The Enemy

Sam reluctantly did as he was told. Shovelling the gloopy porridge into his dry mouth. Afterwards Nick passed round a bottle of water and cleaned out some of the dirty straw where one of the twins had had an accident in the night.

Sam plucked up the courage to speak.

‘Why are you keeping us prisoner?’ he said.

‘Prisoner? We’re not keeping you prisoner, kiddo,’ Nick said, not unkindly.

‘Then why are we chained up in here?’

‘For your own safety. Don’t want you wandering off out there and getting lost. Or caught by no nasties.’

‘You’re lying.’

‘Listen,’ said Nick, ruffling Sam’s hair. ‘We just want you to get fit and well and eat properly, then we’ll see about what we’re going to do with you. Now don’t go worrying yourself. You need to rest.’

He tidied the carriage, tested all the chains and went out before closing the door behind him and wedging it fast. There were candles still burning on the platform, but inside the carriage it was dark. Sam sat there miserably, trying to keep dark thoughts from his mind. Once again he heard the thing on the roof. Shuffling, scraping, sliding.

‘What’s that noise?’ he said.

‘Rats, probably,’ said Rhia

‘Do rats ever get in here?’

‘No. Nothing gets in here except Nick and Rachel.’

The shuffling noise seemed to shift to the side of the roof.

‘I don’t think it’s rats,’ said Sam.

‘Forget it,’ said Rhia

Sam stared at the side window for a long time. His eyesight was swimming with blurry dots that weaved themselves into random shapes and broke apart.

He blinked and saw a face at the window staring back at him.

It was floating there, seemingly without a neck or body. Sam wasn’t sure if it was even human. It was filthy. Covered in dirt. With a bald, pointy crown and a wild straggly beard sprouting from its chin. In the centre of its face were two wide eyes, the whites showing around the pupils.

Sam realized with horror that it had no mouth or nose.

He tried to scream, but his throat was frozen, like in a dream.

Yes. A dream. It must be. Something like that couldn’t be real.

It was still there, though.

Sam stared at it for half a second, and then it winked and disappeared.

‘Did you see that?’ Sam whispered.

‘What?’

Sam thought for a while. The image of the inhuman face was seared on his memory. He couldn’t dislodge it from his brain. The smooth stretch of skin where its mouth should have been upset him in a way he didn’t really understand.

‘Nothing,’ he said.

41

Ben and Bernie were sitting on a camp bed in the middle of the ballroom they were using as a dormitory, watching the other kids argue. Bernie shook her head and took hold of Ben’s hand. Why did the fighters always get so pumped up about everything? She was glad Ben wasn’t a fighter. He was clever and gentle and fu

On one side were Blue, Achilleus, Big Mick and most of the best fighters. On the other were Whitney, Freak and Maxie, with Sophie and her archers. In the middle were Ollie and Lewis, trying to keep the peace. The little kids and the other non-combatants, like Ben and Bernie, were watching in silence. None of the palace kids were present.

It was times like these that Bernie really missed Arran. He’d have sorted this mess out ages ago. The argument was going round in circles.

‘Look, there isn’t anything to discuss,’ said Freak, not for the first time. ‘The fact is, we shouldn’t be fighting other kids. End of.’

‘Exactly,’ said Maxie.

‘Admit it, Freaky-Deaky,’ said Achilleus. ‘You’re just bottling it.’

Freak swore at Achilleus.

‘Can’t you two lovers keep your personal fight out of this?’ said Whitney. ‘This is serious.’

‘It’s boring,’ said Achilleus. ‘You’re all just a bunch of wimps.’

‘The thing is,’ said Big Mick, ‘these other kids, these squatters, don’t mean nothing to me. Us lot in here is all that matters.’

‘And what about the palace kids?’ said Maxie.

‘What about them?’ said Mick. ‘I like it here.’

Freak jumped up to make a point. He was getting very emotional. Bernie hoped for his sake he didn’t start blubbing. ‘Arran said something, the night we found Jester, he said that every kid in London is one of our own.’

‘That’s right’, said Ben.

‘Nobody asked your opinion, Emo,’ said Achilleus.

Now it was Sophie’s turn to speak. She’d stayed quiet up until now, but Bernie could tell she’d been listening very carefully and waiting for her moment.

‘Can I say something?’

Maxie sighed. ‘This is not really anything to do with you.’

‘She’s one of us, now,’ said Ollie.

‘Is she?’

‘Will you please let me speak, Maxie,’ said Sophie, a hard edge to her voice. Maxie looked embarrassed and stared at the floor.

‘Go on,’ said Ollie.

‘As far as I’m aware, I’m the only one here who knows what it’s actually like to kill another kid. I wish I didn’t know how that felt. But I do. It feels horrible. There isn’t a minute goes by in any day when I don’t regret it. Even though I didn’t mean to do it. I’m not going to put myself in a position where it might happen again. Whatever you decide, I’m not going down there.’

‘The girl’s right,’ said Whitney. ‘We don’t kill no other kids.’

‘I can’t believe you’re even discussing it,’ said Maeve.

‘OK, OK, everyone just calm down,’ said Ollie. ‘Let’s not get carried away here. Nobody’s suggesting we go into the squatter camp and kill them all. David just wants a show of strength.’

‘We’re just going to shake them up a little,’ said Mick.

‘But why?’ said Maxie. ‘What are they to do with us?’

‘You know what?’ said Lewis, which surprised Bernie, because she thought he’d dozed off. He’d been sitting back against a wall, eyes closed, his Afro bigger than ever since he’d washed it. ‘I think, in a way, maybe David’s right. If we ever want to go back to any sort of normal life we have to make everywhere safe. Not just this little bit.’

‘Right, so we make London safe by attacking people, is that it?’ said Freak, sarcastically. ‘Don’t sound safe to me, sounds like war.’

‘It’s only war if they want to make it war, bro,’ said Lewis.

‘Oh, so it’s their fault…’

‘I agree with Lewis,’ said Ollie. ‘If these squatters listen to us – if they can work with us – then we’ve got allies. We expand, we take over this area properly, then we move further out –’

‘What do you mean, “we”?’ Maxie interrupted. ‘You mean David. He’s the one wants to take over London.’

‘Why can’t you accept, Maxie,’ said Ollie, ‘that David’s got a good thing going on here? And we can help him build on it. If all the little scattered groups of kids in London can link up, before you know it we have civilization again.’

‘So we make peace by making war?’ said Freak.

‘I guess so,’ said Ollie. ‘If that’s what it takes. Look at the ancient Greeks, the ancient Romans…’

‘I don’t know nothing about all that,’ said Freak. ‘I only know that the real enemy is the grown-ups.’

‘And we have to unite if we want to defeat them,’ said Ollie. ‘If we can’t unite, then they win. It’s as simple as that. I’m sure these squatter kids will see reason. I’m sure we won’t have to fight them.’