The Sacrifice (9 page)

The room was lit by one small candle that
gave off a gently flickering orange light. Everybody looked better in candlelight. It
hid a lot. Sam and The Kid had been well scrubbed when they’d first got here and
Sam had been amazed at how The Kid’s skin was now several shades lighter. His hair
still stuck up in a wiry tangle, though.

Tish took a sip of her tea and smiled,
enjoying the warmth. She stared into her mug. Stuck on a memory. Sam hoped she
wasn’t thinking about Louise again.

‘Mum used to make the best cups of
tea,’ she said. ‘Neil was useless, though. Always made it too weak. Either
that or he left the tea bag in so long it tasted rank.’

‘What happened to them?’ Sam
asked.

‘Neil was older than me; he died of
the disease early on. My dad had moved away before. He was in Leicester and we lost
contact with him when everything went wrong. I assume he’s dead along with most of
the adults. I hope he is. I wouldn’t want to think of him as one of them, a
Neph’, you know, a sicko.’

‘You call them sickos too?’ said
Sam.

‘Huh?’

‘Just like the kids here. We just call
them grown-ups, mothers and fathers.’

‘They’re sickos,’ said
Tish. ‘And when I think of Dad, I
think of him like he was, not
like them. To be honest, I didn’t use to see that much of him. We spoke on the
phone now and then, and a couple of times a year he’d come down to London and take
me to the Rainforest Café, even when I was too old for it. Every time I saw him he
looked at me like I was a stranger. Kept boring on about how tall I was, how I’d
grown. And when I got boobs, he was well freaked out. Kept sneaking a look at them like
he couldn’t believe it. Said I was growing up too fast. Well, if he’d wanted
he could’ve visited me more, couldn’t he? He made his life. Made it in
Leicester with another woman who wasn’t my mum.’

‘Did your mum die?’ asked Sam.
‘Or did she … You know?’

‘She was killed, to be honest. It was
well bad. Some looters broke into the house, right when things were at their worst. They
were looking for food. Mum tried to fight them off, one of them hit her in the head and
that was that. She was killed. They didn’t mean it, not to kill her, and
afterwards they took me with them; they felt guilty I guess and wanted to look after me.
One by one, though, they died of the sickness and I was glad. I hated them. The last
one, the one who had done it, who had hit her, he was big and tough, lived longer than
the others. I could see he wasn’t going to keel over, was gonna become a sicko. I
put him out of his misery, the bastard. Put him out of everyone’s misery. Knocked
him down with a hammer and cut his head off with a garden spade. Good riddance I
say.’

Sam looked at Tish, sitting there with her
legs tucked up, wrapped in a blanket, staring into her mug of tea. A fourteen-year-old
girl. He tried to put this picture together with the other one – Tish cutting a
man’s head off with a
spade. They’d talked about this kind
of thing back in Holloway, around the fire in the evenings. Why they were the ones who
had survived. Mostly it was luck, sure, but there was something else, something that had
helped Sam get across London all by himself, had helped The Kid to survive in the tube
tunnels, had helped Tish make it here.

They all did what they needed to do
survive.

So many kids had cracked up, lost it big
time. Gone loony. Got so stressed they couldn’t cope any more. Curled up into
balls like hedgehogs.

Died.

Tish hadn’t curled up; she’d
waited and waited and when the time was right, she’d cut that man’s head
right off.

Just like that.

‘I fell in with a gang of kids after
that,’ Tish went on. ‘Tough nuts mostly, knew how to fight, but didn’t
have too much sense. Nobody really in charge. Arguing all the time. We moved round
London trying to find a safe place. God, seems like a long time ago now, first with all
the rioting and the looting and the murders, then the gangs fighting, then almost
everyone dying, and after that the sickos everywhere. And there was fires to deal with
and dogs and … Well, to be fair, you know how bad it got. I didn’t think
we were ever going to be safe and then we arrived at the Temple.’

‘What temple?’ Sam asked.

Tish laughed. ‘Oh, you know,
that’s just what we call our camp.’

‘What sort of temple is it?’

‘It’s not really a temple.
It’s just a name, to be honest.’

‘Does it look like a
temple?’

‘I don’t know.’ Tish was
starting to sound irritated. ‘One
of the boys said it, like, you
know, looked like a temple he’d seen in a PlayStation game or something, I
think.’

‘Cool.’

‘It’s not a temple, though, to
be fair. It’s just, like, a house, a building. Offices and things.’

