The Sacrifice

  Bluetooth was clever, though. He stayed back, hidden among the rest of the pack. Happy to let the others get ahead and take on the danger. He’d be first to feed, but he’d let the others do all the hard work of actually hunting and killing.

  The only way to end this nightmare was to either kill him or kill them all.

  In the end it might come down to the same thing.

  57

  ‘It’s a miracle.’ Matt’s voice filled the dark, dusty cellar. ‘We have rolled away the stone and the cave is empty. The Goat and the fallen star are both gone. They have destroyed one another, just as it was told. We are rid of two evils. The Abyss is cleaned out. Wormwood can poison us no more and the trickster Goat can fool us no more. The darkness will lift and all will be new and bright.’

  He went to Sam and held him by the shoulders.

  ‘The world is yours.’

  ‘I don’t want it,’ said Sam. ‘You can keep it.’

  Matt was smiling at him, trying to show that he knew everything and Sam knew nothing.

  What a loser.

  Sam had a smile of his own, but he was keeping it inside.

  The truth was that he knew everything and Matt knew nothing. If you looked at the world expecting to see miracles and magic and OTT fantasy things you were likely to miss what was really going on.

  People didn’t just vanish into thin air.

  They’d come here through the rain, under umbrellas, big colourful ones with corporate logos on them for long-dead companies. Ed, hard-faced, with his five friends from the Tower, Matt trying to walk upright and uncovered, refusing the protection of a brolly, the rain smashing down on to his shaved head. Archie shivering under a bright blue umbrella for an insurance company. Nathan and three guards carrying spears.

  The cathedral kids had been tense, frightened, as Nathan had unlocked the black door to the cellar. Sam had just felt cold and miserable.

  And then they’d found …

  Nothing.

  Just a bad stink.

  Ed had seemed pissed off. Matt had started one of his crazy rants, but Sam had realized there were no signs of any fresh blood anywhere and had looked a bit closer.

  Now he was standing on a piece of wood. Looked like it might once have been the lid of one of the empty broken chests that littered the cellar. He’d spotted it straight away. Tapped it quietly with his foot, heard the hollow sound underneath.

  The Kid was the tunnel king, wasn’t he? He’d promised he’d find a way out.

  Sam was beginning to see the light all right. These pesky mortals would marvel at his wisdom. He had to stop himself from sniggering.

  There was still hope.

  Ed did one last final whirlwind search of the cellar, kicking stuff out of his way. Matt was quoting another boring passage from his book. No one was listening. The other kids were looking confused and starting to get bored. They’d hyped themselves up for an action scene and it had been a big let-down.

  ‘Let’s get out of here,’ Ed grumbled eventually and they clumped back up the stairs to the warehouse, Ed laying into Archie Bishop all the way, telling him he hoped the whole thing hadn’t been some kind of set-up.

  When they reached the warehouse, they found another surprise waiting for them.

  A mob of cathedral kids, most of them armed. They looked determined. Ready to rescue their leader. When Matt saw them, he smiled.

  ‘You can’t beat me, Ed!’ he called out. ‘Because I speak the word of God. We are an army. Put down your weapons, you unbelievers and –’

  ‘Oh, shut up,’ said Ed. And he turned to face the kids. Sam could see that most of them weren’t fighters at all, and now that they had Ed and his crew in front of them again they were looking just a bit nervous. He wondered how many of them would actually fight.

  He knew Ed wouldn’t be worried. He was a warrior.

  ‘Listen to me,’ Ed shouted. ‘You kids have got a choice. You can go along with Matt here. I’m not going to stop you. If that’s what you want it’s fine with me. If you’re happy taking innocent little boys and feeding them to grown-ups. If that’s what you think is a good way to live your lives I’m not going to stop you. But I’ll tell you one thing. You are not going to stop me leaving this building. I made a promise to Sam and I’m going to keep it. Me and my friends are going to walk out of here and we’re taking Sam with us. He’s not what you think he is. He’s just a boy trying to find his sister.’

  ‘The Lamb stays here with us,’ Matt shouted.

