All those kids not here any more. A small selfish part of her thought that there would be more food to go round. That’s what happened to you. You grew hard and cold. All that mattered was survival.

She was sitting on the steps in front of the museum, making the most of the warmth from the sun. It was spring: leaves were opening on the trees. Summer soon.

Brooke sighed.

Things always seemed better in the summer. There was more to eat. It wasn’t so cold and wet. Winter was one long nightmare. The images she had in her mind of the winter weren’t great. Burning anything they could find to keep warm. Scraping the last bits of food out of cans. Breaking the ice on the water tanks in the roof. Dark most of the time.

No. Winter had nothing going for it.

She closed her eyes, felt the sun on her face. Her forehead ached beneath the bandage. She knew that sunlight was supposed to help you to heal, but she wasn’t ready to show her scar to the world just yet. It was a mess under there, black and yellow and scabby, her skin all pulled and twisted out of shape.

How had it happened that she’d gone from being the golden girl to this? Miss Predator-face …

How had any of it happened? So fast. The world had turned and it had flipped into chaos.

She hated it when the darkness crept into her mind like this. She knew she should try to concentrate on the positive. And some good things had happened lately. She’d found Maxie and Blue and the others. They were good news. That wouldn’t have happened without DogNut. The kids that had died recently had at least been replaced by new ones.

Good fighters.

Though not good enough to save the kids that had been attacked in the church …

Stop it.

She heard voices. Arguing. Down by the fence where the little gatehouse was. Where there were always at least two kids on duty.

Sounded like somebody was trying to get in.

Brooke opened her eyes. Squinted over, trying to see what was going on. No good. The gatehouse was in the way. She got up and stretched. Rubbed her aching behind. The stone steps were pretty cold, despite the sun on them. She walked on stiff legs down towards the gates.

There were four boys standing on the other side of the fence. Older ones. They weren’t from around here. She didn’t recognize them. Or did she …?

The boy in the middle …

As she got closer, Brooke felt her throat tighten.

It couldn’t be. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be him. She must be imagining it. She walked closer still. The boy turned to look at her. There was no flash of recognition from him.