‘What about bacteria then?’ said Maxie.
‘What about it?’
‘You know, like in our guts. That’s not part of us, it’s other living beings. But without it we’d get sick and couldn’t digest things properly. There are lots of parasites in the world that help the creatures they live on.’
‘Here’s the science part,’ said Einstein sarcastically. ‘Bacteria in our guts can’t turn us into living mobile phones.’
‘Not bacteria,’ said Maxie, refusing to be fazed by Einstein. ‘The disease. The disease, that you and everyone else know sod all about.’
‘Are you saying the disease might be some sort of parasite?’ said Einstein.
‘It could be, couldn’t it?’ said Blue. ‘It came out of the jungle with them Stone Age tribesmen, the Inmathger. You saw the show. They passed it on to the people who were studying them, the Promithios scientists, who brought it back here, only they didn’t realize because it was a new disease they’d never come across before. Nobody knew they had it for ages. So what if it was some new sort of parasite, and it’s the parasites that are talking to each other, you know, the way some insects can communicate with each other?’
‘If it was a parasite it would have shown up,’ said Einstein. ‘We’d have seen it under the microscopes.’
Blue looked at the bench where Einstein had been working. He recognized the transparent plastic box that Einstein had used to pick up some of the grey stuff that had come out of Seamus when Ollie killed him. The stuff had stopped moving and looked just like grey sludge.
‘You could be wrong,’ said Blue. ‘You’re not the real Einstein after all, are you? Face it. You’re just a kid, mate.’
‘It’s not possible,’ Einstein protested. ‘It can’t be. I mean, it’s a great story. You should sell it to Hollywood. Oh no, I forgot, Hollywood doesn’t exist any more. That is not how the world works.’
‘Well, the world has changed, geek-boy; it has jumped up and bitten us in the arse. You said it yourself, Hollywood don’t exist no more. Who saw that one coming? Before all this, would you have said that every adult in the world was gonna get wiped out? No. Except the ones that fancied theirselves as cannibal zombies? No. Nothing’s real until it happens. And this has happened and we’ve got to get on it. We’ve got to solve the problems it’s given us before it’s too late. So maybe you need to keep a more open mind.’
Before Einstein could respond to Blue they were interrupted by the arrival of Maeve, who had Ella and Monkey-Boy with her.
‘Whassup?’ said Blue. ‘Everything all right?’
‘Yeah.’ Maeve sat at the workbench and the little kids climbed up on to stools on either side of her. ‘Can I talk to you about something?’
‘Sure. What?’
‘Maxie knows about this.’
‘I do?’ Maxie looked intrigued.
‘Yeah, about me leaving.’
‘You’re leaving?’ said Blue.
‘In the morning. Us three and Robbie.’
‘You serious?’ Blue stared into Maeve’s eyes, trying to see if there was any trace of doubt there. He didn’t know the girl well. She wasn’t one of his Morrisons crew; none of the kids leaving were.
‘Deadly serious,’ said Maeve. ‘We’ve been over and over it.’
‘But where you gonna go?’
‘We’re getting out of town. Heading west. To the countryside. Out the way you went, past Heathrow. We’ll keep going until we find somewhere safe.’
‘You might keep going till you fall off the edge of the world, girl.’
Maeve smiled. ‘If that’s what it takes.’
Blue looked at Maxie, who shrugged.
‘I can’t stop them,’ she said. ‘But I wish you weren’t going, Maeve.’
‘Oh, come on!’ said Blue. ‘Four of you? Two little ones? Another kid who can hardly walk. You won’t stand a chance.’
‘It’s a risk we’re willing to take,’ said Maeve quietly. ‘We’ve had enough of London. All this …’
Blue turned his attention to Monkey-Boy.
‘You sure about this?’ he said.
Monkey-Boy looked very scared. He gripped on to Maeve’s jumper.
‘I’m not leaving Maeve,’ he said. ‘She looks after me.’
