Slough had lost five kids to the Ascot team, so their score was pretty low. Sandhurst had done the best. They’d got seven runners through, by the simple use of force. Ascot only had two, but they had the respect of having taken out four of the hotly tipped Slough team, plus the Bracknell boy who Kyle had taken down earlier and was sitting obediently where Kyle had left him.

Kenton got to his feet, slapping dirt and grass off his clothes. He gave Ed a filthy look.

‘You ain’t heard the last of this, shitface,’ he spat, and Ed laughed.

‘You better go and see Josa’s all right,’ he said, and laughed some more as Kenton and his two mates trotted down the track to where Josa was yelling and screaming at Kyle and trying to pummel him. Kyle was casually keeping her at arm’s length and singing the Carmina Burana tune.

Sean came over and high-fived Ed.

‘Nice work, Ed,’ he said. ‘That’s two more runners through than we’ve ever had before.’

‘Is your name Ed?’

Ed turned to see that the Bracknell runner they’d caught was staring at him.

‘What of it?’

‘Help me up.’

Ed hauled the boy to his feet. He grunted with the effort, looked like he’d twisted his knee. No wonder he hadn’t tried to run on.

‘I was caught out in the open the night of the blood moon,’ the boy said, trying not to put any weight on his bad leg.

‘Yeah?’

‘The night the grown-ups went through.’

‘I know what you mean. So?’

The boy held out his hand and Ed shook it warily.

‘My name’s Isaac Hills,’ said the boy. ‘Someone said you were looking for a girl called Ella …’

Chapter 57

57

This was stupid. Stupid fighting. When everything was going wrong, why did kids want to fight more? And it wasn’t just the boys, but the girls as well. Wasn’t there enough hurt in the world?

Ella was sitting right up at the very top of the grandstand behind the Windsor kids, as far away from the fighting as she could get. She’d quite liked the horse racing, except the bits when they cheated and the fighting, of course. And she really hadn’t liked it when the grown-up ran out on to the track. That had been horrible. It had brought back bad memories.

She’d felt safe since being at Windsor, safe but not happy. The castle there was probably the safest place she’d been since the illness started. Probably the safest place in England.

She was lonely, though. She missed everyone. Sam and her friends from Holloway, Maeve and Robbie and Monkey-Boy, poor Malik …

She’d been knocked out when the Windsor kids caught her in their nets and, when she woke up, in a bed at the castle, she’d lost a couple of days – and Malik.