“Now, now,” said Rachel, holding her temper in. “That’s enough of that.” She cuffed Sam to the floor, and he went down hard. But now the Kid was up and out, beating Rachel with his fists. Even Rhiannon joined in. They had all seen the meat wagon. They knew what Rachel was capable of. Between the three of them they tripped her and sent her tumbling to the ground. Sam lunged at her with the pin, but only managed to scratch her neck.

“Where did you get that?” Rachel roared, finally letting her anger show as she struggled back onto her feet. “Give that back!”

“It’s mine,” said Sam. “You should never have taken it.”

“Give it to me!” Rachel snapped, and as she made a snatch for it, Sam stabbed it into the palm of her hand. She shrieked and jerked her hand back. Almost immediately she batted him to the ground again, using the flashlight that she was holding in her other hand, smashing the bulb. She tried to stamp on Sam, but he rolled out of the way and jabbed the pin into her leg. Her shriek this time was terrible. Loud and piercing, it echoed off the tiles. Sam scrambled up, grabbed Rhiannon and the Kid, and they started up the escalator.

It was agony for Rhiannon, and halfway up, Sam knew they were never going to make it to the top. He was just about to say something to the Kid when there came an almighty bang and a flash, and Rhiannon screamed.

The three of them stumbled and fell over in shock. Sam was stunned; the noise and the light had completely disorientated him. It was a few seconds before he realized he was unhurt, but Rhiannon was crying. She was three steps below him. He sat up and put his hand out to her. Her top was wet. He could see it stained black in the dim light. She was bleeding. Some of the shot from the cartridge had hit her.

It was clear she wasn’t going to go any farther.

“Go on,” she croaked. “You’ll never make it with me.”

“No,” said Sam, but then Nick’s voice rang out in the half-light.

“Don’t move, none of you, I’ll aim the next shot straight at you.”

“Keep down,” said the Kid, “and run like mad. He can’t shoot and point his flashlight at the same time.”

“We can’t leave Rhiannon,” Sam wailed.

“Just go!” said Rhiannon.

Sam didn’t know what to do, but the Kid decided for him—he pulled Sam up by his shirt, and the two of them darted up the stairs.

Nick was running up after them, but when he got to Rhiannon she threw her arms around his knees and they went crashing down to the bottom. It was all the two boys needed to get away.