‘And I’m sticking with Monkey-Boy,’ said Ella. ‘We’re a team. There’s nothing for me here.’
‘What about your brother?’ said Maxie. ‘What about Sam?’
‘He’s dead,’ said Ella quietly. ‘I’m never going to see him again. And I don’t want to stay here in London,’ she went on. ‘It just reminds me of him. We got so far, we did so well, and then …’
Blue didn’t know what to say. He went round the bench and gave Ella and Maeve a quick hug. What he’d seen of Maeve he liked. She was quiet and serious and calm. A good kid to have around.
‘It’s your decision, doc,’ he said. ‘But we could do with you here. What with you knowing about medicine and all.’
‘I don’t know half as much as him,’ Maeve said, throwing a look at Einstein. ‘I think you’ll do just fine without me.’
She stood up and gave Maxie a little kiss.
‘I miss you already,’ she said. ‘But one day … I’m sure we’ll all meet again. In better times, yeah?’
‘I hope you’re right,’ said Maxie. ‘I hope there’s an amazing new life waiting for you out there. Send us a card, won’t you?’
‘I’ll send flowers,’ said Maeve. ‘From the countryside. Freshly cut and smelling of … I don’t know – life.’
‘Good luck,’ said Blue, and as he said it the whole lab was lit a brilliant white as lightning flashed in the sky overhead. ‘Better times.’
92
David was stomping down the stairs from the royal bedroom at Buckingham Palace. In a bad mood. The storm had passed, but he still had a headache. Thunder always gave him a headache. So did problems, and this was a night of problems.
The last surviving members of the royal family, whom he kept in the room upstairs, had gone weird on him. They were standing there, frozen like dummies, holding their arms out as if they expected him to give them a tip. He’d been looking after them and keeping them alive in the hope that he could eventually use them to take over London. They were his mascots, the symbols of his authority. At least that was the plan. He was beginning to wonder if it was a huge waste of time and he shouldn’t just use them for target practice instead. He’d been tearing into his quite frankly useless head of security, Pod, when they’d been interrupted by one of David’s guards, who said he had a visitor. A visitor who wouldn’t give his name.
Who the hell came visiting in the middle of the bloody night?
Some idiot probably.
Bringing more problems.
The world was full of idiots.
‘It could be Nicola, or someone from the Houses of Parliament,’ said Pod, plodding along behind, trying to keep up with David, who was walking angrily fast.
‘Yes, and it could be Father Christmas,’ said David.
‘Wrong time of year,’ said Pod, who had no sense of humour.
‘Well, the Easter Bunny then,’ said David.
Pod chuckled. Idiot.
David pulled open the door to his study and went in.
Oh. It was him then. The weird boy from the museum. Another born idiot. What was his name? Peter, or Richard or something. John?
‘Yeah, hi, Paul,’ said Pod as he came in. ‘How goes it?’
Paul. That was it. He looked terrible. Thin and wasted. Soaking wet, black hair plastered to his white face. Shaking. Eyes red and bloodshot. Feverish. David hoped he wasn’t going to infect them all with some boring disease.
‘You’re back then,’ he said. ‘What a lovely surprise.’
‘Yes.’
‘So what happened? The last we saw of you, you were going back to the museum to stir things up a little.’
‘Did you let the strangers out of the cellar, dude?’ said Pod. ‘Did they,
like, attack?’
‘Yes.’ Paul nodded. Didn’t look like he was going to say anything more.
‘Cool,’ said Pod.
‘So what happened?’ said David impatiently.
‘Some others turned up.’
‘Other grown-ups?’
‘No. Kids. A whole load of them. Good fighters. They killed my sickos.’
