‘I don’t think so,’ said Bernie comfortingly. ‘I expect the keepers moved them somewhere safe.’

‘They wouldn’t have had time,’ said Curly Sam, one of those annoying small kids who thought they knew everything.

‘I’m sure the keepers had time to make sure they were all right,’ said Bernie.

‘Did they let them out then, do you think?’ said Ella.

‘Yeah, ’spect so,’ said Ben, smiling at Bernie. ‘They would have set them free.’

‘Then they might be in the park,’ said Ella, suddenly fearful, and Ben immediately regretted saying anything.

‘I thought you liked the lions and tigers,’ said Bernie quickly.

‘I did when they were in cages,’ said Ella, ‘but not running free.’

‘Lions are dangerous,’ said Monkey-Boy.

‘Will we be eaten?’ said Joel. ‘Like the Christians?’

‘What Christians?’

‘In the Colosseum. In Rome. They used to feed Christians to the lions.’

‘If any lions did get out,’ said Bernie, ‘then they’d be miles away from here by now. They’d be long gone. They’ll have gone to the countryside to find cows and deers and things like that.’

‘I don’t want to go to the countryside,’ said Ella. ‘I don’t want to be eaten like a Christian.’

‘You’re not going to be eaten by a lion,’ said Bernie.

‘Yes,’ said Curly Sam. ‘The only thing that’s going to eat you is a grown-up.’

‘That’s not a very helpful thing to say,’ said Bernie.

‘It’s true, though,’ Curly Sam insisted. ‘They eat kids.’

‘What was that?’ said Ella, her voice very high and thin.

‘What was what?’

‘I heard something moving in the grass.’

‘It’ll be the bigger kids,’ said Bernie, trying to sound calm, even though she, too, thought she had seen something moving. ‘They’re protecting our sides.’

‘No. It wasn’t a big kid.’

‘Maybe a rabbit then, or a cat.’

‘Like a lion?’

‘Look,’ said Ben, trying not to lose his patience. ‘There’s nothing there. Nothing’s going to eat you. We won the battle, didn’t we? We’re strong. Nothing can get to us.’

‘We’re safe, aren’t we?’ said Joel.

‘Yeah,’ said Ben. ‘We’ve got Godzilla to look after us.’

Joel hugged the puppy tighter. ‘Godzilla can’t fight,’ he said. ‘He’s too young.’

‘I was only joking,’ said Ben. ‘I just can’t win with you lot, can I?’

They had come on to The Broadwalk, a much wider path that ran down the centre of the park beneath rows of tall trees. There was enough room here for them to spread out a little. Bernie called Lewis over. He shambled up, scratching his untidy Afro.

‘Did you see anything?’ she asked.

‘What you mean?’ said Lewis.

‘In the grass?’

‘Nope.’

‘Did you hear anything?’

‘There’s nothing in the grass, we’d have seen any grown-ups.’

‘It’s too dark to see anything properly.’

‘We’ve got torches.’

‘We heard something,’ said Ella. ‘Maybe a lion.’

Josh came back from the front and looked at the frightened bunch of kids.

‘Can’t you keep them quiet?’ he said. ‘They’re getting spooked.’

‘They can’t help it,’ said Bernie. ‘They’re small. They’ve got overactive imaginations.’

‘I saw something again!’ said Ella.

‘No, you didn’t,’ Bernie snapped.

There came a rustle in the leaf canopy above their heads and everyone stopped walking and fell silent.

A twig snapped.

Something was moving through the trees.

‘What is it?’

‘Grown-ups, maybe.’

‘They can’t climb trees,’ said Lewis.

‘How do you know?’ said Josh. ‘Our problem is – we’ve been stuck inside those stupid supermarkets too long and we’ve thought we knew what was going on in the world. I used to sit on that roof with Callum and think I could see everything there was to see. Well I couldn’t see nothing. Except that tiny little bit of Holloway. For all we know there are grown-ups that’ve sprouted wings and learnt to fly.’

