Max and the Millions

by Ross Montgomery

King Luke sat on his throne, gazing over the sea of Red, Blue and Green. The entire Floor was camped in the desert ahead of him—millions of them. It was beautiful…and it was all because of him.

  “Your Majesty?”

  Malcolm stood beside him on the wooden platform, back in his rightful place as king’s advisor, and thankfully wearing clothes.

  “The girl wishes to talk to you.”

  “Girl?”

  “The angry one, Your Highness.”

  Luke nodded. “Ah, Ivy! Send her up.”

  There weren’t many people who were allowed onto King Luke’s special platform—he had insisted it be that way since everyone had started bothering him with questions for the Great One. When will my children get married, should I invest in a new house, do trousers suit me better than shorts…they just kept coming. At first Luke had refused to accept any questions, but when people started offering him gifts to do so, he was hardly going to object, was he?

  Ivy stormed up the steps, shoving Malcolm out of the way.

  “What the hell are you doing?” she demanded.

  Luke was surprised. “What do you mean?”

  Ivy held out her arms.

  “The special platform you made people build for you? The gifts? The throne? Making Miss Binkles an advisor?”

  She pointed at Miss Binkles, who was curled up on a plush gold cushion beside the throne and wearing a small crown.

  “Ivy, be reasonable!” said Luke. “People need someone in charge until the Great One comes back. The Red Queen’s gathering the rest of the Floor and the Bin King ran away, so that leaves me. And I’m the one who reunited the tribes, aren’t I?”

  Ivy laughed bitterly. “Do they look reunited to you, Luke?”

  She pointed to the sea of tents stretching out ahead of them. It was true—when people had first started gathering in preparation for the Great One’s return, all the tribes had mixed together. But slowly, as more and more people arrived from across the Floor, they’d started forming separate camps. You could see the boundaries between them now—three huge expanses of Red, Green and Blue.

  “People still don’t trust each other!” said Ivy. “Fights are breaking out along the camp borders, and you’re doing nothing to stop them!”

  Luke rolled his eyes.

  “People need time to become comfortable with each other, Ivy. One hour ago, you’d never have seen a Blue and a Green camped within even an inch of each other! That’s progress.”

  He sat back down on his throne.

  “Besides, I’ve already organized a police force to stop the fights at the borders—”

  “You did,” said Ivy angrily. “And they’re all Blues.”

  Luke blinked. “Well, of course. I can trust them.”

  Ivy was shocked.

  “Luke, what’s happened to you? You told me you wanted a world without rulers. Now it’s like you’ve forgotten what your quest was! You’ve turned into—”

  “The Bin King, Your Majesty.”

  Luke and Ivy spun round. Malcolm was pointing behind them.

  “He has returned.”

  A squadron of warflies droned through the air toward them, trembling the tents with the flapping of their wings. Luke could see the Bin King at the front, sheepishly waving a white flag. His warfly lowered to the platform, and he stepped off, along with a handful of fly riders. Miss Binkles growled at him.

  “So!” said Luke. “You’ve finally come crawling back. What do you want, Bin King?”

  The Bin King looked mortified. “Er…can we do this somewhere private, please?”

  Luke shook his head. “Anything you have to say, you can say in front of the Floor.”

  By now thousands of people had stepped out of their tents to watch. Reds, Greens and Blues alike were staring at the Bin King with hate. He gulped.

  “I wanted to…apologize, King Luke. For everything I’ve done.”

  Luke raised an eyebrow. “Like trying to kill me? Twice?”

  “Er…yeah, like that,” said the Bin King.

  Luke said nothing. The crowds waited. You could have heard a pin drop. The Bin King cleared his throat nervously.

  “We—that is, my fly riders and I—would like to join you. We’d like to come to paradise, please.”

  Luke raised an eyebrow. “Ask nicely.”

  The Bin King bowed. “Your Majesty, may we—”

  “No, on your knees,” said Luke. “I want to see you grovel.”

  Ivy was horrified. “Luke!”

  The Bin King glared at him with fury. He got slowly to his knees, like it pained him, and spoke through gritted teeth.

  “Please, Your Majesty. Please let us come with you.”

  Luke smiled.

  “No.”

  The crowd gasped. The Bin King turned white. Luke drew himself up to his full height.

  “There’s no place for tyrants like you in paradise!” He pointed across the desert. “You and your fly riders are banished—forever! You wanted the whole Floor for yourself…well, now you can have it!”

  The Bin King leapt to his feet. “You can’t do that! I—”

  But the crowds were already shouting him down—Reds, Greens and Blues, together as one.

  “See?” said Luke. “Not even your own people want you, Bin King! Leave and never come back!”

  The Bin King gave Luke a look of black loathing, then climbed back onto the warfly and flew off while the crowds booed him. Ivy watched, shaking her head in disbelief.

  “Luke, the Great One told you to gather everyone together! You can’t turn people away!”

  Luke snorted. “The Bin King’s a monster, not a person. He’s the one who let your parents die!”

  “And what about his fly riders?” said Ivy.

  Luke was suddenly angry. “I’m trying to be a king, Ivy! That means making tough decisions sometimes!”

