The Fallen (17 page)

Jibber-jabber let out his breath and collapsed on to the next bed. Samira gratefully returned the forceps to the saucepan as Maeve sloshed antiseptic into the wound.

‘Can you stitch?’ she asked.

‘Yes. We didn’t think it was worth it before, it was such a small hole.’

‘It’s not so small any more.’

‘I’m an idiot,’ said Samira. ‘I should have got the sewing stuff before. I’ll need to go back to the labs. If I hurry, I can probably just make it over there before they close down for the night.’

‘Go to it. And I think we’d better risk some antibiotics. I’ll accept responsibility. And
you
, Robbie, can relax …’

But Robbie had passed out.

‘If only he’d done that sooner,’ said Maeve. ‘Would have made it a whole lot easier for all of us.’

‘That was well awesome,’ said Lewis, nodding his head in approval.

‘You guys can get back to whatever it was you were doing.’

Maeve stood over Robbie and wiped his forehead again with the damp cloth.

‘Cool.’ Lewis sauntered out.

Maeve waited for the older boys to leave, then sat down before her wobbly legs gave way. She was exhausted. Felt
like she’d run a marathon. She’d been incredibly tense and now her body was being flooded with endorphins that were turning her a little spacey.

She couldn’t really believe what she’d just done.

25

Jibber-jabber couldn’t believe what Maeve had just done either. He’d not only been holding in the words that usually poured out of him, he also badly needed the toilet. He’d forgotten about it while Maeve had been digging around in Robbie’s leg. He’d been too transfixed by the operation, but now he was reminded, as a pain gripped his guts and he felt a dangerous rumbling and bubbling inside. If he didn’t do something about it soon there was going to be an accident. The only thing was, he was nervous of going down to the toilets. He never went by himself if he could help it. He was subtle about it. He didn’t want to be thought of as a wimp, even though – he had to admit – he was one. Usually he’d wait until a group of kids were going down and tag along with them. There was always a rush before lockdown, but he’d left it too late tonight.

It was getting dark outside and they’d be turning in soon, locking the doors of the minerals gallery. He had to go now and be quick about it. And who was he going to go with? The bigger boys had left before he could ask one of them. Maeve was busy looking after Robbie. Samira had gone off to the labs.

So that left Ella.

Jibber-jabber wasn’t sure how much use Ella would be
in a fight. She was smaller than him, and younger, and would probably be even more scared than he was. She was better than nothing, though. He asked her quietly if she’d go with him and she looked doubtful for a moment.

‘Come on,’ he said. ‘You don’t have to come in and watch or anything, just stand guard outside the door.’

‘But what would I do if a grown-up attacked?’ she asked, and Jibber-jabber stopped himself from saying that that was exactly what he’d just been thinking.

‘They won’t attack, will they?’ he said, trying to sound casual. ‘There aren’t any in the museum.’

‘So what do you need me for?’

‘I just need someone to, you know, like, keep me company. Come on, Ella, I’d do it for you.’

‘All right then.’

They told Maeve where they were going and left the sick-bay.

‘You won’t take ages, will you?’ Ella asked as they walked along the primates gallery that ran above the main hall down one side. ‘Some boys spend hours on the loo.’

‘Of course I’ll be quick,’ Jibber-jabber protested. ‘I don’t want to hang around down there any longer than I have to, do I? It’s dark and it’s smelly and you always think something’s going to be hiding in the shadows.’

‘You said there weren’t any grown-ups around.’

‘There isn’t anyone around,’ said Jibber-jabber. He’d been hoping they might bump into someone else on the way. It didn’t look like that was going to happen, though.

As they passed the stuffed monkeys in their glass cases, Jibber-jabber almost felt they were laughing at him.

‘So what are you scared of then?’ asked Ella.

‘Well, just because you know there aren’t any sickos
around, it doesn’t stop you from thinking about them, does it? I think of all sorts of scary things, dinosaur skeletons coming to life, although they’re not really skeletons, they’re fossils, made of rock, so they never were alive, but that doesn’t stop me thinking about them … Rats. I often think about rats, eating me while I’m asleep, I’ve seen six rats since we’ve been here, and apparently there were loads of them down in the lower level, then there’s …’

‘JJ!’ Ella interrupted him. ‘You’re not helping one bit. Will you shut up about scary things?’

‘Yeah, sorry.’

They came to the stairs at the end of the hall and went down past the seated statue of Charles Darwin. In front of them now was the fossilized diplodocus, stretching half the length of the big open space. Darkness clung to the walls. There were only a couple of small candles burning. They were precious and the museum kids didn’t like to light them unless they absolutely had to. When it came to lockdown they’d be snuffed out. There was still some brightness showing at the tall, church-like windows at the front of the museum; it was slowly fading, though, the blue deepening.

‘We’d better hurry,’ said Jibber-jabber.

‘Like you have to tell me that.’

Two thirteen-year-olds came out of the blue zone. They were chatting to each other and they laughed at something, the sound of it filling the hall. The thirteen-year-olds were the worst for teasing, so, while Jibber-jabber was comforted by their presence, he didn’t want to risk asking them to escort him like a toddler.

He hurried over to the toilets at the back of the hall near the base of the stairs. Ella trotted beside him. She stopped when they came to the door of the gents.

‘I’m not coming in there with you,’ she said.

‘I’ll be in a cubicle.’

‘Yeah, but you’ll make noise and smells. I can’t even go if I think someone can hear me.’

