Chapter 10 - The Second Team
We sprinted across the ruined lawn, the heat of our burning home fading into the freezing mist as we reached the rotting wooden door of the well house. I threw the latch open, my heart hammering against my ribs.
"Leo!" I cried out, dropping down the metal ladder into the damp concrete shelter.
The overhead bulb flickered and died, plunging the small room into pitch-blackness. I fumbled along the wall until my fingers found the emergency flashlight, clicking it on with trembling hands. The beam swept across the concrete floor, illuminating the old wool blankets, the canned goods, and the open utility crawlspace.
And then I saw the empty space where my son should have been.
"David!" I shrieked, scrambling back up the ladder with the flashlight shaking violently in my grip. "He's gone! Leo isn't here!"
David reached the top of the ladder a second later, his face draining of all color as he swept his own weapon's flashlight across the empty clearing surrounding the well house. Fresh bootprints scarred the muddy earth, leading away from the hatch and straight toward the dark, menacing wall of the pine forest.
"They didn't come from the front," David whispered, his voice cracking with sheer horror. "They bypassed the entire property line through the drainage culvert."
Clutched in the mud beside the hatch was a small, familiar object—Leo's favorite blue superhero action figure, dropped face-down in the dirt.
"They took him, David," I sobbed, my knees buckling beneath me as I fell hard onto the wet ground. "They took our little boy to get to the drive."
David knelt beside me, his strong arms wrapping around my shoulders, but I could feel him trembling. The cold, calculated composure he had maintained all night was completely shattered. He pulled the flash drive from my hand, staring at the little piece of plastic as if it were a venomous snake.
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"We're going to get him back, Elena," David vowed, his voice hardening into a dangerous, chilling resolve. "I know where they're taking him. The old rail yard off Route 9. It's the only black site they haven't decommissioned."
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