We ’ ll see what they ’ ve got to say about it when I wake them up and fucking ask them.

He was halfway between his tent and theirs when he stepped on something soft. Gary froze once more, fighting the urge to scream, and slowly moved his foot off the thing beneath it. He felt it unfurl as his weight came off it, like rubber. His hands were trembling as he moved the watch into position and thumbed the button.

It was a rabbit’s ear. Gary stared down at it with a dumb, rising horror before the watch light flicked off again. The ear was small and light grey, and he didn’t need to look again to know it had come from the same unfortunate creature that the foot outside his tent belonged to.

He was shaking now, and it wasn’t just from the cold. Without thinking he thumbed the watch once more and began moving forward, scanning the light across the grass in sweeping arcs ahead of him.

The yellow light was weak, and it only reached a metre or so in front of him before it stopped dead against the inky wall of darkness that coated the moor.

Gary almost didn’t see the next piece. He’d been continuing in the direction of Tom and James’ tent and it was lying on the grass to his right, just on the edge of the arc of light cast by his watch. He caught it out of the corner of his eye, a grey shape against the green. Gary walked over to it without thinking, needing to see what it was, vaguely aware that he was now pointing in the direction of the distant copse of pine trees.

Gary moved over the grass and the wind urged him on, whispering in his ear like a hungry voice. When he reached the shape and aimed his watch down at it, he saw it was another paw.

If this is you, Tom, I really have to hand it to you, thought Gary. You’ve certainly been fucking thorough.

He looked away and stepped over the severed paw, suddenly feeling in real danger of throwing up. And there was a part of his mind, a faint voice in the back of his head that was telling him to go, just turn and run back to the tent and wake Matt up, but it was smothered by a stronger voice – not quite his dad’s voice, but close – that told him he couldn’t.

Because what if they were watching him now? What if Tom and James were crouched in the darkness somewhere, giggling and whispering, just waiting for big tough Gary to show his true colours? He knew they’d never have the balls to actually kill a rabbit, there was no fucking way, but maybe they’d found this one already dead somewhere and decided to use the opportunity to have some fun with him?