She clutched her knife to her chest. Licked her dry lips. They were smeared with blood from the day before, like lipstick.

They had water, down below, under the ground. It rose up through the dirt. But if they didn’t eat today it would all be over for them. She couldn’t hold the pack together any longer. It was all down to her. She had to look after her children.

Wait, watch and wait, and be patient.

They would get a bite sooner or later.

She was sure of it.

59

Not having to worry about any younger kids, they were moving fast, almost jogging. Felix and Marco were at the front with Robbie and Jackson. Then DogNut and Brooke, side by side. Behind them came Courtney, walking by herself, and bringing up the rear were the three other boys from the museum.

DogNut had an intense feeling of excitement. He was back where he belonged, on the streets. There had been something creepy about the museum. He didn’t know what to think about Justin and Einstein and their experiments, about the three sickos locked up in the lorry. He guessed it had to be done, if they were going to find the cause, and maybe even a cure for the disease. That would change everything. But it felt wrong, somehow.

Whatever.

If he was going to be honest with himself, he also felt uncomfortable being around Paul. No matter what anyone said, he hadn’t looked after Olivia properly and Paul ranting all over the place and going fruitcake was a constant reminder.

Was he running away then?

Yeah. Probably.

He’d tried to run away from the ghost of Leo and what had happened in the bank, but had only landed himself in a worse nightmare.

You can’t really run away. He’d learnt that.

It felt good while you were running, though.

They saw no living thing all the way to Hyde Park Corner. There was a dead sicko by Wellington Arch, but no other grown-ups were feeding off it. They were all tense skirting the back wall of Buckingham Palace. They kept expecting David to appear at the head of a column of red blazers. Would he try to arrest them and lock them up in the palace for treason? It was stupid to be scared of other kids, but David’s presence rested over this part of London like a great dirty stain.

As it was, they got past without incident. Seeing no one. Everywhere was quiet as the grave. They came to Green Park and slowed down. Walking along in the sun like this, it might have been a time before the disaster. A stroll through London on a quiet Sunday morning. Brooke was walking by his side. Chatting away. DogNut was hardly listening. It was weird. Once he’d accepted that she didn’t want him, he’d got used to it pretty quick, and now she was just another person. She didn’t bother him. If he didn’t mean anything to her, then she didn’t mean anything to him.

Lost in his thoughts he didn’t register that she’d asked him a question, and it was only a nudge in the ribs that brought him back to their conversation.

‘Sorry, what?’ he said. ‘What did you say, babe? I was, like, distracted.’

‘I know you were. You ain’t been listening to a word I’ve said, have you?’

‘Some of it,’ said DogNut. ‘I’ve listened to some of it.’

‘I was asking about Ed.’

‘That’s probably why I wasn’t listening.’

‘Well, listen now.’

‘Why? What’s the matter?’

‘Nothing’s the matter. I just want to know how he is.’

‘How he is? I’ve told you. He’s cool.’

‘Yeah, but how does he, like, you know, how does he look?’

‘He looks like Ed.’

‘Stop pretending to be a moron, Donut. You know what I mean. How’s his face?’

‘Oh that, yeah. It looks the same.’

‘What’s the same?’

‘Twisted. Bad, I guess. I don’t think about it much, though, to be honest. I’ve got used to it. But, you know, like, sometimes you forget and you look at him and you think …’

‘It’s well bad, yeah?’

‘You know what?’ said DogNut. ‘I always thought having a scar would be bare cool. But it ain’t like it is in the movies. That side of his face looks all mashed up. Sort of, like, screwed tight.’ He made a face, scrunched up and leering. ‘It’s a half and half face, you know, like Two-Face in Batman.’

‘Who?’

‘Harvey Dent.’

‘Who’s he?’

‘Don’t you know Batman?’

‘Not really.’ Brooke shook her head and shrugged.

‘Well, what I’m saying is that Ed won’t be winning any teen polls for most gorgeous boy in the world no more,’ said DogNut, ‘but you don’t need to worry about him. As I say, you get used to how he looks. Don’t make no difference to anyone at the Tower. And I’m still as gorgeous as evah,’ said DogNut, pouting and displaying himself like a model.

‘Donut, you never been gorgeous. Not even to your mum. You’re too thin and your neck’s too long, and your eyes are too close together and your mouth’s too big. You’re always fidgeting. You get on people’s nerves …’

‘Stop it, I’ll blush.’

‘I was horrible to Ed,’ said Brooke quietly. ‘When it happened, I was so shocked. I reacted badly. I was a cow, as usual. Looking like that don’t make him no different. When I told Justin to drive on after we’ve crossed the bridge, I didn’t want to see Ed no more. I wanted to get away from him. That was part of it, you know, part of why we left you all behind.’

‘We was floating down the river, babes, didn’t make no difference to us.’

‘Yeah, but I didn’t know that, did I? I should have waited for you all.’

‘What happened to you, Brooke?’ DogNut asked. ‘You ain’t the same mouthy cow you used to be.’

‘A lot’s happened in the last year, Donut. A whole lot. I guess I’ve grown up. Losing Aleisha and Courtney … At least I thought I’d lost them. It’s great to have Courtney back, you know. Sucks about Aleisha. But, like, in my mind, I know it’s harsh, but in my mind she was already dead. You gotta think that way, not hope and dream, you gotta think straight and carry on, not get dragged down by your bad thoughts. And I thought I’d never see none of you again. And so, you know, like, I thought I’d lost everything. And it made me realize what was important – friends. Helping each other, working together. Not how you look, or what anyone thinks of you, or trying to always be one up on everyone else. Living at the museum there, we’ve got our own, like, little world. It’s great. I can be myself there. I don’t have to pretend to be some kind of hard-assed street bitch shooting her mouth off the whole time and putting everyone down.’

‘Pretend?’

‘Yeah. We all of us pretend, Donut. You too. We show people what we think they want to see.’

‘You even talk different.’

‘So do you.’

‘Do I?’ DogNut looked amazed.

‘You used to talk like you was fresh off the boat from Jamaica,’ said Brooke. ‘You still do a bit, when you want, but nowhere near as much as before. Me too. Used to be the only way to be cool. But we neither of us black, Donut, admit it. And, no matter how hard we try to talk like we was, it’s never going to change the colour of our skin.’

‘True dat!’

Brooke laughed. ‘I guess after a while you start to talk like the people you hang out with,’ she said. ‘You mixing with all different sorts now at the Tower, you talk different. And me …’

‘You becoming a nerd then?’

‘Maybe I am, Donut. The queen of the nerds. But it ain’t so bad. I never was that girl, really, the old blonde Brooke. All that chat. All that front. I learnt it and used it and I thought I was top girl. But most of the time I was just horrible to people and used my mouth as a weapon. What’s important now is surviving. As a team. That’s all. End of.’

‘So this is the new you then – Sister Brooke, the lovely nun. You’ll be singing “The Sound of Music” next.’

‘Are you trying to set me off, Donut?’ Brooke narrowed her eyes at him. ‘You want me to have a go at you, I will. I ain’t lost it none. Just you see.’