  ‘Come at us if you want, Matt, but I warn you, we’ve fought our way here today through an army of grown-ups, sickos, oppoes, Nephilim, whatever you want to call them. I can’t tell you how many I killed because I lost count. We’re all fighters. Killers. I don’t want to hurt any kids, it’s not my way. But you lot are different. You’re quite happy to kill other children. So the rules have changed.’

  ‘It was a sacrifice,’ said Matt. ‘We were making an offering to … ’

  ‘I said shut up, Matt. I don’t want to hear it. I’m going now. To the centre of town. It’s safe there. Normal. You don’t need to be frightened of Matt any more, his monster has gone. There’s no sicko down there in the cellar. So if any of you want to come with us I’ll forget this ever happened. The rest of you, I spit on you.’

  Sam looked at the kids. Behind him were the shelves, row after row of food, stacked high to the ceiling. Nobody moved. There was a long, silent pause; no sounds from the outside world could penetrate through the thick concrete walls all the way down here.

  And then the stillness was broken by a mad, high-pitched cackle and Matt came strutting out in front of Ed.

  ‘You’re a fool, Ed,’ he said slowly and coldly. ‘Nobody wants to go with you. They’re all true believers. See, they wear the green. In honour of Wormwood and the golden age when all was green. They don’t stay here because they’re scared or because of all this food. Look how many of them have the mark of the Lamb on their foreheads. They stay here because they want to enter God’s kingdom with me. Nobody wants to go with you. You’re a loser.’

  58

  Ed stood there, breathing heavily, his heart pounding. He was suddenly very, very tired. Washed out. He wondered if he really had the strength to make it back into town, to get Sam to the Natural History Museum. How much easier it would be just to stay here at the cathedral, wait, safe and dry, until the storm passed and the sun came up again. Eat some of Matt’s food. Rest.

  Matt’s craziness had affected him. He couldn’t think straight. He had to forget about Matt and think about what he had to do. He looked along his line of friends. At Adele, all in pink, Hayden, tall and determined, Macca and Will, Kyle …

  He’d got them this far without any of them getting hurt. Moving on now was going to throw them all back into danger. Could he really ask them to do that again?

  Could he really ask any of the cathedral kids to leave this place?

  Or was he just making excuses for his own tiredness and fear?

  Matt was grinning at him with a nasty, triumphant look on his face.

  Maybe he was right …

  ‘Actually … ’ A voice rang out small and clear and high. ‘I’d like to come with you, if that’s all right.’

  It was a young girl carrying a violin case. Looked about Sam’s age.

  Well, if she was brave enough …

  Ed smiled, feeling his scarred cheek tighten. ‘Of course that’s all right. What’s your name, darling?’

  ‘Charlotte. I spoke to the other boy, Angus.’

  ‘Angus? Who’s Angus?’

  ‘The Goat boy.’

  ‘You spoke to The Kid?’

  ‘Yes. I wasn’t supposed to. I spoke to him and I quite liked him, and he called me Yo-Yo, which was funny, though I wasn’t allowed to laugh. I liked him and I didn’t think it was right to hurt him. It was a bad thing that happened. I believe in God and I don’t think God would have wanted any of this to happen.’

  She walked over
to Ed, and Adele took her hand, spoke quietly to her, reassuring her.

  ‘Well,’ Ed shouted. ‘It looks like Charlotte’s braver than the rest of you.’

  ‘No.’ Another voice. Another girl. It was Tish. She pushed through the scrum of kids.

  ‘I’m coming too. I know I did something shitty. I feel awful about The Kid. I tried to convince myself that he was evil, but I think he was just a boy. I can’t stay here. I understand if you don’t want to take me, but … ’

  ‘It’s forgotten.’ Ed gave her a brief hug. ‘It was all Matt’s doing. No one else.’

  ‘I ain’t staying here.’ Now Brendan came forward. Ed had met him back at the cathedral, and Brendan had explained everything that had happened. ‘I never wanted to be here in the first place. This ain’t nothing to do with me. If you’ll get me into town and not back to the Tower I’ll come.’

  ‘Deal,’ said Ed.

