And she had been chosen to help it.
Are you sure? something inside her asked, a voice locked in the core of her mind. Are you really sure, Rilke? Because it doesn’t seem right.
But it was right. How could there be any other explanation? The human race had turned against her and Schiller, and the rest of them too. It had hunted them down the same way villagers hunt down a lion or a wolf that has been feeding on their livestock. People had turned on them because they were scared. And they should be, she thought, trying to work her frozen face into a smile. They should be terrified.
It had run its course, humankind. That much was clear. It had always been clear. Rilke despised church, and yet there had been a truth in the stories she heard while sitting on those cushionless pews. Warnings that humanity’s place here was not to be taken for granted, and stories of a terrible vengeance that could be wreaked upon those who did. It had happened before, and now it would happen again – a flood of fire and wind and blood that would wipe the world clean.
And had they learned? No. Every day war and famine and pestilence and disease; every day murder and greed and fear and stupidity. Worse things, too, things that had happened to her that she never, ever let herself think about. Yes, every day the human race became sicker, and this thing was the cure.
Antichrist, she thought. Yet this thing, this man in a storm that she had seen, was older than anything written in the Bible. It was as old as time. How can you know that? she asked, the tiny part of her that still doubted. But she did know it. Just as she understood that there was something in her too, something like this creature only different. There was one in each of them.
There were still so many questions, but Rilke had faith that answers would come in time. For now, she knew enough. Something had called on her and her brother to try and make the world right. Something had called upon them both to fight. They had all been chosen, even the idiots outside. If Cal and Brick and Daisy and the rest of them decided not to accept then they’d be punished just like the vermin who scurried through the streets in every single corner of this planet. Yes, everything was about to change, Rilke understood that better than she’d understood anything else in her life.
She was a soldier, now. And there was a war coming.
Daisy
Furyville, 3.02 p.m.
‘You okay?’
Daisy looked up, shaken from a weird sensation. Cal was looking at her, his face still flushed from their games. It had been so much fun. More fun than Daisy could remember having in ages. Even back at school people didn’t really play tag or hide and seek any more, they were considered baby games. But they’d spent ages running round the park chasing each other and hiding and laughing so much she’d thought her lungs were going to stop working.
Now she and Cal and Adam were sitting on the wooden walkway that led up to the log flume. It was absolutely baking, the sun even fiercer than the one time she’d been abroad, to Majorca. She couldn’t bear to go back inside, though, not after what had happened with Rilke. Even the shade made her feel scared. Out here in the sun there was only chasing and games and fun and laughter.
‘I’m okay,’ she said. ‘Just tired.’
‘You must be,’ Cal replied. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone run so fast for so long. You even managed to catch Brick, and his legs are like three metres long.’
Daisy giggled, her sides still protesting from the stitches they’d had earlier. Brick had gone off somewhere with Marcus and Jade, and Chris had staggered off to the toilet a while back saying that all the running around had ‘knocked something loose’. Daisy didn’t like to think about what he meant. She shifted on her uncomfortable seat, putting an arm round Adam’s shoulders.
‘Are you thirsty?’ she asked. He shook his head. Cal had brought out another saucepan full of tap water, cold this time, and they’d taken turns drinking from it. ‘Hungry? Would you like another Weetabix?’
Adam pulled a face. Daisy didn’t blame him. They tasted horrible without milk and loads of sugar. It was like eating a piece of wood. She’d had to force two down because she was starving, but it hadn’t done much to fill her up. Right now she’d give just about anything for a cheese and ham panini or one of those Margarita pizzas from Tesco’s that her dad always used to buy. She wished Rilke would stop being so cruel and let them have some of their supplies. There had been chocolate up there, and jelly sweets, and there was no way that Rilke could eat them all by herself.
Rilke. The funny feeling she’d just had was about her, but she couldn’t quite work out what it was. Being out in the sunshine seemed to have melted the ice cubes in her head, blurring them all into a big, squidgy mess that didn’t make sense. It was nice, she was tired of seeing the world through other people’s thoughts. She hoped they would never come back.
