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Back The Enemy Save as PDF
Chapters (69)
  1. Table of Contents
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. 11
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“Of course. Yeah. There are two types of leader in this world, Maxie. Wartime leaders and peacetime leaders. And they’re totally different. They need different skills. A wartime leader needs to show no weakness. A wartime leader’s got to show that one or two individuals don’t really matter. What matters is the survival of the group. What matters is winning by whatever means, yeah? It doesn’t matter how we do this, how we get to the palace, how we win this, just so long as we do. That’s all that matters.”

“What if I don’t want to be in charge?”

“Who’d be better at it than you?”

“You, maybe, Ollie. You’re smart enough. The kids listen to you. Arran listened to you.”

“Yeah,” said Ollie. “They listen to me, but they don’t look up to me. I ain’t a star. They look up to you.”

“Do they? What do they think of me? Really?” said Maxie.

“Make them think what you want them to think,” said Ollie. “You got what it takes. You’re the best person for the job.”

“But I don’t know if I am.”

“Listen,” said Ollie, leaning closer and lowering his voice, “Blue and Jester are getting a bit too close for my liking. They could cut you out. And if they cut you out, they cut all us Waitrose kids out. We’ll be second-class citizens. We need to stick up for ourselves. And I know you can do it, Maxie. Arran had faith in you. So I have faith in you.”

“All right.”

28

Listen up, everyone,” Maxie shouted. “We had a bad time of it last night, but it’s not going to happen again. Right? We’re going to push on. We’re going to get to the palace this morning. From here on in it’ll be safe. Okay?”

“But we’re not all here.”

“Yes we are. Some kids didn’t make it last night. They’re dead. There’s no point in going back to look for them.”

“But Katey was my friend.”

“And Arran was my friend. He’s dead. We burned him. I’m in charge now. And I’m telling you. Not asking. We move on. Anyone thinks different, they’re welcome to go back and search for bodies. But you’ll be doing it alone. There are fifty-three of us left, and we’re going to the palace. Now let’s move out!”

They left the semicircle and marched down Portland Place. Maxie at the front with Blue and Jester.

A few minutes later they arrived at Oxford Circus, the heart of the West End; once the busiest part of all London, now deserted and derelict. How quickly everything had fallen apart. How quiet it was now.

They stopped here, in the middle of the junction where Oxford Street met Regent Street, and looked down the long, empty roads.