‘They must be working on jobs we don’t know about yet. And both Karim’s mum and my mum have tried to fool us into doing what they want,’ I say. ‘There’s a level of cunning there that makes them much more dangerous.’

‘So you think they’re basically all hunters?’ Karim says.

‘Or something between workers and hunters. They’re definitely nastier than workers.’

‘Great,’ Karim sighs.

‘There’s something that’s bothering me,’ I say. ‘And I feel like it’s key to whatever’s going on here. Remember all those weirdos staring at us when we were walking through town?’

Karim and Kat nod.

‘And it was interesting how someone came into the tunnel as soon as your mum was awake and 110 knew someone was outside her door, Karim. I don’t think it was a coincidence.’ And, as I’m saying it, I get more and more sure. ‘I think they are communicating somehow.’

‘But there are no phones or internet,’ Karim says. ‘So how?’

‘I reckon they have some kind of link – I’m not Ade so I don’t know how it would work exactly – but I’m sure they know what each other is seeing and thinking.’

‘Ooh, like a hive mind?’ Kat’s eyes widen. ‘That’s gonna make things tricky.’

‘So tricky,’ I say. ‘What one of them knows, all of them know.’

‘So if one of them spots us, they all know where we are?’ Karim says.

‘I reckon so,’ I say.

We all sit in silence for a moment and I’m sure that, like me, Kat and Karim are trying to get their heads around how impossible our situation seems. I wish Chets, Mak and Ade were with us, but I don’t know if they’ve been spored or if they’d help us even if they are still human. Things went so bad with Ade and Mak.

‘Lance?’ Karim says. ‘What do we do?’

111 ‘We face this one challenge at a time,’ I say, getting my focus back where it needs to be. ‘So we get away from here without being seen, and we try to find out how the spores got into Straybridge. We can’t get rid of them if we don’t know where they’re coming from.’

‘But where do we start?’ Kat says.

‘There’s definitely not a meteor hole, right?’ Karim is starting to look a bit better, now that he’s eaten, but I know he needs a proper rest.

‘I’m not sure,’ I say, and it’s frustrating as hell because I wish I could come up with all the answers. ‘But we need to regroup – we can’t fight and win if we can barely move.’

‘So your plan is to get some sleep? Isn’t that the exact opposite of a good thing to do in this situation?’ Karim says. ‘Won’t we turn into those things?’