"Right. Let's do this."

Then Noah reached for the keypad with one hand and cupped my face with the other. His face bent and met mine. Fire raged through my lips as he kissed me; electricity pinged through my body. I groaned and grabbed at his face with my hand, pulling him closer.

We were interrupted by the most awful noise.

A shrill bell rang out, piercing my ears like a thousand needles. I opened my eyes. The corridor was steeped in the red flashing light of alarm bulbs.

"Poppy, we did it."

I could hardly hear Noah over the din but followed the direction of his pointed finger. The door had been blown off its hinges. Electrical wires were hanging out of the keypad, emitting a mini firework display of sparks. The blown door led to another corridor but this one had a glass ceiling. I looked up. I could see the sky. It was a deep shade of grey and rain was pelting down, hitting the glass with force.

I pointed upwards. "Did we do that too?"

Noah grinned. "I think so." He grabbed my hand. "Come on, we need to get out of here."

We began to run again. I was out of breath, but the rhythm of the sirens worked as a drumbeat, spurring me on.

"We need to find a window that leads outside," Noah yelled.

My feet thudded heavily beneath me. We were in another maze, skidding from one corridor to another, trying to keep the sky in sight. All the corridors looked the same, one set of blank sterile walls after another, all flashing red. Yet Noah acted like he knew the route. I followed, as I would always follow him, wondering where the guards were, why we hadn't seen them yet.

My feet were getting heavier, my breath more laboured, as we turned another corner. There it was. Our escape. A large glass wall with a small glass door, leading outside, where a storm was raging ferociously. I squeezed Noah's hand and, at that same moment, lightning spasmed across the sky.

"We're almost there," he said.

We broke into a sprint. The glass wall got closer and closer, until I could almost reach out and touch it.

We were going to make it. Only a few more feet...

"FREEZE!"

I spun round and gasped.

The guards had arrived.

Line upon line of them stood and stared at us. They carried batons and all sorts of other weaponry. It was the look in their eyes that terrified me. It was deadened, like emotion had been vacuumed out to ensure whatever disgusting violence was necessary could be used to get the job done.

There were so many of them. The biggest guard, standing in the middle of the front row, grinned to reveal a crooked line of yellowing teeth.

"Stay right where you are," he said. "We don't want anyone to get hurt now."

"Noah?" I whispered.

He replied without moving his lips. "Trust me."

And I felt warm again.

We both instinctively took a step backwards.

"I said don't move!" The guard raised something that looked like a gun. A taser maybe?

Noah held his hands up. "There's no need for that." His voice was steady and calm. "We'll come."

The man laughed, revealing his hideous teeth again. "And I'm supposed to believe you, am I? After what you've done to our guards? Not to mention Dr. Beaumont."

"Put the taser down." Noah's hands were quivering but his voice didn't betray him.

Another laugh. "It's not you in charge, mate. You don't get to make the rules."

Noah cocked his head to one side. "Fair enough. Well, if you don't mind, I'll just kiss my girlfriend goodbye then..."

He grabbed my hand and the guard's face transformed.

"Hang on, not so fast." He looked up nervously at the overhead lights, waiting for them to explode.

"I want all of you to put the taser guns down," Noah said. "We'll come, no trouble, I promise. There's too many of you to outrun. You know that and I know that. But this isn't how I want things to end with Poppy. Not like this, not at gunpoint. Come on."

He sounded so genuine I almost believed him.

I felt strangely powerful. There I was, facing armed guards, and yet they were scared of me. Noah and I, our love, was that powerful. It gave me comfort.

The guard whispered to a man on his right who nodded.

"Okay. We'll put them down and walk slowly towards you. You are going to let us handcuff you both and take you back to the lab. If there's any funny business, we will use force. We're allowed to hurt you and we will if necessary."

"Agreed."

One by one the guards put their guns on the floor and slowly began walking towards us. My heart began pounding. How were we ever going to escape?

"Remember what I said, Poppy," Noah murmured and he pushed me back against the window with a thump and kissed me for all he was worth.

