The one thing I could think of, as people wandered around the hall looking for people or sitting in groups crying or hugging, was Gavin. I had to know if he was ok. My mind raced, always thinking of the worst. "Assume the worst, but hope for the best," is one of the ways I got through the war. I had to prepare myself for the worst but never lose hope that things would be all right. And the worst that I could think of was if Gavin was hurt or killed.

I looked around the room, once again, and watched the chaos of students repeating the names of their brothers or sisters as they searched frantically through the crowd. A group of boys who had protested, lay slumped over each other in the corner as the soldiers added a last few kicks to their injuries.

Every second person was crying, or holding an injured arm, or face, or leg.

Just when I had thought life might finally go back to how it was before the war, I realised we were suddenly thrown back into the danger, and the thrill and adrenaline rush that would come with it. I wasn't sure if I was ready for it again though.

I shook my head and focused on the one thing that was important right now, finding Gavin. He was the only family I had left. I didn't want to lose him, but with the huge amount of people at the school since the war, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. I wandered around pushed through endless groups of people.

I knew that, even though he copes quite well with it, Gavin's deafness could have gotten him in trouble. If he didn't understand what the soldiers were telling them to do they may think he was uncooperative and be punished. As my gaze passed over the hall I sent up a silent prayer that he would be okay. The next thing I knew, strong arms had wrapped around my waist and Gavin spun me around to face him.

Someone must have heard my prayer and answered it.

"Gavin! Are you all right? Did they hurt you?"

"I'm fine. Where are the others?" He replied in his throaty voice. Besides a few scratches and bruises he looked fine so I concentrated on his question. Scanning the room once more, I spotted the rest of our group on the side of the stage, partially hidden by the curtains.

Jess, Gavin and I hobbled over to them. With a busted knee, gushing leg, aching shoulder and bleeding face between us, it was slow going. We must have been a strange sight.

Nearing the group, Fi turned and saw us.

"Oh Ellie! Jess! What happened? Are you ok?" She ran over and helped us up the steps and lowered us gently to the ground.

"They bashed us when Jess tripped over." I replied bluntly. We had more important things to worry about than where we got hurt.

As Fi bandaged Jess' bleeding leg with her scarf, I remembered that I still hadn't asked what happened.

"How did you hurt your leg Jess?"

" I ducked as soon as you yelled and I heard the first shot. I don't really know what happened next, but there was a rush of people to the door and someone knocked over my table. Someone else must have knocked it back the other way because the leg of it sliced straight into my leg. She grimaced as she recalled the damage to her leg.

"Ellie, get over here!" Homer called to me from a few meters away.

I hobbled over and found what looked like a war council, and it might well have been. Homer, Kevin, Lee, Bronte and Gavin were in a circle discussing the situation and trying to think of ways to escape.

"We could attack them. I'm sure we would be able to find some things to use as weapons around somewhere," Lee said.

"The old sets from when we did that musical a few years back are still in the drama cupboard next to the bathrooms at the back of the hall. There were lots of planks of wood there and some metal poles that held up the sets," Fi contributed.

"We can organise the older kids and teachers and take them by surprise. There aren't that many of them," Lee continued.

"There's no way that's going to work," I interrupted, "There are heaps of them. Dozens and dozens. They streamed through the gates like a plague of rats. We can't fight them all and anyway, they have guns."

The group was silent for a few minutes, thinking over what I had just said and starting to lose hope.

"Well, if we cant get rid of them, we're just going to have to escape," I said, earning a sly grin from Gavin.

"What did you have in mind?" Bronte asked.

I just gave her a slight smile, "Wait 'til you hear this."

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