Chapter two

I'd arrived. Where? I didn't know but I couldn't run any further. My lungs were screaming for air and my eyes had gone blurry. I was at a gate it looked old but used, like it hadn't been looked after, sad.

No, I sound sad talking about a fence. Anyway, the gate led to a driveway that was surrounded by bush. The driveway wasn't strait but I didn't feel safe to walk on it. I had my suspicions that this land was occupied. I looked around. There was no one around so I leant up against a tree and concentrated on breathing. After a while, once I had begun to function properly again, I decided I should move. I'd learnt a million things since this war had started; one of them was to never stay in the one place. Especially if it was an open, and possibly occupied, area like I was in. The only place we'd decided to stay for long periods of time was the safest place we could find.

Hell.

Hell had become our sanctuary. But I wasn't in hell now. I was alone on the land of the enemy. I wasn't safe.

I climbed the barbed wire fence and headed into the bush. If we weren't in Hell, any bush would do. It was where we belonged, but I didn't know this area. I didn't even know if I was still in Stratton. I tried to walk diagonally across and away from the gate hoping that there might be a clearing or a barn or something that wasn't nothing, but I only found trees.

I walked about half a k when I heard a scream. It was young female and she was scared, not just "oh no a spider" scared, scared for her life scared. Straight away I thought it was Fi. I knew Ellie well enough to know that she wouldn't do that. She would die with the pride of not letting her murderer know he was affecting her (if that makes sense).

I heard the scream again, this time louder than before. I started to sprint in the direction it was coming from. The trees were getting thinner; soon I would have no cover and I had no weapons. Was Fi's life worth the risk of mine? How can I even think that? Of course it is. And I knew that then, so I ran.

When I got to the edge of the trees, I stopped and squatted, hiding behind a fallen tree. I didn't see anyone, there were no guns pointing in my direction, no smoke. None of the usual signs of danger. There were no gunshots. I heard the screaming again. It seemed safe so I took the risk and charged up a hill that looked like it could give me enough cover until I could see what was going on.

I ran to the top, keeping low and looking around me, ready to duck at the first sign of danger. With all the time I spent looking around me, I didn't look ahead of me. As I made my way over the top of the hill, the ground suddenly ran out and I landed with a splash into a huge dam. I resurfaced and gasped for breath. The fall had come as such a shock. I quickly scanned the surface of the dam and saw a head struggling to stay above the water. It was an enemy. Not a soldier, but an enemy all the same.

Since I'm such an elite athlete, I swam over to her and saved her life. As I got to her, I saw a pleading look in her eyes before she went under.  I was determined to save this girl. I don't know why. Maybe what Kevin said triggered a liking to all Asians? Or maybe the sound of struggle in her voice, the look in her eyes, I knew I just had to do it. I couldn't leave her to die.

I dove under the water to try and find her body. On the third time I was lucky. I pulled her up and held her head out of the water. I brought her to the edge of the dam and lay her down. I looked around again, hoping that it wasn't a trap. I thought that maybe the enemy was trying to lure me into saving her. But there was no one. I looked back down at the skinny, dark girl. I thought I would have to give her mouth-to-mouth, but as I put my head down to start, she spat out water all over my face. At that point I felt like chucking up on her (sweet revenge), but women always get their way and I guess her way was to get away with me!