The Dead (49 page)

His Liam.

That was it. Get home to see Liam.

He turned and walked on.

The first lifeboat bumped into the pier and the kids gave a cheer. They’d been beginning to wonder if they’d ever be able to make it to the north bank, or whether they were going to be swept all the way down to the estuary and out to sea. They’d managed to lash the boats together, which gave them greater stability and protection, but steering the giant raft had proved difficult. There were powerful eddies and currents in the Thames, and the raft had a tendency to spin. The force of the water seemed to grow stronger and stronger, and no matter how hard they tried to aim towards the edge they kept being pulled back into the centre where the flow was strongest. After bumping against Hungerford Bridge they passed under seven more bridges, and each time it caused a mad panic among the kids. The water bunched up and foamed between the pilings and they nearly lost two of the boats in a collision. But as they cleared London Bridge they hit a clear straight stretch of river and finally managed to get some sort of control over the raft. Centimetre by centimetre, metre by metre, they made their way closer to the side. Then they’d seen a modern steel pier sticking out into the river and it had given them something to aim for.

They clawed at the water, sticking their bodies half over the sides and kicking, scrabbling with the few oars they had. At last they’d stopped.

They were on a wide, open reach of the Thames. On the far side was the great hulk of the battleship HMS
Belfast
, which had been run as a tourist attraction. Ahead were the twin gothic towers of Tower Bridge. On this side of the river were the high walls and turrets of the Tower of London.

Ed planted his feet firmly on the steel decking of the pier and hugged Courtney. The two of them were cold and wet and exhausted. They clung to each other laughing and crying at the same time.

The fire hadn’t spread this far downriver so it was quite dark. Though the sky to the west was lit by an angry red glow. Ed broke away from Courtney, wiped his face and looked up at the ramparts of the Tower, silhouetted against the sky.

‘It was Wiki, wasn’t it?’ he said. ‘Or was it Jibber-jabber? One of them, anyway, said we should come here.’

‘I don’t know,’ said Courtney. ‘Where are we?’

‘Don’t you recognize it? It’s the Tower of London.’

‘It looks like a castle.’

‘That’s because it
is
a castle.’ Ed laughed. ‘The oldest bit was built by William the Conqueror, I think.’

‘Who’s he?’

‘It doesn’t matter.’ Ed shook his head. ‘All that matters is that we’ve washed up in just about the safest spot we could. This is the perfect place to hide out. No sickos could get to us in there.’

Jordan Hordern was already organizing the kids, shouting at them to form into groups.

‘We need to know who’s made it and who we’ve lost,’ he barked.

Ed checked his crew. It didn’t take long. He and Courtney were the only two left. Jordan had lost five of his boys, either in the fight or when the boat had sunk. Of the third group, the kids who’d joined the fight at the roundabout, nobody really knew how many there had been to start with. Some kids talked of losing friends, but again it had all been so confusing – for all they knew their friends could have crossed Lambeth Bridge safely. Though one or two were certain their friends had disappeared in the water. Ed remembered that pale face sinking past him when he’d gone under.

He tried to shut the image out of his mind.

‘We need to get inside the Tower,’ said Jordan, who had evidently come to the same conclusion as Ed. ‘In the morning we can find food and water, but for now we need somewhere to get warm and dry and safe. We have to assume, though, that there’s already people inside. So be ready for a fight.’ He took off his glasses and wiped them clean. ‘If you all work together and do what I say, you’ll be all right. But just remember – I’m in charge. OK? DogNut here is my second in command directly responsible for my boys. That’s Ed over there. The one with the scar. He’s in charge of everyone else. You do what he says, he does what I say.’

‘Who says he’s in charge of us?’ said a short kid with thick arms and a fat neck.

‘I do.’

‘And who says you’re in charge?’

Jordan walked over to the short kid. He didn’t stare at him directly, but stood right next to him and looked out across the river at HMS
Belfast
. Somehow it was more intimidating than if he’d gone eyeball to eyeball with him.

‘Don’t argue with me,’ he said quietly.

‘Listen –’ said the kid, but Jordan cut him off.

‘So you want to be in charge, do you?’

‘Maybe?’

The short kid looked around for support. Nobody seemed keen to back him up.

‘Do you not think I’d better be in charge?’ asked Jordan. His voice low and steady.

‘Yeah, all right,’ said the short kid, and Jordan walked away.

‘I like him. I like his style,’ said Kyle quietly as he came over to stand next to Ed, still holding his fire axe. Then he raised his voice and addressed everyone else. ‘I ain’t got no problems with Ed,’ he said, and gave a big smile. ‘He knows what he’s doing. I saw him fight. This man is a
maniac
! Now, let’s get shifted. I’m freezing my bollocks off here.’

The castle was ringed by two walls: a plain outer wall, and a higher inner wall studded with round towers. The main entrance was via a large turreted gatehouse that was connected to the castle by a narrow walkway over the wide, dry moat.

The gates in the gatehouse were too big and solid to force but there were drainpipes up the outer wall of the castle and DogNut and Kyle volunteered to see if they could climb them. Jordan gave them the go-ahead and they vaulted the railings by the edge of the moat and then sprinted across the grass to the other side.

They stopped at the bottom of the wall and looked up.

‘What d’you reckon?’ DogNut asked.

‘No problem,’ said Kyle. ‘Used to break into houses all the time when I was younger. Race you!’

It proved to be quite easy. The two of them scrambled up the drainpipes and were over the top of the wall in less than a minute. It was another easy climb down the other side where they found the main castle gates unguarded and only secured with a metal bar.

