Vanished

Chapter Thirteen

It was challenging to find ways to repair a ten-foot hole. Esme ran in and out while they used what was left of the rope from the hardware store.

Zane wasn't exactly sure where they'd get enough dirt to cover it. Putting a tarp over the hole would just create more chaos. Before the incident, some had just been biking by, while others were speeding cars down the road.

There were twenty children, eleven of whom died, and the remainder were injured. Esme is now exhausted, and there are still about two more bodies to be extracted. Hooking the clip through his belt loop, Xander and Yara carefully helped him into the hole.

He gripped the rope tightly and clutched a second rope in his own hand. One child lay flat on the ground, while the other one visibly had a snapped neck, even from a distance. Either both were dead, or one was at least alive.

He grabbed the one lying face down first when he reached the bottom of the hole with water flowing into it. He felt for her pulse, but no heartbeat was felt.

"Dead!" he called.

Zane tied the second rope around the girl to get her to the surface. The two pulled him back to the surface, where he saw the body they brought up. When he laid the young girl down, there were no direct injuries visible.

Once they lowered him to grab the last one, he noticed that purple substance near some of the water. More of this unknown substance? Xander pulled him back up, setting the last body on the road.

"We have a lot to bury," Xander stated, pulling over a green wheelbarrow.

They couldn't exactly ask Uden for their cars or pile them all in the fire truck. Yara and Xander had grabbed two wheelbarrows, bringing three bodies back and forth to Clifton Park to be buried.

Zane did this with Talia Denton, who held the opposite handle with two hands. The girl had a large scar along her cheek, dark brown eyes, and dark hair.

"Eleven bodies." Talia's voice was firm, despite her age.

Xander began carrying more of the children into the graves that some others had begun digging. There were about three of them helping out by lining them all up side by side.

"How did this incident occur?" Greyson questioned them, walking over toward them.

"One of the injured said Ashley created it somehow," Zane stated.

"Someone said it came from her feet," Yara implied.

Zane didn't have any other explanation of what may have caused it other than Ashley. Maybe people have started to develop more of those supernatural powers.

"So, it melted the surface?" Greyson inquired, as Zane nodded, grabbing one of the shovels that he had under his armpit.

"Woah," Zane looked over, spotting Scarlett.

"Did you rank Ashley wrong?" Greyson snapped.

"When I ranked her, she was low. Did she cause that hole and these deaths?" Scarlett asked.

"I think that substance enhanced it," Yara implied, making the two look over at her. "I'm the one who first found Ashley after she fell. It went inside her knee like fluid, but it leaked out."

"Do you know where she went off?" Greyson questioned.

"We don't have a clue," Xander said.

Greyson walked off while Scarlett winked at Xander with a curled smirk. It made him rub the back of his neck, making her snicker when she walked away.

Zane said nothing about how Scarlett uses boys, apparently for her seductive skills. Knowing this, he wouldn't fall into her trap.

They lifted the bodies into the holes, each dug a few inches apart from each other. Why would anyone want to take innocent lives?