Daniel bit back a sob. Why was Chris talking like this?

“If you were in my shoes, you’d be saying the same thing,” Chris said. “You’re my best friend. And one of us has to get out of here.”

Daniel watched his friend’s knobby chest slowly rise and fall. As long as he stuck with Chris, they’d both be okay. Chris just needed a break. Daniel closed his own eyes. He might as well rest, too. He’d just take a short nap.

Daniel startled awake. It was lighter than it’d been when he drifted off to sleep. And a little warmer. Probably closer to the middle of the day. At least he hadn’t slept the whole day away. He and Chris should get moving again. He shook Chris’s shoulder. The boys had lain completely down as they slept. Chris was curled up on his side as close to Daniel as possible to stay warm.

“Chris?” He shook him again.

The boy didn’t move. Daniel felt his empty stomach clench tight. He ran his hand across Chris’s forehead. It was cool.

“Oh God!” Daniel scooted away from the dead boy, his hands and feet scrambling on the dirt floor of the woods. He collapsed, staring at what had been his best friend. Tears flooded his eyes. He slowly crept back, keeping his gaze locked on Chris’s face. “Chris?” he whispered.

Chris didn’t answer.

Daniel touched Chris’s face with a shaking hand, pushing the hair off his cheek. His friend’s fever was gone. The stress in his face had relaxed. He actually looked restful, peaceful. Envy flashed through Daniel’s mind and vanished. He wanted that peace, too, but not like this. Daniel sat beside his friend and leaned back against the old log, and placed his friend’s head on his lap, stroking his hair.

“I left him there by the log. I couldn’t do anything else. I covered him with some brush and stuff. Then I got up and started to walk. I’m not sure how many more days went by before I stumbled into civilization. Three? Maybe four? It’s all a blur.

“After I left home for good, I went back to try to find his body. It took three different trips and a lot of camping in the forest before I located that log. I started at the farmhouse where they found me and worked my way back, taking the path of easiest resistance each time. When I finally found him, half the bones were gone. Scattered by scavengers.

“I buried what was left. And marked the site and coordinates. He was my other brother.”

“Did you look for the bunker?” Michael asked.

“God, no. I didn’t ever want to go back there. You know, before I escaped, I thought the other kids had been released. That’s what he told us he was doing.”

Michael shook his head. “He didn’t.”

“The recent news reports didn’t say how the other kids died.”

Michael thought for a second. “You’re right. I know there weren’t any bullet holes in skulls of the children at the recovery site. I don’t know if they could tell how they died.”

“We never heard any gunshots. It’s driven me crazy for years wondering what exactly happened to them. Once I was told they’d never returned, I knew he’d killed them. I’ve had nightmares where I see him doing…things to them. Sometimes not knowing is the worst part. Your brain makes up its own details.”

Tell me about it. Michael understood too well.

“Hang on. I think I know who could answer that question.” Michael dialed his phone.

“Michael? Where are you?” Lacey Campbell’s voice spoke in his ear.

“Eastern Oregon still. You following what’s been going on out here?”

“Yes. I’ve spoken with Detective Lusco. Is everything all right?”

Michael rubbed at his eyes. “No. Jamie is missing. We’ve got every cop in Oregon looking out for our tattooed man, because we think he managed to nab her. Maybe tricked her to leave our hotel room somehow. I’m going crazy not being able to do anything.”

“God damn it! When are they going to stop him?”

“Lacey, I wanted to ask you if the ME’s office figured out how all the kids were killed.”

Lacey was silent for a second. “Why are you asking about that?”

“I need to know. I need to know what he does to them. Were they shot? Stabbed? Can you guys even tell?”

He heard her exhale noisily over the phone. “None of the bones show signs of gunshot or stab wounds. Could there have been those types of wounds and they didn’t touch the bones, yes, but it’s doubtful. Usually the bones tell. Dr. Peres didn’t find a single knife nick from a stabbing on any of the kids or the adults from the pit.”

“So how’d he do it?”

“Two of the bodies from the pit had broken hyoid bones.”

“The bone at the throat?”

“Yes. Sometimes it breaks during strangulation.”

“But none of the kids had that?”

“In children, the bone hasn’t fused. It starts as three pieces and then fuses into one as they age. Usually by age thirty, most people have fully fused hyoids. We just can’t tell on children.”

“How can you tell the difference between a broken bone and one that hasn’t fused? They’re both in pieces. Those bodies in the pit were all in their twenties, right? Maybe they weren’t strangled, maybe their hyoids hadn’t fused yet,” Michael theorized.

“Fractures cause jagged ends on the bones. Unfused bones have smooth ends. The broken adult hyoids were very jagged.”