  It was decided then. They were going. Ed was just starting to feel like everything was working out fine when a boy came running in through the open doors of the storeroom. He was soaking wet and clearly terrified.

  ‘They’re here!’ he yelled. ‘The Nephilim are in the Temple. They’ve broken through the Wall!’

  59

  The open area in front of St Paul’s was filled with a boiling mass of bodies, slick from the rain, black in the darkness. The clatter from their makeshift instruments was filling the night with a noise that rattled Ed’s teeth.

  Kids were pouring out of the street that led to the warehouse and stopping, bunched up and confused. The way ahead was totally blocked. For the moment the grown-ups didn’t seem to be attacking anyone. They were just milling, aimless, like a crowd at an airport waiting for an announcement.

  St Paul’s loomed above them, its white walls appearing to glow slightly, despite the rain.

  ‘Why don’t they attack?’ Kyle asked, twisting his axe in his big hands.

  ‘It’s like there’s something on their minds,’ said Will.

  ‘They don’t have minds,’ said Kyle.

  ‘I don’t know any more,’ said Will. ‘These ones are organized.’

  Matt came striding past them. ‘Stay close to me!’ he shouted. ‘We’ll find a way through. Nathan, get your best fighters together up the front.’

  Matt stopped shouting and pushed his way back through the tangle of kids to Ed and his group. He fixed Sam with a wild stare.

  ‘The Lamb must lead us,’ he said, rain running down his face, making it look like he was crying.

  Ed had no time for this. ‘If you mean Sam,’ he said, ‘he stays with us.’

  ‘The Lamb will protect us,’ said Matt.

  A sudden poisonous bubble of rage exploded inside Ed and he lashed out, striking Matt in the face with the flat of his hand and making him stagger sideways.

  ‘What did you do that for?’ Matt said, dropping all his front. He didn’t sound like some mad preacher any more; he sounded like a sad kid in the playground.

  Ed didn’t answer his question. He simply swore at him and shoved him out of the way. Matt staggered back and tripped over, falling in a puddle. One of his acolytes went to help him get up, but Matt snarled at him to leave him alone.

  Ed left him there and started rounding up his crew. ‘We have to get back to the bridge,’ he said. ‘Stick together. I’ll take point with Kyle and Adele.’

  They formed into a wedge and edged round behind the cathedral kids who were hanging back, unsure of what to do. Still the sickos didn’t seem to have noticed their arrival. They seemed as confused as the kids. Some were banging sticks and stones, bones and pieces of metal together; some were wandering around as if they were looking for something. Whatever it was, they were distracted. If they’d all gone into the attack none of the kids would have stood a chance. There had to be at least three hundred adults packed into the area below the steps, and Ed saw a steady flow of them plodding up towards the entrance. A small group of frightened kids was trying to close the doors on them and fight them off at the same time.

  Matt had recovered and Ed could hear him shouting orders, gathering his troops around him. Luckily he seemed more interested in getting back into the cathedral and making it safe than in keeping Sam. Ed hoped he’d admitted defeat.

  Nathan was with Matt, trying to get the kids into some sort of order. All the shouting was making the nearest sickos aware of them. They were stopping, turning, sniffing …

  Ed looked back as Matt’s group finally set off. There were a lot of kids, and most were armed, but only a few of them looked like they’d be any use in a fight. The Wall had protected them. The Tree of Life had fed them. They hadn’t needed to be out here, day after day, facing up to sickos. He reckoned only Nathan and a handful of his guards really knew what they were doing.

  As they pushed their way into the crowd, a ripple passed through the sickos; more and more of them were becoming aware, becoming interested. They started to close in on Matt’s group.

  And then they began to attack.

  Nathan and his team were at the front of the column. Behind them Matt and his acolytes, well protected. The kids at the back, though, the slower ones, the less brave ones, the younger ones, had no idea what to do. Ed heard screams as the sickos picked them off. Soon the tight order of Matt’s group was falling apart; panicked kids were breaking away, running in all directions. And those that left the main group were instantly taken down and swallowed by the mob.

