The Enemy (41 page)

B
en and Bernie were eating a late supper in the Dining Room. Most of the other kids had eaten earlier, and the food was cold. They’d been out of the way al evening, tinkering with a gas generator they’d discovered in a storeroom in the utility area of the palace. They hadn’t wanted to watch the fight, and had kept as far away as possible.

Since arriving they’d been spending their time exploring and scavenging. They’d tried to get David interested in engineering plans. A pump and filtration system to get clean water from the lake, a plan to get some heating set up for the winter using the gas bottles they’d found in a shed, even a plan to generate electricity, but David wasn’t interested. His sights were firmly set outside the palace. He even said that it would make the kids tougher if they didn’t have too many luxuries. Ben and Bernie realized that the big welcome of the first-night feast, the show of abundance and opulence, had been just that—a show—to impress the newcomers. Since that night the food had been steadily getting worse. Tonight it was boiled potatoes with cabbage, and canned peaches for dessert. Ben and Bernie weren’t complaining—they weren’t that bothered about food, and at least this bland stuff fil ed them up.

They’d noticed it, though. How the portions were getting smal er. How they never had any meat.

They’d had such high hopes when they arrived. A new life with new opportunities. But David had set the palace up to be little more than functional.

They could survive here, and that was about it. The two of them often talked about how they’d been more appreciated at Waitrose, and how much they’d enjoyed inventing things. They even missed al the stuff they’d left behind. They felt part of things there, an important part. Now what were they? They couldn’t fight and they didn’t look forward to spending the rest of their lives as farmers. But food and fighting were al that David cared about.

They looked up from their plates as Achil eus came in, wearing a bathrobe. He was a mess. Limping. His face and chest bruised and bandaged. A young boy they didn’t recognize was with him, a stocky, bul et-headed kid carrying a shield and a col ection of weapons in a golf bag slung across his back.

“There you are,” said Achil eus. “Been looking al over for you.”

“What’s up?” said Ben.

“Nothing. I just need to know where everybody is. Can you make sure you’re in the dormitory by eleven o’clock with everyone else?”

“Why?” Bernie asked. She’d never much liked Achil eus, and resented his bossy manner.

“Why? Because I say so. I need everyone to stay together.”

“What is it, like a curfew?” said Ben.

“Dunno,” said Achil eus. “What’s a curfew?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“We’re busy anyway,” said Bernie. “Might not be able to make it by eleven.”

“You wil be able to make it,” said Achil eus. “I’m not asking you—I’m tel ing you. If you’re not there, things’l go bad for you.”

“What about Maxie?” said Bernie. “She gonna be there?”

“She’s in the sick bay,” said Achil eus.

“She al right?”

“Yeah. She’s looking after Blue.”

“Good job in the fight, by the way,” said Ben, trying to stop the situation from getting heavy. Achil eus merely shrugged.

“
You
look like you should be in the sick bay,” Ben went on. “I heard your ear got messed up.”

“That loser nearly cut it off.”

“So when’s Blue coming out?”

“Do I look like a doctor?” said Achil eus.

“No,” said Bernie. “You look like a patient.”

“I ain’t neither, darling. I’m a fighter, and right now that’s the most important type of person around. You got it?”

“If you say so, big man,” said Bernie with a slight mocking sneer. Ben flashed her a warning look. Bernie was one of those girls who didn’t watch what they said to people, which meant that the boys with her quite often got beaten up.

Luckily, Achil eus only grinned.

“If you two losers hadn’t made life bearable back at Waitrose I’d have given you both a good slap a long time ago.”

“Yes, wel , I think you’l find that you need losers to make the world go ’round,” said Bernie.

“You said it.”

“So you concede that we might be of some smal use as wel as a big tough fighting man like you?”

“Smal is right,” said Achil eus. “Now just make sure you’re in the bal room by eleven. We’re going to be checking everyone. Got it?”

“Sir, yes, sir!” said Bernie, standing up and saluting, and Achil eus laughed before sweeping out with his caddy and leaving them to their cold potatoes.

