Winter Has Come | ✔ #1 Winter Series

Chapter 61

Heart in my mouth. Legs burning. Trees whipping my cheeks. Panting breaths. Gasping for air.

Angie, is all I think.

One more step. One more leap brings me closer to her. And to Zach. Both of them. It's my own stupid fault. I put Josh and myself between them.

Such a selfish little brat.

I can see the Camp, the tall gates, the barbed wire, the metal mesh, the place I thought I'd escaped. But some things you can never escape. The Camp in the Scottish Highlands is one of them.

I hear the truck before I see it. Truck number eight. Hear the engine running, purring softly. It's not moving. The chatter of people, talking, content, not aware of what will happen.

Angie. Zach. I can't see them.

There's a crowd and the same guard telling people not to cross the line. Maybe he has a point. Maybe he knows. Maybe he doesn't. Maybe Sarah likes to keep her genius plans to herself.

I'm at the fence, hands gripping it, metal tearing skin. But I don't care. They're on that truck, a bridge between life and death. I can spare them. I will spare them.

A flash of black hair. Olive coloured skin. Warm brown eyes. Angie.

"Angie!" I yell. "Angie!"

Her eyes find mine. Eyebrows rise in shock.

Amelia, she seems to mouth but I'm too far away. She's on the truck, hands gripping the ledge on the outside.

"Angie!" I shout. "Get out of there!"

People turning their heads. I don't care.

"Angie!" I yell. "Angie!"

A distant call of my name.

"Get out of there! Now! Go!"

She's nudged someone and now I see Zach frowning, squinting in the afternoon sun at me.

"Zach! Zach! Get out!"

I wave my arms, try to gesture to them that they have to get out. Angie has got the message and now she's looking down to see how far it is to jump down.

A movement behind me.

"Excuse me, miss," says a voice.

I don't turn round.

Hands on my arms, locking them together.

"Excuse me, missus. But you cannot communicate with the others."

Hands gripping me, holding me back. I don't turn round. Don't need to. I know it's one of the guards. He must have heard all the screaming, the shouts and then saw I was the source.

Angie is preparing the jump. Zach is looking at her worriedly. But now another guard is locking the doors and then he gives the driver a signal.

"Out!" I yell, throat burning. "Get—"

Angie looks up in alarm, eyes wide. Someone behind her, holding her back. She struggles but the man's too strong.

And the truck begins to move, picking up speed.

"Get out! Get out! Get out!" I scream and the guard pulls me back, dragging me by the arms as the truck leaves, kicking up soil and carrying Angie's screams far, far away.