The glass in them was dulled and veined, like leaves. Greenery was spread across the panes – ivy and creepers growing over them, branches pressing against them.
Gemma jumped down off the desk. Maria and Rupam stood up, staring at the windows in horror.
‘Has that grown while we’ve been talking?’ Maria said.
‘I think we should get out of here,’ Knight decided.
One of the windows cracked across the middle, making a sound like gunshot. Glass showered down into the schoolroom. Gemma shrieked as fragments lodged in her hair.
‘Definitely,’ Growl agreed. ‘Out now!’
As they ran for the door at the back of the room, a tangle of greenery crashed in through the broken window. Creepers slithered down the wall like snakes, while vines snaked across the floor. There was an explosion of glass as another window collapsed in fragments. Bits of window frame whipped at Ben’s face as he ran.
Knight heaved open the door …
Only to reveal a mass of green. Damp, glistening, pulsating, it bulged into the room. Ben could see buds bursting into small flowers. Tendrils extended and thickened. Branches lashed about, hunting for Ben and his friends as they backed away.
Then the weight of the vegetation pressing down on the roof finally caused the beams to give way. A canopy of green burst through and fell like a thorny blanket, knocking Ben off his feet and sending Rupam flying. Glass crunched as they landed and brambles dug into their flesh. The whole school was alive with thrashing plants and they were trapped inside.
10
BEN KNEW THAT HE WAS BEING SMOTHERED. HE fought back as best he could, ripping tendrils away from his face and pushing branches to the side, but he could feel himself getting weaker and weaker. Suddenly a hand reached through the mass of writhing vegetation. Ben grabbed it and was hauled to his feet.
He found himself staring into Growl’s face. The clergyman was pale with anger.
‘Get out of here,’ he hissed at Ben. ‘Any way you can, but just get out.’
Growl was holding a small prayer book in his hand and he thrust it out in front of him as he turned away. Ben could see the man muttering under his breath as he walked slowly forward. The greenery seemed to part for him, drawing back as if in fear. But before Ben could follow, it closed immediately behind him and Growl disappeared into the living forest.
‘Ben!’ Rupam staggered up to him. The boy’s face was scratched and his hands were bleeding. ‘We have to get out of here. Somehow.’
Rupam stumbled as his foot was dragged from under him. Ben grabbed his friend and with all his strength tore him free.
‘Where are the others?’
‘I saw Maria and Gemma. Maria’s got the sword. She’s hacking her way out.’
‘Bet she’s better with it than you,’ Ben tried to joke.
‘Much better.’
‘Growl went through there,’ Ben said, pointing. There was no way they could follow.
‘Knight can look after himself.’
‘He’ll have to.’
All the time they were talking, Ben was looking for a way out – the slightest break in the vegetation hemming them in, the faintest light from beyond the wall of green. They had to fight just to stay on their feet, pulling away the branches and creepers that tried to bind them, kicking free of the roots that wanted to ensnare them …
In desperation, Ben looked to the heavens. Movement caught his eye – not the green of the plants this time, but artificial grey and white. A shirt beneath a suit. Knight was climbing up a massive branch that had forced its way through the window and dipped down into the greenery below. As Ben watched, Knight thrust smaller branches out of the way and tore at the thrashing leaves. Looking down, he saw Ben and Rupam.
‘The others are out,’ Knight yelled. ‘See if you can get up here. We can climb over the top. It’s the only way left.’
‘We’re right behind you,’ Rupam shouted back.
Knight didn’t hear because at that moment a huge creeper whipped across and lashed into his shoulder. He lost his grip on the branch he was climbing. For a moment Ben was sure he was going to fall, but at the last minute Knight managed to regain his balance. He looked down at the two boys, smiled and nodded. The creeper had drawn back, like an attacking cobra. It gathered itself and lashed out again.
But its prey was no longer there. Knight leapt from the branch, straight at the window. The last of the glass shattered as he crashed through. A mass of ivy slithered rapidly after him.
Ben and Rupam went up together, helping each other. The huge branch that Knight had climbed bucked under them like a fairground ride as it tried to shake them off.
