Shoulders hitting a wall, I try to keep crawling through the pain. It takes a moment to realise the someone has stopped moving. I’m happy about that until I realise I don’t know how close they got. I can’t even tell if they are a few feet back or within touching distance.

Freezing against the rock wall, I strain to hear anything, too scared to call out again. What if that’s what they’re waiting for, so they can find me in the darkness? I’ve never understood the phrase ‘heart in your throat’ until I feel the thing clogging mine up. I have to force every breath past it. The last thing I remember is being dragged from under the car, watching Troy’s shocked face get further away. That explains the raw feeling along the front of my body. They must’ve knocked me out because everything is a blank after that.

Anger comes to my rescue, like it always does. I force my backbone straight. Fear tactics are for bullies and I don’t stand down from cowards. The stupid pricks have locked me up somewhere, which is illegal these days no matter your skin colour. They’re probably trying to scare me into talking.

Taking deep breaths I think about why we’d come here in the first place. It was just like the first time – a look around for valuables, maybe trash one or two things on the way out. Just us taking back some of the riches they’ve stolen from our ravaged land. Like we’re bloody Robin Hood and his Merry Men. The idea makes me want to scoff now. There wasn’t supposed to be that many men out there. I worry about what they’ll do to Troy; anything but think about what a lone girl might be vulnerable to in this kind of situation. Okay so maybe I was trespassing, but this is kidnapping, deprivation of liberty or some shit!

Giving myself a proper pep talk calms me down enough so I can speak again. It takes time to wake up my voice and even then it is a shaky thing.

‘What do you want?’

Bracing in case I have to move instantly away, I wait. There’s only so long you can hold yourself tense. The lack of response slowly, so slowly, has my muscles relaxing. That’s when the noise comes from my left. Not a growl or a sigh. More like the rumble of a person thinking something over. It isn’t the ‘hmmm’ that gets me though. It’s the fact that the breath of it brushes right over the tip of my ear. Striking out wildly a sharp burning flashes across my knuckles as I connect with flesh that gives way to something sharp. Swinging again I descend into mindless screaming.

Day 1, Midnight

Day 1, Midnight

‘Mum!’