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Chapter 3

Penulis: Attack on Cheese
When I regained consciousness, my soul was already floating above the ground.

Guided by instinct, I drifted toward the safety of the base camp dozens of miles away.

Ryan carefully lifted Willa out of the SUV and rushed her straight into the clinic.

"Doctor, please take a look at her foot!"

The elderly military doctor stationed at the camp slipped on his reading glasses and leaned closer with an iodine swab. After examining her foot for a long moment, he frowned.

"It's one blister? There's no redness or swelling around it, and the skin isn't even broken.

"You called in an emergency rescue vehicle for this?"

Ryan stepped protectively in front of Willa, his tone grave.

"Doctor, she's frail and gets sick easily. The desert is full of bacteria. If the wound gets infected and she develops sepsis, it could become serious.

"Please give her the strongest antibiotics you have. I'll cover the cost."

The doctor shook his head in disbelief and handed him a Band-Aid.

"Just put this on and keep it dry."

He washed his hands in a basin, then glanced out the window, his expression darkening.

"There's something seriously wrong with this heat. Ground temperatures are approaching 140 degrees.

"You're absolutely sure no one else from your group is still out in the desert, right? In weather like this, after two hours out there, no one could save them."

Ryan walked over to the water cooler and poured a glass of ice water. He carefully checked the temperature before holding it to Willa's lips, then answered without the slightest hesitation.

"No. The woman who dropped out runs marathons all the time and is built like an ox.

"By now, she's probably taken a cab back to the five-star hotel in town and is soaking in the bathtub with the AC blasting."

The others had just made it back to camp on foot. They walked in as he finished speaking and immediately began mocking me.

"Exactly. Sophie is the last person who would ever let herself suffer."

"She's only pretending to be dying because she wants to see Ryan panic."

"Well, Ryan didn't take the bait. She's probably back at the hotel punching pillows in frustration."

Willa nestled against Ryan's chest, biting her lip with a wounded expression.

"I just wonder if Sophie has her radio. What if she can't reach us?"

Ryan gave her shoulder a reassuring pat.

"Her radio's in her backpack, so stop worrying about her.

"Once she's done making a scene and realizes no one is paying attention, she'll come back and apologize."

He then turned to the others and began assigning supplies and sleeping arrangements for the night.

"Willa had quite a scare today, so she gets the only room with air conditioning.

"Everyone, get out the self-heating meals you brought. Tonight, we're celebrating making it to the end of the hike."

I hovered near the ceiling of the clinic, watching them laugh and celebrate as they forgot about me completely.

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  • Scorched to Ash Beneath the Blazing Sun   Chapter 10

    The police released their findings soon afterward.They could not classify what had happened in the desert as outright murder. Even so, as the team leader, Ryan faced charges of gross negligence and abandonment. He had known my life was in danger, yet deliberately concealed the truth from the rescue team.Now he faced prison and a massive civil damages claim.By the time Ryan appeared in court, he had wasted away so badly that he was almost unrecognizable. He kept his head bowed throughout the proceedings and never said a word in his own defense. When the judge handed down his sentence, he dropped to his knees and broke down sobbing.Willa was charged as well.The court found that she had deliberately manipulated the others and diverted emergency resources to herself. She, too, was ordered to pay substantial damages.Outside the courthouse, Ryan's parents and Willa's parents came to blows, each family blaming the other for ruining their child.To pay the damages, Ryan sold every prop

  • Scorched to Ash Beneath the Blazing Sun   Chapter 9

    The truth spread online faster than anyone could have imagined.No one knew who uploaded the radio recording, but my faint, desperate plea for help left everyone who heard it outraged. Ryan's coldhearted abuse followed, and every word Willa said to egg him on came through loud and clear.The rescue team's incident report surfaced soon afterward, exposing Ryan's lie that everyone in his group had been accounted for.The internet turned on them overnight. The same people who had once torn me apart online were now furious on my behalf, and Willa's post portraying herself as the victim became damning evidence of what they had done."They're murderers! Every last one of them!""They stole the water that could have saved her, then cut off her only way to call for help. How is that not murder?""Lock Willa Lane up!""Ryan Grant is a monster! Calling him human is an insult to the rest of us!"That same night, Willa's employer announced that she had been fired. Ryan's company quickly followed