‘How does it know we’re here?’ Rupam asked as he clung on desperately. ‘Can it see?’
‘It just knows. Maybe it can feel us. Plants react to their surroundings, don’t they?’ Ben reasoned. ‘Maybe it can sense us from our temperature or the damp of our sweat or something. Anyway, does it matter?’ he demanded, as he lost his grip and almost fell.
‘Does if we can hide from the plants somehow,’ Rupam said.
His words were muffled by the ivy threading its way over his face and trying to get into his mouth. He bit and spat, and finally managed to hold on with one hand while using the other to tear the ivy away.
Ben was faring no better. After every few inches he climbed, he had to stop and drag aside the greenery that was struggling to hold him back. He kicked out at the creepers that tightened round his feet and legs. Scratched away the ivy and leaves. Tried to avoid the thrashing brambles.
Below, he could see the ruins of the desks. The papers and printouts that he and Rupam had risked their lives to get to Knight were ripped to pieces. The desks themselves had been torn apart or crushed. A stem erupted through an old inkwell, stabbing towards Ben. He grabbed for a higher branch, kicked at a foothold and hauled himself upwards.
Above him, Rupam was now straddling the remains of the window ledge. Spikes of glass still clung to the sides of the window frame, glittering in the filtered sunlight. Rupam reached down for Ben. Their fingertips touched. Ben forced himself upright. His fingers curled round Rupam’s.
Finally, they were both at the window. The ground seemed to be rushing up to meet them. The floor of the schoolroom was a green blanket, billowing higher and higher.
Hands linked, Ben and Rupam jumped into space.
And now the plants that were trying to kill them saved their lives.
Ben tumbled into a soft canopy of greenery. The branches and leaves of a yew tree broke and slowed his fall. He caught a confused glimpse of Rupam – all arms and legs – spinning past him. Ben grabbed at the branches, leaves and twigs – anything to slow his descent.
At last he rolled clear, on to a patch of ordinary grass. Breathing heavily, he lay on his back, staring up at the pale blue sky. He was worn out. He didn’t move until he felt the grass under his hands stir and start to grow. As tendrils of green crept across his exhausted body, Ben dragged himself to his feet.
Rupam was standing a short distance away, staring back at the wall of matted vegetation that completely covered the school building.
‘Where are the others?’ Ben asked, hurrying to join him.
Rupam shook his head. ‘The ground is moving. We need to get away from here.’
‘No kidding.’
But which way should they go? Ben was disorientated from the escape and had no idea which window they had tumbled out of. All he could see was the sudden impossible plant life shooting up around them. He couldn’t recognise any of the features of the school – even the main doors.
‘This way,’ Rupam decided.
‘How do you know?’ Ben ran after him.
‘I don’t. But the jungle is thinner here. It must be the way back to the middle of the village, to the church.’
Ben hadn’t thought of it as a jungle. But now Rupam used the word, he realised that was what it was – a jungle of English trees and plants, shrubs and creepers.<
br />
They ran as fast as they could, crashing through the hedges and walls of green. They tripped and fell, helped each other up and staggered on. They felt the cruel thorns of the brambles and climbing roses, the whiplash cuts of narrow willow leaves and the stab of branches.
They ran until the world solidified around them, slowing their progress. Then they forced their way through – heads down, shouldering aside the curtains of foliage. Pushing through the undergrowth was like wading through water. Ben and Rupam linked arms so they wouldn’t get separated and forged ahead.
Not daring to stop, they carried on, slower and slower, until both of them were near to total exhaustion. Ben was about to collapse when he saw Rupam suddenly grin.
‘We’re through!’ Rupam exclaimed. ‘Look – we’re through!’ And now he was laughing as he dragged Ben onwards.
The jungle stopped. An abrupt wall of green rose up like a hedge behind them as Ben and Rupam staggered through it and flopped to the ground. To the grass. To the normal, damp grass that didn’t move under them or curl upwards at them …
For a full minute, they lay panting on their backs, staring at the sky.
Until a green shape loomed massively above them.
