What You Left Behind by Samantha Hayes

from worry. “Stop being stupid,” he whispered to himself. He held on to the straps of the empty pack on his back.
    Then the noise again. There was definitely someone there.
    Freddie darted sideways and hid down behind a tree stump, listening to his own breathing rasping in and out of his tight throat. After a few more minutes of silence, when his watch showed five past midnight, he decided to press on toward the hut. He didn’t want to miss Lenny. It must have just been a fox. He still kept glancing over his shoulder, though, squinting back at the route he’d take if he had to run for it.
    The hut was smaller than he remembered, dilapidated, the wooden door hanging off its hinges and half the roof missing. It was barely visible here in the thickest part of the woods. It was only a short distance from the railway line but hadn’t been used by railway workers in decades. He couldn’t see Lenny, although he supposed he could be inside, so he went closer to take a look. An owl hooted directly overhead, making him jump sideways. He stubbed his foot on a jutting rock and grunted in pain.
    The owl hooted again.
    Taking hold of the old door, Freddie creaked it open. “Lenny, mate. You here?” he whispered loudly into the hut. If anyone else had been in there, lads hanging out, smoking, drinking, they’d surely have answered by now.
    But no one was there. Not even Lenny.
    A sound. Fuck! Someone was there.
    Freddie ran through the dry undergrowth and hurled himself down behind a bush, thirty feet or so away from the hut. He cursedhis loud panting. What the hell was Lenny thinking, meeting out here at this time of night? He could virtually taste his own heart, it was leaping so far up his throat.
    “Oi, Freddie, is that you? I got what you wanted.”
    The familiar sound of Lenny’s voice approaching caused Freddie almost to laugh out loud with relief. It had been him all along. Thank God . Slowly, he stood up from his hiding place and waited for him to catch up so he could do the deal and get the hell out of there. He’d had enough of this bloody wood for one night.
    Lenny came into view. Freddie was about to reveal himself, maybe give him a bit of a fright in return by grabbing him, when a figure leaped out of nowhere onto Lenny’s back and pulled him to the ground.
    It happened so quickly. Freddie heard angry grunts from Lenny as he fought off his attacker. A second later and Lenny was upright again, scrambling for balance, arms flailing, taking off in the direction where Freddie was hiding. He was fast. The other person chased after him, yelling out in a fearsome, unintelligible growl, as Lenny streaked past, his assailant only a few seconds behind.
    Freddie didn’t know what to do. His fingers danced over the screen of his phone in his pocket, but he was too terrified to use it in case the other man heard the beeps or spotted the glow. Turning slightly, shaking, he watched as Lenny was tackled to the ground again. The other man was on top of him now, thumping him with all his strength. “Oyyy!” came Lenny’s agonized cry as his head smacked against the ground. Freddie could almost feel the vibrations as the man pounded him with his right fist, over and over again, sending Lenny’s skull thumping to the ground every time he tried to get up.
    He had to do something! It was his fault they were here after all, his fault for telling Lenny to steal the computer.
    Freddie crept forward, praying that Lenny’s attacker wouldn’t hear his advance. But then he saw the man grab a rock and smashit down on Lenny’s face until it was bloody. Even in the dim moonlight he could see that Lenny had no chance of escape now, and if he went to help, he’d get beaten to a pulp too. The man was big and broad, would easily overpower him. Freddie couldn’t make out the features on his face, and he suddenly realized why—he was wearing a balaclava. Apart from black-and-white stripy cuffs poking out from the sleeves of his dark top,