She just had to keep on being strong.

  She just had to keep on going.

  She wasn’t sure how much further she walked, how much more time passed. She just knew that the trail was still on the road. The tire tracks were still present. And as long as they were present, she had to keep on following them. She couldn’t even contemplate what she’d do with herself if they ended, or if she lost track of them. She didn’t want to think about that.

  She just focused on following them, one step at a time.

  Because that was how she was going to get to her son.

  It was another half an hour later when Steve and his family stopped.

  “Lily,” Steve said. And he said it in that voice that always preceded something of disappointment.

  She understood it. ’Course she did. This wasn’t just about her. There were other people here, too. She couldn’t expect them to go marching along with her to the ends of the Earth. That alone would be selfish of her.

  But… she couldn’t just give up now, could she?

  “No,” Lily said. “I can’t stop.”

  “We’re going to burn ourselves out. I appreciate what you’re trying to do. I respect what you’re trying to do. But my wife and I have to think about our own children, too. You should think about yourself. About your dog.”

  “I’m thinking about my family,” Lily said.

  “Lily,” Becky said, stepping closer towards her. “Sometimes, looking after your family means looking after yourself. You’re never going to reach your son if you can’t walk another step.”

  “I’ve got plenty of steps left in me,” Lily said, determined to hold her ground. “You can stay here. You can find somewhere to spend the night. I… I don’t want to leave you, but I appreciate if you need to do that. Really, I do. But there’s only one way I can go right now. There’s only one road I can follow. And that road leads to my son.”

  She saw the looks in the eyes of Steve and his family and she knew right then they understood.

  And then she saw something else.

  Becky’s eyes. They weren’t looking at Lily. Not directly.

  They were looking behind Lily.

  She felt her skin turn cold. She didn’t want to turn around. She didn’t want to face whatever was behind her.

  Because she knew what was in that direction.

  She knew which way the coach had gone.

  Which way her son had gone.

  When she turned around, at first, she didn’t understand what she was looking at.

  There was nothing. Nothing immediately visible.

  Then she saw the smoke.

  When she saw it, she didn’t understand it at all. She could see smoke climbing.

  And she could see a glimmer of orange underneath it, too.

  When she saw that orange… every muscle in her body went weak.

  “Lily,” a voice behind her said. Becky’s, Steve’s, she wasn’t sure.

  She didn’t care.

  Smoke.

  Fire.

  Right ahead of her.

  Right in the direction her son’s coach had been heading.

  There was only one thing she could do.

  “Lily!”

  She started to run. It hurt her blistered feet, made her weakened knees flare up.

  But it was all she could do.

  Run down the road.

  Run towards the smoke.

  Run towards the flames.

  She felt her heart begin to race. She felt the confident mask slipping all over again.

  But no. She couldn’t let that happen.

  She had to stay strong.

  She had to keep going.

  She had to face whatever was ahead of her.

  “Lily!” Steve called. He sounded far away now.

  Lily reached the trees. She could see the orange flames just metres away now. The smoke was tickling at the back of her throat.

  She had to look.

  She had to see.

  She had to know.

  She took a deep breath and looked at Beast as he tilted his head beside her.

  Then, she looked back up at the source of the fire.

  She stepped from behind the trees.

  When she saw it, all of her worst nightmares were confirmed.

  It was a coach.

  A coach just like the one Alex departed on when she’d waved him goodbye at the weekend.

  The coach had crashed.

  And it was on fire.

  FIFTY-FIVE

  BETHANY

  DAY TWO: 6:30 P.M

  Bethany and Susan kept on walking in the direction Dan’s captors had gone and tried not to lose hope.

  And not for the first time on this journey, Bethany wondered what on earth they were going to do when they found them.

  Or rather, if they found them.

  The clouds were thickening over. The sun was well and truly hidden now. In a way, it made walking easier. Bethany always struggled walking in the sun. Didn’t like the burning sensation on the back of her neck or on her arms. She was relieved for a little bit of cloud.

  But really, the weather was the least of her concerns right now.

  She looked at the little village up ahead and her stomach turned. There were large, detached houses perched atop the hill. A children’s play area, seemingly abandoned. But eerily enough, it seemed like there was nobody here. It must’ve been a sleepy village at the best of times, but right now it seemed like either everyone had shut up shop and confined themselves to their homes or gone off in search of someplace more suitable for their survival.

  Bethany hoped for the latter. She wasn’t in the mood for confrontation with anyone right now.

  Anyone but Dan’s captors.

  She listened to Susan’s footsteps echoing beside her. She was relieved for Susan’s presence. It comforted her, but not in a “fall back and rely on any person” way that she used to always slip into. It comforted her because nobody deserved to be lonely in this world. It comforted her to know that Susan wasn’t alone either. Especially after what’d happened to Olly.

