24. Kate

I keep hidden in our room until it is time for Warrior training. The training complex is on the outside of the compound, where the bonfire parties from previous weeks take place.

Two dozen of us, including Roxie, Matt, Felix and Cherry are attending. The grass is marked in training circles, the aim being to fight within a smaller area each time. The first circle is the size of a basketball court, designed to reflect an open battlefield. The final one, three sizes down, is smaller than a double bed, deadly personal combat.

I warm up, stretching and jumping like it might magically turn me into the kind of battle-hardened machine you need to be for a place in this squad.

“Pair up!” Coach Grantley shouted as everyone quickly shuffled to the side. A rugged man in his mid-fifties, greying and covered in silvery scar lines he looked terrifying. His shaved mohawk hairstyle didn’t help settle my nerves.

If Roxie had been standing anywhere near me I’d have suggested he looked like a psycho