Page 73 of Lana

She pulled it open and the sun blinded her. Squinting, she stumbled forward. She had to keep going, that’s all she knew. One foot in front of the other.

Her stomach burned; her legs felt like weights she was dragging along, and she saw double of everything. Eventually her eyes adjusted as she realized it wasn’t the sun at all but a bright light. She was outside on some kind of porch.

She stumbled forward, determined to keep moving.

Keep going, Zoe. Keep going.

She stepped into the darkness and took one step and then another.

She thought she saw a crowd ahead, but soon realized they were trees. She tumbled into the woods.

Everything ached, everything burned. She wanted to sit down and rest under a tree, but she couldn’t. She had to keep fighting.

Zoe continued forward, fighting to keep upright, feeling weaker with every step she took until she fell and couldn’t get up.

She closed her eyes.

CHAPTER36

MITCH

The cottage came into view, and they pulled the car to the side and jumped out. Mitch ran to the open front door and raised his weapon. He peered inside and saw the first room was empty except for blood droplets on the floor. He moved inside, heading for the next room. That door was open and as Mitch got closer to the doorway, he saw the scene of a struggle. A metal toolbox had been kicked over and medical instruments were strewn across the floor.

Mitch paused, listening, and when he didn’t hear anything, he stepped into the room.

Two silver tables like the one they’d found in Graham’s shed were in the middle of the room. One was empty, but Mitch’s heart stopped when he saw the red-stained white dress of the woman on the other table. He ran to the table, breathing a guilty sigh of relief when he realized it wasn’t Zoe.

He checked her for a pulse, but he knew from looking at her—and definitely when he put his fingers on her cold skin—that she was gone.

His head snapped from side to side, frantic. He looked at the empty steel table again. Had Zoe been here? If so, where was she now?

Where were Peter and Jonathon?

Mitch ran back to the other room and looked at the blood stains again. He followed them out the front door but lost them at the start of the woods. He needed a better flashlight.

Mitch ran back to the house. “I think they’re in the woods!” he yelled at Jackson as he ran to the patrol car, opening the trunk. They always kept supplies in the trunk, ready for an emergency. Granted, it was normally a car accident or a lost hiker, but he was sure they’d have what he needed.

Mitch pulled out two large flashlights, a backpack with a full water bottle, and medical supplies before activating his radio. “Get the sniffer dogs out here. We’re looking for three people: Zoe Seacombe, Jonathon Anderson, and Peter Benjamin. Jackson will give you items for scent reference,” he said.

Jackson looked like he was going to argue and insist he go with Mitch, but Mitch needed him to make sure the sniffer dogs were set up properly and he trusted Jackson to do that.

Mitch’s greatest fear right now was not that he’d face danger in the woods, but rather he’d face no danger at all—he’d find no sign of life. If that happened, he would need the dogs out there to find her.

He slung the backpack over his shoulder and fed his other arm through, securing it on his back.

“Be careful,” Jackson said with a nod before he ran toward the house and Mitch headed for the woods.

He used the point where the blood trail stopped as a starting point. Quickly, he looked for footprints but couldn’t see any.

His eyes scanned the lighted ground, back and forth, looking for any sign that someone had been in these woods.

The deeper into the woods he got, the less confident he felt that he was going to find anyone.

He tracked back. There had to be something he’d missed.

Mitch went back to the blood trail, starting over. He went slower and his heart skipped a beat when he saw a slight indent in the ground. It could be a partial footprint—made by a bare foot—or he could be completely losing his mind.

He shone his light around, but he couldn’t see any other prints at all.

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