I couldn’t wait any longer. If I was going to make my move, it had to be now, before any others left in the house could be warned that I was coming. I got out of the car and discreetly checked my gun.

Show time.

thirty-five. Troy

Libby and I had been digging for who knew how long and our progress was embarrassing. I could stand in the hole we’d spent hours digging and not get my shins dirty. However, I’d be standing on one leg ’cause my ankle was still throbbing like a bastard. Libby’s tights wrapped round my leg were bulky and uncomfortable and meant I couldn’t put my legs together. I felt like and probably moved as if I was stuck on an invisible horse – I couldn’t run off now if I tried.

I glanced at Libby. Her face was filthy where she’d been constantly pushing her hair back with dirty hands. Her lowered eyebrows and pursed lips gave her a look of bullish determination as she dug her makeshift spade into the dirt, scooping it up with the nailed end, throwing it against the adjacent wall. Libby caught me watching her. We didn’t smile, didn’t frown, didn’t speak. What was there to say?

Pop!

Pop! Pop!

Pop! Pop! Pop!

The unexpected noise came from somewhere above us, towards the back of the house, I think. Libby and I exchanged a look. What on earth was that? One or two pops and I might’ve thought maybe I’d imagined them, but there were too many to believe that.

‘Hello?’ I called out. ‘If you’re up there, we need more food and water. And toilet paper! Hello?’

Silence.

‘Why would anyone up there care about us?’ asked Libby softly. ‘If they boarded us up in here, they couldn’t give a damn about our welfare.’

She had a point. We waited another minute or two, straining to hear any further noises. Nothing. With a sigh, we both got back to digging. I told myself that our way out of here lay in our own hands.

Now we had to make that come true.

‘I need a space

That’s mine alone.

A view, a hue

To call my own.

When I’m lonely,

Deep shades of blue,

I close my eyes

And what I do

Is think of home,

Where I belong.

I dream of home

And sing this song.’

I sang softly to myself, needing to break up the silence of the basement. Plus I was feeling the words. I didn’t look up from digging, but I knew Libby was watching me. I braced myself for a tirade of abuse, but that wasn’t gonna stop me.

‘I think of home where I belong.’

Defiantly I sang a little louder.

‘I dream of home, and I grow strong.’