The air in this section was even worse—thick with smoke, rot, and human waste. Thunder went after them without hesitation, moving through the darkness with more confidence than any piece of equipment could provide. His paws landed lightly on the damp ground, and his nose kept him on their trail.
Around a sharp bend, a bright flickering light hit them. A larger underground chamber had been filled with oil lamps and thick church candles. In the center stood the kidnapper, cornered and breathing hard.
His pupils were blown wide, and his gaunt face was twisted by panic and delusion. The girls huddled against the stone wall, hands clasped so tightly their knuckles had gone white. They looked frozen with fear.
“You’re blind!” the man shouted in a high, cracking voice, waving his arms wildly. Even in obvious panic, he kept pushing the same fantasy. “I saved them from the fire. The surface is gone—nothing but radioactive ash!”
“There’s no one left up there. I’m the only one who protected them,” he babbled. “That’s enough,” Eleanor said sharply, cutting him off.
She turned back to the girls and told them again that their mother was waiting for them, that she had believed for forty-eight months that somehow they might still come home. “That’s not true!” Emma cried, covering her face with dirty hands.
“Our real mom died in the apocalypse. Dad told us everything!” Sophie sobbed. Eleanor’s heart sank at how thoroughly their reality had been rewritten. And once again, Thunder took the lead.
The dog walked straight to the older girl and looked up into her tear-filled eyes. She held still, drawn in by the animal’s calm. “It’s him,” she whispered. “The one from my drawings.”
Realizing trust was beginning to form, Eleanor slowly lowered her gun and holstered it. Force would only make things worse now. “Yes,” she said gently.
“That’s Thunder. He’s a good dog, and he came here for you.” Then, without warning, the kidnapper went pale, clutched his chest, and collapsed to the dirt floor with a harsh gasp. The girls snapped out of their panic and rushed to him, pulling out a battered old medical kit….