‘Earth to Daisy,’ said Cal, waving his hand. ‘Sure you’re okay?’
She nodded, but there was something else niggling at her, the thing that Marcus had said. Demons and possession. She didn’t really understand what possessed meant, only that you weren’t yourself. What had Marcus said, that it was something inside your body controlling you like you were a puppet? That was a pretty good explanation of what was going on, wasn’t it? She thought about Mrs Baird, the lovely old lady next door who’d always brought round pots of yummy marmalade and disgusting chutney. Why would she suddenly try to attack her unless something was making her do it? The same with the ambulance man and all the others. If there was a nasty ghost or whatever living in their bodies, making them do things, that would explain everything.
But how were they supposed to make themselves better?
‘Adam,’ she said. ‘Do you like flowers?’
The boy looked up at her, frowning. Daisy pointed to a little cluster of purple blooms that poked up from the sea grass.
‘I do, do you think you could pick me some?’
He nodded, then ran over to the patch. When he was out of earshot, Daisy turned to Cal.
‘How do you get rid of demons?’
‘Huh?’ he said. ‘You mean what Marcus said? Just ignore him, Dais, he was being silly.’
‘I’m not scared,’ she lied. ‘I just think, what if he was right?’
‘He’s not, demons aren’t real. People just made them up hundreds of years ago, thousands maybe, because they didn’t know how to explain all the bad stuff in the world. They thought people did horrible things because they were possessed.’
‘But maybe that is why people are doing horrible things,’ she said. ‘That would explain why everyone tried to kill us, because they’re possessed and we’re not.’
Cal took a deep breath, gazing out towards the silver strip of sea that hung over the back fence. Sunlight caught in his hair. He was very handsome, Daisy thought. He was the kind of boy who might be on a Disney Channel show.
‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I don’t know if we’ll ever know for sure.’ He looked back at her. ‘But please don’t worry, okay? We’re safe here. Demons or no demons, they can’t hurt you.’
‘I know,’ she said, another lie. Adam was running back with a handful of scraggly flowers. He dropped one, spilling most of the rest when he bent down to pick it up. Daisy got up to help, but by the time she’d reached him he’d recovered them all. He thrust out the blooms with a bashful grin and she took them, their sweet scent making her feel slightly woozy. ‘They’re so beautiful, Adam, thank you.’
He didn’t reply, just ran back to where he’d been picking them and lifted a stick from the dusty ground. He began to whack the sea grass like he was a swashbuckling pirate attacking a ship.
Boys will be boys, she thought. She picked one of the small buds and tucked it behind her ear the way her mum sometimes did when she was out in the garden, then she looked back at Cal.
‘We should put these in some water.’
‘No probs,’ he said, getting up and stretching. ‘Come on, there are jugs and things in the kitchen.’
T
hey wandered slowly back towards the pavilion, Adam following and taking wild swipes at everything he passed. When they reached the fire door, however, Daisy heard a scuffling coming from the back of the park.
‘What is that?’ she asked.
‘Wait here,’ said Cal. ‘I’ll go and check.’
He set off, but she didn’t wait, chasing after him as he disappeared round the corner of the pavilion. When she peeked she saw him standing outside one of the little buildings, the one that said ‘Danger: Do Not Enter’. The voices inside reverberated with an eerie metal twang.
‘I think that’s it. No, wait, that one.’
‘This one?’
‘Aw, hell, I don’t know, try it.’
‘Bugger off, you try it.’
Daisy pressed up against Cal, looking into the shed to see Marcus and Chris there. The walls were covered in weird boxes and wires and big yellow stickers that had skulls and crossbones on them.
‘What are they doing?’ she asked Cal.
‘I have no idea. Hey, guys, what are you doing?’
Chris turned and flashed them a grin from the dark.
