Chapter 23: The Trail

Morning sunlight crept through the fog like a warning. From the rooftop of the school, Bunnyman and Lady Tape stood in silence, watching the quiet street below.

Neither mentioned last night.

But it lingered in the air between them.

Lady Tape shifted her weight, hands on her hips. "You think they'll come again?"

Bunnyman's gaze didn't waver. "If they're running an operation like this… they always come back."

Almost on cue, a black car rolled into view—same tinted windows, same subtle dents on the side. The two watched as it slowed near the school gates.

A lone boy walked out, backpack slung over his shoulder.

The car door flew open.

Two men rushed out and grabbed the kid without hesitation. He barely had time to scream before they shoved him inside.

Lady Tape's expression darkened. "We chasing?"

"No," Bunnyman said, already moving. "We follow."

They launched into motion—him leaping across rooftops, her gliding alongside him, tape cracking softly as she swung. Silent shadows tracking the car through Devil's Side's twisting streets.

Minutes passed. The car kept going.

Finally, it pulled into the industrial zone and rolled to a stop near the old docks.

They crouched behind a stack of rusted barrels, hidden by the fog and silence.

Ahead, they saw it.

Kids—at least a dozen of them—lined up at the edge of a cargo ramp. Some struggled. Most didn't.

"Damn…" Lady Tape muttered.

The same two men began loading them into a shipping container. Like freight.

Lady Tape pulled out a tiny tracker and stuck it to her tape strand. With a quiet flick, she launched it. It slipped under the container and latched on with a soft click.

"Tracker's on," she whispered. "We'll know where they're going."

Later That Night

Back in Bunnyman's small hideout, the signal pulsed on his screen.

A blinking red dot moved across the digital map, gliding past Devil's Side and out to sea.

"They're not dropping anchor," Lady Tape said, leaning over his shoulder.

The dot finally stopped.

A tiny, unnamed island. No label. No nearby routes. Nothing but a blip surrounded by dark blue.

Bunnyman stared at the screen. "That's where they're taking them."

Lady Tape stepped back, arms crossed. "Guess we found their next move."

The red dot blinked again.

And again.