THE NIGHT WAS quiet, the only sound being that of the river flowing through the dense woods. Flashlights illuminated the trees and surrounding area as Keira Walters' search team made their way through the grid they were assigned to. It was the night of December twelfth, and the search team was sent to an area two towns over. Deputy Howard, the chief in charge of the search, had said that Keira could have run in any direction. Moorwood was rather isolated, surrounded by grassy plains and forests, but to get to the next town over was a long shot. Howard described that if she would've come this far, she could have been dead or nearly there at that.

It was cold - every time anyone took a breath, it crystallized and created a mist in the air. The townsfolk and volunteers bundled from head to toe, trying to stay warm amidst the December weather. It was a great fight, but the temperatures won every time. Nothing could stop the cold from biting at exposed skin and no one could possibly cover every inch of their body, but they could try.

The light of Derek Wood's flashlight flooded on the ground in front of him. The leaves were illuminated, their brown shades showing that they were long gone and dead. It reminded him of home - Moorwood - where in Yellowbrook Pines, dead leaves covered the forest floor as winter drew nearer. That home had a dark feeling placed over it at the moment, though, because Derek was with the search team in the middle of nowhere, searching for a teenager. The daughter of a woman everyone knew - really knew. It was saddening to see, and with the rumors flying around at the time, who knew what could've happened?

As Deputy Howard had mentioned, everyone knew there wasn't a very good chance that they would find the girl. The odds just weren't in their favor. With the cold weather and all of the dangers of the wilderness at this time of year, Keira could have gotten only a few miles away before dropping and getting hypothermia. There were so many things that could happen, so many factors that made this search pointless. They had to look, though, since Melissa Walters had called in to say she was missing, and that was that.

Night had dawned upon them - something that was inevitable. As temperatures dropped and the people of Moorwood started to fall asleep, one by one, the search team had spent the past week looking for Keira. Derek had been one of the people that came out every day that week. They searched everywhere that they could until they found her. Or, they didn't. Everyone hoped it wasn't the latter because then they would have to wait. The more they waited, the less of a chance they had at finding Keira alive - or at all. Since this and a few more grids were their last, the whole team was hoping to find Keira on one of those nights. Hope was all they had, though, because every other option was a waste of time.

The silence that was initially instilled in the woods was broken by a series of voices calling out, one after the other.

"Keira!"

"Keira Walters!"

"We're here to help you, Keria!"

"Keira!"

They were calling out to Keira. Derek shook his head. He thought that people needed some sense knocked into them - it wasn't like she was going to hear them. She might have, though, and he had to give the people credit for that.

Someone else's flashlight illuminated the area beside Derek and he moved over, slightly turning right to cover ground that person wasn't covering at the moment. They had a lot of space to cover, so if any two people were in the same area, that was wasting both space and time. After steering in the different direction, Derek pulled the map provided to him out of his pocket and shined his light on it. He looked at the grid they were on and found where he was, tracing the clear path in front of him with his finger. He was close to the river, close enough to hear it, but not close enough to see it. Deputy Howard clearly stated that the group would not cross the river, but they would look alongside it. Derek took up on that offer since someone else invaded his previous path, sticking his map back in his pocket.

Derek walked forward, weaving between trees and shining his flashlight around. If he was being honest, he didn't know what he was looking for. Keira's body? Keira herself? Parts of Keira's body? The thoughts made him shudder. No one knew what kind of state she would be in, but there was hope that it was a good one. Seeing as the fact that a whole week had passed since Keira went missing, though, the odds of that weren't looking so good. Nothing was looking up or in their favor, but they were looking for the girl, and that's what mattered.

As he was walking, Derek tripped over a small fallen tree that was covered by leaves. Before he could react, the predicament of his foot catching on the tree caused him to fly face-first into the ground. The leaves provided some cushion for his fall, but it wasn't much, making the impact sting. Derek felt as though the wind had been knocked out of him as he grabbed his hat from where it slid off of his head. He went to stand up, placing his hands in a position to do so, but stopped when he saw something floating in the river. The way he fell made him able to see it clearly, and what caught his eye made his breath catch in his throat. His eyes widened and he froze on the ground, not fully processing the sight in front of him.

Keira's dead body was staring right back at him, and it was not a pretty sight to see.