  Ivy didn’t answer him. She just stood gazing at him with a terrible sadness in her eyes.

  “Oh, Luke.”

  The world turned black.

  The Bedroom Door was opening. A shadow was passing across the Floor, covering them all in darkness. Luke turned from Ivy and waved to the crowds.

  “The Great One has returned!”

  A huge cheer went up from the Floor. Millions raced out of their tents to see the Great One for themselves. Adults waved flags, and children jumped up and down in excitement.

  “Welcome back, Great One!” Luke cried. “We’re ready to go!”

  But the Great One said nothing. He just stood there. Whole seconds passed in silence. Luke shuffled his feet nervously and tried again.

  “Tell us, Great One, what do we…”

  The Great One lifted a foot and slowly stepped forward. Luke sighed with relief—for a moment, it had looked a little embarrassing.

  “He’s coming—get ready, everyone! And don’t be afraid: the Great One may look frightening, but—”

  “Luke,” said Ivy, “he looks different.”

  Ivy was right. The Great One was somehow taller now, and broader. The shadow he cast was longer. It was impossible to make out his face. Miss Binkles whined and hid under her cushion. Ivy stepped back.

  “What’s that in his hand?”

  The Great One was holding something that looked like a long black sword, pointed down toward them.

  “It…must be what he’s going to take us to paradise in,” said Luke uncertainly.

  The Great One’s feet came booming to a stop in front of them—so close it almost crushed some of the tents. The crowds jumped back in surprise. Even the feet were different—these weren’t white trainers. They were black leather shoes instead.

  The Great One held the black sword over the floor. Luke could see that it was a long tube, and inside was pure darkness
. It hovered above their heads like a dying sun.

  And suddenly Luke realized why the Great One looked so different.

  “It’s not the Great One! It’s De—”

  The world split in two.

  Luke clutched his head in agony. The tube was making a noise like a thousand chain saws grinding against each other. He had thought that the Great One’s voice was the loudest thing he had ever heard, but this was so much worse. It was like the sound was eating the desert. It was like the end of the world.

  Luke spun round in terror. A whirlwind was forming on the sand around them, whipping the tents into a frenzy and scattering them like confetti. The black hole was dragging everything up from the ground, sucking it toward the darkness inside….

  “Everyone, run for your lives!”

  But there was nowhere to run—the entire desert was being swallowed up. People were fleeing, trying to escape, but the force of the hurricane was too great. Luke watched in horror as his loyal subjects were picked off the ground in the hundreds and sucked into the black hole above them, screaming and spinning in terror. He grabbed Ivy and Miss Binkles.

  “We have to get out of here, now! Or—”

  Suddenly all the breath was drawn out of Luke’s body, and the wooden platform cracked and split beneath them. He was trapped in the hurricane just like everyone else, tumbling up and up. Ivy disappeared from his grip, and Luke was alone, spinning closer and closer toward the darkness….

  Luke looked up at Demon’s face just before he was swallowed completely. Demon was smiling. But it wasn’t the smile of a boy—it was the grimace of a man.

  And then there was nothing.

  “There!”

  Max surveyed the potting shed. It was finally finished—all the surfaces had been cleared and then filled with rows of carefully connected seedling trays. It wasn’t exactly paradise, but it would do for now.

  “You know what, Max?” said Sasha. “This is actually pretty nice!”

  Max nodded. “And finished just in time. Come on!”

  They each grabbed a tray and set off through the bushes.

  “Mr. Pitt will be heading back to school,” said Max breathlessly. “All we have to do is grab the floor people and—”

  Max stopped. He hadn’t noticed the school earlier when he was running from Mr. Darrow’s room. But now he could see that the trees were covered in toilet paper. There was paint everywhere. The playing fields looked much more glittery than Max remembered.

  “Max, what’s going on?” Sasha was panicking.

  “I—I don’t know!” Max said. “Unless—”

  “Joy!”

  She was leaning weakly against a tree in front of the boardinghouse, her mouth still stained green and oozing jelly beans. Sasha grabbed her.

  “Joy, are you OK? What happened?”

  She groaned. “We got into your dorm…the candy…Then I don’t remember anything….”

  Max looked over the devastation. Suddenly it all became clear.

  “Quick! We have to get upstairs, before Mr. Pitt gets back and—”

  “Too late,” Joy murmured. “He went looking for you on the staff corridor. He just came back downstairs with a full trash bag and—”

  Max’s whole body flooded with horror.

  “NO!”

  He dropped the tray and ran into the boardinghouse as fast as he could, flying up the stairs and into the staff corridor….

  He was too late. Mr. Darrow’s door was wide open.

  The bedroom was empty.

  There wasn’t a speck of sand on the floor. Every single model had been swept from the shelves. The bin, the pile of clothes, the castle, the microscope goggles…It was all gone. The only thing left was a vacuum cleaner, its long black nozzle pointing at the doorway like a sword.

  Max felt a tap on his shoulder. It was the foreman.

  “Oh, it’s you!” said the foreman. “Er…you haven’t seen Damon, have you?”

  Max’s blood froze.

  “Damon?”

  “I suppose you boys call him Mr. Pitt.”