Ben leapt to his feet.
‘Hey, steady on. Are you OK?’
The shape was a soldier in khaki uniform, his face smeared with dark camouflage paint. Plastic leaves stuck out from the webbing on his helmet. He cradled an assault rifle.
‘What were you doing in there? How did you get here? This is a restricted area.’
‘And you’re going to tell us it’s 1943 and don’t we know there’s a war on,’ Ben gasped, still out of breath.
The soldier gave a short bark of laughter. ‘Am I hell? Who do you think I am?’ He shook his head and turned to glance at several other soldiers hurrying over to join them. ‘God knows what Colonel Greene’s going to say when he hears about this.’
‘Where did these kids come from?’ another soldier asked, jogging up. He had the three stripes of a sergeant on his shoulder.
‘No idea, Sarge. They just appeared out of the hedge.’
‘We have to get back in there, reach the village,’ Ben said. ‘We’ve got to help Mr Knight and the others.’
‘What’s he on about, Cooper?’ the sergeant demanded.
The first soldier – Cooper – shook his head.
‘Please,’ Rupam begged. ‘We only just got out, through there.’ He pointed back at the wall of greenery. From this side it just looked like a hedge. ‘It’s growing,’ he said. ‘It attacked us.’
The two soldiers looked at each other.
‘The hedge attacked you?’ the sergeant said. ‘Yeah, right. Get these two back to HQ,’ he told Cooper. ‘The colonel will want a word with them.’
‘Yes, Sarge.’
‘Rupam’s right,’ Ben insisted. ‘You have to listen to us, please.’
His words were drowned out by the noise of a powerful engine. A large tank rumbled into view, its tracks chewing up the grass. Its heavy gun seemed to be aiming right at Ben and Rupam. Moments later, a second tank swept up alongside, then a third. They stopped about twenty metres from where the boys were standing.
‘Please,’ Ben said again as the tanks’ engines idled more quietly. ‘Our friends are still in there. You have to help them.’
‘You could get through in those. Tanks could get through the jungle,’ Rupam said.
‘They’ll get through it all right,’ Private Cooper told them. ‘That’s why they’re here. The colonel’s got tanks surrounding the village now. But there’s no one inside the cordon. He’s assured us of that. I don’t know where you’ve come from and you’re going to have a lot of explaining to do. But right now I need to get you out of here before the advance begins.’
‘What advance?’ Ben asked.
‘You mean you are going into Templeton?’ Rupam said.
‘Through it more like. It’s lucky you got out when you did. I don’t know what Colonel Greene’s got against that village. But pretty soon it’ll be nothing but rubble.’
Ben felt cold suddenly. ‘What do you mean?’
‘He’s had it in for that place ever since he spent a week there alone on survival training, a couple of months back. First he had his men vandalise the church – now this.’
‘But what is this?’
‘Colonel Greene’s orders. The advance begins in a few hours. We’re going to crush that village and everything in it to dust. Let nature take its course.’
Ben gaped in horror. ‘But you can’t! There are people still in there.’
‘You might not even see them if they’re indoors or trapped in the jungle,’ Rupam added.
‘There’s no one in there,’ Private Cooper told them confidently. ‘The whole place has been cleared. Now the village has to be levelled.’
‘But why?’ Ben demanded. ‘Why are you doing this?’
‘Colonel’s orders. It’s an exercise, isn’t it?’ Private Cooper frowned, as if trying to remember. ‘We’re doing it because … because …’ His frown deepened. Then his face cleared as he remembered. ‘We’re training for the landings. Training to flatten a German-occupied village. Destroy it completely and let nature take its course.’
‘But can’t you see –’ Ben started.
He didn’t get any further because Private Cooper grabbed him and shoved him towards the waiting Land Rover. Then he pushed Rupam after Ben.
‘Right, that’s enough now. Let’s have a bit of hush and get you to Colonel Greene. Careless talk costs lives, right? And so does breaking into a restricted area. You two are in big trouble.’
Ben stared at Rupam in horror as they were marched up to the Land Rover and bundled in the back.