‘All right,’ said Jibber-jabber. ‘But you won’t run away, will you?’

‘No.’

‘Can I prop this outside door open so that I can, like, call out to you?’

‘I won’t go anywhere,’ Ella snapped. ‘I’m staying here until you come out. I don’t want you shouting out to me as you do a poo.’

‘I’ll just prop it a little way.’ There was a wooden wedge nearby and Jibber-jabber kicked it under the outer door so that it was held open just wide enough for him to slip inside.

‘Will you come in with me to check it’s all right?’ he asked when he was done.

‘If you want.’

The two of them went in and Jibber-jabber quickly shone his torch around.

‘There’s nothing,’ said Ella, who seemed keen to get out as quickly as possible. Jibber-jabber walked over to the shelf by the sinks where there was always a tea light in a holder and some matches. You could light it when you were in there, but had to blow it out before you left.

By the time he’d got the candle going Ella had gone. He shouted out.

‘Can you hear me, Ella?’

He heard her voice coming back from outside, sounding small and distant.

‘Hurry up!’

He picked up a bucket of flushing water and went to the cubicle in the middle. He closed the door, undid his trousers and sat down. You weren’t supposed to waste batteries and he knew he should turn his torch off. But he kept it in his hands, shining it at the gap under the door.

It was very quiet in here with all the noises of the museum shut out. He realized that his knees were shaking, and he was too frightened to do what he had come in to do.

‘Come on,’ he muttered to himself. ‘Come on …’

Even before the disease, in the old days when the world had been normal, he’d been scared of going to the toilet alone. At home, if he woke up at night when everyone else was asleep and he needed a wee, he’d lie there for hours holding it in before it got too bad and he’d have to leap out of bed and run to the loo. The toilets at school were the worst, though. His school, Rowhurst, had been built a long time ago, and the toilets in his House were like something out of a museum. A museum of toilets. He giggled. Wondered if there was such a thing. Probably in America. In America they had museums of everything.

That was better. Have a laugh. Entertain himself.

It didn’t last long. He couldn’t stop thinking about those Rowhurst toilets. They’d been noisy, with big pipes everywhere, clanking and hissing. It was like being inside some enormous engine or something. He’d hated going by himself. Always made sure there was someone else in there with him. He had even gone through a stage when he was frightened that something would come up out of the bowl. A rat, or a squid’s tentacle, maybe a giant spider, or someone’s hand …

And they’d grab you and drag you under.

As he thought of it, he suddenly felt a slap of panic. He hadn’t shone the torch into the bowl when he’d come in, had he? There could be anything in there.

He half got up and awkwardly aimed the torch down past his naked backside, but in his fumbling, the torch caught in his shirt and dropped into the bowl.

It hit the water with a splash and the light went out.

He swore. Stuck his hand in the murky water – thank God he hadn’t done anything yet! – and lifted out the dripping torch. What was he going to tell Justin when he returned it like this? Or Ella? That he’d been frightened of toilet monsters? He dried it on some of the scraps of newspaper that hung from a hook and sat down again, miserable, in the darkness.

He really couldn’t go now. His bowels had seized up, turned to cement.

He swore again. This was taking too long.

There was a long creaking sound. What was that?

‘Hello … Hello …?’

26

Samira had only just made it to the labs in time. Gordy, Einstein’s best friend and the second-best science student in the museum, had been about to lock up. Samira had explained what she needed and offered to lock up for him. Gordy had reluctantly given her the keys. He was obviously enjoying being in charge of the labs while Einstein was away, but he didn’t want to hang around any longer than he had to. Especially now that it was growing dark. Everyone was still pretty freaked out after the sicko invasion the other night. Samira had hoped he’d be more of a man and stay with her, but the thought never seemed to cross his mind. All he wanted was to get back to the main museum building where the others were.

Samira had taken the keys and hurried into the labs as he trotted off. So now here she was searching through the drugs cabinets for needle, thread and antibiotics. The only problem was that the needle and thread weren’t where they were supposed to be and there were too many different antibiotics to choose from.

To make matters worse, she really needed a pee. She was absolutely bursting. It had been a very busy afternoon and she hadn’t had time to use the outside loos in the gardens. She was tempted to use one of the toilets in the lab. She
could find some water to flush it away with tomorrow. Samira had always obeyed the rules, however. It was just the way she was. And no one was supposed to use these loos. Besides, what if someone saw her wee in the bowl before she’d had a chance to get rid of it? That would be just too embarrassing.

She swore out loud, safe in the knowledge that nobody else could hear her. Where the hell were the sewing things? Maybe she should just forget about the bloody needle and thread, grab a plaster and a selection of antibiotics and explain the situation to Maeve. She was no happier about the falling darkness than Gordy. There was more light in here than in the other buildings because there was so much glass in the walls and roof, but she was still having to use a torch to see what she was doing. Maeve would understand if she gave up the search. Samira could make it back to the toilets in the main hall in five minutes if she ran.

She imagined she was already there … Bliss.

She picked up three different bottles of antibiotics and stuffed them in her pocket. They’d just have to sew up Robbie’s leg in the morning. She closed the cabinet and headed for the doors – one step nearer the loos. She was just locking up when she remembered that Alexander and Cass had rearranged everything the other day. They’d announced that they were moving stuff like needles and thread to a different area. Samira pushed her hair back off her face and let her breath out in a long sigh.