When he’d drunk enough, Ella took a big swig herself and then sat down next to him.
‘What are we going to do?’ she said. ‘I can’t carry you and the bag and everything. How far can you walk?’
‘Not far. You?’
‘Not far. I’m so tired.’
‘It’s only five minutes away. In the woods. You know the tree that’s split by lightning?’
‘Yeah. I think so.’
‘Five minutes,’ Scarface repeated.
‘If you could walk normally,’ said Ella. ‘Which you can’t.’
‘We’ll go one step at a time. You take the bag ahead. Then we’ll catch it up.’
‘I can’t do it,’ said Ella. ‘I can’t do anything any more. What do you think I am?’
‘I think you’re a hero,’ said Scarface. ‘I think you’re the bravest girl in the world.’
‘You’re just saying that.’
‘I haven’t spoken in nearly a year, Ella,’ said Scarface with his broken voice. ‘I’m not going to waste my breath on lies. Get me to the hide and you can sleep for a thousand years. When you wake up, everything will be fine.’
‘I’ve seen things today,’ said Ella. ‘I’m not ever going to be normal again.’
Scarface gave a little laugh and Ella glared at him. Cross.
‘What are you laughing at?’ she asked.
‘Nothing,’ said Scarface, closing his eye. Laughing had tired him out. ‘It’s just … I kind of know the feeling. Now take the bag to the shed near the gate then come back for me.’
‘No …’
‘Ella …’
Ella huffed and got up and lugged the rucksack over to the gate, her legs aching, her back sore, her fingers going white where they tugged at the straps. When she got back, Scarface had somehow managed to get up on to his feet and was leaning against the wall, eyes closed again, sweat running down his cracked, leathery cheeks.
‘I’m not sleeping,’ he said when he heard Ella. ‘Just resting.’ And he put a hand on her shoulder. The hand with the missing fingers. His other hand was gripping the shotgun, which he was using as a sort of walking stick.
‘Come on then,’ he said, gripping Ella tighter. ‘We can do this.’
Step by painful step, they crossed the yard, barely moving. They didn’t stop, though, and when they eventually got as far as the bag Scarface slumped down with a moan. It looked like he’d never get up again.
He mumbled something that Ella couldn’t hear and she shook him and told him to say it again.
‘There’s a wheelbarrow in the shed,’ he said, his voice not much more than a whisper.
‘I can’t take you in a wheelbarrow.’
‘Not me, the bag. You can wheel it down the road.’
Ella found the wheelbarrow. It was quite wobbly and hard to steer at first and she swore at it. It tipped over three times as she tried to get the bag in it. At last it was done, though, and she set off. It was even harder to steer with the weight of the bag inside, but slowly she got the hang of it. It was certainly much easier moving the rucksack like this. She took it about a hundred metres down the road then came back for Scarface and on they went. Inch by inch by inch.
They’d got about halfway to the barrow, and Ella was wondering if they’d ever get there, when she saw someone approaching in the distance. Moving quickly down the road.
‘There’s a …’ she started to say.
‘I’ve seen it,’ Scarface interrupted.
‘Is it a grown-up?’
‘No. It’s a kid. You can always tell. A boy, I reckon.’
I can’t always tell, thought Ella, but she didn’t say anything. They stopped walking and stood there, waiting. They couldn’t have run away even if they’d wanted to. As the boy got nearer, Ella realized that she recognized him.
‘It’s Isaac,’ she said.
‘You mustn’t tell him,’ said Scarface.
‘Tell him what?’
‘Anything,’ said Scarface.
Isaac seemed to take a long time getting to them. He wasn’t running, just walking, tramping steadily along, head down. When he finally arrived, he looked the two of them over.
‘Are you OK?’ he asked.
Ella nodded.
‘I came back,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t leave you.’
‘What happened?’ Ella asked. ‘Did you stay up on the look-out platform all night?’
