Once through the woods, I come to the edge of another meadow. It is a sea of white and I can just make out the river snaking on its course, steam drifting into the air above it. Where’s the bridge that crosses the river? The snow, although falling more softly now, is thick, making me lift my feet higher with each step as I sink almost to my knees. My trousers cling to my legs coated in snow, numbing my legs. I can’t feel my fingers from the cold. Dogs are barking and people shout in the woods behind me.

My heart hammers as I attempt to run through the field. The voices get closer as torchlight reflects off the snow at the edge of the wood. I can see the bridge now and desperately urge my aching legs forward to what I hope will offer me some respite from this energy-sapping cold. I know where the cave is. I had already marked it on my map. Initially, it hadn’t been my intention to go there, as it is too obvious. The first place they would look, but with the cold sapping my energy. I need somewhere to warm up and plan my next move. I will not wait around for her. That decision has already been made.

Getting to the bridge, I grip at the handrail and draw in a breath, feeling the tingle on my teeth from the frigid air. I wipe away the snot and tears on the sleeve of my jumper and try to get my bearings, a numb feeling growing in the pit of my stomach as the realisation that I am on my own for the first time in my life sets in. My mouth turns up into a smile as I wrapped my arms around myself in a hug. Yeah, that is how pleased I am with myself. Until the sound of the dogs barking pulls me back to my immediate predicament and the cold.

Having crossed the bridge, I come to the cliff face, searching along it, frantically looking for the entrance to the cave. Stopping outside, I can hear voices. What the hell. Have security got here already? No, I would have seen them and they would have seen me. Dismissing that idea and proceeding with caution, I enter the cave, pulling up my hood to conceal my face. Strolling in like this is normal, avoiding eye contact with the women inside. I soon realise they are mostly the staff from the home. Damn, looking down, making it harder to see my face. I recognise the second chef and two maids from my floor. This many women in one place surrounding me are unnerving.

‘Hey, girl, is the snow still bad?’ Damn, she is talking to me.

‘Yes, erm, it is deep now,’ squeaking my voice to sound more like a female, shuffling away, quite glad of my feminine stature for once. The cave is outstanding. If this wasn’t such a life and death situation, I would explore all of this thoroughly. The ceiling soars far above my head and strips of crystal sparkle in the walls. In places, you can clearly see the different layers of sediment laid down to make the rock walls. Giving it an unreal, ethereal ambiance.

In the centre of the vast rock cavern, a fire has been lit the flames, causing shadows to dance on the walls all around. Heat, a welcomed relief to the biting cold. I make my way to the back, but near enough to the fire to benefit from its heat. Huddling into my blanket, I can watch who enters and leaves, attracting no attention. The smell of damp permeates the air around me as more people enter the cave and huddle like me close to the fire, drying their clothes.

The adrenalin has worn off now and my body just feels numb and tired, so tired. My clothes are slowly drying, and the shivering has stopped, thank goodness. Now is the time to plan. Staying here isn’t an option, if I don’t want to go back and I can categorically say I am not waiting for my Mother and security. Rummaging in my bag for the map, I am so distracted by this that I almost fail to notice a new woman enter the cave and would have, were it not for the commotion her horse caused as she leads it into the cave with her.

Her piercing green eyes scan the cave, then settle on me, like she can see right through the blanket and knows exactly who and what I am. Butterflies fill my stomach as our eyes lock, and I instinctively understand that she knows. I train my eyes on her, unable to look away while she ties the horse up and talks to it.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Turning from the horse, she walks directly toward me. Sweat runs down my neck, familiar fear grips me, and I feel physically sick, knowing there is nothing I can do that will stop her progress toward me. I can’t run, people will notice me. Instead, I reach slowly into my bag and wrap my fingers around the large knife hiding in there. Paralysing fear glues me to my place as she sits down next to me.

‘It isn’t safe here. The Security will find you. In a minute, I will get up and leave. You will wait a couple of minutes and then follow me, okay? Nod if you understand.’ I shake my head vigorously, scowling at her.

‘I don’t know you. Why should I trust you?’

‘You don’t have to trust me, you just have to be smart enough to realise that you have a choice. You can stay here in this cave and be caught or killed. Continue going it alone and get lost in the storm right before you die of hypothermia. Or you can come with me and you might actually make it to freedom,’ she pauses. ‘Alive,’ her voice devoid of emotion.

With the full gravity of my situation laid out before me, I realise that maybe going with her wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Besides, I wasn’t relishing the thought of travelling alone.

‘How do I know you are not from the home?’ Glancing around, wary that the other people in the cave could listen in on our conversation.

‘If I was with The Genetic Corporation, don’t you think that I would have bought their security with me or gone and got them as soon as I saw you, Adam?’ She replies and I can’t tell if she knows my name or is just saying what I am for effect.

‘Alright fine, I’ll meet you by the old oak in the field east of here in twenty minutes,’ I reply, and she climbs to her feet.

‘Make it ten,’ she commands as she walks towards the mouth of the cave. She is stopped on the way by a skinny, underfed, dark-skinned girl.

‘Celina girl, where did you get that fancy horse?’ The skinny girl runs her hand over the horse’s flank.

‘I got that job. He comes with it.’ She is lying, the smile on her face is forced, not reaching her eyes. ‘I was running an errand when I got caught in this storm,’ she adds holding eye contact with the girl, as she draws herself up, her body language now confident. The other girl seems to shrink a bit.

‘That we all did,’ the skinny girl replies, as nods and murmurs of agreement echo around the cave.

‘Security are coming, it isn’t safe in here,’ Celina says raising her voice so that everyone in the cave can hear her.

‘How you know that?’ A woman shouts from by the fire.

‘I heard their dogs. I came in here to warn you all, that big house with the high fence, its searchlights are on and its sirens are going off,’ she says, turning back to her horse.

‘We can’t go out there. It’s a white-out,’ someone else complains.

‘Better that than dying in here,’ she answers flippantly, and a murmur goes around the cave.

‘That place housed Adams. The only reason the alarms would go off is if one of them escaped. We should hunt it and sell him.’

‘Do you think one has escaped?’

‘Worth a fortune they are. We could keep him, use him and then sell him.’

What the hell? Carefully, I pull the blanket, so it conceals me some more.

‘What, and get shot when we get caught with one?’

‘Better than getting shot in here!’ Murmurs go around the cave as I shrink further into my blanket.

My attention returns to the red-haired girl, Celina, the skinny girl called her. As she unties her horse and leads it outside. I wait a while as a small procession of people who have taken heed of her warning leave the cave.

I take my map out and try to figure out my bearings before climbing to my feet and making my way to the entrance of the cave. I can feel the eyes of the five people that remain upon me, including the girl that had spoken to Celina.