Now it was Gabe’s club.
For a fleeting second, Sylvain’s gaze met hers. ‘Run, Allie.’
She shook her head. ‘I’m not leaving you.’
Anger flashed in his eyes. ‘Run. Now.’
‘Yes.’ Gabe didn’t turn around to look at her; his tone was sardonic. ‘Run, Allie. You don’t want to see this. I’ll come and get you in a minute. And I will pay you back for kicking me in the balls.’
As Allie watched in horror he swung the club at Sylvain’s head. At the last second, Sylvain feinted to the right but the branch clipped his shoulder. His cry of pain seared her. But Sylvain stayed on his feet and responded with a vicious elbow to Gabe’s gut.
A sob burning her throat, Allie turned and ran into the woods. Behind her she heard Gabe’s voice, as confident as ever. ‘She’s gone now. You can relax. I can’t believe you’re messing with Carter’s girl, Sylvain. That’s not like you. Usually you like them all fresh and unsullied.’
A sound like meat being slapped on to a countertop followed. But Allie was searching for something now and she tried to block the sounds from her mind. Seeing Sylvain’s makeshift club had reminded her of a Night School class on found weapons. At the time, she’d thought it all a bit ridiculous and fairly simple. But nobody had been trying to kill Sylvain then. Suddenly it wasn’t simple at all.
Whispering to herself, she crashed through the undergrowth with her torch, searching. She found what she was looking for at the exact moment Sylvain cried out in pain – a tormented sound she felt in her bones.
She switched off the torch.
It took a second for her eyes to readjust then, moving stealthily, she made her way back to the footpath. The sounds of their fight grew as she neared them. Whatever had just happened, Sylvain was still on his feet.
Seeing a hiding spot behind a young oak tree just off the path, she headed towards it. They were too absorbed in their fight to see her. She was almost in position when she skidded on a stone. As if he knew it was her, Sylvain spun towards the sound and in that split second of inattention, Gabe wrapped his forearm across his throat, tightening it with his other hand.
Stricken, Allie stared at them from her hiding place. She knew this move well. With Gabe’s greater height and weight there was no way Sylvain could escape. She and Zoe practised it all the time – Zoe could never get free.
All Mr Patel ever said was ‘Don’t get yourself in this position.’
‘An amateur’s mistake, Sylvain,’ Gabe whispered. His arm cut off the air through Sylvain’s windpipe – his face was already turning purple. His hands grasped feebly at Gabe’s arm. Without oxygen he’d be unconscious in seconds.
Dead in minutes.
For a fleeting second the realisation that he could actually die froze her in place. But she had to move. Now.
This isn’t real, Allie, she told herself. It’s just Night School practice. None of this is real. Just do what you have to do. Raj Patel is watching.
Busy taunting Sylvain, Gabe hadn’t noticed her. Maybe he hadn’t heard the noise that had caused Sylvain to lose focus in the first place.
Gripping the slender, sharp stick she’d found in the woods, Allie steeled herself. When she sprang out from behind the tree a second later she held it like a knife and, without a second’s hesitation, she drove it with all the force she could muster into Gabe’s shoulder.
She’d thought it would most likely scratch him and bounce off. Or break.
But she’d chosen her weapon and her target well and, instead, horribly, the muscle and flesh gave way.
Gabe screamed and, as he reached for the stake protruding from his skin, Allie grabbed Sylvain’s hand, pulling him free. He was bloodied and struggling to breathe, but he was alive.
‘You little bitch,’ Gabe gasped. ‘You stabbed me.’ Grasping the stake, he tried to pull it out then screamed again, letting go.
‘You little …’
‘Yeah I know, “bitch”,’ Allie snapped. ‘You said that already.’
Adrenaline coursed through her veins like alcohol and she wanted to hit Gabe again and again but Sylvain was pulling her away. He was saying something she couldn’t make out – his voice was faint.
‘What is it?’ she asked, leaning closer to him.
Up close she could really see what Gabe had done to him, and her heart ached – he was bleeding in so many places she didn’t know where a doctor would even start. But then she heard what he’d been trying to say.
‘Run.’ Limping, his breath rasping, he pulled her with him, and they rushed into the darkness.
Sylvain clung to her hand so fiercely it hurt but she didn’t care; she didn’t want to let go of him either. He knew these woods well – he seemed to know exactly where they were all the time, pausing only to wipe the blood out of his eyes. As the saplings whizzed by inches from her body and twigs tore at her hair and clothes, Allie found herself surrendering to the situation – fearless. The further they ran the better she felt. Her muscles were loose and strong – she was powerful. She had a strange desire to laugh.
When they broke through the treeline and sped out on to the smooth grassy lawn in front of the school building she did laugh. They’d made it.
But as they crossed the grass, a cluster of shadows broke loose from the trees and ran into their path.
Their footsteps slowed and Allie looked around, bewildered; Sylvain pulled her closer as the shadows approached them and became people – Raj’s security guards.