Malik got stronger every day and was able to move around more and more for himself. Now he was even well enough to climb trees. He’d spent the morning showing Ella how to make animal traps and he’d found a rabbit in one he’d set nearby. Ella was so hungry she forgot to be squeamish about it and they’d eaten it for lunch, roasted over a fire that he’d let her make. Malik had also found some bitterweeds that she happily ate.

Then they’d come up here to try and see what was going on in the world. The sun was sparkling down through the branches of the surrounding trees, which had fresh, bright green leaves bursting out on them. Through the leaves they could see out over the tops of the lower trees to the fields beyond. It looked quiet and peaceful, and for a long while they’d just sat there, taking it in, glad to be alive, trying not to think of all the bad things that had happened.

And then Malik had ruined it by announcing that he was going to take Ella to a town. They’d gone round and round in circles arguing and for the hundredth time Ella told him that she wasn’t going.

‘I’m not leaving you,’ she said, her voice husky from shouting.

‘Who said anything about leaving me?’ Malik asked. ‘I need you to look after me.’ He smiled at her with his ugly, twisted mouth and his one good eye.

‘But I thought you’d never go back to where people were.’

‘I’ve got no choice, Ella. We’re running out of food and I’m too weak and shonky to catch enough for us to both live on. We’ll go to Bracknell.’

‘Where Isaac went?’

‘Yeah.’ Malik nodded. ‘Provided he made it back there safely. He can stick up for us. He knows you, he knows me, he knows I’m not a threat.’

‘I’m not going.’

‘I’m responsible for you now, Ella. I have to make sure you’re all right. So don’t argue any more. We’re going. End of story.’

‘No. I said no.’

‘Ella. We’ll die. Don’t you see that?’

‘And if we go to a town it’ll be like before – they’ll be horrible to you. Do you think I wasn’t listening to your story?’

‘It’ll be different. I’ll be all right. I’ve got you. You’ve shown me that I can trust people – some people. I’ve thought about this a lot and I’ve decided. I need to return to the world. I’m not an animal. I’m a person. It’ll be a good thing. A positive thing. I want to do it, Ella. It’ll be good for both of us.’