Chapter 1123

Jude lay on the ground, smoke rising from his skin. The tree behind him had collapsed into dust.

Sophie ran to him. "Jude, Jude!"

He coughed. His eyes fluttered open.

"I saw her," he whispered. "I saw everything."

Susan knelt beside him. "Did you kill her?"

"No," he said. "But I took back what was mine."

From the jungle, footsteps approached.

The others were coming.

And for the first time in days… they weren't smiling.

The sound of approaching footsteps was different this time. Slower. Uneven. Hesitant. Jude turned his head toward the treeline, still flat on his back, the charred scent of the bone tree lingering in his lungs. Sophie held his hand, her grip tight as if she wasn't sure he was really there. Susan stood behind them, breathing heavily, her gaze fixed on the edge of the clearing.

Then Rose stepped through the underbrush.

But she wasn't smiling.