‘They can’t fly, can they?’ asked a fearful Ella.

‘Stop it, Josh,’ said Bernie. ‘You come back here and tell us not to spook the kids and now you’re terrifying them. It’s bad enough as it is without having to worry about flying grown-ups.’

‘They can’t fly, can they?’ Ella repeated.

‘Of course they can’t fly,’ Bernie almost shouted. ‘Most of them can hardly walk.’

‘There’s definitely something in the trees, though,’ said Lewis, looking up.

‘Probably squirrels.’

‘Too big for a squirrel,’ said Maxie, who had also heard something and had come over to consult with Lewis.

‘Well, I ain’t climbing up there to find out,’ said Lewis.

‘Look out, we’re getting split up,’ said Ben, pointing to the front of the column where the fighters were walking on.

Maxie swore and ran after them, shouting to Blue to stop.

‘What is it?’

‘Wait for the others to catch up.’

‘Why have they stopped?’

‘The little kids are getting scared. There’s something in the trees.’

‘Yeah, we heard it. We reckon it’s best to push on.’

‘Can you see anything up there?’

‘Too many leaves. Whatever it is, it’s good at hiding.’

‘Shouldn’t we at least warn everyone to be careful?’

‘We start shouting orders, the kids’ll get even more scared,’ said Blue. ‘You go round and tell them. And get the others to hurry up.’

Achilleus came over.

‘Why ain’t we moving?’ he said.

‘We need to look up, Akkie,’ said Maxie quietly. ‘There’s something in the trees.’

‘I hate to say it, but there’s something in the grass too,’ said Achilleus, peering into the darkness.

‘What?’

‘Something’s crawling about in there. Not big enough to be grown-ups.’

‘What is it then? Could it be other kids?’

‘Dunno,’ said Achilleus and, before Maxie could stop him, he put a hand to his mouth and shouted. ‘Hey! Who’s there? Show yourself.’

Nothing. The grass was absolutely still.

‘We need to press on,’ said Blue and he started walking again.

‘Wait,’ said Maxie, but it was no use.

Her heart was thumping as she made her way back to the huddled mass of smaller kids.

‘You have to hurry up,’ she said; glad, in a way, to be doing something to take her mind off Arran.

‘I don’t like it under the trees,’ said Ella.

‘Don’t go in the grass,’ said Maxie. ‘Don’t you dare go in the grass.’

‘Why not?’

‘Just don’t.’

‘Why? Is there something there? Is there something in the grass?’

‘No. We just need to stick together, is all.’ Maxie sensed a mounting panic among the smaller kids.

Whitney had sensed it, too, and was going round telling them not to be scared. Maxie looked to the front. Blue and Jester and the others were getting further away. She felt like she was slowly losing control.

‘Get going,’ she said, hustling kids forwards.

Half the small kids walked on, the rest milled around fearfully. Some were even heading back the way they had come.

‘Hold still!’ Maxie shouted but at that moment something dropped from the trees and landed with the effect of a bomb going off among the children. In an instant they were running, screaming, in all directions.

Before Maxie could do anything, something else dropped from the trees. Then another. Grey blurs that shrieked as they came down. She gripped Arran’s club.

It seemed that they were going to have to fight every step of the way into town.

25

It was chaos. The kids were running in all directions while more and more of the things – whatever they were – dropped down on to them from above. It was impossible in the dark to make out exactly what they looked like. They were just grey blurs as they plummeted, yelping and shrieking, through the air. They had to be animals of some sort. Too small to be grown-ups. Maxie shoved her way through the panicked crowd to where she saw one land. A girl was face down on the ground with one of the things on her back. It was hairless, with mottled pinkish-grey skin studded with sores and boils. It had long arms and stumpy misshapen legs. Maxie ran to it and whacked it in the back with her club. It barely moved. It was a powerful, solid lump.