  ‘Bollocks!’ Ed barked, short and harsh. He stopped walking. Then he tensed and brought his sword up quickly as someone grabbed his shoulder.

  It was only Kyle, though.

  ‘I know what you’re thinking,’ he said. ‘But it’s not our fight, Ed. Leave it.’

  ‘They’re kids like us.’

  ‘We can’t do anything. We have to look after ourselves.’

  Ed looked at the frightened faces of his gang. For the moment they were behind the mass of sickos, who were concentrating on Matt’s kids. If Ed pressed on they might get right round the edge of the battle and down to the bridge without a fight.

  He turned to Will. Trusted his judgement.

  ‘Let’s get out of here, Ed,’ Will said.

  ‘OK.’ Ed shut his mind down. Forgot all about Matt and his kids. He’d given them the chance, hadn’t he? This was their choice.

  ‘Come on … ’

  They kept close to the curve of buildings around the edge of the churchyard, mostly cafés with offices above them. They could hear the sounds of the battle. Kids crying out, sickos moaning and hissing, others still clattering and banging.

  Will turned occasionally to see what was going on.

  ‘It’s OK, Ed,’ he said. ‘Matt’s kids are almost all through the doors now. Those that made it.’

  ‘Fine,’ Ed grunted. He was shutting down all the rooms in his mind, leaving only those animal parts functioning that would help him get out of this mess.

  ‘The only problem is,’ said Will, ‘once Matt’s lot are out of the way the sickos are going to be more interested in us.’

  Ed took this in. So far they’d been left alone, but they were still only about halfway round to the walkway that led down to the bridge.

  ‘They’ve closed the doors!’ Adele shouted.

  It was almost as if her voice acted like a signal. One moment the sickos were all facing the cathedral, trying to get in, the next they’d stopped and turned, and were coming towards Ed’s crew.

  Within seconds they were totally boxed in, the way forward jammed with sickos.

  ‘Get off the street!’ Ed yelled. ‘Now!’

  60

  Charlotte was more scared than she ever remembered being. Even when everything had started to go wrong she’d never felt like this. Never seen so many sick grown-ups together in one go. They were everywhere. The smell of them was awful, like a whole pack of wet dogs mixed in with bad toilet smells and a mouldy gas that stuck in the back of your nose. She wanted to close her eyes, block her ears.
Instead she pinched her nose and clamped a hand over her mouth. The only thing that gave her any comfort was having the bigger kids around her. They’d made a human wall to protect her and Sam and were all chopping away with their weapons, pushing and shoving their way through the crowd, trying to find a way into one of the buildings.

  They were going so slowly, though. Charlotte had seen children killed trying to get to the cathedral. She imagined herself being pulled away by one of the mothers or fathers, dragged into the crowd, pictured all those dirty fingernails clawing at her.

  One of the bigger kids was making a special effort to look after her and Sam. A girl dressed all in pink and glitter, sparkling pins in her hair. Charlotte had heard one of the boys call her Adele. She stood over Charlotte and Sam when any grown-up got too close and bashed them away. Every now and then she’d look round to check on Charlotte and smile at her. Charlotte was glad of that smile. As long as Adele could keep smiling, it meant they were going to be all right.

  This one time Charlotte had been on an aeroplane with her mum and dad, and they’d flown into a storm. The plane had rocked about and kept on suddenly dipping like a rollercoaster. At first Charlotte had been terrified, but then she’d seen an air hostess, just sitting there chatting to another hostess, and she’d smiled at Charlotte in the same way as Adele, letting her know there was nothing to fear.

  There was a surge and several grown-ups got very close. The bigger kids had to fight really hard. Sam took hold of Charlotte’s hand, tried to smile the way Adele had done, but just looked sick and scared. He’d wanted to reassure her, but she ended up reassuring him.

  ‘It’s all right, Sam,’ she said. ‘Don’t worry. It’s all right.’

  Sam nodded, too frightened to speak.

  ‘In here!’ someone shouted. There was a broken-in doorway to an office; behind it a short passage led to a hallway. Charlotte was bundled inside with the other kids. Then Adele took her and Sam on through to the hallway while the others stayed to guard the door.