The truck got closer and soon it was driving next to us. Through some instinct I breathed in and held my breath as it passed, as though breathing might somehow give away our position. The truck rumbled past and stopped outside the Babe and Sickle. Torben got out followed by his friend who, last time we saw him in the pick-up, was the driver. Now I could see why he wasn’t anymore; he had a make-shift sling around his right arm, and part of it was smeared red.

The pub was only twenty feet away and it was a calm day, so we could hear the hunters talk. I reached for the handle and slowly wound down the window.

“Pass me the tracker,” said Torben. His voice sounded rougher than normal, his tone more clipped.

The driver reached over to the truck, picked something up and passed it to Torben. “What’d ya think they’re doing out here?” he asked.

Torben twisted the device in his hands, pressed something and then stared at it.

When I got a good look it at, I felt something sharp twist through my chest. That was my GPRS! Torben Tusk was holding my GPRS, and it seemed like it was working. I snapped my head to Justin to see if he was watching this. His wide eyes and furrowed brow confirmed that he was. I was dying to saying something, but now wasn’t the time.

I felt my forehead begin to sweat. My hands shook, and my face felt like it was heating up. There was no way this was a coincidence, no way that Torben had got his hands on another GPRS and just happened to be going in the same direction as us. There was only one explanation for this.

He’d gotten my GPRS to work, and he knew where the farm was.

I took a second to calculate our odds. From what I had seen there were a minimum of four hunters – minus the one I saw get eaten in the warehouse – with the probability of there being at least a few more that I hadn’t see yet. I knew they had at least two guns, double what we had, and they actually knew how to use them. That put us at a pretty big disadvantage.

There was nothing I could do right now other than listen and hope to get some idea of their plan.

“This fucking thing,” said Torben. “Never works properly. Thought you fixed it?”

The driver screwed up his face. “Got us here, didn’t it?”

Torben held the GPRS in one hand and picked at his teeth with the other. “Should have just snatched the kid,” he said. He tossed the GPRS back to the driver. “Anyway, get in there and see what they got. If you see any bottles of stout, grab me a couple,” he said, and pointed at the Babe and Sickle.

While the driver searched the pub Torben rested on the bonnet of the pick-up. From time to time he’d glance back in our direction, making me sink lower in my seat, but mostly he stared at the road ahead in contemplation.

After ten minutes the driver came back out. They got in the pick-up truck, revved the engine and then left.

As soon as they were out of sight, I turned to Justin. I poked him in the chest, jabbing my finger so hard it made him wince. I could feel my head get tight, and most lips curled.

“I thought you said it was broken? Huh? That nobody would be able to use it? That’s the only reason I didn’t beat the crap out of you when Torben took our stuff – because you promised me he wouldn’t be able to work it.”

Justin chewed his lip and furrowed his brow. “I’m sorry Kyle, I didn’t know. Really – I thought it was trashed.”

“Damn it” I said. I pounded the steering wheel, and the horn went off.

Behind me David jumped awake. He rubbed his head. “What’s going on?”

“We’re fucked, that’s what’s going on,” I spat.

I opened the car door and got out, slamming it behind me. I didn’t care who heard us now. I walked to the boot, opened our bag of supplies. I tipped most of it back into the boot and left a fifth still in the bottom of the rucksack, which I  slung over my shoulder. Next to all the food was the shotgun. I thought about taking it, but then I put my hand on my belt and rested on the handle of my knife.

That would be enough. They needed to gun more than me, and I wasn’t a total monster.

The passenger door and opened and Justin got out. He walked over to me and looked at the food scattered across the boot of the car.

“What are you doing?”

I could feel my blood running red hot through my veins. Right now Justin’s face annoyed me too much. Did he realise what he’d done? Did he understand that ever since he stuck his nose into my business, things had turned to shit?

I reached forward and shoved him in the chest, sending him down onto the floor.

“They know where the farm is, and they’re headed there right now. It’s all fucked Justin, and that’s on you.”

Justin sat up and drew his knees closer to his chest. There was a scared look to his eyes, as though he didn’t know what I was going to do next. I knew that for a second he was thinking about arguing with me, but then he decided better of it. “Look, Kyle, what can I say? I’m sorry.”

The back door of the car opened and David stretched a long leg out. “What’s happening?”

I slammed the boot of the car shut and looked at him. “I’m leaving,” I said. “You two can go to hell.”

Chapter 18

I walked away from the car. My face was burning and my blood was boiling in my veins. My mind was so clouded by a fog of anger that I didn’t even look where I was going; as long as I got away, that was all that mattered.

I put my foot on a stone wall and hopped over into the field. The earth was sodden and my foot was covered in mud before I’d even walked five steps. Behind me, I heard the car door open. I took a deep breath and picked up my pace. I wasn’t turning back this time. I wasn’t forgiving another one of Justin's mistakes. He’d screwed me over from the start, and now the only thing I had to cling on to was gone. The farm belonged to the hunters now.

“Kyle”

I heard David’s voice behind me, and I heard him grunt as he climbed over the wall.

“Shit!”

I turned round. David had slipped in the mud and he was flat on his back in the field, his coat covered in the brown mess.  He seemed to be waiting for me to come and help him up, but instead I turned and carried on walking.

A few minutes later he caught up with me. He put a muddy hand on my shoulder. I stopped and turned to him.

“Fuck off, David,” I said.

David scratched the back of his neck. There was something weighing on his mind, but as usual he was struggling to get the words out.

I put my hands in my pockets. “Just save it. There’s nothing you can say. The farm is theirs now. It’s all pointless.”

Finally the words came to him. “It’s not pointless. Not at all. You were right. The farm’s the answer; dad knew it, Clara knew it – I know it.”

His words were coming fast. He stared at me with narrowed eyes that were like brown marbles.

I looked across the field in front of me. It seemed to stretch for miles and connected into other fields in an endless bed of green and brown. I tried to see what was beyond it, whether there was anything worth looking for, but there was nothing in the distance to cling on to.

I looked at the floor. “Even if you’re right, the farm’s out of the question now. Torben has it, and there’s no way I can take on him and his guys alone.”

David sighed. “You’re not alone.  You never were. You’ve always had people with you Kyle,  you’ve always been a leader. But for some pig-headed reason you choose not to act like it.”

I looked at him and saw the sincerity on his face. “A leader wouldn’t watch as many people die as I have,” I said.

“You can’t do this alone,” said David.

The wind blew through the grass, sending the long stalks dancing in different directions. For miles on the horizon the fields all blew in unison. They were all overgrown and muddy, same as the farm would be, but with enough time and hard work something could be made out of them.