The news did not stop.
It played again.
And again.
And again.
Rescue ships.
Helicopters.
Search teams.
Maps.
Circles drawn over empty ocean.
Three days passed.
Three long days.
No ship.
No students.
No Newton.
Amalia stopped eating.
Stopped sleeping.
Stopped speaking.
She locked herself in her room.
The photograph lay on her bed.
She sat on the floor beside it, her back against the wall, her knees pulled to her chest.
Her eyes were swollen.
Red.
Burning.
She held the locket in her hand.
"I told you to come back," she whispered weakly.
Her voice trembled.
"You promised…"
Her throat closed.
Tears spilled down her cheeks again.
Outside her door, the world continued.
Cars passed.
People talked.
Life moved forward.
But inside her room, time had stopped.
She bowed her head.
And cried.
Still hoping.
Still waiting.
Still praying that somewhere, somehow, her friends are alive.
Newton Hills opened his eyes slowly, as if his body feared the world it was returning to. Light stabbed into them immediately. Harsh. Blinding. He winced and turned his face away, his cheek pressing against hot ground that burned his skin. His throat felt raw. His lungs ached. Every breath scraped like broken glass inside him.
For a few seconds, his mind was empty.
Then it came back.
The ship.
The alarm.
The water.
The drowning.
Newton jerked upright with a violent gasp.
Air rushed into his lungs. He coughed instantly. His body folded forward as water burst from his mouth. He gagged and spat, his chest heaving uncontrollably. His hands trembled against the ground, fingers digging into sand that slipped through them.
Sand.
He froze.
His eyes widened.
Sand?
He forced himself to look around.
Bodies.
They were everywhere.
Students lay scattered across the ground like discarded dolls. Some faced down. Some faced the sky. Some were twisted in unnatural positions. Their clothes were soaked. Their faces pale.
Fear wrapped around Newton's spine.
"Oh my God," he whispered hoarsely. "I didn't die."
His voice cracked.
He coughed again, forcing more water out of his lungs.
His heart pounded harder.
He pushed himself to his feet, though his legs shook beneath him. His eyes moved frantically from body to body.
"Where are my friends?" he said.
He stumbled forward.
His vision blurred from panic.
Then he saw him.
Samuel.
Newton rushed to him and dropped to his knees.
"Samuel!"
He grabbed Samuel's shoulder and shook him.
Nothing.
Newton pressed his trembling fingers against Samuel's neck.
There.
A pulse.
Weak.
But there.
Relief hit him so hard it almost broke him.
"Samuel," he whispered.
He placed both hands on Samuel's chest and pushed.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
"Come on!"
He hit his chest again.
Samuel's body jerked.
Then he gasped violently, sucking in air like a man reborn.
He rolled to his side, coughing water onto the sand.
"Am I dead?" Samuel croaked.
Newton let out a broken laugh.
"No," he said, his voice shaking. "You're alive."
Around them, more movement began.
More coughing.
More gasping.
More cries.
Students were waking.
The dead were not dead.
Stella suddenly sat upright with a sharp inhale.
Her eyes darted wildly.
She grabbed her throat.
Then she saw Newton and Samuel.
"We are alive!" she shouted.
She crawled toward them.
Newton grabbed her.
Samuel grabbed her.
The three of them held each other tightly, their bodies shaking.
None of them understood how.
None of them cared.
They were alive.
Then:
"Where are we?"
The voice cut through the moment.
Everyone froze.
Slowly, they looked around.
Really looked.
Endless sand stretched in every direction.
No ship.
No ocean.
No wreckage.
No water.
Just desert.
An empty, silent desert.
Heat shimmered in the distance.
The sun hung above them like an executioner.
Fear crept in.
Cold and sharp.
"Where is this place?" Brian cried.
He stumbled to his feet, turning in circles.
"I need to call my father. Anybody with a phone?"
Hope flickered.
Students began checking themselves.
Pockets.
Waists.
Shoes.
Nothing.
No phones.
No watches.
No devices.
Nothing.
Panic spread instantly.
"We are stuck in a desert!" Theo shouted, his voice breaking. "With no elders among us! How are we going to get home?"
His words hung in the air.
Heavy.
Terrifying.
Some students began crying.
Some screamed.
Some stood frozen, unable to process reality.
Newton's breathing became uneven.
This wasn't possible.
They sank in the ocean.
They drowned.
They should be dead.
So how did they arrived here?
"System Activated."
The voice appeared inside his head.
Newton froze.
His heart stopped.
A bright screen appeared in front of him.
Floating in the air.
Transparent.
Impossible.
NAME: NEWTON HILLS
HUMANITY: 99
TOLERANCE: 20
SPEED: 10
NINJA SKILL: 0
Newton's mouth fell open.
His hands trembled.
He couldn't breathe.
Was he dreaming?
Was he dying?
Was he losing his mind?
Then Stella screamed.
"Am I running mad," she cried, her voice filled with terror, "or you all can hear and see what I am hearing and seeing?"