‘You look pretty messed up, man,’ said Blue, staring at Arran and then at Freak. ‘Was it the dogs?’

‘No,’ said Arran. ‘Grown-ups. At the pool. Don’t go up that way.’

‘Never do,’ said a big, slightly stooped kid who looked almost like a grown-up. He was Mick, the Morrisons equivalent of Achilleus. Their top fighter.

‘There’s been a lot of attacks lately,’ said Blue.

‘Too right,’ said Arran. ‘They’re getting desperate.’

Blue looked at him.

‘There’s been some trouble up at Waitrose,’ he said.

Ollie’s heart caught in his chest. His stomach flooded with acid. Now what?

‘What sort of trouble?’ said Arran.

‘Some sort of an attack. There’s been grown-ups hanging around all day.’

‘Oh crap,’ said Arran and he ran off down the road, the rest of his group struggling to keep up.

The Morrisons crew had been unusually friendly and helpful, Ollie thought. Which probably meant that they were getting scared. When it came down to it, the kids had to stick together.

The grown-ups were the real enemy.

6

‘They’re back!’ Josh ran up to Maxie.

Maxie’s heart thumped against her ribs. She had been desperate for Arran to get back, but she was also terrified of what he would think. He had left her in charge and she had mucked up.

She didn’t want to show how she was feeling in front of everybody. She couldn’t lose it twice in one day.

‘Get the gates open,’ she said, pleased that her voice sounded strong and clear. ‘Who’s on look-out now?’

‘Callum,’ said Josh.

‘I didn’t really need to ask, did I?’

‘He practically lives up there.’

‘Get someone to ring the bell,’ said Maxie.

‘I’ll do it.’ Josh hurried off. In a moment Maxie heard the clang of the bell that told everyone to get ready to open the doors.

Maxie went over to the speaking tube. She banged on it to alert Callum then called up it.

‘Callum?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Can you still see Arran and the scavs?’

‘They’re nearly here.’

‘Is it safe to open the gates?’

‘Yeah.’

There was a pause and then a shrill whistle.

All clear.

Soon afterwards there came the sound of the steel shutter being cranked up. The shutter was the old security gate that blocked off the main entrance to the store. It was operated by turning a big wheel set into the wall.

Maxie stood there, listening but not daring to look. Trying to slow her breathing and take control of herself. Once the shutter was up the gate crew could move out into the mall and open the barricade.

The barricade was a huge fortified gate that opened on to the street. It had been built by Bernie and Ben in the early days. Bernie and Ben were two emos who looked identical, even though Bernie was a girl. They had straight black hair and wore black combat trousers, black T-shirts and black sweatshirts. Both of them were into engineering and used to watch programmes like Scrap Heap Challenge on the TV. They had built loads of modifications around the shop, including the speaking tubes. They were also in charge of opening and closing the barricade.

In a moment there was a flood of light and then the hubbub of voices from the street. Maxie tensed. The last two hours had been hell. An eternity of fear and apprehension. She had a horrible sick feeling in her gut.

At last there he was.

She gasped, despite herself. He looked awful. There had been trouble. It wasn’t just the wound in his neck and the blood on his clothes – he was horribly pale and there was a look in his eyes. A look of despair she had never seen before.

It was a moment before she realized there were only three others with him.

Oh no.

She wanted to run to Arran and throw her arms around him. To comfort him, to comfort herself, to hold on to something.

He would hate it, though. He had no idea how she felt about him. She mustn’t let him find out. She wasn’t one of the pretty ones. She had a plain, square face and mousy curly hair that tangled into knots so that she had to hack away at it with scissors. To Arran she was just his second in command. That was all. She was tough. There was nothing girly or pink about her. If he knew that she’d always fancied him, he’d run a mile.

Fancy?

What a stupid word that was. It was more than fancy. She loved him. Another stupid word. Love. What did it really mean? She knew how it felt. Good and bad at the same time. There was no one else. No mum and dad. No brothers or sisters. There was just Arran.

But he was hurt.

They both spoke at the same time. The same words – ‘What’s happened?’

So he knew it, too. He could read it in her face. She had screwed up.

Who was going to explain first?

Arran sniffed and cleared his throat.

‘We lost Deke,’ he said flatly.

‘Oh no…’

Arran shrugged. ‘There were too many of them.’

Maxie didn’t know what to say. She was glad that Arran had told his news first. It didn’t make hers sound so bad. But it was bad.

Arran looked at her. ‘We saw Blue and the Morrisons crew,’ he said. ‘Told us there’d been trouble.’

‘Some grown-ups got over the wall at the back,’ said Maxie.

‘How many?’

‘Not sure. Four or five…’

‘They get anyone?’

Maxie nodded.

Arran looked around, trying to see who was missing.

‘It was Sam,’ said Maxie. ‘Small Sam.’

‘Poor little bugger,’ said Arran. ‘This hasn’t been a good day.’

‘No. There’s been grown-ups hanging around since you left. I keep expecting them to attack again.’

‘They won’t attack Waitrose,’ said Arran, taking his club over to the rack where they kept their weapons. ‘They never have done.’

‘They might,’ said Achilleus, who was already at the rack, with Freak and Ollie. ‘They’re changing. It’s getting tough, man.’

‘It’s all over for us,’ said Freak, looking utterly miserable and defeated.

Achilleus grabbed him and slammed him into the rack, spilling weapons on to the floor.

‘That was your bright idea, Freak,’ he snarled. ‘None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for you. Don’t never forget that. Deke’s blood is on your hands, man.’

Arran pulled him off.

‘Don’t be an arsehole, Akkie,’ he said. Achilleus briefly flared up then turned away and let his breath out in a dismissive huff, before sinking into sullen blankness.

‘We’re not going to start blaming each other,’ said Arran. ‘It won’t get us anywhere. We’re all in this together. If we start fighting among ourselves it really is all over. OK?’

‘Yeah, whatever.’ Achilleus wandered off.

Arran put a hand on Freak’s shoulder.

‘You all right?’

Freak looked at his hands. Stained red. He wiped them on his shirt and shrugged.

Ollie took the dead dog off Arran, who seemed to have forgotten he was still carrying it.

‘Come on, Freak,’ he said. ‘Let’s see what we can do with this.’

In a moment Maxie was alone with Arran. She was desperate to explain herself.

‘They came in the car park,’ she said. ‘We’d told the little kids not to go out there.’

‘Not your fault,’ said Arran.

‘I thought you were going to be so mad at me,’ said Maxie quietly.

‘Not your fault,’ Arran repeated.

‘I know, but…’

‘In case you hadn’t noticed, Maxie, I didn’t do so good either.’

Maxie almost burst into tears.

‘We can’t go on like this, Arran.’

‘Yeah?’ Arran stared at her. That bleak look in his eyes still. ‘So what are we supposed to do then?’

‘I don’t know, do I?’ said Maxie, trying to control her voice.

Arran sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘It’s been a tough day. I’m the leader. I’m supposed to know what to do, aren’t I?’