‘OK,’ said Emily, who was already rummaging in her bag. ‘I’ll see to you in a minute.’

‘Yeah … OK …’ Big Mick was very pale; all the blood had drained from his face. Ollie had never seen him like this.

‘Where did he come from?’ Einstein asked, staring at the dead father. ‘Did he get through the gate?’

‘Don’t know,’ said Blue and he flipped the father on to his back with his foot. ‘But the sooner we get inside, the better.’

Blue looked tense and worried; his hard expression had slipped a little. They were all a little rattled.

‘I’ll smash the doors in,’ said Mick, who was trying to shake off the shivers.

‘No chance,’ said Blue. ‘They’re reinforced. We’d need a bulldozer.’

‘What then?’ Mick looked frustrated. Like he wanted to hit something.

Einstein jabbed a finger at Blue. ‘You must have some kind of plan,’ he said, almost shouting.

‘How about we use your head as a battering ram,’ said Achilleus with a smirk.

‘How about we just walk in?’ Jackson was by the doors and now she casually swung one of them open. ‘They weren’t even locked,’ she explained.

A ripple of relieved laughter passed through the kids and Blue led them inside. Achilleus stopped by Einstein.

‘Lucky,’ he said, rapping his knuckles on the top of Einstein’s skull.

Ollie gave the dead father one last kick. His head felt kind of mushy. Soft. Ollie pressed down on it with his trainer and something oozed out of one ear. Something grey and jelly-like. Was it the father’s brain? What was left of it. The body started to bubble and twitch. If he was going to burst Ollie didn’t want to hang around and watch the show. Always made him feel sick. He spat and hurried after the others before the doors shut on him.

Chapter 36

36

There was a large reception area inside, going up to the full height of the building. It was lit by the cool green light that washed in through the wall of windows.

It was all very clean and orderly. No dust, no rubbish, no sign at all of the chaos that had ripped through London when everything started to fall apart.

Untouched chrome and leather furniture was artfully arranged; a clock on the wall had stopped at half past one; there were clusters of video screens with benches around them, even some carousels that still had magazines in them. At the back was a long reception desk with more screens on it, and the words PROMITHIOS MEDICAL SOLUTIONS spelled out on the wall behind.

It was easy to imagine that all the people who had once worked here had just stepped out for a cigarette and at any moment would return to work and the world would be as it had always been.