The End (16 page)

20

St Paul’s looked very different to how Will had last seen it. Under siege. Back then the whole area in front of it, and all the way up the wide steps leading to the entrance, had been swarming with sickos. They’d been battering at the doors, trying to get at the kids sheltering inside. As Will and his friends had fought to escape, he’d been sure that they’d never see
any of the local kids again. At least not alive.

Will was amazed. Looking around now, you wouldn’t have any idea what had gone on that night. There were no signs of a battle and the locals all looked fit and well and happy in their green outfits. Will had forgotten about the green. How Matt made them all wear it.

He grinned. The area was a model of peace and calm. A row of kids
was sitting on the steps, eating, like school kids on an outing. Other kids were walking purposefully in all directions, carrying supplies. The secret to Matt’s success had been discovering a huge underground warehouse stocked with food and other useful stuff. There were several faces Will recognized from the Tower – guard units keeping watch – and there was an air of military efficiency.
No sickos were going to get in here and spoil the party.

No, not sickos. What was it Matt called them?
The Nephilim
. That was it. He’d got the name from the Bible. Matt was obsessed with the Bible. Had written his own garbled version.

Will heard a cry, and there was Hayden running across the road towards them. She crashed into him and gave him a hug that nearly popped a rib.

‘You’re alive!’ she screamed into his ear and he laughed.

‘So don’t kill me,’ he said. ‘You’re crushing me.’

When Will and Ed had carried on into town, Hayden had been sent back to the Tower to let Jordan know what was happening. Will was relieved to find her alive and well.

Hayden let him go and looked at him, then gave the same treatment to Finn. Who winced as she squeezed
his sore arm. She even hugged Ryan, who looked very uncomfortable. He had his armour of leather and fur and studs. He was the big man on the street and didn’t want to show any vulnerability. Will knew the armour was as much to keep other kids out as it was to protect him from sickos.

Will began to explain everything that had happened since they’d left her on the South Bank that
night. And when he was done it was her turn to tell him what had happened here.

‘Jordan Hordern got an army together,’ she said. ‘As soon as it was light, we marched. Matt was just holding on inside. It was bare nasty, there were just so many sickos, but Jordan managed to drive them off. We should go to the Tower. He’ll be pleased to see you.’

‘Really?’ said Will. ‘Pleased?
I’ve never seen him show any emotion.’

‘OK, yeah, maybe not pleased. Let’s just say “interested”.’

‘That’s the best we can hope for. But there’s more. A lot more I need to talk to Jordan about. I’ll tell you on the way.’

As they headed off towards the Tower, Hayden pointed out where they’d strengthened and repaired the barricades Matt had built to keep the sickos out, but
also where they’d made an opening and a protected walkway, so that there was a safe route all the way to the Tower, with newer barricades blocking off the side-streets.

‘The no-go zone has gone,’ she explained. ‘But in fact, to be honest, nearly all the sickos have disappeared from around here. We hardly ever see any. We’ve been shifting a lot of the supplies back to the Tower.
Matt doesn’t like it, but he had no choice. Jordan made it clear when we showed up to save Matt’s bony arse that there was a price to pay. Quite a lot of the cathedral kids have moved in with us as well. It’s only really the full-on religious fanatics who stayed behind. Matt comes up to the little church at the Tower to hold prayer meetings sometimes. It’s weird. Like the world’s
going back to normal.’

‘Funny kind of normal,’ said Will and Hayden smiled.

‘It’s good,’ said Hayden. ‘Can’t you feel things changing for the better? Like we may be winning at last. Getting rid of the sickos.’

‘Well, I hate to burst your bubble, girl,’ said Will. ‘But we didn’t come here on the tour bus to go sightseeing.’

‘You came to burst my bubble.’

‘To burst
everyone’s bubble. You know how Jordan’s always wanted to be a real general, in a real battle? Well, there’s a shitstorm coming, Hayden. And we’re going to be right in the middle of it.’

21

General Jordan Hordern was sitting in the council room in the White Tower that stood at the centre of the castle. He’d made sure he was settled in his big throne before any of the others arrived. He hadn’t wanted them to see him groping his way up the stairs and across the room. Only his two young helpers, Jim and Hugo, knew how bad his eyesight had become. And they were
scared enough of him to keep their mouths shut. The centre of his vision was a brownish-grey blur so that he could only see round the edges if he looked at things sideways.

On one level he didn’t mind. The world in his head was much neater and more ordered than the real world. There weren’t so many distractions this way. The universe was made of numbers. If he just knew what the
numbers were everything was fine. But he still needed to be able to fight. He was meant to be a warrior, a leader, a general. How could he lead an army if he couldn’t see? How could he command any respect? If the kids here knew they’d probably try to get rid of him. There’d be a struggle for power. He mustn’t show any weakness.

Jim and Hugo had helped him get seated, and
had murmured in his ear as the other kids who made up the war council had come in, telling him who they were. Not
that he really needed to be told. He had a pretty good idea because he insisted that everyone always sat in the same place. Everything always had to be the same or he got uncomfortable. But, even so, he wanted information. He needed to be informed of everything going on
around him. He needed control.

‘And this lot are the boys who went with Ed to the museum,’ said Jim. ‘Will and Finn.’

‘Who’s that with them?’

‘They call themselves hunters. They look like good fighters.’

‘Oh yeah. Hayden told me about them before. What they look like?’

