Chapter 18

“This was the front line,” Dounia said, scanning the horizon. “They’ve advanced even further than I thought.”

“Do we have to cross that?” Meow asked anxiously. “It’s so exposed. If that plane flies over again, they’ll see us right away.”

“And anyone on the other side would see us coming,” Ira said grimly. “But the fact stands that we have to cross. We’ve bombed the hell out of this area, and going around would take us days.”

“We don’t have days,” Dounia said, shaking her head.

“We have no food or water,” Meow said. “Or any survival equipment.”

“I can’t even start a fire,” Dounia said. “Not if the enemy might see the smoke.”

They all looked across the vast space in front of them, littered with the remains of the destruction they’d rained down only weeks ago.

“If we cross it in the dark, they might not see us,” Ira said, squinting in an attempt to locate the other side. She spotted only a treeline, with no sign of where the enemy could be.