Chapter 7 - The Farm
Crestview Manor sat isolated at the end of a long, winding dirt road, flanked by acres of dying cornstalks and two massive, gleaming white silos. It looked like a serene, high-end rehabilitation center. But as we watched through binoculars from the tree line, the illusion faded.
Heavily armed private security contractors paced the perimeter. Black unmarked vans were parked near the loading docks in the back. They were packing up.
"They're moving the kids tonight," Vance whispered, checking the magazine of her Glock. "We have maybe twenty minutes before that convoy rolls out."
"How do we get inside?" I asked, my heart pounding a frantic rhythm against my ribs.
"We don't sneak in," Vance said, a grim smile playing on her lips. "We create a diversion."
Vance pulled a flare gun from her tactical bag. She aimed it high over the cornfield on the eastern edge of the property and fired. The flare arced through the sky and landed in the dry, dead corn. Within seconds, a massive wall of fire erupted, the wind carrying the flames quickly toward the facility.
The security grid went into a panic. Sirens blared. Guards sprinted toward the eastern fence line with fire extinguishers, abandoning their posts at the loading dock.
May you like
"Now," Vance ordered.
We sprinted across the open ground, slipping through the shadows of the vans, and breached the heavy steel doors of the loading dock. The inside didn't look like a hospital. It looked like an industrial abattoir. Stainless steel tables, heavy floodlights, and a sickly, sweet smell of antiseptic mixed with decay. The scent from the backpack. We had found the heart of the monster.
