Despite what Maeve said it wasn’t proper countryside yet. There were still buildings here and there, but you could go further and further now without seeing any, and there were fields and woods and lakes.

‘Are we there already?’ said Monkey-Boy, staring out of the window on his side. ‘Is this the countryside?’

‘Kind of,’ said Maeve, and she turned round to ruffle his hair.

‘I’m getting car sick.’

‘Yeah?’ Maeve laughed. ‘Well, if that’s all we’ve got to worry about we’re going to be OK.’

‘We’re gonna have to stop soon,’ said Robbie. ‘The petrol’s saying we’re nearly empty. Maybe we should find somewhere to camp down while it’s still light.’

‘It’ll be hours before it gets dark,’ said Maeve.

‘Yeah. But we’ll have run out of fuel long before then. I don’t fancy sleeping in the car. We need to find somewhere safe while we can still drive and then figure out what we do next.’

‘I guess we should turn off the next chance we get then,’ said Maeve. ‘It’s a shame. Just when we were doing so well.’

‘Yeah,’ said Robbie. ‘No sign of any settlements yet. I was hoping we’d have seen some other kids by now. There must be some out this way.’

‘We may still find something,’ said Maeve.

They came to a junction and turned off. Ella read the sign. Junction seven. The turn-off to somewhere called Slough. Ella made a face. She didn’t like the sound of Slough. It was a horrible name to call a town.

‘I really don’t want to spend the night in Slough,’ she said.

‘Me either,’ said Robbie, and he laughed. ‘We’ll avoid it. Find somewhere else. I want to steer clear of any towns.’

They took the slip road and looped round over the motorway. Maeve checked the map she’d brought along and directed Robbie away from Slough, going in a big circle and eventually back over the motorway again. They were quickly on narrow roads among trees and hedges. There was lots of water around, small rivers and lakes. Ella felt better now. This was what she’d been expecting.

‘Here we go,’ Maeve said. ‘This looks perfect. There’s an island in the middle of the river here, with a hotel on it. It’ll be a perfect place to hole up for the night. I can tell from the name.’

‘Why?’ asked Robbie. ‘What’s it called?’

‘Monkey Island,’ she said, and turned to share the joke with Monkey-Boy and Ella. ‘What do you think of that?’

‘Sounds great,’ said Monkey-Boy. ‘Will there be real monkeys?’

‘I doubt it.’

‘I hope not,’ said Ella, remembering the attack in Regent’s Park, the diseased chimpanzees, poor little Joel …