‘Like Seamus and his mates?’

‘Yeah. Like them.’

Blue wondered why it didn’t feel stranger up here. On the roof of a medical supplies warehouse, under this umbrella with a short, hunched-over kid whose skin was ten sizes too big for him, talking about an army of cannibal adults.

‘Seamus and the others had been trying to get in for ages,’ Skinner went on. ‘Eventually we let them. TV Boy wanted them for his trap. His little game.’

‘But what do they want?’ Blue asked. ‘Why do they come here night after night?’

‘Same as you,’ said Skinner. ‘They want what we’ve got. But also, mainly I think, they want us. They’re kind of attracted to us.’

‘Is it worse after dark?’ said Blue.

‘Oh yeah. Much. There’s only ever usually one or two during the day. They hide in the other buildings around here. Sleep while it’s light. They’ll come out and attack if they think it’s worth it.’

‘Was a whole load of them down there when we turned up,’ said Blue, remembering the fight at the gates.

‘They must have sensed you coming. There’s twice as many tonight as usual. Lately they’ve been changing, getting more organized. The signal’s different.’

‘What signal? What do you mean?’

‘You can’t go out there now,’ said Skinner, changing the subject. ‘You’ll have to wait till morning. They’ll go back to their dens when the sun comes up. We can help you find what you need here and then you’re clear.’

‘We left some friends behind,’ said Blue. ‘Nearby. They’ll be waiting for us.’

‘Are they safe?’

‘I hope so. They’re in a church.’

‘They should be fine then, so long as they stay inside.’

‘Oh, they’ll stay inside all right. Too scared to come out. We didn’t bring much food, though. We were expecting to be back home by now.’

‘They got water?’

‘Yeah, plenty of water.’

‘Then they’ll be fine.’

‘Hope so. This whole journey hasn’t quite gone like I expected.’

‘If the Warehouse Queen lets you take all you want it’ll have been worth it, though, won’t it?’

‘Guess so. I don’t know about drugs and chemicals and all that. That’s Einstein’s territory. Can I ask you something, though?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Is there a cure? For the disease? Is there a cure here?’

‘If there was do you think all those creeps would be down there? Do you think we wouldn’t have fixed them up?’

‘I guess so.’

Skinner was silent for a while. They stared at the adults milling about, barely making a sound. Achilleus picked up something from the roof and threw it down. Laughed.