I felt like I was trapped in one of those terrifying nightmares where you have to run, run until your lungs burst, but you can't make your body move fast enough. My legs seemed to become slower and slower as I struggled to make my way through the unmoving crowd, yet the hands of the huge clock did not slow down. With relentless, merciless force, they turned inexorably toward the end – the end of everything.

But it wasn't a dream and, unlike a nightmare, it wasn't my own life I was running for; I was racing to save something unimaginably precious. My own life mattered very little today.

Alice had said it was possible that both of us might die. Maybe things would have been different if she hadn't been trapped by the dazzling sunlight; only I was free to cross this bright, crowded square running. And I couldn't run fast enough.

So, it didn't matter that we had been surrounded by our unusually dangerous enemies. The moment the clock began to signal the change of the hour, making my sluggish feet vibrate, I knew it was too late – and I was glad that something bloodthirsty was lurking somewhere hidden to catch me. Because, after this failure, I had lost all desire to live.

The clock struck again and the sun cast its rays right from the center of the sky.