The Fallen (49 page)

‘Maybe he’s disappeared up his own arse,’ Achilleus whispered, loud enough for everyone to hear him. Justin didn’t rise to the bait.

‘Anybody not in a search party,’ he said, ‘will be locked in the minerals gallery for safety. As the museum is so big, there’s a danger that Paul might be able to move from hiding place to hiding place, so you’ve been split up into six groups. That way you can spread out. All six search parties will work at the same time, and as each gallery is cleared it’ll be locked down. Each search party will be controlled by a squad leader, and after this talk I want to keep the squad leaders here for a final briefing.’

‘Roger wilco,’ said Achilleus and Justin took a deep breath, trying not to lose his temper.

‘The squad leaders are: Blue, team one; Achilleus, you’re team two; Boggle, team three; Ollie is team four; and Jackson, team five. Lewis, you’re team six.’

Justin went on to explain the plan in detail, but Maxie had stopped listening. She knew what the idea was after all. Justin had wanted her to lead a team, but she’d refused and quietly explained that from now on she and Blue were always going to stick together.

She wished it was over, that Paul was gone and the museum was safe. She wished she could sleep at night and
not be poisoned with worry. It felt a lot better having Blue around, and sharing problems made them seem smaller, but she longed for life to be boring again.

It was never going to be over, though, was it? Not until every last grown-up was dead.

Justin droned on for a while until even he seemed fed up with the sound of his own voice and finally he stopped.

‘OK,’ he said. ‘So I hope that’s all clear. Blue, Achilleus, Jackson, Lewis and Ollie, stay behind, and you as well, Maxie, if you want. And Boggle … where’s Boggle? He should be here. Bloody hell, when I call an important meeting I expect everyone to turn up. It’s not good enough. The rest of you can go back to the minerals gallery and check the list I’ve left there explaining what teams you’re all in. And remember – we’re going to find him and stop him. Any questions?’

‘Yeah, I’ve got a question actually, Justin,’ said Achilleus.

‘OK …’

‘Have you ever kissed a girl?’

‘It’s not funny, Achilleus,’ said Justin, going red in the face and losing his temper at last. ‘Paul’s already killed at least three kids that we know of. He’s sick and he’s dangerous. He has to be found. This isn’t like hunting sickos, who are stupid. He’s clever.’

‘OK then, one more question.’

‘Not if you’re just arsing about.’

‘No, is a serious question.’ And Achilleus’ whole manner changed. It was as if he’d got the reaction he wanted out of Justin and now he could get down to business. ‘What do we do with him when we catch him?’

‘Well, then … then we …’ Justin looked flustered. ‘You just catch him, basically, and we’ll lock him up somewhere.’

‘No,’ said Blue, getting out of his chair. ‘Too risky. When we find him we kill him.’

‘No, no, no,’ Justin protested. ‘He’s one of us, he’s …’

‘We kill him,’ said Blue. ‘End of.’

87

‘I’m supposed to be in Justin’s meeting,’ said Boggle, who was pushing Robbie’s wheelchair for him. ‘But Jackson’s gonna find out what it’s all about and give me notes.’

‘Christ,’ said Robbie. ‘It’s like school, isn’t it? Missing a lesson and getting your mates to fill you in. Justin’s getting worse and worse.’

‘You have to have someone like him,’ said Maeve. ‘Someone who’s interested in the boring stuff. Someone to hold it all together. You put an ordinary kid in charge and it’s all going to fall apart. People like Justin know what’s important for survival. It’s not all running around shooting guns and making rabbit traps.’

‘That’s just it,’ said Robbie. ‘That’s what I want more of. I
want
to be setting rabbit traps. Hunting in the woods. I don’t want to be stuck here, back at school, living in a bloody museum. We got the whole world out there.’

‘Yeah, but you still haven’t told me how you’re going to get there in that wheelchair,’ said Maeve. ‘And where exactly we’re going right now.’

‘You’ll see.’

They had left the museum grounds and gone out on to the Cromwell Road, then headed left past the Victoria and Albert Museum. The building next to it looked like a big
church of some sort and they’d gone up the side of it towards the back.

It was quiet, and Robbie was confident that it would stay that way. He knew the area around the museum well. Had insisted that they wouldn’t accidentally stumble across a gang of hungry grown-ups. But the three of them were still tensed and ready to bolt to safety if they sensed anything dodgy.

‘You really thinking of leaving, Rob?’ asked Boggle.

‘Yeah, I’ve had enough, Boggo. You want to come with us?’

‘No way. No way, man. It might not be paradise here, but it’s safe. At least it will be when we get Paul. Oh Jesus. Let me tell you. I am
not
going out there. Not after what happened to Einstein’s lot. That was cold, man. Bare harsh. I don’t want none of that.’

‘That’s the way everyone thinks,’ said Maeve. ‘The only kids left who say they want to come with me are Ella and Monkey-Boy.’

‘Them two little kids?’ said Robbie and he laughed.

‘Yeah. They’ve got it into their heads that I saved their lives. Though I really didn’t do anything. They won’t leave me alone.’

‘Holy crap, you need me
bad
, Maeve.’

‘Yeah, right, cos it’s really going to help having a cripple along as well.’

‘Oh, that wounds me,’ said Robbie.

‘I’m serious, Robbie. I can’t go through with this.’

‘But once we’re out of London there’ll be other kids,’ Robbie insisted. ‘We can find a community, you know, like farmers and that, real life, not this scavenging crap.’

‘I’m not arguing with you on that,’ said Maeve. ‘You’re probably right, but how the hell do we get out of London?’

‘That’s what I’m about to show you.’

‘Well, go on then. Where? What am I supposed to be looking at?’

