The Power of Five Oblivion

mine exploded, the huge mud walls folding in on themselves and plunging down. If anyone had been below, they would have been killed, crushed under the weight, but it was still early morning and the lower levels were empty. Lohan watched in disbelief. How many hundreds of tonnes of earth had the slaves at Serra Morte carried to the surface? In seconds, tonnes more of it had been returned. An entire cliff face had collapsed. A huge section of the mine had once again been filled in. And Matt was responsible. He had done it with a single movement of his head.
    There was a brief silence, then confused shouting as the guards reacted to what had just happened. Now Lohan understood what Matt was doing. Nobody knew what had caused the collapse but right now nothing else mattered. He had just created an incredible diversion.
    “Let’s go,” Matt whispered.
    The effort had taken away what remained of his strength. Lohan could see that he was shaking, soaked in sweat. He put his arm around him and dragged him away. The other workers saw them move but not a single one of them tried to join them. That was what life in Serra Morte had done to them. They had reached the point where many of them would have been unable to tie their own shoelaces without being given the order. Their spirits had been broken. They were no longer really human.
    With Lohan supporting Matt, the two of them hurried towards the path that would take them back to the landing strip. Matt was stumbling and if it hadn’t been for Lohan’s arm around his waist, he would have fallen. For his part, Lohan was hoping that nobody would see them, that all the soldiers would be concentrating on the devastation they had left behind – but, of course, it didn’t happen that way. Almost at once they were seen. Somebody shouted out a warning. It was followed by a single gunshot.
    They didn’t stop. They couldn’t stop. They had attacked a guard and giving themselves up was no longer an option. The edge of the rainforest and possible safety were about twenty metres in front of them. Matt was forcing himself forward, leaning against Lohan. There was another shot and Lohan cursed himself for not taking the gun from the man he had killed. Even if they made it to the landing strip, the plane would be guarded and he couldn’t just walk up to it unarmed. And a second, grimmer thought crossed his mind. If he was captured, he would have been glad to have had a gun in his hand. He could have turned it on himself.
    There was the shriek of a whistle, a burst of sustained gunfire. Lohan was still holding Matt, almost lifting him off the ground. Matt had no shirt and Lohan could feel the heat and the dampness of the boy’s skin. Matt’s legs were hardly working at all. Bullets were whipping around them and it occurred to Lohan that Matt must still be using his power. Otherwise, surely one of them would have been hit. The rainforest loomed in front of them. There were more shots and the leaves of the nearest trees were shredded. But then they were inside, letting the darkness and thick green light swallow them up. The commotion behind them was abruptly cut off. It was as if they had plunged into another dimension.
    Within seconds, they were lost. The track that had first brought them to the work place was some distance away and there was no way they could reach it. The forest itself was too dense, too unwieldy. It alone would decide which direction they took. Lohan knew that they had to lose themselves in the interior, to get as far away from their pursuers as possible. They could worry about the airstrip later. Almost blindly, the two of them followed whatever paths they could find, twisting round the trunks of huge trees, climbing over the tangled roots that covered the ground, pushing through creepers that hung down like solid walls. There was no sound now except for their own tortured breathing. Matt stumbled and collapsed, his legs giving way beneath him. With a curse, Lohan swept him up in his arms, carrying him like a child. Matt’s eyes had closed. He didn’t seem to be conscious.
    Lohan looked back, resting against a tree. At least it seemed that nobody was following them. Perhaps the soldiers had decided that the mine was more important than two escaping prisoners who would probably end up dying in the rainforest anyway. He realized that he had no idea where he was, that he had lost any sense of direction. Matt was heavy in his arms. He wouldn’t be able to continue