‘We’re like a bunch of tramps,’ Whitney went on. ‘Before everything kicked off I used to care about how I looked. We’re arriving at Buckingham Palace, we deserve to turn up in clean clothes and new trainers and stuff.’

‘We’re not going to see the Queen,’ said Maxie.

‘We’re starting a new life,’ said Whitney. ‘I want to make a good impression.’

‘I can’t argue with that,’ said Jester. ‘You guys are a mess.’

‘So we couldn’t go back to look for lost friends?’ said Maxie. ‘But we’ve got time to go shopping?’

‘It wasn’t safe back there in the park,’ said Blue. ‘This is different.’

‘How do you know? Just because we can’t see any grown-ups doesn’t mean there aren’t any around.’

‘These streets are generally quiet,’ said Jester.

‘And how often have you come up here, exactly?’ asked Maxie.

‘Once or twice.’

‘Once or twice?’

‘Listen,’ said Blue. ‘It’s no big deal. We’ll just go a little way along Oxford Street. It’s not out of our way none. We can come down to the palace from the north just as easy as coming in from the east. We can change our route.’

‘Arran worked out the best route,’ said Maxie.

‘Arran’s dead.’

‘Thanks for reminding me.’

‘If you’re in charge,’ said Blue, ‘then you can change the route if you want. You don’t need to stick to Arran’s plan.’

‘It’ll be OK,’ said Jester. ‘Going this way won’t make any real difference. We can cut down via Bond Street or Grosvenor Square. If we see anything in the shops and there are no grown-ups around we can grab some of it. Oxford Street’s good and wide, and I’ve learnt from you lot that wide streets are good.’

‘Come on,’ said Blue, smiling at Maxie. ‘What harm can it do? It might lift everyone’s spirits. And you know you’d like some clean clothes. Brand new. Fresh out of the box.’

‘All right,’ said Maxie. ‘But any sign of trouble and we get out.’

‘Cool,’ said Blue, and they walked on down Oxford Street, heading west towards Marble Arch.

Maxie felt OK. She had given in to Blue and Jester, but at least they had listened to her and discussed it sensibly. She felt sure that if she’d flatly refused they’d have respected her decision. Ollie had been right. She had to stand up for herself, and for the Waitrose crew.

And also…

She dearly wanted a change of clothes.

After a couple of minutes Freak joined her on the flank.

‘I don’t like this,’ he said.

‘We don’t want to turn up at the palace like a bunch of dirtballs.’

‘We should keep going,’ said Freak. ‘This reminds me too much of the other day. When we went to the pool. We got greedy.’

‘Face it, Freak,’ said Maxie. ‘We could just as easily get attacked going the other way. The truth is we just don’t know where the next danger’s coming from. Besides,’ she added, sniffing the air and wrinkling her nose. ‘You stink.’

‘So do you,’ said Freak, and he smiled at her.

Some shops had been looted, some burned, some were just empty, as if the stock had been taken away to a safe place before the collapse. They found a shoe shop that had racks and racks of shoes on display but they were all singles – the other halves of the pairs were in a dark back room somewhere and nobody wanted to go and look.

They found a discount store with a few T-shirts and tracksuits hanging on racks and they fought over who should get what. Blue picked up a New Era cap from a tourist shop but on the whole the pickings were slim. After a while they came to Selfridges, once London’s biggest department store. Miraculously it was still standing and looked almost untouched. The front doors had been busted open, however, and the window displays were empty.

‘What do you think?’ asked Blue, with a certain amount of awe. ‘You can get anything in Selfridges. We should look inside.’

‘Wait,’ said Maxie. ‘First of all we send in a scouting party. If it’s safe and if it’s worth it, then we can all go in. But we check it out first.’

‘I’ll go,’ said Lewis and he was soon joined by Achilleus, Sophie and Big Mick, the Morrisons fighter who looked like he was about eighteen.

‘Be back here in ten minutes,’ said Maxie. ‘Don’t muck about – even if you see something you want, leave it for now. Just make sure it’s safe in there, that’s all that’s important.’

‘See you in ten minutes,’ said Achilleus with a smirk, and the four of them went into the gloom.

Everyone else stood in the road gawping up at the massive building.

Maxie went over to Ollie.

‘Go with them,’ she said. ‘I need someone level-headed in there.’

‘Sure.’ Ollie followed the others inside as Maxie clapped her hands and started shouting, moving among the kids.

‘OK. Let’s not get soft. We should be in battle formation. Small kids in the middle, larger ones form a ring. Blue, you take the west side. I’ll take the east. Come on, move it!’

Ollie smiled. This was good. Maxie was doing well. He only hoped that it wasn’t a mistake sending the scouting party into the store. They were some of the best fighters. They couldn’t afford to lose any of them.

Them? Surely he meant us. Ollie was in on this. It’s funny, he thought, as he slipped into the darkness. You always thought it was someone else who was going to die, not you.

It was dark in the store. There were no windows to the outside world. The torches of the scouting party scoured the murk of what used to be the perfume and make-up department. There were broken glass cabinets and display stands everywhere, draped with cobwebs. Some of the signs and logos were still in one piece, but there was a forlorn, deserted feel about the place and smashed bottles lay all over the floor.

The lingering smell of perfume hung in the air, sickly and cloying. There was no evidence of any recent human activity, though. It was very still and quiet.

‘If we can’t find any clothes we can always just nick some perfume,’ said Achilleus. ‘It’ll hide the stink at least.’

‘Yeah,’ said Lewis, sleepily scratching his Afro. ‘You can arrive at the palace smelling like a queen.’

‘That’s right.’ Achilleus laughed.

Big Mick had been searching the debris on the floor with his torch. ‘Look,’ he said, picking something up. ‘This one ain’t broken.’

‘Show me that,’ said Lewis, and Mick passed it to him.

‘Moisturizer,’ he said mockingly. ‘I know a few grownups could use some of this. They’ve really let themselves go since the disaster. Their skincare is appalling, bro.’

‘We should keep moving,’ said Sophie. ‘We’ve only got ten minutes. The clothing departments are upstairs, I think.’

‘Sure.’

Sophie had to be very careful what she said. She was well aware that at least half the kids hated her for killing Arran, even though it was an accident. She had to do all she could to get on their side.

They crossed the floor, glass crunching underfoot, and found the escalators. Lewis spotted a store map and ran his torch down it.

‘Men’s first floor, women’s second floor.’

‘Let’s quickly go up to the very top,’ said Achilleus. ‘Then work our way down.’

They climbed the first escalator. And found themselves on the men’s fashion floor. There was a moment’s panic as their torches settled on what looked like a pack of grownups, pale and naked and grey. But the kids laughed when they realized it was only a group of mannequins. It still made them jump, though, every time they came across other ones.

A quick scan of the area showed them that there were still some clothes here.

‘Looking good,’ said Lewis as they walked around to the bottom of the next escalator.

As they went up, Ollie walked with Sophie.

‘Listen, Sophie,’ he said. ‘I know you didn’t mean to kill Arran. It could have happened any time. To tell you the truth, he was badly wounded anyway. He got bitten. He was losing it a bit, sick. He’d gone crazy. Even without your arrow he might never have made it to the palace. Maybe you just saved him a lot of pain.’