course, he was doing a fine job of pretending to be a tree, in which case his shock of crazy blond hair should still have given him away.
Ryan and Daisy were standing in the bottom of a shallow hollow, maybe only a couple of feet deep. All around them were snow-laden trees, their boughs straining under their thick, white loads.
Suddenly a thin beam of torchlight cut through the misty night air ahead of them and instinctively they hunkered down to escape its glare. They had no idea whether or not it was a friendly light but, having watched their tutor creeping warily through the same wood shortly before they entered the dream, there was every chance they wanted to steer clear of it.
‘Who do you think it is?’ asked Daisy, her voice so hushed that a snowflake landing on her shoulder could well have drowned it out.
‘No idea, but Tristram headed towards them so I think we should too. Maybe they know something about Sophie’s whereabouts.’
‘They?’
‘Yeah, look…’
A second torchlight had joined the first and together they danced and weaved through the trees, picking out features that hadn’t previously been visible and casting long shadows across the snow.
‘Are they coming this way?’
‘Maybe, but we should be okay. They don’t know we’re here so surely they can’t be looking for us.’
‘So what should we do?’
‘Try and get near them; see who they are and try to figure out what’s going on here.’
‘You mean try and figure out what the story is?’
‘Exactly. That should help us work out where we need to go.’
‘Shouldn’t we wait for Billy?’
‘No. Chances are he’s buggered off on his own anyway. Besides, he’s hardly going to want to see me after what I did to him, is he? One way or another we need to move. My hands are bloody freezing. Look; they’re heading away. Let’s go.’
They began to creep slowly out of the hollow.
‘I wouldn’t go that way if I were you.’
The voice behind them caused them both to jump. Ryan rounded on its owner.
‘Christ Bambi, what did you do that for?’
‘So I could see you crap your pants, Butler. It’s the least I could do after you slam-dunked me into this place.’
Ryan gave a small smirk.
‘Yeah, well you were being a moron. Anyway, what’s wrong with that way?’
‘There are Nazis over there.’
‘Nasties?’ asked Daisy. ‘What nasties?’
Billy and Ryan looked at one another and almost burst out laughing.
‘Not nasties Daisy, Nazis,’ smiled Billy. ‘You know; the bad guys from the Second World War? I saw one of their trucks with a swastika on the side.’
‘Oh. You mean like in the game Ryan and I were playing last night?’
‘That’s it!’ cried Ryan, far louder than was really necessary. He checked himself before continuing. ‘That’s why I remember this place. It’s just like in that game, except a bit snowy. Isn’t it Dizz?’
‘Oh yes, how strange,’ she frowned.
‘Shh!’ hissed Billy, sliding quickly down into the hollow with them.
‘What?’ mouthed Ryan.
Billy pointed to where the two torches had suddenly swung round and were heading back in their direction.
‘Bugger it,’ whispered Ryan. ‘Sorry guys.’
‘Nice one Butler,’ hissed Billy. ‘Since you’ve been here before, perhaps you can let me know how you got out of this situation.’
‘Well, firstly it was a computer game,’ Ryan pointed out.
‘Thanks for that. For a moment there I really thought you played a part in liberating France.’
Ryan returned his sarcasm with a laconic smile.
‘You’re funny, Bambi. I was leading on to my second point, which was that I had a gun.’
‘A gun?’
‘Yup. And as soon as any of those idiots got anywhere near me I blew their heads off with it.’
‘Right, so basically we’re screwed then?’
Ryan shrugged.
‘If you’ve got a plan I’ll hear it. It’ll probably be lame though.’
‘You boys are unbelievable,’ said Daisy exasperatedly. ‘You know, if you actually put your heads together and used them, I think the results would surprise you both. Now, I think we ought to try and move from here. Those lights are getting closer and if what you say is true then we really don’t want to be found.’
‘Okay, but not too far,’ said Ryan. ‘I want to get a good look at what we are up against.’
The hollow they were hiding in was narrow and not very deep, but did lead away to their left in a shallow trough that curved gently such that it allowed them to circle round the torches whilst maintaining their distance.
They made their way slowly, keeping as low as possible but unwilling to stick to all fours as none of them had gloves on. It was not particularly comfortable, but they stuck at it until the hollow finally tapered away into nothing.
