The Fear

‘I used to live at the Natural History Museum,’ said Paul. ‘Not any more. They don’t want me there. I don’t want them. They laugh at me.’

‘Yes, you told us that,’ said David patiently.

‘I hate them. I hate them all. I just want to hurt them. I want them to know what it feels like. To feel like I do. I want them – You never met Olivia …’

‘I did meet her, actually,’ said David. ‘She came here on her way to find you. I offered to look after her and keep her safe, but the others took her away. DogNut and his friends. They wouldn’t let her stay here, even though she begged me. They took her to the Collector. They gave her to him.’

‘The others, yes,’ said Paul, nodding his head violently. ‘Yes. They did that. Because they hated me, you see? They wanted to get back at me.’

David fixed Paul with an intense stare. ‘It was them all along, Paul, don’t you see it?’

‘Who?’

‘All of them,’ said David. ‘Brooke and Justin and all of them at the museum. They were working with DogNut and the others. They made a plan together.’

‘Did they?’

‘Of course they did!’ David almost shouted at Paul, who was gripping the edge of the table with white-knuckled claws. ‘DogNut always had a plan. Jester overheard him when he was here, didn’t you, Jester?’

David looked at Jester, who was watching from by the fireplace. They’d been working on Paul for a long time as his muddled brain went round and round in circles.

‘That’s right,’ said Jester. ‘I heard them plotting. They were talking about how they’d secretly made a plan with Brooke …’

‘No. Not Brooke,’ said Paul. ‘I don’t think so. Brooke was nice to me. I liked her, I needed her help, but she disappeared. I looked for her. I wanted to talk to her.’

‘That was all part of the plan,’ said David. ‘Can’t you see? They were all in it together. Brooke and DogNut and the other kids at the museum.’

‘Justin?’ Paul’s eyes were wide and staring.

‘Yes, even Justin. He’s the one in charge, isn’t he?’

‘Yes, he is.’

‘Does he like you, Paul?’

‘Nobody likes me. Because I can’t fit in. That’s why they make me work with the sickos.’

‘Tell us more about the sickos,’ said David, leaning back in his chair.

‘They keep three of them. In a lorry.’

‘A Tesco lorry?’

‘Yes. They keep it in the car park. There are three sickos in there. It’s my job to look after them. To feed them and clean them out. To keep them chained up and muzzled. That’s all I’m fit for. They won’t let me grow food, or work in the library, or the science labs … No, all Paul the idiot is fit for is cleaning up after sickos.’

‘What would happen if they got out?’ Jester asked.

‘What do you think? They’d attack. That’s all sickos ever want to do. If the sickos got into the museum, that’d show them. That’d show them …’

‘Three sickos couldn’t do much harm, Paul,’ said David.

‘There are others,’ said Paul, gri

‘You know that was my lorry, Paul,’ said David. ‘They stole it off me.’

Paul laughed, too loudly, and for no apparent reason, then stopped, too quickly.

‘Tell us about the sickos below the museum,’ said Jester.

‘Like rats down there. Too many to get rid of. They’re locked out, you see, but if they could do it, if they ever got past the locked doors, they’d come into the museum. Nobody could stop them. Nobody.’

‘You must have guards? People protecting you?’

‘Robbie got hurt. He’s out of action.’

‘Who’s Robbie?’

‘He’s supposed to be in charge of security. He got hurt. The sickos could easily do it, if they got through. They could destroy it all, punish them all. Then the bloody bastards would know what it’s like to feel pain.’

‘You could stop that happening, Paul, couldn’t you?’ said Jester. ‘That’s your job.’

‘Yes. I guard the sickos on the lorry. I check the doors in the lower level, make sure everything’s locked. That’s how I got away from the museum without them knowing. Hee hee hee. They don’t know! I got out through a lower-level window. Robbie got hurt. Robbie’s in bed recovering. Security’s a joke.’

‘Did you make sure the doors were still locked when you left, though?’

‘Yes, yes. There were sickos down there, but they kept away from me. They knew I’d kill them. I wanted to kill the sickos on the lorry, but after they all turned against me Justin said I wasn’t allowed to be near them any more. They won’t even let me do that now. I’m useless. But I’m the only one who really knows how to look after the sickos. I understand them. The only one.’

Paul frantically rubbed his neck, like a dog with fleas.

‘They hate you,’ said David.

‘Yes.’

‘But you could show them, teach them a lesson, teach them how useful you are,’ said Jester.

‘And teach them what it’s like to feel pain,’ David added.

‘Could I?’ Paul’s eyes went very wide.

‘You have to,’ said David. ‘They had an arrangement with DogNut, about Olivia. They gave her to the Collector to keep him quiet, so that the rest of them could get safely to the museum. He was blocking their way, wasn’t he? And they had to give him something.’

‘They had to give him your sister,’ said Jester. ‘It was all pla

‘Yes, yes, I really think that’s what happened, I really do.’

‘The whole thing was pla

‘Yes.’

David tried not to smile. This was working almost too well. He and Jester just had to keep telling Paul the story he wanted to hear and they could get him to do whatever they liked.

‘You mustn’t let them get away with it,’ he said. ‘They have to be punished, and you’re the person to do it. You have the power in your hands.’

Paul raised his hands and looked at them. They were shaking, like an old man’s hands, the fingernails bitten right down to the flesh.

‘They must be made to understand,’ said Jester.

‘Yes.’

‘You’re going to go back there, Paul,’ said David.

‘Back there? No. No, I can’t … I’ve got away. I want to live with you now, David. Don’t you see?’

‘I do see, Paul, but there is one thing you need to do before you can come here.’

‘OK.’

‘It’s important, Paul. You won’t be happy until you do it.’

‘OK, OK …’ Paul sobbed. ‘I want to be happy. I do, I really do, but I don’t know how to any more.’

‘Don’t cry, Paul, everything’s going to be all right. You did the right thing coming here. We can help you. We understand. But first you have to do just one more thing.’

‘OK, yes. Yes. Tell me what I have to do.’

68

Brooke had been miles away, wandering the outer roads of her sky kingdom, when they’d come in. She was so deeply lost in her fantasies that she might as well have been unconscious. As she’d stared at the ceiling, she’d been only vaguely aware that more kids were arriving. For a while there’d been a crowd. She’d registered raised voices, an argument about something, shouting …

Not her argument.

Nothing to do with her.

She’d let herself go, fallen asleep.

When she’d surfaced again, it was quiet. The crowd had gone. Even Rose and the nurses had gone. The boy was still in his bed, but there was a girl with him now, lying on one of the other beds. She was the one with the scrappy hair and the leather jacket that she’d seen after the battle. Her name was Maxie. They were talking to each other and slowly Brooke tuned in to their conversation. They were discussing their problems, but there was something else. Brooke sensed that they didn’t know each other that well. Perhaps had even started out not liking each other very much. She also sensed that they wanted to get to know each other better. That they were growing closer.