‘Stay with the car,’ he said to Kyle and Ebenezer. Kyle was too much of a liability. He was in a worse mood than Ed and was likely to shoot his mouth off and try to wind someone up. Ed didn’t need a fight now. Instead he asked Brooke to come with him, and Lewis must have woken up because there he was, standing next to them, even though Ed hadn’t noticed him get out of the car. His eyelids were still drooping as if he was fighting to stay awake and he was scratching his head and yawning.

‘Whassup?’ he said. ‘They gone and caught theirselves some grown-ups?’

‘Let’s go and find out.’ Ed started walking.

The three of them crossed the car park towards the new arrivals, who spotted them coming and formed into a defensive line. Ed smiled. Did they really think they were under attack?

This was one paranoid bunch of kids, and it had made them mean and suspicious and not to be trusted. Ed paused, hung back, not wanting to appear threatening in any way. Lewis shuffled on a few paces and then stopped as well. He hoiked up his trousers, which had been hanging off his arse, showing his underpants. They immediately slipped down again.

Kenton came out of the school building and approached the new arrivals. Ed saw him talk to a small, wiry girl with her hair tied back in a viciously tight knot. This must be Josa. She had a sicko on a lead and was carrying a spear. She looked stroppy and sharp. Someone you wouldn’t want to pick a fight with. Ed thought it might be safe to approach now that Kenton must have explained what was going on, and he carried on walking.

Josa watched them come every step of the way, checking them out, sizing them up.

‘All right?’ she said as they got close, her voice husky and rasping, and she grinned at Ed, showing him that all her front teeth were missing. She had a pointed face, a pointed nose and small, clever eyes that didn’t miss a thing.

‘Yeah.’ Ed smiled back at her. Polite. Aware that his face wasn’t the most welcoming sight. ‘I’m all right. You must be Josa.’

‘I must be, yeah.’ She looked from him to Brooke. ‘You two been scrapping, have you?’

‘Yeah.’ Ed knew that she was referring to the scars they both carried. Decided to let it lie. ‘But not with each other.’

Josa looked pretty beaten about herself. It wasn’t just her missing teeth. She had a scar on her top lip, as well as a twisted, mangled ear.

There was a gang of big blokes around her, like a personal bodyguard. Ed clocked that they were all well armed.

‘Kenton here tells me you want our help,’ said Josa.

‘Kind of.’