He was just watching a film of all this.

Not real.

The tall woman came on.

She was on a screen.

‘Lewis!’ A shout from Kyle brought him crashing back to reality. He’d been left behind by the others. He swore and ran to catch up. They were hurrying alongside the line of trees. Lewis could see the end maybe thirty metres ahead. A corner. But what was around the corner?

More bloody grown-ups no doubt. What else?

And the ones in the field were moving towards the corner as well, to cut them off. They weren’t running, but they were seething across the open ground from every direction.

And when Lewis rounded the corner all he saw was pretty much what he’d been expecting – more of them. Only closer. And once again the kids had a fight on their hands. Lewis’s arm was sore. The blade wasn’t heavy, but he had to keep working it, using both hands mostly on the long handle. Right, left, right again and stab. Twist and out and start again. The blade was horribly sharp and seemed to be able to cut through anything without much problem. Clothing, skin, muscle, sinews, bone. He swung and slashed and stabbed and swung again, slicing a father’s hand clean off. He kicked another in the guts, elbowed a third.

‘I can’t keep this up,’ he heard Brooke gasp. Tried to see where she was. Saw her surrounded by a gang of mothers and fathers, poking at them with her sword. Ebenezer had seen it too and the two of them steamed in, pulling bodies away, chopping at them, until they’d got Brooke clear. And there were Ed and Kyle, tirelessly harvesting the bastards. Lewis looked around. All he could see were grown-ups, plodding towards them. The kids were stuck here now, unable to move in any direction, and no closer to finding a way into the buildings.

He had a sickening urge to just drop his sword and give up. Stop fighting. Let it be. How were things ever going to be any different? Even if they somehow got away from this lot there would be others. And others. More and more of them, too many to kill. But then he saw Ebenezer get in trouble and he was running towards him, sword at the ready. He cut Ebenezer clear. And now Brooke was surrounded again.

There was going to be no end to this.

And then he saw bodies falling, out in the fields, as if they were tripping over some hidden wire. Or puppets having their strings cut. Grown-ups were going down all around them. He heard hard thwacking sounds, like someone beating a leather sofa with a belt. Missiles were streaking through the air.

Someone was shooting at them. He saw an arrow whizz across the field and embed itself in a mother’s chest. Then another hit her as she fell.