A car had been slowing down, driving along the road that passed the school. Not just any car though. A patrol car. Looking for anyone out there like us.
I tugged frantically at the doors but they were locked. Homer pulled his jumper off and put it up against the window and in one swift movement, hit it with his fist, knocking the glass out. It made a hell of a noise! I spun round checking if the patrol car had stopped or could see us.
The coast was clear as far as I could see. Quickly and carefully we pulled all the jagged bits of glass from the window. The only thing that was hiding us from sight of the road was the benches and a small wall. But it was a matter of seconds before the patrol car would pass the wall and see us.
'Robyn first!' Homer whispered, lifting Robyn through the window.
She wriggled through and gracefully landed on both feet on the ground, then moved all the glass out of the way of the window so we didn't stand on it, once again, she was thinking about others instead of herself. I had a lot of respect for her.
I went next, but my climb through the window wasn't as graceful as Robyn's had been. I helped Lee struggle through, trying to make sure he didn't fall on his head. Homer followed him, diving straight through and landing on his stomach. We finished pulling all the bits of glass out of the small wooden window so it would look like glass was actually in it, then hurried along into one of the empty classrooms.
We chose the small art room. It had only a few small windows and a store room that had a back exit and no windows at all, it would be good in case we needed to escape quickly.
We hid down behind the teacher's desk right as we saw the lights from the patrol car shine through the 5 low windows that stretched across the front of the room, as it passed by. The lights started to fade and the noise of the car began to disappear, indicating that the patrol was gone.
'How often do you think they will come past?' Homer asked no one in particular.
'Every 30 minutes usually. I've been hiding in the bushes, watching them but I needed food. That's the only reason I came out. I didn't even notice you guys out in the bush.' Lee said.
I realized that he probably hadn't had much food for the past 3 weeks! Feeling around in my pack I pulled out a small packet of vita-wheat biscuits and passed them to him. Straight away he tore away the packet and devoured the biscuits in seconds.
'Lee, what exactly have you been doing for the past 3 weeks?' I asked, wondering to myself how he hadn't been captured.
We sat back in more of a comfortable position and made sure it was safe, then, with Homer sitting a little higher up, on watch, we listened to Lee's story.
'Well, I guess I should start with the night of attack on the houses. I had caught up with you and Fi, as you know, and then I remember riding along beside you towards Mrs Alexandra's house, like we had all agreed, but when I looked to the left to where you and Fi had been, you were both suddenly gone. So I stopped and looked around trying to get a glimpse of you. But I couldn't see anyone. Everything was quiet. Then there was another explosion from one of the houses, Homers I assume it was, and debris and flames were flying everywhere! I was still close, so I started peddling like mad towards where I thought our meeting place was. Burning hot bits of the house were landing on me, raining down on me like a shower. Unfortunately I must have taken a wrong turn and because I was in such a panic to find you and to not get hit by anything I ended riding right into a patrol that were heading out to check what was going on at the houses up on the hill.' Lee hesitated, cringing. And that's when I noticed the bruises and burns on his arms and legs.