M
axie lay on her bed and stared up at the patterns of light that the candles were making on the ceiling of the sick bay. She felt flat. Physicaly flat, like a sheet of paper, with no room inside for any emotions. She’d exhausted herself worrying about David and how Ol ie and Achil eus had betrayed her. She’d gone through anger, shame, fear . . . She’d felt stupid and abused and mocked. There was nothing left to feel anymore except the oddly comforting ache in her side. She’d even gone beyond tiredness. Resigned herself to whatever lay in store for her.

A blank sheet of paper.

“I’m sick and tired of feeling sick and tired,” she said.

“I know how that feels,” said Blue, who was also lying on his bed staring at the ceiling.

“I think some pharaoh had that carved on his tomb,” Maxie added.

“Yeah? Times don’t change much, do they?”

“I don’t know about that,” said Maxie. “I can’t think of any other time in history when most of the population of the world was wiped out by some unknown il ness.”

“What about the Black Death?” said Blue. “The plague. I think about half the people in Europe died during that one. We stil made it through, though.

We’ve done it before. We can do it again.”

“You’re optimistic, aren’t you?”

“Why not?”

“It’s just that life’s been pretty crappy lately, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“Yeah. I noticed.”

Maxie looked over at Blue just as he looked over at her. He smiled.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “We’l get outta this jam. We’l be okay.”

“You know,” said Maxie, stil looking at Blue, “you’re much nicer when you’re away from everyone else. You don’t try to keep up such a front.”

“You gotta be tough to survive, girl. Don’t show no weakness to no one.”

“Yeah, wel , it’s easy for you. You’ve been tough al your life. I was just an ordinary girl before. Nothing special. I wasn’t even that athletic.”

“You don’t know me at al , girl.”

“Oh yes I do. I knew loads of boys like you before the disaster,” said Maxie. “They used to strut around, intimidating people.”

“You know what my nickname was before al this?” said Blue.

“I dunno,” said Maxie. “Kil er? King Dude? The Boss?”

“Bookface.”

“Bookface?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s a crappy nickname.”

“Don’t I know it.”

“What does it mean anyway?”

“A lot. Not a lot.”

“No, come on, what does it mean? Like you always had your face in a book, or that your face looked like a book?”

Blue sighed. “Everything that happened, you know, it changed people. It’s changed me. I had another nickname as wel .”

“Surprise me.”

“Fat Boy.”

Maxie laughed. “You’re not fat.”

“I used to be. I was a fat nerd.”

“No!” Maxie came up on her elbow and leaned toward Blue with a shocked smile on her face.

“Straight up.” Blue laughed. “I had two brothers and two sisters. You know how families are, everyone finds their space. My oldest brother, Akim, he was trouble. My next brother, Felix, was into sports. My big sister, Lulu, was obsessed with fashion, looking good and al that. My other sister, Sissy, she was into boys. My thing, I was the brainy one of the family. I was always good at school. Didn’t real y try, just came easy to me. Because I was good at it, I real y liked it, homework and al , though I couldn’t tel anyone back then. They found out that I read lots of books, though. Gave me a hard time for it. I didn’t much care. I didn’t get out much. I spent hours on my computer, and not just playing games. My mom used to go on about me not getting enough exercise, but at the same time, she liked the fact that I was learning stuff. She wanted me to go to col ege. I didn’t know about al that. Akim, he was into gangs.

Mom didn’t want me having nothing to do with that way of life. Some kid from our school was stabbed. It was big news, Mom was scared. But I was never part of that world. Never got in a fight or nothing. When it al kicked off I had to learn fast, man. You know what? The first to die were the tough kids. They went out there on the streets. No more cops. No more adults tel ing them what to do. No more rules. Al the gangs just went crazy and fought each other.

