Julia nearly dropped the lid when the pile beneath the garbage suddenly shifted again.
A weak sound came from inside.
Not an animal.
A cough.
Her entire body froze. For one horrifying second, she couldn’t breathe. Then instinct took over. She shoved the trash bags aside with trembling hands until she uncovered a small boy curled against the cold metal wall of the bin.
He couldn’t have been older than ten.
His face was pale beneath streaks of dirt, and one side of his hoodie was stained dark with blood. His lips trembled violently as he looked up at her with terrified eyes.
“Please…” he whispered hoarsely. “Don’t let them find me.”
Julia staggered backward in shock.
Behind her, Nora screamed, “Mommy!”
The little boy tried to sit up but cried out in pain instead. Something was badly wrong with his arm.
“Oh my God…” Julia dropped to her knees beside the bin. “Who did this to you?”
The boy shook his head immediately. Fear flooded his expression so fast it looked practiced.
“I can’t tell you.”
The parking lot suddenly felt colder.
Too cold.
Julia grabbed her phone with shaking hands, but before she could dial emergency services, the boy lunged weakly forward and grabbed her wrist.
“No police!” he gasped. “Please!”
His panic was real.
Not childish fear.
The kind that came from experience.
Julia stared at him, heart pounding harder by the second.
Then headlights suddenly swept across the parking lot.
A black SUV rolled slowly around the corner.
The boy’s face drained of color instantly.
“They found me…” he whispered.
And then he started crying.
