Now it seems that was nothing more than the ignorant ravings of a hothouse flower facing a storm.
"What do we do now? Donald is dead, and we're next."
The person speaking was another survivor in the group, Arthur.
He was one of the passengers who had narrowly escaped death yesterday and had been trailing at the back of the group, not saying much. At this moment, he was completely terrified, curled up into a ball, and hadn't even mentioned saving Donald.
He seemed to assume that Donald was already dead, or rather, he hoped he was dead, so that everyone wouldn't have to take the risk.
"Why don't we go back? Back to the beach? It's more open there, and at least we can see the ocean," Arthur suggested tearfully.
"We should go save Donald," Banner said in a deep voice. His fists were clenched tight, his nails digging into his palms. "He's still alive; I heard him screaming."
"Is there any hope for Donald?" Strange was more rational, and he looked toward Alice.
As for this question, in everyone's eyes, the girl who had survived on the island for a month undoubtedly had the most authority to speak.
Alice looked in the direction where the pterosaur had disappeared; that was the only path leading to the depths of the valley.
She was silent for a few seconds, then shook her head. On that young, delicate face appeared a coldness and helplessness that did not match her age.
"I don't know."
She did not lie to comfort everyone, but instead spoke the cruel truth.
"Pterosaurs are cruel by nature, and they usually take their prey back to the nest to feed their young. Once in their claws, unless a miracle occurs, there is no possibility of survival. Even if not eaten, falling from that height would..."
She didn't finish, but the meaning was already very clear.
"Donald is beyond saving; what we need to do now is go back," Arthur, terrified by Alice's words, shouted, as if clutching at a straw. "We can't go to our deaths for a dead man."
"Back to the camp?" Banner's face darkened as he looked at this cowardly man.
"Strange, what do you think?" Banner looked at the Doctor.
Strange straightened his tie, which had been pulled askew. Although his hands were also trembling slightly, his gaze remained firm.
He glanced at the bloodstains on the ground, then looked at the unknown jungle ahead.
"We've already covered more than half the distance," Strange said. "If we go back now, it means all our previous efforts were in vain, and Donald died for nothing. Besides, without the transmitter, it's only a matter of time before we die waiting on the beach. We should continue forward."
"But there are dragons here, man-eating flying dragons! Are you crazy?" Arthur screamed in a breakdown, pointing at the sky. "We're just ordinary people—office workers, Doctors, and physicists—not dragon-slaying heroes from knight novels. We're going to die!"
"Just because we don't have the ability to fight dragons doesn't mean we can't avoid them," Banner retorted. "We are human; we have intelligence."
"Avoid them? How do we avoid them?!" Arthur roared angrily, spittle flying. "They can fly, and they're faster than airplanes. There's no way we can avoid them. Continuing on—how dangerous is it? Isn't what just happened enough? Those are monsters, real monsters."
"Dangerous? Do you think Alice doesn't know that searching for the transmitter is dangerous?"
Banner pointed at the young girl who had been standing guard on the side.
"She knows. Having lived on this island for a month, she is clearer about the dangers of this mission than any of us, and she knows even better than us how terrifying those monsters are. Yet, knowing that, she still accompanied us on this adventure and even kept protecting us. She's just a fifteen-year-old girl. Why can't we, a group of grown men, be like her and have some courage?"
Saying this, he turned his head to look at Hughes, who was still slumped on the ground, his face covered in tears and snot, and he was filled with frustration.
"Hughes, if you are still a man, and if you still want to take Annie out of here alive, wipe those damn tears away, pick up your bow and arrows, and stand up."
Banner's roar echoed through the woods.
Hughes looked up blankly, his eyes filled with self-doubt.
After a while, his vision refocused; it was a glimmer of dignity awakened by a sense of shame.
He fumbled on the ground and grabbed his bow and arrows, gripping them so tightly his knuckles turned white, but he hesitated to move.
Alice stood to the side, watching this scene with cold eyes.