Scarface battered the grown-ups off Harry and then pulled all the kids into a tight circle around him. He snatched a bundle of tied-up sticks from the fire. Ella saw that he’d made them into a flaming torch. He hurled the burning brand towards the open doorway. It turned in the air, end over end, and landed just outside. Instantly there was a WHUMP and a bright flare of flame. The sudden burst of light lit the barn as bright as day. Ella could clearly see the blood everywhere, the pale, filthy faces of the kids, the rotten, lumpy faces of the grown-ups. Through the gaps in the walls she could see flames circling the barn. Smoke was pouring in and the stink of rotting grown-ups was replaced by the worse stink of burning clothes and skin and hair. A burning mother stumbled into the barn and collapsed. The grown-ups who had got into the barn had frozen, startled and confused by this new threat.

But as quickly as it had flared up the fire outside died down. Although Ella was upset that their ring of fire was no more, she was happy that she couldn’t clearly see the horror in the barn any more.

The open door was still clear of people. Now might be their chance to run like Daniel had done. She’d seen a look of doubt on the girls’ faces. They were all thinking about it.

‘I can’t move,’ said Harry. Ella looked at him. The grown-ups had made an awful mess of his legs. One of them looked like it had been chewed half off. Blood covered one side of his face from the wound in his scalp.

‘It’s gone quiet,’ said Sonya. Was she prepared to leave Harry behind?

‘Should we …?’ said Louisa, but her words were cut off as something was thrown into the barn. It hit the concrete floor and bounced, then rolled towards the fire.

‘Oh no,’ said Sonya. ‘No.’

It was a head. A boy’s head. Daniel’s head. One ear bitten off. An expression of surprise on his face.

This seemed to act like a signal to the grown-ups in the barn. They snapped back to life. They weren’t alone. Scarface went into action. He grabbed Ella, dragged her over to the chemical toilet, opened the door and shoved her inside. She clumsily fiddled and fumbled with the lock until she at last got it shut and then flopped down on to the seat. The stink of chemicals in there made her nose burn. Maybe, though, it would mask her own smell. Maybe that was why Scarface had put her in here. For her protection. And that meant one thing. That he was scared. That the battle was nearly lost.

Ella sat there on the toilet, shivering. She could hear the sounds of the fight, shouting, hissing, scraping, thudding, and now and then an explosion from Scarface’s gun.