While others seek survival, I engage in flirtation Chapter 44: Exploring the Cave Again

If I didn't go down there and check it out myself, I'd always feel like I was just sitting around, doing nothing.

If I couldn't handle this bunch of weirdos, how the heck was I supposed to get out of here?

So, with the day still young, Lilian and I headed to the cave with the underground chamber, while the other girls stayed back at camp, waiting for us to return.

We'd walked this path a bunch of times, but we still took it slow and careful every time.

When we got to the cave, Matt was still MIA. It was just an empty, creepy cave. I tied the rope around my waist and handed the other end to Lilian.

Learning from last time, I brought an extra-long rope.

Once I got into the underground chamber, I felt myself just sliding down. The cave walls were super smooth, and there was nothing to grab onto. I had to hold the rope with one hand and press the other against the wall to slow myself down.

Soon enough, I hit the bottom, landing on a thick mat of grass.

The mat was really thick, so falling on it didn't hurt at all.

The space down there was way bigger than above, with lots of rooms, like a bunch of people used to live here.

The doors to these rooms were wooden and looked pretty old. Each door had a room number on it.

I tried pushing a few doors, but most of them were locked. The ones that weren't locked looked like offices.

Most of the documents had been taken by Dennis, leaving only a few heavily stained ones behind.

Among these almost unreadable papers, I found a few with photos that were still kinda recognizable.

One of them had a name: Mary. I didn't know this person... but why did her face seem familiar?

Holding the photo, I thought about it and finally realized what was bugging me.

Even though it was blurry, this face looked like that of the escaped freak! That crazy, long-haired freak was actually one of the researchers here!

Did that mean a lot, or maybe all, of the long-haired freaks were researchers here?

I was blown away by my own thoughts. I couldn't imagine what could've happened to turn those young researchers into this.

Just as I was about to look for more clues among the abandoned stuff, I suddenly heard a noise outside. I hid behind the door, waiting for the right moment.

But the noise quickly disappeared, like it was never there.

When it got quiet outside, I climbed onto the haystack and tugged on the rope.

Lilian, being strong, had no trouble pulling me out of the hole.

"How'd it go? Find anything?" She saw my serious face and started to worry.

I told her what I found. Lilian's face got serious too. I think she was worried we might really be stuck here.

But I knew worrying wouldn't help.

After checking out the cave, we packed up and headed back.

It was getting late, and staying outside wasn't a good idea.

Plus, on this deserted island, time seemed like the one thing we had plenty of.

The weather here barely changed, just the occasional rain.

After we got back to camp, I quickly went over all the info we had.

We were stuck on this deserted island and had found a pretty stable place to stay, but there was still a lot we didn't know.

Our usual hangout spots were the forest around us and the beach beyond it.

Ever since Dennis found our camp, he'd been popping up every two or three days, giving us the latest updates.

We'd been on this island for almost two months now and were starting to get used to it.

Honestly, the past few days had been the most chill we've had.

No wolves or freaks bothering us, plenty of supplies, and our days were spent either working or chilling at the camp, getting massages from the girls, and enjoying the soft paws of the big dog.

If life on this island stayed like this, I could totally get used to it.

But, of course, good times never last, and our peaceful life got interrupted when Dennis didn't show up for four days.

"Do you think something happened to Dennis?" Lilian was the first to notice something was off.

At first, none of us thought anything had happened to Dennis. We just figured he got held up with something.

After all, there was always a lot to do at Abbott's camp, and he might've just been too busy to come over.

"How about we go check out Abbott's camp?" I started to get worried too.

I couldn't be sure what was really going on, but it seemed worth investigating. So, I got ready to head to Abbott's camp with Lilian. But on the way, I noticed some weird stuff.

The road was eerily quiet. Normally, we'd hear wild animals or other creatures, but today it was almost silent.

We hurried along the path and reached Abbott's camp in less than half a day.

But the camp was empty.

It looked like it had been ransacked, with food and supplies scattered everywhere, and chaotic footprints all over the place.

The camp looked like it had turned into a ruin overnight.

The last time we saw this camp, it was fine. How could it end up like this?

Looking at the state of the camp, I felt a wave of relief that I hadn't agreed to bring Nora back here.

My initial plan was to go to Abbott's camp alone, to save time and reduce the risk of being attacked.

Plus, there was still some tension between us and Abbott's camp, and I didn't want to drag the girls into it.

But thinking about what Lilian said, I started to feel nervous.

If something went wrong at the camp, I might not be able to handle it alone. So I agreed with Lilian that we'd play it by ear once we got there.

Unexpectedly, we didn't even need to play it by ear; we couldn't find anyone at all.

Most importantly, I couldn't imagine how upset Nora would be when she found out.

Even though she was kicked out by Abbott, she had lived here for a long time. Even if she wasn't sad because of Abbott, she'd be for the other people in the camp.

We searched the camp for hours but found no trace of them. They hadn't even left any signs to indicate whether they had left or been taken.