They reached the trail right across from the broken guardrail. Joe looked at the guardrail. He couldn’t believe the drop. It was about twenty feet. He couldn’t see anything on the other side of the river.

Joe focused back on the ground. He knew they needed to find something.

They continued searching until noon when they decided to take a break. They sat down by the river. All four of them were frustrated because they didn’t come across anything.

Ned was the first to speak. “I’m beginning to think this was a bad idea.”

“We can’t give up. Nancy wouldn’t,” Joe said. “We’ll find something. I know we will.”

* * * * *

Frank slowly moved his head around. He kept his eyes closed as his head throbbed. He felt sick to his stomach and hoped the feeling would soon pass. As the throbbing lessened and his stomach settled down, he slowly opened his eyes. He blinked a few times bringing everything in to focus.

He realized he was lying on his back, staring up at a ceiling made of planks. He knew he was in some type of building. He wondered what happened. He wondered how he ended up in the building.

Looking around, he realized the building was actually one room. He was on the floor beside a table. He saw a bed was next to a wall and there was someone in the bed. He just couldn’t see who it was.

Slowly sitting up, Frank got his bearings and examined the rest of the room. A refrigerator stood at the other end of the room. There was a single door and window on one wall.

Frank got to his feet and moved slowly to the bed. He wanted to know who had brought him there. He walked quietly, taking each step slowly so as to not make a sound. He wanted to surprise whoever was in the bed. He stopped, holding his breath, when he saw movement in the bed. When he was sure the person was still asleep, he moved closer to the bed.

As he neared the edge of the bed, he noticed a small black bag sitting on the table beside the bed. The bag seemed somewhat familiar. He moved even closer to the bed. He saw the blankets went all the way to the head.

He reached for the blanket. He took hold and slowly pulled it back. Frank gasped. It was a girl lying on the bed. Her face was pale. She was bruised, with marks all over her face. There was a gash on her forehead.

Frank then noticed her hair. Even though it was dirty, it was a beautiful shade of red he had seen before. He’d seen that color in Nancy’s hair. He looked closer at her face. He realized it was Nancy.