Free Renegade by Kerry Wilkinson Page B

directions. I thought I would be able to follow the map at night but get lost too quickly. He instantly seems to know where north is and finds safe spots that
allow some of us to sleep as the lookout pairings are able to see for miles. Jela has become a nurse of sorts to Hart, who cannot hide how much he is struggling. He doesn’t cough as often as
he did but there are blood speckles on his clothes again where he cannot control himself. Pietra, meanwhile, just listens and watches. She knows she doesn’t have the natural ability Faith
does, but she takes everything on board and is able to offer ideas.
    Midway through the third night, Faith tells us we are close to the edges of her home town. Middle England, Rom and the broken communications are in the distance but she leads us onto a ridge
overlooking the area in which she grew up, before we find a spot to settle. Although it is more dangerous to be out during the day, Faith says her parents will be in a cabin a few miles away, a
spot where they spend a few weeks each summer. She insists no one else knows about it.
    There is glee in her voice as we plan to set off as soon as the sun rises. I am pleased for her but can feel something deep in my stomach, knowing that if her family aren’t around then
there is a reasonable chance my mother, Colt and Opie are in serious danger.

8
    Travelling as a group of six during the night is one thing, but having our sought-after faces in the open during the day is a risk too far. As soon as the first wisps of
sunlight begin to appear, I ask Imrin, Pietra and Hart to wait and then Faith, Jela and myself head down the brow and trace the line of hedges until we are on the outskirts of the town.
    It is a strange thing to notice but Faith walks differently as she leads us around the edge of the town and across a cobbled bridge before we reach a large field. There is almost a skip to her
step and she cannot stop smiling. ‘This is the long way round,’ she says. ‘There won’t be anyone who sees us this way, so we’ll be safer.’
    I ask her to tell us about the cabin.
    ‘It’s on the edge of a lake not far out of town. It was built by my dad’s dad and was handed down. We save up our food and sneak there every summer for a week or so. As long as
we’re back to collect rations, no one notices. We’ve never told anyone about it because, well, you don’t, do you? It’s not good for people to know you have something they
don’t.’
    She’s right about that.
    ‘You don’t have any brothers or sisters, do you?’ I ask.
    ‘No, it’s just me.’
    As Faith leads us over the top of the field, we emerge into a small patch of trees that overlooks a lake. The water is a deep blue as the sun twinkles from the surface. There is a thin strip of
brown sand around the edge and a smattering of wooden shacks in various states of disrepair close to a muddy trail.
    ‘Does anyone else stay here?’ Jela asks.
    ‘Not at this time of the year. There are a few people when it is summer but we all keep ourselves to ourselves. It’s not good to ask questions.’
    Faith is keen to knock on her family’s cabin door but I sit on the ground and tell her we should wait. After thirty minutes of no movement in or out of any of the shacks, the sun has fully
risen and the frost that made the ground crackle under our footsteps now makes our descent to the lake a perilous mixture of sliding and grabbing onto tree trunks for support.
    Faith is in her element and if I hadn’t shushed her, she would be shrieking with pleasure.
    The cabins back onto another area of woodland, so we dash across the trail and stay within the tree line until Faith points us to the one that is theirs. It is the largest one and I am annoyed
at my own prejudice. Because she is a Trog, I expected something run-down.
    ‘I have my own room at the back,’ Faith says, sounding pleased with herself. ‘It’s probably the same size as our actual house.’
    There are windows that