O-- posted before I saw that question or answer. I wasn't sure how big the group that went to explore the town was, but I assumed we had at least a few other (NPC) kids with us, and possibly split up in the town for an easier search. 

Err, let me know if I need to edit my post any, and I will! I left things pretty vague on purpose; only mentioned one boy with a torch - could be an NPC, or if any of the players wants to jump into that role, that works too. Can also assume they're all in the same group as Eli, or they split up or... yeah, whatever you had planned.