Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN IN THE DARKSarah grabbed Leo's shoulder.
“Don't listen.”
The speaker crackled again.
“Leo, sweetheart, can you hear me?”
Leo's eyes filled with tears.
“Mom?”
Sarah went pale.
Marcus looked toward the ceiling.
“She's not here.”
Leo stared into the darkness.
“How does she know we're here?”
No answer.
The speaker hissed.
Then the woman's voice returned.
“Because they brought you back to the house.”
Marcus's face hardened.
“Who?”
A man's voice replaced hers.
“Everyone is exactly where they need to be.”
A light switched on.
The basement exploded into red emergency lighting.
Leo blinked.
Three men stood at the top of the stairs.
Armed.
One of them smiled.
“Hello, Leo.”
Sarah pushed him behind her.
“Run.”
They moved toward the laundry room.
Marcus fired twice.
The lights shattered.
Everyone screamed.
Sarah pulled Leo through a narrow doorway.
Mia followed.
They ran down a corridor Leo had never seen.
At the end was a steel door.
Sarah slammed it shut.
“Lock it!”
Marcus turned the deadbolt.
The men reached the other side.
The pounding began.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Leo was shaking.
“What is this place?”
Sarah looked at him.
“A facility.”
“For what?”
She hesitated.
“Children.”
Mia whispered:
“They made us sleep here.”
Leo looked at her.
“Us?”
Mia nodded.
“There were other kids.”
“How many?”
“I don't know.”
“What happened to them?”
Mia began crying.
“They forgot.”
Sarah looked at Marcus.
“What exactly did you do to them?”
Marcus said nothing.
Sarah stepped closer.
“Marcus.”
“I was told to transport them.”
“Transport them where?”
He looked at Leo.
“Blackridge.”
Leo remembered the name.
The room.
The bright light.
The woman singing.
He pressed his hand against his temple.
A flash came.
A white hallway.
A red door.
A little girl crying.
A woman holding his hand.
And a man saying:
“Erase it.”
Leo screamed.
Sarah caught him.
“Leo!”
He collapsed.
The memory faded.
Mia knelt beside him.
“You remembered.”
“What?”
“The room.”
Leo looked at her.
“What room?”
Mia pointed toward the floor.
“Under this one.”
Sarah stared at her.
Mia's voice trembled.
“They put us there after they took Mommy.”
Marcus whispered:
“No.”
Sarah turned.
“What?”
Marcus looked terrified.
“They weren't supposed to remember that.”
A loud metallic crash came from the other side of the door.
The lock bent.
Sarah raised her weapon.
“There's another way out?”
Marcus nodded.
“Behind the furnace.”
They ran.
Marcus moved the furnace aside.
A narrow passage appeared.
Sarah entered first.
Leo followed.
Mia stayed close.
Marcus came last.
They crawled through the darkness.
Then Leo heard something.
A baby crying.
He stopped.
“Did you hear that?”
Sarah froze.
Mia nodded.
“Yes.”
The crying continued.
Soft.
Weak.
Coming from somewhere underneath them.
Marcus whispered:
“Keep moving.”
Leo looked at him.
“You heard it too.”
Marcus said nothing.
They reached the end of the tunnel.
Sarah opened a hatch.
Cold air rushed in.
They emerged outside behind the house.
Marcus immediately looked toward the woods.
The men had not followed.
Yet.
Leo looked back at the house.
A light appeared in an upstairs window.
A woman stood behind the glass.
Leo couldn't see her face.
But he knew.
“Mom.”
The woman raised one hand.
And pointed downward.
Toward the basement.
Then she mouthed one word.
May you like
“RUN.”
The upstairs window exploded.
