"There is no sign of anyone being on the airplane?" Cassandra asked with a puzzled look on her face.
"Yes, it seems to. But that's obviously not possible since the plane can't fly on its own, and it won't take off with zero passengers."
"So where did they go? I am asking you because you were the first one to arrive here. Did you not see anything?"
"It is true that I was the first one to arrive here, but I still arrived 5 minutes after the crash."
"One thing is clear if anyone was on the plane when it crashed, they are most likely dead. But we haven't found a single body."
"As I informed you, Ma'am. The bodies could be in the sea."
"The plane crashed on the beach, and the shore is twenty meters away from here. How do you explain that all the bodies somehow magically ended up in the sea? Not leaving even a single drop of blood?"
The officer shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Do you have any other explanation?"
"Yes. What if everyone jumped out from the plane before it crashed?"
"Come on, Cassy!" John nudged Cassandra and whispered, "That's so stupid. Who in their right mind would jump out of an airplane. Even if they survive, they aren't going to be able to walk again."
"Since they were going to die anyway, they chose to test their luck. I would totally jump out of an airplane that's about to crash. If I die, then… we'll, I die. But if I managed to survive with one or two broken bones, I would appreciate my life for the rest of my remaining years."
"You aren't going to break just one or two bones, You are going to break your entire body. Even if you survive the fall, you will be on the bed for the rest of your life… and that's worse than dying."
"I will not die until I see my hero again."
"Not with that hero topic again," John groaned. "Anyway, I will search around the beach. You get into that chopper and scan the area from the sky. It would be better that way."
Cassandra squinted her eyes and said, "Who made you the boss?"
John left with a search party, while Cassandra got into the copter with two female officers."
John was with seven other officers, but he got separated from them as they all went in the separate direction.
At the end of the beach, John noticed a cave, but that wasn't a surprising part. He saw a pair of footsteps leading into the cave but not coming out.
'Even if the search party went to check in earlier, they should have come out. And if they came out, there should be signs of footsteps. Did someone go in there and still haven't come out?' John wondered.
He took his torch and turned it on, but it wasn't turning on.
"Oh, for fuck's sake. Why now?!'
He took out his phone and turned on the flashlight.
"I don't think I will need this, but… just in case…"
He took his gun in his other hand and went into the cave.
He shined the light on the ground to see the direction of the footsteps, but after a while, they disappeared.
"Uhh… this is not good. I should probably leave and return with the team."
John turned around to leave the cave, but his phone suddenly died.
"...!" He tried to turn it on, but that didn't work.
'I am sure I had 69% charge left!'
John decided to dash out of the cave, but he noticed something standing behind him, so he turned around and pointed his gun at it with his finger on the trigger.
"..."
However, he was surprised to see two men in pilot's uniforms.
"How did you get in here?"
His phone suddenly turned on, brightening the cave and expanding John's view.
"What the…"
When she shined his light behind the pilots, he saw hundreds of people were standing in line as though they were waiting to board a plane.
'This is freaky!'
One by one, everyone started walking outside the cave. First, the pilots, then the crew members, and finally, the passengers.
'There is something wrong with them. They are walking like puppets, and their eyes have no light. It's as if… they are zombies… no… ghosts. Are they ghosts?!'
John didn't move from his spot until everyone left the cave. When he gathered his courage and went outside, everyone was back to normal, and they were glancing around with confused looks on their faces.
John took everyone to the team, where they were diagnosed with possible disorders, but surprisingly, all of them were in perfect condition, with not even a scratch on their bodies.
When they were asked about the plane crash and how surprised they were, they looked at each other's faces as though they were wondering the same thing. None of them had memories of what happened after the plane exploded, nor did they have any idea how they ended up in the cave.
They didn't even remember seeing John in the cave, even though they passed right in front of him. Of course, John immediately informed Cassandra about everything that happened after she left. And obviously, she couldn't believe a word she heard.
"Okay. Don't let any of them leave. I will be there in a few minutes. And make sure you record everything even though this is not an official case yet."
[I am already doing it. I have been with you for years, and I know how you study all your cases and start the investigation. I can even replace you now.]
"Good luck with that."
Cassandra turned to the pilots and said, "Can you lower the copter? I want to jump."
"But, Ma'am, this is not the crash site. There is nothing here," an officer informed.
"I know. But I still want to inspect the entire beach. They can wait for me to arrive."
"Then we will come with you."
"No need."
Once the copter was low enough, Cassandra jumped down without informing anyone.
"You can go now! I will be there once I am done!"
Cassandra was on her way to the crash site when she noticed something glowing from the dark corner near the mountain. She saw a shadow of what it seemed like a figure with two horns.