‘He don’t look well. He’s saying odd things.’

Maxie sighed. ‘Can you take over here? I’ll go and talk to him.’

‘Sure.’

Maxie jogged to the front of the group and found Arran. He looked pale and red-eyed. Her heart started beating faster. He had to be well. He had to be. They couldn’t do this without him.

She slipped her arm through his and he turned slowly. For a second he looked vague and tense as if he didn’t recognize her, and then his face relaxed.

‘Maxie.’

‘Achilleus says you’re not feeling very well.’

‘I’m feeling fine. I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.’

‘You look awful.’

‘I’m just hot.’ Arran put a hand to his forehead and swayed. Maxie had to catch him to stop him from falling.

‘Blue! Wait!’ she shouted, and Blue held up his hand for the group to halt. Maxie took Arran to the side of the road and sat him down on the kerb. He slumped forward, his head hanging down between his knees, and was sick on to the tarmac, throwing up a thin, watery stream.

‘You’re not good,’ said Maxie.

‘I feel better for that,’ said Arran. ‘I’ll be OK now.’

‘We’ll rest for a while.’

‘No. We’ve hardly come any distance at all, Maxie. We’ve a long way to go today.’

‘You can’t go on in this state.’

‘I just needed to be sick,’ said Arran. ‘I’m fine now.’ He stood up and immediately staggered sideways into a car. He muttered something unintelligible.

‘What was that?’ said Maxie.

‘I need to put my Playmobil away.’

Maxie exchanged a worried look with Blue and Jester who were standing watching.

‘This is serious,’ she said.

17

‘When I’m gone,’ said Sam, ‘you’ll have to properly close the doors.’

‘I will, yeah, I will,’ said Callum. ‘I should have done it before, but I wasn’t sure exactly how. I should have paid more attention to the emos.’

They had found a pump and two more bikes out the back in the loading bay. Sam vaguely remembered some of the older kids using the bikes in the early days, before it got too dangerous out on the streets. These bikes were too big for him, though, so he was going to stick with his lucky bike.

After finding the pump the two of them had gone out on to the balcony and watched the grown-ups below. They half-heartedly pawed at the doors for a while and threw things at them – one of them tried to force them open with a long stick – at one point a fight broke out and a mother was knocked down, unconscious or dead. Eventually they all gave up and wandered off. Sam’s bike lay untouched in the street.

Callum guarded the door while Sam got the bike back inside. Then he pumped up the tyres, mended a couple of punctures and straightened out a bent wheel. Now he knew that Sam wasn’t going to be staying, Callum seemed to be behaving more normally, although maybe he was being just a little bit too helpful. As if he was anxious to get rid of Sam.

For his part Sam was dead on his feet, but he knew he had to keep going until he caught up with the others or he may never be able to find them again. There was no way he would be able to get to the palace all by himself.

He had a quick snack of stale biscuits and water before taking the bike back outside.

Callum was hovering in the open doorway now, looking nervously up and down the street. It was obvious he didn’t want to leave the building at all.

Sam climbed into the saddle, checked once more that the road was clear and pushed off.

This was more like it. The bike went fast and straight. He whizzed along to the junction and turned into Camden Road. Soon he was climbing the hill past the prison. It was heavy going and halfway up he had to get off and push. All the while keeping a look-out for any grown-ups. Once he got to the top it was downhill all the way to Camden.

He got on the bike and took one last look back.

Goodbye.

A few seconds later he was sailing down the hill, the wind in his hair, dodging in and out of the cars in the road. The kids had given up checking cars long ago. Most were out of petrol, and nobody knew how to start them, or unlock the steering, without the keys. Besides, a lot of the roads were blocked by abandoned and burnt-out vehicles.

Sam almost didn’t spot the group of people up ahead before it was too late. They were moving down the hill between the cars in the same direction as him. Sam had had too many disappointments today to let his guard down and hope that this could be his friends. He was right not to be too optimistic. They were grown-ups, walking slowly but purposefully.

He would have to go round them. He cut off down a street to the right. He didn’t really know the area round here. His mum and dad had never let him ride his bike on the roads. They said it was too dangerous. He’d only ever ridden in the park before, or on special trips to Epping Forest.

He told himself that he’d find his way all right. If he just kept heading downhill he was sure he’d hit Camden Town.

There was a dark thought scraping at the back of his mind, though.

What was it? What was wrong?

Something to do with the grown-ups.

No. He wasn’t going to worry about them. They hadn’t seen him. He could get round them all right.

They weren’t after him.

What were they after, though?

18

Maxie was sitting with Arran under the blue-painted railway bridge by Camden Road station. She had moved him here to be out of the sun. He was shivering but she didn’t think it was from cold.

‘You’ve got to keep everyone together,’ he muttered.

‘Don’t worry about that,’ said Maxie.

‘I wish I didn’t have to.’

‘Didn’t have to what?’

‘Worry.’

‘You don’t, Arran. You’ve been cut. You’re sick.’

Arran grabbed Maxie’s arm. ‘That doesn’t make any difference,’ he said. ‘It’s like I was saying to Freak –’ He broke off, confused. ‘Was I saying it to him? Did I say it? I don’t remember…’

‘What? What were you saying?’

‘We shouldn’t have to deal with all this crap, Maxie. We’re just kids. I never realized before. Our mums and dads used to deal with crap so that we didn’t have to. They worried about things for us, and they did difficult things for us, so that we could just carry on being kids. We used to laugh at them and call them boring and pointless, but they protected us, they made the world safe for us so that we could play. I don’t want to be an adult, Maxie. I want to go back to being just a kid again. But I can’t. It’s not an option. I’ve got to be a father to these little kids, and you’ve got to be a mother. They need us. I wish they didn’t. I wish I wasn’t needed. Look around. I sit down for a rest and everything falls apart.’

Maxie stood up. Arran was right. The excitement of being outside was making everyone careless. There was still a party mood. Kids were perched on cars, chatting, or sitting on the kerb in the sun.

Maxie shouted to Blue. He strolled over, trying to look cool.

‘What’s up?’

‘We need to keep alert,’ she said. ‘We need to keep organized. We have to be ready at all times.’

Blue shrugged. ‘We’re ready.’

‘We’re not.’

Blue gave her a look. ‘The only one not at their post is you, girl.’

‘I’m making sure Arran’s all right.’

‘Ain’t you got someone else can do that?’

‘Yeah.’ Maxie went to find Maeve.