Kil ed each other. Stupid jerks. For a little while it was like a war zone out there. Soon those that didn’t kil each other began to realize who the real enemy was. So then the gangs went up against the grown-ups. Most of them died early on. Not al , though. Me, I kept my head down. I watched, I learned, it was what I was good at. Who lived and who died. Was a lottery. Just raw luck. Like in a war, the first to get it are the regular army, the trained soldiers. After that the army takes whoever they can get. I’m who they got. The disaster made me tough, Maxie, and that’s why I have to try hard when there’s people around.

Because it don’t come easy for me.”

“Aren’t I a person?” said Maxie.

“You’re different. You understand al this stuff.”

“Sometimes I think I do, sometimes I think I don’t.”

“It’s funny,” said Blue. “Lying here, I feel I can talk to you about anything. It don’t matter no more.”

“I’m glad you told me al that,” said Maxie.

Blue rol ed onto his back and looked away. “Maybe I just want you to like me,” he said.

“Oh yeah?”

“I know we haven’t always agreed on stuff, Max. But you know what it’s like. With no adults around to tel you what to do al the time, you’d think we’d al just want to stay up late and drink and smoke and take drugs and make out. And I know a lot of kids did do that at first. But when you’re scared, struggling just to stay alive, those thoughts go right out the window. Sometimes, though, you get feelings.”

“What are you trying to say, Blue?”

“I like you, Max. Always did. That’s why I act the way I do. I know you liked Arran. I didn’t think I had a chance at first. I’m Fat Boy, remember. Bookface, the computer nerd. Girls never used to go for me. Wel , not in that way.”

Maxie looked over at Blue. He was staring fixedly at the ceiling. Might even have been blushing.

“Are you saying you
like
-like me, Blue?”

Now Blue looked embarrassed.

“No. Yes. No. Not like that.”

“Like what, then?”

“I don’t know like what. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“It’s al right. I’m confused right now, Blue. I don’t know what to think. About Arran, about you, about me. Until we can get out of this mess and I can get my head together and think about things, then I can’t think about anything. Does that sound dumb?”

“No more than anything I said.” Blue sat up. Smiled. “You didn’t yel at me. Does that mean that if we get out of here I might have a chance?”

Maxie laughed. “Let’s get out of here and we’l see.”

“But say we did get out, yeah? Where would we go?”

“We’ve got the whole of London to choose from.”

“But we don’t know it around here, we don’t know where’s safe.”

“There must be other kids,” said Maxie. “This can’t be it.”

“Nowhere else is going to be as wel set up as this,” said Blue. “Nowhere else is gonna be as safe. David’s the only one around here who’s organized.”

They both jumped as a voice came from across the room.

“David’s a liar.”

They had forgotten al about the girl with the bandaged face in the other bed. The one they’d rescued at Green Park.

They both sat up and looked over at her. Her eyes were glinting in the half-light.

“What did you say?” Blue asked, even though he had heard her quite clearly.

“David’s a liar,” she repeated. “He’s been lying to you al along. Why do you think he’s been keeping me out of the way up here?”

“Because of your injuries?” said Blue. Wasn’t it obvious?

“They’re not as bad as they look,” said the girl. “When you cut your face there’s a lot of blood. Rose fixed me up pretty wel . I’m going to look like hel , but it’s only skin. David didn’t want me mixing with you al , though. He didn’t want me talking. Once it was clear they were keeping me prisoner, I made sure I didn’t speak, hardly even moved. Just listened.”

“I don’t get it,” said Blue. “Where are you from?”

“The museum.”

“Museum?” said Blue. “What museum?”

“Natural History Museum,” said the girl. “Loads of us live there. It’s better than here, there’re more houses around, more places to find food. Though we do grow stuff as wel .”

“Just like David?” said Blue.

“Just like David,” said the girl. “But he didn’t want you to know that.”

“For sure,” said Blue.

“And it’s not just us,” said the girl. “There’s kids al over London, set up, in safe places. Surviving. We’ve tried talking to David before, about al linking up and sharing, but he wasn’t interested. He wants it al for himself.”