‘So Tyler steamed in there, with me at the front as usual, and, well, I wasn’t going to attack other kids and that made Tyler even madder, kicking and punching and calling me “bitch”. Luckily, though, he was outnumbered, hadn’t bothered to find out what he was up against, acted before thinking. All the best Arbour Vale foot soldiers were there, including Kenton, who was a pretty good fighter. They’d been prepared for trouble, and Tyler only had a small scouting party. He was just bright enough to send runners back to their camp, but he was soon in the middle of a really vicious battle, and I was only holding him back as he had to keep me on the lead. He got so badly cramped in, he needed both hands free – and he let go of the lead. First time ever.

‘Last time.’

Chapter 24

24

‘I didn’t wait. I bolted. Got well away from there. The Arbour Vale kids didn’t know what to make of me, left me well alone, and I was able to climb up into the top of the warehouse. Right up into the roof where I hid, watching the battle below. It was bad. Lots of kids got hurt; half of them were wounded, some so badly it was obvious they weren’t going to live much longer. It was all so stupid. Seeing them lay into each other like that. I was lucky to be out of it.

‘In the end Tyler’s reinforcements turned up and the Arbour Vale kids made a run for it, carrying as much as they could. Tyler acted like he’d won some major war, strutting about the place, punching his chest and bellowing. King of the rotten food …

‘He left some kids there to guard the place twenty-four hours a day. They mostly camped out in a little office near the main doors. There were rows of giant freezers in there, big enough to walk into. Whole rooms kept below zero. When the power had gone off, they’d taken a long time to thaw. Most of the food had gone bad, but there was still a lot you could eat if you weren’t too fussy, and water too, from all the ice that had melted.