‘OK.’

‘So where do you hail from of late,
wayfarer?’ said The Kid. ‘Where’s this temple of yours and why on
earth were you out there running around in Zombieland like a lost sheep?’

‘We came from the centre of town. You
know? Our base is near Trafalgar Square.’

‘This temple of which you
speak?’

‘Yeah, this temple of which I
speak.’ Tish giggled. ‘I’m sorry. You make me laugh.’

‘That’s because I’m
elemental, my dear Watson.’

‘So what were you doing all the way
over here?’ Sam asked.

‘Yeah,’ said The Kid. ‘You
were a long way from home without a paddle.’

‘There was ten of us came out,’
said Tish. ‘We were exploring. Seeing what other kids might be out there. We
didn’t mean to come this far. But then we bumped into some sickos and they had
other plans for us.’

‘You was ham-busted?’ said The
Kid. ‘Taken by surprise and blindsided, mashed up like pumpkins and done up like
kippers?’

‘We were attacked, yeah, if
that’s what you mean,’ said Tish. ‘They chased us all over. Half our
group split off and went back; me and three others, we carried on running. Came further
and further this way. Didn’t really know where we were, to be honest. Then another
group of sickos
got us. And that’s when Ed and his crew
eventually found us, hiding in that building. Only he got to us too late. The others
were all killed.’

Tish stopped talking. There were tears in
her eyes and her voice was raspy and wobbly.

‘That’s bad,’ said
Sam.

Tish nodded.

‘We didn’t know,’ she said
quietly. ‘We were told we’d be protected, that no harm would come to us. We
didn’t have any idea how dangerous it was going to be on the other side of the
Wall. How bad it is out this way.’

‘You came through the forbidden
zone,’ said Sam.

‘What’s that?’

‘The no-go zone. It’s what the
kids here call the whole area to the north and west.’

‘The badlands,’ said The Kid.
‘Full of outlaws and scum-crackers and professional no-goodnicks. Sickos and ogres
and blood-farmers, sniffing out the youngers. In the words of the prophet,
“Don’t go there, man.”’

‘Me and The Kid came all through the
City of London,’ said Sam, trying not to sound too much like he was showing off.
‘You see where all the banks used to be? All the money-makers in their
skyscrapers? We were like you: we didn’t know where we were really or how bad it
was. Maybe that’s why we made it through. We were too stupid to be caught. The
kids here couldn’t believe we’d done it. They don’t ever go
there.’

‘Ancient evil,’ said The Kid.
‘Bad magic. The devil’s playground.’

‘They only go out to the east and
south over Tower Bridge,’ said Sam. ‘We’re not allowed anywhere near
the way you came.’

‘But if I’m going to get home I
have to go back that way,’ said Tish.

‘You want to go back?’

Tish nodded. ‘Of course I do.
It’s my home. It’s where all my friends are. They’ll want to know what
happened to us. I mean, don’t get me wrong, in all fairness, what I’ve seen
of it, it seems nice here; everyone’s nice and friendly and it’s safe and
you have food and water, but it’s not my home, is it?’

‘It’s not our food and
water,’ said Sam.

‘What do you mean?’

‘This isn’t our home.
We’re not staying either.’

‘Really?’ Tish sat up straight,
listening more intently.

‘Yeah,’ said Sam. ‘I have
to find my sister, Ella. We got split up. She was heading for Buckingham Palace.
I’d love to stay here, don’t want ever to go back out there,
but … I have to find her. I promised I’d look after her, you
see.’

‘But to find her you’d have to
go through the forbidden zone.’

‘Yeah. There’s no way around
it.’

Tish thought about something for a bit then
smiled at Sam.

‘We know the kids at Buckingham
Palace,’ she said brightly.

‘You do?’

‘Yeah.’ Tish nodded.
‘We’re well close to them in Trafalgar Square.’

‘Do you know if my sister made it
there then? She was travelling down from Holloway.’

‘Yeah.’ Tish’s smile was
so big it looked like it was going to split her head in half. ‘Did you say she was
called Ella?’

‘Yeah. Ella Brewer. Do you know
her?’

‘I do know that some kids arrived there
recently from north London. It must be them. Ella must be there.’

‘I have to go and find her,’
said Sam, ‘but Ed won’t let us.’

‘What’s it to do with
him?’

Sam explained about the expedition that some
kids had gone on and how Ed wasn’t letting anyone else leave until they
returned.

‘What if they never return?’
said Tish. ‘Then what?’

