Safe Haven

  ***

  "Girls, girls wake up we have to go."

  Her father pulled Rachel up and reached for Isobel. The light was strange, she couldn't tell if the day was starting or ending. It shimmered unnaturally through the trees, illuminating the snow in shades of yellow and orange. Isobel stood up in a daze. She turned, watching the leaves quiver and shudder. Wisps of bark danced in the air. She frowned as a wooden shard struck her face. Then the tree line around her mutated and there were men everywhere. Her hand was pulled and she started to run. The snow worked against them, snatching at Rachel's legs and Isobel's ankles. Isobel felt something rush by her ear, then another by her neck. Bullets shredded the air around them. Isobel kept pace with her dad, twisting her body as she leapt over a fallen tree.

  Her lungs were burning, her cheeks freezing. And all she could do was move. Move faster. Push harder. Don't stop. Her ankle twisted but she fought through the pain.

  "Daddy!"

  Rachel's voice tore through the forest, battering the bullets into silence. Isobel turned but her father was already running back. Rachel was on her knees. He snatched her from the floor and turned to run. One step. Two step. The first bullet hit him in the shoulder. Three step. Four step. Isobel started running towards him. Five step. His neck sprayed with blood as a bullet tore through his jugular. Isobel screamed. Her fingertips grazed his head as he fell forward, still holding Rachel in his arms.

  His fingers twitched against the ground. Isobel stopped screaming. The snow beneath her father's body reddened. And he was gone. She'd lost him. Then she saw movement under him. Rachel. On her hands and knees she rolled her father's corpse over and pulled her sister free. Rachel was in shock, drenched in her father's blood. She tried to wipe her face clean, checking her sister over for anything more than grazes. She was fine.

  Isobel took her hands. Look after your sister. The bullets whizzed passed them, slicing into bark and branches. Isobel pulled her sister forward. It was just them now.