‘Marcus here is an electrician, he reckons he can get the park up and running. We’ll have lights and air con, arcade games, maybe even a telly if we can find one.’
‘No,’ Marcus said. ‘One, I’m not an electrician, I’ve just started my apprenticeship in plumbing, and we cover a bit of electrics too, for bathrooms and stuff. Two, this place hasn’t had a feed in years, so there’s maybe a zero point one per cent chance that anything will work ever again.’
‘Like I said,’ Chris went on. ‘He’s going to fix it.’
Marcus sighed and turned back to whatever he was doing.
‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’ Cal asked. ‘If it does work, and we start using electricity, won’t people notice?’
But neither of the boys was listening; they were fighting over something that Chris was holding, which didn’t seem like a great idea, given all the warning stickers.
‘Come on,’ said Cal. ‘Let’s leave them to blow themselves up.’
They walked back the way they’d come, crawling in through the fire doors. Almost as soon as the cold darkness of the corridor gripped her Daisy felt the ice cubes start to return, clinking their way back to the surface of her brain. She tried to push them down again but they kept slipping loose and rising. She followed Cal into the kitchen, telling herself not to look at the dead man. He wasn’t there, and at first she thought that maybe he’d got up and walked off. Then she saw the tracks, oil-black in the gloom, which led off towards the basement. Somebody finally must have moved him.
‘Here you go,’ said Cal, picking a cracked, filthy tumbler from one of the shelves and filling it from the tap. ‘This should do it.’
He handed it to her, and she placed the flowers inside. They were wilting already, as if the darkness of the building had weight. She could feel it too, like a pressure pushing her down, squashing her.
‘Can we go back outside?’ she asked. Cal nodded, and she could see by his expression that he was scared in here. Scared of the dark, scared of Rilke. They retreated up the corridor, stopping only when they heard Brick behind them, slamming through the door from the foyer.
‘She still isn’t letting us in,’ he said. ‘I swear I’m going to light this whole place on fire and smoke her out.’
‘Calm down, Brick,’ said Cal as they waited for him to catch up. ‘We’ll think of something else.’
‘See if she’s so smug when she’s burning,’ he said. ‘Her and her brother. See if she’s so smug when she has to watch him die.’
Daisy squeezed under the chains, holding them up so that Cal and then Brick could follow. Out in the sun the bigger boy seemed to lose some of his anger, but his fists were still clenched so hard that Daisy could see where his long nails dug into the flesh of his palms. It was so sad, because just an hour ago he’d been running around with the rest of them, his laugh a high-pitched giggle that had made him seem like an entirely different person.
‘She wouldn’t even answer me,’ he said. ‘After everything, after what she did, she wouldn’t even answer me.’
‘Come on,’ said Cal, putting a hand on the other boy’s shoulder. ‘Let’s go and find the others. I think we need to make a plan.’
Cal
Furyville, 3.42 p.m.
‘We have to deal with the food situation first,’ said Cal. ‘We can’t do anything if we’re starving to death.’
They were back at the carousel, although nobody was sitting on the horses. Daisy and Adam were walking between Angie, Geoffrey and Wonky-Butt the Wonder Horse with piles of dog biscuits cupped in their hands. The rest of them – apart from Marcus, who was still messing around at the back of the park – were perched on the rusted metal steps, enjoying the shade of the half-disintegrated canopy. The air smelled of sea salt and sweat.
‘Amen to that,’ said Chris. ‘I’m gonna waste away if we don’t get something soon.’
‘Yeah, somehow I don’t see that happening,’ spat Brick, nodding at the fold visible beneath Chris’s T-shirt.
‘It’s water retention,’ he replied, blushing. ‘No, actually it’s in my genes. Hang on, wait, it’s none of your bloody business.’
‘Seriously, guys,’ said Cal, feeling an uncomfortable tickle of impatience in the vast emptiness of his stomach. The Weetabix he’d eaten had done nothing to fill him up and the prospect of going all night without eating was making him nervous. ‘We need to think of something. Any ideas?’