‘That’s it,’ hissed Billy, who was in the lead. ‘We can’t go any further without being exposed.’
The other two flattened themselves against the ground, feeling the chill of the snow beneath them, and peered back at the torches, which were now to their right and slightly behind them. They appeared to be focussing on a single spot on the ground.
‘That’s where we’ve just come from,’ whispered Daisy. ‘Do you think they know we’re here?’
‘They’d have to be the worst scouts ever if they didn’t,’ said Billy. ‘We’ve given them the world’s easiest trail to follow.’
‘What should we do then?’ asked Daisy, looking at Ryan.
‘Dunno,’ he shrugged. ‘Did you have a look around, Bambi?’
‘Will you stop calling me that, you skid-mark? Yes, I did have a look around, and yes, there are more of them here.’
‘Where?’
‘Everywhere, look…’
He pointed to their left, where another torch was sweeping its way through the trees, a little way off.
‘And over there!’ said Daisy, pointing ahead of them and to the right.
‘Great! So we’re surrounded then,’ said Ryan grumpily. ‘We might as well just sit there and wait for them to find us.’
‘That might be sooner than you think,’ said Billy nervously. ‘Those idiots are definitely on to us now.’
Sure enough, the first two torches were now slowly following the exact same route they had just made along the hollow. They needed to make a decision.
‘Maybe they’ll be nice?’ suggested Daisy.
Ryan frowned.
‘They’re Nazis, Dizz. They don’t do nice.’
‘So, what then? Are we going to run?’
‘I think so,’ said Billy, who was already preparing himself for a sprint.
‘Where to?’ asked Daisy.
‘Anywhere! Just not towards those guys. And Butler, see if you can beat me this time.’
With that, he sprinted off into the darkness. Ryan and Daisy did not waste a moment in following him.
None of them knew quite how it happened, but almost as soon as they had set off the number of torches around them, flashing through the trees and seeking them out, increased dramatically. They were everywhere, and the air was filled with a cacophony of shouts from all sides. Only the way ahead of them appeared still to be clear.
‘Bloody hell! Where did all they come from?’ shouted Ryan. He looked over his shoulder and was dazzled by five lights shining in his face at once.
‘They must have been lying in wait,’ called Billy from up ahead. ‘Keep running.’
Thanks for that, genius, thought Ryan. I’m hardly going to stop now, am I?
Unfortunately for Ryan, he was no longer the finely honed, tireless machine that he was on the Dream Isle, and the limitations of his physical self were becoming all too evident. His legs ached and his heart felt like it was about to pound its way clean out of his chest. C
ombined with a shortness of breath and the dizzying nausea this brought with it, Ryan wasn’t in the best of sorts.
‘Guys… wait up!’ he panted, barely able to get the words out between the huge lungfuls of oxygen his body was demanding.
‘Ryan!’ cried Daisy, dropping back alongside him. ‘You can do it. You’re almost as fast as me. Come on!’
Ryan gave her a wide-eyed shake of the head, but he pushed on regardless. There was nothing else he could do. Branches lashed at his face, showering him with snow as his arms failed to respond to his request for them to protect him. His lungs were filled with a rasping, burning fire the like of which they had never experienced before. All around him the lights closed in.
‘Come on Ryan,’ pleaded Daisy.
‘I… can’t…’ he wheezed. ‘Leave… me.’
‘No way. I’m staying with you. Come on, you need to Dreamweave or something.’
‘What?’
‘Like Tristram said you did when you were trapped under water. Physical Evolution; it’s the only way. You need to make yourself run faster.’
Ryan screwed up his face as if she was speaking a completely different language. He wished he had sufficient breath to spare to call her something disgracefully rude, but all he could do was gurn his incredulity.
Suddenly the roar of an engine bursting into life tore through the night and the raging glare of two headlights up ahead brought them to a standstill. Ryan immediately collapsed onto his back, panting heavily. Daisy stood next to him as a dazzling circle of lights closed in around them.
‘Make… myself… run… faster,’ heaved Ryan, so happy to be stationary that he could actually see the funny side of things. ‘What planet are you from Dizz? And since when have I been almost as fast as you? Maybe over ten metres…’
‘Ryan, shh,’ hissed Daisy.
They were now entirely encircled by