It was the worst face she had ever seen. Like it had been chewed up and spat out by something. The skin was torn and folded and shiny with scar tissue, the lips swollen, blistered. One eye a clouded, bloody mess, one ear missing.

And now she saw Monkey-Boy, his bloody, lifeless body held in the creature’s right arm.

The creature raised its free hand and Ella felt her knees giving out, the blood draining from her head, light and sick and floating, slipping away from this world.

The hand came down.

Please … Not like this …

Charlie Higson Q&A

WHERE DID YOU GET THE IDEA FOR THE ENEMY?

I had two starting points for writing The Enemy. I wanted to write a book where all the adults disappear and kids have the run of the place – that’s always been a great fantasy of mine. Wouldn’t it be great to live in London if you could go wherever you wanted? You could live in Buckingham Palace, or go to the Tower of London and try on all the suits of armour. But I also wanted to write a scary book, different from the Young Bond series. My son is really into zombies – he’s fascinated by them, but they also scare him a lot. After I’d written each chapter of the book I’d read it to him at night, in an attempt to scare him, and I kept on until I gave him nightmares!

DID YOU TAKE INSPIRATION FROM ANY OTHER BOOKS?

Yes. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, which was written in the 1950s, is really the grandfather of this kind of story – about a man trying to survive when everyone else has become infected with a disease. There are also parallels with Lord of the Flies by William Golding, but in that book it’s all about the things that would go horribly wrong if you leave kids alone by themselves. I wanted to show a world where the children had already been through that process and where they’re now trying to put the world back together and establish a society without grown-ups.

DID THE STORY CHANGE MUCH FROM YOUR ORIGINAL IDEA WHILE YOU WERE WRITING IT?