‘Pretty crusty,’ said Jim. ‘Some of them have masks made out of the faces of dead sickos. They’ve
got dogs with them as well. A pack of them. Big bastards.’

‘Dogs?’ said Jordan. ‘We could do with some fighting dogs.’

‘I don’t reckon they’ll sell you any of theirs.’

‘We’ll see. I want to talk to them after. Sort it for me.’

‘OK, boss.’

Jordan was thinking. With a dog at his side, he’d be safe. A dog could be a real help and would make him look tougher instead
of weaker. Nobody would question him having a dog. They needn’t know that he’d be using the dog’s eyes.

At last everyone was in place and settled. Jordan turned to the blurred silhouette that he recognized as Will.

‘So you got news for us?’ he said.

‘There’s a war coming.’

Jordan liked Will. He was smart. Didn’t muck about. Knew that Jordan always wanted to get straight
to the point.

‘A war?’

‘If we’re lucky then maybe not a war, but at least a battle.’

‘You saying if we win the battle the war’s over?’

‘Yeah,’ said Will. ‘But if we lose …’

‘We’d better win it, then. So who exactly do we fight …?’

And Will told him everything, Jordan listening carefully. Taking it all in. Remembering the names. The numbers. Storing all the
facts. He was good at that.

‘I’d been wanting to push west,’ he said once Will was finished. ‘As soon as I was sure the whole area between here and St Paul’s was safe, I was gonna send troops into town to find you and Ed and everyone. I guess now we need to move quicker than I thought. If this goes right we can unite the whole of London.’

Jordan was thinking fast, plans forming
in his head, supply lines, battle plans, rows of soldiers, neat and orderly. He could see London as a vast map, with people moving around on it. In his mind it was simple and clear. And what had to be done was simple and clear as well.

It was time to start giving orders.

‘Tomoki, you’ll be in charge here at the Tower, yeah? It’s quiet round here now, ’specially if what Will
says is the truth. You stay here with all the non-fighters. Be safe inside the walls. I’ll take everyone else. I’ll take an army and we’ll march on Buckingham Palace and I’ll be the liberator of London.’

‘Might not be quite that easy,’ said Will. ‘There’s other kids want to be in charge. David King at the palace. You remember him? Kid who rocked up at the Imperial War Museum with
a load of kids in red blazers all that time back? Wanted all our guns.’

‘Yeah. I remember him. Smart but slippery. He’s in charge there, is he?’

‘Not happy about you coming in and taking control.’

‘I don’t give a monkey’s about no David King,’ said Jordan. ‘If he don’t want to do what he’s told he can sit in his palace with his thumb up his arse. There’s no general better
than Jordan Hordern. We’ll take anyone from the cathedral as wants to come as well, anyone who can fight. Hell, they can even bring their musicians if they want. Like a proper army marching with a band. This is what we been waiting for. Training for. This is what I been planning for. We gonna end this once and for all time.’

Jordan could see the coming battle as an illustration
in a book – a grand painting, soldiers locked in combat, Romans against barbarians, Henry the Fifth cutting down the French knights at Agincourt, Wellington’s red against Napoleon’s blue. One day someone would paint a picture of him, leading his army into battle, destroying the sickos … Only thing was – he’d probably never be able to see it.

22

‘Why should we believe them?’ David slapped his hands on the stone balustrade that ran along the balcony at the front of the palace. ‘Why should we do what they say? Why should we even listen to them?’

‘But Jester saw the grown-ups.’ Nicola looked at David. He had a big angry spot on the back of his neck. ‘And Jester’s one of yours.’

‘Yes,’ said David. ‘And I
don’t always trust him.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I’ve never really been sure about him, to tell you the truth. He’d take over here given the chance. That’s the problem with people who are second in command – they want to be first in command. Stalin regularly killed all his generals.’

‘Really?’ said Nicola. ‘I never knew that.’

David turned to face her. He was blushing
slightly, a little overexcited, showing off as usual.

‘Jester’s always been sneaky,’ he said. ‘But something happened to him out there. That creepy kid, Shadowman, got to him. They’ve made some sort of a plan together. I just know it. I can’t trust anyone.’

‘What about me?’ said Nicola. ‘Can you trust me?’

‘I think so, yes,’ said David. ‘You’re a girl. Girls aren’t so
devious.’

Nicola had to suppress a laugh. David was such a mix. On one hand he was really clever and on the other he was unbelievably stupid. He had school smarts, not street smarts.

She stared directly at him, seeing if he dared make eye contact. He didn’t. He may have been scarily clever and ruthless, he may have taken over here, running his little empire and getting rid of
all the oppoes, but there was one thing he was scared of. There was one thing he didn’t know how to deal with.

Girls.
And this girl in particular
, thought Nicola.
He thinks he’s the one in charge, but right now I’m the one with all the power.

She joined David at the balustrade, looking out over the parade ground towards the golden statue of Queen Victoria and, beyond that,
St James’s Park. She knew that out there were the squatters, the unruly rabble of unstable dropouts who’d made an uneasy alliance with David. How long it would last in the face of real trouble she had no idea. She’d always felt uncomfortable being part of this three-way coalition. She’d visited the squatter camp one time with David, soon after they’d made their treaty. She’d felt
very nervous. The kids who lived there were half wild, dirty, disorganized, living on the edge. Some of them were drunk, fighting among themselves. Some had found a giant Union flag and their leader, John, had gone on about how great England was and how they were going to make it right. Make England the most powerful country in the world again.