Jake's head throbbed painfully—he hadn't slept a wink. They were on a short break from the ongoing search for Jasmin, the student who had suddenly disappeared. Massaging his temples in frustration, he tried to ease the tension and dull the ache.
They still couldn't trace the signal from Jasmin's tracker. All they found was the device—lying deep in a forest rarely visited by people.
But not her.
No trace of her body, no sign of where she might have gone.
Jake could only shake his head. The sky was beginning to lighten—sunrise was near—and still, they had nothing. The night had passed with no answers.
Earlier, he thought Ruth and Thalia had gone missing too. If two more students vanished while they were already frantically searching for one, it would push him over the edge. He barely had time to rest. His exhaustion was visible.
A few teachers around him noticed and stood up. Their movements were sharp, alert.
"Sir Jake, over here!" a colleague called out.
Jake rushed toward the source of the voice.
"What is it?" he asked when he arrived.
"We saw a body. Over there," the other teacher said grimly, no trace of humor in his tone.
Jake's chest tightened.
"We need to confirm if it's Jasmin," he said quickly.
"The kids are still asleep. You know people will start snooping around once word spreads. Let the other teachers handle the crowd," the teacher added.
Jake and his fellow teachers nodded. They didn't want to create panic in the student camp. If word got out that a body had been found, chaos might erupt.
Only a few of them would go to the site—three, to be exact. Jake was one of them.
They made their way into the dense part of the forest, a place where students rarely ventured.
"There," one of the teachers pointed.
Jake followed the direction and saw it. As they approached, the foul stench hit them hard. Something was definitely rotting.
Despite the unbearable odor, they pressed forward. They had to confirm whether or not the victim was one of their own.
Jake saw it was a female body, face turned away, long hair tangled and matted.
"We should call the police. No one touch the body," Jake advised firmly.
In situations like this, disturbing the crime scene could erase crucial evidence.
The other two teachers nodded in agreement.
"We also need to make sure the students don't come anywhere near here. Don't tell them what we found just yet," he said.
Jake made the call to the police. Morning had fully arrived, and the sun was up. They waited at a distance from the body, not daring to disturb the scene, but watching it in silent horror.
Who would do something so cruel? Jake wondered. What kind of monster snuffed out the life of a young woman with her whole future ahead of her?
He didn't even care about his hunger or exhaustion anymore. He just hoped—prayed—that the body wasn't Jasmin's.
Soon, the police and the SOCO team arrived. Jake reported everything they had seen.
The authorities examined the area carefully.
"It's a woman," someone confirmed after finding her school ID.
"This body's been dead for a while. Looks like this isn't the actual crime scene—someone dumped her here," one of the police officers said.
Jake exhaled in deep relief. It wasn't Jasmin.
A small comfort—but he couldn't ignore the pitiful condition of the body. The girl's heart had been ripped out, intestines missing, and her eyes were gone. The mutilation was gruesome.
Jake guessed she was around Jasmin's age, possibly from the next town over.
As they returned to camp, he overheard murmurs from the other teachers.
"Kidnappings are really increasing—especially of young girls. Some victims are only found days later, with their organs missing," one said grimly.
"Organ trafficking," another teacher added, shaking his head. "That, plus the drug trade and black market. It's all connected. I just hope someone finally puts a stop to these killings."
Jake didn't say a word. Human trafficking wasn't the only plague—it was the whole rotten system. And somehow, it had reached them, right here, in the middle of a school activity meant for learning and bonding.
Back at the camp, the body was officially confirmed to not be Jasmin's.
"Thank God," said one of the worried teachers.
But the danger wasn't over.
They held an emergency meeting. A curfew wasn't enough anymore. They needed tighter supervision. The students' safety was their responsibility, and they had to prevent any more disasters.
Jake prayed this wouldn't turn into something worse. He prayed they'd all return home safe. That there would be no more trauma—no more darkness to follow these children back from what was supposed to be a happy camping trip.
And he needed to pay closer attention to Ruth and Thalia. He almost lost them last night when they snuck off under the excuse of needing to use the restroom.
He sighed. His body ached from fatigue, but sleep would have to wait.