Chapter 8 - Footsteps in the Dark
The footsteps moved slowly down the hidden staircase.
One step.
Then another.
Daniel tightened his grip on the flashlight, but the beam flickered once and died. The room fell into complete darkness except for the faint red light blinking on Michael Parker’s recorder.
Marcus moved in front of Dr. Carter.
“Stay behind me.”
Buddy growled toward the stairs.
The sound was low, steady, and unlike anything Daniel had heard from the gentle dog before. Whoever was approaching stopped halfway down.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then a voice came from the darkness.
“Put the box on the floor.”
Daniel recognized it immediately.
Victor.
“You locked us in?” Marcus asked.
Victor laughed quietly.
“You shouldn’t have opened that room.”
Daniel stepped toward the sound.
“You’ve been poisoning Ethan.”
“That’s what Michael believed.”
“What do you believe?”
Victor didn’t answer.
Instead, something rolled down the stairs.
A small metal cylinder struck the floor.
Dr. Carter smelled it first.
“Gas!”
White smoke began pouring into the room.
Marcus pulled his jacket over his mouth and rushed toward the staircase, but Victor kicked him backward. Daniel grabbed the old desk and pushed it beneath the door, trying to block the smoke.
Buddy suddenly lunged into the darkness.
A shout echoed above them.
Victor cursed.
Daniel heard struggling, claws scraping against concrete, and then the heavy sound of someone falling.
He ran toward the stairs.
At the top, emergency lights flickered to life.
Buddy had pinned Victor against the wall.
Victor held a syringe in one hand.
The needle was already uncapped.
Daniel knocked it away.
Marcus climbed behind him and forced Victor’s arms backward.
“Don’t move.”
Victor smiled even while being restrained.
“You think this changes anything?”
Daniel looked at the syringe.
“What’s in it?”
Victor’s smile widened.
“Ask the doctor.”
Dr. Carter climbed the final step and examined the clear liquid.
Her face turned pale.
“It’s a concentrated sedative.”
“For us?” Marcus asked.
She looked toward the hospital above.
“No.”
Daniel understood immediately.
“Ethan.”
Victor laughed again.
“You left him upstairs.”
Daniel ran.
He pushed through the red door and sprinted toward the elevator, but when he reached the children’s wing, nurses were already shouting.
Room 214 stood open.
Laura was crying in the hallway.
Olivia was searching beneath the bed.
Ethan was gone.
Only the jar of coins remained on his pillow.
Beside it lay a folded note.
Daniel opened it with trembling hands.
May you like
The message contained one sentence.
BRING THE BOX TO THE OLD STATION IF YOU WANT THE BOY ALIVE.
