Silence was the warning. The Directive is the threat. After surviving the resonance beneath Stillwater Lake, Otis Safely hoped the quiet would last. But when a researcher washes ashore—frozen, terrified, and marked with three deep scratches—Otis knows the peace has cracked. The Directive has returned. And this time, they aren’t just studying the lake… They’re controlling it. With Danger—his mastiff partner—leading the charge, Otis unravels a covert operation buried in the forests of Mill Creek, where technology and terror blend into something alive. Children go missing. Communications fail. Whispers return beneath the ice. Stillwater isn’t done with him. And neither is the thing that tried to take his mind. As winter clamps down and the Directive closes in, Otis must choose who he can save— and who he’s willing to lose. In Mill Creek, the silence always comes before the scream.