By eight o'clock, panic had begun to settle in.
When Sylva and Nathan failed to return, their classmates quickly raised the alarm. The instructors initially assumed the two had simply wandered off, perhaps lingering too long at one of the survey points. But as the minutes stretched into nearly an hour with no sign of either of them, concern turned into urgency.
The entire group, including Acacia, joined the search. The matter was promptly reported to the field security personnel stationed nearby—precautionary staff always present during such excursions.
But locating them wasn't easy.
Because the two had ventured deep into the forest for their fieldwork and had been ambushed before getting far, it took nearly an hour to find any trace of them. The forest was dense, the terrain uneven, and they had left barely any trail behind.
Then a scream shattered the silence.
"Ahhh!!"
