The Power of Five Oblivion

– stopped, threw their arms in the air and collapsed.
    Jamie stepped forward. “You said you know a way out of here,” he rasped. “Where?”
    “Will you do exactly what I tell you, even if it means abandoning your friends?” Jamie hesitated. “I’m not going to get myself killed,” the Traveller snapped. “I need to know I can rely on you.”
    “All right. Yes. Whatever you say.”
    “Good. Then follow me. Stay close.” He was talking to Jamie, not to me. “You stay here, Holly. Find somewhere to hide.”
    It took me a second or two before I understood what he was implying. My mouth dropped open. He was leaving me behind! Never mind that I’d been the one who had discovered Jamie in the first place and that tonight it had been me who’d raised the alarm. I was out. Dead meat like the rest of them.
    But Jamie wasn’t having any of it. “I’m not leaving without her,” he said.
    “What did you just promise me?” the Traveller snarled. “We can’t take her with us. There’s no room.”
    “I don’t know who you are.” Jamie was speaking through gritted teeth. “And I don’t know where you’re going. If I come with you, I’ll do as you say. But I’m not coming alone. And that’s not negotiable.”
    Another mushroom of flame. It was close by and for a moment all three of us glowed red. We had no time to argue and the Traveller knew it. He nodded, angrily. “All right. But that’s the last demand you make. From now on you do as I say.”
    I barely heard his words. They were drowned out by an explosion, louder and more powerful than any that had gone before. The ground trembled. The very air fizzed and a huge ball of scarlet flame rose into the night sky. The nearest helicopter had fired a missile. I didn’t know if it had aimed deliberately or not but it had hit the church … poor old St Botolph’s, which had stood there for centuries and which had never done anyone any harm – unless you count having a magic door that had opened to allow death into our village. I saw the top of the tower crumble. Huge pieces of stone rained down, most of them in flames. The graveyard seemed to have caught fire.
    And still people were running mindlessly, even though there were fewer of them now, less than half as many as there had been. They were trying to keep out of the glow of the fire, aware that it turned the immediate area into a death trap. But there was nowhere to go. The police were everywhere, waiting for them in the same way that George and I had often waited for a rabbit to come out of its hole. I no longer recognized any of the villagers. They had become leaping shadows, running hopelessly, being cut down by the silent men behind the visors and riot shields.
    We were among them. Following the Traveller, we made our way down the main road. We didn’t run. Moving slowly was the secret. Panic would kill us – we had to make certain we weren’t seen. A single line of fire streaked across the sky and there was another shuddering explosion, somewhere near the garage. We were heading towards the river, the opposite direction from the one I would have taken because it led away from the wood. But after what he had said, I didn’t dare argue with the Traveller. I found myself focusing on the red cloth that he was wearing around his neck. It made him easier to pick out and it stopped me seeing the horror that was taking place everywhere else.
    More missiles fell. The ground shook. I was waiting for the single blast that would find our little group and blow us all to pieces. Dust and debris swept into my eyes, almost blinding me, and there was an endless, high-pitched screaming in my ears. A man was hurled, somersaulting through the air in front of me, and landing just ahead. I couldn’t avoid him. It was the vicar, Reverend Johnstone. He knelt there as if at prayer, then lay down as though he was tired and wanted to go to sleep. I wondered if he knew that his church had been destroyed. I wanted to stay and help him but the Traveller had already gone past and I had no choice but to follow.
    We reached the crossroads and the Queen’s Head. The pub was still standing, although this was where the first explosion had come from, the one that had taken out the generator. It was quieter down here … at least, there were fewer people and most of the killing was still taking place around the square. I wasn’t sure I had any hearing any more. I looked back and saw that the whole village had become a