The Fear

He’d even got someone to go and make a pot of tea for them all.

Now DogNut, Courtney, Olivia, Fi

It had all been going so well. David relaxed, bigging himself up, upright in his chair with his cup of tea. Talking of nothing, chitchat, gossip, catching up, and then DogNut had told David about how he was searching for Brooke and David had suddenly turned.

Now he was glaring at DogNut, who had to stifle the urge to laugh.

‘Brooke can rot in hell for all I care.’

DogNut had never met another kid who talked like David.

‘How d’you mean they abandoned you?’ he asked, trying to get to the bottom of David’s anger.

‘I mean exactly what I say. The deal was that my boys and I would escort the lorry over the river in return for a share of the food it carried.’

‘For real?’ DogNut shrugged. ‘I don’t know about none of that. Wasn’t my food. Wasn’t my lorry. I did help capture it, though. Don’t remember seeing you there.’

‘I wasn’t there,’ said David patiently. ‘You know I wasn’t there. As I say, the deal was –’

‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, you excort the lorry over the river, they give you some of the food. That must have been something you fixed up with Ed and Brooke. Nothin’ to do with me. That wasn’t my crew.’

Two of David’s red-blazered guards stood nearby with rifles at their sides. DogNut remembered those rifles. They were from the museum. He remembered what a fuss David had made about trying to get hold of them, and how proud he’d been when he finally managed it. He also remembered that they’d been given hardly any bullets for them. Were these ones even loaded? Or were they just for show?

‘We kept our side of the bargain,’ said David. ‘We got the lorry over the bridge, which wasn’t easy – it was jammed with children trying to escape from the fire – and then as soon as we got to the other side the lorry accelerated and pulled away from us. We chased after it, but it was no good …’

‘They abandoned you.’

‘Yes,’ said David matter-of-factly.

‘This is something that means a lot to David. He’s talked about it a great deal.’ They’d been joined by an intense kid with a crazy tangle of sticking-up hair who was wearing a coat that looked like he’d made it himself out of many different mismatched patches of material. He was standing behind David, leaning on the back of his chair.

‘Your friend Brooke hurt David quite deeply,’ the boy went on.

‘Yeah, well, as I say, I don’t know nothing about that,’ said DogNut. ‘I’m sure they had they reasons for driving on.’

‘I’m sure they did,’ said David. ‘And you know what I think their reason was?’

‘Tell me.’

‘They never intended to share any of their food. They used me when it was convenient and then dropped me, as they had always intended to do.’

‘I’m sure it wasn’t like that,’ said Courtney.

‘Were you there?’

‘No, I wasn’t there. That’s the whole point. We got split up. That’s why me and DogNut is looking for Brooke now. But, you see, I know Brooke. I know she’s mouthy and that, but she’s got a good heart.’

‘A good heart?’ David scoffed. ‘You sound like some awful American TV programme. From what little I saw of Brooke I’d say she was a mean and selfish bitch.’

Courtney jumped to her feet and leant over David with her fists clenched. His two guards twitched, but he waved them back with a dismissive little hand gesture. He smiled at Courtney, which only made her madder.

‘You didn’t ought to speak about my friend like that!’ she bawled. ‘I don’t care who you are, and how many mates you got with guns, I’ll break your stupid butters face.’

‘Sit down,’ said David calmly.

‘Not till you apologize.’

‘It’s all right, babes,’ said DogNut, who could tell that David would never apologize. ‘He ain’t worth it.’

‘Yeah, well …’ Courtney jerked her chin at David and sat back down.

‘Maybe I was a bit rude,’ said David, who remained completely unruffled. ‘But you can understand my anger I hope? A deal’s a deal.’

‘Yeah …’ Courtney gave him her best cold stare.

‘And she obviously means a lot to you all,’ David went on, ‘if you’ve come all the way over here from the Tower of London to look for her. That’s quite an impressive feat.’

‘Wasn’t so hard,’ said DogNut.

‘Tell me about it,’ said David. ‘Tell me all about life in the Tower. I’m interested to know what other children are up to.’

OK, thought DogNut, you asked for it, pal. Now it was his turn to show off. He launched into a long explanation of how they lived. Some of it was exaggerated, but he didn’t tell any outright lies. He painted a picture of a well-fed, well-armed, happy bunch of warriors living in luxury beside the Thames in the ancient castle.

His friends chipped in, fleshing out the picture with their own memories and experiences. David listened intently, asking a lot of questions. In the end DogNut put up his hand.

‘All right,’ he said, ‘we’ve answered your questions, bruv. Now you answer ours, yeah? Leaving aside your bad vibes for one moment, do you got any idea what happened to Brooke and the others off of the lorry, after they abandoned you?’

‘Even if I knew, why would I tell you after what they did to us?’

‘Why not? We all in this together. Kids ain’t the enemy – mothers and fathers is.’

‘Exactly,’ said David. ‘But they didn’t seem to remember that when they drove off, did they?’

‘Maybe if I can find Brooke I’ll ask her why she done it, and then let you know.’

David offered DogNut a smile. ‘To tell you the truth,’ he said, ‘I have absolutely no idea where she went. As I say, she can have gone to hell for all I care.’

DogNut let out his breath noisily through his mouth, like a balloon deflating. ‘For real?’

‘For real,’ said David, copying DogNut with more than a hint of scorn in his voice. The boy in the patchwork coat sniggered.

‘All right,’ said DogNut. ‘I can see you all don’t want to help us none. But what about my other bredrin here?’ He gestured towards the rest of his crew. ‘What about Olivia, and Al and Jessica and Fi

Olivia and the others all now clamoured at once, throwing out names and information. David and the patchwork boy went into a huddle and whispered to each other. Finally the patchwork boy spoke.

‘Hi there. My name’s Jester,’ he said. ‘I’m David’s right-hand man.’

The boat crew muttered some half-hearted hellos.

‘I know everything that goes on here. The names of everyone, where they came from, what their stories are. All the info. Anything you want to know in future you come to me. OK? We don’t want any hard feelings. And you’re right – we can’t blame any of you for what happened with the lorry.’

He shook hands all round, making an effort to learn the names of everyone. He got to Al last and held on to his hand a little longer than the others.

‘Al, my friend,’ he said, with the broad smile of a game-show host. ‘You are in luck. Your sister is here with us.’

Al shot out of his seat as if someone had put a rocket up his arse. His ugly, lumpy face was made almost good-looking by a huge soppy grin, and he was shaking with excitement.

‘Really? She’s here? Maria’s here?

‘Yep.’

‘And she’s all right?’

‘Everyone’s all right here. We look after our own.’ Jester clapped Al on the back and called one of the guards over. He gave him a quick order and the boy nodded and hurried off. This got the other kids even more worked up, and once again they bombarded David and Jester with questions.

Olivia was tugging at Jester’s patchwork coat.