Despite Matilda running ahead of him, William saw it first. “Stop!”
She halted at the end of the alley.
The road ahead of them had been ripped up like the one between the three towers. A livid scar streaked through the broken asphalt. The sunlight glinted off a metal disc lying amongst the rubble. “Look.”
“A mine,” Matilda said. “I didn’t see it at all.”
Matilda led them around the corner on tiptoes, remaining close to the old shop on their left. A small strip of road close to the building remained intact. They had to trust there were no mines beneath it. They climbed the shop’s fire escape. Although why such a short building needed one … surely they could jump from the roof if their lives depended on it.
The roof was only two stories from the ground. The tall metal tower in their sights, Matilda pointed to the building next to them and then the ones leading away from it. “We can get closer to the meeting point via the roofs, but we have to take a longer route.” She shrugged. “Better that than being torn to shreds by an exploding mine, eh?”
More footsteps below. William walked to the edge of the roof, his steps crunching over the layer of white gravel covering it. He peered over. A group of red-uniformed soldiers came from the same alley they’d passed through. They pinned themselves to the wall and followed the same path William and Matilda had. “Are they following us?”
Matilda drew a breath to reply, but the tock of steps against the metal fire escape said it for her. She mouthed the word, Shit!
Matilda led the way, jumping across the small gap over the alley they and the soldiers had used. But instead of taking off across the next roof, she dropped to her front and shimmied up against a lip about a foot tall around the edge of the building.
William copied her, the gravel on the flat roof digging into his chest. It made sense. If they continued running, the soldiers would see them. But how could they defend themselves when they lay on their bellies?
Crunching steps signalled the first of the soldiers had made it to the roof. Could they outrun them if they needed to? Could William? Matilda could outrun most people, especially up high. Maybe they could shove them back if they jumped over. Only a two-storey fall, but it would at least slow them down.
“You say you heard something?” one of the soldiers said.
William’s heart slammed in his chest, and he chased his shallow breaths.
“I dunno,” a deeper voice replied. “Maybe I imagined it.”
The soldiers continued to walk towards the spot William and Matilda hid in. Slow and torturous, the steps closed in on them.
“You found anything?” A girl’s voice this time. Farther away than the others. Maybe she remained on the fire escape.
The shadows of the two boys leaned over them, stretching across onto the next roof. An inverse spotlight searching for the enemy. William lay tense, his hands balled. If they jumped across, he’d be ready.
“No,” the deeper voice said, and one shadow withdrew. “Nothing.”
The second shadow followed the first. The crunch of their steps back across the small stones on the roof. The tock of their retreat against the metal stairs, they headed back to the ground.
William waited for Matilda. She poked her head over the wall and stood up. “Come on, let’s go.” She took off again across the rooftops. The alleys between each one stretched only a few feet at a time. Easy enough to cross, even for William.
Several rooftops behind her, Matilda rested her hands on her hips and puffed as she walked to the edge of the next building. “We’ve gone as far as we can without going to ground.” She looked one way down the street and then the other. She ran to the other side and did the same. When she came back to William, she shook her head. “There aren’t any fire escapes. None of these buildings has one.”
“So we have to go back?”
Matilda returned to the edge of the building and peered over. “Do you trust me?”
“With all my heart.”
“Then follow me.” Matilda slid off the roof backwards and hung down. A six-inch-thick metal pipe ran straight to the ground. She kicked it twice. It held. She hooked her feet around it and then grabbed on with one hand and then the other.
Backflips turned through William’s stomach when she let go of the roof’s edge. She shimmied down the pipe an inch at a time. She’d lowered herself about six feet when she reached out her right leg. At full stretch, she caught the window ledge leading to the first floor. Her right arm next, she clung on with her fingertips. She stretched between the pipe and the window like a star.
William yelled when Matilda kicked away from the pipe and swung out like a loose door before she pulled herself in through the first-floor window.
At some point the adrenaline had to run out. And of course that would happen when he needed it most. While hanging from the roof, William’s aches returned with full force. His knuckles burned under the strain of his weight. He caught the drainpipe with one foot and then the other before reaching down and clamping onto the thick metal pole with both hands. The wind tugged on his clothes as he shimmied down, Matilda watching him from the safety of the building’s first floor.
Battling his own trembling body, it might not have been far to the hard asphalt below, but it would still hurt if he fell. William stretched his leg across and caught the window ledge. His height should have given him an advantage over Matilda, but he didn’t have a shred of her skill or confidence.
When William reached over and caught the inside of the window frame, Matilda
