While Brandon explains to the crowd in the background why he doesn't want anyone to report this to the authorities in the case they survive, Tyler questions Liam.
"Observe while people on the other side report, see what happens to them, before we do it ourselves?"
"Yeah."
"Mike's on the other side."
"Just contact him as soon as we're out to not report it."
"That's still putting everyone on the other side at risk, assuming you're correct about the men behind this game."
"We don't even know who all of them are, our hands are tied here."
Tyler wasn't happy with the response he received but it was all logical and sensible, leaving Tyler no effective retortion.
"Might as well bathe ourselves in water right now, we're about to enter a burning forest after all." Liam suggested then walked off towards the beach, the two other volunteers followed suit, with Tyler closely behind as well after a moment of hesitation.
They sunk their entire bodies and heads into the ocean with a few other survivors keeping guards, making sure no snakes near. Tyler stayed drowned in water longer than the rest, punishing himself for his inability to save his friends earlier.
Sinking himself, disabling his own breathing somehow made him feel at peace, staying down there felt nicer, he was starting to think, "Maybe I could just stay like this for a little longer, just a little longer..."
"What are you doing?"
"Ah!" One simple question startled Tyler and he popped out of the water, "I...I...uh"
"Breathe first."
Tyler took a few deep breaths as suggested, but it didn't make his words any clearer, "I..." He murmured with his head down.
"It's time to go, come on." Liam said and left the ocean without looking back.
"Huh? Oh...okay."
"Alright, the crowd seems understanding enough of your strategy, Liam." Brandon said after the group regathers, he didn't receive any form of replies from Liam other than his usual apathetic stare though, "Now that that's settled, let's go."
"Wait, Brandon, Liam suggested to bathe ourselves in water first before heading in there." James informed.
"That's a good idea, give me a second." Brandon replied before heading off to the ocean alone.
"It's like only you two are useful on this island." James turned to Liam and said, "Thanks man, truly."
"You're useful yourself for having the courage to step forward." Chris complimented, then followed with, "The real useless ones are those." He pointed towards the people resting by the shore, not defending the shore or gathering firewood.
"They're just scared, you can't blame them." Tyler retorted, "I'm scared too."
"But you're still here, makes you a better man than any of them already." Chris said then turned back to the resting survivors with a condescending glare.
Liam doesn't disagree, instead he switches up the topic, "The snakes are nothing I've ever heard of, but so far as I've noticed, they're outrageously fragile. One heavy hit to their head and it bursts, so there's no need for sharp weapons, blunt ones are more effective, makes it easier to hit the target." Liam suggested to the team, who then switched their sharp branches for broader ones.
"Alright I'm back." Brandon came running back to the team all soaked, just like the rest of them, "Now, let's go." Brandon commences their rescue mission.
Using pieces of cloth they ripped off from their shirts, they covered their noses and mouths to minimise the damage of ashes in the arson.
"On your right!"
"Harh!"
As they venture, they encounter only a few snakes, most died from the fire, and those few snakes they encountered are taken care of promptly with good team synergy.
"If there's 80 snakes on this island, I think it's safe to say we more than halved their population!" Brandon informed loudly as they venture deeper, stepping over multiple snakes' corpses on their way.
Along the way, Liam accidentally stumbled upon a rotting human corpse, its eyes were blank, jaw was opened and black veins were still spreading across the body rapidly.
A disturbing scene, but it didn't bother Liam much, he moved forward past it pretty quickly after a few seconds of stare.
"Is anyone still out there?! Anyone?!" Brandon yells to find responses from potential survivors. However,
"Bad move, snakes can hear us scream, everyone be on guard." Liam said casually with his default volume, only Tyler was close enough to hear it.
"Be on guard everyone! The snakes should know we're here now! They can hear screams!" Tyler announced.
"Shit."
"Everyone, form a circle!"
"Chris, your side!"
Chris calmly swings the tree branch in his hand like a baseball bat and exploded the head of the snake pouncing towards him. So did Tyler a few moments later, then Liam, the snakes are coming more rapidly now but not as rapidly as when they initially woken up, so they were able to take care of them.
Help
A very very faint yell for help is suddenly heard from a distance, and it was only noted by Liam, "Someone's crying for help, somewhere there."
"This way, everyone! Someone's crying for help!" Once again, Liam's voice was too weak so Tyler had to reiterate his words to the team.
"Chris! Your side again!"
"I got it!"
On the move towards the faint cries, they encountered a few snakes which they all successfully fended off against.
"Help!" The screams become clearer now that they've closed the distance.
"This way!" Brandon leads the rescue team forwards.
After a bit more sprinting through the harsh environment of the forest on fire, "There! There they are! In that cave!" There were two survivors that found refuge in a cave and wasn't able to escape, one male one female.
"Here! Take this!" Chris offered one of his tree branches to the male survivor, "Fight with us!"
"There should be more survivors, let's keep searching."
"Wait! There isn't! Everyone else died, we saw it ourselves!" The male survivor cried when Brandon proposed to continue the search.
"How can you be certain?" Tyler questioned.
"It's true man! They all died!"
"You witnessed everyone's death yet you survived?"
"Yes! We got lucky! Please believe us!"
Liam was guarding the cave, he smashed open the head of a snake while eavesdropping on the conversation inside, in his head he thought, "Whether or not the man is telling the truth, I would've done the same. There was nothing else to be expected."