The waves crashed against the shore. The night wind blew hard, carrying the salty scent of the sea mixed with the drying blood on the sand.
Axel staggered on the beach, his body covered in sweat and wounds. His breath was ragged, his mind a mess.
Above him, the roar of a helicopter's engine filled the sky. Its searchlight illuminated the ground below, casting long shadows on the sand.
"Come on! Get up here quick!" a man yelled from the helicopter.
Carter was halfway up the rope ladder, his hands trembling as he held on tight. Logan stood behind Axel, his face bruised, but his eyes as sharp as ever.
"I can't believe we actually got out of this hellhole," Carter mumbled, his voice full of exhaustion and fear.
Axel was still rooted to the spot.
Something weighed heavily on his chest.
Something made his legs hard to move.
In the distance, right at the edge of the sand and the dark forest, Nova stood.
Axel felt his heart stop for a moment.
Nova stood with her body slightly hunched, her hair disheveled in the sea wind. The helicopter's light made her clear. Her lips were smiling. But the smile was wrong. Nova's teeth were covered in fresh blood dripping from her lips.
Axel wanted to say something. Wanted to call her. But the words were stuck in his throat.
Logan, who also saw Nova, raised his gun.
"Don't," Axel said quickly, stopping Logan's hand.
Logan glanced at him sharply. "You still hope she can be saved?"
Axel swallowed hard. "I... I don't know..."
Nova still stood in place, unmoving. Only the wind made her hair flutter wildly.
Nova slowly raised her hand, as if reaching for Axel.
Then she whispered.
No sound came out, but Axel could read her lips.
"Axel... don't go..."
Axel felt his chest being squeezed by something invisible.
He wanted to run towards her.
He wanted to take her away.
But he knew.
Nova was no longer the Nova he knew.
Someone from the helicopter shouted, "GET UP HERE! THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE!"
Axel remained silent.
Nova was still staring at him.
Her dark eyes gleamed in the moonlight.
And then ran towards Axel.
With impossible speed.
"AXEL, NOW!" Logan pulled him hard, forcing him towards the rope ladder.
Axel felt himself lifted into the air as Logan and Carter pulled him up.
Below, Nova jumped, but it was too late.
Her hand almost grabbed Axel's leg, but the helicopter had already risen higher.
Nova fell back onto the sand.
She stood looking up at Axel with eyes full of something Axel couldn't understand.
The helicopter rose higher, its engine shaking the air.
Axel was still looking down.
Nova grew smaller in his view.
But before she completely disappeared from sight, Nova smiled again.
Axel still gripped the rope ladder tightly, his body frozen despite the night wind whipping his face. The helicopter's engine roared in his ears, but his mind was still stuck on the beach—on Nova's figure standing below, looking at him with a smile that made his skin crawl.
Beside him, Logan sighed heavily, his eyes also fixed below. "She's not Nova anymore, Axel. You know that."
Axel didn't answer.
He knew.
But part of him refused to accept that reality.
Nova was the one who had fought with him from the start. She was the most stubborn, the bravest, the smartest. And now... she was no longer herself.
Or maybe, a small part of her still remained?
Carter tried to normalize his breathing beside them. "We made it," he mumbled in a trembling voice. "We actually got out of that cursed place."
Axel finally turned away from below and looked ahead. The vast ocean stretched endlessly, dark and calm, as if it had never witnessed the horrors they had experienced.
Inside the helicopter, a man in military uniform waited for them to climb in completely before pulling the door shut. Once they were seated, the man spoke. "You're lucky we found the signal from that ship. Otherwise, you might have died there."
Carter chuckled, but his tone sounded more like someone on the verge of madness. "We almost died a thousand times."
Axel didn't care about the conversation. He just leaned against the cabin wall, trying to calm his chaotic thoughts. But when he closed his eyes, all he saw was Nova.
Her smile.
Her blood-soaked teeth.
Her eyes that seemed to still recognize him, but also didn't.
He clenched his fists.
Was she really gone?
Or just waiting for the right moment to return?
A few hours later, the helicopter landed on a large ship floating in the middle of the sea. From the emblem, Axel could see that it was a military ship, belonging to some country.
As soon as they got off, they were greeted by several uniformed men. Their faces were tense, their eyes full of vigilance.
A man in a white coat stepped forward.
"Who's infected?"
The question immediately put Axel on guard.
Carter swallowed hard. "What do you mean?"
The man looked at them sharply. "You came from that island. The experimental island. It's impossible to leave without being exposed to the virus. So, I'll ask again—who's infected?"
Logan glanced at Axel nervously. Axel remained silent.
Then the man approached, looking at them one by one.
When his eyes met Axel's, he hissed softly. "You brought something from there, didn't you?"
Axel frowned. "I don't know what you mean."
The man took a deep breath, then waved to some people behind him. "Take them to the isolation room. We can't take any risks."
"Wait!" Carter protested. "We suffered enough there! Now you want to lock us up again?"
The man didn't care. "We can't take any risks. That virus is more dangerous than you think."
Two armed men approached them, ready to take them inside.
Axel looked at the man. "If we're infected, what will you do?"
The man smiled thinly. "We can't take any risks."
That answer was enough for Axel to understand his intention.
They wouldn't be allowed to live.
They weren't being saved.
They were just being moved from one hell to another.
And worse—
When Axel looked back, towards the rolling sea, he felt like he saw something in the distance.
A black shadow on the water.
And somehow, he felt like something was looking back at him.
Something that wasn't finished with them yet.
The island might be far behind them.
But the horror…
Wasn't over.