THE SHADOWS WE LEFT BEHIND WHEN THE SUN WENT DOWN ON MAPLE STREET

The sound of the gunshot hung in the damp air of the rail station like a physical blow. Leo flinched, his hands flying to his ears as his heart hammered wildly against his ribs. Mr. Henderson didn't even blink; he simply shoved Leo toward the heavy front doors with surprising strength.

"Go!" the old man barked. "Your father just ran out of time. Now it’s your turn."

Leo stumbled through the double doors, bursting out into the blinding afternoon sunlight of the gravel parking lot. The black sedan sat with its driver's side door flung wide open. His father was sprawled awkwardly across the gravel beside the front tire, a dark stain spreading rapidly across the shoulder of his jacket. Standing over him with a smoking revolver was a tall man in a sharp gray suit, his face completely expressionless.

"Dad!" Leo screamed, forgetting every warning, every instinct of self-preservation. He sprinted across the gravel, dropping to his knees beside his father. "Dad, wake up! Please!"

His father’s eyes fluttered open, glassy and unfocused. He reached up with a bloodied hand, grabbing Leo’s wrist with surprising desperation.

"Run... Leo..." his father choked out, coughing weakly as blood pooled at the corner of his mouth. "The creek... the drainpipe... find Sam..."

"Don't talk, I'm calling for help—" Leo fumbled for his pocket, remembering the old-fashioned smartphone Mr. Henderson had just given him.

"Step away from the vehicle, kid," the man in the gray suit ordered coldly, raising the barrel of the revolver until it pointed squarely at Leo’s chest.

Leo looked up into the icy, dead eyes of the gunman. There was no hesitation in his stance, no remorse for the man bleeding out on the gravel. This wasn't a town dispute or a political cover-up anymore; it was an execution.

Suddenly, a blinding flash of light erupted from the treeline behind the station. A loud horn blared, and an old red pickup truck came barreling through the wooden fence, its tires throwing gravel everywhere as it slammed directly into the side of the gunman's car, pinning the man against the station wall.

The door of the truck flew open, and Sam leaped out, holding a heavy iron tire iron in his hand, his eyes wild with adrenaline.