Shit, I probably don’t smell much better myself, he thought.

They walked in silence for a minute or so. Matt glanced back the way they’d come a couple of times. At first he could see the campfire quite clearly through the trees, but the second time he looked it was more distant, like a candle on the far side of a dark room.

‘Isn’t this far enough?’ Matt asked eventually.

Tim paused and shone his torch in a circle. They were even deeper in the copse, and the trees were thicker. Overheard the rain hammered down hard against the forest roof.

‘Yep, this should do,’ Tim said. His voice sounded quieter than it had before, and Matt thought he heard a shaky quality to it. As though Tim was trying to keep himself from crying. Matt reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, and Tim jumped.

‘Are you okay?’ he said.

Tim swung the beam of the torch round in his direction and Matt was temporarily blinded. He blinked and covered his eyes until Tim moved the beam away again. When he opened them and tried to look at Tim’s face, his vision was obscured by the after-image of the light.

‘There’s something I need to tell you.’ A large gust of wind blew through the trees and Matt leaned in close, struggling to hear.

‘What?’

‘I said there’s something I need to tell you.’

Matt blinked his eyes and the after-image began to fade. When he opened them again and looked at Tim, he couldn’t read the boy’s expression.

‘What do you need to tell me?’ he said. ‘What’s going on?’

Tim continued to stare at him, his eyes unblinking, and Matt felt a sudden lurch of fear in the pit of his stomach. Images of Tom and Gary’s faces drifted to the front of his mind, like objects floating to the surface of a pool.

‘Is it about the others?’ he said. ‘What’s happened, Tim?’

No reply. Just that unblinking stare.

‘Tim, what the fuck is going on?’

Tim opened his mouth to say something, and that was when they heard the scream. In all his life, Matt had never heard a sound like it before. He hoped he’d never hear one like it again. It was a high-pitched, animal shriek of terror, a nightmare wail like the midnight screech of a fox in mortal pain, and for a brief second Matt thought it might actually be some injured creature out on the moor.

Then he realised the sound had come from the direction of their campsite. Tim’s eyes widened in shock and his head flicked in the direction of the sound. He turned back to Matt, mouth slightly open, and then he looked back in the direction of the sound once more. He bit his lower lip.

‘MATT!’