Let's Start A Riot

Chapter Twelve - Oh Fu-

We silently follow Marcus who is moving quickly through the field, running between the items discarded on the ground, trying to duck behind cover as often as possible in case the whistle is blown before we are hidden.

We run like this for a couple of minutes until I spot it. The perfect spot.

Yup, that's right – I spot it, not big egotistical airhead Marcus, me.

It is a mound of tyres, piled next to a line of trees.

My first thought is that it's the most obvious place ever to be hidden, and one of the dumbest because it's covered in holes but at the same time seems to be piled so thick that there would be no way for a group of people to hide in them without getting stuck, but quickly I realise that that's actually why it's genius.

We are sneaking around the car that I had spotted with the paint splattered on it, when I glance towards the tyre pile – which we had already dismissed as a place to hide like every squad before us – and only from the exact spot I'm standing in can you see that there is a small gap in the tyres, which seems big enough to fit a body through.

While Marcus is checking if the coast is clear of other people, I shuffle around the car and get a closer look at the gap, and within the tyres I can see planks of wood laid out in the tyres, like a tunnel, a piece of black tarpaulin pulled back to reveal the gap, otherwise it would have been completely unnoticeable even up close as the tarpaulin blends in with the tyres to give the illusion that the pile is more impenetrable than it actually is.

I tap Sarah on the shoulder without looking away in case I lose where the gap is.

"What's wrong?" I hear Sarah whisper from over my shoulder.

"Look!" I whisper back, pointing at the gap.

I hear Sarah crouching down to my level then shuffle closer, so that her face is level with mine, peeking over my shoulder.

After a few seconds she inhales sharply. "Is that—?"

"Yep." I nod.

Sarah quickly turns and gets the attention of Hugo and Marcus who are about to start moving forward again.

Soon, all four of us are crouching in a line staring at the tyres.

"Will we fit?" Hugo asks dubiously.

"Easily." I reply.

"That's easy for you to say, there's not much of you to fit." Marcus huffs, pointedly looking himself and the others up and down to emphasise their size compared to me.

"How much longer do we have until they blow the whistle?" Sarah asks.

"Probably three or four minutes at most, the other squad will have been let in by now and they'll probably only give them the five minutes they left between letting each squad into the field." Hugo answers.

"We should find another place; we'll trap ourselves if we go in there." Marcus puts in.

"Do you see a better place where we won't be spotted in the first minute after the whistle?" I argue back sharply.

"Fine, you go first then if you're so sure." Marcus snaps.

"Fine, make sure that the last person through conceals the entrance with that bit of tarpaulin that's been pulled aside." I look both ways to make sure that there are no visible enemies in our vicinity, then I sprint for the tyre mound, staring straight at the gap to make sure that I don't lose its location.

In a few seconds I am crouching against the tyres next to the gap and peering in. I can only see a metre in then from there it's darkness.

Well, here goes nothing.