He pushed her and she fell onto her side. From the ground, her eyes stared at Dan’s dead eyes, a foot away. Then his head jerked. She watched it slide, in increments, away, out of her eyeline, as Russ dragged his body. She stayed staring at the empty place. This was their end. Like a marriage, like a birth, this was their end. This. There wasn’t more. Russ was pulling him away from her, into the dark. She lay and stared at the ground where his body had lain.

The greys and browns of the earth and trees were vague and fuzzy in the night. She heard the rustling cracking sound of twigs and Russ’s steps and the corpse, dragged up the hill towards the treeline. The sound grew quieter. She tried to get up to crawl, but she couldn’t use her broken arm to take her weight. Slowly, she got to her feet, and stumbling, walked to the car.

The doors were closed. The car looked dark and uninhabited. Her body began shaking, uncontrollably. She was freezing cold, juddering. She stood trying to control her shaking body, knowing Russ was coming back. It was as if he were still next to her, talking. But he wasn’t. She was alone. She tried the car door but it was locked. Her body stopped shaking and she turned her head. Her interrupted vision drifted slowly, adjusting to the distance, towards the place that he had gone. Night had almost fallen, and it was dark towards the trees. She could see the beam of his torch, uneven, and his silhouette.

She was alone and free. Her pain had gone. Quickly, she looked around. The cold air moved across her face, her body faded into insignificance in the open night. Without hesitating, she turned down the hill, and started towards the track she knew was just ahead. Beyond it was the forest. She began to run, feeling nothing. She focused on staying upright, holding her right arm across her body, to keep it as still as she could.