The scream caught William off guard and forced him to a halt. Shrill and blood-curdling, the woman’s cry echoed through the city.
The trailing group of soldiers paused at the end of an alley, giving William, Matilda, and Olga an unobstructed view. They’d caught a girl in a red uniform.
“That must have been what they were chasing,” William said.
The girl screamed and shook, twisting and turning against the restraint of one of the larger men in the pack. Her hair fell across her face with her futile struggle. She flicked her head back, trying to slam it into the nose of the man restraining her. The girl then stamped her foot on top of the blue soldier’s right boot. The soldier screamed and momentarily let her go.
The girl broke free, charging down the alley towards William and the others. But the soldiers gave chase. One caught up and kicked her feet from beneath her.
The girl managed two more wild steps, running while leaning forward, her arms flailing. She hit the ground hard, her palms scraping along the road as she tried to cushion her fall. Tears ran down her cheeks, and her mouth twisted with her grief as the blue soldiers surrounded her. She rolled over onto her back and placed her hands together as if in prayer, her face puce. “Please. I’ve done nothing wrong. Please let me go.”
One of Fear’s female soldiers ran forward and kicked the girl in the face. The loud crack snapped William’s shoulders into his neck, and he winced as the others went to work on her. They jeered and spat, taking turns to slap, kick, and punch her.
“Why don’t they just fucking kill her?” Olga said.
“That would be too simple.” Matilda’s eyes narrowed. “They want to break her. They want to destroy what that red uniform symbolises.”
The next thirty seconds lasted a lifetime. They beat the girl limp. The two largest soldiers then took an ankle each and dragged her down the road, her uniform riding up, her back scraping against the rough asphalt. They headed in the same direction the others had taken Hawk, Max, and Artan.
Olga ran to the edge of the roof, dropped off the side onto the metal fire escape, and jogged down the stairs.
Matilda raised her eyebrows. William shrugged. “At least she waited until we can get down there without being seen.” He followed, dropping from the roof to the metal walkway, his steps far from soundless, but hopefully quiet enough for them not to find the ears of the blue soldiers.
Olga reached the ground and took off across the road. She vanished down an alley. The way seemed clear, so William followed, Matilda a few steps behind.
Like many of the alleys in this part of the ruined city, the walls were close and the shadows deep. Windows without panes on either side provided a view into the abandoned shops.
Olga stopped at the end of the alley, turning to show William and Matilda they should do the same. At least she still had her wits.
William reached the end and peered in the army’s direction. Sixty to seventy soldiers, Artan, Hawk, and Max among them as their prisoners. Six to eight drones hovered over the pack. They’d gathered in front of a large building. It looked like it had been used in the past to host sporting events. Where one of the shops had a large donut on the roof, this one wore the trophy of a man dressed in a helmet and padded gear. He had a stick, which he pressed into the ground. The front, a large steel windowless framework, led to some kind of indoor arena.
As the army filed into the building, the drones left them.
“They’re heading this way.” Matilda tugged on the back of William’s shirt as she retreated.
“Are you sure?” Olga said.
No time for debate. Matilda ran back to the window leading into the shop on their right and dived through. William followed her a second later, Olga scrambling in on his heels.
All of them sat with their backs to the wall beneath the window. Less than a minute later, the brilliant white light from a drone flooded into the abandoned space, casting a bright glow across the dusty floor.
William raised his eyebrows at Matilda, who returned a tight-lipped smile.
The hum of the drone faded into the distance, and Olga said, “How did you know they’d come this way?”
“A hunch,” Matilda said. “Maybe they’re used to being followed. Maybe they’re looking for more of Fury’s army.”
“So what do we do now?” Olga said. “There are a lot of soldiers in that arena.”
William said, “I have an idea.”
“Which is?”
“Follow me.” William’s body still protested his movements from where he’d fallen down the stairs while running through the towers, his shins buzzing, bruised from top to bottom. But there were greater needs than his suffering in that moment. He climbed back out into the alley.
Chapter 27
Max had seen Olga, but he couldn’t tell the others. Hawk and Artan were too far away from him, and there were too many soldiers around for him to yell. Besides, Olga might have seen them, but the responsibility for getting out of this mess rested firmly on their shoulders. Hoping for Olga’s help had to be plan B.
The army had taken Hawk’s and Artan’s knives. They’d frisked Max, but found nothing. Sixty to eighty soldiers, every one of them stared at Max and his friends, pressing in around them. They dared them to try something stupid. They only needed the slightest excuse.
“Move faster.” A soldier shoved Max in the back. He stumbled into another one directly in front of him, who spun around, his baton raised.
Keeping his hands down, Max cowered away from the expected blow and kept his attention on the ground.
The soldier tutted and shook his head.
They were heading towards an arena. It had a giant statue of a man on the roof. The man leaned over a stick