‘Epic fail,’ said Pod, and then he frowned. ‘That was the same night that Maxie and Blue and the north London guys left here,’ he said to David. ‘You don’t reckon …’
David sat down at his desk. Oh, that would be a great joke, wouldn’t it? If those bastards had double-screwed him. He was trying to help – why couldn’t anyone see that? He was trying to unite all the kids in London under his rule so that they could be one single force. But as long as any of them held out, like Justin and his nerds at the museum, that was never going to happen, was it? He’d hoped to show them how vulnerable they were, how much they needed him, by getting Paul to set up an attack. And if the bloody Holloway kids had rescued them, then …
‘I heard those names,’ said Paul, who was dripping on to the carpet.
‘Brilliant,’ said David. ‘Just brilliant. This night gets better and better. We should celebrate with a cup of cold sick. So what do you want now then? A medal? World’s biggest screw-up?’
‘I had to leave the museum,’ said Paul. ‘There were too many of them. They were too strong for me. They were going to kill me.’
They had the right idea, thought David. This guy was a total waste of space.
‘Yeah?’ he said. ‘And what exactly do you want me to do about it? Quite frankly you look unwell. I’m not sure I want you here stinking the place up.’
‘I can help you,’ said Paul.
‘You? I very much doubt it.’
‘You have sickos upstairs.’
‘That’s no secret.’
‘I can help you with them. I know sickos. I used to look after them at the museum. Ones we kept in a cage. I can look after yours.’
‘I already have people to do that. People who aren’t crawling with germs.’
‘I can help,’ said Paul. He was pleading now, pathetic really.
‘So you keep saying. But tell me in one short sentence exactly how you can help me.’
‘I can talk to them.’
93
Lately everything had started to change. Brooke wondered if things were falling apart. It had all begun with the arrival of DogNut. Before that, for the last year, they’d been getting sorted, making the museum a safe place to live, finding food, growing food, learning what they could about their new world. It had felt like things had slowly been getting better. Tiny steps, sure, but going in the right direction at least.
And then DogNut had showed up out of nowhere and it had all started to come undone. First she’d tried to go back with him across London, and that had turned into a disaster. DogNut killed. Her oldest friend Courtney killed. Robbie wounded. Brooke herself wounded, cut across the face by a crazy mother. And then Paul had flipped out and let the sickos out of the lower level. And then Einstein going off to get supplies. Half the kids getting massacred …
All those kids not here any more. A small selfish part of her thought that there would be more food to go round. That’s what happened to you. You grew hard and cold. All that mattered was survival.
She was sitting on the steps in front of the museum, making the most of the warmth from the sun. It was spring: leaves were opening on the trees. Summer soon.
Brooke sighed.
Things always seemed better in the summer. There was more to eat. It wasn’t so cold and wet. Winter was one long nightmare. The images she had in her mind of the winter weren’t great. Burning anything they could find to keep warm. Scraping the last bits of food out of cans. Breaking the ice on the water tanks in the roof. Dark most of the time.
No. Winter had nothing going for it.
She closed her eyes, felt the sun on her face. Her forehead ached beneath the bandage. She knew that sunlight was supposed to help you to heal, but she wasn’t ready to show her scar to the world just yet. It was a mess under there, black and yellow and scabby, her skin all pulled and twisted out of shape.
How had it happened that she’d gone from being the golden girl to this? Miss Predator-face …
How had any of it happened? So fast. The world had turned and it had flipped into chaos.
She hated it when the darkness crept into her mind like this. She knew she should try to concentrate on the positive. And some good things had happened lately. She’d found Maxie and Blue and the others. They were good news. That wouldn’t have happened without DogNut. The kids that had died recently had at least been replaced by new ones.
Good fighters.
Though not good enough to save the kids that had been attacked in the church …
Stop it.
She heard voices. Arguing. Down by the fence where the little gatehouse was. Where there were always at least two kids on duty.
Sounded like somebody was trying to get in.
Brooke opened her eyes. Squinted over, trying to see what was going on. No good. The gatehouse was in the way. She got up and stretched. Rubbed her aching behind. The stone steps were pretty cold, despite the sun on them. She walked on stiff legs down towards the gates.
There were four boys standing on the other side of the fence. Older ones. They weren’t from around here. She didn’t recognize them. Or did she …?
