Chapter 312
The next couple of weeks passed by calmly, with nothing out of the ordinary happening to the group.
Thanks to her spiritual water, Suzy was now almost completely recovered, too. She continued visiting Liam and the others, paying close attention to one of them in particular – Aaron.
He seemed to have become unusually quiet and was avoiding talking to anyone, simply sitting next to the window and looking at the snow. His behavior was suspicious, but nobody seemed to have noticed the sudden change.
Both Thomas and Leonard kept watch over the building, ensuring that the remnants of Ray’s group would not try anything funny again. Soon enough, they caught wind of something strange happening in the neighborhood again.
The next day, a man named Mike arrived at Building 8 and knocked on the Edison brothers’ door.
Suzy learned that Mike was a member of the Building 8 organization––he was their supplier. In exchange for medicine and medical help, Mike brought them survival supplies.
According to Mike, someone had their sights set on Building Eight. A traitor within their organization had leaked word of their supplies, hoping to stir up trouble against them. Though the traitor remained at large for now, Mike assured them that justice would be absolute once the mole was caught.
Not long after Mike left, Suzy and the others heard several gunshots echoing from the building. A fight had clearly broken out, but there was no telling how things had turned out.
Mike seemed to have fared well, though; he soon sent a delivery. This time, it wasn’t survival supplies, but a massive bag stuffed to the brim with gold jewelry. It looked like he had won the day. The man certainly proved himself capable.
Two days passed after that incident.
Early that morning, a frantic pounding erupted at Suzy’s door. The urgency of the knocks made it clear that whoever was outside was in a state of sheer panic.
When Suzy pulled the door open, she found Liam standing there, his face tight with anxiety.
"What happened?" she asked quickly. She had never seen him look so unraveled.
The moment Liam saw her, his overwhelming emotions broke through. He grabbed her hand with surprising force. "Have you seen Noah?"
"Noah? Isn’t he at home?" Suzy replied, confused. "I’ve been home this whole time, and he hasn’t come by today."
At her words, the remaining color drained from Liam’s face.
Seeing his expression, Suzy’s heart tightened. "What’s wrong?"
Liam forced the words past a tight throat. "Noah is gone."
"What did you say?" Suzy’s mind went blank, wondering if she had misheard.
Noah was gone? How? The little boy usually stayed indoors and never wandered out on his own.
"Noah is missing," Liam repeated, his voice laced with panic.
With the snow piling up heavier over the last few days, Liam had gone downstairs with Lucas and a few others to shovel. He had told Noah to stay safely inside, but when he returned, the boy was nowhere to be found. He had turned the apartment upside down. Nothing.
Lately, Noah had been spending a lot more time playing with Aaron, so Liam had checked with him too. Still nothing. Finally, he searched the entire building, but there was no trace of the boy. Driven to desperation, he had finally come to Suzy.
But now, Suzy was saying she hadn’t seen him either.
Liam’s mind went completely blank. What was he supposed to do? Where could Noah have gone?
It was impossible for an outsider to get into the building, and they had been shoveling snow near the entrance the entire time; they would have noticed if a stranger approached. Had Noah run off on his own? But he was never reckless or disobedient. Could he be hiding? But why would he hide? Liam knew better than anyone that Noah would never do something like this without a reason.
"Don’t panic just yet," Suzy said soothingly. "Let me throw some clothes on, and we’ll look for him together."
She hurried inside, threw on a thick jacket and trousers, and quickly filled in Derek and the other two. The men all offered to help them look.
Too frantic to express his gratitude, Liam hurried the group downstairs.
They started by combing through Liam’s apartment once more, making absolutely sure the boy wasn’t hiding in some overlooked corner. Next, they checked every single room in the entire building, calling his name, but met only silence. It was as if Noah had vanished into thin air.
The Edison brothers were also gravely concerned.
When they learned Noah was missing, their expressions mirrored the shock and worry of Suzy’s group. They quickly bundled up in heavy winter clothes, preparing for a grid search.
"He might have run outside, but there’s no telling where he could have gone," Lucas said, his brow furrowed.
Everyone tossed out theories, but none of them made sense. The situation was simply too bizarre. Given Noah’s personality, he wasn’t the type of kid to put himself in danger. Where could he possibly go in this freezing weather?
Standing in the stairwell, Suzy’s mind raced. Noah’s disappearance was too suspicious. It didn’t feel like he had wandered off, nor did it feel like an accident. It was completely inexplicable.
Her eyes involuntarily flicked to Aaron. His unusual behavior lately had been making her uneasy. However, seeing the deep anxiety on his face—a look of worry that rivaled Liam’s—she forced her suspicions down. She had no proof, and more importantly, no time to overthink it. Finding Noah was the priority.
Leonard quickly organized the search parties. He and Thomas would take the east side of the residential compound; Derek and Liam would head west; Lucas and Bill would cover the south; and Aaron and Suzy would take the north. Elijah was left behind to keep watch and search the building one more time.
Outside, the snow had stopped, but the temperature was brutally low. Their breath plumed into thick white clouds that blurred their vision.
Suzy pulled her collar tight against the cold and trudged through the ankle-deep snow toward the northern perimeter. Aaron followed a short distance behind her, his footsteps so light they were practically silent.
"Aaron," Suzy called out as they walked.
"Yeah?" His voice came from behind, sounding completely normal.
"Where do you think Noah went?"
Aaron fell silent for a couple of seconds before replying, "He’s so small, he couldn’t have gone far. Maybe he’s hiding in one of the stairwells. Let’s look carefully."
Suzy offered a quiet murmur of agreement but didn’t turn around.
The northern side of the compound housed several half-finished, abandoned buildings—the most isolated corner of the area. Construction had halted when the apocalypse struck. No one ever came here, so the snow was much deeper than elsewhere, making footprints easily visible.
Suzy looked down at the snow. There was a chaotic jumble of tracks, some fresh and some old, making it hard to discern which were recent.
"There are tracks here," Aaron said suddenly, a hint of pleasant surprise in his voice. "They look like a child’s."
Suzy walked over quickly and knelt down to inspect them. The prints were small, matching Noah’s shoe size, and they meandered toward a gray, unfinished building.
Her heart squeezed tight. She stood up and followed the prints for a few paces before abruptly stopping.
She turned around to look at Aaron.
He was standing two steps behind her, hands buried in his pockets, his face entirely serene. He looked at her with a slight curve to his lips—the exact same well-behaved, innocent smile he always wore.
"What is it?" he asked.
Her gaze drifted slowly from Aaron’s face to the tiny footprints trailing behind him, and then back to his eyes. Her heart was hammering against her ribs, but she refused to let her expression waver. Aaron was waiting for her reply; she had to give him the reaction he expected so he would keep playing his part.
"Nothing," she said, forcing a small smile.
She averted her eyes and continued following the tracks forward.
Three steps.
Five steps.
Ten steps.
With every stride, Suzy felt a cold dread creeping up her spine.