  They had this.

  They were going to succeed, whatever success meant.

  Bethany was going to make sure of it.

  She took a deep breath of the cooling evening air. She could still smell the faint hint of fish and chips, a sure sign that they were approaching the coast. She didn’t know where exactly they were anymore. It didn’t really matter.

  They were on the right path.

  They had to be on the right path.

  Dan’s life might just depend on it.

  “I can’t.”

  Bethany stopped. She turned around.

  Susan had her hands on her knees.

  Tears rolled down her face. Her hair looked long and straggly. She always looked so pristine, but right now she looked a mess.

  Bethany wanted to be stern with her. But she knew she couldn’t. Susan was grieving. She was lost, just like they all were.

  The last thing she should be right now is cold.

  She put a hand on Susan’s back, and she said the words she know she’d want someone to say to her if they were here to say them. “You aren’t on your own. Don’t forget that.”

  “I’m not as strong as you.”

  “No. You’re wrong about that,” Bethany said. “You know, I’ve spent the last four years of my life just bobbing along with the waves, going with the flow, never really making a mark in any significant kind of way. And it’s held me back. It’s held me back so much and it’s only now that I’ve really been able to see it.

  “I know it’s impossible. I know it’s something you can’t just believe because it seems so… abstract. But if you believe in yourself, you can achieve anything. You can push yourself further than you ever thought. Okay?”

  She looked Bethany in the eyes. “But believing won’t bring Olly back.”

  Bethany swallowed a lump in her throat. “No. No it won’t. But it’s going to get us Dan back. We have to believe that.”

  Susan took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. She stood back up tall. “I wish I had your optimism,” she said. “I just keep thinking of his face. I was… I was going to split up with him, you know?”

  Bethany wasn’t sure she could hear this right now.

  “This trip,” Susan continued. “It was supposed to be the final straw. The final test. To see how, well, compatible we still were. And we’ve barely spoken to each other. We just… aren’t what we used to be. And it made me realise we didn’t really have much in common anymore anyway. We were probably better as friends. And that’s kind of what we became again.”

  “Susan,” Bethany said.

  But Susan continued. “And I saw you and him together, and I’m not saying anything would have happened, but… well, I realised there was someone more suitable for him out there. And there had to be someone more suitable for me out there, too. There were no ill feelings. Nothing like that. But it was about to end. I just…”

  She gulped. Sobbed a little more.

  “I miss him. My best friend. My love. So, so much. And seeing the look on his face. When they did that to him. It was… it was so wrong. So unfair. He didn’t deserve that. Nobody deserves that.”

  A pause. Neither of them spoke.

  “I just wish I could go back and show him how much I appreciated him this weekend. Saw more of the positives than the negatives. Because there were so many. So, so many. He was a beautiful soul. And I’m going to miss him. So much.”

  Again, neither of them spoke. Bethany waited til Susan had stopped crying before finally speaking again. Breaking the silence.

  “He knew how much you loved him. And how much you cared. And…”

  She stopped, then.

  She stopped because she’d heard something.

  “Did you hear that?” Bethany asked.

  Susan narrowed her eyes and frowned. “Hear what?”

  “Ssh. Just…”

  She waited and listened to the breeze, pulse racing in her ears. And as she listened, she started to think she’d maybe just been imagining things. It was a figment of her mind. She hadn’t heard anything, not really.

  And then she saw them.

  She turned around and saw the movement in the front window of one of the big, detached houses.

  And when she did, her body turned to stone.

  “Get down,” she said.

  Susan frowned. “What?”

  “Just get down.”

  She crouched down slowly, as did Bethany.

  And as they looked up into that front window, the reality of the situation dawned on Bethany.

  Dan’s captors were in that house.

  They had Dan.

  And they were beating him.

  Hard.

  FIFTY-SIX

  LILY

  DAY TWO: 9:30 P.M

  When Lily saw the burning mass of the wrecked coach up ahead in the distance—it looked like it had veered off road and slammed into a tree,—she did the only thing a mother could do when she feared her son might be in there.

  She took a deep breath, swallowed all her fear and rushed towards it.

  It was Alex’s coach. She couldn’t even begin to consider any alternative possibilities. It was Alex’s coach, and he was inside there. He was inside there, and she needed to get to it. She needed to get to him. And she needed to help him.

  Before it was too late.

  That anxiety was still all over her. Still coursing through her bloodstream. Pumping through her system. And it was threatening to get stronger. To grow to even more debilitating new levels.

  But onwards she walked. Jogged. Picked up her speed.

  Because if there was even the slightest chance Alex was in there—or anyone for that matter, anyone she could save—then that’s what she needed to do.

  Exactly what she needed to do.

  And that’s where she needed to continue heading.

  And nothing could stop her.

  Nothing could get in her way.

