The team members looked up, puzzled for a second.
The Chief continued, his voice low but certain.
"The older ones... they might have escaped long before things got this dark. But the younger ones..."—he tapped the table lightly—"the ones who were still fresh, still trapped... those are the ones most likely tied to whatever made this demon rise."
Without arguing, the officers began sorting the photos quickly, pushing the older profiles aside and placing the younger girls into a new, smaller pile.
Jordan frowned as he flipped through the images—girls barely out of their teenage years, dragged into a nightmare they likely never saw coming.
It made his stomach turn.
Innocent lives used like toys, he thought bitterly. And now we're the ones trying to pick up the pieces.
As they worked, the atmosphere grew heavier, thicker, almost like the walls themselves were closing in.
Then—
the door creaked open behind them, heavy, hesitant footsteps entered the room.
