The Fear

‘A council of nerds?’ said DogNut, no longer holding back his laughter.

‘Yes. That’s right. That’s what we call it. The Council of Nerds.’

‘You’re joking me.’

‘Knowledge is power, DogNut. Mastering science and technology is what’s going to make sure we survive in the future. Here at the museum we’re going to lead the way.’

‘Listen, nerdo, I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but mastering weapons and warfare is what’s going to make sure we survive.’

‘That’s your opinion. But we’re doing OK here, DogNut. Our way is working.’

Justin opened his mouth wide in another big yawn.

‘Listen,’ he said, ‘I’m going to go back to bed. We’ll catch up properly in the morning. You should sleep too.’

‘Yeah,’ said Brooke. ‘I’ll put them in the tree room. I’ll see everyone’s all right.’

‘Thanks, Brooke,’ said Justin, already walking away. ‘Get some of Robbie’s guys to give you a hand if you need. I’ll see you all tomorrow.’

‘Hold up,’ said DogNut, and Justin paused. ‘I want to ask you one thing. Make sure I got it straight.’

‘Yeah? OK.’

‘You know about David over at the palace? Yeah?’

‘Of course we know about David,’ said Justin, losing his cool, his face flushing with anger. ‘Sitting over there in his palace with his little red army. Sometimes I think he causes more trouble than the bloody sickos. And he hates us. He blames us for what happened on the bridge.’

‘He’s right to blame you, though, really,’ DogNut protested. ‘You abandoned him.’

‘Well …’

‘You drove off and left him behind.’

‘It wasn’t my idea,’ said Justin, and he looked at Brooke.

‘You blaming me?’ said Brooke.

‘It doesn’t matter. We don’t want anything to do with him. He wants to destroy what we’ve got, get back at me and Brooke and the others. But it’s not going to happen, because he can’t get in here. He’s like us – he can defend his palace for as long as he likes, but as soon as he crawls out of his shell he’s weak. He’s a threat, but only a small one. We don’t lose any sleep over it. And talking of sleep I really am going to have to go to bed now. Goodnight.’

Brooke took all the new arrivals to a long empty gallery at the back of the main hall where a tree had been painted all the way along the ceiling. Some metal beds were lined up in a neat row and DogNut and his friends gratefully took out their sleeping bags and settled down.

DogNut realized just how exhausted he was. It had been a long and unbelievably stressful day. As soon as they’d got to safety his energy levels had dropped and he felt like he’d been drugged. His head hit the pillow, his eyes closed and he fell into a doze.

Brooke sat on the side of Courtney’s bed and stroked her hair flat like a mother with her child.

‘It’s so good to have you back, girl,’ she said softly. ‘I didn’t realize how much I missed you.’

‘Me too,’ said Courtney, though in truth she was still picking her way through a complicated tangle of emotions, made worse by her own tiredness. ‘It’s weird being here.’

‘This is my life now,’ said Brooke. ‘Can’t hardly remember nothing else. Seems so long ago, being with you on the bus, and Greg and Liam and Jack and Ed and all that. Another lifetime, like it happened to someone else. A lot’s changed in this last year.’

‘For all of us,’ said Courtney, and she suddenly gripped Brooke’s arm. ‘Did they make it?’ she asked urgently. ‘Did they all make it? The other kids on the lorry? Are they all here?’

‘They all made it,’ said Brooke with a smile. ‘Wiki and Jibber-jabber, Zohra and little Froggie, Kwanele of course, and Chris Marker, remember him? The boy who always had his face stuck in a book. Tomorrow you’ll see them all.’

‘Good,’ said Courtney. ‘Some good things do still happen in the world.’

She started to tell Brooke about everything that had happened to her in the last year. Brooke listened, wide-eyed, not interrupting, finding out about another life.

In the end Courtney fell asleep halfway through a sentence. Brooke sat there for a long time, trying to take it all in, still not quite able to believe that Courtney was really here.

At last she stood up. She was just about to leave when there were shouts from the other end of the room; a very tall, very thin boy dressed in black was walking quickly towards the beds.

‘Are you all right, Paul?’ she asked when the boy got closer. ‘Try not to wake anyone. They need to sleep.’

Paul looked very excited. But it was an excitement mixed with anxiety. Happiness and fear were struggling to take control of him.

‘Where is she?’ he said.

‘Where’s who?’

‘Where’s my sister, Olivia …?’

26

DogNut was struggling to make sense of what was going on. He had no idea how long he’d been asleep. He didn’t even remember nodding off, and had no idea where he was. There were raised voices. A boy and a girl. Was he back at the Tower? This room was unfamiliar. It smelt different. Maybe he should go back to sleep. Not possible. Someone was shaking him.

‘What …? Go away. I’m trying to sleep.’

‘Wake up.’

‘Go away.’

‘Wake up.’

‘What is it?’

He forced one eye open. Too shattered to open them both. Some deep part of his mind obviously knew where he was, knew he was safe, or his conditioning would have jerked him into wakefulness and out of bed, ready to face any threat.

There were no monsters, though, just a girl holding a lamp.

Brooke.

Oh, yeah …

It was coming back to him now. The museum. Nerd central. He sat up, groaning. Saw a boy wearing a black roll-neck jumper, black denim jacket and black jeans.

‘What is it?’

‘This is Paul Cha

‘Huh?’

‘Olivia’s brother,’ Brooke explained.

‘Olivia’s brother? I don’t know what you mean.’

DogNut’s brain wasn’t slipping into gear. Too mushy. Now the boy came over to the bed, leant in closer, shook him by the shoulder.

‘I heard Olivia was with you,’ he said. ‘Apparently one of your guys said Olivia was with you. But nobody will tell me where she is now.’

‘Olivia’s brother?’ Things were starting to make sense, but DogNut wished more than anything that he was still asleep.

Olivia.

‘I’m sorry to wake you up like this,’ the boy went on. ‘I’ve been working, checking the lower-level doors.’

‘Right, yeah …’

‘Brooke said you were in charge and … and I have to know. I can’t see her here. Is she – Is she here? Is Olivia with you?’

DogNut closed his eyes. Fantasized about burying his face in the pillow and drifting off … Longed for this to be over. He didn’t know what to say. Hoped that if he stayed like this Paul would disappear and he wouldn’t have to face him. In the end he heard Courtney’s voice from the next bed.

‘She was with us.’

DogNut sensed Paul moving away from him towards Courtney.

‘Did you leave her somewhere?’ he asked. ‘Did she stay at the palace, maybe? I just want to know she’s safe.’

‘No. She’s not at the palace. She wanted to come here with us. She wanted to find you. She was very brave.’

‘But where is she?’

‘She didn’t make it.’

‘You mean …?’

There was a long silence. DogNut was fully awake at last and could feel the tension in the room. People breathing. Bad vibes thickening.

Then Courtney’s voice again. ‘A sicko got her. Wasn’t nothing we could do … Hey!’

As Courtney shouted, DogNut opened his eyes and sat up. Paul had grabbed hold of her.

‘You let her die?’ he was shouting. ‘You let her get killed?’

‘Hey, cool it,’ said DogNut, struggling out of bed. ‘We nearly got her here. Wasn’t Courtney’s fault she was killed.’

‘Oh yeah?’ Paul turned on him. ‘Then whose fault was it?’

Mine, DogNut wanted to scream. My fault. I left her behind.

‘I’ll tell you whose fault it was,’ he said, almost shouting. ‘The fat sicko that got her. All right? He collected dead kids! So don’t blame us. We was only trying to get her here.’