‘Yeah, I think maybe not running around like crazy people using up all our energy might be sensible,’ said Jade. Her eyes were red again, like she’d been crying, but she managed a gentle smile.
‘Fair point,’ said Cal.
‘We need to find a way to get Rilke out of her rat hole,’ said Brick. ‘I’m serious, we could light a fire outside the restaurant. She’d have to come out.’
‘Look, forget about her,’ said Cal. ‘You really don’t want to make her angry. She’s still got the gun.’
‘And who brought the gun, genius?’
‘I’m not saying you can’t get back at her, Brick,’ Cal said. ‘But we need to think about food first or none of us are going to be able to do anything.’
Cal’s gut gurgled, loud enough for Daisy to turn and laugh.
She held out the dog biscuits. ‘Do you want to try these?’
It might come to that, he thought, saying: ‘No thanks, Dais, they might make me grow a tail.’
She laughed and went back to her game, Adam following her around the carousel like a shadow.
‘You leave any food in your car?’ Brick asked. Cal shook his head.
‘No, we brought it all. We’ve got to think of something else. You know the area, Brick, can you think of anywhere we might be able to get supplies?’
‘Well there’s an ocean right there,’ he said. ‘If anyone knows how to fish.’
Nobody responded, which was answer enough. Even if they managed to catch anything, Cal wouldn’t have a clue how to take its scales off and pull its guts out or whatever you had to do to make sure they weren’t poisonous.
‘And Hemsby’s about a mile off. Plenty of chip shops, probably won’t be more than, I don’t know, a couple of thousand people there at this time of year.’
A couple of thousand feral, screaming, punching, biting, stomping people. They wouldn’t last five seconds in a place like that. Cal sighed, kicking out at the steps hard enough to make the entire platform rattle.
‘Come on, guys, this is serious. If we can’t get food then we’re going to die here.’
‘We could always eat fatty,’ Brick said, looking at Chris. Cal had to stop himself leaping up the steps and thumping the guy square in the mouth. He waited for the anger to fizzle away before speaking.
‘Is there a supermarket or anything nearby? A shop we could break into after dark?’
‘There’s another garage about a m
ile inland,’ Brick mumbled, almost reluctantly. ‘But it’s open twenty-four hours. That’s where I nearly got it the first time. There’s a Sainsbo’s, too, but there are always people in there. They stack the shelves at night; my brother used to work at the one in Norwich, before he joined up.’
‘That it?’
‘That’s it. This isn’t London, Callum, this is the arse end of Norfolk, what did you expect?’
Cal shook his head. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected. It wasn’t like he’d ever been in this situation before. He tried to remember the ride up, with Daisy in the car. They had to have passed something.
‘Hang on,’ he said. ‘What about the factory, the one you can see from here?’
‘That place? They make fertiliser or something. You gonna eat that?’
‘They might have a café there,’ said Chris, shrugging.
‘Yeah, they’ll have a canteen, if it’s a big place,’ Jade added. ‘My old man worked in a car plant, took me for lunch there sometimes if I wasn’t at school. Chips and beans, still my favourite meal in the world.’
Someone else’s stomach rumbled.
‘But there’s no way we’re getting in,’ said Brick. ‘There’s a security guard, probably more than one.’
Cal swore, dropping his head into his hands.
‘I’m telling you,’ Brick went on. ‘We have to force Rilke to come outside then we can get our supplies back.’
‘What, a few bags of sour mix and crisps?’ Cal snapped back. ‘That will keep us going for a couple of months, yeah?’
‘I really think the factory could work,’ said Jade. ‘Think about it, if there’s, what, a couple of guys looking after the place at night then we could distract them while somebody goes in to look for food.’
‘Distract them?’ said Chris. ‘How do we do that?’
‘We just have to get close,’ said Cal. ‘Then we’ll trigger them. They’ll chase us.’
‘That does not sound like fun,’ said Chris.
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