‘I couldn’t get down,’ Isaac replied. ‘I tried and tried, but there were always grown-ups there. Waiting. Some even tried to climb up. I couldn’t see into the barn, didn’t know what was happening inside. But I had to watch it all, the grown-ups outside, circling, clawing at the walls. Then there was that massive fire. I thought they’d all be burned. There were so many, though. You couldn’t count them. I saw Daniel come out. I tried to shout to him …’ Isaac trailed off into silence.
‘It was horrible,’ Ella said quietly. ‘I’m sorry about your friends.’
‘I saw Sonya and Louisa this morning,’ said Isaac. ‘I didn’t sleep all night. There were grown-ups still around. The girls got away just as the dogs arrived. I shouted to them. They ignored me. Luckily the dogs chased off the rest of the grown-ups. I guess they were scared of an army, but not a few stragglers.’
‘Harry died,’ said Ella.
‘Oh.’ Isaac looked away. Not wanting to show Ella his tears. ‘We were at school together,’ he said, then sniffed and went all serious.
‘I’m heading back to Bracknell. You need to come with me.’
‘I can’t.’
‘It’s too dangerous to stay here, Ella.’ Isaac looked desperate to get away.
‘I can’t leave Scarface,’ said Ella. ‘He’s my friend. He’s too badly hurt to go fast.’
Isaac took hold of Ella and dragged her a little way away so that Scarface couldn’t hear them.
‘You have to leave him. We have to go right now.’
‘I can’t.’ Ella was shaking her head. ‘He saved me. He looked after me. Now I have to look after him.’
Isaac laughed. He sounded slightly crazy, almost crying.
‘Just leave him,’ he said. ‘You have to. He’s just a –’
‘Just a what?’
‘He’s one of them,’ said Isaac. ‘If you bring him with us they’ll just kill him when we get there.’
‘Then I’m staying here,’ said Ella. ‘We’ve got another hiding place.’
‘Where?’
Ella remembered what Scarface had said – that she mustn’t tell him anything. But Isaac could help them. Maybe if she just told him a little.
‘In the woods,’ she said. ‘Will you help us before you go?’
Isaac thought for a second.
‘Come on then,’ he said, walking back and taking hold of Scarface. ‘Let’s do this.’
So the three of them set off. Ella wheeling the barrow, Isaac supporting Scarface. It was harder going when they got off the road and had to cross a field to the trees, but they kept on moving. Four times Ella’s barrow tipped up and Isaac had to help her get the rucksack back on-board. They made it to the woods, though, and stopped to rest, Scarface leaning up against a big tree whose bark was as gnarly as his face. He caught Ella’s eye and made a jerky movement with his head as if to say, ‘Get rid of him.’ He obviously didn’t want Isaac to know exactly where the hideout was, just in case.
‘We’ll be all right now,’ Ella said to Isaac. And he looked unsure, checking out the woods.
‘Really?’
‘Yes.’ Ella nodded. ‘There’s a place we can shelter here.’
‘I’ll get you all the way there.’
‘You need to go,’ said Ella.
‘Well …’
‘We’re away from the farm,’ said Ella. ‘We’ve got food in the bag. We’ll be fine.’
‘If you’re really sure? OK.’
Ella could tell that Isaac wanted to be off. She gave him a hug and thanked him.
‘If you ever make it to Brack
nell,’ he said into her hair, ‘look for me. Isaac, yeah? Isaac Hills.’
‘OK.’
They separated and Isaac started to hurry away.
‘Isaac!’ Ella called out and he turned round.
‘It didn’t get you,’ she shouted.
‘Who?’
‘That fate thing. You dodged it.’
‘I did this time.’
‘Good luck.’
Soon he was gone and Ella wondered if she’d ever see him again.
18
Somehow the last part was the hardest, getting over the bumpy ground to the actual den, too tired to even think. Ella had to leave the barrow behind because it got too hard to wheel through the trees. Instead she would pull the rucksack along the ground for a few paces, come back and help Scarface get from one tree to the next, then leave him leaning there and pull the bag a little further on. Then back for Scarface …
Somehow they did it, though. Got to the lightning tree, its big grey trunk split down the middle, but still growing. Scarface dropped down and sat on the ground. Ella looked around. She could see no sign of a hideout. She searched everywhere, in the bushes, in the shadows under the other trees, up in the branches, hoping they weren’t going to have to do any climbing. Nothing. When she looked back at Scarface, however, he was scrabbling about in a pile of dead leaves and fallen sticks.