  • Scorched to Ash Beneath the Blazing Sun   Chapter 8

    I hovered above them, watching their remorse with a blank expression.After hearing the full story, the medical examiner added coldly, "The victim suffered severe heatstroke before she died. "If she had been given electrolyte water in time or taken to a hospital sooner, she would've survived."At the mention of electrolyte water, Ryan turned and glared at Willa, who was hiding outside the door.At noon on the day of the hike, the team's only bottle of electrolyte water had been in my hands. Willa had claimed that she felt dizzy and nauseous, and Ryan had snatched it away from me without a second thought and handed it to her.Willa recoiled when she met his gaze."Ryan, don't look at me like that... I didn't know Sophie was that sick. "I had heat exhaustion too, and my foot was injured..."At that moment, a nurse approached with a medical chart."Which one of you is Willa Lane?"Willa timidly raised her hand."I am."The nurse opened the chart and glanced through it."You came in toda

  • Scorched to Ash Beneath the Blazing Sun   Chapter 7

    Half an hour later, Ryan walked into the sheriff's office with Willa."I'm looking for Sophie Sawyer. Tell her to drop the act, get out here, and apologize to me."The deputy on duty frowned at him."Are you Ryan Grant?"Ryan lifted his chin."Yes. I'm her boyfriend. Where is she? Where is she hiding?"The deputy rose from his desk and handed him a case file."She's not here. Her body is at the county hospital morgue. "These are the photos from the scene. Take a look."Ryan accepted the file with a sneer."You really thought of everything, didn't you? You even prepared fake photos?"He casually opened the file, only for his smile to freeze the moment he saw the first page.A shriveled, contorted woman's body lay in the yellow sand, her bloodied fingers buried deep beneath the surface. Two unopened bottles of water lay beside her.Ryan's breath caught. His eyes locked on the two bottles he had thrown beside my hand the previous night.Willa leaned over for a look and immediately scream

  • Scorched to Ash Beneath the Blazing Sun   Chapter 6

    No matter how many times they tagged me, the little rabbit icon beside my name remained gray, with no sign of activity.By the following day, Ryan had run out of patience and went straight to the apartment I was renting. When he found no sign that I had returned, he scoffed."So you're hiding from me now? You think moving somewhere else will make me worry about you even more? Dream on!"In a fit of rage, he shoved everything I owned into garbage bags and dumped them in the trash can at the far end of the hallway. He then sent Willa a voice message."Willa, are you ready? I'll pick you up soon and take you to the hospital for a full checkup."At the same time, deep in Tayhollow Desert, a federal geological survey team was collecting routine soil samples when one of their detectors suddenly sounded an alarm."Sir! We've found something over here!"Half an hour later, local police and a medical examiner arrived at the scene. After completing a preliminary examination, the medical examiner

  • Scorched to Ash Beneath the Blazing Sun   Chapter 5

    Ryan stopped about a yard from my body. His first instinct was to step closer and reach for my face, but Willa suddenly screamed."Ryan! There's a snake!"Without another glance at me, Ryan spun around and raced back to her."Willa, don't move!"He yanked her into his arms and scanned the ground warily. Willa clung to his waist, sobbing uncontrollably."Ryan, I'm scared..."Still sniffling, she peeked over his shoulder at my body."What's wrong with Sophie? Is she still mad at me? Is that why she's lying there trying to scare us?"Finn and Austin finally worked up the courage to get out of the SUV. Remaining beside the open door, they swept their powerful flashlights over me from a safe distance."She's definitely faking it. We laid on the horn earlier, and she didn't move at all.""There's no way anyone could hold their breath that long right in front of us."Finn quickly agreed."Exactly. She even smeared fake blood on her fingers and covered them in sand just to look injured. Sophi

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