‘Over there.’ Robbie grinned at Maeve.

They had come to a small car park behind the church where four abandoned cars sat rotting beneath some trees, patiently waiting for their long-dead owners to return. Three of them had flat tyres and were covered in bird droppings and general dirt. Now that she looked Maeve saw that the fourth one was in slightly better condition. It was a black Range Rover with tinted windows. Boggle wheeled Robbie over to it. Robbie carried on grinning at Maeve.

‘What do you reckon then?’

‘What do I reckon to what?’

‘The wheels.’

‘Yeah, lovely … Wait a minute … You’re not saying …?’

‘I
am
saying. I’ve been saving this up for the right time. And now is that time.’

‘I don’t get it.’

‘You don’t have to get it. Just get in.’

Robbie dug a key fob out of his pocket, aimed it at the car and pressed a button with his thumb. The indicators flashed and there was a satisfying
thunk
as the doors unlocked. Maeve felt a little surge of excitement in her guts.

Robbie got up out of the wheelchair, opened the driver’s door and climbed in with some difficulty. Maeve hurried round to the passenger side while Boggle stayed outside to keep watch.

Maeve settled in next to Robbie, who was sitting behind the steering wheel with a huge smile on his face, like a kid on Christmas morning with a new toy.

‘Does it actually work?’ Maeve asked.

By way of a reply, Robbie stuck the key in the ignition and turned it. The engine came to life with a deep rumble.

‘Oh my God. Oh my God,’ said Maeve, trying not to sound like an overexcited little kid herself. ‘We can
drive
out of London. That is
brilliant
.’

‘Well, yeah,’ said Robbie. ‘There’s a slight problem, though.’

‘You can’t drive? You’re just going to sit there revving the engine and hooting the horn?’

‘I
can
drive. Least I can drive this baby. Not very well, to be honest, but I
can
do it. It’s automatic so there’s no gears, just two pedals, stop and go, and I can work them both with my good leg.’

‘So what’s the slight problem?’

‘Petrol.’

‘It’s empty?’

‘No. There’s some. Remember the first thing that happened when the disease came down on us?’

‘Yeah, the pumps dried up. All the petrol ran out.’

‘Exactly, there was no more deliveries. The tankers stopped sailing, the lorries stopped driving, there was panic buying, petrol riots. You remember how everything just sort of … stopped?’

‘Yeah,’ said Maeve, remembering those scary times. ‘We were all stuck.’

‘Most of the cars you see just sit there reminding us of how useless they are, how useless
we
are. No gas in them. No keys to start them. But not this one. Not my Raymonda.’

‘It’s called Raymonda?’

‘Why not? Gotta call it something. It was parked outside this house we was scavenging. And on my way out I’ve seen
the keys, just sitting there on this shelf near the front door. I thought I’d give it a go and hey presto, hocus pocus, it started first time. So I drove it back here and parked it out of the way. It’ll be our freedom bus.’

‘So how much petrol is there then?’

‘There was a bit left in the tank when I found it, enough to get it here with some left over. Since then I been collecting it from other cars when I can, but she’s a big old tank really; she uses a bare lot of gas.’

‘How far will it get us, do you think?’

‘I don’t know. See that?’ Robbie pointed to an illuminated display. ‘Forty-five miles till tank empty. That’s what the computer says.’

‘Forty-five miles? Forty-five miles, Robbie? That’s further than Blue went, further than Heathrow. That’s
out of London
. That’s the countryside. That’s all we need.’

Robbie looked unsure. Turned off the engine. Sat there in silence.

‘Don’t you believe it?’ Maeve asked. ‘Do you think the computer’s broken or something?’

‘No. But it’ll change when we start actually driving. I used to watch it on my dad’s car. It changed all the time, depending on how fast you were going. Or if you were going uphill.’

‘But still, Robbie, even if it’s only forty miles …’

Robbie brightened up, smiled at Maeve.

‘I figure if we keep going slowly to save petrol we’ll get far enough to find some other kids, and take it from there. Yeah?’

Maeve giggled and leant across to kiss Robbie. He blushed.

‘
You’re
the genius,’ she said. ‘You fixed it. Why didn’t you say anything about this before?’

‘Oh, you know, I kept it quiet. My little secret. Only a couple of my mates know about it, like Boggle. Didn’t want Justin finding out, thinking he needed to keep it for himself. It wouldn’t have been mine no more. He would have sent Einstein’s lot off in it. And they’d have ruined it like they ruined everything else. I always knew that one day – you know, like today – the time would come. So, we on then?’

Maeve’s mind was a blur, thoughts racing and falling over each other. This changed everything. ‘We’ll have to get ready,’ she said. ‘Pack what we need. Food, water, weapons …’

She stopped, overwhelmed by the reality of it all. She was going to get away. For the first time in a long while she was actually looking forward to the future.

She started to cry and Robbie put an arm round her.

This was their bus to freedom …

88

Blue was hacked off. They’d spent all morning searching and found nothing. Not even a trace of where Paul might have been hiding out. He’d been hoping they’d find him quickly and get it over with, but it was clear that wasn’t going to happen. The tension of the first couple of hours had slowly drained away and changed to boredom as they trudged round the galleries, checking every cabinet, every cupboard, every door, every dark corner. And the more bored they got, the less care they took, until they were poking around aimlessly and half the kids were mucking about and playing stupid games.

The more they searched, the more Blue became aware of just how huge the museum was, how many places there were to hide. He remembered the first few days they’d been here, flushing the grown-ups out of the lower level. The time that had taken. And it wasn’t just the galleries they had to search; there were all the areas that hadn’t been open to the public – the offices and back rooms, the storage areas …