‘Here,’ he grunted. ‘Help me. I can’t do it.’
Ella went to him and saw that he had partly uncovered a door of some sort that he must have taken from one of the farm buildings. It was covered with dirt and leaves and stones. They managed to lift it just far enough for Ella to see that there was a hole underneath. First she pushed in the bag and then she helped Scarface slide in and drop down. He found the strength to hold the door up so that Ella could fit under it and she squeezed through. There was a short tunnel that they crawled along to where it opened out into a sort of burrow just large enough for the two of them.
Ella switched on her torch. They were right in among the tree roots that formed a cage around them. She saw bags and boxes tucked into gaps between the roots and some smaller animal holes going off to the sides.
‘I think badgers made it originally,’ said Scarface, flopping down on to an old mattress. ‘Or maybe foxes. I dug it out some more. I always knew it would be useful one day. You’ve got to think ahead.’
His voice was so quiet Ella could hardly hear it. It was a dry, rustling noise. She shone the torch in his face and he screwed his good eye shut.
‘What are you doing?’ he complained.
‘You need a new bandage,’ she said.
‘In the bag.’
Ella went to fetch the rucksack, undid the top of it and started to take stuff out. She was amazed at how much was packed into it: weapons and tools and clothing and food and drink. About halfway down she found a medicine kit.
She cleaned Scarface’s wounds again and wiped them with antiseptic. Then they drank some water and ate some stale chocolate in silence.
Ella started to shake so she lay down next to Scarface and wrapped herself in a blanket, waiting for the shaking to go away. She closed her eyes, hoping to sleep.
After a few minutes she opened her eyes and pointed the torch at the roof. There were smaller white roots, like fingers, or claws, poking through the earth above her head.
‘Save the torch,’ said Scarface and she switched it off. It was dark now. She was still shaking. Scarface found her hand and held on to it.
‘Thank you,’ he said.
‘I can’t sleep,’ said Ella. ‘I thought nothing could keep me awake, but lying here now, I can’t sleep. My body won’t let me.’
‘Me either,’ said Scarface.
‘Tell me a story,’ said Ella.
‘What story?’
‘Your story. I don’t know who you are. I don’t know anything about you. You say you’re not a grown-up, so what are you? Tell me.’
‘OK. But it’ll be our story, though, yeah? You’ll not tell anyone else.’
‘There isn’t anyone else here … Except maybe a rabbit or a mole.’
‘Don’t even tell the moles.’
‘I promise.’
‘Good.’
‘Go on then. Who are you?’
‘My name’s Malik Hussein. I went to Rowhurst School in Kent. I’m fifteen years old. And most of the time I wish I was dead …’
THE HUNTER
19
‘I’d been hunting the night I found you.’ Malik’s voice was quiet and scratchy in the darkness. ‘I’d followed a group of grown-ups to the river. Got half of them and the rest got away.
‘I was on the bank of the river, under the motorway bridge where it crosses over, and I sat down there and I stared at the water and it was dark, black, and I thought, What’s the point? What’s the point of doing what I’m doing? Night after night, day after day, hunting them down, killing them. And I was good at killing them. I’m the hunter. But I couldn’t see a point to it any more. There wasn’t a bit of me that didn’t ache, that wasn’t tired or hurting. I just thought there wouldn’t ever be an end to it and I would never be normal again. I was an animal. A kicked dog. Couldn’t go near kids, and I wasn’t a grown-up, despite what I looked like. I couldn’t see any point to life. It was just hard work and pain.
‘I was going to throw myself in the river. I thought about it, thought about drowning. Under all that black water. It would be an end to it all. Jannah. And then I saw another grown-up. He was one I’d been hunting for days, and he’d always got away from me. He was a big, ugly, dangerous bastard and I thought – well, at least if I can kill him it would be one good thing before I died. I was like a dog who can’t stop chasing a stick.
