The Desert Island Survival Was Just A Scheme For My Long-Lost Sister Chapter 04
She was about to say more when Ethan shoved her aside. “Jenna. Back off. Let her breathe.”
Jenna stepped away, but her eyes burned with hatred as she looked at me.
I met her glare, ignoring the pain in my ribs. “Don’t play the doting brother,” I said coldly. “It makes me sick.”
Ethan froze. I expected his Bias Unit to skyrocket. Instead, it sank.
“Nat,” he said, his voice rough. “I shouldn’t have hit you. I’m sorry.”
Derek took my hand and brought it to his lips, trying to warm my frozen fingers.
I yanked it back.
“Don’t touch me,” I rasped. “Your act makes me want to vomit.”
He held on tighter. Then he paled. “How… how are you this thin?”
He looked up at Ethan, frantic and reckless. “You said our rations had enough nutrients for baseline health!”
The Bias Units above them were plummeting. Halfway gone.
It was laughable.
When I’d given them everything I had, they’d rewarded me with lies.
Now that I gave them nothing but hate, they suddenly cared.
A camera, hidden in the leaves, swiveled to focus on me.
I knew my parents were watching.
Staring into the lens, I wondered: were they feeling guilty? Would they finally put a stop to this circus?
I forced my eyes shut before hope could take root.
Ethan reached for his radio. “Call a medic…”
A figure burst from the jungle. Not the staged “wild man” they’d planted, this one was real.
He was practically naked, his hair matted, his face scarred by sun and insects. His high cheekbones and sunken eyes gave him a feral look.
Jenna screamed and scrambled.
Ethan and Derek exchanged a look of practiced hesitation.
I forced a smile.
Two years ago, they’d started telling me stories about a savage man in the jungle who ate women.
I’d never fully believed them. Now I saw it was just a setup for this “final test.”
The wild man charged, brandishing a crude spear.
He grabbed Jenna and slung her over his shoulder. Then he lunged for me.
Ethan and Derek put up a theatrical fight, but the wild man eventually backed off, after pointing at me, then at Jenna.
The boys pantomimed a frantic conversation. “He said he’ll trade her for one of the girls. He only wants a girl.”
“Maybe because Jenna’s too thin…”
I watched their performance in silence until, finally, they turned to me. I nodded, my face blank. “Go save her.”
They half-led, half-dragged me through the brush, following the tracks.
Jenna was dangling from a tree, drenched in fake blood.
A huge pot of muddy water was bubbling over a fire. The “wild man” was nowhere to be seen.
“Nat,” Ethan said, his voice urgent, “Jenna’s in bad shape. We need to get her out. You go in first, buy us time. We swear, we’ll have a plan to save you.”
I stared at the tree, where another camera blinked. When I spoke, my voice was loud and cold. “Let her die. I’ve always been jealous of how you treat her.”
On cue, Ethan and Derek’s expressions curdled. Their Bias Units began climbing.
I pressed on. “Less mouths to feed. More food for us.”
A palm slammed into my face. My cheek swelled instantly.
Ethan’s face was twisted with rage. “She called you her sister! How dare you!”
Derek tore a braided ring from his finger, the one we’d made as a promise, the one we’d said meant we’d get married if we got out of here, and hurled it into the dirt.
“I was wrong about you, Nat. If you don’t get in there and save her, this engagement is over!”
A line of text burst into the air:
[Bias Units Maxed!]
I smiled at their off-the-chart numbers.
“Relax,” I said lightly. “I was joking. She’s my sister. Of course, I’ll save her.”
They exchanged a relieved glance. “Not funny. Not at a time like this.”
Ethan pulled me in a quick, hard hug. “I promise, Nat. Nothing bad will happen to you.”
They marched me over to the wild man. After a silent exchange, he tied me up and swapped me for Jenna.
As she passed me, Jenna’s lips brushed my ear. “Think they’ll feel sorry for you, Natalie? Think your suffering will make them love you?”
Then she collapsed into Derek’s arms.
Ethan scooped her up and carried her out of the trees, glancing back at me. “Hold on, Nat! We’ll get you out, I promise!”
I watched them go. I watched the rescue boat pull up to the shore.
I turned to the “wild man.” “You might want to step back,” I said. “I wouldn’t want to get any on you.”
He stared, frozen.
With a sharp stone, I cut the ropes.
The boiling water erupted as I plunged in.
The wild man screamed and bolted.