  “Right here, Foreman.”

  Mr. Pitt emerged from the staircase, his eyes gleaming with triumph.

  “Damon!” said the foreman. “Where have you been? The school’s a complete disaster—there’s no way it’ll be ready in time for the governors! You have to call them and explain what happened, or—”

  Mr. Pitt shook his head. “No, Foreman. The governors are expecting a finished school, and they’re going to get one. Get your team and start cleaning.”

  The foreman gawped. “But we’ll never—”

  “Just do it,” said Mr. Pitt, waving him quiet. “I’m afraid Max and I have some talking to do.” He smiled. “Don’t we, Max?”

  Max wasn’t looking at the headmaster anymore. He was gazing at the empty bedroom, his eyes filling with tears. On the bed lay the whiteboard, still scrawled with the final message.

  MA THE GREAT ONE

  “Oh, Luke,” he whispered. “What have I done?”

  “Help! Help!”

  The world lay scattered, and all was in darkness.

  “Where are we?”

  “Save us, Great One!”

  Luke had never known darkness like this before. It was like drowning in a sea of black. It made no difference whether your eyes were open or closed, or whether you were up or down.

  The only thing that proved you were alive was the screaming.

  “Help! Somebody help us, please!”

  Luke groped in the darkness. He was lying on the ground—he could feel sand beneath him. On every side, people were running and pushing and stumbling.

  “Where are you, Great One?”

  “Help us, Great One, please!”

  “He’s not listening.”

  The screams died, one by one. There was another noise cutting above them—a buzz that filled the darkness.

  “Don’t you get it?” said the voice. “The Great One was never coming! It was a trick, and you all fell for it!”

  The buzz grew louder, closer.

  “Funny, isn’t it? You think it’s all over…but it’s only the beginning.”

  Lights were beginning to appear overhead. They were inside a vast black dome, the roof towering high above. They were surrounded by the shattered remnants of their world: cities and streets and houses, a million lives heaped into junkyard piles. The entire Floor stood huddled in fear in the center of the sand.

  “Do you know what this place is?” said the voice. “It’s called a ‘Trash Bag.’ You Reds and Blues may find it hard to see, but not us Greens. We’ve lived in darkness all our lives. You know, for a while I was even ashamed of it! Ha!”

  The air was filled with warflies. The fly riders were holding torches, but instead of fire at the end, the torches glowed with a sickly green murk that illuminated the ground.

  “But now I understand. It made us strong. It was preparing us…for this.”

  Ahead of them stood an enormous whale, its mouth stretched open like it was about to swallow them whole. Standing on its tongue was the Bin King.

  “Let’s pick up where we left off, shall we?”

  The warflies came crashing onto the sand, and everyone screamed. People tried to run away, but it was no use—the soldiers were the only ones who still had weapons. The Bin King stepped forward, his mad eyes glinting.

  “The age of the Green Floor has begun! From now on, the Reds and Blues are our slaves! Anyone who dares to disagree will be executed—and that goes for the Greens, too!”

  The warflies began separating everyone into different colors, pushing and shoving and tearing groups apart. It was chaos—every time someone tried to fight back, they were shoved to the ground, or the fly riders picked them out with their whips—

 
; “Stop!”

  Luke fought to the front of the crowd.

  “You can’t do this, Bin King! The people won’t let you win so easily!”

  The Bin King watched him with mild amusement, then turned to the crowd.

  “Behold: King Luke of the Blues! Who do you think was working with Demon all along to trick us?” He pointed at Luke. “The darkness, the fear, the misery—this is all his fault!”

  Luke shook his head. “They won’t believe you anymore, Bin King—they know what you are!”

  The Bin King laughed.

  “Oh, poor, poor Luke. You really don’t get it, do you?”

  Luke cried out. Hands were grabbing him from every side.

  “It doesn’t matter if they believe me. The old world is gone. I’m in charge now.”

  The crowd stood and watched in silence as Luke was carried away by guards. The Bin King was right—no one was fighting back.

  “And whoever rules in the darkness rules everything.”

  Luke struggled hopelessly. “No, please! You have to stop him!”

  But it was no use. No one helped—no one moved. They just stood and watched. In the darkness, you couldn’t tell who had red hair, or green hair, or blue hair. You couldn’t tell which tribe was which anymore.

  Everyone was equal. All you could see was fear.

  “Recognize this?”

  Mr. Pitt placed the tiny model castle on the desk in front of Max and Sasha. They were in his brand-new office, which had big panes of glass overlooking the school grounds. You could see the builders outside, scrubbing puddles of PVA glue off the grass.

  “I found it on Mr. Darrow’s desk. Know what it says on the bottom?” He held up the castle. “ ‘Mr. Darrow, I understand, Max.’ Shall I read it again?”

  Max stared back at him—he didn’t even blink. Mr. Pitt put the castle back down.

  “Oh, Max…where do I start? Breaking into a staff room, filling it with sand—that’s two reasons for expulsion right there! And that’s before I get to all the damage those girls caused to the school under your supervision….”

  Sasha stood up. “Sir, that was as much my fault as it was Max’s and—”

  “Sit down, Sasha!” Mr. Pitt barked.