‘We were out on a scav hunt, looking for food, and we decided, well, some of us decided, I never thought it was a great idea … So the others wanted to look in this swimming pool. See if there was anything in the vending machines still.’

‘And was there?’

‘Yeah, there was; only it was a trap. All these grown-ups were, like, waiting for us, under the water. They ambushed us.’

‘Great story and all that.’ Einstein sounded bored and impatient. ‘But what’s the question?’

Ollie hesitated before going on. Was it all going to sound stupid when he came out with it?

‘It’s just that – an ambush. Like they’d worked it out. Like they were waiting for us.’

‘And?’

‘It’s not like grown-ups to do that. I’ve never seen them that organized before. That clever.’

‘You sure it wasn’t just random?’

‘No. And then there was the fact that they were underwater.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Somehow they were under the surface of the water, waiting. How did they do that? How did they breathe under there?’

‘They didn’t,’ said Einstein with a slightly snotty tone to his voice. ‘Human beings can’t breathe underwater. We’re not fish.’

‘I know. It was like they were a new breed of grown-up.’

‘Not possible,’ said Einstein.

Ollie wasn’t going to give up, despite Einstein’s negative vibe.

‘You’ve studied grown-ups,’ he said. ‘You’ve studied the disease. Could it change people somehow?’

‘No. A disease can’t give people new skills. We can’t suddenly grow gills or something. Illness doesn’t add anything, it just takes things away.’

‘So how did they do it then?’ said Ollie. ‘How did they survive underwater? How did they plan it all?’

‘As I say.’ Einstein sounded more dismissive than ever. ‘They didn’t. You must have imagined it.’

‘I’ll admit it was all a bit confused and way intense. I suppose they could of maybe, I don’t know, had their noses sticking out or something.’

Einstein laughed. Ollie would have laughed himself if someone else had told him this story. Whichever way you looked at it, it didn’t make a lot of sense.

‘It was messed up,’ he went on. ‘It freaked us out, took us all by surprise. One boy, Deke, got killed there, and Arran was wounded, as I said. Died later. Because we weren’t ready for it. We never expected grown-ups to behave like that. I mean, they can’t get organized, can they? Not really. They can’t get clever.’

‘I’ve never seen any evidence of it,’ said Einstein. ‘The way I see it, you worry too much, Ollie.’

‘I think too much.’

‘Same thing.’ Einstein stood up, signalling that the conversation was over.

‘You think, though,’ said Ollie. ‘Does that mean you worry? You don’t seem too cut up about what happened today.’

‘I think I’m a bit like your Achilleus.’