Lily's mind raced through every option as the stranger stepped closer, counting at least three more shapes shifting in the darkness beyond him, boxing her in against the low railing of the bridge with nowhere left to run. The creek below was too far a drop to risk, its banks jagged with rocks she could just make out in the fading light, and behind her stretched only more empty road, no help in sight, no phone signal she could trust to summon anyone in time even if she managed to reach her phone before they closed the distance.
She calculated the space between them in the way Ethan had once shown her, back when this had all still felt like theory rather than immediate, breathing danger. Four strangers. One directly ahead, patient and unhurried, clearly the one giving orders. Three more eme