The boy in the middle …
As she got closer, Brooke felt her throat tighten.
It couldn’t be. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be him. She must be imagining it. She walked closer still. The boy turned to look at her. There was no flash of recognition from him.
But there was no doubt now because, as he’d turned, he’d shown the other side of his face. The ruined side.
‘Ed …?’
He frowned at her now.
‘Ed? Is it really you?’
He was still frowning, not recognizing her. Had she really changed that much? He was still Ed. Taller, bigger, older, thinner … but Ed all right.
‘It’s me,’ she said, trying not to let her voice go pathetic. ‘Brooke …’
His face opened up into a smile.
‘Jesus, Brooke … what happened to you?’
‘Shit happened to me.’
He looked her up and down. It was true she’d changed a lot, let the bleach grow out of her hair, cut it short, got rid of her tacky clothes and taken this old dress from the V&A … and the bandage.
Of course. The bandage. No wonder he hadn’t recognized her.
‘Open the gates,’ she said to the two sentries. ‘They’re OK.’
The boys unlocked the gates and let Ed and his three friends in.
‘This is Kyle, Will and Macca,’ Ed said, and Brooke hugged him, crushing him against her chest.
‘Bloody hell, Ed,’ she said. ‘I can’t believe it.’
‘Me neither.’ Ed gently touched her back. ‘You weren’t who we were expecting to find here at all.’
Brooke pulled away from him and put her fingers to his scar, traced the line of it. It was both worse and better than she remembered it. Worse because in her imagination she had made it smaller and made him more handsome, and better because now it really didn’t matter to her.
She could see him looking at her bandage. She had a million questions, and she was sure he did too, but for the moment neither of them could say anything. Ed’s three friends were introducing themselves to the sentries and they were at least talking.
Brooke took Ed’s hand and led him away from them. She kissed him lightly on the lips. He was awkward, stiff and embarrassed.
‘I’ve missed you so much, Ed,’ she said. Ed shrugged. Didn’t know where to look.
‘Really?’ he said. ‘It’s been a long time.’
Brooke wondered what she could do to get him to relax. When they’d been split up during the bi
g fire things hadn’t been too good between them.
Because of his scar.
How disgusted she’d been by it.
Well, a lot had happened since then.
Without saying anything she unwound the bandage from her head. It was like she was undressing in front of him. As she removed it, she saw a look come into his eyes, the same look she must have given him when he was first wounded.
‘That looks recent,’ he said, and she nodded. ‘The pain goes away eventually,’ he added. ‘Most of the time.’
Brooke began to cry. Started fumbling to put the bandage back on. Ed helped her. He seemed happier to be doing something. It was a distraction. She’d come on too strongly. Should have taken her time. He must be freaked out by all this.
‘What are you doing here anyway, Ed?’ she asked. ‘Who were you looking for? Who were you expecting to find?’
She knew the answer. It was going to be DogNut. But she didn’t know how she was going to tell him the bad news.
‘We’ve got some other kids with us,’ Ed explained. ‘But they’ve stayed back where it’s safe until we’ve checked everything out.’
‘What kids?’
‘We were helping them, well, helping one of them, to find his sister.’
‘And you think she might be here? What’s her name?’
‘Ella.’
Brooke put a hand to her mouth, shook her head slowly.
‘Not Sam,’ she said. ‘Please say it’s not Sam.’
‘Yeah, it’s Sam. Why? Do you know Ella? Is she here then?’
‘She was here. If you’d only come a day earlier. She left this morning.’
Ed looked confused, trying to take this all in.
‘What do you mean, she left?’ he asked.
One of Ed’s friends came over, the one he’d introduced as Kyle, a big lump of a kid with a bony head and big ears.
‘Come on, boss,’ he said. ‘You can get loved up later. Let’s get inside, yeah?’
‘In a minute,’ Ed snapped, and Kyle raised his eyebrows, surprised at Ed’s anger. ‘Can’t you see I’m talking here?’