One part of the wall had been bent in so far at the bottom that grown-ups were able to get their hands through. Ella could see their fingers scrabbling at the concrete floor and gripping the edge of the bent metal. Harry ran over and started kicking and stamping. Louisa joined him, stabbing with her short spear, cursing the grown-ups. She turned to Daniel, her face pale, eyes wide, mouth wide.

‘Help us, won’t you?’

‘Yeah, yeah, sorry.’ Daniel hurried over to join Harry, stamping on the hands that came under the wall. Despite their efforts, the hole was getting bigger as the grown-ups clawed at the metal and forced it upwards and inwards. A mother stuck her head under, tongue flicking out and licking the floor, lips pulled back from her teeth, showing purple gums. Harry kicked her in the temple and then kicked her again, and she pulled back out, only to be followed seconds later by two more heads.

As they stamped on the heads, a section of wall right next to them was thumped so hard that a big bit of it was bent in. Ella turned to look at it and then saw with a shock that they weren’t alone. While they’d been distracted by the hole at the bottom of the wall, some grown-ups had got in from somewhere else. She couldn’t tell how many there were in the half-light, but in her panic they appeared to fill the barn. She’d seen them just in time. Her scream alerted the other three who turned round to defend themselves.

That was all they could do, though: hold the invaders off. They were backed up against the wall with no room to use their weapons effectively. Ella hid behind Harry, clutching her club and her shield, hoping nobody expected her to fight. She was aware of a high-pitched wailing and realized it was her. She couldn’t stop screaming.

‘Shut up, why don’t you?’ Harry snapped, and Ella fought to control herself.

But the screams were building inside her, bursting to get out. The stench of the grown-ups was even more awful close up. They were hot and damp and dripping, like old food left too long in a kitchen-waste recycling box.

Finally she could stand it no longer; she opened her mouth wide to scream, but the noise was drowned out by an almighty bang and there was a flash in the darkness.

Chapter 14

14

Scarface had come back down the ladder and let off a blast from his shotgun. Sonya was with him, and they were attacking the grown-ups from the side. Scarface emptied his other barrel and as he reloaded Sonya laid about her with her spear. Soon they’d cleared a path to Ella’s group and together they forced the grown-ups back the way they’d come.