Elliot got the boy back to town.Barely.
The moment they crossed the tree line—
The pressure lifted.
The figures stopped.
Watching from the edge.
Elliot didn’t look back.
Mrs. Calder broke down when she saw her son.
Crying.
Holding him.
The boy didn’t react.
Just stood there.
Smiling faintly.
“He’s in shock,” Elliot said.
He didn’t believe it.
That night—
The town gathered.
Not officially.
Not announced.
But everyone knew.
Elliot stood at the edge of the crowd.
Watching.
The boy stood in the centre.
Dyer beside him.
“This one came back,” Dyer said.
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
“That’s not allowed,” someone whispered.
Elliot’s stomach dropped.
“What do you mean ‘allowed’?” he said, stepping forward.
Dyer looked at him.
Tired.
“The town has an agreement,” he said.
“With what?” Elliot demanded.
Dyer didn’t answer directly.
“They take some,” he said. “And leave the rest.”
Elliot felt something snap.
“You’re sacrificing people?” he said.
The crowd didn’t react.
Because to them—
It wasn’t sacrifice.
It was survival.
“They only take the ones who don’t belong,” Dyer said quietly.
Elliot laughed bitterly.
“Yeah,” he said. “I figured.”
The boy spoke then.
“They don’t like when you interfere,” he said.
Elliot looked at him.
“Neither do I.”
The boy smiled wider.
“They’re coming for you now.”
Source: Some or all of the content was generated using an AI language model
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