him in disbelief.
"What do you mean, we move?"
"Bastard!" Dan screamed.
Then they saw it.
A dark mass moving beneath the surface.
It was heading straight toward Samuel.
Everyone froze.
Samuel looked toward them.
For a brief moment, Henry saw the fear in his eyes.
Then Samuel shouted,
"I'll be waiting for you guys in hell!"
Henry couldn't stomach the thought of staying there.
He turned and pushed forward.
The others followed.
Maybe they had all become inhumane.
But in a place like this, Henry wondered if there was any other way to survive.