‘So I followed him and he went over the bridge to Monkey Island, and I knew there were more of them about because I can smell them. I can sense them. Sometimes I think I can even hear them, inside my brain. Chattering. Squeaking. Whispering. But I know that’s just me being mad. I knew there were lots of them, though, and they were hunting too. There was blood in the air. There was killing that night. They’d found some kids. I knew that much. So I went over the bridge and into the hotel. There was one down in the lobby, the reception area, a mother, eating something. I took her out quickly then went up the stairs, following a trail of blood. Found another two in a corridor. They had your friend, the little boy.’
‘Monkey-Boy.’
‘Was that his name? Well, I put them out of action and was trying to help the boy when you ran round the corner, and I must’ve scared the crap out of you because you fainted. Like you just switched off. So then I had some work to do. Taking them all out, finishing them off and trying to keep you and your friend alive. And anyone else. I quickly found out there were no more kids in there – not alive anyway – and I brought you and the boy outside.
‘I’m sorry he died. I did what I could. Killed the rest of the grown-ups. And then … well, I couldn’t chuck myself in the river then, could I? Couldn’t leave you there all alone. There was nobody else around to look after you. So I brought you back here. I’d never let anyone else in my camp before. Thought I’d get you well and take you to Windsor or Bracknell. Leave you on someone’s doorstep.’
Malik stopped and made a noise. Ella realized he was laughing. For a while he said nothing and she waited for him to carry on.
‘I’m sorry about what happened to your farm,’ she said and squeezed his hand.
Finally he spoke again.
‘It was stupid of me,’ he said. ‘Trying to defend the place like that. All I did was get those kids killed. I should have come straight here.’
‘No,’ said Ella. ‘It was worth fighting for.’
‘I knew it couldn’t last,’ said Malik. ‘I knew I couldn’t hold it by myself. Sooner or later someone was going to come along and take it all away from me. A swarm of grown-ups, or more likely some kids. They’re spreading out more and more, the ones in Windsor and the ones at Bracknell. I tried
to scare them away, but I always knew that one day there’d be someone brave enough to come take a look and, once they’d found the chickens in the barn, or the food, they weren’t going to let me keep it all for myself.
‘Never thought it would be quite as spectacular as what happened last night, though. That was mental. Never seen anything like it before, and I’ve seen a lot. Can’t remember all the people I’ve seen die. Friends and enemies and strangers. But I’ve forgotten so much as well. Sometimes I can’t even remember what I did the day before. My brain is full of clouds. I remember the start of it all quite clearly, being at school, down in Kent. The disease. When it all began to go wrong.
‘Do you remember the “Scared Kid” video? How we laughed when we first saw it, this kid terrified of real-life zombies or whatever. And then we realized it wasn’t fake. He wasn’t being punked. And then how we were all scared after that. The most scared I’ve ever been.’
‘I don’t remember that time so well,’ said Ella. ‘It seems so long ago.’
‘You’re so much younger than me,’ said Malik. ‘I can remember it so clearly. How we got through the first bit of the craziness, stayed at the school. The teachers tried to help us, but when they got sick it all got worse. I ended up hiding out in the school chapel with some kids from my House. Funny thing was I’d never really been in there before. I wasn’t exactly a strict Muslim, but I knew chapel was boring, so I got out of it “on religious grounds”. A guy called Matt sort of took over, went a bit mental actually. Started raving on about God and the Lamb and how the Lamb was going to save us. I didn’t really listen, and then the silly bastard poisoned us all with, like, carbon-monoxide fumes, burning stuff in the chapel.
‘We nearly died. Probably would’ve done if my mate Ed hadn’t turned up with some other kids. Got the doors open and got us all out. All except one kid with asthma who died. Can’t remember his name. We decided to leave the school after that and head for the countryside. Seemed like a plan of sorts. When we set off, we were in quite a good mood, to be honest. It felt better, doing something and not just hiding, not just waiting for the food to run out or the grown-ups to come for us.