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more.’
    ‘Where?’
    A second guard came forward. ‘I can’t spot any.’
    ‘There’s one!’ Anna screamed. ‘Over there. See that pale shape behind…’ her voice was rising in panic, ‘no, it’s moved, but I saw it, I swear I did.’
    A rifle shot rang out. Just in case. The dog and its handler were running closer to the trees. The prisoners all watched nervously. Sofia seized the moment: everyone’s attention was focused on the forest to the north of the road, so to the south she turned and began to move. The trees were fifteen metres away. Her heart was hammering in her chest. Don’t hurry, walk slowly. She cursed the ice that crunched noisily under her boots. Ten metres now, and she could see the tall slender trunks coming closer.
    ‘There!’ Sofia heard Anna cry out again. ‘Quick, off to your right – look, one of the wolves is over that way!’
    The guard dog was whining as it strained at its leash, but she heard the handler utter a single word of command and the animal dropped to the ground in silence. The hairs on the back of Sofia’s neck rose and she didn’t dare breathe. Six metres now between her and the beckoning darkness of the forest, that was all. So close she could taste it. She made herself keep to a steady walk and resisted the urge to look behind her.
    Another rifle shot rang out in the still air and Sofia instinctively ducked, but it wasn’t aimed at her. It was followed by a string of bullets that ripped through the undergrowth on the north side of the road, but no howls lifted into the mist.
    ‘That’ll scare the shit out of the creatures,’ one guard declared with satisfaction and lit himself a cigarette.
    ‘OK, davay , back to work, you lazy scum.’
    There was a murmur of voices, and quickly Sofia lengthened her stride. Three more steps and-
    ‘Stop right there.’
    Sofia stopped.
    ‘Where the hell do you think you’re sneaking off to?’
    Sofia turned. Thank God it wasn’t one of the guards. It was the leader of one of the other brigades, a woman with hard eyes and even harder fists. Sofia breathed again.
    ‘I’m just going to the latrine pit, Olga.’
    ‘Get back to your work or I’ll call a guard.’
    ‘Leave it, Olga, I’m desperate to-’
    ‘Don’t fuck around, we both know the nearest latrine is in the opposite direction.’
    ‘That one’s overflowing, too disgusting to use, so I-’
    ‘Did a guard give you permission?’
    Sofia sighed. ‘Are you blind, Olga? Of course not, they’re all busy watching out for the wolves.’
    ‘You know the rules. You can’t leave your work post without permission from a guard.’ The woman’s mouth clamped shut with an audible snap of her false teeth.
    ‘What’s it to you, anyway?’
    ‘I am a Brigade Leader. I make sure the rules are obeyed. That,’ she said with satisfaction, ‘is why I have bigger food rations and a better bed than you do. So-’
    ‘Look, I really am desperate, so please just this once-’
    ‘Guard!’
    ‘Olga, no.’
    ‘Guard! This prisoner is running away.’
     
    The ground was still packed tight with the last of the winter ice. Every thrust of the spade made Sofia’s bones crunch against each other and she muttered under her breath at the guard, a thick-set man who stood watching her with a rifle draped over his arm and a grin let loose on his face.
    She had been ordered to dig out a new latrine pit as punishment and it was like digging into iron, so it took her the rest of that day. It could have been worse, that’s what she kept telling herself. It could have been much worse. This punishment was for not requesting permission before stepping away from the road because, thankfully, none of the guards believed the Brigade Leader’s story that she had been trying to escape. The punishment for an escape attempt? A bullet in the brain.
    Damn it though. Sofia cursed her luck for running into Olga. She’d been so close. She’d snatched a brief glimpse of the freedom out there in the