She nods and I let go.

“They …” I fight to keep my breathing steady. “They had Frank on his knees, tied up. He was mouthing off about how he was going to go back to the UK and report them to the authorities. Isaac kept kicking him and kicking him. Johan tried to stop him but then Frank made a comment about Leanne, and Isaac hit him. They decapitated him with the wood axe, Al. He’s out there now, on the banks of the river. There’s blood everywhere.”

“Jesus.” Her eyes are wide with fright.

“Listen.” I grab her shoulder. “We need to go. Isaac said something to Johan about telling him when it was his turn to ‘have a go’ on me, and they said something about you, too. I don’t know what Isaac’s planning, but we have to leave. Fuck the mud and rain. We have to get out.”

“How do I know I can trust you, Emma?”

“What?”

She inches away, towards the cubicle door, keeping her back against the planks. “You slept with Isaac.”

“I know, and I regret it.”

“You regret it? That’s it? A little shrug of the shoulders and, ‘Oh well’? Emma, have you seen Paula’s back?”

I shake my head.

“Isaac whipped her. He tied her up in a shed, whipped her and called it a detox. How can you not know this? Have you been walking around with your eyes shut the last two weeks?”

“I knew she was in a hut, I saw the marks on her wrists, but—”

“You slept with him anyway?”

“Yes! No! I didn’t know—”

“Stop.” She presses her hands to her head and closes her eyes. “This place is doing my fucking head in. Leanne’s telling me one thing, you’re telling me another, and Daisy’s just fucking hysterical.”

“That’s the other thing. I just found some emails between Leanne and Isaac. She’s his half—”

There’s a loud creak from the dorm and I shoot Al a warning look. We stare at the closed cubicle door and listen. Someone in the dorm coughs and there’s another creak, then the almost imperceptible sound of a door squeaking on its hinges.

I barely notice the smell at first, and then it’s everywhere – smoke, sweat, musk and blood. I look at Al. She stares back at me. Her face is pale; the circles under her eyes are purple bruises against her white skin.

“Isaac,” I mouth.

Two things happen at once: the cubicle door slams open, and Al launches herself at me. She kisses me violently, pressing me against the cubicle wall. I try to wriggle away but she pins herself against me as her hands roam over my waist and hips. I feel her tug at the pocket of my trousers and something sharp presses against my right hip. She yanks my hand away as I reach for it.