‘Don’t you get it?’ Ollie said, shrugging him off. ‘Everything Seamus said about the monsters was bollocks. It was really all about him. We had to hit him hard, not talk to him. He was clever, twisting things. Kids aren’t the enemy. Adults are the enemy. We mustn’t ever forget that.’

‘But he’s not diseased.’ Blue flung a hand out towards the lifeless body on the ground.

‘Isn’t he?’ said Ollie. ‘How do you know? Because he told you? We shouldn’t have listened. I saw that crawling thing. It was a boy.’

‘It was a freak,’ said Achilleus.

‘This is a bad place,’ said Ebenezer.

‘Seamus had the sickness,’ said Ollie. ‘They all do.’

‘Yeah? And how can you be so sure of that?’ said Blue.

‘Makes no odds now,’ said Achilleus, nudging Seamus’s body with his foot. ‘He’s dead.’

‘He’s dead and we’re stuck in here with these monsters.’ Blue looked around for any signs of the creatures they’d glimpsed before. Still the other three fathers cowered by the shelves, like cornered animals, not sure what to do. Outnumbered by the kids.

‘We shouldn’t be here,’ said Ebenezer. ‘We should not have killed this man.’

‘He’s right,’ said Blue. ‘There was nothing wrong with him.’

‘Blue,’ said Ollie. ‘We all know it. There is no cure. They’re all sick. Seamus was sick, just not as bad.’

‘You don’t know that!’

‘Ask them.’ Ollie pointed to the three fathers.

‘Ask them what?’

‘If there’s a cure.’

Blue looked at the three fathers. Hesitated.

‘Ask them!’ Ollie said more forcefully. ‘See what they’ve got to say for themselves.’

‘Did you really find a cure?’ Blue asked quietly. ‘Some medicine that worked?’ The fathers stared at him. He might as well have been speaking Swahili to them. There was no understanding in their eyes, just dumb animal fear and rage. They looked ready to attack.

Ollie shifted the spear in his hands.

‘What’s the capital of France?’ he said. ‘Who wrote Oliver Twist? What colour is the sky?’

The fathers switched their attention to Ollie; one of them bared his teeth. Not a smile.

‘All right,’ said Ollie. ‘Here’s an easier one. Can you even talk? Simple answer, either say yes or just grunt for no. Hmm? Can you? Say something!’

One of the fathers suddenly broke and ran. Ollie raised Seamus’s spear and hurled it at the man, taking him in the middle of the back. He went down with a gasp. The other two came at Ollie, but Blue knocked one down without hesitating and Achilleus had the other. He’d been waiting for this. The grown-ups sprawled on to the concrete floor next to Seamus, blood spreading like spilt oil.

‘You believe me now then?’ said Ollie.

‘Not necessarily, but they were attacking you.’