Numbers 3: Infinity Read Free

had a drone up here, too.’ He grins. ‘Shot it out of the sky.’
    ‘I heard bikes this afternoon when I was looking for Mia,’ Sarah says to me, quietly.
    I jump to my feet. ‘Shit, we gotta get out of here.’
    Sarah frowns. ‘Not now, Adam. Not in the dark.’
    ‘Didn’t you hear what he just said?’
    She shakes her head. ‘It’s dark. And we’re all tired.’
    ‘We’re going in the morning then,’ I say. ‘First light.’ I sit down again, slowly, but I can’t eat no more. The stew is sitting in my stomach like a stone. I can’t keep still. My legs are jiggling, ready to run.
    The buzz of conversation starts up again. ‘We can’t keep on the move for ever,’ Sarah says, quietly. ‘We’ve been at it for two years, Adam, and I can’t walk miles any more.’
    I look at her swelling belly. We don’t know exactly how far gone she is but it must be seven or eight months.
    ‘And what about my brothers?’ she says. ‘Mia. They need to live somewhere. They need a home. We all do.’
    Home. I had a home once. Seems like years ago, but it stopped being home once Mum died. And I had another one, with Nan, ’cept I never realised what I’d got ’til it had gone and so had she.
    ‘Home’s not a place, Sarah, it’s people. We got all we need with us.’
    ‘We need more people,’ she says. ‘I’m going to have a baby, if you hadn’t noticed. I had Mia on my own, on a grotty bathroom floor in the squat, and I want this to be different. Daniel’s a doctor. We have to stay here. And we can’t run faster than motorbikes. If they want to find us, they will.’
    She don’t get it. Even after all this time, she don’tunderstand how bad it is to be handcuffed, thrown in a cell, completely powerless.
    ‘I’m not going to be found, Sarah. No one’s going to take me away from you and lock me up again. No one.’
    I’m shouting now. Everyone around the fire falls silent, looking at me or looking away.
    ‘All right,’ she says, keeping her voice low. ‘We’ll talk about it later.’
    I take no notice of her and plough on. ‘Think about what staying means. I’m not being paranoid. There are people after me.’
    ‘Yeah, after you.’
    So that’s it. Her words sting like a slap on the face.
    People begin to gather up their bowls and drift away.
    ‘Come on, boys,’ Daniel says to Marty and Luke. ‘I’ll take you back to your tent.’
    The boys trudge off. The laughter and the warmth of the meal’s gone from their faces. Marty looks worried.
    Then it’s just Sarah and me and Mia by the fire. ‘Do you want me to go?’ I say.
    Her eyes flick up to mine and then away. ‘We can’t keep running like this, Adam.’
    ‘Do you want me to leave you here?’ I say.
    ‘Mummy Daddy cross?’ Mia says, in a little voice. Her eyes are fixed on us, missing nothing.
    ‘I’m not cross,’ Sarah says quickly. I force a smile at Mia, but I know she’s not buying it.
    ‘I’m chipped,’ I say, trying to carry on the argument. ‘Mia’s chipped. That drone could’ve picked us up and sent our location back to wherever, whoever, it came from. Even if it didn’t, I’m so bloody recognisable.’ Almost without thinking I put my hand up to my scarred skin. ‘If we stay it’llonly be days before they find us. Maybe hours. And then what?’
    ‘We don’t even know what they want, Adam. They might want to shake you by the hand and thank you. Perhaps you saved them, too.’
    There’s something about the way she says it, an edge. Like she’s mocking me. I can’t stand it. My hand finds a piece of wood, and I launch it into the fire with such force that sparks fly up. Sarah flinches and Mia jumps, but it don’t stop me. I pick up another log and do the same.
    ‘I didn’t ask for this, Sarah. I didn’t ask for none of this. I never wanted to see numbers. I never wanted all this death in my head, all this pain.’
    Mia’s eyes are filling with tears, and Sarah’s not looking at me. I know I’m