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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
  13. 12
  14. 13
  15. 14
  16. 15
  17. 16
  18. 17
  19. 18
  20. 19
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  35. 34
  36. 35
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  38. 37
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  40. 39
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  50. 49
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  52. 51
  53. 52
  54. 53
  55. 54
  56. 55
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  58. 57
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  62. 61
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  64. 63
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  67. 66
  68. 67
  69. 68

He looked at his watch. Quarter to eleven. Not long until midnight.

He hadn’t told anybody about tomorrow. The others may have forgotten what date it was, even what day it was, but not Ollie. He had it all logged.

Tomorrow was his birthday.

Ollie knew a lot of things, but he had no idea what was going to happen to him as he got older. None of them did. If you made it to the end of the day, then it was a good day. You didn’t think any further ahead than that. The future was a mystery.

How could Ollie know if he’d get sick or not? He was only a kid after all.

Everything was going to be all right.

He would just have to wait and see.

They marched down the middle of the road. Maxie, Blue, Achilleus, Paddy the Caddy, and the girl from the museum at the front with a fighting crew. Whitney in the middle with Maeve, Ben and Bernie, all the non-fighters, and the little kids. Blu-Tack Bill, Monkey Boy, and Ella fussing over Godzilla. Big Nose walking with them, not sure if he’d made the right decision. Lewis and his fighters were on one flank, Big Mick on the other with the gun he’d taken from the guard. Ollie at the back with the other skirmishers.

The little kids weren’t scared. They’d been through too much together for that. They knew that the big kids would look after them. They trusted that they’d find a safe place to sleep, and food and water.

They headed west away from the palace. And as they entered Belgrave Square they came across a group of ten grown-ups who were eating a dead dog. When they lifted their heads from their filthy meal and saw the resolute army of kids approaching, they were like rabbits caught in the headlights.

Weapons bristled from the front rank of kids.

“You want to try and take us on?” Maxie shouted. “Come and get it, you sad old losers!”

The grown-ups took one look at each other, then turned and bolted, leaving their dinner behind.

Maxie laughed; Achilleus joined her. Blue put his arm around her waist. The other kids joined in, and soon their laughter was bouncing around the square and echoing off the empty houses, filling the night, chasing away the demons.

68

The fog inside his head was strong tonight. There was a red sheet in front of his eyes. And the pain was worse than ever. It was a living thing in his veins, like battery acid running through him, making him itchy and scratchy. His whole head throbbed. With the red mist and the hurting and the voices screaming in his skull, it was hard to think straight. He had to try to sneak up on his thoughts, take them by surprise before they slipped away from him. Like rats.

Or kids.