Sam shrugged.

‘I’ll tell you then what,’
said The Kid. ‘We’re stuck here like bug-eyed flies on bug-eyed flypaper. In
short, sweetheart, it’s a bugger.’

Tish stared into Sam’s eyes.

‘He’ll never let you go,’
she said bluntly.

‘He’ll keep you here. He
doesn’t want you to leave.’

‘Why do you say that?’

‘The kids here are strong. They could
put together an army and push their way through anything. But they sit behind their
walls. They could get you to Buckingham Palace easy if they wanted. It wouldn’t
take them more than two or three hours at the most, to be honest.’

‘But it’s through the
badlands.’

‘I came through the
badlands.’

‘And all your friends were
killed.’

‘We weren’t prepared. We
weren’t an army. Not soldiers like the kids here. We thought it would be easy. We
were dumb. I’m not dumb any more. If we were prepared, if we did it right, we
could get through.’

‘What do you mean
“we”?’

‘Us three. We could do it. In the
daytime when the sickos are asleep. Go quickly. Properly armed.’

‘But … ’

‘Ed won’t ever take you. Believe
me. And he won’t let you go with me neither. I know it. They don’t want any
kids to know what’s really out there. If you stay here you’ll never see your
sister again.’

‘Why would Ed want to keep me
here?’

‘You’ve heard the rumours?’
said Tish.

‘What rumours?’

‘You know the ones. I’ve heard
them too. People have talked to me; they know I’m living here with you
two.’

‘What rumours?’

‘They all talk about you. How
you’re special.’

‘I’m not special,’ said
Sam.

‘Special needs maybe,’ said The
Kid.

‘It doesn’t matter whether you
believe it,’ said Tish. ‘
They
believe it. They believe that if they
keep you here they’ll be safe. Ed will never let you go. You’re too
important to him. But us three … ’

‘That way madness lies,’ said
The Kid. ‘Us three traipsing off like dilly-dallies, bog-eyed silly billies. You
were big kids and you got sliced and diced, they murdered your faces. What chance would
us three musketeers have?’

‘You lived on the streets by
yourself,’ said Tish, ‘and Sam made it all the way here from Holloway,
didn’t you?’

‘Yeah, but … ’

‘Two squirts like you. You’re
lucky. Maybe you
are
special.’

‘You’re wearing green and you
ain’t so lucky,’ said The Kid.

Tish smiled at him, then smiled at Sam.
‘You two will bring me luck. You feel lucky. I just know it.’

‘It doesn’t make any sense what
you’re saying,’ said Sam. ‘First you tell us how bad it is out there
and then you say us three could make it back to your place, to the palace.’

‘An army is right,’ said The
Kid. ‘An army is what we need.’

‘It’s only the first bit
that’s dangerous, to be honest,’ said Tish. ‘The no-go
zone.’

‘They call it that for a
reason.’

‘Yeah,’ said The Kid. ‘So
we no go there.’

‘We’ll think of a way,’
said Tish. ‘We’ll work something out.’

‘I’m going to talk to Ed
again,’ said Sam. ‘Try to persuade him. This isn’t right.’

Tish looked anxious. ‘You won’t
tell him what we’ve talked about, will you?’ she said. ‘About our
plan?’

‘Not that bit, no. If he thought we
were even
thinking
about going by ourselves he’d probably lock us
up.’

Tish got up and hugged him.

‘We can do it. We’ll be all
right.’

She sat back down. Sam’s cheek was wet
where she had pushed her own tear-streaked cheek against him.

‘Hey, hold on, babe,’ said The
Kid. ‘Don’t The Kid get a hug?’

Tish looked at The Kid and for a moment she
looked fearful. Then she smiled, gave him a quick stiff hug.

‘Boobalicious!’ said The
Kid.

Tish looked awkward and Sam understood. The
Kid was weird. He freaked some people out. Sam knew he had a good heart, though. He was
loyal and brave and tough as anything.

He was the best kid in the world.

Sam would make Tish understand that.

Ed scratched his head and yawned. It was
another early start for him. The sun was barely up and the war room in the White Tower
was freezing cold. Even wrapped in his greatcoat, knitted hat and gloves the cold had
got into him. His breath hung in the air in a frosty cloud. Once a week General Jordan
Hordern pulled all his captains together for a meeting and he insisted on doing it at
dawn. Jordan never seemed to need any sleep. You could see candles burning in the
Queen’s House long into the night and he was always the first up.