More and more of them were falling and Lewis saw figures advancing from the left. An organized fighting unit. Must be other kids. Orders were being shouted. More grown-ups going down, the rest of them milling in confusion, not knowing which kids to attack.

Lewis smiled for the first time that night.

Maybe they were going to make it after all.

Chapter 52

52

Ed was in a killing frenzy. He’d shut down his conscious brain, withdrawn into the dark space where he let his animal side loose. He was aware, though, that something was going on. The rhythm of the fight had changed. The sickos were losing. Ed was being helped. There were arrows in the air.

He turned to look where they were coming from.

A group of archers was coming towards them, with smaller, more agile girls and boys running ahead of them, darting in and out of the sickos, picking up arrows from the ground, and plucking them from fallen bodies.

‘This way! Over here!’ A girl wearing a leather jacket shouted at them. She was tall and slim, with long dark hair and pale skin, and appeared to be in charge. Ed moved mechanically in her direction.

‘Go to them!’ he shouted to his team, his voice painful and hoarse in his dry throat. And they were running again, smashing sickos out of the way. Ed didn’t check whether the others were with him. He just had to trust that they were. At least Kyle was at his side, keeping up. Always wanted to be at the front.

‘Looks like not all the local kids are arseholes,’ he shouted and Ed didn’t reply. He didn’t want to speak. He didn’t care. The blood moon was in the sky and in his heart.

There were maybe twenty-five kids there, not counting the younger ones who were still haring around, picking up arrows, too swift for the sickos to catch. And the archers were keeping up a steady rain of arrows.

‘Get in behind us,’ the girl in charge yelled and Ed did as he was told, finally checking that all four of his crew were safe. There was Kyle, then Brooke, Ebenezer and Lewis, bringing up the rear. Alive and alert, wild-eyed, laughing manically.

Saved.

Ed wished he felt something more than emptiness.

‘When I say run, we run,’ the girl commanded.

‘Where to?’ asked Brooke, bent double and gasping for breath.

‘Just follow us,’ said the girl. ‘This is the rear of the grown-ups’ army. If we head in the right direction we can get away from them. You ready?’

‘Do it,’ Ed grunted.

‘Now!’ the girl shouted. ‘Run.’