Free Outside by Shalini Boland Page A

didn’t pay much attention. Funny to think of it all the way over here. I click it, but it just sparks impotently.
    We hurry back through the street market, towards the car park. Nobody stops us as we pass through the exit door. I immediately spot the huge AV at the other end of the car park, which is just as well as neither of us had thought to take note of where we’d parked.
    Luc’s quiet. He seems annoyed.
    ‘Are you cross with me for making us come here?’ I ask.
    ‘No. No, course not,’ he replies. ‘I’m just annoyed at that bloke. We gave him way too much of our stash. I feel like an idiot.’
    ‘There was nothing else we could do. It’s only a few packs of cigarettes and we’ve got loads more.’
    ‘I suppose. We better get going. We can’t be anywhere near Ringwood when night falls.’
    ‘What about if we stay here until tomorrow?’ I say. ‘See if we can find any more people who knew Chambers. Maybe we’ll find out some other stuff about him.’
    ‘We could, but I think we’re too close to home and I don’t want to risk anyone recognising us. They’d probably be rewarded for taking us back.’
    ‘But who would recognise us?’
    ‘Any of the workers who come to our Perimeter. Some of the guards’ families live here too. Anybody really. That’s why I didn’t want to come here in the first place, but I understand why you wanted to. I just think we’re lucky no one’s spotted us yet. I don’t want to push it.’
    ‘Okay.’
    ‘It gets dark about half seven, eight. We need to go now. Once we get on the road we’ll be able to pick up some real speed.
    We head out of the compound and onwards to find the road.
    Luc was right about picking up speed once we hit the Wessex Way. It feels like we’re flying. The speedo now reads an impressive thirty five miles per hour, a massive improvement on the measly five to ten we’d gotten used to on the rough ground.
    The Wessex Way is a dual carriageway that used to be divided along its length by metal crash barriers. These have long since been removed and now the central reservation is choked with weeds, bushes and trees, so you can’t see the other side of the road. This suits us fine as we’re not keen to meet any other vehicles anyway. We pass nobody and, about three quarters of an hour later, we come to a huge roundabout.
    Luc brakes as we get closer and it’s a good thing he does, as three large army trucks rumble straight across our path and away, to our right. They don’t stop to give way to us or to check us out, thank goodness.
    ‘They’re heading to Ringwood,’ Luc says. ‘We’re going to be driving in that direction for a while, until we turn off north to Salisbury.’
    ‘Shall we wait a bit, so they get a good head start?’ I ask. ‘I don’t like the idea of driving right behind them.’
    ‘Definitely. It’s only four and it shouldn’t take more than an hour to get clear of Ringwood.’
    ‘Good,’ I reply.
    ‘I’m going to close my eyes for ten minutes.’ He yawns and stretches. ‘Keep a look out, Riley and wake me if you see anything.’
    He parks up on the grass verge and switches off the engine. My mind wanders over all we’ve seen this morning and I ponder the sheltered existence I’ve led.
    I try to imagine what Skye would have made of it all, sure she would have felt a lot braver than me in the same situation. She was always up for anything. I’m overcome with a wash of sadness that she’ll never have the opportunity to experience anything like this. I want to tell her all about it and see the look on her face as I describe the Charminster Compound, the horseman, everything.
    I study Luc’s sleeping face It’s so familiar. I’ve known him all my life, but he feels different to me now. We’re closer than we ever were before.
    I suddenly worry in case I’ve missed something on the road, or that Luc might wake to find me looking at him. That would be too mortifying to contemplate, so I quickly turn away