Austin nodded, and Kelly opened the side door and got out. Ronnie and Linda joined her, and they walked up to the man hammering nails.

“Hi there,” said Ronnie.

The man turned, frowned at them. “Who are you?”

“We’re friends of, uh, of your son,” said Linda. “He in?”

The man kept frowning. “You really shouldn’t be here. Today’s the day of the festival. You … you can’t be here. We have a curfew in place.”

“We’re actually just leaving,” Kelly said, smiling broadly. “We’re all packed up and ready to go, and we figured we’d stop by to see your son on our way out. We’re not gonna be long, I swear. Two minutes.”

“If he isn’t here, we can wait,” Ronnie said happily.

“No, no, he’s here,” said the man. “Go on there and knock. My wife’ll take you to him.”

“Thank you,” said Linda, and she led the way to the front door and rapped her knuckles against it. A few moments later, a woman answered, her eyes widening in alarm when she saw them.

“They’re here to see Kevin,” the man called. “Let them in. They’ll be two minutes, they said.”

“You really can’t be here,” the woman said.

“That’s what I told them. They’re on their way out of town.”

“But … but the curfew—”

“Let them talk to the boy!” her husband shouted.

“Fine, okay,” the woman said, flustered. “In, in, in you come.” She stepped back and they walked into a house that smelled of freshly baked cookies. “Third door on the left, there. Better hurry.”

She hurried off, and Ronnie turned the handle of Party-Monster’s door and pushed it open. “Hi, Kevin,” he said.

The Party-Monster, wearing only a pair of boxers, leaped out of bed, dropping a video-game controller on to a floor that was littered with dirty clothes and food-encrusted plates.

Kelly was the last one into his room, and as she closed the door she put one hand over her nose and mouth. “Oh my God, it stinks in here.”

“Jesus,” said Ronnie.

“Is there a dead raccoon under the bed?” Linda asked, appalled. “I want to breathe through my mouth, but I don’t want to swallow the smell.”

“This is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever experienced,” Kelly said. “And I was once thrown into a tub of bile.”

“You hear that, Kevin?” said Ronnie. “Your room is worse than a tub of bile.”

The Party-Monster just stared at them. He had a relatively hairless chest, with only a few curious wisps around his strangely large nipples. “What are you doing here?”

“We won’t be long,” Ronnie said. “We’re after the code to the bunker. The nuclear bunker? We were told you know it.” He looked around. “Have you ever cleaned this room?”

“Who let you in?” asked the Party-Monster.