We'd shared many electrically-charged kisses before but this one was, by far, the most powerful. It was full of urgency, both of us well aware it was probably our last. His lust was overwhelming. I responded instinctively to his body. The taste of Noah was intoxicating. Heat spread from in between my legs up through the whole of my body. Noah's hands were all over me, stroking me under my top. There were yells and shouts from the guards but I didn't acknowledge them. I'd forgotten them really. Clarity consumed me. It was like the world had stopped pivoting. This was how it was supposed to be.

Me and Noah. Noah and me. Always.

Then the earth began to shake violently.

The kiss interrupted, I looked down and watched my feet move from side to side. The spell was broken for a moment. The guards were nearing us but had stopped still, terror gripping them as, they too, looked to see an invisible force shake their bodies from under them.

They began walking slowly backwards.

"Don't stop." Noah began kissing my neck and the clarity returned. I leaned back into the pleasure.

The ground shook harder.

I returned my lips to Noah's, wanting one last kiss before we were caught. There was a sound of shattering as the glass exploded and smashed behind us. I held onto Noah, trying to keep my balance as the universe shuddered around us. I heard an immense cracking noise. I opened my eyes mid-kiss and glanced sideways. The ground had opened up. A huge crack had erupted between us and the guards, too big for anyone to jump over.

"Noah, look!"

He stopped kissing me. "I knew we could do it."

The earthquake stopped and reality snapped back.

"They're coming for us again."

The guards were charging back to their guns.

"Time to go."

Noah pulled me in for one last kiss, which created a roar of thunder overhead. Then we clambered quickly through the shattered glass and escaped into the blackness of the storm.

I was soaked in less than a second.

"Remember what you promised," Noah yelled.

And I did.

We ran down a grassy hill, slipping on the drenched ground, skidding in mud. I was half-running, half-falling. I took a breath and banished Noah from my mind. I could hear the rapid pulls of his breath next to me but tuned them out. At the bottom of the hill was a dark barrier of trees it looked like the beginning of a forest. I urged my aching body to get there faster, pushing my hair out of my face where the rain had plastered it there with such force. I could still hear the sirens echoing from the facility behind me. Fear spurred me on and the woods got closer. I ran and ran and ran, my path lit with occasional lightning. And then the rain wasn't falling as hard. I had made it under the canopy of the trees.

I was still aware of Noah's body close to mine but forced my brain to ignore him. I wasn't sure who was leading who. We were silently communicating directions without acknowledging each other, like two ghosts playing hide and seek. The rain got lighter as we got into thicker forest. At one point a helicopter flew overhead and we split up and spent half an hour hugging the sodden floor. It was borderline impossible to ban Noah from my mind. I was scared my brain would betray me and release some kind of traceable energy field.

We began running through the trees again. The chopper came back periodically but was quieter as the dense overhang of trees protected us. It was surprising, the body's ability to just keep on running. I'd always been picked last in PE at school, destined to spend netball lessons standing around awkwardly and ducking if the ball came anywhere near my head. But somehow my body had found an inner strength. Terror was propelling me forward desperation forcing my feet to lift and fall repeatedly. We ran for maybe an hour, maybe several I wasn't sure. Eventually our pace slowed and the rain stopped. The first slivers of dawn cast weak sunlight on random areas of dense undergrowth. Without talking, we came to a stop simultaneously.

I surveyed my surroundings. Who knew where we were? I assumed we were still in England, judging by the accents of the guards in the facility. But whereabouts in England was anyone's guess. Everywhere I looked there was forest. Towns, civilization and, most importantly, help could be hundreds of miles away. I remembered the official signed letter Anita had given me and my stomach ached. What help? Who would help us?

Noah was climbing up a small hill and had apparently spotted something. I pattered behind him, looking for any clue as to where we could be. At the top of the hill we had a slight vantage point, but saw only the ocean of trees surrounding us. My heart sank. Noah pointed to a small collection of rocks. They appeared to be a makeshift entrance to a small cave. It wasn't help, it wasn't food, but it was shelter. My legs felt like I was carting around two logs of lead, my balance was shot and my lungs felt ready to explode. Rest would help. Then we could figure out what to do.

