‘Yeah, that’s him,’ said Courtney. ‘You got it. He was in charge of them.’

‘He a friend of yours then?’ said the stocky kid.

‘Not exactly,’ said DogNut. ‘He was guarding the lorry. Wherever he is, the lorry ought to be too.’

‘They’re at Buckingham Palace then.’

A noisy hubbub of chatter broke out among the assembled kids. Nicola stared across at the new arrivals.

DogNut leant over and muttered to Courtney. ‘So David’s at Buckingham Palace. That makes sense. This lot have set themselves up as the government – David’s set himself up as the bloody king.’

Courtney laughed and DogNut straightened. ‘How far is it to the palace from here?’ he asked.

‘It’s only about ten minutes away,’ said someone sitting nearby.

‘Sorted!’ DogNut punched the air. ‘So do any of you mugs want to come with us? Show us the way? Keep us safe? We don’t know this area … Anyone?’

Nobody made a move to volunteer, and DogNut sighed.

Waste of time. This bunch might have been well organized, but they weren’t exactly the most adventurous kids in the world.

‘I have to ask you again,’ said Nicola. ‘What is your relationship with David?’

‘I don’t have no relationship with David,’ said DogNut with a smirk. ‘You calling me gay?’

A ripple of laughter spread among the seated children.

‘I just want to know what he is to you,’ said Nicola patiently.

‘He ain’t nothing to me,’ said DogNut. ‘He tipped up at the War Museum just before it all kicked off, looking for guns, yeah. When everyone had to get out on account of the fire, he kind of, like, volunteered himself to guard the lorry. Wanted a piece of what was on it, the food and that. Why you ask? You got a problem with him?’

‘You could say that. David’s always trying to take over here.’

‘He one of these raiders you told us about?’

‘No. He’s got a lot of kids at the palace. He wants more, though. Keeps trying to make a deal with us. But you can’t trust him. One of my promises when I was standing for government was that I wouldn’t ever have anything to do with him.’

‘Well, you telling us how to get there ain’t exactly gonna break no promise, is it?’

‘No. But I can’t let anyone go with you.’

Courtney shook her head and looked at DogNut.

‘What other promises did you make?’ DogNut asked. ‘Just so’s we know.’

‘My only other promise was that I’d never attack any other kids.’

DogNut laughed. ‘That why you took our weapons and set your soldiers on us then?’

‘That was self-defence.’

‘If you say so.’

‘So you ain’t none of you gonna help us?’ Courtney shouted angrily.

‘We’re not fighters here,’ said Nicola.

‘No, you’re talkers. And talking ain’t no use to us.’

Courtney left her place and headed for the doors, telling the others to come with her. They hesitated for a moment, then drifted after her. DogNut followed her and put a hand on her arm, slowing her down.

‘Ain’t so bad, gyal,’ he said. ‘We got us a lead. At least we know where David went. Can’t blame these kids for not helping more. They got problems of their own.’

‘Maybe.’

‘Wait a minute!’ It was Nicola, hurrying to catch up with them. She looked flushed and slightly embarrassed. Courtney gave her the cold shoulder, but DogNut waited for her.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘But you must understand. I’ve got to look after my people. It’s not far to the palace. You should be OK.’

‘Yeah?’

‘You’re welcome to stay with us here for a bit if you want. As long as you stick to our rules.’

‘Thanks but no thanks,’ said DogNut. ‘Is a cool offer, like, but we come up this way to find old friends. We ain’t gonna crash just yet. We gotta keep moving. So what’s it like round here? Many sickos?’

‘Sickos?’

‘Grown-ups. Mothers and fathers …’

‘Oh, them. We call them oppoes – short for the opposition.’

‘The enemy?’

‘Yes.’

‘They bother you any?’

‘There’s always some around. Less than there used to be. David’s actually done quite a lot to clean the streets up. And lots of them have just starved to death, I guess, or been killed by the disease. It’s not too bad in the day, but it’s certainly not safe out on the streets after dark.’

‘Sounds familiar,’ said DogNut.

The gap-toothed kid with the ponytail – he seemed to be Nicola’s deputy – had joined them.

‘We’ve tried to clear out the area as well as we can,’ he explained. ‘But they’re starting to come over the bridges again, from the south. Real mean ones. As Nicola said, we’re not really fighters here; we’ve fallen back on our defences instead. There are some gangs out there, though. Hunters. They wander the streets looking for oppoes. We sort of rely on them to keep us safe.’

‘If you bumped into a hunter gang out there, they might be able to give you some more information,’ said Nicola, trying to be helpful. ‘They cover a lot of ground.’

‘So you wouldn’t consider breaking your rules and borrowing us an escort?’

Nicola looked embarrassed.

‘I can’t order anyone to go with you. I can let everyone know that if they want to help I’m not going to stop them, but …’

‘But you ain’t fighters. You gonna stick behind your strong walls.’

‘I’ll give you your weapons back, and it’s our lunchtime in half an hour. I can offer you a meal and some water. How’s that?’

‘Deal. Then we on our way, sister.’

8

They were ready to leave. They’d had something to eat, picked up their weapons, strapped their extra belongings to their backpacks, put on their bits and pieces of armour and now they stood by the Sovereign’s Entrance in Victoria Tower.

Being in the Houses of Parliament, among the lush trappings of the old world, had felt like a dream. She had never realized just how big the place was. Almost like a small city within a city. They had only seen a tiny part of it. She had heard some of the kids call it the palace of Westminster. And it was a palace – full of paintings, and gold, and marble floors. More than ever Courtney felt like London had been turned into a giant playhouse and they were just silly toddlers dressing in their mum and dads’ clothes and parading about pretending to be adults. What hope did any of them ever have of building anything like this in the future? How would they even know where to start? Massive carved stone pillars rose above their heads, supporting arches and beams and statues and huge windows. Even the Lego buildings she’d tried to make as a kid had always collapsed. She remembered learning about the Romans at primary school (they always seemed to be learning about the Romans). About how when they left England everything had started to go wrong; all their fine buildings, with mosaics and central heating and toilets and murals and whatever, had fallen apart. The Brits went back to their old ways – living in mud huts, huddled round fires, eating crap – and everything the Romans had brought here had been forgotten. They called it the Dark Ages. Must have been a rubbish time. Well, they were in a new Dark Age now, weren’t they? That was for sure.

And the Romans had left them to it again.

Actually, no, the Romans hadn’t all done a bunk. Some of them had stayed behind. Some of them had become monsters.

Courtney looked around her little group. Apart from Marco and Felix who were having an argument about who had the heaviest backpack, they were silent and tense. Olivia was sticking close to Finn, comforted by his size. Al and Jessica were slumped against the wall, waiting for the off. DogNut was standing at the entrance, looking out into the thin spring sunshine. They’d all been eager to press on, but now they were holding back. Nervous. Unsure of what lay in wait for them out there.

‘We gonna go then, or what?’ she said, approaching DogNut.

‘Guess so,’ said DogNut. ‘Let’s get rocking.’