Chapters (88)
- Cover
- Title Page
- Dear Reader …
- Also by Robert Muchamore
- PART ONE
- Walter J Freeman Adolescent Mental Health Unit – East Grinstead, UK
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- PART TWO
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- PART THREE
- Walter J. Freeman Adolescent Mental Health Unit – East Grinstead, UK
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- PART FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- EPILOGUE
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- Have you read KILLER T?
- 1 SLASHED RUBBER
- 2 NOT HARRY POTTER
‘She’s an old friend,’ Maya said, getting impatient as she saw the double-decker turn in at the end of the street.
‘Clint’s having a party,’ Rolf said, backing up, then stepping in front of Maya again. ‘Come on, baby.’
‘Get out of my way.’
Anger flashed over Rolf’s face. He grabbed Maya’s arm and yanked it powerfully enough to make her head snap around.
‘Hey,’ Georgia shouted. ‘No!’
‘You were all over me in the cinema, and now you act like I’m shit,’ Rolf growled.
‘Your breath stinks,’ Maya said, wafting a hand. ‘I’m too young to work. I’m one of five kids. Your jumbo popcorn and VIP seat was my lunch money for next week.’
‘Let go of her arm,’ Georgia said firmly.
Maya tried to break loose, but Rolf dug a thumb into her bicep, making her face twist in pain.
‘Say you’ll come to the party,’ Rolf snarled. ‘What you gonna do? Sit in your room at ten o’clock?’
‘Let her go,’ Georgia growled.
Rolf cracked a confident smile. ‘Or what, geek?’
Georgia shoved herself between Maya and Rolf to separate them, then surprised Rolf with a palm-under-the-chin move she’d learned when a self-defence instructor came into PE class. Rolf hadn’t expected Georgia to act forcefully, and Maya laughed as he stumbled drunkenly and wound up on his bum.
‘We can make it,’ Maya said, eyeing the last passengers boarding the bus, while Rolf stayed down, grasping his back.
Georgia ran full pelt, but Maya was in heels. Georgia leapt aboard behind the last person in the queue, then enraged the driver by blocking the door.
‘My friend’s coming,’ Georgia gasped.
‘I’ve got a timetable,’ the driver shouted. ‘In or out.’
Georgia held her nerve until Maya charged aboard. They blipped their under-sixteen passes and walked to empty seats at the back of the bus.
‘Had to grab these,’ Maya said breathlessly as she planted the chips Rolf had bought her into Georgia’s lap. Hot to touch and the paper opaque with grease. ‘I’m bloody starving.’
ELEVEN
Outside school, Duke spent most of his time alone in his uncle’s book-lined apartment. It was past midnight. Duke had the balcony doors open and a south breeze drew country air through the insect screens. The TV flickered in silence as bass rumbled from a party in an apartment two floors down.
For the past two hours, Duke had sat at a big draughtsman’s desk in the apartment’s living area, trying to sketch from memory. He’d taken a mid-afternoon walk to a nearby street market, and while sitting at a street counter eating chicken thighs and jollof rice, a small beggar girl had approached. Her eyes huge and beautiful, but her pencil-thin limbs scarred with eczema.