‘What if there’s more coming?’ said Lewis.

‘I don’t know.’ Ed slammed the boot shut. ‘This has all got way complicated. Did Mister Three mean the sickos already in London, or something else? Or was he just babbling? I asked Trinity – they didn’t know either.’

‘Babbling is right,’ said Kyle. ‘I ain’t gonna listen to no shaved monkey. Now let’s get rocking, shall we? You driving, Lewis? Or do you want me to take over?’

‘I’m driving,’ said Lewis and he settled into the driver’s seat. ‘Where we headed?’

‘From what Amelia said our best bet’s to try Slough.’ Ed climbed in the passenger side and picked up the road atlas where it was lying on the seat. ‘She thinks there’s a settlement of some kind there. Makes sense, it’s a fairly big town. Anyone seen Brooke?’

‘She’s coming,’ said Ebenezer, getting in the back.

Ed looked over to see Brooke walking slowly from the house, deep in thought. She’d been quiet since Macca had died, but after her first breakdown she hadn’t cried again. She looked older somehow, tired. Halfway to the car she tugged off her bandage and chucked it away. The skin on her forehead was pinched and puckered, shiny. She pulled her knitted cap on, not bothering to cover the scar with it. She got in the car and sat in one of the single seats.

Plenty of room now.

‘Where’s Trinity?’ she asked, without looking at anyone.

‘Staying here.’ Ed didn’t feel like going into any long explanations right now, and nobody pressed him.

‘We ready then?’ said Brooke.

‘Yeah.’ Lewis started the engine and eased the car forward, steering it round the gravel area in front of the house and back on to the driveway. With new leaves out on the trees, everywhere looked pretty and peaceful in the bright sunlight. Ed certainly appreciated being in the countryside and realized how much he’d missed it, living in the city for the last year. The only thing was he’d grown used to the city. He understood it. He knew its dangers. The countryside felt different, new. It was too easy to think there was nothing to fear out here. It all looked so nice and green and empty. But what dangers did it hide? He couldn’t read this environment as well as he could the streets of London.

They were soon on the main road and heading through the woods towards Slough. It turned out the town was only a few minutes’ drive away, and before they knew it they were in among houses and shops as they passed through the village of Burnham, which blurred into Slough itself, with nothing to show where one ended and the other began.