The grown-ups looked almost like a family group. A mother and father and two teenage children – boy and girl. It would have made a weird family photo, though. Weird and pretty sick. They were all bald and the mother was naked. The father was missing his nose and top lip, exposing his top set of teeth. The boy was like a parody of a teenager: he had so many boils and spots and growths on his face it looked like a rotten cauliflower. The girl was shaking violently and had bitten the ends of her fingers down to the bone.

The hole into the room was maybe half a metre wide, and the same distance tall. To get in would require crawling. None of the kids fancied that. It would mean going in one by one and being completely exposed until you were through. For now the grown-ups were quiet, but there was no saying how dangerous they might be.

‘So what’s the plan then?’ said Mick. He was pretty fearless, and always up for a fight. Down here, though, in the cramped, dark and claustrophobic conditions, Maxie could tell that even he was uneasy.

‘Can we lure them out, d’you think?’ she asked.

‘What with?’ said Blue. ‘You want to offer them a piece of you?’ He shouted through the hole. ‘Oi! Come and get it. Maxie’s got a nice juicy arse on her.’

Maxie hit Blue, who sniggered.

‘Very funny.’

‘What then?’

Maxie took a deep breath. ‘I’m gonna risk it.’

‘You going in?’

‘It’s the only way.’ Maxie knelt by the hole. ‘You be ready to back me up. As soon as I’m in, I want one of you with me.’

‘I’ll be right behind you,’ said Blue, and he picked up the short sword he’d been given by one of the museum kids.

‘Me too,’ said Mick.

Maxie poked her club through the hole and left it within reach on the other side. The four grown-ups were still just sitting there, watching.

‘Hold up.’ Blue grabbed Maxie’s shoulder. ‘Justin said he wanted us to try and take some of them alive, remember …’

‘You must be joking, Blue. We kill them, and we kill them quick.’

‘You’re the boss.’

No, I’m an idiot, thought Maxie, a stupid idiot.

She didn’t want to think about it any longer; she needed to get in before the ‘family’ knew what was happening and decided to get any more lively.

Here goes nothing …

She threw herself forward through the gap, scraping her back on the top, which knocked her flat. The wind went out of her and for a moment she saw stars.

This wasn’t a good start.