Chapter 7 - INTO THE WOODSI didn't go alone.
Reyes followed at a distance.
Mr. Davis stayed with the police teams.
Bear moved ahead through the trees.
The woods were colder than they should have been.
Branches scraped my face.
Mud pulled at my shoes.
Every few steps, Bear stopped and listened.
He knew the path.
That scared me most.
At the edge of a clearing was an abandoned hunting cabin.
The front door stood open.
Inside was a child's backpack.
Lily's.
I rushed forward.
“Lily!”
No answer.
Reyes raised his weapon.
“Wait.”
Bear entered first.
His nose moved rapidly.
Then he froze.
There was blood on the floor.
A single drop.
Then another.
But no body.
No struggle.
No Lily.
A radio crackled from the table.
We stopped.
The speaker clicked on.
Mercer's voice.
“Teacher Bennett.”
I stared at the radio.
“You came.”
“Where is Lily?”
“Still alive.”
“What do you want?”
“You.”
“Why?”
“Because Michael trusted you.”
My heart pounded.
“I never knew him.”
Mercer laughed softly.
“You really believe that?”
The radio went silent.
Then a second voice came through.
Older.
Calmer.
I knew it immediately.
Thomas Hale.
“Sarah.”
I felt sick.
“You were at the school.”
“Yes.”
“You took Lily.”
“No.”
He paused.
“I protected her.”
I looked at Bear.
“Then where is she?”
“Closer than you think.”
A door slammed somewhere behind the cabin.
Bear spun.
We ran outside.
Nothing.
Then Reyes pointed upward.
A surveillance camera had been attached to a tree.
It was recording us.
Mercer spoke again.
“You're looking in the wrong place.”
“What does that mean?”
“Look behind you.”
I turned.
The cabin window reflected the clearing.
In the reflection, someone stood in the woods.
A woman.
I spun around.
Gone.
Reyes cursed.
“This whole place is wired.”
Then Bear began barking.
He ran toward a pile of logs.
We followed.
Beneath the logs was a trapdoor.
A ladder led underground.
I descended first.
The tunnel smelled of wet concrete.
The walls were covered with photographs.
Children.
Teachers.
Families.
I saw Lily.
At six years old.
At five.
At four.
Then another photograph stopped me.
Lily's mother.
Standing beside Thomas Hale.
And beside them was my school principal, Mrs. Holloway.
I stared.
“No.”
Reyes came beside me.
“Keep moving.”
We found three rooms underground.
One contained computers.
One held boxes of school files.
The last contained a bed.
Small.
Child-sized.
The blanket was still warm.
Reyes touched it.
“She was here.”
On the wall was a drawing.
Lily had drawn her father.
And beside him, Bear.
Underneath was another sentence.
DAD SAID THE DOG WOULD REMEMBER.
Reyes turned toward me.
“Remember what?”
Before I could answer, a television switched on.
Michael Carter appeared again.
This time he looked terrified.
“Sarah, if you found the room, you're already too late.”
The image flickered.
“Don't trust the police.”
Reyes stiffened.
Then Michael said something that changed everything.
“The person controlling this operation isn't Mercer.”
The video glitched.
“The person controlling it is…”
Static.
The screen went black.
A gunshot exploded from somewhere upstairs.
Reyes grabbed me.
Bear lunged toward the stairs.
Another shot.
Then silence.
When we reached the cabin, the entire clearing was empty.
No shooter.
No Mercer.
No Hale.
And no Bear.
The dog was gone.
May you like
But on the cabin door, written in fresh black paint, were five words:
YOUR DOG WAS NEVER A STRAY.
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