She cut him off by grabbing his arm, her eyes boring directly into his.

“You haven’t seen him? A little boy . . . brown hair?” The words were tinged with genuine panic. “He was in the car with me!”

“No, I-”

“You’ve got to help me find him! He’s only four!”

She whirled around, the rapid movement almost making her lose her balance. She grabbed hold of the car again. The corners of her vision faded to black as she struggled to keep the dizziness at bay. The scream came out despite the spinning in her mind.

“Kyle!”

Pure terror now.

Concentrating . . . closing one eye to help her focus . . . getting clearer again. The storm was in full fury now. Trees not twenty feet away were difficult to see through the rain. It was absolute darkness in that direction . . . only the path to the highway was clear.

Oh God.

The highway . . .

She could feel her feet slipping in the mud-soaked grass, she could hear herself drawing short, rapid gasps as she staggered toward the road. She fell once, got up again, and kept going. Finally understanding, the man ran after her, catching her before she reached the road. His eyes scanned the area around him.

“I don’t see him. . . .”

“Kyle!” She screamed it as loud as she could, praying inside as she did it. Despite being nearly drowned out by the storm, the sound prompted Taylor into further action.

They took off in opposite directions, both shouting Kyle’s name independently, both stopping occasionally to listen for sound. The rain, however, was deafening. After a couple of minutes Taylor ran back to his car and made a call to the fire station.

The two voices-Denise’s and Taylor’s-were the only human sounds in the swamp. The rain made it impossible for them to hear each other, let alone a child, but they continued anyway.