‘I couldn’t get down,’ Isaac replied. ‘I tried and tried, but there were always grown-ups there. Waiting. Some even tried to climb up. I couldn’t see into the barn, didn’t know what was happening inside. But I had to watch it all, the grown-ups outside, circling, clawing at the walls. Then there was that massive fire. I thought they’d all be burned. There were so many, though. You couldn’t count them. I saw Daniel come out. I tried to shout to him …’ Isaac trailed off into silence.

‘It was horrible,’ Ella said quietly. ‘I’m sorry about your friends.’

‘I saw Sonya and Louisa this morning,’ said Isaac. ‘I didn’t sleep all night. There were grown-ups still around. The girls got away just as the dogs arrived. I shouted to them. They ignored me. Luckily the dogs chased off the rest of the grown-ups. I guess they were scared of an army, but not a few stragglers.’

‘Harry died,’ said Ella.

‘Oh.’ Isaac looked away. Not wanting to show Ella his tears. ‘We were at school together,’ he said, then sniffed and went all serious.

‘I’m heading back to Bracknell. You need to come with me.’

‘I can’t.’

‘It’s too dangerous to stay here, Ella.’ Isaac looked desperate to get away.

‘I can’t leave Scarface,’ said Ella. ‘He’s my friend. He’s too badly hurt to go fast.’

Isaac took hold of Ella and dragged her a little way away so that Scarface couldn’t hear them.

‘You have to leave him. We have to go right now.’

‘I can’t.’ Ella was shaking her head. ‘He saved me. He looked after me. Now I have to look after him.’

Isaac laughed. He sounded slightly crazy, almost crying.

‘Just leave him,’ he said. ‘You have to. He’s just a –’

‘Just a what?’

‘He’s one of them,’ said Isaac. ‘If you bring him with us they’ll just kill him when we get there.’

‘Then I’m staying here,’ said Ella. ‘We’ve got another hiding place.’

‘Where?’

Ella remembered what Scarface had said – that she mustn’t tell him anything. But Isaac could help them. Maybe if she just told him a little.

‘In the woods,’ she said. ‘Will you help us before you go?’

Isaac thought for a second.

‘Come on then,’ he said, walking back and taking hold of Scarface. ‘Let’s do this.’