The dogs had seen the scarecrow as well now and were acting all confused, whimpering, their ears going flat, hair up on their backs, crouching low to the ground and dropping their tummies. They started to move away from the mother they’d been eating, going in a pack towards the live grown-up. As they got closer, they seemed even more scared, holding back, running in yippy circles. Every now and then one would get braver than his friends, dart forward, daring himself to go up closer. He’d sniff the scarecrow, nip at its legs, then run back with his tail between his legs. Then another would try. Like little kids daring each other. In the end they all got near enough and started to circle the scarecrow, yelping, howling, running in and snapping at it, but never getting right up close. Eventually they ran off together in a pack, barking their heads off, back into the woods.

Scarface started down the ladder, Ella followed, and soon they were pushing through the long grass towards the scarecrow. When they got there, it was like they were copying the dogs. Neither she nor Scarface wanted to go any nearer. Scarface was holding both of his knives in his hands, the blades pointing down towards the ground.

Ella looked and saw that it was a father with long, stringy hair and man boobs. The skin had rotted away from the bottom half of his face, showing the bones and the teeth of his lower jaw. There were so many boils and swellings on the top half of his face they’d blocked his eyes up. He must be blind. Maybe that was why he was standing like that.

He didn’t look very dangerous to Ella, just ugly and horrible and old. Smelly. But what did she know?

‘Go on then, Face-Ache,’ she said. ‘What are you waiting for?’

At last Scarface moved in closer. Went right up to the father and sniffed him, circling him just as the dogs had done. Finally he looked at Ella and mimed covering his eyes. Ella got the message and turned round. Behind her she heard a slicing sound, slish …

When she turned back, the father was gone, fallen over and hidden in the long grass, and Scarface was kneeling down doing something to him.

Afterwards Scarface showed Ella a sort of trail where the grass had been flattened by something walking along, probably the scarecrow. They followed it until they came to an area where the grass was trampled all over the place, with paths coming off it in every direction it seemed.

Scarface picked one trail and set off, moving fast along the edge of the woods. Ella couldn’t always see what Scarface was following and he sometimes stopped and went back and took a different path. He was sniffing like a dog, always listening hard, peering around with his one good eye.