waver. ‘If you can’t let us all go, take Marie to a hospital, please. Can you really live with yourself if she doesn’t make it out of here alive?’
‘No… I… This isn’t what…’ Doc stepped forwards and then backwards. ‘Look, it’s not up to me. I’ll go and ask.’ He rushed from the room.
Carly heard the door slam behind him. The sound of Doc’s boots drumming against the concrete corridor, growing fainter and fainter. But the bolts? She hadn’t heard the bolts.
For a split second she was frozen in indecision before the blood roared in her ears. This could be their only chance.
‘Get up.’ She stood, tugging at Marie’s arm.
‘But I’m tired—’
‘Get up. We’re getting out of here, but we have to go. Now!’
‘Away from the germs?’ Leah rose to her feet, taking Marie’s other hand and pulling. ‘Come on, Marie.’
Carly felt a pang of guilt. Marie was washing-powder white. Angry violet bags were carved under her eyes. Vomit crusted down her school shirt. But if they didn’t go now, go quickly…
Tap-tap-tap, said the tree on the bars.
Hurry-hurry-hurry.
She rushed the twins over to the door. The handle was cool and hard in Carly’s hand; it creaked as she twisted it. Her eyes met the clown’s in panic.
Let us out, she silently implored.
You’ll be back, he grinned.
Slowly, slowly she cracked opened the door. Her breath hitching in her throat each time the hinges squeaked. Her heart felt as though it might burst out of her chest as she spotted Doc at the bottom of the corridor, leaning against the front door frame, smoke pluming from his cigarette. He had his back to them as he spoke on the phone, his voice low and urgent. Carly knew he must be asking Moustache if he could take Marie to a doctor. It wouldn’t take him long to say no – he was obviously in charge – but Doc’s voice was insistent. It was almost, almost as though he was on their side.
Carly raised her index finger to her lips, warning her sisters to be quiet as she led them out of the room, turning away from the front door. Carly first, Marie’s fingers tightly around hers, Leah third, one hand holding her twin’s, the other clutching the bear in the red jumper. Ducks in a row, waiting for the hunt. To the left and right were rooms. If they hid in one of these they could be trapped, easy to find. At the other end of the corridor, the stairs. There was a chance Doc could turn around and spot them before they made it there. But even if they reached them, the wood could be rotten, the stairwell collapsing before they had climbed to the top – and if they did reach the second floor, what then?
She only had a split second to make a decision.
Think.
Carly led her sisters through the doorway to the room next door to theirs, the terror in her throat growing with every step. The room was smaller than theirs; the graffiti on the walls here was oddly beautiful. A woman riding a unicorn, long pink hair flowing behind her. The floor was littered with empty aerosol bottles, crumpled foil, syringes. A crumpled sleeping bag in the corner. Outside the wind howled, the rain blew through the empty window frame, puddling on the floor. Here, there were no bars.
The girls crunched over broken glass as they hurried across the room.
Carly linked her fingers together, her hands forming a step. She nodded at Leah, praying she didn’t protest it was too high, she was too scared, she didn’t want to be first. With a quick glance at Marie, Leah placed her foot in Carly’s hands, and allowed herself to be hefted upright, until she could scramble through the gap, dropping to the outside with a thud. She reached back through the open space and quickly helped Marie out.
The front door slammed. Doc’s footsteps echoing down the corridor.
Hurry-hurry-hurry.
Carly’s pulse accelerated. They had minutes, perhaps only seconds, before he discovered they had gone. She threw a leg over the window and hurled herself outside. Grabbing the twins’ hands she dragged them away from the building. It was stupid to stay out in the open. They’d be spotted almost straight away. The nearest building, the one with the NORWOOD ARMY CAMP sign was only a few metres away.
‘Oi!’ Doc roared.
Hurry-hurry-hurry.
They sprinted to the building. Pounded up the five steps leading to the entrance.
Carly wondered how many soldiers had felt as terrified as