Bray stood on the porch watching Luke drag Erick in the general direction of the woods. He had planned on being patient, on waiting another day or two to see if Lila would reappear or if Erick would eventually tell them. That plan had gone by the wayside when Bray had woken up with an empty belly and no one to cook for him. He could tolerate one missed meal, two; absolutely not. Luke could tolerate less than that. After their chat, Luke still had a burning desire to tear the house apart. It was clear that the larger man didn't like it when things went amiss on his watch. He liked it even less after they both had heard a scuffle coming from the general direction of Erick's room. Luke had been half way up the stairs by the time Bray had caught him. The fact was that Erick couldn't be there when Lila was found, unless he willingly showed them and he had no intent on doing that. Erick equated hiding her with keeping her safe, so there was the possibility that he could try to protect her when she was found. Bray wanted to avoid that scenario at all costs. That's why he had suggested taking Erick out into the woods on a fool's errand. That way two birds could be killed with one stone; Luke could search the woods, while Bray took the house. It all made sense.
He waited for the two to disappear into the trees before he turned on his heel and headed back in the house. Bray took the stairs two at a time, pausing when he came to Erick's door. Erick hadn't responded right away, which meant there was the possibility that he was hiding Lila, or he was putting her back. There was a chance she was in his room, but he doubted it. In either case Bray still took the chance. He wasn't keen on wasting the entire day on looking for someone he intended on replacing. With a flick of his wrist, he threw the door open without a thought for what may be on the other side. He really didn't care what all he found in here. He was only after one thing and she had better be in here. When he saw the doorway was at least clear, Bray strode in glancing around. He noted the piles of crap that were strewn everywhere, along with the dried out animal carcasses. Erick had clearly been "collecting" again. Bray was beginning to wonder if Lila wasn't so much a companion as she was just another part of his collection.
Bray took a deeper scan of the room, finally finding the mattress along the back wall. On top of it seemed liked an odd collection of blankets and old clothes. He clucked his tongue thinking something wasn't right about that. Erick collected a lot of things, cloth wasn't among them. Rubbing his chin, Bray took a step forward, accidentally kicking something. He looked down finding Steve laying at his feet. "That's strange." Kneeling down, he picked up the dismembered head, giving it a good look. Erick would never leave the stupid thing just laying around. That's when his eyes spotted something even more peculiar than the fish head; laying near the center of the room was an old rusted length of chain. "The hell?" Bray got up and made his way over to the chain, his eyes following it. He found that one end was connected to the radiator, while the other vanished beneath the blankets. Putting two and two together, Bray dropped Steve and finally made his way over to the mattress. He reached out, grabbing the pile with both hands and pulled it away with ease to reveal a sleeping Lila. Well that was one mystery solved. She stirred ever so slightly, giving him a better view of the bruises that were forming around her waist. It was clear the chain had already done its duty of keeping her right where Erick wanted her, despite her best efforts to get away. She shifted again, absently reaching down to move the small lock that was holding the chain around her waist. From his vantage point he could see the cuts the ropes had left on her wrist. They were swollen and bruised, never mind the fact that they were starting to look infected. Despite his mixed feelings about the situation, he couldn't let them go untended. In his estimation she had already suffered enough. The awful truth was none of this was Lila's fault. She didn't deserve what was about to happen to her, but Bray hadn't been left with a choice. It wouldn't matter how badly Erick was punished; he would still pursue her, and that was something that Bray would not allow. Shifting his eyes from her wrist, Bray leaned down glaring at the lock for a minute. What the in hell was he supposed to do about that? He didn't recognize it, which meant it wasn't one he had the key for. If anything it was something that Erick had found in his travels. Bray had little doubt that the key to it was out in the middle of the woods somewhere with Luke. He inwardly groaned at that. Damn Erick for being far more clever than any of them thought. He reached out toying with it for a second before he let it go. What he needed were some bolt cutters. The question was, where had Luke stashed them?
Bray stood up and headed out of Erick's room, a man on a mission. He kept running through all the places that they might be. In the basement? No. The Barn? Again no. They never kept anything except unwanted company out there. He paused in the living room, still thinking. Where in the hell were they? He turned his head, staring out the side window of the house and right at the old shed. Bray went for the front door, almost running out of it. The shed. It was the only logical place they could be. Ten minutes later he triumphantly returned to Lila's side, bolt cutters in hand. He kneeled down, ready to cut the chain loose when he saw it. Peeking through her hair was just a glint of silver. Lila didn't own any jewelry, at least not anymore. Bray had taken what little she had come with to sell.
He released the bolt cutters, gently setting them on the floor. With a trembling hand, he reached out, brushing the hair away from her hand to reveal a ring on her left ring finger. That alone was enough to send him to a new level of annoyed, but what was worse was it wasn't just any ring; it was one of Abigail's old rings. He'd been searching for it for weeks with no luck. How fortunate that the missing ring had turned up on Lila's finger. It was becoming painfully clear how busy Erick really had been. This hadn't been some half assed scheme he had thrown together at the last second. He had planned this out, in detail. He had watched and waited for his right moment. Bray wasn't sure whether to be infuriated or impressed at that. Not that he had time to be either. He had a job to do and it was far past time for her to go. Pulling his hand away from hers, he reached out and rested it on Lila's shoulder giving it a shake. She shifted, but she didn't wake. "Lila." He shook her again, hard this time. "Lila!" She turned her head looking up at him, slowly opening her eyes. "Wake Up."