We scrabbled inside and examined the cave. It would do. It went deeper in than we'd first thought and had remained dry during our self-created storm. I fell against the wall, letting exhaustion seep through my body. Everything hurt. Noah collapsed in the same way opposite me. We sat staring at each other for a while, collecting our breath.

"Are we allowed to talk to each other?" I asked him, my eyes half-closed.

He winced. "I don't know. I'm not sure how it works. I'm making this up as I go along."

I smiled at him reassuringly. "Your guessing has got us pretty far."

He looked down at the ground. "Probably not far enough."

I longed to go over and hug him, to feel his arms around me and be comforted by his touch. But I knew I couldn't. Even the thought of it could be dangerous.

Sensing my upset, Noah forced himself to grin. "I can't believe we got away. Did all that just happen?"

I nodded. "I'm still waiting to wake up from whatever nightmare this is."

His smile faded. "I knew what we had was special," he said. "But I never imagined..."

My eyes filled with tears. "Noah? What are we going to do?"

He leaned his head back against the stone and closed his eyes.

"I don't know. I just knew that, whatever happened, I needed more time with you. I couldn't end things like that."

A tear plopped down my cheek. My wet clothes were sticking to my body.

If I closed my eyes, two lives presented themselves to me. There was the life of Noah and me together. On the run, constantly looking over our shoulders, never being able to kiss or even touch, knowing that if we acted on our impulses, lost concentration for even a moment, then people could get hurt. Could our love survive that? Was that a life? What was the point in having a soulmate if you weren't able to live the life that lovers should. A life of lazy lie-ins on Saturday mornings, kisses when you get home from work, the thrill of waiting for them to touch your skin, or just evenings on the sofa watching nothing on television, your bodies entwined, oozing comfort and affection out of every pore.

Then there was the other life. The life I would lead if we separated. The agony of spending every living day knowing I had a soulmate but couldn't be with him, trying to make love happen with someone I wasn't supposed to be with, constantly thinking about Noah, wondering where he was, what he was up to, whether he'd managed to fall into the usual "faux" version of love, always feeling incomplete, always carrying that emptiness.

What choice was that?

It wasn't one. The word choice implied you wanted to pick one over the other. I didn't want either. Both would bring pain, perhaps for every day of my life.

I lay my head back against the rough wall of our cave and sighed.

Noah's eyes bored into me, watery and full of exhaustion.

"What are you thinking?" he asked, a twinge of worry in his voice.

My voice spoke without consciousness guiding it.

"We can never be together," I said. And when the words fell out of my mouth, I knew they were the right ones.

But my heart. My heart was breaking.

Noah's face crumpled. "Poppy, don't say that! We've made it this far. We can learn how to be together in a new way, a way that doesn't hurt people."

I shook my head. "I can't. We're worth more than that, Noah. You know we are."

"So you're just going to give up on us?"

His words stung.

"You know that's not what I mean. Think about it. Can we honestly spend the rest of our lives never even holding hands again? Never kissing? Never making love? Could we even get married? We wouldn't even be able to consummate it. We wouldn't be able to have children. It would destroy us, Noah. You know it would. What we have is so special, I don't want it to fall apart. I don't want to watch us fall apart."

I saw a tear slide out of the corner of Noah's eye. It made me cry harder.

"You said it before, that night in the hotel. Love isn't supposed to be forbidden. It's supposed to be easy. I don't want our love to struggle. I want it to always be like this, even if it's only left in my memory."

And then Noah was standing and running over to my side of the cave. He flung his arms around me and buried himself in my shoulder.

He was crying.

"You can't," I said. "They're going to be able to find us if we stay touching like this."

"Then they can find us." His voice was strained. "You're right, Poppy. I hate it, I'm terrified, but you're right. I can't be with you but not be with you. I want to remember us always like this. As perfect as we are. Young, and so in love we can hardly see straight."

I laughed through my tears. "And of course a massive danger to the whole of civilization?"

He laughed too. "But of course! They should make a movie about us."