They lifted the bar and five minutes later the kids were tramping into the Tower. Some of them had visited recently with their schools and they showed the party round to where there was another gateway through to the inner courtyard. There was a big open space here. Around the edges were various ancient castle towers and a mismatched jumble of redbrick, Tudor and Victorian houses. The oldest part, the White Tower, a tall square building with a turret at each corner, stood in the centre of the grounds on a low mound.

The kids assembled in an area to one side that felt like a village green with a chapel at one end and timber-framed houses at the other.

‘Looks like there’s no one about,’ said DogNut.

‘Let’s find out,’ said Kyle, and before anyone could stop him he started shouting. ‘Oi! Wakey, wakey! Anyone at home?’

Jordan hurried over to shut him up.

‘What are you doing?’ he said. ‘If there is anyone here, we don’t want to wake them up. We’ll lose the element of surprise.’

‘Why, what was you gonna do?’ asked Kyle with a mad grin. ‘Slaughter them in their beds? Cut their throats while they sleep?’

‘Makes no difference now,’ said Jordan. ‘Here they come.’

Figures were emerging from one of the houses. Ed had lost his rifle, but he still had his pistol in its holster. He was just about to slip it loose when he saw that they were only other kids, three unarmed boys and a girl, wrapped in coats, looking cold, sleepy and confused.

‘Who are you?’ said one of the boys with a yawn. He looked like he hadn’t eaten in days. He was tall and thin with sunken cheeks and a bad cough. ‘How’d you get in?’

‘Who’s in charge here?’ asked Jordan.

‘No one really.’ The boy shrugged.

‘What about Tomoki?’ said the girl.

‘Yeah, Tomoki, I suppose.’

‘Go and get him.’

‘What?’

‘Go and get this Tomoki,’ said Jordan. ‘I want to talk to him.’

‘He’ll be asleep.’

‘Then wake him up.’

‘I’ll go,’ said a younger boy, and he trotted off towards the timber-framed building.

The two groups stood there staring at each other. Ed was shivering and just wanted to go inside and get warm. But Jordan wasn’t moving.

‘How many of you are there living here?’ he asked the boy with the cough.

‘Dunno,’ he replied. ‘Maybe thirty?’

‘OK,’ was all that Jordan said.

In a minute the small boy returned with an older boy who had long straight black hair and oriental features.

‘What’s going on?’ he said sleepily as he approached. ‘Who are you?’

‘I am Jordan Hordern. Are you Tomoki?’

‘Yeah.’ Tomoki stopped and squared up to Jordan.

‘And you’re in charge in here?’

‘I suppose so.’

‘No one seems very sure of it.’

‘All right, yes,’ said Tomoki. ‘I
am
in charge here.’

‘Not any more, you’re not,’ said Jordan.

‘What?’

‘From now on I’m in charge.’

Tomoki laughed. ‘You can’t just walk in here, and –’

‘That’s just the point, though, isn’t it?’ said Jordan.

‘What do you mean?’

‘We did just walk in here.’ Jordan stepped towards Tomoki with such an air of quiet menace that Tomoki fell silent and backed away. He was shorter than Jordan and much less confident.

More kids were emerging from the buildings, curious and sleep-addled. Some were armed, but they held back. They didn’t look like they had the stomach for a fight.

‘You’ve got the best site in London,’ said Jordan, looking at the White Tower rather than at Tomoki. ‘The perfect place to live. A castle. Easy to defend. Full of weapons. And what are you doing? There’s no guards posted. The gates weren’t even locked. All we had to do was climb a couple of drainpipes and we were in.’

‘Yeah, well, mothers and fathers can’t climb drainpipes, can they?’ Tomoki protested.

Jordan pressed on.

‘You don’t deserve to be in charge here,’ he said. ‘And if you don’t care about running this place properly, then you shouldn’t be worried that I’m taking over.’

Tomoki gave a dismissive shrug and a grunt. He’d been half asleep when he came out, with no idea what was going on. Now he was pulling himself together.

‘We outnumber you,’ he said evenly. ‘So let’s not get into an argument, OK? Now, I don’t mind you staying here – we need all the help we can get, quite frankly. It hasn’t been easy for us. But you can’t expect to walk in here and take over just like that.’

‘I agree,’ said Jordan. ‘Let’s not get into an argument. I don’t like arguments.’

‘Good.’

‘So I’ll fight you for it.’

‘You want to fight me?’ Tomoki sounded incredulous.

‘Yes.’

‘That’s not the way things are decided.’

‘It is now,’ said Jordan. ‘The world’s changed. So, come on.’

‘No,’ said Tomoki, and he backed away as Jordan advanced on him.

‘Fight me,’ said Jordan.

He kept on coming and Tomoki was stumbling backwards. In the end he put up a hand to Jordan’s chest to try to stop him.

Jordan clipped him. The movement was fast and casual at the same time. Tomoki’s head jerked to the side and he crumpled to his knees.

Jordan stood over him for a moment then helped him to his feet. Tomoki wobbled on shaking legs, stunned and groggy.

‘Nothing personal,’ Jordan said quietly, and then he turned to face the ring of kids who had come out to see what was going on.

‘If the rest of you want to fight us, that’s fine. But you will lose. We’ve battled our way across town to get here – you will not be able to beat us. Tomoki can keep his position here, as your representative, but from now on we all work together and you all do what I say. If anyone doesn’t agree with me, come over here and I will talk to you.’

Nobody moved.

Ed felt an uncomfortable mixture of embarrassment and pride. He didn’t like Jordan’s cold bullying tactics, but he couldn’t deny that he was probably the best man for the job, and when it came down to it, Ed, like everyone else, just wanted to get this over with quickly so that he could go and lie down somewhere and fall asleep.

‘Good,’ said Jordan. ‘Then it’s decided.’

Ed sighed and closed his eyes.

Safe at last.