  Not fear.

  Not anxiety.

  Nothing.

  She knew where she had to go, and she knew what she had to do.

  The closer she got to the coach, the more the heat from the flames built up all around her. She started to question whether this was madness, or suicide. In truth, it was probably both.

  But if her son was in there, so be it.

  Just as long as she stayed alive long enough to get him out of there, that was all she could pray for right now.

  All she could dream of.

  She heard Beast whining by her side. She looked down at him, tears filling her eyes, and tickled the top of his head. She wanted Beast by her side at all times. She felt lost without him. Truly terrified without him. Even before all of this crap of the last couple of days.

  But this was different.

  This right now was different, and she knew it.

  “You’re going to wait here this time, boy,” she said.

  Beast tilted his head, trying to understand what she was saying, what she was doing.

  “You can’t come with me. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  He sat down and let out a little whine, like he understood exactly what Lily was saying to him.

  She turned and looked at the coach.

  The flames seemed isolated to the front of the vehicle as it stood, which meant the crash must’ve been pretty recent. There was an emergency door at the back, and a smashed window. If she could get in through there, maybe she could find a way to search for her Alex.

  He had to be near the back. He just had to be.

  She ran closer towards the rear of the coach, knowing full well that time was of the essence.

  She heard footsteps beside her.

  Beast was still following her.

  She felt the tears begin to roll down her cheeks as she looked at her beautiful, loyal dog. They’d been together for so long. They’d fought so much hostility together, taken on the world together.

  And somehow, as much as Lily hated to admit it, this felt like goodbye.

  She collapsed to the ground and wrapped her arms around Beast as he covered her with licks.

  “I’ll miss you, boy. I love you.”

  Then she rubbed her tear-soaked cheeks on his fur and backed away.

  This time, he didn’t follow.

  This time, it seemed like he understood.

  She turned and faced the coach. The emergency door, or the smashed window at the back. The window was a little higher, but if she could get there it gave her the quickest chance of searching inside.

  She looked around for something to climb up on, but to no avail. And in the end, she found herself at the side of the coach, looking up at the bumps and indentations on its side.

  She was going to have to face it like it was a wall.

  She was going to have to climb it.

  She stretched out her right hand and tried to tighten it around the first of the bolts on its side.

  Her fingers slipped away right on cue.

  She took a few deep breaths. She couldn’t let that knock her down. She had to get herself back together and keep on going.

  She grabbed at the bolt again.

  This time, she got a hold.

  She knew this first pull upwards was going to be a key one. She knew she had to get this just right. If she didn’t, then her chances of climbing this coach at all were surely slim.

  She took a deep breath.

  Then she hoisted herself up.

  At first, she thought she wasn’t going to make it. She didn’t feel like she was strong enough. Down on the ground, Beast was barking at her.

  But she was moving upwards.

  She was holding on to the edge of the coach window.

  She was⁠—

  She felt an intense sharpness in her left hand.

  The window. The broken glass. She’d cut herself. Shit.

  Every instinct told her to let go, as blood dribbled down the side of the vehicle.

  But that determination to be reunited with her son kept her holding on.

  She pulled herself up, shouting out with the pain, eager to push through whatever was thrown at her.

  When she reached the window, her momentary relief was met with pure horror.

  She didn’t want to describe the scene ahead of her. She didn’t really want to interpret it in any way other than utterly horrible.

  But there were bodies in here.

  Some of the seats were empty.

  But…

  There were bodies in here.

  Teachers.

  And children.

  She resisted the urge to vomit. To pass out.

  She had to keep on hoping she wouldn’t see Alex like this. Because that would be the end. The absolute end.

  She pulled herself over the edge of the window, cutting her stomach in the process, then landed with a slam on the back seats.

  She rolled around, bleeding and in pain. She looked down the aisle of the coach. The flames were creeping their way up. She didn’t have long to find Alex. She was going to have to get out of here. Fast.

  She checked the first of the seats. No sign.

  Then the next.

  Then the next and the next until her heart began to race and she started to wonder whether this was even the right coach at all, whether she’d made an error of judgement and Alex was in a different coach all along.

  She searched and searched and searched, time running out.

  She felt herself giving up.

  No.

  She couldn’t let herself.

  She had to keep on going.

  So she checked again.

  And again.

  And again.

  And just when all hope was gone…

  “Mum?”

  Lily looked at the front of the coach.

  When she saw him, every other surrounding faded into the background.

  Alex was at the front of the coach.

  The flames were just metres from him.

  It looked like he was stuck.

  “Alex,” Lily gasped.

  She didn’t think, she just ran down the aisle, ran towards him. Because he was here. Even if just for a moment, he was here, and she was beside him.

  “Alex,” she said.

  She wrapped her arms around him and tucked her face into his neck.