‘Don’t you know there’s a war on?’ Private Cooper said.
11
THE BACK OF THE LAND ROVER WAS CRAMPED and uncomfortable. There was a wooden bench seat running along each side. The tarpaulin that covered the top was rolled up at the back, so at least Ben and Rupam could see out as they bumped across the fields.
‘That went well,’ Sam said. She was sitting opposite Ben and Rupam.
‘Don’t start,’ Ben told her.
‘I didn’t say anything,’ Rupam protested.
‘Sorry. I was just thinking – that went well.’
Ben checked his phone. It still wasn’t getting a signal. He stuffed it back in his pocket. His clothes were ripped almost to pieces and he was covered in cuts and scratches. Rupam had fared no better.
‘So what now?’ Sam asked. She looked as immaculate as ever, of course.
‘What do you suggest?’ Ben replied.
Rupam shrugged, still assuming that Ben was talking to him. ‘We have to convince Colonel Greene to help. You met him – what do you think? Will he listen?’
‘No chance,’ Sam said. ‘You might do better to jump out now and hope no one notices.’
‘And hope no one breaks a bone.’ Ben sighed. ‘Sorry,’ he said to Rupam. ‘I was just thinking, we could jump out, but it’s probably not a good idea. You’re right. We need to convince Greene there’s a problem. And no, I don’t think he’ll listen. But we have to try.’
‘He knows that Knight and the others are in Templeton. We just need him to hold off the tanks, or use them to mount a rescue mission.’
‘But if Growl is right, they have to get to the bottom of what’s happening in the village and sort it out. Otherwise those plants and things won’t stop at the village. They could spread everywhere.’
The Land Rover was on a narrow track now. It was still bumpy, but not so bad. Sam had shuffled along to the far end of the bench seat and was looking out of the back of the vehicle. Ben moved along to sit opposite.
‘What if Colonel Greene won’t listen?’ Ben murmured, just loud enough for Sam to hear. ‘What if he’s infected or whatever as well, and thinks he’s training for the D-Day invasion?’
Sam turned to look at him. She replied at norma
l volume. ‘Then we need to get away. Contact Mrs Bailey, Madam Sosostram or someone. There’s only so much we can do.’ She turned away again. ‘That you can do,’ she corrected herself. ‘I’m useless … worse than useless. Forget I’m here.’
*
Private Cooper escorted Ben and Rupam to Colonel Greene’s office. Once they were inside the base, there didn’t seem much point trying to escape. Even if they got away, they’d be stuck in the middle of a restricted military area anyway. Besides, Rupam was right – their best option was to try to persuade Colonel Greene to help.
Sam walked with them. She said nothing and Ben guessed she was still sulking at not being able to do anything to help.
‘It’ll be OK,’ he told her. ‘We’ll manage.’
Sam smiled her thanks, but still she said nothing.
‘I know,’ Rupam said, assuming that Ben was talking to him. But he didn’t sound convinced.
The soldier who had come for Ben, Gemma and Knight in the canteen was sitting at his desk in the room outside Colonel Greene’s office. Ben remembered his name was Jenkins.
‘Are these the children?’ Jenkins asked as Cooper led them in.
‘No,’ Sam said. ‘They’re a completely different couple of kids who wandered in from a restricted village. What do you think?’
Ben stifled a grin.
‘We need to see Colonel Greene,’ Rupam said.
Ben could hear the nerves in his voice.
‘Oh, you’ll see the colonel, all right,’ Jenkins told him. He sent Cooper on his way, then turned to Rupam and Ben. ‘But he isn’t here. You might as well sit down. It could be a while. I doubt you’re his absolute number one priority right now. He’s got an important training exercise just starting.’
‘At Templeton?’
‘That’s the one. We’re going to flatten that place like it never existed.’
‘But you can’t,’ Ben blurted out. ‘It won’t stop what’s happening there. It might just make it worse.’
‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ Jenkins said. He sat down at his desk and started working on his computer. ‘You should have stayed away, like the colonel told you. He warned you not to go into that village, didn’t he?’
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