He paused and looked at his son, then over at Matt. ‘Tomorrow morning. We’ll get through tonight and then set off for Creek Lane first thing tomorrow morning. And as soon as we have a phone signal I’ll make some calls and we’ll get some people to help us look for Gareth and Thomas – assuming they’re not already waiting for us when we get there, of course.’

Matt didn’t say anything. He stared at the tin of water over the fire, watching the tiny bubbles form at the bottom and float to the surface. The flames flickered around the tin, dancing over its edges like grasping red fingers.

Mr Stevens cleared his throat. ‘Timothy, hadn’t you better get us some more firewood? I think we may be running a little low.’

‘Sure, Dad.’ Tim got to his feet like a zombie and began to move off into the trees.

‘Timothy?’

He stopped at the sound of his father’s voice.

‘Yes, Dad?’

‘Don’t you think you ought to take Matthew with you? It’ll be easier to carry the wood with two of you. We’ll want to have enough to last the night.’

‘But his food…’

Mr Stevens frowned. ‘It won’t be ready for another 10 minutes. Go on, off you go.’

Tim paused, chewing a fingernail, and for a moment Matt thought he was going to object some more. Mr Stevens obviously thought so too, because he was staring at his son with a fixed look. The tree branches groaned as a sharp gust of wind blew through their campsite, and the fire guttered.

‘Sure, Dad,’ said Tim. ‘Come on, Matt, let’s see what we can find.’

Matt climbed to his feet, wincing as his tired leg muscles groaned in protest.

James glanced up at him and gave a weak smile, which Matt returned as he walked past his friend.

It’ll be a miracle if he can fucking stand tomorrow, thought Matt. Let alone make it to Creek Lane.

He followed Tim away from the campfire, into the darkness of the trees. Tim paused, felt in his jacket pocket, then pulled out a torch. He clicked the switch and a circle of yellow light appeared in front of them.

‘Where shall we look for wood?’ said Matt. He had to raise his voice over the sound of the wind so Tim could hear him.

Tim moved the torch beam left to right, then settled on a gap between two larger trees in front of them.

‘Let’s head down here for a bit,’ he said. ‘We gathered up most of the wood from around the campsite earlier, so we’ll need to go in a bit further.’ Tim kept his voice level when he spoke, hardly raising it at all, and Matt had to lean close to hear him. He could smell Tim’s breath, drifting across to him in stale waves.