Chapter 148

• As the darkness enveloped the city, Damien felt an unsettling chill crawl down his spine, a stark contrast to the flickering hope that had ignited earlier. He and Nathan returned to the cramped room they had set up as their temporary base, a humble office in an abandoned building on the outskirts of town. The faint glow of a single lamp illuminated piles of hastily scribbled notes and coffee-stained photographs—faces of people who had crossed their paths since the nightmare began.
• Nathan leaned over the table, his brow furrowed as he scrutinized the scattered information. “There’s got to be something here,” he muttered, mostly to himself. Damien could see the determination etched on his friend’s face. It was a mirror of his own turmoil, but alongside it, Nathan carried an unwavering resolve—one that Damien struggled to maintain.
• The words of the witnesses echoed in Damien’s mind, each detail a piece of a puzzle that seemed impossible to solve. The black van, the commotion outside the corner store—it all felt so distant and intangible, like shadows that eluded his grasp. But Nathan had a knack for finding connections in chaos, and tonight would be no different.