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Back The Enemy Save as PDF
Chapters (69)
  1. Table of Contents
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“Look at him,” said Achilleus. “He’s trying to fly.”

“Stop it!” Maxie shouted.

“Stop it? Why? These bastards have been making our lives hell. Killing us, eating us . . . well, now it’s our turn.”

“Not this lot,” said Maxie. “They’ve never done anything to you. They’re harmless. Look at them.”

“They’re all the same,” said Achilleus. “All guilty. If it wasn’t for grown-ups we wouldn’t be in this mess. They mucked up our planet. They caused the disaster. Every one of them is to blame. We should wipe them off of the face of the earth.”

“We don’t know what caused the disaster,” said Maxie.

“Oh yeah, I forgot, it was God, wasn’t it?”

“Or spacemen,” said Big Mick, and he sniggered.

“We don’t know,” said Maxie. “But we can’t become animals. We’ll be like them.”

“No we won’t. We’ll be top dogs, and we’ll hunt them down and slaughter them.”

“Achilleus, this is not right.”

Maxie looked around for support. Half of the kids were laughing, some looked worried, some were crying. She saw Blue staring at Achilleus, fascinated.

“Blue,” said Maxie, “tell him.”

“Let go of him,” said Blue.

“All right.”

Achilleus and Mick let go, and the father gave a little gasp as he plummeted to the basement floor.

“He couldn’t fly after all,” said Achilleus.

“You idiot,” said Maxie with as much scorn as she could muster. Achilleus tried to look dismissive—but she saw in his eyes that he thought he’d maybe gone too far.

“Who’s next?” he said, and strode over to the other grown-ups, but Blue put himself between Achilleus and them.

“C’mon, man,” Blue said quietly, and nodded to the smaller kids. “I think there’s been enough death lately. I don’t think the little ones want to see any more. Okay?”

“So we just leave ’em?”

“They’re not our business,” said Blue. “They’re certainly not dangerous. They just come in here like us. To get some new clothes. I guess old habits die hard. Now let’s get out of here. They’re waiting for us at the palace.”

A couple of kids slapped Achilleus and Mick on their backs, but most avoided them, and Maxie felt disgusted. She caught Sophie’s eye and Sophie looked away.

Now wasn’t the time to thank her.

Someone put a hand on Maxie’s shoulder. It was Blue.

“You done well, girl,” he said. “You look after yourself now, yeah? We need people like you.”

“Thanks. And thanks for sticking up for me.”

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